Vision of Spring...

 

Current Mood : Sleepy

Spent on doll stuff : $3.

Spent on a pink book : $1.07

Spent on DP Christmas : $1.08

 

Had the latest in a series of attacks of lazy today. I didn't really get rolling until about 1pm, and didn't do my prowlin' around until after 2. Hung out with Beloved Hubby at his Shop, which was nearly as warm as the house. He's been enjoying the rack - turns out it holds chisels perfectly, and keeps their sharp tips safely out of the way.

 

Hit the Flea Market for a bit - while it doesn't close until 5pm, again several booths were unattended and one was packing up. It was actually fairly busy in there. I spent $3., and that got me a Barbie ‘Springtime' Hallmark ornament (no box) and six "My Friend" clothes patterns. The tag read ‘Five Patterns', but I scored all four of the Seasons series with the separate Blouse and Nightgown ones. I already had the Nightgown one, from the same yard sale that got me the tin dollhouse, but it's amazing how different the identical patterns were. One was on much thinner paper, sequence numbers varied, and it was even folded differently. I'm thinking of scanning and working one of ‘em up, see if it fits the LDP and Princess Dorrie dolls. You'll get to see cover scans of ‘em all next week. The line art is so adorable - and it's precious how the previous owner colored a couple of ‘em.

 

Next stop was GoodWill. Also very busy. Evidently there was a party on the nearby University campus which required the purchase of a ‘funky Christmas sweater'. So that section was pouring with energy. I found a paperback titled Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons by Lynn Peril. I was initially drawn by those delicious 60s-vintage graphics, but the book itself is fun to read so far. I had no idea Mamie Eisenhower was behind much of the ‘pink mania' of the 50s - the decade which saw the birth of Barbie. I'm looking forward to the rest of this read !

 

At the Dollar General next door, I just prowled. Didn't really find much I liked - but I liked the Disney Princess ornaments. Just a buck, and filled with a packet of gem-shaped Smartees-type candies. I got the silvery one with Aurora on one side and Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora on the other side, complete with a gold hanging cord. A reddish tinted one was nearly identical, but it had a holiday Cinderella on the single-character side. Yes, I'm a sucker for that stuff. Candy was good, too.

 

Did a bit of grocery shopping while I was over there - that store has some great bargains. That's the only thing I don't really like about shopping Mal-Wart or Target for chow, there's never any specials. No loss leaders, nothing that makes me say, "I need that, I'd better get over there." I like ‘cherry-picking'. I read this grocery's ads on line, and it's fun to plan what I can use. The grated cheese made our late-lunch frozen pizzas extra tasty, and I already have sausage ready to go for breakfast biscuits tomorrow. And a fresh gallon of milk, since I wanna make brownies, too. Gotta love those bargains !

 

And with milk in the car, it was time to head home. I was kinda proud of me for not booking to TRU, because I really wanted to go. But this weekend wasn't a good time, and the closer we get to Christmas, the worse it's gonna be over there. Maybe a bit after Christmas - I'll know more of what I want and don't want, and can zero in on what I truly want, instead of ‘everything looks sooo good !'. Right now, I pretty much want everything !

 

So, once home, warm and fed, I did what I normally do when I get the ‘wants' - I go through what I have to shut ‘em down. Decided I really don't like that milk crate I put the fabric bits into yesterday, and found a nice box instead. It allows for more digging, and is a bit more narrow, so it fits the space better. And here I thought I'd never find a use for that huge Hello Kitty sticker - it was perfect for the box. With the fan gone, I had space for the doll clothes repair sewing box, and I'm giving serious thought to selling Elphie's car.

 

It's really an Our Generation / American Girl clone car. I paid about $2. for it at GoodWill several years ago, cleaned it up, boosted Elphie with a custom-made cushion, and took website photos, but it's mostly gathered dust since. With any luck, I can Craigslist it, maybe get $15. or so. Hmm...oh, wait a minute. One on eBay just sold for almost $50. - and it's missing the doors ! I may have to see if I can find a box big enough to ship this thing... And I was happy just to reclaim the space.

