Today I took the leap and settled down with some of that "found" yardage.  Truly I knew I had it, the fabric was leftovers given to me and I was certain I didn't have enough to make the long sleeved + long pants pjs for DD like I wanted.  It never occurred to me I suppose that I had enough to make a nightdress.  Night dresses are DD new favorite thing.  She will wear them whenever I let her and will go hunting for one when all she has is shorts and tops in her drawer.

So on to the sleepwear!  I went looking for a pattern for this really I did, but I couldn't find what I wanted.  I know so picky!  So I settled down without even a scrap of paper to help me.  Why do I do this to myself?  At one point after I cut my fabric I looked at it and thought, I have no idea what to do next!  Thank heavens my brain reconnected!  The bodice is square with a bit of ribbon embroidery on the right side.  From there the skirt is full and flows not from gathers but instead from gussets: two big ones in the front and three in the back.  I love how it opens up when she spins around.

 

More progress has been made to the house.  All of the painting is done except for my front door, did I mention it's going to be Poppy Red?  I'm thrilled over that.  DH is working on installing the second window of the day.  Which has us at 2 + the door installed and that 3rd one going in.  It's going faster that I'd dare to hope but we do have many windows.  Each bedroom has two and the living room has five.  Yes FIVE!  While I'm certain you're thinking I'm sure lucky to have DH, perhaps for once it'd be nice to think about that the other way around.  That he's lucky to have me. 

After all I picked the paint, I went to the store and got the paint.  I spent months researching windows and then made a decision and ordered them, I selected the new door and ordered that too.  All while taking care of a child that is rather to much like myself.  LOL.

Yesterday evening an entire family of Cardinal's came for a visit.  As they are a family of six it was like Sonic during dinner rush for birds.  Both parents where working hard to feed and keep track of four little ones.  Clearly there were two boys and one girl.  Didn't get a good look at the last one as it was staying a little further away, but I watched mom and dad feed them all.  When everyone was nearly done the male took the extra step to feed the female a tidbit.  Very cute.  This photo is of the mom and the two boys.  Can you see them all? 

Rest easy my friends and let us all be glad we don't have four children all the same age.

A Clean Sneeze

Do you think keeping every last scrap of fabric can clog your creativity? I truly believe that's what happens to me. Ever since I started sewing 2 1/2 years ago or so now I have kept nearly every single scrap of fabric regular less of the size. I'm working on trying to quit save quite so much if only because I'm allergic to dust and my allergies alone have had me barely glancing at my fabric and looking away in distaste. Yes, I said it distaste! More times than I can count I've been at the sewing machine with a box of tissues and then the thought of dealing with a big bag of scraps... Trying to dig through... UGH! It's a real Sneeze!

Somewhere along the line from when I started until here my brain redefined "scrap". In fact I think it happened more than once. So even in my sash I had little strips a bit of this and a minuscule amount of that. It was so bad when I took the white fabric down to sort it; it looked like a pile of tissues! Now I assure you there weren't any tissues in there, but there were plenty of bits. When I started running out of room to keep my fabric I would shove the little ball of scrap in with the others... Oh it was not pretty!

So now I have taken everything down and refolded it and went through a rather dusty and large pile of misc. sewing stuff as well. Sure enough I eventually located that elusive thing called clean.

Meanwhile DH hurried home from work early to install our new back door. That was another remodeling challenge, but luckily he was up to the job. Explain to me what is it about replacement that has to be difficult? Yesterday the window was a half an inch to big and today the door was over an inch to small. Cripes.

No pictures today of my small tidy sewing area that would require bending and my nose say's "Don't you realize you're out of tissues?!?!?!?"

The best news of all is I had more of some fabrics than I had thought and I was certainly inspired inspite of my sniffles.

Missed Me?

My cousin tells me she believes there are two kinds of pain.  The kind you've earned and the kind you didn't.  The kind you've earned is like working in the yard or the like.   That's the good kind of pain.  It hurts but you did something and thereby it's okay.

The bad kind of pain is the kind that grabs you by the throat and takes over, while you are bewildered that you're even feeling pain.  After all you did everything right and didn't push yourself or anything.  Chronic pain sufferers have to deal this sort of "bad pain" more often than we'd like anyone to know, much less admit.

