Miscellaneous tie-ups

Saturday was a good day for me (right up until the end when I a) realized that my sewing machine was in the trunk of the car that was an hour down the freeway, and b) started to right this blog and LOST IT.  Poops.

So, here I am, doing the blog on the real computer.  I can certainly type faster than I could on my iPod Touch, lol.  And, I can try to get that web address and NOT lose all the work I'd put into it.  I hope.

I have a difficulty in life -- I'm a little OC (obsessive-compulsive).  This is a GREAT trait in accountants.  Not so much in an artist.  But that means that instead of blogging on the blinds I just painted (maybe I'll get to it later this week), I feel I need to do these tie-ups, especially since the turtle that I did the finishing touches on was really finished last fall.  So I need to do that first.  Which means just a general blog about my Saturday.

And it was a pretty good Saturday.  I started the day by getting supper ready.  Between the new pastor and his wife coming for dinner, and Ken needing to eat by 5:00 so that he could leave on time, I had a tight deadline.  In my world, that means that I get up in the morning and review what needs to happen, make a schedule, and prep whatever I can.  And I LOVE cooking and I HATE cleaning, so I picked the former as an excuse to not do the latter.

Everyone's fed, and everyone's been sent on their way -- it's now Nikki-time.  Hurray!  And what do I want to do?  Work on my new quilt.  And here's why (my old one is in tatters, stupid puppies):

What do I have to do?  Find, clear, and prepare my workspace, lol.  It was so terribly bad because of the blinds.  See, on my last staycation, I picked the blinds as my project -- the dog had gotten my curtains caught in his collar and they were ripped (and repaired) and the rods were bent and twisted from him tugging himself free.  And I had had the idea and the blinds for ages, but lacked the ambition.  But the poor curtains. . .  I picked the paint colors, etc.  And the project was all over my work space.  I couldn't put the paints away, because I'd carefully picked them and I'd never find them again.  And I couldn't move THOSE paints away, because I like them all to stay together.  Besides, this is a push to get the process done.  Sometimes it's hard being me.

And now it's done, I can put it away.  But as I'm clearing up the space I come across this, and that, and the other thing that needs finishing.  First, the home decor pieces, found, brand-new in their box, at a garage sale:

And I did it all by myself.  You can tell, because the stem of first one is sitting under the frame below it.  It seems that I am a) not tall enough, and b) not careful enough in my guesstimating/placing.  Sigh.  No one will notice, and I will eventually forget that it's wrong -- maybe in 30 years. . .

Next, to fully put away the paint supplies, I needed to put eyes on the turtle first.  Now, here's the sad story -- I lost my mom to cancer just over a year ago.  And it was terrible.  Anyone who has gone through it, survivor or family/friends, knows what I'm talking about.  And, worse, my mom was really my friend, too.  I'd show up (I live an hour and a half away) every month or two and we'd go out and play.  She was upcycling long before it was a fad and I've picked it up from her, so sometimes it was shopping, sometimes it was upcycling together, sometimes it was both, lol.  Really, 90% of my visits were spent with her.  But now she's gone, what are my dad and I going to do?  He's an absolute artist with wood (as in "craftsman", not Andy Warhol), and, when I found a turtle wood pattern, I decided we could do it together.  One for him for Father's Day and one for me because I wanted one.  I named his Sheldon and mine is Shelley.  And that's last years project:

I bought the pattern at MaryMaxim.com, but I can't find it there anymore (the one they have now is NOT the same -- it is far more graceful, lol).  But I found that if you google "landscape timber turtle", lots of sites come up and I see images, etc.  I am NOT going to give you instructions here, simply because I was the helper, not the builder.  My dad provided the experience, tools, expertise, tools, any real contribution.  I was muscle and organizer and starter-upper.  And I provided the materials.  Anyway, the day Shelley appeared at my house, Ken helped me unload her.  Then I went and took a nap.  When I started making dinner, I noticed this beautiful plant in her.  "Honey, did you get me a plant for the turtle?"  He had NOT.  The neighbors snuck over and dropped one of their extras in.  Awesome, isn't it?

