HE HAS ARRIVED!

Wow, Weston made a quick entrance in to the world today. Daughter's water broke and he was here with in the hour. Big wonderful boy. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 12 ounces and is 21 inches long, a head of dark hair. I have held him once. Hopefully they will get to come home tomorrow. Everything was going great until daughter developed severe head ache which turned out to be due to spinal fluid leaking from the epidural. They have done a patch and it seems to be helping her a great deal.

Okay, you know I had to show him off. Ain't he something!

Today, I went to lunch with a very dear friend of mine from when we used to live here. Like a sister she is. I also went to a thrift store and an antique store. Although, the antique store was half craft store for the owners things that she makes. The antique items were just lovely, and I was very good and didn't buy anything. Of course, it isn't too hard to be good when I know we don't have room to take anything much home with us. BUT...when I get home, downtown here I come. Where I live, there is an old Woolworth's five and dime store in the middle of the down town area which is trying to revive itself. It has been turned in to an antique mall with vendors on every floor and every nook and cranny. I am giddy with anticipation. Back to the story though, the interesting thing about the store I was in today is that it is the first time I have seen a depression glass pattern similar to the one's I got from my mom. It was very helpful as I took notice of the price of the pieces so now have a ball park range for what they might bring if I decide to sell them. I also have some nice vintage china that I would like to sell. Don't get me wrong, I would love to keep them, just don't have room and at the moment I am ALL ABOUT MAKING ROOM. There was only one vintage outfit, an old prom dress from the 70's, that I saw, but some of the crafted items gave me an idea of a selling price for what I intend to make. Not exactly the same thing, but would be considered in the same general line. I did see one lovely old quilt tagged at $175.00 and another one for only $35. Don't know what the difference was, but the cheaper one looked more appealing even before the price was seen. There was a wonderful old table cloth listed at $35 as well that I am seriously thinking about going and getting too. It is definitely from that vintage kitsch era, my guess is late 40's or early 50's and is white with pastel pink and mint green designs of Hawaii on it. I am no authority by any means, but I would bet it came out either in response to fascination with the islands after Pearl Harbor or later when it was made a state. It was very clean and well preserved.

At the thrift store, there was some wonderful blouses that I would have loved to have gotten from my mom, a lot of embroidered style button shirts such as Quaker Factory and name brands, but sadly they were all just to small for her. I did find a very lovely knit lace style blouse, but more like the fabric is printed to look like lace so is not really sheer at all that is a rich salmon color. I think she will really like it. I also found a lovely turquoise satin beaded belt. So rich and so vintage. LOL Guess I am using that word a bit much. But, I can see wearing it on a black dress with a full skirt. I already have just the retro style pattern, and if I didn't get dumb and junk it, I have some black satin to use for it. Although, a velveteen or mole skin may be nice as well. If I opt for the straighter look, which is questionable with my figure but am toying with the idea of living on the wild side and in a firm girdle for the right occasion. I mean, honestly, I couldn't buy the beads that the belt has on it for what I paid for that belt.

Here I Go

Okay, first, I am headed out see my new grand baby arrive. We leave this evening and so you understand a little, my hubby drives this drive (from California to Texas) in one shot, straight through, approximately 20 hours, depends on how much we have to get gas and potty. If my daughter has not delivered by Monday, they will induce early Monday morning, she is to check in to the hospital just after midnight on Sunday. I am so excited, so nervous, so ready for it all to be over. I miss them, my daughter and the oldest grandson, her husband, and hubby's family along with my brother that all live in Texas, but you know how it is when you get in a groove so to speak, I am so ready to finish up the painting and re-arranging around here so I can actually start sewing something.

In preparation for that day, that I get to actually sew, I did a little bit of shopping. I promised myself I would not spend a lot, but JoAnn's is having a sale on Butterick patterns. Anyone seen the price of patterns lately? You can sure understand why I wanted to buy them when I could get them for .99 of course. Yes, $.99, a penny less than a dollar. I loaded up and am so pleased to have some vintage look patterns. Of course these are reprints or new releases of some old patterns, but the style is there. I took some photos of the ones I have narrowed down to being the first project. Of course, I can't find my USB cord for my camera, I downloaded them to the main computer (which is really ill and running slow) in order to email them to my laptop, which doesn't have a card reader slot. I know one thing I will be buying very soon. Couldn't even find my flash drive to move it over with then accidentally deleted the memory card. If it actually shows up, I will post them. Not holding my breath.

