So, I think my perfectionistic tendencies are finally fading...

 

Current Mood : Eager to sew some more !

 

Spent a bit of time puttering in the Lab. It felt so good ! Came across the Pak 'Silk Sheath' dress I made a few months ago, from Aileen's Petite Fashions Pattern #43. Never put fasteners in the back because I was debating tossing it, or dressing one of the yard sale dolls in it, but it was forgotten when the time came. Again, I used a print that wasn't quite right for the pattern - a Christmassy holly - for a sleeveless snug sheath. I fully intended for this to be a rough trial effort only, so I didn't care what the fabric print was. Of course, it turned out fairly well, which surprised me. I have somewhat of a terrible track record with APF #135, 'Modern Art'. Since this one had a similar collar, finishing this one well gives me hope that one day, I'll have my 'Modern Art' clone. In a dozen colors !

 

So, with a new episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive on the cable recorder just beggin' to be watched, I grabbed the baggie of snap fasteners, scissors, and a needle and thread, and camped out on the sofa. Not only was I gonna keep the dress, but I was actually gonna sew fasteners on it. You'd be surprised how many 'finished' dresses on the website don't have closures on the back. And Odette, the Swan Lake beauty I'd gotten from the $7. GoodWill bag with a terrible haircut, was gonna model. I'd never shown ya'll what I did to fix her hair. Came out OK, I think.

 

It didn't take long to get that done. I read somewhere that vintage Barbie clothes had snaps sewn on with four 'wrap' stitches around each snap hole, each made up of two threads that matched what was used to make the outfit. Back when I first started sewing - and eschewing Velcro (tm) like a good doll clothes snob - I made the classic blunder of sewing the snap on with so much thread, it couldn't fasten. Thread got in the way ! So now, I do it the way Mattel did. Goss knows their clothes have lasted darn near forever.

 

And now I know why Beloved Hubby chortled at me when I said if hoarders were only organized, no one would know, and they could keep their stuff. One of the two on Sunday night's show - Filling the Void - was both a 'wreck' and an organized hoarder. Some rooms were piled floor to ceiling with stuff thrown any which way, others were carefully organized via see-through bins. Bins stacked floor to ceiling, with apparently several hundred different styles of animal-shaped purse. She drove me nutz. All she could do was complain about how no one understood and everyone needed to give her more patience, but it was all her crap, and she kept buying more ! Her husband is a better person than me - when she just kept carping about how I wasn't respecting her piles of stuff as I moved it to get to the furnace for a repair, I'd have started packing, and stuffed a son under each arm as I headed out the door. I felt sorry for everyone in that house, even the dog. Everyone but her.

 

I also wonder how these folks afford it all. There's no way I could fetch home a chicken-bag every few days, especially one that was 'only' thirty bucks. I know - probably better than most folk - that you can hoard and clutter without spending a dime, or one $5. 'find' at a time, but between the piles of stuff that never gets used, losing most of your living space to the point of having to find new lodging, paying for storage, and still having a shopping addiction... I just don't know how they can afford it. There are often good things that come with limited funds that you're not even aware of... I can't imagine how packed my closet would be if I wore a frequently-discounted size !

 

However, I am letting go of one of my limitations. Long time ago, I said to m'self that, once a design was in Brody's memory, I was gonna embroider it. Because otherwise, it'd just stay there until I did. Kinda silly of me to do that to m'self. A couple of the designs on Brody right now were there for Dearest - and he's either outgrown or moved on from being interested in them. So now, I can erase designs off Brody whenever I need the space to create something else. Not gonna hold m'self back anymore.

I actually got my big ole butt in the Lab for something besides cleaning !

 

Current Mood : Happy with me !

 

I actually sewed today ! Yes, the pretty little dress on Bopsy. It's very simple, took less than an hour to cut out and sew, and came from a free pattern I found online. Unfortunately, I printed it out once, didn't save it to my computer, and when that hard drive went belly-up, it took the bookmarks I had with it. Including that one. I had to make it a drawstring neck, because the collar piece I also printed and cut out vanished. I spent several hours this afternoon trying to find it again, but no luck.