Here's Shelley turning into Quillton the Porcupine (to beat the cold, right?):

Last month, I went out and put a coat of green stain (sealer?  varnish?) on.  Dad said that Shelley had to be a little weathered, but winter took care of that for me.  I'm just hoping that the sun will fade the green a bit.  She turned out a little darker than anticipated. 

And, finally, yesterday, I added her blinkers so that she could see.  Um, ignore the bird poop that makes her look like she's crying. . .

And I won the battle with the bugs -- I have one of those bug-be-gone lanterns.  Yes, they swarmed me, but I don't have any bites, which would be a first for me.  I managed to swat the hardier ones that actually managed to land on me.  But I was running away, and that's why the bird poop didn't get wiped off.  Silly me. . .

Once back in the house, I continued my quest for the cleared workspace.  Next up was fixing one of my favorite hats.  My eldest girl (I don't actually have children, I just share with my friend's) made it for her husband, but he said it was too girly, so she added a blue rose.  But when she put it on, it was too big.  Now, anyone who knows me may not be surprised to find out I have a big head.  But, this time, I'm not speaking metaphorically -- I don't know if my head is bigger than normal, or if it's just that I have so much lots of hair, or both, but most hats don't fit me.  I was so happy to have a cute one that does!  Then one of the roses attachment stitches came loose.  So yesterday I fixed it:

But now I've got some unmarked blue yarn out.  For my birthday, my husband got me a yarn winder (for center-pulls).  Hmm, it's not marked, new yarn winder, what else could I do, but ball up the skein of yarn?  Another 3 minutes used up, lol:

Next, well, another sad story -- less than a month after my mom died, my poor old pug gave up the ghost.  He'd lasted four years longer than anticipated, so I was grateful for the extra time, but, still, the timing sucked.  I mean, he was part of my support structure, my going-to-work buddy, my nap buddy, my reading buddy.  It wasn't soul-crushing like losing my mom, but it still hurt.  Anyway, we found his tux, which I had purchased from a local pet store and then I tried to modify it down to the pug build.

Now the pug form is awkward.  And it's unlike just about any other dog (bulldogs and boston terriers are the only similar ones I can think of off the top of my head).

So I tried to modify the tux, but with limited result.  Onyx could barely succeed in wearing it, and no other dog would be able to, either.  So I ripped out the modifications last night.  I'm hoping a good washing will restore it.  I'll get another little dog for it someday.  Though I'm not sure a bulldog would fit, either. . .

It was my birthday last week, and I got lots of cards.  I've always felt bad -- people give me these stunningly beautiful cards and I eventually throw them away.  I was keeping them to make frames for scrapbooking pages, but then I realized doing a page once every three years wasn't doing the trick.  Now I have a new upcycle, though.  I did these cards because they won't fit into my kit box:

Neat, eh?  I found the instructions through AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com, but the link to the blog that contains the actual instructions is:  http://www.atomicshrimp.com/st/content/card_boxes.  Shh, this is going to be my Christmas "treat" to my fellow staff this year!

Now, my day was just about done at this time, but I thought, "One more thing, then I can really start my quilt."  And that one more thing was to finish the beauty piece for my blinds that I just painted.  In this case, I just laid it out, taped 4 pieces of paper together (to give me an idea of size), then printed out what I wanted to write in on the paper.  And tried again, since my scale wasn't right, lol.  Then I used this to figure out where to start so it would be centered.  And, voila!  Other than the blog, this project is officially done!

And you can see my workspace, and I was seeing midnight just around the bend. . .  I finally sat down to write a blog (then lost it).  But, now I'm ready to a) blog the painted blinds, and b) start the quilt!  Both what I really want to do, especially now that the have-to's are done.

Earring Organizer

I did it, I did it, I DID IT!   I finished my blinds!   But, unfortunately, the OC (obsessive compulsive) part of my makeup says that FIRST, I need to finish the jewelry.  And since I realized I had one major type of jewelry left (earrings), that's today's post.  

One of my girls (I don't actually have children of my own) was bopping around Pinterest and found a way to store her earrings.   