At any rate, as I said, I was going to be a very good girl and use up all I have stashed away before buying any more fabric, but, I saw this lovely lavender plesae (not sure how to spell that, kind of a textured fabric) that was on the clearance bin. It has a floral print and just screams "I look like grand ma's Sunday dress" all over it. I checked the end of the bolt, it is a poly cotton blend, which I don't mind, and one pattern calls for 5 yards, another pattern calls for 3 1/2 yards. So...yep, I bought 5 yards. Five yards plus 23 inches which since that was what would have been a remnant they gave me at 50% off. Get this, the fabric was already marked down to $2.00 a yard. So depending on which pattern I use, I will either get a nice dress, or dress plus a blouse for about $12.00 (fabric and pattern) and maybe a zipper. One pattern calls for a side zipper, never done that before, the other doesn't have a zipper (but a recent review of this pattern I read didn't believe that the type of fabric I bought today was stiff enough to hold up to the design pressure of the seams) . I also picked up a piece of pale blue small stripe light cotton fabric, which I shouldn't of because marked down it was still $5 a yard, but it has a lovely blue floral embroidery all over. I really needed three yards for the blouse pattern I had bought, but that was for the longer length and long sleeves. I took what was left, 2.4 yards, so maybe if I go with a shorter length and shorten the sleeves, it will make it. I have some different patterns in my little stash, and have some true vintage patterns coming that bought from Ebay, so may just use one of those tops and pair it up with a denim skirt or capri pant. If you follow my blog, you will soon learn that I am in love with blue. Most any shade of blue. I am just so ready to start on something. A few hours cutting out may just have to be my reward for getting walls painted. Then some sewing time to take a break while rugs dry from shampooing. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Oh, and I also picked up a couple of patterns that I think will be good to make up and sell in my Etsy store when I get it up and going. That is the plan anyway, maybe be able to make a little extra money from making and selling some items. Not sure just yet exactly just what. But is a little dream to hold on to. Maybe I can make cards or such. Heaven knows I have enough to work with laying around this house. Should say stuffed in various areas of storage around this house. It is just making me really anxious to get working on something. I was asked to repair some chair cushions that a dog had gotten a hold of, which I did, but it made me want to sew.

Went to a thrift store a couple of days ago and it was fun for a really short trip. There was no yarn or patterns, but there was a really great looking old sewing machine in a small wooden cabinet that had been painted white. They only wanted $25 for it, no idea what brand or if it even worked, but the cabinet was great. May even go back and check it over a little closer when I get the house all arranged and see if I can find a corner to put it in. LOL I did however not leave empty handed. Saw it, zeroed in on it, snagged the perfect red hat for my mom. She has recently joined the Red Hat Society so she leaves it up to me to dress her for it. Youngest daughter snagged a beret (only kind of hat they can wear in school) and a cute little pair of flats. When we get back, may go in and check over the hats a bit more. I remember my mom wearing all sorts of hats to church, I also have some of those hats that were her's in the 40's and 50's and the one I saw there was a blue, bright blue like a robin's egg. I love blue.

Guess I better get off of here and finish packing up what I need to get together for the trip. Don't want to forget anything, but we are trying to go light this trip. My oldest daughter that we are going to go see lives in the same town we moved here from. She grew up in that town, so I still know where some great thrift shops and antique stores are there.

I will post photos when I get back. Have a great day.

Short post - room is done

Just a short post, it is late and am ready to take a soak and get some sleep. I am so happy I finished setting up my sewing room today.

This is the before photos.

This is wall one. This is the wall with the closets. This is a view of some of the wallpaper left still to remove. Apparently it strips in layers. I have come to a major decision about wallpaper, no more is ever...and I do mean no more ever...is allowed on my walls. That goes for stickers and scotch tape as well.

Now then, after removing all that wallpaper and painting and shampooing carpet, my sewing/craft room is all set up. At least ready to be used that is, still have some things packed away that need to be brought out, am still hunting the thread rack, but the next job is cleaning the bedroom up and making the changes I want in there.

Thought you might enjoy the after photos to see the end result.
This is the view as you walk in. That was my dad's chair there in the corner.