Last night the bad kind woke me up.  Now you know pain that wakes you up has to be bad.  I mean seriously?!?!?  I was sleeping!  So I dealt with that from about 2 am until 4:30 or so.  Oddly I went to sleep around about the time DH cuddled up to me, which that alone is odd.  Normally when I have bad pain I will lash out as the spasms can be stronger than my desire not to have them.

I guess all that meant I was darn well going to earn my pain today.  I stood and held towels while DH pressure washed the last of the house to protect the air conditioner from water leaking in on it.  Then I held the first new window while Rob installed it.  Then I cleaned one tower of DVD's.  I changed the sheets on the bed.  I helped to unpack and sort windows.  I helped repack and sort windows and then I did all that all over again.  Then I stood and cooked dinner.  Trust me when I say I'm hoping the dishwasher fairy will show up at my house tonight.

Little Boy's Red Starting to Show

Baby cardinals seem to be everywhere these days.  I think we have three boys flying around (they look so silly with their red colors coming in and one girl who was oh so gray) No babies with Lady Bird and her Gentleman Bird yet.  In fact the two of them are here together right now.  Lady Bird has been enjoying drinking from the birdbath the past couple of days and her boy was seen feeding her just yesterday. 

Little Boy Cardinal

So as I mentioned above we've been working on our house.  Here is the first new window installed and a snapshot of my Sapphire Blue Sherwin Williams paint.  So tell me what color does it look like to you?

Global Change Quilt Project

As the place I want to visit most in the World: Africa is near and dear to my heart.  So when my friend Vicki told me about this project I knew I had to participate.  First I went looking for my orphan blocks.  They are looking for 9 1/2" and 12" blocks (note: not 12 1/2") so anything extra or perhaps that measured a little bit small would be perfect.  I found more orphan blocks than I thought I had, so I took them all and made them into the requested sizes.

According to my friend's forwarded email the proceeds for these two quilts will go to built a well and latrines at a school in the Central Africa republic also known as CAR.  You can read all about it here.  The mailing deadline is July 31st so go get digging.

I'm sending five 12" blocks and seven 9 1/2" blocks, but you can do as little as one and as many as you'd like I'm certain they'd appreciate them all.

I knew those coin stacks I started and then didn't know what to do with would come in handy.

Inside a Box

Now tell me who learned it from who?  Did DD learn it from the cats or the other way around?

THE Rug

Some people go to the store and buy a rug when they need one.  I think I'll be one of those people from now on.

I started this rug - shoot I think nearly two years ago.  It's supposed to be quick and easy and use up all your old scraps.  I don't know about that.  Wrapping the clothesline rope made my hands hurt and the scraps made my allergies bloom.  Oh and until I bought a pack of behemoth 110 needles I broke more sewing machine needles than I'd like to admit.

But perseverance prevailed and I finished the rug. I'd originally intended it for on the floor next to DH's side of the bed but as I was working on it last night (and not liking it very much) it reminded me of something Mrs. Weasley would have had in her house (from the Harry Potter Movies) and so now it will live by the back door.

Bleck!

What is so awful that it would keep me away from my own sewing machine?!?!?! Sewing! LOL! Allow me to explain. First there were pants to repair, which I did, it only took me about 4 or 5 days to resign myself and do it...

Then it was these curtains. The curtains are huge and silky. I stupidly said I would alter them because the area allowed for the rod was only 2”, which wasn't wide enough. But that was when I thought I could alter them my own way. When they were delivered to me I was asked to alter them a certain way. I didn't want to alter them that way because I didn't know how, but it was to late as they had already been washed and dried for me. So after way to long I started on them. Hey I finished them 3 days after I started them and while that's as slow as honey for me it's really not that long.

So here's what I learned: I am going to work VERY hard to keep my mouth shut and try not to offer my services up for free ever. If someone wants or needs something bad enough they will ask and if they ask perhaps they will pay (at least they should) and there's two motivators for doing the job right there.

I miss my Brother ULT 2001. The motor purrs under my fingertips and I miss that. She tells me when I'm being stupid and the thread isn't threaded right, or if I am working on something so big and thick that I can't tell if the presser foot is down - she knows and saves me time and energy. So I've found the $90 for her maintenance fee (standard for a combination machine in my area - I know I called around) as well as having collected what I'm certain will be enough to replace the pinched and thereby semi-severed tiny ribbon cable in the embroidery arm - no sense fixing only one half of her course. And everything should be better in a week or too. How wonderful. Until then enjoy the piece and tranquility of your favorite machine. ;-)