 

(singing) She was such a naughty nanny...(Queen, Fat Bottomed Girls)

 

Current Mood : Better.

 

Busy day - cold one, too. Got the wire shelf rack I mentioned yesterday all cleared off and out of the Lab. Had to do a few on-the-spot repairs to get all the damaged doll clothes into the box I wanted ‘em in, but that's good, too. Ditched a Mal-Wart-style sack full of tiny fabric fragments, and I honestly don't know why I was keeping most of ‘em. Brought a milk crate back into the Lab to hold the midsize pieces, and it's fun to dig through. Doesn't hit my butt, either, so I'm happy.

 

The rack immediately went back into service down at Beloved Hubby's Shop. It's now a tool catcher, easy for Beloved to move around with him when he's all over the place on a task. He's really cleaned things up down there - and he even made a fireplace out of two steel barrels this week. They make a kit for that. It's actually quite nice in there now. Last year, even with a propane heater, it was too cold to work in there for long, and only at midday. Because of the fireplace, we made a little deal. Since my barely-used fan is perfect for keeping the air moving, he's gonna keep it - and I get that 40s-repro fan I want every year, but never get. It's weird how I'm already a bit excited about this summer...

 

I also had a small bundle of larger Polly Pocket size dolls, mostly Disney Princess ones I found cheep at yard sales. Past tense. Those are now in the stuffed Donations bag. Last thing on this blue Earth I need is another doll collection ! Never played with ‘em anyway. I'm hoping they get to a kid for Christmas. While I have nearly all of Belle and Ariel's rubbery clothes, I never had a Belle doll. And the Ariel I had wasn't quite the right size. Best to ditch ‘em all.

 

In Flea Market news, there was one today, and Dearest Son was so excited, hoping we'd get that Barbie mini van he's been wanting for three weeks now. It's at Brenda's, the car set seller. Even though it was stuffed with six dolls, $30. was a bit higher than I wanted to go, and I didn't want any of the dolls. So I proposed to Dearest that I'd offer Brenda the dolls and case culled from my collection, the dolls from the van, and $10. - $7. of which was his chore cash. If she was OK with that, the van was his. If not, we'd see what we could do.

 

I think Brenda would have been OK with $10., but she seemed pleased with the offer and took us up on it. Dearest proudly handed her his cash, I made up the balance, and the de-dolled van was in the bag, literally. We looked around a bit, but Dearest was too dazed with his find to really pay attention to where I was going, so we cut it short and headed home. He's been happily playing with it all day. And Beloved finished the cubby cabinet he was making for him, so it was proudly parked next to his other favorite cars. Before packing it for his weekend visit with his grandparents.

 

We're doing a toy clean-out on Sunday, since the cubby takes up space that held a bin fulla toys, but Dearest knows we do this every year before Christmas. And I only encourage him to ditch the broken stuff at the bottom. So he's OK with it.

 

And once I was all alone, I decided to do a bit of playful photography. My 2010 resolution - figured it out today - is to learn PaintShopPro X and Stitch Era Universal. I cagily left PSPX's owner's manual in the bathroom, where I'm sure to read it. And I'm missing out on a lot of fun stuff by using the old version. Yeah, it's embarrassing, since we bought X earlier this year for its vast functions, I still used PSP 5.3 nearly all of the time. X takes a while to load, and I don't know how to work half of it...blah, bleh, all excuses.  So, I'm gonna learn. I'll probably have to print out Stitch Era's manual m'self, it's over 200 pages. I'll make sure to have an extra black ink cartridge ready. But I'm gonna master ‘em both, or at least give it more of a try than I have so far - which is mostly dimly plunking at both programs like a cat at a keyboard. And with about as much understanding. 

 

It's one of our ‘stay home' weekends, but I'm gonna spice it up with home-made tacos ! Hope your weekend is off to a fun start, too !

Come see my dye job !

 

Current Mood : Satisfied with m'self

 

Today really was inspired by Clean House and Hoarders - did ya'll know that the website for the latter has unaired footage available to view right on the site ? And if ya don't get A&E, you can watch episodes, too.

