togbean's place

I did it my way

2007-04-07T11:37:00.000-05:00

Alright, man, its just too hard to keep two blogs going.
I feel bad about not posting over here but I'm trucking along on the other site, plus I'm not a big fan of the new version of Blogger.
So, I admit to the demise of Togbean's Place and I welcome you to reset your bloglines and favorites and visit me over at Chicken Betty.
And hey, leave a comment once in a while will ya!

Everything is falling into place

2007-03-20T17:52:00.000-05:00

This is the prep for just two days worth of syrup from last week. Those trees are sap fountains this year and we're looking forward to one more week of good sap letting. We're also going to try our hand at maple sugar candy this year. Be warned! We only have 3 pints left right now - these little bottles are going fast. Come and get it!

This was the cake for my nephew's party on Sunday, its a Federation Star Destroyer - not perfect but it made the boy happy. That and his new black cape, can't be agood little Sith without a cape :)

Brown Sugar

2007-03-10T18:44:00.000-05:00

This is now available in our Etsy Shop. Mmm.

You Don't Send Me Flowers

2007-03-02T09:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterdy was my one year blogoversary! Yeah ME :)
(the lovely image above comes from the good folks at Havana Street - check em out)

I had a long day at work but the first meeting of my Crochet 1 class was a big success and all the ladies went home with swatches to work on for the next week. I can't wait to start them on Granny squares next Thursday.
The Grumble's last day at her preschool is today. Next week she starts at the same care center as her sister, now they'll have some time together each day *sigh*.
Gotta go get ready for the day
Toots

Love Shack

2007-02-25T16:14:00.000-05:00

The Hubby built a sugar shack! He threw together this quick and dirty version for the all too brief sugaring season here in New England. He's out tapping our trees now and we should be boiling by weeks end. Mm, mm, do I love Real Maple syrup!

While he was working away at that the girls were "cooking" in the living room. They each got a little baker set for christmas and they like to place animal crackers in the mini muffin tin and set a timer to wait for them to "bake". Then its snack time. :)

I'm working on a paper for school, a bunch of projects for work, Merbs for Shawn and a felted bouquet for Cupcake - its going to be a busy spring.

The Last Picture Show

2007-02-07T20:58:00.000-05:00

My Bean got Twinkle Toes for her birthday - little purple ballet slippers. She was pleased as punch.

I apologize for my recent absence from the blog world. There has been a split in the works and Today I call it a soft opening - it will be official this weekend.

Togbean's Place will now be the home for family and life related bits and pieces and all my crafty work will now live over at Chicken Betty.

By Saturday my blogroll and links here will all change over and may of them will be moved over to CB. Unfortunatly as the new Blogger has made the rounds I have lost connections with many blogger friends - Please visit me over at CB so we can reconnect!

I'm looking forward to the refreshing boost that I feel when posting on the new site and I promise to return to previous post frequency soon. Thanks for sticking with me!

Toots

Today is Your Birthday

2007-01-29T12:58:00.000-05:00

You were the best 26th birthday present a girl could ask for.
Three days old and already smiling :)

Happy first birthday with all the Clifford goodness your little heart could take.

2nd birthday and you were growing so fast - Sesame street favoites all over your cake. The happiest girl to have a Big Bird plate and the gift of a new sister in your second year.

Third birthday and Care Bears were your thing, and Dora, and fairies and barbies and crayons and...

Fourth birthday and you had to have My Little Pony. It was a purple and pink day.

Fifth birthday and it was princesses all around - even though you favored The Little Mermaid.

Sixth year and a Dancing Princess you are.
Keep smiling baby, you make Mommy and Daddy SO proud.

Same Rock'n'Roll to Me

2007-01-26T10:02:00.000-05:00

Its Merb Time again!
What is it with winter and these little mermaid dolls?!? My BIL runs a small production company and has comissioned 4(possibly 5) Merbs for a video for a client. This is the yarn for the "scandinavian" merb.

He's working on an underwater club scene kinda vibe so I'm making a variety of ethnicities to fill in the scene. This is the yarn for the "asian" merb.

All the dolls will have pipe cleaners in the arms so they are posable and a wire "backbone" so the bodies are also poseable. Eventually they will be filmed dancing in the club, it should be pretty funny - to me anyway, dancing merbs, Hah! This is the yarn for the redhead merb.

DId I mention the Narwhale? The whole point of the thing is to have a narwahle show up at the end - so the party can really get going. This will eventually be a unicorn of the sea.

Of course we also have a lovely latina merb in the works. This is my yarn selection for her - I'm thinking of throwing a few highlights into her hair, Miami Beach style, we'll see.

This is Ms. Latina merb in progress. She's actually done and stuffed at this point - no photos of that yet. I may also have an african beauty to knit up and I have the task of making multiple eyes for each merb. Not so they look like aliens but so they can change expressions. More updates to come.

Lazy Sunday

2007-01-21T21:22:00.000-05:00

This is why its worth it to stay home for a quiet day with the family.

The Grumble wouldn't sit still enough to be filmed - we'll have to catch her unawares on another day.
More posts with actual works in progress later this week. I Promise!

Flying Purple People Eater

2007-01-14T19:50:00.000-05:00

As promised, my present to Chixon! Chicken Chixon to be precise. She will be loved, though hopefully not by Baxter

Also, the promised pic of my first glorious gift of sock yarn from the Kangaroo Dyer. These are her Mistakes people! Mistakes!!

Finally, you may want to peek over here, it's a work in progress and you'll find out more soon :)

Headin' for a Heartbreak

2007-01-13T11:01:00.000-05:00

I love working at Webs!
For so, so many reasons only one of which is the amazing free stuff that we get. Back during the rush of the Holidays I was also the happy recipient of 2 ebony cable needles, a set of sz2, 5 1/2" rosewood dpns, sz4, 4" bamboo dpns, sz8, 8" rosewood needles and a set of stitch markers. This table full of lovelies is what I got to come home with yesterday.

This is a silk mohair blend that our on staff dyer, The Kangaroo Dyer, was playing with, these were a couple of her "mistake" colors! Ultimately we decided not to carry this yarn but Artyarns carries a very similar blend.

We also get lots of nice free sample from the yarns companies we work with. Right now is swatch madness at the store as all the new Spring yarns begin to pour in. Customers have a much easier time picturing how to use the new yarns when they can see and feel how they knit/crochet up. I'm not a big cotton girl but it is Rowan and it will be nice for some cotton tops for the munchikins this summer.

Jo Sharp also has some great yarns with many, many wonderful patterns to play with. The Reynolds Soft Sea Wool is a new yarn and like the name implies - this stuff is soft. It has a nice nubby texture and knits up wonderfully on sz4 needles( 4!? Trust me, I've seen the sample swatch).

More lovely Rowan cotton.

The large hank is a not-quite-right dye lot of Kangaroo Dyer's SweetPotato Sock yarn - man, I love this color. One hank, two socks. Next to it is another "mistake" color that she was trying in the sock yarn, it'll make a nice pair for one of the munchikins. I had also gotten 2 hanks earlier in the year from her in colors that she wasn't thrilled with. What this woman sees as failures I would kill to some up with! She is one of the most honest, and modest, and lovely women I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I'll have to show you the other two colors in the next post.
Finally, one last "mistake" color, I'll show you the finished project soon, promise! I'm off to finish up some stuff for CHIXON :), pics to come later this weekend (we don't want any peeking!) The Hubby and I are childless this weekend and we have lots of time to spend with friends and get some little things done around the homestead.

Oh, today's post title - it's eigth-grade flashback day around here, I'm listening to Winger.

Butterfly Kisses

2007-01-10T19:20:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday The Bean became an "offical" Daisy Girl Scout.
She had an investiture ceremony with her troop where she was welcomed to the Girl Scouts and given her first GS pin. We shared the evening with one of the local brownie troops.

Both of the ceremonies took less than 5 minutes - something the Hubby carefully noted because we had to wait twice as long for things to begin than we did for the actual events.

There was a special cake for each of the troops and the parents brought potluck dishes for the meal. The Grumble had her eyes on the cakes from the moment we walked in and everyone was waiting for her to snag a finger full of frosting when no one was looking. Thankfully she was a good girl and waited till after the meal but she told us she was going to have a piece of both when it was her turn.

The Bean was handed a daisy after she was pinned and asked in all seriousness, "Is it fake?" Her troop leader Brigette is great, " Yes, sweetie so you'll have it forever." My Mom, Dad and Step-Mom all came out to share in the evening and we had a fairly nice meal - some good potluck to be had in this here town - and we waited for all the Girl Scout to finish their meals before they blew out the candles and we could all have cake.

The grown-ups sat at the table and talked a bit as we waited for the girls to get their slices of cake. The Grumble got her two. I haven't seen my Dad laugh that herd in a while :)

Hopefully we'll have just as much fun next year as the Grumble becomes a Daisy and the Bean a Brownie.

Pins and Needles

2007-01-05T21:07:00.000-05:00

I was home for a bit today and had a little time for some crafting.
I've been wanting to do some shrinky-dink pins for about 6 months and I finally just did it today. I may give some away and I wanted to keep them nice and organized, so I made these littel cards to store them on.

Arent's they cute! Its Chicken Betty in miniature! I'm thinking of making a whole line of chicken pins: Chickens Agnes, Maude, Edith and the ornament chicks. Whee!

This is How We Do It

2007-01-01T21:04:00.000-05:00

The Give-Away Girls have made it to their new homes.
Well two out of three ain't bad. Ginny, on the right, and Gertrude, on the left, have found their new homes. I thought I'd share with you how they are doing.

The Stitching Nut says of Ginny:
"I got Chicken Ginny and I adore her. Altho, she looks very much like the "Partridge in a Pear Tree" and not a chicken, LOL. Must be the bling & clothes she's wearing, huh?"

Ellen says of Gertrude:
I just wanted to tell you again how much I have enjoyed having Gertrude here. She has been perched under our Christmas tree since we put it up. All went well until Christmas Eve when we have all of our family gathering here for fun and festivities, not to mention good food and all that goes with the Season. Well, not usually one to Tell Tales, but she got so many compliments that put the rest of the tree inhabitants to shame....and I fear all of the attention has quite gone to her wee head. She is refusing to leave her spot and we have had a number of discussions on Humility, Piousness, and Agreeableness. I have told her that when I take the tree down, pack everything away, she will not be included in the boxing up, but, as I told you, be a Presence in my Room. This seems to mollify her, and I am hoping for the best. The best meaning that she will go sweetly into the back room and rule her roost there. She has really been quite peevish! And may I add, has exhibited an aura of superiority. I have quietly suggested to her that beauty is only skin deep and ugly goes clear to the bone. I can tell that she is considering this possibility. I think that we may, after all, have a smooth transition in the long run.

And look, LOOK! At this fabulous thing that my MIL got me for the holidays. A mini iron! Yee-haw this thing will sure come in handy for seams and little sewing projects. Yay for me! We had a great time at the in-laws on Sat night with the Hubby's parents, both brothers and their ladies (wife + fiancee). The munchikins made out like bandits, again. An ant farm, a seamonster growing kit from the smithsonian, awesome handpainted building shapes, a rock tumbler, lots of goody bath soaps, bubbles and girlie body sprays. The Hubby and I got a vaccuum sealer for the kitchen, some handmade soap, pumpkin butter(!), and a turkey fryer - not for turkey - for boiling down sap for syrup in the spring. Homemade maple syrup for all next Xmas!