This is a view of my shelves that I brought in from the bedroom with all my scrapbooking, stamping, and bead supplies. The famous Cricut is there with all the cartridges and you can't see it, but the bottom shelf is full of my Sizzix stash.

This shows my blue wall. Had to play with the colors a bit. I like the mountains and the beach, so ended up using the colors of the ocean I guess. Sand colored walls, blue wall, then green trim and on the closet doors. Doubt it would win any designer type awards, but it works for me. So nice and calm in there. The thing, I repurposed a lot of storage containers and such so it only big expense was the paint.

And, back to the beginning, but this shots shows off the green doors a little.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. I hear that bath calling my name.

Great Day

Today was a great day. I started out as tired as when I went to bed, sore from all the redecorating and moving things about, then started out on some errands.

I took a large bag of clothes to a consignment shop to try and sell them. They took two shirts. Out of all the name brand clothes which was mostly jeans, they took two shirts. First thing that happened was that out of one pair of jeans fell a baby spider. I mean tiny. I have no idea how that happened, I washed the whole bag of clothes. So, after that dismal start, I went to JoAnn's and hit a marvelous sale. Shadow box photo frames (well all photo frames) were 60% off. I still have each outfit from each of my children's baptism. We are Lutheran so they were all four infant baptism. At any rate, I have for years thought it would be so wonderful to frame each outfit to hang on the wall. Just never really got around to it and honestly, the outfits are stashed away in all different directions. Now that I am going to have a sewing room all for myself, I am determined to hang some of my prizes as art work. The outfits being one, some Dresden plate quilt blocks made by my aunt in the late 30's are another. I have some needle craft projects that I plan to finally finish and hang as well. At any rate, the original price of the frames was actually less than I was anticipating, but seeing the sale sign I just went ahead and bought four of them, one for each child's outfit. Also, found some cute wooden words to paint and hang on the wall that were in the clearance bin for less than a dollar. Of course, I also found the sign that said the Butterick patterns were on sale for $1.99 each. Good thing that since I have been invaded by the sewing bug that most of the patterns were sold out. I can remember in my younger days dumpster diving the fabric stores on days they discontinued the patterns. Only the envelope is sent back, the tissue pattern and directions was tossed. I would come home with huge black trash sacks full of patterns, grab some tea and sit down to go through them picking out what I could use, then tossing all the others. Those were the days. Thinking of the past, last night I was reading over some blog postings regarding vintage sewing. I love looking at what people come up with. They were just awesome. I am envious of these seamstresses that can get those dress patterns for a quarter at garage sales and then make the pattern fit them. I am hopeless at altering a pattern. Realize, back then, women were smaller. Limited under garments tending to make a woman's bust a little differently shaped as well. I am small on top, large waist, large hips and doubt that anyone even visualized some of the plus sizes we have today. While I am not as large as I was, still working on that as well, I am definitely not a size 6 from the 30's or 40's era. Not sure I was ever a size 6. LOL Any way, I took the plunge today and bought a Butterick pattern that is called a "retro" because it is style inspired from 1947, at least I think that is what the 47 means.
I think it just lovely. Nice and cool for summer, a jacket for cooler weather or in my case modesty in church. I just can't stand my bare shoulders being seen. The pattern is such a clean, simple, classy style that I am really excited to have it in the "to do" box. I also can't help but wonder what some of those ladies would have thought of some of today's fabrics. Am even pretty certain just which fabric I will use from my stash as well, just have to make sure there is enough of it. Feel there is since that piece was bought to make pants, skirt, and top and that particular fabric also happens to be 60 inch wide. Thinking ahead to Christmas, I bought a baby boy pattern and plan to make a whole little wardrobe for the new grandson. It will be fun making the clothes and any one that has had children will agree that by the time they are about six months all the gifts from the shower and well wishers will all be too small for the quickly growing baby. All in all, JoAnn's was a great shopping trip.