 

http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/

 

Anyway - you might remember that, last weekend, part of my thrift store finds included a bundle-bag of fabric pieces. About half of it became part of my ongoing ‘catch and release' program, and was packed for eventual release back into the reuse stream, but I kept the ones I wanted. And one I only sorta wanted. It was a nice lavender eyelet piece, but once I unfolded it, I noted that it was faded and sort of tired-looking. It looked much better folded up !

 

It was going in the ‘donate' pile, too, but I remembered...I have a half-bottle of dark green dye in the laundry room, a leftover from my disastrous attempts to dye a doll. I liked the fabric's style, it was merely the color I didn't really love - and let's face it, if I don't adore the fabric, I don't need it. I have too much already ! But I wanted some experience dyeing, and eliminating another bottle in the laundry cabinet sounded good to me...

 

So I got off my butt and experimented. Read the directions on the RIT label, decided to use the washer for this trial. Unfortunately, the fabric didn't get to soak as long as it should have, but still... it looked great ! The darker threads on the eyelet parts really stood out on the pale green fabric under it. Gorgeous ! Rinsed ‘til the water ran clear, then washed the new green material with some stuff that, if it got dyed, no one would care. Then I washed the washer according to the RIT directions. But the next load of regular laundry I do will be a dark load - just in case ! Wheee ! I can dye fabric now !

 

With all this going on, there was still a lot of time to relax and do other stuff. Toilet ran over, so I mopped up the spill, then cleaned the floor with bleach. Ick. Sad but true, I've been needing to mop in there, but I prefer to sweep first !

 

I also needed a quick peek into a reference book, but it was a struggle to get it off the shelf. Everything on it is tight from so many books. Next to the one I needed was Things to Make for Children, the volume that contained the plans for my Dollhouse. Since that was all I wanted out of it, the book is also returning to the reuse stream. Plus, I have scans of the Dollhouse pages already. May ditch a few more later.

 

I also grabbed the recently purchased ‘Fashion Play' Barbie lavender-and-white lacy teddy and repaired it. I'd intended to re-sew the elastic waist down, from where the stitches had broken, even as I wondered why such a tiny stretchy teddy would need elastic there in the first place. As I turned it inside out, the elastic crackled and curled - it had already begun to rot. Happens. So instead, I got the seam ripper and removed it completely. Fits our ‘naughty nanny' Mary Poppins quite well ! Noted a few missing stitches at the top of it, and fixed those, too.

 

Retrieving the seam ripper got me to thinking about the rack in the Lab. It's small and white (and peeling), four wire shelves. One holds sewing stuff I haven't used in months, one holds a box of doll clothes needing repairs, another holds tiny fabric scraps, another holds larger bits. And it bumps my butt every time I try to eeeeaaase my way between it and the sewing chair when I need the closet or the ribbon bin. I'm thinking of ditching it. Tired of tiny fabric bits being in my way. I was ‘saving' them for appliqué, but I already know that I need larger pieces, and testing's so rare now, I use the fabric I'm gonna use later anyway. And the doll clothes can go into the sewing boxes. So I can ditch it, rack and all.

 

Dearest Son got into the act, too. He cleaned up one of his cars - a Bratz one he likes to use with his stuffie Stuart Little - and told me he was ditching a mostly-wrecked other car. It kept stalling out, he told me, and if it doesn't work for him, out it goes ! I'm so proud of him.  Even if he's just pretending, it took me 40+ years to get that ‘it works or it's gone' philosophy into my head !

Spangles are in !

 

Current Mood : a bit wheezy

Spent on craft projects : $3.77

Spent on embroidery scissors : $4.32

 

Didn't find any new doll goodies at Mal-Wart last night. Kinda ranked, because I was all geared up to at least buy an outfit or, well, something ! Having found a complete nothing there, I navigated over to the shrinking craft section. Found the posterboard I wanted, and a big bag of misc. shaped sequins for the upcoming tutorial. While posterboard is pretty cheap at M-W, ours didn't have white. They only had two-sided colors ! I picked out a sky-blue/navy blue one, but there was also orange/red, red/yellow, green/screaming neon yellow, and a pink/purple combos.