Wishing you all a fabulous 2007!

What a Difference a Day Makes

2006-12-29T00:10:00.000-05:00

These were my munchikins last year - what a difference.
This weekend we have holiday time with the Hubby's family and with my Dad's side of the family. The girls will get to wear their Holiday outfits again - they are very excited. We still have 2 more holiday get togethers in two weeks and by then it will almost be birthday time around here. I'm looking foward to the slow days of February.

By the way, if you are looking for good deals on yarn: Webs annual Year End Sale is ON! If you are in the Northampton MA area - GO there! If not, hit the web and hit it soon! I'm there people and I'm watching this stuff FLY out the door. I honestly didn't think people could buy that much yarn! The Hubby is still baffled by a yarn only business thriving :)

Two for the Road

2006-12-26T23:17:00.000-05:00

There is a decided lack of crafting proof on this here blog lately. I do promise, as one of my new years resolutions, that I will get back to makin things in 2007. Look for the photographic proof in the next week.

This was the munchikins favorite pic from our Xmas photo session. Needless to say it is NOT the one we have sent to relatives. They are both back over at my Mom and Sis' place for the next few days - Hubby and I aren'y quite sure what to do with ourselves on a weeknight with no kids. !?!

Sorry - I just can't get over this guy. WOmen find him attractive? Maybe its like the Tom Hanks thing and its not really "him" but the character he's playing that is attractive. I mean - look - at those heavy lidded, "I'm going to get you, and not in a good way." eyes. *shiver*

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2006-12-25T16:33:00.000-05:00

Ah, Christmas
We spent yesterday at my Mom and Sis' place and the munchikins had a blast.They got their own bakings sets, lots of soft and fluffy stuffed animals, new clothes for their Bitty Babies, new jammies, slippers, books, and more that I already can't remember. They had a wonderful time and were fast asleep 15 minutes into the drive home. Ah.

Somewhere in the middle of all that the Hubby and I went for a little walk. Mom and Sis live on a little spit of what used to be Route 9 through Western Mass. A couple decades ago they redirected parts of the road for a straighter, smoother ride. It was a crisp day but not too cold and it was nice to get away from the crowded bustle of holiday activity for awile. - This is a view of the inaccessible end of the road.

This is new Rte 9 - not nearly as interesting.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

2006-12-18T15:27:00.000-05:00

If I were to experience a colorful soft and fuzzy nightmare about pengiuns it would look like this:
These were made by the lovely Jenn who was part of my group (#28) in the holiday ornaments swap. The penguin that I recieved is the little mint colored fellow just to the right of center. The kids made sure he was front and center on the tree so I'd see him every day. Don't get me wrong I can appreciate all the work that she put into the little guys and I can see why everyone is fawning over them, she did a lovely job - I just have penguin-phobia.

If you'd like to, go check out the flicker group to see all the 400+ amazing ornaments that were swapped this year :)

Mary Did You Know

2006-12-17T22:53:00.000-05:00

I must confess. I'm sure I have said before to family members and friends that I detest ironing.
It is a lie.
I hate the time it takes.
Most days I much prefer dropping my clothes in the dryer with a damp cloth and coming back AFTER my shower to find everything wrinkle free and warm:)

Tonight the munchikins are in bed, the Hubby has dozed off early and I find myself doing a final pressing on a few holiday gifts and the skirts to the Munchies Holiday Ensembles. Ironing always, always reminds me of my Nanny, Dad's Mom. She would pick me up on Sunday mornings, early enough for Sunday School. Sometimes we would stay for the fellowship lunch but more often we would head back to her and Grampy's house for grilled cheese or Spaghetti O's. Our afternoons would be filled with books(poetry and Aesop's Fables), music(Danny Kaye singing Hans Christian Anderson tales) and household chores. There were dishes to be washed and dried, floors to be vacuumed, dinner to be prepped - I was always on salad or potato peeling duty - and sheets to be ironed.
Ironing tonight brings it all back to mind. The shush shush of the iron moving across the fabric, the smell of the steam and the almost burnt cotton and the spray starch - that woman liked crisp sheets - and the congested sigh of the iron as she placed back upright at the end of the board.
I don't usually go onlike this - it must be the cold medicine. I am sick; Woof.

My Mom and my nephew, Buddy, came out to visit today just as we were putting up our tree. The munchikins did most of the ornament hanging, I just don't have the energy, and the Hubby did all the schleping of boxes and tins back and forth to the attic in the garage. I'm not doing anything other than the tree this year, I don't feel well enough and by the time I do it will be too late. I'm okay with it though becausee I know it just means that when everything goes up next year it will seem magical to the little girls who hardly remember the holidays of '05.

I'm settling in on the couch tonight to let the Hubby get a decent nights sleep. I'll curl up and try to finish this:
A very interesting and thought provoking fictional account of The Zombie War. The author writes about a virus that infects and causes an incurable living death and the human struggle for survival. It is all told through interviews
in which participants recount their own experiences. This builds one hell of a story.
If you have a guy in your life that likes historical or military type novels, grab this one for him and throw in a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide

Ok. I'm off to snuggle and read now. The Grumble has an ear infection and an appt with the Dr tomorrow and I expect a long night.

Separated at Birth

2006-12-16T11:14:00.000-05:00

Drumroll please...
Names were double checked from e-mail and comments both here and over at the Stitchalong. They were carefully written on a yellow legal pad( and by careful I mean scrawled - hey, my helper for this endeavor can't read yet so we're all set folks), cut, folded and "shaked" in the Cinderella basket.

The Grumble very excitedly and vigorously shook the basket between each drawing.

And we have our winners. Check your e-mail boxes girls, I've already sent you messages. The Give-Away Girls: Gladys, Gertrude and Ginny will be off to their new homes on Monday.

Thanks to everyone who entered and for all your enthusiasm in this foul endeavor!
Toots.

The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing

2006-12-15T13:11:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you are home sick from work and can't really talk because you'll hack up a lung? You embroider of course!

We'll be taking the munchikins' holiday pictures this weekend so I need to get their outfits finished. I picked up some fabulous plaid fabric back in Sept. at the flea market and I've been looking for the perfect tops ever since. I found these, el cheapo, at Old Navy the other day and they are perfect. I just added some detail at the waist and we are done.

The skirts are all cut out and I just have to sew them together. I probably won't get to that until Sunday since there is NO WAY I'm going to survive sitting up in front of my sewing machine in the cold garage for an hour. Sunday it is. I'll post the munchikins pics on Monday.

Don't forget!! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER TO WIN A CHICKEN!! You have until midnight EST to e-mail me. And yes, I will look at your time stamp. Chickens!

Oh Tannenbaum

2006-12-11T20:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the munchikins annual cookie day with Grandma. We all had a great little breakfast, complete with maple syrup in the Grumble's hair and the Hubby and I watched gleefully as his parents drove off with our kids at 11am. A whole day to ourselves! What to do!?! How about stopping by to see our friends new baby, some final holiday shopping and a perfect hike.
We hiked up and around the reservoir in Northampton and Wow! That is one steep start! It settles out after a bit - I much prefer the switchbacks folks. A beautiful view to be had at the top, crisp , sweet air, little modern-life noise and some quiet time with my husband. We only saw one other person while we were out there, a guy walking his dogs. One of the dogs was a pitbull mix and the other was a corgi that I could not stop laughing at, those little legs! Too funny!
I saw these great yellow leaves shining out against all the other drab colors - I could not find any others like them, so beautiful.
We stopped at my Mom's on the way over to get the munchikins and picked up a large portion of their x-mas morning goodies, they've been hiding in Mom's garage. And drove down the mountain to the Hubby's childhood home for dinner.

The munchikins made these fantastic glitter ornaments, chocolate spoons and chocolate covered peppermint sticks for yummy flavored hot cocoa. They also made trail mix, one of Grandma's specialties, yummy no-bake peanutbutter balls and special doggie cookies for the special canines in the family to have treats at Christmas.

All in all it was a great day. I'm looking forward to getting some bits and pieces done in the evenings this week and hopefully I can blow through the decorating and final gift prep this weekend. Once the holidays settle out and life calms down a bit I hope to get back to blogging more often - thanks to all of you that stick around for me :)

Our House - Madness

2006-12-08T23:43:00.001-05:00

Have you seen these!?!
The lovely lady over at Bella Dia has inspired me. I NEED to make these little houses! I think I'll challenge Cupcake to a house a month challenge for 2007. It will be SO neat to have a whole little village to put out next holiday season :)

I also need to get you all some pics of the other stuff I'm working on. I finished a new cabled hat for the Bean tonight - mittens and scarf next. The Hubby is stopping by the store tomorrow to check on a horrible yarn that I found in Pixie Corner(and the warehouse) - Orange Blaze Camo Fleece yarn!! No, I'm not kidding and it is only $2/ball. I need to sew up the munchikins holiday dresses so we can take pitures of them in the dresses, and a few other bits and bobs before I hit the holiday wall. I'm not feeling stressed or rushed . . . yet. Check back on me sometime next week.

Oh! And get your e-mails in if you want a chicken. One week left to enter!

Water Baby

2006-12-05T22:16:00.000-05:00

Why does my life get in the way of my life! Does this happen to you!?!

My good friend had her third baby yesterday. Meet Miss Ayda. The munchikins are jumping with excitement to meet her but alas, both have the sniffles right now and will have to wait a bit. Miss Ayda's big brother and sister are also very excited to share their new baby sister with the world and made me promise to tell the Bean, the Grumble and the Hubby all about her. I did! She's adorable, soft, PINK and did I say adorable.
Congratulations my friend, another fine child baked to perfection :)

High Feather

2006-12-04T17:58:00.000-05:00

Oh, my little feathered friends. You make such a cute pile of chickens. All my little holiday chickens have been boxed up and sent off the their intended recipients. Nine little boxes going in many different directions: Brooklyn, Oakland CA, Providence RI, Minneapolis, Alexandria VA, Vancouver, Washington DC, Louisville KY and the Netherlands. WooHoo!

Hanging out here, in their natural habitat, we have the Holiday Chickens:Henrietta, Hilda, Helga, Heidi, Hortence, Harriet, Hannah, Harper, and Hester. Snuggled in with their sister chickens are the Give-away Girls: Gertrude, Ginny and Gladys.

I had fun making these mini versions of Chicken Betty but I'm glad to be finished with the fowl for awhile :) I'm sure I'll be making a few more for the holidays but this week I'm working on some felted potholders, some robot dolls - NOT from Wee Wonderfuls! my robots are based on drawing that the Bean did last year. I'll hopefully have some pics soon. I'm also working on a sample vest for the store, and hat/scarf/mitten sets for the munchikins and the Hubby.

OK!! If you are interested in having one of these lovely ladies living at your home...drop me an e-mail!! I will accept entries until next Friday, 12/15/06. I'll have each of the kids and the Hubby pull a name out of a bucket and we'll ship you a chicken! International entries are welcome.
togbean*at*charter*dot*net

Brown Eyed Girl

2006-11-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Mom.

You'll always be 27 to me.

All Together Now

2006-11-26T19:21:00.000-05:00

Ah, the holidays. Pic heavy post tonight.
I think Thanksgiving dinner this year was the best meal my family has ever put together. My Step-Monster(self-named) got all the right snacky goodies for the kids - gerkins, pepperoni, cheese, crackers, carrots and olives, Dad cooked up the most delicious, moist, cruchy/salty skinned turkey, My Aunt's stuffing was simple perfection, My sister had great mashed taters, butternut squash and green bean casserole, my SM'S Mom brought a great fruit salad and NO ONE burned the rolls. So much for tradition :)
This morning after breakfast the munchikins were playing outside and I caught this while following them around - can you see it?

