I was tickled pink this morning to meet three new weekly folder volunteers. That brings our total new volunteers that have helped at least once this semester to five, which is pretty exciting since a few years ago we were really hurting for volunteers. One of them shares my appreciation of American Girls dolls and I am seriously considering making Molly's party pinafore for the little girl in her life. It'll be nice to dig into that stash of clearance rick-rack I bought for my birthday.

It was gently suggested to me that Laurel is getting a bit old to tag along with me to Cub Scouts, so I worked out the route to get to the nearest school with a Girl Scout troop. We can pick up a direct bus route that stops right by that school on the far side of the major intersection west of us. The downside is that said intersection is currently torn up for construction so unless we'd be walking there from her school (or going up and around that way) we would have to cross the torn-up intersection. We crossed it once north-to-south last month and it was a hot mess with the sidewalk torn out and the crosswalk signals/lights removed. I still have to find out how much joining and program materials will cost anyway, so nothing's set yet.

In good financial news, we are finally caught up on everything less some late fees with the apartment complex, who declined to waive the late fees for September accrued during the two weeks between me handing the rent verification form to a staff member and anyone telling me it had been lost so the form had not been completed and returned by fax. I am going to have to bring this up to the regional supervisor, which I really do not want to do, but I am tired of going in circles with the complex staff, who smile, nod and ask what they can do in response to anything I say. Some days I want to go in there and spout gibberish to see if they respond the same way.

In not-so-good financial news, we can't afford for Laurel and I to go to Colorado for winter break. I am a bit bummed about that since I haven't seen most of my family since last Christmas, but them's the breaks when your primary income-maker was out of work for six months. That artificial Christmas tree we haven't used in a few years will come out this year!

Found via batspjs, the Sewing Machine Meme from Sew, Mama, Sew!:

( Read more... )

My headache came back. I think my brain is melting. Grragh.

Laurel thinks skirts over pants are "FASH-ion" and that I am a mean mother to reply "no, that's extra laundry until you start doing your own, kiddo."

I have some things to finish for Christmas gifts and realized that I leave for Colorado a week from today, so I'd better get them done this weekend. Also, I have to whip up a couple more zipper pouches to hold stethoscopes in the jump bags, find a couple of 1/2 inch D-rings (if we have any) for making Squeaky some seasonal collars, and put on my big girl pants to cut fearlessly into the 40-yard roll of batting (thanks, trshtwns01, for sending me a link to that one-day sale!).

I am going to make pumpkin bread today (minus the nuts) as muffins.

I saw someone mention watching The Banana Splits as a kid and wanted to note that the Cartoon Network sister station Boomerang currently airs it. I watched back to back episodes at 10 AM Mountain on weekday mornings this summer, but their current schedule has that block at 7 AM Eastern on weekend mornings.

I spotted this on whipupnet the other day and forgot to mention it, so here you go:

Australian magazine publisher Creative Living Media is offering a free six-month subscription to the online versions (a page-through view in your web browser, no viewer download) of your choice of their titles Beads etc, Creative Expressions (edited by a machine embroidery designer), Creative Weddings, Down Under Quilts, or For Keeps Creative Paper (cardmaking and scrapbooking).

The free subscription requires a first/last name and a valid e-mail address; by giving them two or more e-mail address for friends you can the subscription extended to 12 months. Sign up here:
http://subscriptions.creativelivingmedia.com.au/subscriptions/

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I picked Down Under Quilts and did the two-addresses-for-twice-the-time offer; I got access to a year's worth of back issues printed (um, to file, but that's another story) maybe eight or nine projects. They say up front that the foldout pattern page is not included in the online issues but I found them in some of the earlier back issues. I hope you find it or any of the other magazines as potentially interesting and useful as I did.

I nearly inquired into the availability of a lot of 6500 zippers today in a second-chance sale at an online donation-matching service (Excess Access). What saved me from this insanity? Said zippers are in San Francisco and they're local pickup only.

It does not, however, stop me from imagining what I might do with all those zippers.

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Decluttering is exhausting, but it sure is nice afterward. It's still galling him a little to give things away instead of going through the cost of listing low-value items on eBay, but the free space is worth it.