 

There's the bag of sequins - or spangles, as the bag reads - I bought. You'll be seeing it again soon. Ya get a lot of ‘em for $2.97 !

 

Of course, it was still raining when I hustled my cartload outside, so it's a good thing it doesn't matter that the board got water-spotted. I'm hoping to work up the tutorial Friday or over the weekend. Wrote up the directions, even though I haven't done the project yet. I do that sometimes. I write down what I know, then later on, edit it to better reflect the pictures or change the wording, once I have actual experience. This way, it's not all squeezed into one day, and nearly everything's easier when it's spaced out. And ya'll know me, once it's begun in earnest, I'll get it done, just to say it's finished ! 

 

 

Ran errands this morning while Beloved was home - it's always a relief to get the end-of-month bills paid ! And after hearing about all the great deals everyone on In The Pink found at Big Lots, decided to stop in for a bit. (sigh) Nothing new - in fact, there was less, not more, there. Luckily, I remembered to buy up two more pair of the embroidery scissors I snagged before Thanksgiving - those are great ! The handles are much thicker than the $5. manicure scissors I had, which makes them easier to use, and less tiring to my hands. Seriously, after you cut tacked-down appliqué fabric, and Peltex backing, and a buncha jump threads, it starts to ache a bit. But with the new scissors, it doesn't hurt at all. So I now have two extra pair, while they're so cheap. The manicure scissors will probably go to the bathroom - or to my living room desk, as back-up scissors in there.

 

Oh, and this isn't news to us, but the season premiere of Hoarders Monday broke A&E's ratings records - it's now ahead of Intervention as their top-ranked show. Whoo. Augustine was darn hard to watch, though. Gratitude and responsibility seem to be as alien to her as toilet scrubbing. But part of me knows, deep down, that could be me in 20 years, given a run of bad circumstances and poor choices. And loneliness.

 

I'm glad you're here. And it's my fond hope that all of us feel a bit less lonely together.

Happy December !

Current Mood : Worn

Current Image Notes : On the left, the original design, unfortunately too tall for Brody. On the right, what it looks like - or will look like ! - once I was done editing it ! 

 

Learned something today, too. I'd long heard that the 4-inch by 4-inch hoop for Brody isn't really 4x4. It's 100mm by 100mm, which is a bit smaller. I took others' word for it that it was something like 3.85 inches square.

 

So when I got an offer of an adorable freebie - a Christmas kitty playing with a sprig of beribboned mistletoe - I launched in its direction. Well, skittles. Only three inches wide (good !), but six and a half tall (rats !). Hmm... What if I pull up Stitch Era Universal and remove the bracketing cursive ‘Merry Christmas' ? That takes it down to a bit under five...what if I remove the pine branch over the kitty's head ? That took it down to 4.10 inches tall, and I've yet to conquer ‘moving stitches' on Stitch Era Universal.

 

So I opened up Explorations Sizer. It'll shrink designs, and fairly well, too. But it has odd limits. In this case, I could either resize ‘ChristmasKittyV3' to 3.95 inches tall or 3.65 inches tall, no ‘in betweensies'. Ya'll know me, I want it as big as I can have it ! But 3.95" might be too big for Brody's hoop - especially if the ‘conventional wisdom' is true.

 

Well, no way to tell ‘til I try. I've already done some experiments with Brody's memory - if a design's too big for him, he'll download it, but won't store it. So I decided to load it up, along with another design or two to try. Aaannd...it worked ! Brody stored it without so much as a pondering pause, and it's on his memory now. So you should see it stitched out soon. Plus, I got a lesson in ‘don't take "everyone's" word for it - try stuff out yerself. Nothing lost if they're right, but a lot to win if they're wrong !

 

Making a midnight (well, 10pm) grocery run, soon as Dearest Son's asleep. Which is now. See ya'll tomorrow !

 

Gone fishin'...