I wonder if this little sprout will make it through the winter. I'd love to see what it turns into in the spring.

We all went caching today. There was a new series with stops on all 5 of the local college campuses. I kept finding wierd fungi. I wonder if these would glow in the dark, foxfire, St elmo's fire? what is that glowing stuff in the woods/swamps called anyway? Maybe its this stuff.

Then I saw these. A whole sapling trunk covered with little white disks, except for these two. What made them red, what did they get/are they lacking that makes them different from the rest of the colony?

On our 4th stop of 6 the kids got to roll down this HUGE hill. They laughed the whole way and I think we found a perfect spot for sledding when we get some snow.

This has been circulating on the blogs for a bit and I thought I'd do my version.

Perhaps the chickens will be done tonight or tomorrow and I can open up the give-away. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

She's Got Legs

2006-11-23T08:57:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving (USA) to Everyone!

I thought I would share a little something we did as a family two years ago. Enjoy :)

Tusk

2006-11-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

Funny how stuff always happens in groups. Lions hunting, girls going to the bathroom, celebrities dying and people asking me for Merbs. Now, I only came up with the things 8 months ago but this would be the 4th wave of people asking me to make one or asking me for the pattern. I had one lovely lady asking for the pattern this week and my Mother in Law asking for one for a distant family member and then my brother in law asked for four and one of these:
Yup, its a Narwhal. It's for a project over at Minty Fresh but I won't be getting to it until after the turn of the year. S'alright, I already have the perfect yarn :)

Wing and a Prayer

2006-11-18T21:58:00.000-05:00

AH, almost there. I need to pick up a few extra buttons tomorrow, enough for 9 sets of eyes and feet. Then I can get to work stitching up the other 8 lady chickens. I raided the US sensus records for good chicken names, going all the way back to 1889 - boy there are some treasures back there, Matilde!?!

A new/used engine goes into the Corolla next week and hopefully we'll have a running car by Thanksgiving :)
In the meantime I have 4 pies a carrot cake and some mashed turnips to plan. We do T-day at my Dad's and we also celebrate his birthday(hence the carrot cake, his favorite)- Dad hates turnips and won't allow them to be cooked in his house, says they smell like boiled gym socks, but my brother in law loves them so I cook em at home and bring them along.

Today was the first day of my three day weekend and I'm feeling very productive. I started Dad's birthday gift, I'll be done by tomorrow night. I got one chicken 95% done, and I added another 4 inches to a vest I'm working on for the store. I also made lunch and dinner, washed dishes and got the kids to bed without a scuffle. Alls well.

Isn't It Ironic

2006-11-14T16:34:00.000-05:00

No pics today.
My car blew up.

Our beetle car was in the shop over the weekend, she wouldn't go into reverse.
I left work on my lunch break today to go get the Hubby, turn around and get the beetle and both go back to work in separate cars. On my way to get him my car blew up on 91.
No oil light, no high engine temp, just BANG, smoke and an engine block with a hole in it. 1 nasty State Trooper and 2 nice and sweet State Troopers later, my preferred towing company was called and me and "Kaboom" were dropped off at my mechanic's, right next to my bright shiny red beetle - all ready to go.

Spare engine block for a 1990 Toyota Corolla, anyone?

Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares

2006-11-12T18:55:00.000-05:00

I'm working on my ornaments for the swap - got my recipient list last Wed. I figured since I'm really into the chicken thing right now that I should spread it around a little. I also didn't want to go with the traditional Xmas/Hanukah color choices. So, I decided that I would go with greens and browns to remind us that there is more than grey in nature - since that is most of what we see in winter.

I also decided to make some as give-aways!! Later this week I'll post a pic of the finished chx and I'll have you all e-mail me for a chance to win one - more details in a few days.

And a quarter for scale - I luvs my leelte chickens :)

It's the Day of the headless chickens around here. This is a pic of the weather outside - much more seasonally appropriate than the 70 degrees that we experienced on Friday. I'm mean really, 70, in November? Sheesh.

Take It To the Limit

2006-11-09T20:53:00.000-05:00

I am watching the most horrific of movies - "The Affair of the Necklace". I'm sure that if this film had been made in France, where it is set, it might have turned out at least halfway decent. This thing is sludge, the Hallmark channel makes better movies. I'm not sure why I even put this one in our netflix queue. I like a historical romance with intrigue as much as the next girl but I can not stand Hillary Swank or Simon Baker. Maybe it was for Adrien Brody or Brian Cox, maybe I was drunk. This thing sucks - avoid it!

This is a bag that I made for my friend Kelli. I promised it to her for her birthday in December but she just gained terminal velocity and has also escaped the clutches of the Mega-Bookstore. I don't say that she escaped B&N, cuz she didn't, she transferred to another store, a store that is run with common sense, integrity, and respect for fellow employees. And I will leave it at that. I'm happy for her because she is happy. :)

She is a big fan of our first Pres., ole GW. so I put her monogram on his shield. I can't wait to give it to her!

You're a Shining Star

2006-11-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.
Kari did this one - I thought it would be neat.

George Washington Bag tomorow.

Sunshine Day

2006-11-06T22:33:00.000-05:00

I love this show.

I love this show like I used to love West Wing. I sit on the couch in jittery anticipation of the completely unfunny yet totally relevant and intelligent banter between the characters. Dialogue that doesn't just hit my funny bone but nails it, everytime. This show is a shining example of why the sitcom has failed - jokes aren't funny, life is funny. I feel like I'm 13 again, staying up late to watch the 1989 American Music awards, seeing GNR win and watching drunken Duff and Slash swear their merry way through the closing music and frantically cut to announcer with the throw to comercial. Giddy with stifled laughter and the shakes - the "Holy Carap! that is funny" shakes. I love this show.

This is what I'm working on to keep my mind off the fact that my Beetle car won't go into reverse and we're going to have to put more money into it - yay:(

What Would You Do

2006-11-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is my first day and the big bosses will be worn out from being at Stitches East all weekend. I'm absolutely jittery with anticipation. I am not normally a morning person, but knowing that I don't have to be to work until 9:30 means that I want to be there at like 7! Argh!
This is what I did with my Koigu. 5x5 diagonal rib neckwarmer with a crochet edge and some lovely werther's looking buttons
See, werthers. Mmm

It's in the Bag

2006-11-04T09:14:00.000-05:00

My friend Furniture Polish, who I made this and this for, works for this lovely lady making these lovely bits. I'm totally into the Sally Skull Denim Tote!
And look at this:

The tomato!!

AH. Yesterday was my last day with Barnes & Noble - I can't say I was sad. Too much drama the last year, too much! I'm really looking forward to Monday and Webs ;)
We are free of munchikins right now, they're both with grandparents since last night, Ah. They'll be home this afternoon so there's things to be done. Dishes, laundry, traveling down to the In Stitches charity show - I love when little knitting groups do good things. I'm off to judge a speed knitting contest and show some stuff in the fashion show, all for charity - The Hubby is going to do the grocery shopping, hee hee.

Everyday Is a Winding Road

2006-11-02T12:49:00.000-05:00

Day two of November.

I finished matching mittens for the Grumble. No pattern, knit from Valley Yarns Barkshire on sz 13 dpns and felted once. She loves them. I added a little faux smocking stitch to match the hat. Now, on to the scarf.

My blogging buddy, Marti, sent along some goodies as a thank you for Chicken Edith. These are adorable little Moose Mounties, the girls love them, had to take them to bed last night and The Bean took hers to school today to show her classmates where Canada is.

These were the goodies for me. A lovely thank you card - Chicken Edith was a belated wedding gift, the pattern for duckie feet baby booties - can't wait to make these, and Koigu! from Lettuce Knits!! Where the Harlot hangs out!! Yargh! How cool and I love the colors!

Look closer. I've already cast on for a lovely neck warmer with a diagonal rib. Hmmmm, ribs. Guess I know what I'm making for dinner tonight :)
Tomorrow is my last day at the bookstore - I'm finding it hard to focus on tying everything up - I just want out at this point. A bit of paperwork tonight and passing it all along to the other managers tomorrow. *sigh* I can't wait till Monday, it doesn't seem real - I mean Webs! Webs!

Turn, turn, turn

2006-11-01T20:43:00.000-05:00

Alright, here we go with posting everyday this month: Last night was trick-or-treat at the in-law's place. Once the kids finally got the hang of which houses to go to (the ones with lights on!) it was hard to hold them back. At about the eight house the Grumble saw the light and shouted, "C'mon! This house is doin it!"

Elina from Barbie Fairytopia and Tinkerbell.

Some of you will remember last years Little Mermaid and Cinderella.

My little woodland pixies.

Dumbo and one of the pink elephants - pay no attention to what will probably be the only picture you ever see of me on this blog :)

Tomorrow: mittens, Koigu, duckfeet, and other goodies from the great white north.
(Gah! I started this post at 8pm - stop messin with me Blogger!)

Leather and Lace

2006-10-29T11:03:00.000-05:00

You start with some totally cool leather looking paper that the Hubby picked up last year. You think, "This matches my brother-in-law's couch. What neato thing can I make with it to give as a wedding gift?" You mull. You ponder. You look through this. You get to work.

You stitch away at three little pieces for a week and then you search the stores for three perfect little square frames that you can recover with the above cool, leather paper. You find no such thing. Instead you find a triptych frame and decide to recover just the mat. You dig out your spray adhesive. You spray. You wait. You adhese(?)

You trim, roll and stick. You iron your stitched pieces. You agonize for 35 minutes over arrangement of said pieces. You finally close your eyes and pick randomly. You are totally pleased with the configurement until you realize that it was the first one you tried and you could have saved yourself 35 minutes of worry if you hadn't second guessed yourself.

You snap a picture of the back of the pieces before you place them in the frame and then you totally forget to take a picture of the finished piece before you wrap it up and head off to the wedding. You don't realize this until you are posting about it the next morning and you find no pictures on your camera.

We had a great time at the wedding, just as my new Sister-in Law began her walk down the aisle the sun broke free of the clouds and flooded through the stained glass window at the back of the chapel - it was beautiful and perfect!
I just hope we don't have to wait 10 more years for the youngest Brother-in-Law to tie the knot, we're on a 10 year pattern here folks and the boys are only 1 1/2 to 2 years apart!

Mummers Dance

2006-10-26T12:39:00.000-05:00

The Hubby took this pic in late fall about 2 years ago and I just love it. I found it again the other day after he had cleaned up the desk. I have always thought this should be a movie poster or album cover. Its just so ..faerie.

Moving Right Along

2006-10-24T10:16:00.000-05:00

...dugga dum, dugga dum.
Nice trip to Rhinebeck on Sunday with Cupcake. I TOTALLY missed the exit for the Taconic Pkwy and as I was passing Albany - realized I had gone too far. A bit of backtracking and we were there by 11. Had a great time perusing the barns, fondling roving and goggling at yarn and Baby Doll Sheep - They look like Ewoks! I want one! or two! We had a couple of good sammiches, crispy-cruchy onion rings, yum, and I only bought enough yarn for a scarf of my very own. I'm using Ms. Zimmerman's Gull pattern for my first lace attempt.
I was a good girl and I had a great time. I only found two squares on my RBB card but I'm fine with that - it was the experience that counts. Nornspinner pulled in and parked right behind us when we got there and we ran into a bunch of other RBB players that were not on my card. Good, good times.