Next, I went to Walmart. I posted previously about the work we have been doing in youngest daughter's room. I had decided that I would use my Cricut to cut out her name and then attach it to the wall over her closet. That plan changed as we found a better spot to put her name and would make larger letters. I have one font. That font would be wonderful, but thought I would use it as an excuse to add to my cartridges. After all, it was just one and Walmart carries them at a price that is really good. I had the font all picked out, so I thought. As I was standing there, looking over the script styled font to make sure that it was the one I would buy, after all, I was about to spend $40 and could only pick one, I ran in to the lady that works the scrap craft area. She told me that the ones on the other side could be discounted and asked me how many I would buy if she did. I told her it depended on the final price. OH MY GOSH, I came home with 7 cartridges. She had marked them down to $5 each because they were considered out of date. Heck I didn't care about how current they were and ended up with some great cartridges, four of which are fonts, one of which has a princess crown (baby daughter is her daddy's princess you see) and of course will be the choice for the name. I had two Cricuts, gave the smaller one to my oldest daughter who is a teacher. So, at this great price, I figured I would grab a couple of them for her as Christmas gifts. For her I got the Sports Mania (all kinds of sports shapes and words - good for her bulletin board and the scrapbook she is making for oldest son and will make for the son due this month) and Opposites Attract (a font that looks like cursive writing). For myself, I bought fonts called Jubilee, Alphalicious, Opposites Attract (had to keep one for me too) and Calligraphy along with another one named Graphically Speaking which has all kinds of great shapes not to mention the great butterfly. Since I was still $5 ahead of what I had planned to spend, I bought some extra blades. Wish I could have gotten the tool kit on sale. LOL

Oh yeah, and at Sam's Club I came across this package of Rum Fruit Punch, already has the rum in it and a little spicket on the package. It is a bit strong, but taste wonderful. I know, it really isn't as strong as I think, when it comes to alcohol I am a total lightweight.

Wish List

Oh my goodness what all I saw today! I went to Home Depot today to pick up some metal shelf strips for daughter's room. Now, I have gone to Home Depot a hundred times with my hubby to get supplies for what ever project or repair was happening, have even gone there a few times to pick up an essential part or such for something hubby was in the middle of. But, today, I had an experience in there that I can only relate to finding the Christmas catalog in the mail box when I was...like nine? I repeat. Oh my goodness.

Here I am dreaming, sketching out, obsessing over the new sewing room I am about to make the now empty bedroom in to. I saw all kinds of neat organizing gizmos. Now, granted most of them are for putting in a closet the size of the bedroom I am working on, but the thought hit me and there it is. I have a 10 foot by 10 foot space to transform in to a sewing slash craft studio. So why not dress it out like a closet? Now, I am not complaining by any means about the size, after all before I packed all the sewing stuff away I only had a little corner of the bedroom and it served me very well. Although, hubby had to learn to sleep with the noise of a machine going, a light in his face, and the sound of the TV going.

I was very happy spending my days and nights making quilts, crocheting, hand embroidery for crazy quilting embellishment and machine embroidery. Joining trades and swap with people from all over the world. Of course, 95% of my work went to various charities, but I felt pretty good with myself when I worked on something. That is until I got a stupid brain fart and filled out an application for a job I saw in the paper. I was hired. Soon after settling in to that full time routine, the commute to and from work, dinners that didn't get prepared, clothes that didn't washed, children's events that didn't get attended, all that was going on and I just got really pissed one day and just packed it all away. No more quilting, no more swaps, no more sewing. I tried to keep doing the embellishments for some crazy quilting as that had been a new and fascinating technique I had just added to my quilting hobby, along with building up a great beginner's supply of all the essentials needed to embellish. All five machines were packed up and put away. All the sewing supplies in the drawers of my wonderfully huge desk (praying that we can manage to get it in the new room) were boxed up and put away, even labelled it all. Gifted away the bulk of my fabric stash as well. So, then I got the bright idea to get in to creating monthly menu plans, wanted to dress them up a little, so wanted to get in to stamping. Even became a Stampin Up demonstrator (huge mistake - too many quotas) and that led to scrapbooking. I admit, my very favorite thing to do is embossing. Just love to see the design and color pop, literally as it heats. At any rate, I dropped a lot of paychecks on scrapping supplies and equipment. I went to some classes, went to some crops. The last crop is when I determined that I was a total idiot when it came to figuring out what to take to a crop, I tried to take way too much of everything. I mean seriously, I would take two boxes of stamps, all my inks, embossing powders, my big case of punches, all my cutters and glues, photos as well. I think the only thing I left home was my Big Shot and Cricut (which I did take to one crop). All for what, to be snubbed. Some ladies just had their set groups and ignored everyone else, some where there and all of life is just about them and what they are doing or need to purchase, then some of them just showed up with their computer because they only do digital scrapbooking. Now, I ask you, what supplies to you need for that other than software? The classes were pricey, the projects were a state secret or something because they never gave you written directions to take home. I realized quickly that I can do the same thing at home, directions for various projects can be found on the internet or You Tube, and will end up being more productive and the best part is I can dress in my lounging attire.