Current Mood : Quietly contemplative

 

Today, I learned that there's a whole different Clean House show, with outtakes, commentary, theme episodes, etc. It's sort of like a clip show, but it doesn't seem so bad when it's a ‘reality' show doing it versus a sitcom. They're called Clean House Comes Clean, and even though the DVR is set to get the original, I had to program it separately to snag CHCC. There's one tonight, at 9:30 Central, with the intriguing title ‘Bad Boys'.

 

As Anika pointed out in a comment, the new season of Hoarders begins tonight. I just discovered it this week, so it's all new and amazing to me. I'm utterly fascinated. I feel an odd kinship yet a complete repulsion at the same time. And there's a weird schism going on with every last hoarder - I can't stand to have anyone over my shoulder while I'm sorting out my vast treasures, yet I can't do it on my own, or I already would have. I confess, if I could go shopping every day or three, our clutter would be far worse. The only bigger thrill than getting something new is getting it at a great discount ! So I'm glad to be mostly broke, I have to really think over my purchases.

 

But I also know that, when money's tight, I hold on to more stuff. I'll keep things like glass jars and food trays I'd normally ditch, in hopes of finding some sort of organizational or decorative use for it so I won't ‘need' to buy anything similar. Or have an excuse to go buy stuff, even second-hand stuff. Because, you know, when I don't have cash, I stay home - and when I'm home, I go through stuff. Of course, when money's back, a lot of the stuff I carefully hoarded goes out with the trash, and I feel wealthy to toss things. (sigh)

 

Speaking of hoarding... embroidery design companies must really be feeling it lately, because some of the deals I've received are almost irresistible. I'll find myself wondering what I'd score if I took up this offer or that one, even writing down lists of sets and designs. Bear in mind, I have over thirty thousand files right now. That's between eight and ten thousand designs, maybe half of which were free. If I sewed one every day, it'd take me over 25 years to use them all. It's outrageous for me to even think about buying or even freebie-obtaining any more ! But I do consider it, I leap at sales, even if I don't take advantage of them, and most of the denizens of the SiCK embroidery boards have five to ten times as many as I do. It'd be classified as hoarding too, if it was stored anywhere besides a hard drive ! Sheesh, sometimes when I look for one specific one, I have to stop and think where it is - image if I had ten times as many ! That actually makes me shiver, because I could have that many, if I wanted. There's that many freebies out there.

 

(wry laugh) Few months ago, when we first got cable, I caught the tail-end of a travel show. It touted the biggest Barbie collector - why, she had over six thousand dolls ! Pfft. If I simply snagged all the $1. or less dolls I find naked and abandoned, I'd have that many in a few months. Especially during yard sale season. At one point, I had 228 (or so, the count was always a bit off), and every one had a name and a family. I was trying to figure out how to obtain silverware for them all. It was easier to thin the herds, but it's been sneaking back up on me.

 

I'll probably do another thin-down soon. With so many examples around me, I doubt I'll let it get too far out of hand again.

Drifting...

 

Current Mood : Lazy

Spent on embroidery designs : freebies !

Current Image Notes : Here's the aquarium, still in package. Hit up your Dollar Tree for one - or two !

 

Today was another of those days that slipped away from me, and I still don’t know where it went. Several times I went to the Lab, intending to dig out the Huge Bin o’ Barbie furniture, or at least the Corner o’ Carpet Scraps, but it just wasn’t “there”, ya know ? So I never followed through, I just stared stupidly at everything in there for a few minutes, then left.

 

So I didn’t do squat with the Dollhouse all weekend. No real reason for it that I can think of, either. Beloved Hubby made me breakfast – pancakes and sausages ! – and I had pretty much all day, but I mostly sat and watched TV. I’ve watched enough lame-o greedy jerks holiday ads to turn me into my usual Christmas curmudgeon early this year, and maybe that was a goal, I don’t know. Several of the new Target ads are just plain cringe-inducing, and Mal-Wart feeds the same old ‘reading Christmas tales fireside’ fantasy again. Bleh.

 

While I still avoid the Designs By SiCK embroidery design forums, I continue to get their e-mail newsletter. It’s the usual ‘I’m trying sooo hard to be inspiring’ articles and in-house puffery, but occasionally there’s a good tip in the morass. Or hints of a new set that may be worth seeing. Today’s was like that – use troublesome thread in the bobbin so it won’t be a total loss, and oh, here’s a new ‘tiny charms’ set in free-standing lace. Hmm. I have several charms already, but I’m always up for small designs.