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I am giving away 3 120" lengths of 12" wide bubble wrap and several 13-gallon bags of packing peanuts if you need that sort of thing. Local pickup preferred; will ship if you pay shipping costs, which will be reasonably cheap given the weight.

Tomorrow is the mid-point of my visit, as well as the day we see my baby sister off to a summer program at CU Boulder.

I have met my new niece and I have dubbed her Squish. After I find a spare USB hub, I will unload my camera and start a new Flickr set of vacation photos. (I had a brainfart while packing cables and left out my cell phone charger, so it's entirely possible I forgot the squid too since it is not capable of sentient thought, ergo unable to choose to hide from me.)

There is mad photo action to come since I backed up one sister's photos and we located an album full of old Campa family photos Grandma gave Dad for safekeeping after relatives started poaching photos from her albums instead of asking for copies. I also have an increasing volume of water-damaged photos, slides and negatives to bring home and work on salvaging to scan and digitally restore -- which is like Christmas to me.

I have not yet met up with saarlander, but have otherwise relaxed to the point of actually feeling happy /before/ I take my daily meds, helped Laurel start her back-to-school clothes shopping early with my sharp eye and Kohl's clearance racks, and located a heavy-duty snap press for a project that needed more leverage to set snaps than my trusty snap pliers could provide.

Some random mental lint that's accumulated over the past couple of days:

I made it through most of the two-hour premier of The Starter Wife last night in hopes of seeing something entertaining. I don't recommend it, although Joan Davis is wonderfully over the top and I find it hilarious that Pond's is a major underwriter. (Like Hollywood plastic people would use a drugstore brand.)

Our local CBS affiliate announced a partnership with The Weather Channel on Friday. As the meteorologist started talking to Jim Cantore on a satellite linkup, my first thought was "Does this mean I'll get to hear jrsonday more?".

Thursday's "use what you have" sewing project was assembling a padded cover/carrier for one of our 25-lb helium tanks. Fender has been breaking in Wednesday's pillow slipcovers and would probably give them a thumbs-up if he had opposable thumbs. I slacked off Friday, finishing the tie tabs for a large birdcage cover I started a few weeks ago. Total fabric used from my stash for the week: less than ten yards. And I have an extra swim bag in a Dora the Explorer print. Whee.

Sunday afternoon is reserved for packing and sending out one last nag-mail on needed items (confirmation of a quick online training from a couple people, one kid's immunization dates) for day camp so I can eat ice cream and screw around on Sunday night before getting plenty of sleep before our airport shuttle pickup window of 0800-0815 on Monday morning. We'll be eating lunch in Denver, weather in Dallas permitting an on-time departure.

Yay vacation.

This week I'm on a "use what you have" challenge to pare down my fabric stash.

So far...
- Sunday: 46x52" picnic blanket/couch quilt, used about 1 yard of denim cut from old jeans and 2 1/2 yards of an upholstery remnant;
- Monday: silverware roll for picnic basket, used about 1/2 yard of fabric from a lot of short cuts gained in swap with indigodye last year;
- Tuesday: two beach bags (Butterick 3562, view E), used about 2 1/2 yards of a Dora the Explorer print that's been in my stash since summer 2004;
- Wednesday: three pillow slipcovers, used another yard of the upholstery remnant first used on Sunday.

I'm still looking for a "real" project to tackle today since the slipcovers were a quick project.

Before I had actual bedroom furniture, the quilt I wanted to make to anchor the room was an incredible large-scale Mariner's Compass in Jinny Beyer fabrics I'd seen a Keepsake Quilting catalog not quite ten years ago.

When Laurel was an infant and we lived in a sparsely decorated place, I lusted after an autumn leaves pattern that used a ton of batiks. Mom bought the pattern and kept it stashed for me, but I never got around to acquiring fabric for the project. When Laurel was a toddler, I acquired a nice pinwheel quilt in the cool tones I actually decorate with.

After I started the process of combining households in my current living situation, I found my future bedroom quilt plans directed by an ornate wrought iron poster bed. Visions of Double Irish Chain quilts started showing up in the back of my head, but they didn't grab me like that Jinny Beyer design I can still see clearly in my mind's eye.