This is the Grumble's new hat, sorta rastafarian - though not planned that way. She likes it, thats all that matters. Simple striped hat knit about 1/3 too big so I could go back with a smocking stitch, I liked making this one.

*sigh* I got a new job this week - I give my notice at the Mega-Bookstore today. For those of you wondering, I'll be working here starting in two weeks! Whee!

Girl With the Weight of the World in Her Hands

2006-10-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

The Hubby had some time with the Grumble on Saturday while I was at work and The Bean was on a Girl Scout trip, she's a Daisy :) Doesn't he take a nice picture.

The Hills Are Alive...
And you can see UMass' Library in the background, over there on the left. This was the spot of one of the night caches that they did a last weekend. The Hubby decided to go up and see it in the daylight.

He and I had the same thought this weekend, this is his...

...this is mine.

Rhinebeck was great - I'm not. Something nasty has taken hold of me today. I'm off to get The Bean on the school bus, down some vitamins and suffer through a day of work. I'll try to post tomorrow about the trip - thanks again Cupcake!

Up On Top

2006-10-19T21:59:00.000-05:00

The Bean's new hat.

Yep, its a deerstalker. That's what she wanted, that's what she got.

Elementary my dear Watson.

You Don't Know Me

2006-10-19T08:38:00.000-05:00

Hello Dear Friends,

I am coming for you. Some will be the recipients of hugs, some inquisitive stares, and a few may indeed be deafened by my "here come my lungs" laugh just before I cross you out.

I warn you now - I Will Find You (unfortunatly not in a great Daniel-Day-Lewis kind of way).

See you in Rhinebeck,
Togbean

Amy - Crazy Lanea (http://www.crazylanea.typepad.com)
Amy - The Hook and I (http://hookandi.blogspot.com)
Andrea - Soapbox (http://noricum.blogspot.com/)
Ann - Annie Knits (http://annieone.typepad.com/)
Bethe - Insaknity (www.betheany.wordpress.com)
Carole - Carole Knits (http://caroleknits.knitblog.com)
Carrieoke - Carrieoke's Knitting Blog (http://www.carrieoke.net)
Erin - The Curly Knitter (http://curlyknitter.wordpress.com )
Flat Scout - Scout's Swag (http://www.scoutj.com)
Jackie - Knitting and Other Stuff (http://www.jackie-blue.com/knit)
Jenn - Siercia Knits (http://sierciaknits.blogspot.com)
Jenny - Eat.Knit.Sleep. (http://www.jennysbelly.com)
Julia - Moth Heaven (http://scrubberbum.typepad.com)
Kris - Kris Crafts! (http://kriscrafts.bradandkris.com)
Laura - A Frayed Knot (http://www.afrayedknotknits.com)
Marcy - Habetrot (http://habetrot.typepad.com/)
Margene - Zeneedle (http://zeneedle.typepad.com)
Mel - Cabezalana (http://cabezalana.blogspot.com)
Monica - Two Left Needles (http://twoleftneedles.com)
Paul - Blithering Knitiot (http://blitheringknitiot.typepad.com)
Penny - Penguin Girl (www.penguingirl.com)
Risa - One Crazy Fiber Lady (http://crazyfiberlady.typepad.com)
Terri - Off jumps jack (http://offjumpsjack.blogspot.com)
Vanessa - spinning my life away (http://www.spinningmylifeaway.blogspot.com)

For those of you with your Blueticks trained on me - this is my tell:

Nornspinner, ridicule will be your only prize if you don't find me over there - I'm looking forward to a familiar face! :)

Baby, Its Cold Outside

2006-10-17T21:50:00.000-05:00

With the decidedly cold snap that has passed through New England this week I thought it was time to get a new winter set ready for each of the munchikins - hat scarf mittens. I let the girls go through the stash and pull out what they liked. The Grumble, who just isn't very girlie, is on a pink streak lately and these are her choice.

The Bean has gone with something a bit more sophisticated and mature, eh, it just had all the colors she wanted. She has a coat with white faux fur lining and the coat itself is a strange persimmony-orangy-pink color. Who knows, this is what she picked.

I've also been asked by Cupcake to work on a project for next spring - here is my first attempt in progress. I'm hoping to finish it this week and give it to her on our trip over to Rhinebeck on Sunday. OH! For those of you that have me as a square on your RBB cards, I will post a picture of my bag on Wed or Thurs, that's how you'll know me :)

Working away at the Project Runway Poncho, I'm liking it - even without the sparkle.

Big sigh here...
I applied for a new job this week and I have an interview tomorrow morning, I'll also be dropping off a letter of interest and a resume at another possibility. My fingers are crossed and my breath is baited

I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK

2006-10-16T09:02:00.000-05:00

Introducing Edith, for Marti - hope you enjoy! She'll be shipped out today :)

Idn't she cute! - (btw, "Idn't" is NOT misspelled, its an Ursula thing - Mom's and little Mermaid fans, you know what I mean)

Sorry for the shot up the old girls' skirt but I just luh-huv the button feet :)

The Hubby says her beak is too duck-like. Hmmmm....

Edith, post rhinoplasty

For those of you wondering about size, MS. Chicken Edith is:
5 1/2" high, 8 1/2" at the head, 4" wide, and 7" long. She is just about the same size as Chicken Betty but twice as large as Chickens Agnes and Maude.

C'est l'Amour

2006-10-15T17:31:00.000-05:00

So, Marti wants a Chicken Edith. She chose fabric, I sketched it up.

I cut, sewed, cut and sewed some more, chose some buttons and bought a bag of polyfil (cuz I was out). Now the fun of bringing the chicken to life happens - hee hee ;P

I'm also working on a couple of Kitchen Chickens for my Mom and Sis' kitchen, I chose the fabric, now I get to play with combinations. Wheeeee

The munchikins went caching with the Hubby yesterday 10am - 8pm, hungry, cold kiddos at the end of the day - but happy and well behaved :)

She's Going the Distance

2006-10-15T10:59:00.000-05:00

It's Stitchy, Yo!

Above you will find the lovely and delightful MR. + MRS. Stitchy McYarnpants. I traveled down to West Hartford CT to see Debbie at Sit-n-Knit, the fourth stop on her Mock-n-Roll Tour. It was a lovely little shop full of friendly people and few ladies VERY excited about the book, they even brought old pattern books for her. Yeah! Debbie did great, she was at ease, very funny and she seemed to have a great time :)

I was invited to join her and Jon for lunch afterwards, yippee for me! We went over to a tappas place called Barcelona. Good food, strangely their meat delivery never showed up that day so there were a coule of things unavailable and they were out of a bunch of their beer selections, but it was a good bit of food. I had a great time with them and I look forward to seeing Debbie again next weekend in Rhinebeck.

I love Mommy's days to herself. Ahhh.

The Owl's Song

2006-10-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

Is it Halloween yet?

This is the Bean's Halloween painting of a spooky owl - I may just have to make a stuffed version of this. My great grandmother used to collect owls and my grandmother used to collect chickens, I feel a theme coming on....

I'm working on a custom chicken for my blogger buddy, Marti. Its a belated wedding present. The poor girl is stuck with a dial up connection and her brand-new husband just trucked out for his mounted police training. Yup, he's a Canadian Mounty, how frickin' cool is that! The hat, the red coat, the horse!

These are some of the fabric choices we are working from, we'll see what works out. I'm So excited about this chicken, she wants to name it Edith after her Grandma - cool and ahw-inducing all at the same time.

Allentown

2006-10-11T23:14:00.000-05:00

Swiss Miss loved her monkey! She hasn't named it yet but thats OK, she's only 3 :) We had dinner tonight, me and the munchikins and my buddy April and her 2 kiddos. The kids were jumpy and picky at dinner but they knew there were cupcakes waiting for them - who can blame them :)Yummy, yummy cupcakes, mmmmm. Thanks April! Happy Birthday Swiss Miss!

I'm a naughty monkey! Truth be told, Swiss Miss has a bit of Loki in her, I thought I'd give her a friend that had the same. Hee hee

Update on the Hubby - He made it out of CT the next day. The airline ended up paying for a room for the night and he arrived in AL the next afternoon refreshed and ready for some sight-seeing in Nashville. Then he got down to the hardwork of helping his cousin pack his life into a Penske truck for the drive back north. Last night they were in VA - someday I will explain why VA is my least favorite state, it has everything to do with 9 hours on 81 and nothing to do with people or politics. Tonight they are in PA and should arrive home in MA sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm missin the big goofball. It is hard to watch TV alone when you have all these snarky and sarcastic comments about what everyone is doing and there is no one to share them with.

And Then There's Maude

2006-10-11T11:05:00.000-05:00

Meet Chicken Maude
I sort of have this thing for making chickens right now. I've decided to give them all church lady names, I'm mulling over fabric choices for Chicken Cora right now :) I tried a different tail and crest on this one - I'm still experimenting with stuff.

Sorry for the indignant shot up her underside but I love the little pearl buttons.
We have a B-day party tonight for the pink monkey girl - Swiss Miss. I'm making a banana for the monkey this afternoon, I'll have pics tomorrow and maybe pics of the ipod scarves as well.

We were at my Mom and Sis' place last night for dinner and to visit with Gramcracker one more time before she heads back to Florida till the spring. The kids vanished upstairs at one point and we caught them in mid-dress up mode. This is my nephew, Buddy, as a spy - you can't see the cool red lazer shooting out from his glasses. And the Bean behind him as a knight.

No words. You should have felt the dark-knight vibe!

Three, Its the Magic Number

2006-10-07T20:27:00.000-05:00

I found this trio in some catalog last year - I can't remember which. Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel, Stuff You Want but Can't Afford, Shouldn't You Just Make This Shit Yourself. I don't know, one of those.

SO, I'm thinking of making a couple, small, as holiday ornaments. Sort of a tree-hanging version of the munchikins. The blonde one will be all goofy smiles and braids and the brunette will have a scowl and unruly bangs.

I bought up a bunch of poly-felt to practice with, if they work I'll splurge on wool felt. My hubby is currently stuck at Bradley Intl. Airport. His flight was supposed to leave at 4:45 but was grounded for maintenance issues. Now, the plane took off and flew to it's destination - with his baggabe on board - but he is stuck in the terminal until 6:20 tomorrow morning and there are no available rooms at the Sheraton because someone is having a white-trash wedding at the airport hotel - wtf!
I miss him already :(

Everybody's Doing it

2006-10-06T20:17:00.000-05:00

Bingo Anyone? See you in Rhinebeck.

Minute by Minute

2006-10-04T21:24:00.000-05:00

The second volume of the Yarnival is up and running - go check it out.

Here we have the newest work in progress - Swiss Miss' pink monkey.
Ignore the ugly pink top-stitching, it will be covered over with some lovely handwork tomorrow or Friday. I still need to knit up some i-cord arms, legs and a tail before I stitch her all together. I also have another chicken that I need to make for Mom and Sis' new kitchen. Lots to do this weekend, AND my husband is leaving me home alone with the munchikins for 6 days *sigh*. He's helping his cousin pack and move back home from the deep south. I'll miss him, he leaves on Saturday.