 

Really, it's just as well. I need to make several changes - that 1/8-inch hem and seam allowance is a pain ! It was nice to learn I could still do it, but I don't like to. That kind of fussiness isn't very fun. The finished dress fits the classic and TNT bodies well, but Bopsy's smaller body makes the top pucker a bit. Oh, well. It still looks cute on her, and I sewed ! It felt good to futz with tiny darts and little hems, and have something neat to show for it, made from a small square found in the Scraps shelf. Even if it's a very Summery dress made with a very Fall-print fabric. (grin) I always do that. The black ribbon was also on the cart, hanging out on the ribbon dowels. It's kind of funny that nearly all the spooled ribbon I own fit on the cart dispenser - but the loose kind, I barely have space to store any more, there's so much of it !

 

I really, really love that cart. It made after-sewing cleanup so easy that I actually did it ! For once, the Lab was cleaner at the end of a project than at the beginning. I still have a box of Barbie props to store, but otherwise, the Lab only needs a bit of a vacuuming and it's squeaky-clean !

 

This weekend, I hope to start on the chair cover. Main reason that's so up in my head is because the blanket I use to keep either me or the cat from damaging it keeps slipping. Every time I get up and sit back down, I have to adjust it. Originally, I was just gonna make a slip-on cover for the top of the chair, but after looking around, I've decided to try a full-out custom slipcover. I'll probably make a small cushion to go between cover and chair, but that'll be it.

 

Other than that, it was a busy enough day. Got an hour's worth of dishes done, and did some general tidy work. Still trying to re-establish a balance between Dearest Son's schoolwork, housework, and 'me' time, but it's not very easy. I hope to figure it out eventually !

Glad the 'Monday Shuffle' worked !

 

Current Mood : A bit paranoid...

 

Didn't get to sew today, but that's fairly routine for a Monday. I usually spend today picking up from whatever we did - or didn't do - all weekend. The usual task of the day is restoring the living room to something we can live in, which can take two hours even with Dearest Son helping. Much as I love our dog Friday, his inability to pick up the stuffing from the doggie toy he destroyed, or put the trash he pulled out of the can back in is a constant source of frustration.

 

With the dining room chairs gone, Beloved Hubby was once again without a nightstand. So I cast around for another replacement, and found the large plastic storage tub I formerly used for Barbie furniture storage. I had two, but got rid of enough pieces to only need one. It was mostly empty, filling space under the TV, so Friday wouldn't get back there and chew wires or worse as a puppy. It was tall enough to work for Beloved, and I could either use the lid or just flip it and use the bottom as a surface. He was kind of amused at this latest effort.

 

That left the space open again. But I also needed a better place to store our TV trays. Yup. They fit well in the space under the TV, and I could even fit in Dearest's "Goin' to Gramma's" backpack beside them. Neat ! I could push the backpack aside for the Wii unit when needed.

 

Speaking of the Wii, I shifted a few of the board games around, and now had a space for the Thomas the Tank Engine case we use to transport it. The soft-side case was only $5. at a yard sale, and is just perfect for the Wii. I'd bought it when Dearest's interest in Thomas was waning, but the case was simply too good a deal to not buy. He still doesn't much care for it, but is OK with packing the Wii in there. Long as I don't expect him to want trains these days. Lately, it's all about the Bakugons...

 

And I did a few dishes. The three of us can use up twelve clean bowls in two days. Kitchen's still kind of a mess since the microwave and appliance shift earlier this month, and I gotta get on that. Funny how a couple days of yard sale and fun with Beloved has put me so far behind.