Piecing a simple picnic blanket last night, I realized I'm tired of complex piecing right now and I just want to enjoy quilting with an already-finished top. A few years ago I could have asked my aunt the piecing whiz if I could quilt one of the many finished tops she had, but I don't think she has any stowed since she can have them professionally machine quilted now. (ObPlug: two of my aunts and a uncle own and operate Mill Girl Quilts near Boston.)

Two resolutions came out of all this:
- I finally picked out a quilt pattern that's a happy medium between myriad pieced blocks and whole-cloth quilting; and
- I may revise my present five-year plan to work toward a Gammill quilting system.

Watching traceroutes time out is awesome. Thank you, Time-Warner-neé-Comcast!

Other than that, things are getting better:

• My cold's progressed from killer sore throat to chew toys (phlegm) and I've managed to stay awake all morning, so it looks like I'll be camping this weekend. Mom kindly funded a few camping goodies from Campmor -- swank air mattresses, a Coleman tent light and an Essential Gear Quattro 4-LED mini lantern to serve in 1 LED "on" mode as a nightlight -- to make Laurel's first camping experience cushier.


• I've found an online support community I like, DailyStrength; drop me an e-mail if you want to know my username there (it's not oddharmonic).


• Laurel's currently attending speech therapy twice a week and her annual ARD review is next week.


• My first Etsy commission is going out in the mail later today.

Early voting started in Texas yesterday. If you are registered to vote here, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go out and vote, whether early or on November 7th! Even if you vote for Rick Perry! (Seriously, I'm not going to hate you for your voting choices.)

A quick heads-up for the machine embroiderers: Hancock Fabrics has its Madeira Incredible Threadable boxes on sale for $99.99. They're regularly $150 at Hancock Fabrics stores.

They come in two varieties:

- 40 1000m spools (40 colors) of Rayon No. 40 and 2 1500m spools of Bobbinfil No. 70 in a thread box with a built-in threading system

- 80 200m spools (80 colors) of Rayon No. 40 and 2 1500m spools of Bobbinfil No. 70 in a thread box with a shoulder strap and base, a Madeira® conversion chart and a pack of Klasse embroidery needles.

200 m is good for about 40,000 stitches or 40 designs for a typical 6-color design.

Sale ends October 21, 2006.

I've been quiet posting lately because I've been busier than I expected with this year's volunteer duties.

One of my more engrossing projects has been a den flag for our new Tiger cubs. For the most part, it's pretty standard -- 36"w x 45"h, navy blue cotton, has "DEN" and the numeral appliquéd in a font that pretty closely matches the den stripe in the uniform insignia and I've made smaller segments appliquéd with the same font in a smaller size with the boys' first names. (They're sewn instead of appliquéd directly to the flag to allow for future changes in the den roster.)

I plan to stitch guidelines to place the 4.25" square rank stickers from the national supply catalog as the den progresses. I thought they'd like something neat there in the meanwhile, so I made a quick appliquéd tiger face. It's only fused together right now, but here's a sneak peek at it:

( Tiger face appliqué, 86kb .jpg )

Today I learned that Badge Magic is pure evil. In order to remove a few experienced badges that had been adhered with the product onto a similarly experienced shirt, it took three hours from the initial hot iron to soften the adhesive to pulling the shirt out of its second wash cycle.

( The workflow for adhesive removal )
Since I'm putting badges on three shirts tonight, I'm going one thread color at a time so I'm done with all red top threads (pack numerals and the top half of the council shoulder patches) and just started navy blue top threads (all remaining patches and the bottom of the CSP); I'm switching out bobbin colors as I go too since there's one khaki shirt and two navy. Whee.

Tomorrow I am putting the finishing touches on the den flag and look forward to a great first pack meeting of the year. I even decoupaged a couple of wooden neckerchief slides with Japanese paper -- one tiger, one dragon -- to add to the raffle swag for the Scouts that attend pack meetings. w00t.

edit 2300: Vogon came out while I was finishing up the sewing and suggested I try alcohol. It took the remaining goo right off and removed the lingering smoke smell the shirt had. I told him I hate him for having such an easy solution. (:

Enlightening and unintentionally hilarious...

Hanty Panty: How to make panties from handkerchief

The only handkerchief I own was my grandmother's and I have no interest in turning it into a pair of smalls, though I'm tempted to make myself some boxers to sleep in with fabric I have on hand. (I'd probably use a pattern I already have since I'm lazy like that.) Naming the men's underwear gallery "Snake Charmer" is Pure Comedy Gold.