The Wheel in the Sky

2006-10-03T09:56:00.000-05:00

We took the munchikins to the 149th annual town fair on Saturday night. Damn! Those things are expensive!?! A buck a ticket and 4 tickets per person for the ferris wheel! Thankfully The Hubby is afraid of heights so we had a few tickets left for the munchikins to go on the carosel - no good pics of that though :(

Can you see us? This was the first ride of the night - the Super Giant Slide - again, no Hubby. Who knew a 31 year old woman could have so much fun on a stupid slide :) The munchikins say that the ferris wheel was their favorite because it lasted the longest - boy did it. By the way, I prefer ferris to farris, I like the idea of a large iron wheel - ha!

This is what you get when the rides are done and you mention that two munchikins can, maybe, have some cotton candy - Uncontrolled bounding.

Mid - sugar rush. Now remember folks, if you give your kids cotton candy, and you let them lick it, don't attempt to hold the shriveled pods of fluff on the car ride home with the thought that you will save yourself the icky job of cleaning up the backseat when you get home. Those things will drip on you! EW! Digestive action at work, double ew!

Ghost in the Machine

2006-09-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

Meet the Garage Ghosts

The munchikins decided that putting these boxes on their heads made them ghosts. And since the boxes came from the garage - that made them garage ghosts.

Apparently, even when I am this close, I "can't" see them. Uh, huh.

This is the Bean's newest book. Its about a dog named Sprout - and she wants a stuffie to match. Thats my girl :)

Give Me My Money Back

2006-09-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

Introducing Chicken Agnes!

I think I got the body shape much closer to what I want with this one. I still need to work on the head shape and the tail "feathers" but the body and wings seem right to me. We've solved the problem of not being able to provide stick legs, like in The Bean's drawing.

Chicken Agnes is a 2.0 version with buttons on her bottom. The Bean says she is OK with the buttons, "Its like when chickens sit in their nests and tuck their legs all up under."

Yes Bean, just like that.

I've also been kicking this around in my head since the Project Runway repeats this summer when we had free cable. It's a Poncho from Jay McCarroll - S1 winner. I bought yarn to make it today....we'll see.
I also finished another ipod scarf for Left Click and started a third - whee!

Invisible Touch

2006-09-27T19:07:00.000-05:00

I have two friends named April - this is for the rockin Sista that I work with. She has a tactile disfunction but she can handle corduroy - so I worked it into her birthday present.

Corduroy - pre...anything. Mmmm wide-wale

Here's the finished product. She's a satchel bag kinda girl.

I also dug some super-special George Washington fabric out of the pile that Lori gave me. My friend Kelly has an obsession with ole' GW. She and her hubby even went to Mt. Vernon for their 5th wedding Anniv. This will make a perfect B-day present, when I get around to it :)

Too Much Time On My Hands

2006-09-26T23:39:00.000-05:00

I have promised pics of all the great stuff we got at the flea market a few weeks ago like this, and these, here is the last one - a shoe shine stand.

Idn't it cute! I was hoping that it was small enough to fit next to the Grumble's bed as a nightstand but nogo - just too wide.

I did a little work on some more jewelry today. I got one set done with some huge mother of pearl buttons and cool little glass beads - I'll throw it into the Etsy shop tomorrow.

I also made some covers for throw pillows that go on the new couch but match my redone Blue/now Green chair.

Just a simple pocket cover, nothing fancy, No buttons zippers or snaps, just an overlap of fabric - sew easy ;P

Finally my Bag o Zippers, coutesy of our trip out to visit Cupcake. You'll also see the vintage Cookie Monster lunch bag. My Mom got it at a thrift shop in Albany a couple years back for the munchikins but I have laid claim to it - its my new socks-in-progress bag. hee hee

A Stitch in Time

2006-09-26T16:39:00.000-05:00

Here are some shots of the fabric that I have gotten from Lori and mixed in there are the bits from cupcake. Can you believe this stuff - I didn't have ANY of this stuff three days ago!

Whoever in Lori's family this stuff comes from must have been a seamstress or someone who mass produced clothing.

Most of these scraps have the funny shape of fabric cut from between pattern pieces. They're still big enough for quilting or for stuffies or dolls.

I can't get over the fact that I have about double this still to get from Lori! WHoo Hoo!

I did a bit of rearrangeing in the workshop today to accomodate all the new stuff. I have this greta little desk that my Mom gave me and I cleaned it out and moved it to a new spot to store the fabric. Yay, Me!

Mom. Don't we have a picture of Uncles A and M wearing shirts made from this fabric! I swear we do.

Little Silver Car

2006-09-25T10:14:00.000-05:00

We have 2 cars, a blue station wagon, 1990 and a red VW beetle 98. I love my little beetle - even though she needs a bit of upkeep work right now and trying to find a day when the shop can have her is a little tough. Anyway, I saw another bug in a great gunmetal grey the other day and I just LOVE that color on cars! I'm not really the stainless-steel-kitchen kinda girl but I really likes it on cars. Maybe it stems from the DeLorian in Back to the Future, I don't know but I've also seen it on Mini-Coopers and its just as yummy-licious there. The car thing has nothing to do with the rest of the post but it was in my head so there you go.

Stitchy Was HERE!
And I had no camera! :(
The Hubby went on an all-day hike of the Holyoke Range on Sat with a bunch of Caching buddies and he took the camera to document his 300th cache - which he forgot to do, dork.
Stitchy writes about it over here and if you look close you'll catch a glimpse of me - not enough to recognize me on the street though, mwahaahaahaaaaa....
That girl has a bevvy of friends that any woman would envy. What a support group! They drove all the way out from the Boston area to support her and make sure she didn't run away at the last minute :)
If Stitchy is appearing near you - GO THERE! Check her site for dates, I dare you. The traveling exhibit from the Museum of Kitschy Stitches is a Riot - you DO NOT want to miss Strangles the Clown or the amazingly rare Mexican wrestler costume! She is Fantastic, Witty, Smart, has a cutie hubby, and a devilish grin. She's a great girl that I am so happy to have met and gotten the chance to work with. Raise the roof, yo! Stitchy is a good time!
I'm trying to work out a trip to Rhinebeck NY for the big fiber fest and to play Blogger Bingo! I think Cupcake is coming with me - I need to let her know soon.

In other news, I got my new couch - Oh Glory! Ain't she a beaut!
I love the color and pattern, love, love, love. I'll be making pillows from the fabric that I used to redo the chair tomorrow.

While I'm out in the workshop I'll take some pics of the fabric bits that Cupcake generously passed along to me AND the Garbage bag full of fabric scraps that my friend Lori from work gave me. Apparently the girl has two more bags for me! WooHoo. Saturday was a GOOD day.

I'm also working on some scarfs for our friends over at Left-Click with pockets for ipods and cell phones.

I like me some Valley Yarns Berkshire, single ply yummy yummy. Great colors and YES it does felt very nicely without much fuzz.

Lastly, I have a little girl that wants a pink monkey for her birthday - I'm working on modifying this one, more sketch work and then I'll test one, maybe on Thursday.

Holy post Batman! Time to hop in the Mom-mobile and jet to work!

In the Air Tonight

2006-09-19T12:47:00.000-05:00

I don't care what the calendar says, today it is fall. The smell is there, the sound of skittering leaves.

Check it out, I can see through my ash tree, he's lost that many leaves already.

Neighbrhood color, creeping in.

This is the only color left in my garden. Lavendar is tiny but SO fragrant. each time I go out front I'll pick a bud and crush it just for that smell, ahhhh.

The rate of crafting is about to slow dramatically around here. I've started back to school and I have a 30 credit semester - heavy on the writing! I'm sure I'll still have uber productive weeks but I'm lowering my own expectations of output - I don't want to dissappoint myself ;)

I'm looking for something in Red

2006-09-17T20:02:00.000-05:00

Whee! I just put a bunch of my jewelry up on Etsy - take a trip over.
This one is called "Gilded Persimmon". Why? Because I'm nutzo and I name all my jewelry.

This one was named after Francisco D'Anconia, the Copper mogul from Atlas Shrugged - don't ask.

I called this one The Emerald City - duh :)

Pink Cadillac

2006-09-16T20:59:00.000-05:00

What a beautiful day!
We went to visit Auntie Cupcake today to celebrate a belated happy birthday with her. We went bearing gifts - these! A custom made button flower bracelet and brooch. She also got some needle felting basics and some yummy spice cake. I got the idea for the bracelet months ago on a Whip Up post, I think, I just can't remember what blog it was on or I would give original credit :(

I wish my camera had been better behaved today. I apologize for the blurry shots, but I couldn't get a good shot for nuts! This gives you a better idea of what the bracelet looks like when worn.

This is the coordinating brooch. I've had the materials picked out since before she came back up north and I'm SO glad she liked them ;)

The Bean lost her first tooth today! It has been "the wobbly tooth" for some time now. She and the Hubby and the Grumble picked pears today and she was munching on one as we headed over for the visit with Auntie Cupcake and Voila! No more wobbly tooth!

So...the Tooth Fairy is leaving this little goody, full of coins under her pillow tonight :) Hopefully the TF will have a whole series of these as the Bean loses all her baby teeth! An someday the Grumble too.

Can you tell that its an upside down tooth?

September - (ba dee ah)

2006-09-15T22:58:00.000-05:00

Check it out y'all!

I'm a featured seller on the Etsy Features Blog - here - for Theme Thursdays, Autumn.
Look for da monkey :)

Sit Down You're Rockin the Boat

2006-09-15T13:46:00.000-05:00

These are ALL the staples and tacks that I took out of old blue. I saved about 3/4 of the tacks. I will use them to attach the dust cover peice under the chair for which I'm using the seat cover in the old fabric.

Found these few threads stuck under a tack on the back of the chair. I thought this was all that was left of the old fabric, but I was wrong...

Lurking under the blue covered buttons was the original fabric! I've kept them as is -I'm telling you, they'll go great with the new couch.

I found this little tag tucked under the stuffing. Makes me think of an old Sears & Roebucks catalog order, my Mom suggested Woolworths. Cool stuff.

Here she is getting dressed.

You betta work! Turn to the left, now turn to the right. Work! Covergirl!

I'm a model you know what I mean and I do my little turn on the catwalk.

I still have to hand sew the back peice into place and tack on the bottom bit but I am a very happy lady. I have my chair back in the house. *sigh*

This is England

2006-09-15T10:09:00.000-05:00

You may remember this from last winter. Well, here it is on the little girl it was made for! There is our little Iris with one of her Aunties - I think?! Isn't she the cutest little button.

I'm off to finish the "green" chair :)

Peanuts

2006-09-14T16:09:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah! I also finished this.
The Bean didn't want a big collar but she wanted her neck to be warm so I gave her a modified mandarin collar by continuing the raglan shaping for an extra 10 rows.
I do still need to work on my tension with colorwork. The chevrons are a little bubbly and it was hard to block beacuse its acrylic but these are lessons for the next one. She likes it and thats ALL that matters.

Driver's Seat

2006-09-14T15:39:00.000-05:00

Lest you think I have not been busy the last few days, This is my beloved blue chair. I have had her since I was 16 and she is my favorite.

This is a close up of her fabric in better days.

Here she is all nekkid and exposed, poor old girl. Surprisingly the blue fabric is a reupholstry job. The original fabric would have worked great with my new couch - I'll show you a bit in the next post.

More nekkid chair. I must have taken 200 staples and about a hundred little nails out of her to get the fabric off.

I found this little jem - about 1/8yd - tucked into the seat. What a find!