Wow, had a few interruptions, helping to get daughter's waterbed filled so she can sleep in her new room tonight. She is so very excited and I while I am glad to see her happy I am just really hoping that her determination to keep it clean stays around a little bit. I mean really, is it expecting too much that a girl entering high school in the fall do a little housework? Not asking her to scrub floors with a toothbrush here, just that she get the dirty dishes from her room to the kitchen, pick up the bathroom when she is done, put away her clothes. That's all. The room still isn't finished, but all that is left is the little details. Furniture is all in place, most of the clothes, tomorrow hubby will install the shelving and she can finish moving her TV and games in there.

Read back over the posting and now I know where I was heading. LOL

After putting away the sewing, getting hooked on scrapbooking, I then put all that stuff away. And let me tell you, for a baby beginner I have a lot of stuff. Let's just say that when I dive in I dive in deep and leave it at that. Now, I have had a couple of health issues come up and have had to quit my job because, as I was informed, I have used up all my time off and it wasn't even March yet. You see, we had a family reunion to attend (which only happens every three years, had been eight since the last one, and we had already paid for it all) so needed a week then. Would need at least a week coming up when oldest daughter has the new grand son (will try to take a few days more now that I don't have to be back for work) and of course I am not going to miss that one. Just waiting for her to let us know he is here and we will head that way...19 hours one way. So, now that I am home, had gotten hooked on Facebook games and getting absolutely nothing done. At least nothing that should get done. Now, I am in a time crunch to get these bedroom make overs done because my oldest son and his wife are moving out of there apartment and they have been letting me stash a sewing cabinet I got from mom until I could get the rooms done. Oh, and did I mention that I am getting back the couch I let them have when I got my new living room furniture? It is a great couch, and I will enjoy sitting on it doing hand work this winter. Just wasn't planning on it coming back so now have to figure out how to get my dad's chair in there as well. Maybe though, I will rearrange the master bedroom and put the chair in here. Yeah, that's the ticket.

The long and short of this little novel is this, I am so ready to be done with all of this so I can actually work on something fun. I still have to peel off the wall paper, paint, shampoo that carpet and then move everything in. While I won't be able to get it all done before we have to get the stuff from the kids, if I can just get the room empty I can throw a drop cloth over the couch and paint around it. That brings me back to all the cool stuff for organizing a closet at Home Depot I found and will be getting. Not all of it is for closets, some is for laundry rooms and pantries. But the idea wheel started turning in mind and is still going. They had this set up that attaches to the what like those adjustable shelf units, you know the kind that has the little hook end support brackets you place where you want and then a wooden shelf lays on it. At any rate, there is this set up that is made of wire and has baskets that slide out like drawers. My head can see all my yarn and fabric in those. Of course my mother would hate it because you would be able to see it all still, but tough. I love momma to death and am so happy she is living in the same town with me once again. Oh, along with my health issues did I mention that I have my elderly mom living here now that depends on me more and more and I don't mind at all. For twenty years I lived in another town, the last ten of which was in another state and resulting in only being able to see her once a year. Especially after my sweet dad died. As I said, I love my mom, love all my family, but I have waited too long for this room and thank God above for moving my life to this point. So, selfish as it sounds, after being a stay at home mom for 20 plus years with four children, working full time for three years, now back at home with one child (a teenager, two children if you count hubby) I am now going to create my little hide away to create my own peace, one piece at a time. I am ready, and am determined to get my good life back.