The dress for the volunteer sewing turned out to be more challenging than I had expected. The pleated crepey fabric was so hard to keep square while cutting it out that I was dubious about following the pattern directions to make the lining free from the dress except at the neckline, so I densely pinned the crepey pieces to the cotton lining fabric keep the pleats in the fabric even and the whole shebang square, then serged all the seams I could. (Read that as "everything except the zipper insertion, attaching the straps and hemming".) I won't see how the finished pieces look being worn until the cast photos come back from printing since I was helping with food sales at the meeting and was in the foyer during the show, but several people that saw the show Tuesday night told me the pieces I made look fabulous. Phew.

edit, 16 March: here's a photo of swatches of all three fabrics used in the dress.

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At the pack committee meeting this week, I was asked if I'd like to work with the Tigers after my den crosses over to Boy Scouting next month. I said I'd be happy to, but if another den that has a new Scout who's an ESL student could use me more, I'm reasonably fluent in Spanish. One of the committee members asked, "Is there anything you CAN'T do?". I replied that I haven't learned how to drive a stick shift yet so that's why Vogon drives me everywhere. They laughed. I was serious.

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This week has been interesting for computers.

( The new system is *much* faster, but it won't recognize my old hard drive. )

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A few links blogged for future reference:

- The Best Word Book Ever,1963 and 1991.
- How I Gamed the SAT
- Are You a Marryin' Fool?

Apparently the interlocking bookends I keep trying to retrieve from the glurge of my long-ago library memory are Miracle Bookends. I would request a Brodart catalog but I suspect that after it arrived I would just want to stroke it tenderly and wish I knew how to quit it.

I picked up a link to a Five Love Languages quiz from jinkeez awhile back but hadn't gotten around to asking Vogon to do it for my edification until this week. It was interesting to see how different our wants are.

( Read more... )

Perhaps sometime when I feel like writing a bunch of stuff out again, I'll fill out the Love Bank/Love Busters questionnaires from Marriage Builders (one of Vogon's favorite sites to recommend) for him. I did it a few years ago but I think they got lost in his study before ever being read.

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I've wanted to acquire a photo tent for a couple of years. Vogon came up with an idea for a homemade one last year, but only got as far as buying some wood and halogen puck lights. My limited woodworking and electrical wiring skills aren't up to that, so I let it go and kept dreaming about the light tent kits advertised in photography magazines.

Today, while following links from craft blogs whose syndicated feeds I usually skim on my LJ Friends view, I found directions for a homemade setup using a plastic storage box, interfacing, clip on lamps and a sheet of poster board. I've got almost all of that on hand and what I don't have can be scrounged. Whee! I hope to be able to produce great product photos for eBay listings in less time than my previous method, which involved a lot more futzing in Photoshop.

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The on-hold-until-I-draft-a-pattern project of making a case for Vogon's MP3 player may start moving again after I finish the volunteer sewing bits. Savvy Seams' MP3 Player Case #3 looks like it would be easily adapted to fit that MP3 player. (His other one came with a rubberized bumper and I haven't traced its various dimensions onto paper to start a pattern anyway.)

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The Fantasy Faire 2006 series of cross-stitch patterns is available now. Unfortunately, it's not in my budget this year. (I bought a copy of Teresa Wentzler's "You Were Hatched..." from the FF2005 set last year.) I feel so silly lusting after something like that, but it is nice to have something to dream about. Perhaps I can swing a copy of Cross-Eyed Kat's Snowfight: Blue later this year. (Snowfight: Red is part of the FF2006 set.)

Laurel's school is having its annual choir concert at the end of the month. I was asked if I was available to sew a few things earlier this week and got the bag of fabric, patterns and notions today.

In the next few weeks, I'll be assembling an above-ankle length lined A-line dress in chartreuse crepe with a bolero jacket in a coordinating sequined sheer (dress D and jacket B of Butterick 4385) and several royal blue print cheerleader jumpers with contrasting silver panels in the pleats of the skirt (McCall's 2855, an out-of-print pattern with girls' cheerleader and majorette costumes).

The polyester crepe may drive me nuts, but all the costumes will be cute as a button when they're done.