This will be her pretty new dress, its sorta a green grasscloth. I already have all the pieces cut and I have already placed the back and arm pieces back on her. Tonight I hope to finish with the backside of the chair and the little front panel. More tomorrow.

Down in the Meadow

2006-09-13T14:47:00.000-05:00

OK, two more flea market finds, lilac twin fitted sheet $1.00 and 5 1/2yds of a great plaid, also $1.00. I think this will become the munchies holiday outfits :)
I just got back in the house from grocery shopping - NO KIDS!! HA! AS I pulled into the yard I noticed something weird beside the garage - it was a bunny!

He waited till I got out of the car to run around the front of the house. I followed him but didn't see him again. AS I turned to go back to the car and unload the groceries I passed through this:

And saw this!

Tree Frog!

Angel is a Centerfold

2006-09-12T08:06:00.000-05:00

The munchikins took pictures of each other last night. Enjoy!

Aren't they somthing, I'm just not sure what.

Polaroids

2006-09-11T14:34:00.000-05:00

This is a swatch that I did for a sweater that I'm making for my nephew, Buddy.
I was rearranging my living room today because
A.) It was a MESS
B.) I was in the right mood (I'm on vaca this week)
C.) We're getting our new couch next weekend
D.) I need to reupholster my favorite blue chair
In my cleaning spree I found clean places to take pics of my good flea market finds and I found this swatch.

These are the new everyday dishes that we found. As I was handing over the cash a woman walked by and remarked that she had that same pattern at home - unused.

Here's a closer look at the pattern and colors. The lady offered to ship me what she had left - Whee!

Can you beleive it?! And Only $4! I love Holly Hobbie - that was the theme of my room when I was little-little and it sorta is again now - calico and HH collector plates.

Fully intact thermos and all - not even a funky smell!

I still need to get a pic of the fabric, fitted sheet, and shoe shine stool :)

Monday, Monday

2006-09-11T10:04:00.000-05:00

This is for my Mom

It is blue day at school for the Bean. She decided to tuck her shirt in today so she could be like Nana. Now, I don't want you to get the wrong impression of my Mom, she is very stylish and put together - this is just the Bean's version of that. Grain of salt here, please.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2006-09-10T18:38:00.000-05:00

The munchikins made aeroplanes today. They got to bang away in the garage with scrap wood, real nails and real hammers. They were thrilled. The Bean's is actully plane shaped with a rudder wings and a cockpit on a solid fuselage. The Grumble is two crossed bits on a long pole. Because of the way she assembled it the crossed bit swing around on the end of their long "handle". It strikes me as odd that today they are interested in airplanes. I have to wonder how much of the insane media coverage of the 5 year anniversary of 9/11 has sunk into their brains. The Hubby and I regularly watch the news and listen to NPR, though we are careful to monitor what we see/hear when the munchies are about. I watched an 18 year old freshman from Hofstra Univ. last night on C-Span (Hofstra being the college the Hubby and I attended) and she said something that made me sit up. She said it was just history for her, something in a textbook. She had grown up in Rhode Island and she never saw that it had any impact on her life. Airports changing their security proceedures weekly and Homeland Security notching up the alert level weren't things that seemed out of the ordinary for her. I hope that my children will be more world aware at 13 than this girl was but I also can't help but feel that her parents muct have wanted to protect her from those horrors.
OK OK enough. The media has over-reminded everyone already.
Happier thoughts.

The Bean has a seriously wobbly tooth. I am making a tooth pouch out of this tonight for her. I'll probably Felt it and do some embroidery. I expect the tooth fairy will be visiting our little yellow house very soon. Oh, OH! I'll also have to post pics tomorrow of the great stuff that we got at the flea market today - I am a very happy lady!

Aw! Shit! I burned the cookies :( Goodthing there are more in the freezer :)
Oh and I'll be adding the button band and collar to the A-a-ahcrylic stash sweater tonight - pics on the morrow!

Walk This Way

2006-09-08T23:31:00.000-05:00

The Bean started to talk about the Backyardigans tonight because she likes to torture me with penguins. Patience....
She recognizes the penguin character, the moose, the dog(I think its a kangaroo) and the hippo but wonders what the pink "girl" is. I offer up giraffe - she shoots that down, I offer insect - again nada, "Well, maybe she's an alien."
In all seriousness, "Mama! Aliens only have one eye or a hundred." So there.

I am afeared of penguins. These things give me the willies - tremor up the spine there - they're just so blubbery and sheeny. Uck! Never, never want to meet one in a dark alleyway. I even have to pause in thinking about taking the kids to the New England Aquarium because I know they have that big penguin exhibit when you first go in. No trauma from childhood, no penguin horror flick, just adult onset weirdness.

In other news, ever since this I have had chevrons on the mind. I would love to have a nice slippery nylon quilted vest ala 1973 in a good harvest gold/orange/ecru combo. Alas no vest, so I knit a version instead. To tie in with my craving for 70's colors and motifs - Stitchy McYarnpants is coming! For those of you not in the know, I work for the local Mega Bookstore putting together all the events and whatnot, and my store is the first stop on Stitchy's Mock and Roll Tour for her book. I'm so thrilled to have her - she was one of my first favorite blogs.

I thought that in her honor I would knit something atrocious - yet cute - in a horribly outdated pattern and color and do it in acrylic. SO here it is. The Mon and Wed night knitting groups both agree that its sorta Charlie Brownish. The close up is just so you can see the novelty yarn that I worked in as a cherry-on-top.

Chicken-Hearted

2006-09-07T22:57:00.000-05:00

The Grumble snapped this pic of me in the workshop today. I like her framing. I was working on a whim. Hmmmm, see, back in the spring the Bean drew a picture of a blue rooster on a piece of yellow paper. We stuck it up on the "magnet door" and there it sat. I kept glancing at it - the thing just cried out to made into a stuffy.

This is the original drawing. The turquoiseness of the bird's body didn't survive but its about the color of the blue sun up there. I just happen to have striped fabric in the same color out in my stash - so I headed out to the workshop and started cutting and sewing. Being able to take pics of "Mama working" helped the Grumble today - she had a hard time letting Sissy get on the bus.

And heeeeeere is Chicken Betty. Yep, thats what the Bean called her. Yes, I know roosters are boys - leave it alone. The Bean says I have more work to do. I need to add the brown stripes and Chicken Betty needs some eyes, and, um, where are her legs! I figured the girl had great gams that I just couldn't do justice to so I would depict her "roosting". I was disabused of this notion - now I need to think about chicken legs. *sigh*

Scarborough Fair

2006-09-07T12:32:00.000-05:00

I made it into the first issue of Yarnival!

Go check out all the wonderful bloggers that made the inaugural issue. I am so proud, and humbled to be included with all these talented people. I have also added ALL (I hope) of my fellow participants to my "goodstuff" list over on your left. That way, even if everyone forgets about the Yarnival, you will always find your way back to them. Hooray!

A special Thank You to Rhonda, The Stitching Nut, for posting about the Yarnival back in July. If she hadn't I wouldn't have entered - Thanks Lady.

Entries are being accepted for the second issue so submit now - just follow the link above. WHeeeeeee....

There She Goes

2006-09-06T11:02:00.000-05:00

I'm going to go cry some more now.

He's not Heavy...

2006-09-05T23:26:00.000-05:00

HA! I just made a backpack. The Bean had her Kindergarten orientation today, one hour in her classroom with her new teacher and teacher's aide plus the 20-odd other kids and ALL their parents and younger siblings. It was a little crowded in there. It was just me and the Bean, Grumble stayed with a neighbor for about an hour while we were there.

The Bean is SO SO excited. She has a cubby and a hook for her coat and backpack and a special name tag at her seat. And she already has friends, Hailey and Kayley - could you wince :) I think back to all the Jills, Hollys, Heathers, and Michelles when I was a kid. I almost cried about a hundred times, you would think that she hadn't been in preschool for the last year and a half.

ANyWAy....on the way home she remembered that she is supposed to hold her backpack on her lap when she rides the bus and she didn't want to use the BIG Dora one that she got from Nana last summer.

So we started talking about what color she might like and it was a litany of preschool-aimed marketing: Sponge Bob, Bratz, Winx, all sorts of crud. Once we got to the store she ran right over to these two fabrics and exclaimed, "Mama. This is the one! But only if you use this one too."

Here you go Bean, one princess backpack just for you - and the best zipper installation of my life :)

Who Will Buy...

2006-09-05T00:08:00.000-05:00

AH! I have an Etsy shop!!!!
HARHARHARHARHAR
Crap. Now I have to make stuff. Grrrrrr
the things I do to myself

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

2006-09-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

The Annie reference was for you Nornspinner.
My friend Nornspinner has started a blog. Huzzah! Another convert, mwahhahaha....
She raises angora bunnies and is an amazing spinstress. She spins the bunny fiber, wool , she dyes, plies and generally makes fantastic yarns. Ok Ok. Her bunnies are not as floofy as the above pic but HOLY CRAP that thing is awesome!

Years ago my Mom-in-law bought angora rabbits to raise for their fiber - stuffs pretty expensive per pound, of course you need about a garbage bag full to equal a pound. Needless to say, I have heard the tales of the basement bunnies from my husband. MIL never did make her fortune on those rabbits.
Nornspinner has also given me some advice on spinning up the canine fiber that my Bro-in-law entrusted me with. He wants a dog scarf. Yep, a scarf made from the fluffy undercoat of his beloved monster dog, Jasper. Oh its not like the dog died or anything - he's quite alive. BIL just wants a dog scarf and I promised to make it for him. I look forward to your help with this one :)

A place to lay my head

2006-09-04T11:02:00.005-05:00

I found these two pics over at Moopy and Me

I thought, with a slight color change to each, that they would make great pillows to go with the new couch. I still need to pillow-tize the embroidered piece that I did on our anniversary trip. We're getting this couch in this fabric. Well, that's NOT the fabric but its the closest I could find online. If you are furniture shopping and you choose your fabric online - be wary. It all looks SO different in the shop and they may have more, or less, choices for you in the physical shops. I'm happy with what we went with and I can't wait for it to be delivered! We have a relatively small house, just shy of 800sq feet, something I'm sure our great-grandparents would have reveled in. It does feel a bit cramped at times but its ours. Someday we hope to renovate the attic and give the munchikins their own space up stairs, giving up a spare/guest room down here, but for now we live with a sleeper sofa - thanks Mom!

The Hubby is once again at work on setting up a second computer, from bits and pieces scavenged over the years, so we can run our own website from home - thanks for the leg-up Blogger. It probably won't happen till sometime in the new year but he's working with a friend over at Left-Click to figure out the software end of things. oooooo, we've got a title and I have some format ideas and maybe if we get this thing up and running my Hubby will start to write again. He still sorta writes - geocaching logs - but his stories are awesome. This is something he wrote two years ago, before he discovered geocaching, when he was a contributor to Eric's old site:

This Land is My Land
A large chunk of what I thought was my side yard isn’t actually my side yard. It’s not my front or back yard either. It’s still a yard. Apparently, it’s just not mine, and as I have yet to discover any poles flying the colors of strange nations, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t belong to another country. Besides, the occurrence of foreign colonial expeditionary forces in the area has been pretty low since we passed Prop. 38. My wife’s position on the matter is that if I’ve lost something, she hasn’t seen it, but I might want to try looking under the pile of clothes in the bedroom. (Not the You-Still-Haven’t-Washed-Me pile, but the You-Will-Never-Fold-Me pile.) My yard hasn’t been stolen, exactly. Misplaced, perhaps. It all has to do with my property line, and where I believe it is this week.