 

These were nice. A heart with a star, a four-leaf clover, a Christmas bulb and tree, a ghost, a leaf, an Easter egg, a legless flamingo (?), graduation cap, and an awareness ribbon, ready to be stitched in the supportive color of choice. Since I still had enough points for one set, I got it. Now they’re on my computer, waiting for the next big project. I can use them on the craft I’m brewing, or on doll clothes, or as wearable jewelry. Not bad for a freebie !

 

It’s already past my bedtime, so I’m gonna go crash. Hopefully tomorrow, I’ll be out of these over-humid overcast blues, and I can enjoy the day moving around some more !

 

Mary P. and Dollar Tree

 

Current Mood : Wheeeee !

Spent on Dolls and doll stuff : $1.34

Spent on fabric : $1.06

 

Well, I never got near the Dollhouse today, but I really didn't mind. I got to sleep in, had some time with Beloved Hubby, got to go to an unfamiliar thrift in another town, made a doll find, found rice crackers by-the-pound while running errands, and got new pets for Shinobu, Inaba, and Michio - an aquarium from Dollar Tree !

 

So, let's start at the beginning. We were up a bit late last night, mostly watching Law & Order episodes. So it was glorious to sleep in until we couldn't lie around anymore. After a quick breakfast and a pair of quicker showers, we headed out to Capital City so Beloved Hubby could do a quick touch-up on a job site. Since he wanted company, I was glad to ride along. We passed a couple of thrifts, and I got to choose one for a quick look-see.

 

I'm glad I chose the ‘Miracle Network' one, because we both scored. I'd noticed earlaier this week that one of his tool bags had a serious split down one seam, irreparable. While I poked through patterns - nothin' - he was digging through luggage, and found a great rolling soft-side tote. $25. seemed a bit much, but I soon found out that everything with a tag was half-price ! He was happy with $12.50. I selected a $2. bag of fabric scraps (shame on me !) and figured that was it. Especially since the ‘toy' section was being used as a playground by several kids and parents.

 

They left before we did, so I risked a peek. Wow. Poor baby dolls, I hope they didn't look that bad when they came in ! Spotted a few naked Barbie legs and went in after ‘em. Mostly newer dolls I wasn't much interested in - many damaged and chewed - until I spotted a shock of brown hair. Kinda short brown hair. I pulled her up...she looked so familiar. Like Tara Lynn, a Steffie-faced favorite, but not quite. I saw the china marker prices - $1.99, 99c, 50c. Not seeing any major damage, I selected her, and also scavenged a backdrop and some gold fencing from some playset I didn't recognize. Those were gifted to me, and I only paid 25c for the pretty brunette doll.

 

Once home, we polished off Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch, and I went through my fabric. The lavender eyelet was pretty, but faded... hmm. I may try to dye it soon. About half of it will be donated, but I kept the eyelet, some pretty blue print, a smiley-face cotton print, and some solid lavender cotton. I brushed the broken rubber band out of my new doll's hair, and tried to recall where I'd seen her before. Her face wasn't quite a Steffie one, but very similar. She really reminded me of a brunette Tara Lynn, with a similar eye style and coloring.

 

After a few minutes of searching, I thought to look on the back of her neck. © Disney. Oh ! That's who she is - Mary Poppins ! She was a Disney Parks and Store exclusive in 1993, and even though I didn't work at Diz Store ‘til 1995, we had a couple. Definitely her. Neat. Didn't bug me that she was nude, since she wouldn't have remained Mary anyway. I brushed her hair down, instead of restoring it to the curly bun she had, and gave her a quick dunk in hot water, so it'd lie down. She had a minor dent to her right thumb, and a tiny scratch under her left eye, but otherwise, she was practically perfect in every way !