I come from a family of crafters, so it's only natural that they're having a quilter's challenge. When she found out she would just have to e-mail a picture of the finished piece to the relative organizing it instead of sending the finished piece off by postal mail, she called me to walk her through attaching image files to an e-mail message.

I almost choked at downloading 6MB for five photos, but the finished piece is so cool I decided to share a slightly edited copy of her photo of the full quilt with you. (It's been sized down and I replaced the original background with clouds.) And the puppies, because revme loves to see photos of them. Heh.

( Mom's challenge quilt, 'And A Yard of This One', and the puppies fresh from the groomer; 225 kb total )

One of the things I want to do to declutter the living room is to take care of a sewing project Vogon left underway. He left it because he doesn't like to do fussy pinning. I left it alone because I didn't want to pin through the thin layer of polyethylene foam in each piece. The obvious solution for this project is a basting gun: a quilting tool that you load with plastic tacks (they're a smaller relative of the ones that hold price tags on clothing), pierce through the sandwich of materials you're trying to baste together with the gun's needle, and shoot.

Finding one proved to be a bit of a challenge. Our neighborhood Hancock Fabrics no longer carries them. Joann's carries a June Tailor model ($30 on sale), but our nearest store is 20 minutes away. Vogon initially headed in the wrong direction for the most direct route, so we decided to stop at our nearby Wal-Mart to check there before driving out to Joann's.

Not only did Wal-Mart turn up a less expensive Prym basting gun ($16.73 plus tax), rifling through the latest clearance turned up Wrights fleece binding for half price, replacement cables for circular knitting needles and an eXpresSew pattern book for a song and -- best of all -- Wizard Attachments feet for less than $5 apiece! (We picked up the Elastic Wizard and Ribbon Wizard guides in another clearance find last year, but hadn't acquired a Wizard foot to use them with yet.)

He started basting his project with the basting gun this morning. It's a little noisier than I expected but it looks pretty cool. If he's okay with me taking work-in-progress photos, I'll show you how neat the little red basting tacks look.

edit 5 JAN: The Prym quilter's basting gun bit it after repeated jamming and issues with the needle. We'll be trying the June Tailor basting gun next week.

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In other news, Vogon has given me the security clearance to tag his journal. It's slowly but surely starting to take shape, so soon you should be able to see all of his recipe posts at a glance. Rowr.

It looks like I'll have to see what Barbie patterns Mom saved from when we were little burritos next month because I've only found one Barbie pattern in my pattern stash and it's not for clothing but accessories. (I bought it to make a hanging organizer to hold her dolls.)

I found a couple of free patterns I might print and take a stab (haha) at later: Summer Fun, a beach outfit and bag from Ben Franklin Crafts, and a bunch of fashionable patterns in German.

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I finished the jumpers (think overalls with Velcro® closures where the metal hardware would be on overalls) I committed to sew for the second grade musical production next month. I'm not completely pleased with them, but they look reasonably good and they'll serve their purpose well. I took photos to document that I'm not a total klutz sewing slippery fabric lined in costume satin or the other insane fabric combinations I bravely manhandled pinned, serged and finished rather neatly.

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If you read Bookslut or CounterPunch you've already seen this, but John Ross' column "When A Language Dies" brought tears to my eyes. It also strengthened my desire to learn Nahuatl.

Speaking of Bookslut, the best one-liner I've seen in months comes from Michael Schaub on newly found evidence that CS Lewis opposed the idea of a screen adaptation of his Narnia books:

You don't even want to know what Jesus thought about The Passion of the Christ.

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I bought a tin of General Foods International™ Chai Latte on impulse at the dollar store over the weekend. It's disturbing -- tea from powder?! -- but oddly compelling. I also bought two mini tins of Altoids just so I can stitch a pair of tiny tin toppers for them and Laurel and I found a spring-wire and nylon crinkle tunnel that's now wrapped and under the tree for Biko.

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During the hurried bringing-inside-of-plants earlier this month when we had a frost warning, the hibiscus came inside in a deep plastic tray it had sat in during our summer vacation to hold extra water. It had a small amount of standing water in it and now we have mosquitoes. Ugh. I emptied the tray outside today and found a plant saucer for it so it's a little better, but I am kicking myself over that lapse of judgment.