MyLuckyChicken

Overwhelmed

Yeah. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. The end of the month is fast approaching and with it the deadline for all the paper work for the schools we are applying to for Bubba.

Plus I'm trying to write a grant. It's not the end of the world if the grant stuff doesn't get done but it's a TRAVEL grant. As in pack your bags and go somewhere (France actually). So I will be bummed if I don't make that deadline, but I am too tired to research right now.

I'm glad I deleted the list of things to do this month. I did it mostly for formatting reasons but I can't remember what was on it so it must not have been that important. 

I have to say the school paper work stuff is unbelievable. Many many pieces of paper and photocopying. yuck. But this too shall pass.

I've been doing other things, got the quilt taken apart, bread baking experiments, made a package for a friend (now to get it in the mail...), made another pillow case, ummmm... my sister's birthday present. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Until then, some flickr faves...

1. Little Red Ridding Hood, 2. vintage pillowcase quilt drying, 3. Encomenda... Order..., 4. Tote, 5. Shopping tote, 6. Vintage Buttons, 7. Vintage Pillowcases, 8. nifty thrift 10/3/07, 9. Market Tote

Cozy Day

It was indeed a snowy day!

So beautiful.

We did some sledding and built a mini snowman...

had some hot chocolate...

and I figured out how to make bread!

I had a little help.

Snow Day! and some progress, and some randomness...

Yeah!! Another snow day tomorrow! Much sledding and cocoa drinking will be done. We are supposed to get around 14 inches. That should be just enough to snow us in for a day and not so much that we'll be stuck. perfect.

I have a confession. We have a storage unit. and I hate it. We moved from a large apartment to a very small apartment to a smallish house and so some boxes had to go into storage. Also some super cool furniture we found. Now the storage unit is a bit taxing on our finances and we are trying to go through all the stuff before the next billing cycle.

I should add here that the first move was very badly done. No planning at all, and the highlight was my sister tossing things into large garbage bags and handing them to the movers. really. it happened.

The result is that the boxes that are there are totally random things, paper, pictures, an apron, just weird stuff. In order to make the task a little more fun I thought I'd post pictures of some of the random things I find. Keep in mind, I've moved these things twice and then paid to store them.

Exhibit #1-

This is a musical mirror. It winds up on the back and plays 'Love Story'. The date on it is 1983 and I'd say that's about right. Embarrassing? Yes. But it is also very motivating to simplify and completely pair down. I don't know if there will be more of this kind of stuff, but I suspect that there is.

On the crafting front, I've finished 2 birds and made some progress in taking apart the quilt. Here are the birds with some paper whites in my kitchen window.

Aren't they cute? The red one is very popular around here, he looks like the cardinal who frequents our feeders.

And finally, keeping with cute, this little one just tired himself out playing with his house. He fell asleep on the ottoman.

I completely understand pumpkin.

a half birthday and a little fun find

Yesterday was Bubba's half birthday. They celebrate it at school because he is a summer birthday. I think it's a sweet little tradition. Plus when you're 5, it's really important to be able to say that you are now 5 1/2.

Last weekend while we were at the fabric store he had wanted to buy some 'kid fabric' so we picked up a yard of sweet little squirrel print flannel. He wanted to make a pillow case. So we put this together as a half birthday present.

I had some great cozy white fuzzy material (if anyone knows what I am talking about please let me know what you call this stuff). It's supper soft. I was going to use it as the back of a baby blanket, but this pillow case came first. The bias tape on the top is vintage from the gray cabinet. I used the fancy stitch option on my machine.

Yesterday I also went to my local recycle center. You can buy a membership and people and businesses donate things to be recycled. What you can find there is totally random. It ranges from office furniture to copy paper, binders, file folders, fabric scraps, felt remnants, and yesterday there were 2 weird bags of beads. Of course I snagged them. They are all strung on elastic so I spent a long time last night taking them off. It is oddly satisfying work.

I think there may be some bead embellishing in my future.

Ready to Go

I am keeping to my list of things to do.

Here is a bunch of birds ready to go and be sewn. The red ones I thought would be nice for Valentine's Day. The white ones I am going to do with white floss and little pinkish beads, snowbirds. And of course, the blue birds of happiness. Plus a purple one for good measure.

Also, I put read 2 books on there. for the month. sad. but 2 is a start.

Sometimes with the kids, the laundry, the house and everything else I don't seem to pick up a book. So I set 2 as a minimum. I've finished one already and I've started on the second (see list on the left). I'm proud.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Day! I had a fun little breakfast at my neighbor's house to go to with the kids. They got to exchange presents and I made these for the moms, little travel sized sewing kits with a needle and a button, just in case. They could also be used as a needle book.

I used the last of one of my favorite vintage tablecloths. I used it on my table for a while, but it was time to turn it into something else.

front view...

back view...

you can see the strawberries on this side...

I've actually made these before.

But the inside is different this time.

The pictures are a little dark, but I had to get 'em wrapped.

Later I put together one of my needle book / sewing kits that I've been thinking about making from an old quilt top.

(I can't wait for spring light!)

This is one of my favorite prints from the quilt. I used a vintage button that matches the orange in the leaves.

I'm not sure what to put in them yet, if anything.

suggestions?