 

I got a little Lab time. Doll clothes are put away, and donations are packed up in various Mal-Wart style sacks. I'm cheep. Unless there's a ton of it, I always recycle free bags for donations. Pulled a length of pink out of the pile, to use as muslin for that chair cover project. Or make some clothes for me, either way. I wasn't sure what to do with the plastic grid 'crate' that used to hold fabric - it's all in the cart now ! - but as it turns out, the pieces to Patti Playpal fit in there just right. I gotta get on that project soon, as her dismembered body is starting to bug me, too.

 

There's still a box of props to put away, and that keeps getting put off. Heck, just this weekend, I finally deboxed the Kitchen Littles pots and pans set I bought months ago. Mostly because that box was about three times larger than the contents, and it was in the way. I really should have gone back in there after dinner and finished up, but this article led me to read several others, and there went the night.

 

Ya'll may have noticed I don't really play video games. Aside from a few rounds of pinball on the Wii or a quick game of Suburban Cat Herder online, I just don't have the time or even the interest. Plus, I got to see up-close what an addiction to a game like EverQuest can do, so I simply don't go there. I don't have time to do what I want to - how would I have hours to spend with digital elves ? Not to mention the $15./month fees.

 

But after reading this article -> http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html  <- there's no way I ever will. Skinner boxes and being pushed into repetitive actions that aren't even fun for a negligible reward while ignoring Life frankly scares me. It's a fascinating article, even with the sensational title and the fact that it's from former Mad rip-off Cracked. Several other articles are referenced within, all of them pretty darn scary from a psychological standpoint.

 

Well. I'm gonna have fun getting to sleep tonight ! Especially since BIL is trying to get Beloved back into EverCrack...

A day spent sorting what ya got is better than a day buying more !

 

Current Mood : Possibly catching a cold...(atchhooo !)

 

Another early morning - but I was home, instead of in a garage ! DFIL ended up not going to the AirSoft games, so I had two free hours between Beloved Hubby leaving and Dearest Son arriving. I seriously considered going back to bed, but instead, I puttered. Hung up a few stars in the kitchen that had been outside my Lab door, opened Molly-car's trunk and retrieved the (mostly useless) gate I snagged from Uncle's garage, and took care of a few little jobs I'd been meaning to get done eventually. The star basket I used to have hanging up is now holding flea treatments that kept falling off the top of the fridge, and it kinda looks nice up there. I still have one star basket to do something-or-other with, but all the rest are either donated, sold, or repurposed.

 

I snagged the gate from the garage Thursday, hoping to use it to block Friday from my Lab, and still leave the door open. Unfortunately it's really old, and the tension rod probably gave out five years ago - all I can do is prop it against the doorframe. But it is a bit easier to negotiate around than the milk crates I was using. What I'd really like is the top-of-the-stairs swinging gate we had when Dearest was a baby. Not even sure if they still make them. I'll see what the local stores have. It doesn't have to be heavy-duty, it just has to keep Friday out. A plank of wood tall enough would work. Hmmm...

 

Anyway, I spent a good part of the Lab morning and early afternoon filling up my new rolling cabinet ! I really like it. I shoved all the fabric scraps in the bottom drawer, and the shoebox of fabric with the new pieces in the middle one. The top one is a junk drawer - with bits and pieces of doll clothes needing repair, tutorial printouts, random notions, you name it. The damaged doll clothes were in a small Lucite makeup case, but that's empty now, and I'll probably donate it. Decided to go ahead and ditch a few doll clothes while I was at it. So, a bit more space ! And some stuff to donate. I swear, I could have a yard sale every time I get into a cleaning mood.

 

I think I know what's going on with my sudden drive for organization again. Heck, I watch two 'Hoarders' shows - that's bound to affect how I see my piles of stuff. Beloved was surprised I wanted a storage cabinet, but part of me honestly believes that the main difference between hoarders and collectors is storage organization. Most hoarders, if they organized their stashes, could easily pass for collectors, have the stuff they love, and have living space. Long as they take out the trash ! I know I hoard - dolls, fabric, books, and other silly things - but if I can keep it organized and picked up, it doesn't look like a hoard. Even though we all know it is.