 

I let her rest and dry, and headed out for a couple errands. Decided to hit Dollar Tree - and it was still busy. Got some more of the crackers I like, a package of foam stickers for an upcoming craft project (tutorials coming soon !), an ornament painting set for Dearest to go with the stamp pads for his stampers, and some peg-type clothespins, for crafts next month. I also found a really great ‘expands in water' aquarium that's just about perfectly Barbie-scaled ! So cool ! The hood even looked real. They had two styles, so I chose my favorite, the green one. You get a photo of it tomorrow. I'll probably never fill it with water, but it's so cool to have one - and to have found it at Dollar Tree !

 

Just wish I could have taken the hood off, and repositioned things, but it's on there good. I'd have to break it to remove the top, not worth it. But it's great that there'll be a new fish-tank in the Dollhouse !

 

(grin) And it really made me smile to learn that we all like Clean House and Hoarders. Did ya'll know there seems to be a Hoarders marathon Monday ? I was just looking at the schedule on Titan.com, and starting at 7am on Nov. 30^th, there's eleven episodes, usually two or three in a row. Wow.

 

But for now, I'm gonna grab my crackers and watch some backed-up Pop Up Video the DVR got for me. Hope your Saturday was great !

Mailers and Hoarders...

 

Current Mood : Happy, but a bit distracted

 

You'd think I'd be all relaxed today, since we're not participating in Black Friday madness, and the week's goal - sewing Joanne's pillowcases - was complete, and they looked good ! But... I had to bleach a spot on one ‘case, and wash them, so you know I was wigging out about the bleach and damage potential in the wash. Turned out fine, the spot came out and nothing else got bleached, and nothing tragic happened to the appliqué. Whew !

 

While the wash went on, I glued a magnet to the back of the gold-stripe test head, and applied Fray-Check to two of my ‘Made for You by Dorrie' labels, so they'd be ready. Yup, even though I didn't literally hand-make either the pillowcases or the embroidery design - I merely altered it a bit - I wanted to attach a label, and I don't have any that say ‘Embroidered for You by Dorrie', darn it. Hmmm... I may have to make some.

 

No Flea Market today - there was a craft show, but no thanks. I already have more ideas than time ! So I picked up a Priority Mail box and took Dearest Son to the grocery for the consolation prize he requested, a Lunchable. Streets were deserted. Even the post office was empty. Was still empty when I returned to the PO at 3pm to mail it off. Yaaay !

 

Hand-sewed the labels on - too lazy to change the embroidery foot on Brody to machine-sew ‘em - ironed ‘em both, and attached stitch-shield to the backs. Since Priority boxes are now printed on the inside in two colors (to prevent folk from turning ‘em inside out and using the ‘free' boxes to ship non-Priority) I bagged ‘em, so the ink couldn't rub off on the white fabric. They should reach Joanne Tuesday, at the latest. I think I'll let it be a complete surprise, and not say a word. (happy smile) I'm so glad I did it. And I'm also glad it's done !

 

Well, after watching several episodes of the happy-ending-always Clean House, Hoarders was like a bucket of icy creek water in the face. Clean House features a team of three or four stereotyped loud characters and their work crew coming into a semi-cluttered home, convincing the residents to ditch their stuff at a yard sale, then using the proceeds to renovate and redesign the interiors. It's an hour long, but you can actually time when they go to the yard sale part, when they reveal the money totals, etc. The family goes to a hotel while the crew gets to work, and they come home a day or two later to a sparkling home. The underlying ‘Why did it get like that ?' and ‘How you gonna keep it this way ?' or ‘What did you jerks do with all my stuff ?' issues are never addressed.

 

Hoarders, on the other hand, is a clinical study resembling a documentary. To me, at least, it was somewhat chilling. The crews here are psychologists and therapists, and a group of ten helpers who can clean out a house, attic to cellar, in three days. But it is extremely rare for the clean out to be complete in that opportunity window, and happy endings are less than half the time. I watched three episodes, each with two families' stories, and only one had a somewhat happy ending. Most of the hoarders are in massive denial, even if they haven't been able to get into a closet in six years, and they insist on saving everything the crews are trying to dump - like the vacuum cleaner that's been in the backyard, in a foot of snow, for two years. Or they want to go through it all, one box at a time, with one box taking four hours to sort. Most are on court mandates to clean up, they may have lost custody of their children, had their homes condemned, or ended their marriages from the stress. Facing an eviction seems almost gentle in comparison.

