Gathering Dust

Little Visitors and The Big Ugly

Remember when my blog used to be fun and I'd show you pictures of stuff I had made because I thought you might like to make something like it, too?

This post has something I made, but I'm not sure you'll want to make something JUST like it.

If you've read my blog for awhile, you know that I've been trying to learn how to crochet for about five years.  I finally did learn, but then I realized I couldn't read a pattern.  I put away the crochet hooks for about a year. Then I saw a pattern for a crochet scarf I really liked, and decided to try again.

I started with a skein of a yarn and a crochet hook.  My only goal was to crochet a piece that was the same width at the top as the bottom.   One of my problems with my previous crocheting was I'd start with 25 chains, and end with 40.  Where did those extra chains come from?

So I carefully counted and hooked, and ended up with the blue piece on the right.

Then I realized that I didn't really want a blue crochet scarf... but, one of the great things about crochet is that you can add on...

...anywhere...so that's what I've been doing, without a lot of regard to color, stitch or size of the block.

I've been calling it "the big ugly". 

My sister in law is a grade school teacher in North Dakota, and has recess duty in the winter.  She usually is very fashionable and chic, but for recess she wears one of those big round Michelan Man type parkas that she calls "the big ugly", but it keeps her warm.  This afghan is kind of ugly, but it will keep me warm, so it's my own "big ugly"

With a little bit of planning, I think this style of afghan could be fun-imagine a mix of  pastel or different shades of white and ivory.

Dorothy and Albie, Karla's 3 mos old Yorkie's have been staying with the past few days and they seem to like it. 

All those hours spent crocheting were well spent if I can make dogs happy.

Those dogs are so darn cute and happy.  All you have to do is look at them and they wag their tails and start dancing.

When they stop playing, they curl up together on top of each other and fall asleep, and they seemed to think The Big Ugly was just fine.

In other crafting news, I was lucky enough to have two articles in the next issue of Sew Somerset.  I got my preview copy last week, and I think the issue will be at the stores on Dec 1.

I'm honored to have pieces published, and love to get the newest magazine early--- but once I start reading it, I get all sorts of ideas and inspiration, and works in progress get set aside so I can try something new.

In between playing with puppies, keeping puppies warm and cleaning up after puppies, I've listed a bunch of vintage jewelry in my Etsy Shop-including lots of pretties for Christmas.

Puppy Talk and Party Pretties

Last weekend at Karla's Romantic Gothic Ghosts Workshop, I took a lot of pictures but considering it was a crafting event, I really don't have many pictures of our projects. I was more caught in up in getting pictures of some of Karla's clever little decorating touches, and of course taking pictures of puppies.

The picture on top is the set up table for my class.  The wings in the middle of the picture are from Dawn's Angel Wing Tutorial.

The wings didn't have anything to do with my class, but I had so much fun making the wings, and was so happy with the way they turned out that I wanted to show them off.

This is Karla's treat cabinet, complete with witch hat cookies.

Karla's Sissy made these candle holders for everyone.  She printed images on vellum and glued them on a clear votive.

Even the bathroom was decorated- with a Witches Ball towel...

...and flowerless roses.  When I first saw the vase and stems, I thought "Oh, that's too bad, I wondered what happened?"; and then I realized that was a clever little bit of Halloween decorating.

Everyone had fun snuggling with puppies.  Look at those faces... I can barely resist bringing one home with me.

Laurie got to hold all NINE puppies at once.

Keeping up with NINE six week old puppies is a lot of work, but Karla has set up a deluxe suite in the garage next to the studio to meet all the puppy's needs.

Even with such spacious accomodations, the puppies spend most of their time snuggled together in their sleeping crate.  That's ok...it makes it easier to pick up one (or two) for a cuddle.

Too Hot for Junk

The temperatures have been so hot lately that I just don't feel motivated to hit the estate sales.  The idea of getting in and out of the car, hiking blocks to a sale and

A.  not finding anything worth buying, or buying something stupid just for the sake of buying SOMETHING.

or

B. walking out of the sale with anything heavy, hard to carry, rusty or dirty

just doesn't appeal to me- although "B" is definitly better than "A".

But not having much junk to show doesn't mean I don't have anything to share.  I've learned some things since I last posted.