 

Beloved brought home lunch, and fixed the old gate - turned out that it worked, I just didn't know how. It screws out to fit the doorframe, and back to allow passage. I can deal with that. I enjoy not having to spend money and finding something that'll work as a garage freebie. And Beloved's happy too, since he doesn't have to custom-make me a half-door ! Even DC is OK with it, since he can easily jump the gate to escape Friday. I was worried the gate was a bit high, but DC's a cat, he can jump over anything. The milk crates were probably more of a challenge to him than the gate is.

 

Once the new cart was loaded with stuff - including most of the upper cubbies - I figured it was high time to clean out my pattern cabinet. I've been shoving stuff in there any ole way, and one shelf was nothing but unsorted pattern pieces. I grabbed Beloved's old business cards and went back in. Those cards come in handy, long as there's nothing written on the back. They're just the right size for the contents pockets on the new cabinet's drawers, and I've used 'em before to label the pattern cabinet. I figured this clean-out would shuffle many drawer contents, so I could use more business cards to update the labels. Then store any leftovers in a cart cubby.

 

Two hours later, I had a bag of trash, a few more donations, and a well-labelled pattern cabinet and cart ! All the pattern pieces were filed correctly, a buncha stuff I'd held on to for no other reason than it was mine was gone, and I freed up a whole drawer for other stuff. Now, when I'm watching a design stitch out, I can flip through a magazine, since there's space for them now. I can find all the doll hair care items, and my little 'office supply' drawer is nice and tidy. I probably still have about 50 old business cards, but I'm sure they'll be used eventually. Beloved couldn't believe I still had them - or how I used 'em !

 

There's not a lot left to clean in the Lab - there's doll clothes to put away, and I have to bag up donations and put a milk crate fulla stuff elsewhere in the house. But after that, the Lab's ready for business ! I hope to get to the doll clothes tonight. Found out the Disney Princess plastic placemat I got at Dollar Tree last week is the exact same size as my rotary cutting mat, so I may use it as a cheery cover. The cutting surface is a bit tidier now, since the tools I had on it are now in the cart. Should be easier to cut fabric out now.

 

And after all this cleaning, I really *really* wanna sew something !

Rollin', rollin', rollin'....keep those craft ideas a-rollin'....new cart !

Current Mood : Thrilled

 

You may find this hard to believe, but Beloved Hubby and I were so wiped out from the day's labors yesterday that we were both in bed at 9pm. Best sleep I've had in weeks. But it was really hard to get going for another day in the garage - especially when I had nothin' to sell this time.

 

But a promise is a promise, so off I went - and was back home an hour later. Uncle said it was gonna be too slow for both of us to be there, bored out of our brain-cases, so he'd sit it, and I could have the day. How sweet ! I wished him luck and skittered off, once things were set out the way he liked, and he had a book and a beverage. I like to make sure everyone's comfy. He called us two hours later, to say he'd made $27. and was shutting it down.

 

So I had a whole free day ! And Beloved Hubby's scheduled job got delayed 'til Monday since the tile guys weren't done yet. Wow. We *both* had a whole day off unexpectedly. What to do with it ?

 

We ended up going shopping - even to some thrift stores - in a nearby military town. Beloved wanted to look for camo clothes, for AirSoft, I wanted to look at...well, everything. But about the only thing that I really liked were some really old - like 1940s old - patterns. Too bad they had price stickers all over the envelopes. I would have tried to make something from them otherwise. But I may yet go back for some. They really were awesome.

 

Yeah, after selling nearly 30 dolls and a buncha props and the Castle, I wasn't really in much of a mood to shop for more. But Beloved insisted that the cash from the garage sale was mine to spend, any way I wanted. So far, I'd only bought breakfast. I figured that, once we were done at the Army/Navy surplus, I'd hit Mal-Wart, and pick out which fan I wanted for the Lab. I could get the repro floor one, that I'd always considered too expensive at $40. It was all I could think of that I wanted. Even if it was raining and the coldest day of Spring so far.