Please understand that she is the earring queen, so she really needed this.  She picked up the supplies then came to our party.  After dinner, we set to work.  She did all the work, I contributed some experience and a wee bit of encouragement, but, really, it was all her.  She was nice enough to let me blog it, though.  

I don't have any pictures except the finished product.  This is what it looks like:  

She came in with square dowels (if THAT makes any sense) and a length if burlap.  My Ken added a staple gun, I added some complimentary binding, and her sister lent us her sewing machine. 

First, we trimmed the burlap to true.  I just figured the innermost edge and cut along it, but it might be better to square it up using quilting methods, since burlap is such a coarse weave.  

Once it was trimmed, her sister showed us how to run the sewing machine.  And I showed her how to put the binding on the long open edges.  The binding was to keep the raw edges from unravelling.  

Then, she and Ken carefully (straightly) stapled the top edge to the square dowel.  Then, keeping good tension, they wrapped the burlap around the dowel until the original staples were covered, then put some more staples through both layers to secure to the dowel.  Repeat for the bottom dowel, being sure that the wrapping is going in the right direction. 

Finally, she just tied some kind if cording to the top and hung it up.

It works great, and she has requests in from family members to make more!

Ring Organizer

FINALLY!  With this post, I am CAUGHT UP.  I have come to blogging late in life. . .  Lol.

And, this is the final Easter Discussion blog for 2013.  Even Ken is satisfied with our progress and recognizes my financial hardship (I only get $10 a week).  I still need to fix up another bracelet solution and something for my various hair accessories, but we've definitely chipped away at an overwhelming problem, making it less so. 

So we're working on controlling my jewelry.  My husband doesn't realize how lucky he is -- I just don't have that much. And I really don't have many rings, but the symmetry of three different size boxes and three different types if jewelry. . .  I couldn't resist. 

So, we start with a box purchased from Michaels.  

Then, while talking about what I wanted to do, my friend gave me the perfect material for holding the rings (free after rebate at Menards):

What's nice about this stuff is how easy it was to cut and trim.  I used a utility knife to cut it to the width -- I did it exact so that it would squeeze in tightly. 

I just kept cutting the same size until it was full.  They didn't fit exactly, but I trimmed a corner off the top and the bottom to wedge in, but not too tight.  I also chose to trim the bottoms so that they nestled deeper in the box, leaving more head room.  

Now, pry them back out, lay down some pretty material (again, to stick with the travel theme I pulled out my "nautical" material, though the pattern was too big to really see it as nautical), figure out how much you'll need to go all the way around with an inch overlap and how much to fold in from the edges an inch in, and cut the material.  Seriously, I rough-cut it -- I stapled it on, so I saw no reason to be careful.  In this picture I didn't leave nearly enough fabric in the sides.  

What worked the best was to staple one edge to the sawn off edge (what will be the bottom).  

Then, wrap the fabric around tightly, putting some more staples in the bottom.

  

Finally, fold the ends in and to the bottom for another staple each.  

Looks a bit crappy, right?   But it's sturdy, and it'll be hidden on the bottom. One set of instructions that I researched did say that they glued the cloth on.  Each to his own.  

The only thing left to do is put it on the wall.  Either reference my necklace organizer or the bracelet organizer for tips and instructions, or wait a day or two for me to update this blog (Ken's not in the mood to put it up at 11:30 at night, lazy bum, lol). 

Finished product:

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Upcoming blogs:

I'm in the process of painting a set of blinds.  When I finish up (just need to get Eeyore and Piglet on), I'll blog it. 

Once that's done, and I can finally put the paints away, I will be free to make/blog a handkerchief quilt (my bed desperately needs a new quilt).  

I also picked up a couple of unique drawers off the free pile at the ReStore.  Never seen anything like them.  I'm going to touch them up and hang them on the wall.  

Also, this summer, my dad and I will be making a round picnic table.  I'll take pictures, and we have a pattern, but I won't be able to blog it since it's way outside my experience level (read: I'm the muscle, my Dad is the brains).  

And those are just the easey-peasey projects I have going on.  Well, not the picnic table, lol.  But, for now, I'm off to bed!