1. Just because you do wait in line for an estate sale, you don't have to buy the first thing you pick up.

...because you may end up with a teapot with an adjustable broken handle.  For all the years I've been buying, sometimes I still do beginner stuff.

2. A $20 dropcloth from Walmart may actually make a better slipcover than a $120 slipcover from Surefit.  It sure seems to stay in place better.  And it's a lot easier to get paw prints off of.

3.  The heavy wool sweater that you started to knit last winter seems to weigh even more in the summer.  (But I am kind of excited that the first garment that I've ever knit is finally starting to take shape.)

4.  If you're at an auction, pay attention- don't just keep nodding your head, or you might end up with a $25 Victorian napkin ring.  But it is cute- and says "Best Wishes". 

So what interesting thing have you learned this hot summer?

 

Her Life In Stitches Round Robin Update

When I was at Karla's on Tues, she asked me about our Life in Stitches round robin.  She didn't have a book, but wanted to get started making some pages.  We started looking at the original schedule I had made up, and both ended up confused. 

I think the confusion started in Dec, when the holidays got in the way for some of us in meeting our deadlines--- I'm not naming names, but you can just call me "Guilty".  If I was to make a recomendation for future Round Robins, I'd say take the month of Dec off. For most people, Dec already has plenty going on. 

When I was part of a book club, we skipped reading a book in Dec and went out for dinner and shopping instead.  It was nice because we still all got together, but none of the pressure of trying to read the book the day before.

The first picture of the post is the front of the page that Sandra  made for Lisa's book.  One of things that these books have in common is lace- they are dripping in all kinds of beautiful lace and little details.

Like this- little pearls sewn on the edge of the page.  They almost look like pearl buttons along the side of the page.

The back of the page is a piece of crazy quilt.  I think this ties in so nicely with the quilted page that Lisa made.

Thanks for all the suggestions about the last square in my free style sampler.  Lots of people suggested I sign and date it.  I liked that idea, but I might sell the sampler, and I didn't know if a potential buyer would want MY initials.  After all, I'm not RL (Ralph Lauren). 

But I liked the idea of letters and numbers so I just did a simple ABC and 123.

Here's the full sampler.

There's a bit of shadow on the left side, because I had a DOG laying on the bed next to it.

Isn't it funny how a dog will lay down in even a little bit of sunshine?

Yes, Mom, that is a dog on the quilt you made, but he doesn't sleep there very often- it was his second choice.  Button got the first choice- the bench by the window.

Blogging Yips

I haven't posted in what seems like a LONG time for me. Blogging used to be easy, but the longer I went without posting, the harder it seems to be to find something to talk about.

I'm calling it the blogging "yips". I think the term yips actually means something like a golfer who loses his ability to putt or a surgeon who's hand starts shaking.

So I'm starting back with something easy- what I got for Christmas. The "other Karla" got me this beautiful journal and a bag of felted balls. You wouldn't get (or give) felted balls to just anyone, but I love them. Clearly, Karla "gets" me.

Karla "gets" me too. She knows how much I love the French General books, and she got this jewelry kit from the actual brick and mortar French General store when she was in California before Christmas.

However, she may have over estimated my skill at putting together jewelry. I can attach a charm to a chain with a jump ring, but that's about it.

See all those pearls and pins- they all have to be cut bent and strung to make chains like the one in the upper right corner that took me an hour to make.

I'm going to have a beautiful (and fun) necklace when I'm done...which will probably be NEXT Christmas...but I'm up for the challenge.

I'm lucky to have friends that "get" me.

Ok, that post wasn't too hard- hopefully the only "yips" in my future will be when this guy looks out the window and sees a cat.

Button Floozies

If you'd like to hear more about buttons, or more about my Yorkie puppy who's name is Button; I've written a guest post on the Button Floozies blog.

Button- hiding under the bed.  Maybe I should wrap a Swiffer around him so he could tackle some of the dust under there.

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

 
(Top to Bottom: Button, Aggie, Twinkle)

Yesterday, while I was crafting at Karla's, I tried to get a "family picture" of Button (my dog); Button's sister, Agnes Rose (Karla's dog); and Aggie & Button's mother, Twinkle (Karla's dog).

 
(Twinkle and Aggie looking darling, Button- looking at his toes)

It is not easy to get three dogs all looking in the same direction at one time- but in the words of my teen age idol, Meatloaf: " Two Out of Three Ain't Bad."