 

But first, we peeked into Michael's Crafts. I'm still on the hunt for more 6mm craft foam, and Beloved wanted to look around too. We were actually on our way out - no foam -  when I noted the 50% off sale on 'scrapbooking' storage and furniture. And I really liked that cart ! Three fabric pull-out drawers on a white MDF frame, a buncha cubbies on top, with wheels and a ribbon dispenser side. Hmmm... half-off $89.99...is doable !

 

So, soon Beloved had the camo he wanted, and was more than happy to put my new rolling cabinet together. It's great ! Rolls pretty well, even on carpet. For some reason, one of the pull-out drawer bottom pieces was missing, but Beloved cut a square from the box it came in, and that works well. I'm using a photo from the box it came in because I don't have mine filled up yet ! I get some serious Lab time tomorrow, since Beloved's got AirSoft - and a new camo set for it.

 

I'm amazed at how much bigger the computer area and Beloved's Studio look without all the dining room chairs around. Yup, sold 'em - they were one of the first items gone. We barely finished getting 'em out of his truck. Beloved's now re-thinking his computer desk and Studio furniture...

Yard sale is a 'go' ! And happily, most of it went !

 

Current Mood : Tired but pleased

Spent on fabric and patterns : $17.86

 

Since it only rained a bit, and even then it was two minutes at a time, the garage sale was a 'go' - and I'm glad. I sold pretty much everything I brought, and made a bit over $60. ! Cleared quite a bit of space, too. Uncle had one customer who bought darn near everything, and kept coming back for more. He'll be back tomorrow to pick up a table he was using for display, and I'd bet what I made that he'll pick up just a few more things.

 

Beloved Hubby was so sweet. Since he was working locally, he swung by and picked me up for lunch and a break, my first one since we got there. The sale was scheduled from 8am to 2pm - and when we rolled up at 7:40, there were already shoppers on the sidewalk ! I got Uncle while Beloved unloaded our stuff, and it was go-go-go from there. We really didn't have much sit-down time at all, the whole day. Luckily, though, it was raining when we brought our lunches back, and we three had a little picnic with Taco Bell. BTW, the XL Chalupas are delicious.

 

Uncle must've thanked me a dozen times, and offered me some extra cash for helping, but that's not why I was there. I had a good time, and I wanted to help him start his new life with as many bucks as possible - and since I couldn't give him money, what I could give was time. So I refused, and said I'd had too much fun to want cash for it... but it sure felt good to make a few bucks on the stuff I'd normally donate, or trade it to Brenda for about half of what I got today, and that in credit for already overpriced stuff.

 

Not sure how tomorrow's gonna go - Uncle doesn't have that much stuff left to sell. I think it'll be one of those 'cruise' days, when nearly everyone drives by really slowly, but hardly anyone stops. Still, even if he doesn't make much tomorrow, he did very well today, so he should be pretty happy !

 

The 'buys everything' guy came back just as we were shuttering things, and so I ended up staying 'til nearly 3. But I decided to hit Hancock Fabrics anyway. Found the two patterns I was hunting, decided to get both. When they're 99c each, I tend to just go with it. With that decided and done, I had time to wander the rest of the temple to fabric - and I found two of the Barbie cottons I'd seen on In The Pink, the two I most wanted ! They were both kinda gaudy, really, but I bought a yard and a half of the pink, and a half-yard of the black and white. Might get more later. Just not sure if I'm making a shirt for me or a chair slipcover from the pink yet. Shoot, next 40% off coupon, I may get enough for both. Right now, with no discounts, they're $9./yd

 

Yeah, that's the latest project idea. Won't leave me alone. I've looked at about twenty versions, with or without directions, and it pretty much boils down to making a paper version, sewing a muslin, then making a final one. So far, I'm leaning towards one like this - http://lifewithmonkey.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/the-bunny-butt-chair-cover/  . I like it, but ya'll know me, I'm lazy and want someone else to do the measuring and cutting for me ! 