Plan or goals. Get my room created, then get all my play things out. It will be fun finding what all I still have. Then, since it has become brutally obvious (has been for a few years, but made a bit clearer lately) that every bit of house hold chores is only going to get done by me I am going to purge the fat from this house. All the clothes that don't get worn, all books that are already read and reread, all the clutter that lays around waiting to be picked up for months on end, it is all leaving. I want to have a huge yard sale, but now that it is so close to time for the baby to come, it is looking like it may be September for I can have one. But that may be a good time around here for all I have to get rid of. Another goal is to actually get in to the habit of creating and using menu plans, doing big cooking sessions once a month or so for the freezer to have some dinners ready to go. Honestly, planning the menus will save us a lot of money. I did this in the past, it worked very well, and now that there is only three of us instead of six of us, I think it will work even better. Also, I want to get all the Christmas gifts made, Christmas cards made and addressed, then spend some time working on PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) of which I have an over abundance of. I don't think I will get in nearly as many swaps as I previously have, but will always do a few. One other thing I am really looking forward to is having room to get set back up for machine embroidery. I hope to have my mom's shirt made for her birthday in October. She is now in the Red Hat Society and I found a purple shirt and some embroidery designs to make her an embroidered shirt to wear to her meetings. I also hope to finish the scrapbook album I started for her...three years ago...it was to be a Mother's Day gift.

Almost forgot, have to add something about the new green craze. I am not a green person, but I am a person that believes in using something up until it can't be used anymore. I recently found out that some ladies were using up plastic grocery sacks to crochet in to mats and just have to do it. I have a ton of bags and am always bringing home more from groceries. So, I figure why not? Then today, found the neatest article about recycling old t-shirts in yarn to crochet. I have cut so many ones up for rags it is pitiful. While they are great dust rags, they are just not very absorbent for cleaning. Although, I did come across a pattern for crocheting a Swiffer type duster that can just be thrown in the wash and thinking that it would be the perfect thing to crochet out of old t-shirts. Trust me, I am always looking for new uses for an item before tossing it.

Well, I am off soak in a tub. My back is screaming at me for spending the last few days painting, moving furniture, and sewing and ironing today. However, that little voice inside me is screaming way louder to get it done so I can make something. Ah yes, some nice soft fabric, a great quilt pattern in mind, History Channel and Law and Orders on the TV, big bag of skittles, and my Dallas Cowboy mug of ice water and I am set. I will have to do one little project of scrapping first, going to pull out the Cricut and cut out my daughter's name to attach to her wall, of her new room of course. Yeah I know, I will have to take a break from my happy projects to do the boring things like go to the gym, clean the house, cook the meals, but hey, I am going to be so organized it will almost do itself. If I don't get stuck on my farm or in the frontier. LOL

Anticipation - tough to handle

The anticipation of life is killing me at the moment. First is the waiting for the new grand son due to arrive later this month. I want to see him, hold him, hug him, know that my daughter is okay as well. I want to see my older grand son who will be moving to the roll of big brother. I miss them terribly.

Next is the anticipation of finally having a room of my own to sew in, work on embroidery, or crochet, or paper craft projects. I have been working like crazy getting my daughter's new room all painted (purple) with new curtains, new blind, new closet doors (although they are fabric curtains instead of the wood doors) so we can finally get her moved in. Don't get to put new carpet in, no time or money for it, but I shampooed them and they are at least clean now. The big items should be moved this evening. Then, it will be my turn for my new room. OH HAPPY DAYS! Lot more work, but will sure be worth it. I have the crafting bug sooo bad. I am constantly planning how I want to arrange things in there, now that I found out I will also have to place a couch in there. But, it will still work out. I won't have enough room to fix it all the way I want to, but hey, I used to have a corner of the bedroom so now to have a whole bedroom and closet is just so...I am giddy. I think it will be so much fun just pulling my supplies out and finding everything once again. I was making the curtains to go over my daughter's closet door when I realized that I couldn't even find a box of pins, sewing thread or such. I just stared at the sewing machine for a moment taking it all in that I was finally sewing. Not a quilt like I want or machine embroidery work, but it is a start. Only, it sure makes me want to drop everything and work on a project. Then I catch myself wanting to short track the jobs at hand so I can get things set up quicker. But, I am holding strong and firm to do this right. I will post photos of things when we are done. And of course when the baby gets here.

Good thing is I have been so busy I have not been spending all my time on Facebook games. Okay, just wanted to post once again, which I have, so now it is off to make supper, check on the waterbed draining, install a set of shelves in daughter's new room, then get her moving in there hopefully for her to sleep in the new digs tonight.