This story goes back to the day we closed on the house. We left the lawyer’s office that morning with two cans of soda and a complementary sheaf of legal paperwork, and the last page in that sheaf was a plot plan for the property. On that very important semi-official document was a very important supposedly official signature (That signature had been made into a rubber stamp by its owner to save time, until he discovered that he could save even more time by using said stamp just once on one blank very important semi-official document, and then photocopying the hell out of it.) Above that signature was a sketch clearly showing our house and the three property lines containing it. We had purchased Triangle Land. If I had had a choice, I would have preferred Rhombus Land. Besides having the benefit of the one extra side, rhombus also sounds better. Say it. Rhombus. Rolls off the tongue. But we had Triangle Land, and Triangle Land hates Rhombus Land. They have a fight, Triangle wins. Triangle Land.

After much discussion we decided that we could live with Triangle Land, and as the weeks passed and I ran over one of our property markers with the lawn mower (when a giant metal pipe in the ground meets a spinning metal blade coming through the ryegrass) I decided that I should try to figure out exactly where my property lines were, and buy a new lawn mower. A bit of searching turned up another likely marker, or the fruits of someone’s labor to only partially bury their prized collection of rusty pipe. I assumed the former, but now I had a problem. In order for me to form a triangle with these two markers whose lines wouldn’t bisect my house, the third marker would have to be almost out on the highway. Even if this was possible, the resulting triangle would look nothing like the one sketched on my very important semi-official plot plan. So at this point, instead of accepting that I had not yet found the correct property markers, I decided instead to believe that the plot plan was wrong, and hence buy a first class one way ticket to that place where a) I was right the first time and b) I get a bigger yard. Backing me up in this decision was the very important semi-official plot plan, which contained a very important surely official disclaimer which read, in effect, “Not To Scale. Largely Inaccurate.” Plus, I have a history of believing in things created out of my imagination, that have later turned out to be real. When I was a kid, television shows like Silver Spoons and Webster got me to believing that my house contained secret passages and nay, entire hidden rooms that I had yet to discover. It took years of searching but I was finally proven right when I came home from my first year in college to find a previously non-existent room where I thought my old bedroom used to be, devoid of beds and dressers and instead decked out with things like a sewing machine, an ironing board, a recliner, a 13 inch color TV, and my mother.

Ever since then I have lived comfortably with self-tailored knowledge that I am Mower of all I survey. And then I found another marker. Dried up and unusable after being kicked under the couch by one of the girls, its highlighting days were over. Poor thing. The next day I found the third property marker while forging my way, Amazon Jungle Style, through the blackberry patch. I believe it qualified because this one was a pipe encased in cement, and then buried in the ground, and absolutely stubbing my sandaled toe. Someone was getting very serious about his or her pipes-in-the-ground hobby. I made a note not to mow in here. Remembering my Boy Scout training on how to stop bleeding in the field, I went inside and got a Band-Aid, then returned to contemplate my new discovery. I leapt catlike up onto the marker in a manner that would make Cirque du Soleil regret having tossed out my application, put a level hand against my brow in the traditional I Am Looking for Something pose and scanned down one side of the yard, searching for one of the other markers. Aaaaaannnd A HA! There! Just behind the sunflowers! I swiveled to the left and scrutinized the length of the other side of the yard, looking for marker number two. There! Some… where behind, uh, the um, garage. there. Awww crap. Who the hell surveyed this yard anyway, M.C. Escher? Then a break opened in the slightly overcast sky and the glint of a reflected shaft of light caught my eye. I narrowed my eyes. The glint glinted its glint again, as if to say “Over here, Indy! Over here!” I dismounted my perch and marched with a purpose toward the beacon. Could this be it? My march became a jog. Had I found it? I broke into a run. Was it? Yes? YES! Finally! An old, broken, half buried nip bottle of Jagermeister!!! And I almost missed it hidden behind that stupid aluminum pipe stuck in the ground!

Now I had three fairly obvious property markers that I could connect with three straight lines, none of which would result in part of my garage or my refrigerator and range becoming the property of my immediate neighbors. I had my Triangle Land, and in a shape that matched the sketch on my very important semi-official plot plan. This means that a large chunk of what I thought was my side yard is apparently not mine because it lies on the wrong side of what is very probably my property line. I’m right back where I started except that now I know there is a large chunk of town road in front of my garage that apparently IS mine, if that’s even possible. I still feel cheated. I’ve just lost 7 of the 9 maple trees I’ve been tapping to make maple syrup, and I’m gonna look pretty stupid mowing the road, especially on the lawn tractor. I’ve been treating that part of yard as if it were mine since the day we moved in. I even gave my neighbor permission to plow the snow from his driveway into that part of the yard. Now I find that I may have given him permission to plow into his own yard. It’s a lot like buying a new car only to find out that the passenger side belongs to someone else, and you start to wonder when your friend calls shotgun. I don’t even know who actually owns that part of the yard now. More importantly, do I now have someone else’s maple syrup in my freezer?

My options, as I see them, are limited. First, I could just put all my uncertainty to rest by going down to the Town Hall and obtaining a truly official plot plan. This is probably not going to happen. I went down there once when we moved in to get a dump permit and came out 2 hours later with the permit and no idea how I’d obtained it. That place has at least three floors and an elevator that opens on TWO sides. Very confusing. I’m thinking about squatting on the land, but winter’s coming, and I’d really rather spend it in a dwelling that has baseboard heating. Then again, the image of a crazy man living in a heap of pine branches would go a long way toward scaring away would-be claimants to my yard. I could also start driving my car through that part of the yard so I can eventually claim it as a Right of Way. This would be a great idea if my final destination on weekday mornings was to be lodged in the drainage culvert at the side of the highway. Unfortunately, employment opportunities there aren’t that great, and consequently I’m forced to work elsewhere, and to drive a different way to get there. So for now, I’m going to settle with what I know is mine. Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for my shift in the tollbooth in front of my garage. (I’ll be accepting EZ-Pass and Fast Lane soon!)

Shock the Monkey

2006-09-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

This is a prototype - heeheehee
The little sister of Raggedy Ann and Andy birthday boy wants a monkey for her birthday in October. (BTW Grumble calls RA + A "Raggedy Rag and Andy" there's something there I'm sure) We were all at the park one day back in June when I was finishing Sarah's Monkey and it was all she could talk about. The damn thing didn't even have a head and all she wanted to do was hug it. So, monkey it is.

I used the panel of an old skirt that was kicking around in the workshop - I thought it would be cute in plaid. I was able to use some of the really cute buttons that Gramcracker sent up for the eyes, nose and earrings. I used some scraps of polyester felt, I'd prefer wool but it is a first trial. I may add some hands and feet but I'm not sure yet. I kinda like the spindly arms and legs thing ala Knitted Babes.

Backsides are always cute.

I'll post again when V2 is ready, I'm mulling over fabric choices and shaping changes. In the meantime I'm redoing the super secret 12 inch and 10inch squares for both the NoHo group blankets. The 12er knitted too big and felted too small and the 10er was done on needles that were too small and I was running out of yarn - sadly there is no more. Hmmm time to rethink the squares.

If I Had a Hammer

2006-09-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

Say hello to "The Ice Cream Maker". "This thing will whip up any flavored ice cream shake you can dream of. Stuff goes in the top, chimney part and good things come out the bottom. It also makes everything else in the world, by the way. People will call me The Queen of Everything once I make more of these." So says the Bean about her latest lego construct.

Here we have the toolbox purse completed and from various angles. This is a close-up of the tiniest bit of embroidery, two little mushrooms. I originally had plans to cover one entire side of the bag with these but I have too many other projects to get to.

Here's a shot of the inside of the purse. I lined it with the same fabric that I used to line the Nappy Bag. I had this fabric in mind since I pulled together the yarns for this project. I was just glad that I had enough left after making the other bag - it was tight!

Here's the bag with my copy of Colorful Stitchery - I love this book:) If it wasn't for Kristin I wouldn't have embarked on half the projects I did this summer - like this, and this, and these. The book and the bag coordinate and CS helps to give some size perspective and hold up the handle.

The Bean's school bus stopped at the house today just after lunch. The bus driver is learning her new route. We made it outside just as she pulled away but it got the Bean's engine revving. I guess she really didn't think the bus was going to stop RIGHT in front of our house. She thinks this is just the coolest thing ever!

Counting Cars

2006-08-31T20:41:00.000-05:00

Ah, where to begin.
How about the Bean's socks.
This is how much of a sock you can get done when you are in the back seat of a car for 8 hours.My step mother lost her Dad last weekend. He had been sick for about a year and was holding steady but took a turn last week. My sister, brother-in-law and I drove from the Pioneer Valley to Syracuse to support her and her family at the funeral. My Dad calls it a bullet trip and it is exhausting, 4 hours out, 4 hours back and I would do it again tomorrow if she needed us.

When we got back to my Mom and sis's house there was some stupendous stew to slurp and Mom had a bag of goodies for me from my Gramcracker - that's Mom's Mom. I was really too tired at the time to even look in the bag, I actually thought it was stuff for the munchikins. This is what was actually in the bag. A whole tub of really cool buttons, a pile of simple ring stitchmarkers, all sorts of spools of thread on really cool wooden spools(I'm sure I'll come up with something to do with them once the thread is used), snaps, needles, metallic thread, elastic, and a bunch of ricrac. How cool! I love bits o stuff. The ricrac is all ends and irregulars and they are labeled with the most simple white band with black lettering. It reminds me of govt issue foods - I saw a six-pack of beer once in white cans that just said BEER. I always thought it would be cool to have cabinets full of foodstuffs like that. CORN, MACARONI, CEREAL... Now I just need to do a little shuffling of the workshop to fit in all my new goodies.

I thought I would share with you my progress on the toolbox purse. I'm really not a fan of showing projects in progress, especially the assembly bits. Its just so inglorious.

One final thing tonight. The Bean had school bus orientation today. We went down to the middle school, had a quick meeting in the auditorium, picked up some information and then go to ride on a bus around town, across railroad tracks and over to her school. An extra bus driver walked all the new Kindergarteners through getting on and off the bus and crossing the street. She had a blast. She cannot wait for that bus to stop in front of our house next week. The grumble was just as excited and can't wait for her turn on the bus next year.

It's my party

2006-08-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Belated Birthday Auntie Cupcake!
The munchikins and I promise to come visit soon with birthday goodies!
Happy to have you home.

Autumn in New York

2006-08-29T09:37:00.000-05:00

Well, Massachusetts. I know the calendar still says August but the weather is decidedly fallish here in New England this week.
You never have quite as much time as you think you do. I thought I had ALL summer to get tank tops done for the girls so I worked on them in little fits and spurts between other projects. Needless to say I have just finished the Bean's tank, am only halfway done with the Grumble's and it is now too cold to wear them. As a small comfort, if the Bean's growing record is any indication, she can still wear it next year and since I'm nowhere near done on the other I can just toss it in the frog pond and start again in the spring.

The Grumble's first day back at preschool went off without a hitch yesterday. The only thing I forgot - take pics. Oh well. These are the two books that she got of rhaving a special first day back - she LOVES Charlie and Lola! I cannot vouch for the TV show but the books are lovely! My friend Sarah showed them to me last year and I adore them. If you read to your kids(grankids, nices, nephews, brothers, sisters), and you should, these books are a bunch of fun. The Bean is looking forward to what surprise books she will get at the end of her first day. Argh! One week till kindergarten!