Yard sale... or rained out ?

 

Current Mood : Sleepy -but both eager and worried

 

Spent about three hours today getting ready for Uncle's yard sale tomorrow and Saturday. I have 32 dolls hoping to find new homes - including many Little Disney Princess duplicates. There's four Cinderellas, three Auroras, and several more. I hope someone will choose to take them home. It took me a while to find all of them clothes ! Half our living room is fulla stuff ready to go, priced and everything.

 

I'm hoping even harder that the expected rain is hard enough to encourage Uncle to cancel. Seriously, he's expecting to have it anyway, rain or shine, in the garage. Which is already crammed with stuff - I have no idea where I'd put the dolls and the Swan Lake castle, much less the six dining room chairs, three boxes of books, and a buncha this-and-that. Plus, when it rains, most bargain hunters assume yard sales have been cancelled, and don't even bother to go out, except to indoor arenas like flea markets. And if folk do go out prowling, they'll still have to run through the rain to the garage, since he's locking the entire rest of the house up. Prudent, to be sure, but it really doesn't give him much room if sale items can't be displayed on the driveway or lawn. He has no porch at all.

 

Plus, I can't say I'm really looking forward to being stuck in a single-car garage with no room to move for six to eight hours Friday and Saturday. I promised, and I'll do it, but I still don't see how it'll work if two people can barely walk around in the garage now, which doesn't have a single thing of mine in it.

 

I'd do a slammin' rain dance, if I knew how !

 

Meanwhile... Dearest Son's granddad picked him up today, so I'd be free to help Uncle. Went with Beloved Hubby to work, then to Dollar Tree and GoodWill. Nothing at GWill, but I noted that DTree now sells hair coloring.

 

And in the ole in-box, I got a message from Hancock Fabrics, detailing their latest sale. Simplicity patterns are 99c, and $1.99 for Butterick ones. Went through their sites and thought about a couple, so I then did the next logical thing - went through the patterns I had. The two me-sized ones I already have, more or less, and one of the three doll patterns was already there. I scratched those off the list and tucked the two remaining numbers into my purse for later. I can decide a bit better when I look face-to-face at the actual pattern. Since the sale runs through Sunday, I have time. And, since I had the doll pattern tote out, I put everything in order. First by doll size - Barbie, baby, Elphie, American Girl, and Others - then by pattern company. Wow. So much potential in there - most untouched. I gotta sew !

 

Well, here's hoping for tomorrow. No matter what I end up doing, I hope it works out !

So whiny, my stomach hurts...

 

Current Mood : Whiny and Useless

 

I should be getting ready for the yard sale at Uncle's this weekend, but I got lazy. Plus, I can do most of what I intend to tomorrow. So today, I rounded up the latest round of book culls and took 'em to Hastings. They took half and added $12-something to my store card, which gave Dearest Son and I $20. to play with. Yaaay !

 

Well, sort of. He quickly found a game to rent and a book he wanted to read, but I didn't find jack. Nothing at all. Not one bit of junk in Pop Culture Debris spoke to me, there were no interesting books or magazines new or used, no movies that I'd wanted to see, no funky odd manga or small-scaled toys I just had to have. So we got the stuff Dearest wanted and headed out. He's happy as clams, Mrs. Spoiled Writer here is miffed. I kinda wanted something for me, ya know ? Yeah, I just got Princess and the Frog yesterday, but I was kinda hoping I'd really enjoy something new.

 

Oh, well. At least now I can ditch the books Hastings didn't want to the yard sale without wondering if they're worth more. Came home, and Beloved Hubby had Friend over, so I couldn't whine to him. So I looked around for stuff to buy online, but ultimately decided against even one of the books on the ole Amazon wish list.