 

Beloved and I discussed what we watched, and he said sometimes he wonders what I'll drag home from the next yard sale, but I've never been that bad. He admits to sharing similar tendencies, and once I got the house back to ‘normal clutter', he wanted to get the Shop back, too. That's why he had no problem with keeping the Dollhouse in our bedroom. He says he'll probably feel a bit prouder of it once I start using it. No problem there, I'm broke and roads are crowded tomorrow - I'm stayin' home and playing !

'Task of the Week' - done !

 

Current Mood : Satisfied with self, overjoyed with Brody

 

Happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate ! Hope you had a good day, holiday or not - and that you ate some tasty, delicious goodies. Should do that every day anyway.

 

We were almost out of plates, so I did an hour's worth of dishes. It's so nice when they're done and it doesn't take all day !

 

Lest you think I go a whole week without goals, the unspoken one this week was, ‘Finish Joanne's Pillowcases'. And by ‘finish', I mean, actually start on real pillowcases, no more tests or experiments. This takes a gulp and a breath for me to actually do, because I'll happily do tests and trials ‘til forever, because I always get nervous about my projects when I know it's gonna be a gift. Add to that, this week's spending kinda drained the House Checking account. If I totally wrecked the ‘cases, it'd be a week before I could get more - or even get near the stores to get another set. And I was surprised to find that I had a fire under my burgeoning butt to get them done, so I could spend all weekend with the Dollhouse. Yes, I'm capitalizing it now. It's pretty much the real Chez Insanity, but right now, with no occupants and no furniture, it's just the Dollhouse.

 

But this afternoon, with Beloved Hubby watching a ‘stuff blowed up' movie kinda loud and Dearest Son gleefully dive-bombing toy cars with toy spaceships, I needed a retreat and I was out of excuses. I'd decided to make a pastel pink pillowcase and a mint green one, for variety. I'd already pulled the appliqué fabrics aside, with the washed pillowcases and the stabilizer I knew I'd use. Decided to do the pink one first.

 

And it came out beautifully. I am completely happy with this one. But it...sort of looked blank with just the profile. So I pulled up the ‘vintage' Barbie signature design I'd bought probably the same month we bought Brody. I thought it odd that I'd never used it, but I had used the ‘Crystal Barbie' 80s signature, on the "I Still Play With" sign. Well, time to break all the rules. Decided I was gonna stitch this on the other side of the ‘case, without doing a test stitch-out or anything. I was gonna just go for it.

 

I could not be any more pleased with how it turned out. It is perfect ! Even if I completely blow out the green one, I thought,  I'd be proud to send her just this pink one. It is just the way I wanted it to look. I am proud of me, of Brody, and what we can do. Happy !

 

Took a break for an hour, and went right back to it. I really wanted to finish today. The green one is done, but I'm not quite as happy with it. (sigh) It's more of my niggling little concern with things matching - the Barbie signature on the green one is much higher than the pink version. And the profiles don't match up, either - and I stopped the green one, ripped out the stitches, repositioned the hoop, and began again. It's better, but not a lot. It's the first time I tried an embroidery tear-out, and it's easy to get those big stitches out. The tiny ones around corners and curves take a bit of doing ! Basically, ya wiggle the top thread a bit, then the bobbin, and sooner or later, you can slide the bobbin thread out and the top floats away. I'm just glad I caught the ‘closer to the case hem than the other one' before it got too far along.

 

If I was doing two separate pillowcases, I'd be absolutely content with each. I just wish they matched each other a bit better. I hope Joanne likes ‘em ! This week's goal - completed ! Hope to mail ‘em Saturday or Monday. I still stand by my vow of not going anywhere tomorrow - but I may hit the Flea Market, if they're in.

 

Looked out the living room window. Someone down the street has put up flashing white lights all around the house and in the yard. I can see ‘em from nearly a mile away. Very pretty in the dark night !