Ah, yes. Here are the completed "rainbow socks" that the Grumble wore to her first day of school yesterday, to bed last night, and again today to the park. They are a little pilly from being in her sneaks all day but you get the idea. She's all ready for another pair - aren't we all!

Smoke on the Water

2006-08-27T19:42:00.000-05:00

This is the medievil torture device that helps my Grumble to breathe when her asthma is acting up. Now that her ear infections are clearing up they are draining and she's got quite a cough and wheeze. She's such a good munchikin sitting still while this thing smokes away (its a nebulizer, it turns her albuterol into a vapor)and vibrates and buzzes to beat the band. Not to be outdone we have the Bean, posing. It runs in the family.

Like a Rolling Stone

2006-08-26T21:51:00.000-05:00

My Grumble has raging double ear infections. We were up ALL night last night just trying to comfort her enough to get some sleep. She napped fitfully from 12 until about 5 this morning when she finally passed out. Children's motrin, decongestants, warm oil in the ear (thanks to the MIL) - nothing worked last night. I cannot convey to those of you that don't have children how truly frustrating it can be to not be able to relieve your child's pain. Thankfully this morning we were able to get a Dr. appt and get started on antibiotics. This evening already seems to be going smoother. Sometimes I am amazed by just how strong my little grumble is. When I say raging ear infections, I mean it! The Dr. says that this is the level they usually see in the ER - let me tell you, last night was the FIRST inkling we had of the ear infection and she wasn't screaming in pain she was just uncomfortable and cranky. How much easier it would be if she complianed at her first discomfort and we were able to address the infection early. Instead she soldiers on saying nothing until it is truly painful. I think of how much she'll be able to handle as an adult if she has this kind of fortitude at 4. oh Grumble.

Consequently my entire sense of time has been thrown off. It hasn't felt like a Saturday because of the late night and the Dr. appointment.
OOOO I feel so bad about this but it was about 10 this evening that I realized I missed my future sister-in-law's wedding shower! What kind of a horrible person am I!?! I can't believe I completely missed it - I made sure that I had today off just for the shower - UGH. I'll call her in the morning and apologize. UGH!
When we picked up the Grumble's medicine I grabbed some sidewalk chalk because she was so good at the Dr's. While she and the Bean drew school houses and hopscotch games in the driveway I finished up Sarah's back-to-school gift.Here's it is.Every girl needs a stylish pencil roll when she heads back to class in the fall. Sarah just got this great new bag for school. Its big and grey with red stitching and a giant red button - I thought this would work.

Ah, I don't even want to talk about the process - I feel like such a shit for missing the shower. I really like my future SIL and I really don't get to see her much and this is her wedding and I remember how important My shower was to me. Ugh Ugh Ugh

From a Distance

2006-08-25T11:59:00.000-05:00

I know its fuzzy and slightly out of focus but I just love this picture. This is the last time you'll see the Bean with her long,long hair. We trimmed it the other night beacuse she refused to let me brush the knots out of it. The Bean and the Grumble now have the same length hair. They think its neat, I think its easier to brush.

Sock It To Me

2006-08-24T23:50:00.000-05:00

One sock down, 3/4 left to go. Considering that the Grumble has spent most of the last six months purposefully wearing mismatched socks, I'm not too concerned about these not matching. The Bean has made it clear that she needs hers to be matching, "I'm even going to count the stripes Momma."
These are the assembled materials for Sarah's back to school gift. Tomorrow is her last day running the Children's Department at the local Mega bookstore. I know the munchikins will miss storytime with her and our work schedules just won't overlap anymore. I'll miss seeing her when I work. I hope to have this little ditty done by the time I go in tomorow, we'll see. I have a parent teacher meeting with Grumble's preschool teachers tomorrow - she's been out all summer. She's SO excited - she'll be wearing her new pink and brown striped dress, "Yah. Da one wiff da hood and da pockits vat meet in da middle."

Pappa's Got a Brand New Bag

2006-08-23T15:02:00.000-05:00

I got this pattern from a friend at the Wed night Noho knitting group. She had made it for herself just before her second son was born earlier this summer. She made it in the material pictured and it was delectable. I already had some fabric stashed away to make something for another friend that is expecting again soon and I knew it would be perfect for this pattern.

So, that's what I did today, I finished the Nappy Bag. I had cut out all the pieces a while back but I just hadn't gotten around to putting it all together. This is a pic of how close I was to being done when my bobbin ran out. Its always the little things.

Here's the finished bag on my new manikin - not exactly a dressmakers dream but she'll do. That's a skirt that I made for my sister's birthday two years ago that the manikin is wearing. Someday I'll get around to measuring my sister's waist so I can finish the damn thing - stupid elastic. I hope that the intended will like the Nappy Bag - I think she will. I called her husband to get the measurements for her cell phone. The pattern has a pocket built in but she has this crazy huge thing thats a combo phone/blackberry/pda/blender/tireiron doohickey. I had to move the pocket down on the bag but it works in its new place. Hmmm, I seem to have mushrooms on the mind....need to go finish up that toolbox bag.

Finally, my munchikins are washing the dishes as we speak! Yup, washing and drying the dishes. Ahhh.....

Let's Dance

2006-08-22T12:32:00.000-05:00

Quick update on the socks. I should be done with the first one tonight and I can start on it's mate tomorrow. We were planning a nice day at the park tomorrow, picnic and all, but both the girls have caught their first cold of the season and I can't imagine that they'd have much fun coughing instead of playing. Perhaps next week.

Aren't We a Pair

2006-08-21T11:30:00.000-05:00

I just had to mention this guy, Jeff Mack. I was working with him at this time last year and he's awesome! He is adorable and sweet and he does So well with kids. These are two of his not-book illustrations and I just love them. I thought the'd look good paired in a Shaker style dining room. And check out the bear with the daisy - killer. I'm about to order a box of greeting cards.
He did a little workshop at the Mega bookstore last Sept. He read two of the books that he has illustrated, Rub-a-Dub Sub and Starry Safari and then he taught all the kids, and some grown-ups too, to draw pictures from the books. He was a delight.

Candle on the Water

2006-08-21T09:55:00.000-05:00

It POURED last night. Just after sunset we had some wicked thunderstorms roll through and about an hour of biblical deluge rains. Just as we sat down for a late dinner the rains and wind let up and *snick* the power went out. I say "snick" because its not a bang or a thump its just sort of like a switch being turned off, startling but no shock. Dug out some candles, found one our hurricane lamps that still had oil in it, and sat back down to finish dinner. The Bean was freaked out that we'd never have electricity again and it took a bit to settle her down and wipe away the crocodile tears. Popped the munchikins into some jammies and read some Raggedy Ann and Andy by flashlight. With Bean and Grumble tucked in for the night the Hubby and I settled in for a quiet night on the couch, he read with his miners head lamp - gotta love LEDs - and I settled in for some knitting, duh. I started by attempting to weave in the ends of the 12x12 in block but gave up and just worked on Sarah's piece.
Strange how much time you seem to have when you have no available technology! The Hubby and I mused on how much money we would save and how much more quality time we would have as a family if we just "lost" power one night a week. Something to think about.

It's the Saturday Night Special

2006-08-20T17:09:00.000-05:00

What do you do on a Saturday night when there's nothing good on Tv? You sit down to watch netflix movies, that's what. You watch Bruce Almighty and get a kick out of Steve Carell making nonsensical noises and shrug at Jim Carrey's usual schtick. You watch The Aviator and shake your head at just how weird Howard Hughes really was and try to decide if Leonardo DiCaprio is attractive or just a little too creepy to be attractive. In the midst of all this movie goodness - which we do at home because we can't afford to do it at the theatres, tickets, snacks, bbsitter...blah, blah, blah - you freak out because you haven't finished the birthday present for your friend's son's birthday party tomorrow and you need a good 6 hours for all the stuffing, buttons, and hand stitching that needs to be done. So, I ask, who needs sleep when cute dolls can be made.
I used this book as a reference, it belonged to my Nanny - see the inscription. Yep, that says 1941 :) I really had fun with these - even if I did feel a bit rushed, all my own doing of course - I've been toying (pun intented) with the idea of making dolls since I started making the Knitted Babes back in January. This idea has been bolstered by my fun with the Wee Wonderfuls stuffies and encouragement from friends and family. I need to play around with design a bit and come up with something that is uniquely mine. I'm just not comfortable selling items that are recognizable as someone else's design.
In other news I have finished the 12x12 in square for one of the super secret noho group blankets and am halfway finished with the 10x10 in. I am almost finished with the bit to be felted for my friend Sarah's back-to-school surprise. I now have a monkey to make for the little sister of the Raggedy Ann and Andy birthday boy, Grumble and Bean's socks, sleeves for the Bean's stash sweater - picked up sz8 dpns the other day, and I need to finish up the toolbox purse. Hmmmm I think its time to make another list, I always feel better when I can actually, physically cross things off.

Tea for Two

2006-08-18T14:42:00.000-05:00

The munchikins decided that they wanted to have a tea party this afternoon. We have just finished watching Fairy Tale: a true story . This is the second time they've watched it and though they seem to lose interest a bit in the middle, they are rapt during the "fairy" parts. They also took full advantage of the dress-up set that Grumble got for her birthday. 15 some-odd interchangeable and mix-matchable pieces = 2 girls with lots of fancy options for tea parties.

I thought I'd include the Grumble's sock in progress in the pic. The cup and saucer the girls gave me seems as though it was tailor made for this yarn :) As much as I would love to work just on this sock all weekend... I have a pair of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls to put together for our friend's birthday this weekend.

Fields of Gold

2006-08-18T13:08:00.000-05:00

This is what I was doing this week last year, harvesting my mini-mutant corn. The Hubby and munchikins were afraid to eat it, but it was sweet and yummy. Sadly, no corn or other veg this year but we have plans for some edibles to plant next year.

Today we drove around with Cupcake, picked up the fabric to reupholster my favorite chair and swung over to Webs so she could browse. I got some sz 1 and 8 dpns. The sz8 to finish the acrylic stash sweater and the sz1 to make socks for the girls - they picked the yarns - I'll post pics soon.

People Are Strange

2006-08-17T01:23:00.000-05:00

I always thought my band would be called Rainbow Tiger-eyed Unicorns. Huh.

Togbean Munchikins Mom's Aliases

Your movie star name: Apples In Vinaigrette Alfred

Your fashion designer name is Togbean Prague

Your socialite name is Burlap Hot-lanta

Your fly girl / guy name is T Mom

Your detective name is Meerkats Wahconah

Your barfly name is Summer Pickles Cider

Your soap opera name is Munchikins Richmond

Your rock star name is Rolos Cheetah

Your Star Wars name is Togdag Momkev

Your punk rock band name is The Tired Apple Corer

The Amazing Meganame Generator

Apparently I'm also The Hermit - if I was a Tarot card, The Brainy Geek - what I was in high school, The Chimera - if I was a creature from Greek Myth, gummie bears - if I were candy. Apparently I should also have the following bumper sticker on both my cars:
Buckle up - it makes it harder for aliens to suck you out of your car

Hmmmm late night fun with Blogthings
Too much coffee at knitting group. errrrgh - gotta clean tomorrow...Cupcake is coming to visit :)