 

This happens every year. Just as we're coming out of our usual winter financial trials, and I actually can spend a bit...but there's nothing I want. I still have tons of supplies from the year before, for all of my hobbies, the dolls I wanna see aren't due out for months and what's on shelves has been there since before Halloween. I know of tons of books I'd like, but I'm one of those who really needs to see and handle a book before I buy it. And 'Look Inside !' on Amazon.com just doesn't cut it. And as much as I wanna buy somethin' selfish, I just can't spend money to buy just anything. I hope that makes sense.

 

So I'm in a whiny funk, don't mind me. I'll be out of it tomorrow, when I notice how much I'm giving away for the yard sale.

Busy days...but I sewed a bit !

 

Current Mood : Not sure how I'm busy all day all the time, but I somehow manage to be !

 

I swear, when my life gets busy, I get no time to write. But I'll try to keep things just a day or so late, instead of a couple weeks.

 

Still working through the never-ending dishes and laundry. Beloved Hubby came home for lunch, so that was a nice change to the day. Since we were going grocery shopping later, we discussed what was on the list and what we needed - and just plain wanted.

 

I'd also found a couple new patterns, including one for a simple, but intriguing, origami drawstring bag. The photo is here -  http://madquilter.blogspot.com/2006/12/origami-bag.html - but the link to directions isn't quite right. If you're curious too, the correct link is http://secretworkshop.com/resources/index.php?item=415746bb575b17801 . They have lots of other free patterns and projects here -> http://secretworkshop.com/resources/index.php?section=146446bb3c10a7f32.

 

I read the directions twice, and studied the photo, but could not quite figure out how it was made. Even trying it out with a paper scrap didn't quite tell me what I needed. So I headed into the Lab for some much needed experiment time. I didn't really wanna make a full-sized one just to experiment with, so I snagged two scraps from the crate I still need to slipcover, cut them to shape and went for it.

 

It always amazes me how often, for me at least, directions make no sense until I attempt them with actual fabric and thread. This was one of those projects. With the actual supplies in my hands, it made perfect logical sense, and I ended up with a simple origami bag...that didn't look much like the one in the photo. Evidently, the person who worked it up went much higher on the casing than the instructions said, or I did. Still, it looked pretty cool, and was very simple. Only problem I had was stitching the sides together where they overlap - mine was much too small to sew with KJ, I had to hand-sew it. I hate hand-sewing, and I didn't quite get it right, either. It probably would have worked better if I'd actually pressed it the way it says to, but 1)I hate ironing and 2) on this small an experiment, it seemed silly to bother with it. Along the bottom, not counting the yarn strings (I was too lazy to dig for the tons of ribbon I have), it's about three inches long. Not sure what I'll do with it, but it felt good to be in the lab, sewing.

 

Grocery shopping filled the pantry to near-bursting, and it was fun to go as a family. No  new dolls or anything I wanted, so I finally got a copy of Princess and the Frog. Still not sure if I liked it or not. Tiana was almost boring as a human, and looked too much like Belle with Jasmine's color key for me to take her seriously as an original character. And like most princes before him, Naveen was handsome if a bit one-dimensional. Visually, he was the more interesting of the two frogs - Tiana was simply a really thin frog. Um, it's not like frogs have figures - can anyone tell the gender of a random frog by looking at him/her ? The music-loving gator (crocodile ?) Louis I'd already seen before - as King Gator, in All Dogs Go To Heaven. And after spending soooo much time making sure the movie wasn't offensive in bringing Disney's first left-handed African-American princess to the screen, I kinda found firefly Ray's snaggletoothed, dirt-poor bayou family a bit much - not to mention the hunters, which were even worse. Oh, well.

 

I found myself looking for Charlotte ('Lottie') because at least when she was on screen, the story would get funny and maniacally intense. Mamma Odie was interesting, too, sort of as a reverse of Ursula (Little Mermaid). Her snake Juju was hilarious ! It does need to be said, that Disney's first on-screen death is in here, and how new stars suddenly appear (and with enough light to distract the whole cast like spotlighting a deer) isn't explained, but there it is. Plus, Evangeline is Venus, not a star - so it'd be a whole new planet appearing suddenly.