 
(Button and Aggie being kissy and sweet.)

 
(Aggie says "ooooh, that Button has DOG breath".)

 
(Twinkle and Aggie smiling for the camera; Button with his nose in a pillow)

 
(Button and Twinkle smiling for the camera; Aggie, ready to jump the bench and end this photo session)

  
Aggie was right- it really was too nice a day to spend inside taking pictures.

Button Card Collecting

 
Back when I started my blog- about 4 years ago (oh my!)- it seemed like I was posting about buttons all the time.  I loved buttons and wrote about them so much that I was afraid people would refer to my blog as "that button blog".

I haven't had a button post in a long time,  because I haven't found a lot of great buttons or button cards. 

At an auction last week, I sat next to a dealer who bought a tin of buttons.  We looked at them together and found quite a few pearl buttons.  We started talking about Muscatine Iowa, which was once a huge producer of pearl buttons because of its location on the Mississippi River.  My friend Tami, who is a button collector extraordinaire wrote a post about her visit to the Pearl Button Museum in Muscatine.

Thinking about the pearl buttons got me to take a look at my little button card collection. 

 
I have lots of cards- but not a lot that have all their buttons, or don't have some other problem- like "pushed" corners.

 
Simple but so sweet.

 
Love this one- enamel and glass from "Czech-slovakia"- I'm guessing it's from the 1920's or 1930's.

 
While I was taking pictures of my button cards, I wanted to get a picture of this Button, too- but he was being shy and hid under the bed.

 
I want to give equal billing to Button's brother Buddy- but it's so hard to get a picture of Buddy- he's always busy patroling, with his nose is to the ground. 

I scanned some of my favorite cards, so you can use the images in your projects.  Just click on the image to enlarge it and then right click to save to your computer.
 
Bluebird pearl buttons- from Iowa 1923.

 

Mermaid Pearls.

 
Another Bluebird card.

 
Lucky Day was another brand of pearl buttons.

 
 Another Bluebird card- I'm not sure of the significance of the camel and the desert....

Happy creating- I better get that fuzzy Button out from under the bed.

Craft Day Shout Outs

 
Yesterday was craft day at Karla's Cottage.  (Beautiful wedding fairy doll made by Karla.)

Here's what everyone had to say.

 
 Mary says "No dolls for me, I'll stick with my gluebooks"

 
Karla says "Make me smile, join my Bird Song Tag Book Swap.

 
The Other Karla says "Happy Birthday Ethan". 

Ethan is her son. This picture is from his third birthday- we decided that was his peak of cuteness.  Now that he is twenty years old, he's no longer cute, he's handsome.

 
Agnes Rose and Button say "woof".

Actually this whole post was just an excuse to show you this picture- because I know I'm a little biased, but I think Rosie and Button are at THEIR peak of cuteness.

Good Bye Sweet Maddie Girlfriend

 
Today is a tough day- we're going to send our sweet Maddie girl over that Rainbow Bridge.  We got Maddie when she was two years old, and we've had her for twelve years, so she's at least fourteen years old-that's old for a big dog.

 
Maddie's been a sweet  spot in our family of dogs, always happy to greet you at the door with a smile and wag in her tail.  In the last few months, she's had more and more trouble getting up and getting down, and will sometimes wake us up in the middle of the night whining because she just can't get comfortable.

I know a lot of you have been though this,and its a hard decison, but I keep telling everyone it's ok, it's the right thing, and it's her time, but it still makes me sad.

 
Maddie's been a good sister to four brothers.  Here she is on a walk with Milo, who we lost about three years ago.

 
With her brother Buddy. 

I don't think I even have a digital picture of Maddie with her first brother, Boone.  He was a Golden Retriever, too- and except for Maddie's white chest and paws, they looked almost exactly alike.

 
I think her brother Button is going to miss her most of all- from the day I brought Button home, he's curled up with Maddie to go to sleep, and she's been very patient with his puppiness.

I wasn't sure if I should do a post about Maddie, because I try to make my blog posts light and entertaining, but Miss Madkins has been a big part of our lives and I wanted to acknowledge that.

Even though I'm sad, I know Maddie is going to be happy on the other side of that Rainbow Bridge where she can play with her brothers Boone and Milo, go for long walks without hurting, and chase the squirrels.

 
{watercolor portrait of Maddie by Karla}