 

But hey, I'm getting nit-picky. I think I was just expecting more, and I kinda got leftovers with a zydeco garnish. The 'Almost There' sequence was very stylish, and the art direction is lovely, even if the character design seemed uninspired and warmed over from previous efforts. I'll probably watch it again this weekend, see if my initial reaction holds. My opinions, like my thoughts, are random and subject to change ! 

 

Because you never know when you might need an embroidered gassy chicken...

Current Mood : Kinda tired, but the night's not over yet !

 

Current Image Notes : This was sent to me as a free embroidery design. It's nice, but all I could think was, "They sent me a farting rooster ?"

 

Finally got some quality time in the Lab. It was a wreck in there, has been for weeks. Selected bits going to the yard sale vie for space with unorganized 'keepers', plus the new fabrics is still in piles. I got the yard sale selections corralled up in a milk crate, then sorted and stored all that ribbon. Two second-hand ribbon lengths were stitched into bows, but I don't need big bows. Don't really need ribbon, either, but at least there's a chance I can use flat ribbon !

 

So, while I broke for lunch, I used my desk seam ripper - an old one, but it still works - to pop the stitches. Oh, forgot to tell ya. Saturday's prescription refill came in a very long child-safe prescription bottle. Unusual, since they normally just stuff the strips in a Ziplock-type plastic bag. How long was the bottle ? Big enough to fit a standard blue-handled seam ripper, complete with cap ! So I now have an orange plastic 'doll kit' in my desk drawer, containing a seam ripper, a comb, a doll brush, some yarn, a few clear elastics, a couple ponytail elastics, and a small screwdriver. I love storage solutions - especially when they're free ones !

 

Then, back to the Lab. It took me over an hour, and there's a pile of fabric with nowhere to go yet, but you can walk in and out of there now. It'll be even better once the yard sale junk is gone. Having that space in such a mess has bugged me for three weeks now, and while it's not yet exactly as I like, it's a lot closer than it was ! Now I feel like I can actually sew something in there ! That's the big problem with having a big mess in there - I don't want to clean it up because it's such a huge hassle, but I can't create anything and don't even have the spirit to do so, until it is reasonably tidy.

 

I fully confess to being a hoarder, but my psyche won't let me be what the cable shows call an 'extreme hoarder'. I always get the weirdest pictures in my mind when a voiceover describes someone as an extreme hoarder. I envision someone surfing piles of shopping bags, food packaging, stuffed animals, and Christmas decorations on a slightly greasy pizza-box surfboard ! Or skating a half-pipe of broken computers, junk mail, and never-used Mother's Day gifts on quad skates made from soup cans or a skateboard rolling on empty spaghetti sauce jars. My favorite is the winter sports edition - mountains and moguls of white trash bags getting shredded by a dreadlocked snowboarder, using a large, stained cookie sheet, wearing a ski jacket made out of Wonder Bread bags.

 

I hoard, but I love going through my excess, and making way for new stuff by re-evaluating the old. And the idea of donating or selling the excess really gets me going through those piles !

 

TLC screwed up this week. They'd advertised an update on one of their first Hoarders : Buried Alive subjects on an all-new show. Too bad the one I recorded was a repeat. Evidently I wasn't the only one to notice the error - but it's also too bad their message board is too seldom-used for anyone to note the complaints.

 

I also did some dishes, got the new water dispenser washed, filled, and placed in the fridge - we spend too much on water bottles. This evening, I tidied up the house a bit more and grabbed a shower. We were expecting company. BIL had a guest and wanted her to meet Beloved. This pretty much wiped me out, so I was glad when dinner was delivered pizza.

 

They should be here soon ! It's nice to have guests, but I'm looking forward to a more relaxed tomorrow.