Cases and chairs and cleaning ! Whew !

 

Current Mood : The good kind of tired...

Current Image Notes : The Advair Chair ! 

 

While I didn't sew today - I wanted to rest my fingers a bit - it was still a busy day. For some reason, I got it into my head to clean up the Lab, and I mean really clean it, and when those rare moods strike, it's best to go with ‘em.

 

Started with something I've put off for quite some time. I was saving one Lab wall for Art, but decided I wanted space more than pretty pictures I could hang anywhere. So, the most recent cases went up today. The Little Mermaid suitcase, the pink Fashion Fever case, the purchased-Friday tote bag, and the ‘Fashion Mall' one I got from a yard sale are now off the floor and on display. Much better. I initially didn't have enough hooks, so I removed the ones from our bedroom walls, something else I've been meaning to do. They used to support wires for our computer, back when it was in the closet and the DILs were in the Office. I thank the Deity of Your Choice that everyone's in their own space again, and pray it remains that way.

 

In order to do that, though, I had to move a bunch of stuff that had collected in front of The Slab, and while I was finally getting all that put away, figured I'd best get the stuff Joanne sent me stored, too. Whew. Even used the box Joanne used to mail the goodies to store some of ‘em. Most of the dolls are scattered around, but they're safe and happy where they are, so it's all good.

 

That done, I put fabric away, and cleared the cutting table of tote bag/purse scraps - in case inspiration strikes again, I wanna be ready ! Designated another newly emptied box as the ‘current projects' receptacle, and stuffed junk in progress in there. Yup. It's nearly full already.

 

After that, I was ready for another little ‘been meaning to' job. Shortly after we first moved to this house, I hit a yard sale at the high school down the street. Not much, but I found a great frame that had twelve plastic ‘bubbles' protruding through a brushed stainless holder. It's hard to describe, but it was designed to display small hobby-type things and miniatures. All on its own, it was striking and unique, and I thought it'd look great in Beloved Hubby's new office.

 

Well, he never touched it, and the cats pushed three bubbles in somehow. I popped ‘em back out, and put it aside, lamenting the wasted $2. a bit. Decided that I'd use it instead. Sometime, in the near future, I'd load it with all the solo Barbie and Ken shoes taking up space in a specialty box. Today became sometime. Emptied the big box of singles and nearly filled the frame, except for too-tall boots. But those were small enough for a much smaller case I hadn't found a use for, all right ! The bubbled Barbie solo shoes are now hanging over my nightstand, and it's easy to access them if I think I have a match, or need to add more. And I freed up a box Beloved can possibly use, and got a smaller box off the floor. All good.

 

Now, the Lab has actual floor space, not a narrow one-person walkway. It actually looks as though four or maybe five people could be in there at once, if they didn't move around a lot. I am pleased - but if I buy just one more Barbie house prop, I want someone to hit me as hard as they can. I don't have any more space ! None. Not one bit ! I should never attend another yard sale, flea market, thrift store, junk shop, or doll aisle again !

 

<snort> Yeah, right ! I'm still thinking of the Barbie aisle over at Mal-Wart Friday... and I wonder if the local thrift has noticed I haven't been around the last two Mondays.

 

Anyway. The new purse is still great, and it has much more space than the last one. So I loaded it up ! Grabbed a pencil case I got at a yard sale last year, and the Winx one I got from Dollar Tree - they now hold pens and health/beauty stuff, respectively. I finally have a safe place for my inhaler. Excellent.

 

And speaking of inhalers, I found the Advair Diskus inhaler shells once more. I got tired of moving them around, and went ahead and made the Advair Chair. Took photos, even though it was dirt-simple, and made a web page on the main site. Still haven't decided how best to do the doll crafts - should I leave them on Somewhere That's Green or move ‘em to Crafty ! - but I'm thinking of leaving them on Green and having photo links to their pages on Crafty!. Seems to be the simplest, best way I can think of. Any ideas ?

 

Well, for now, my best idea is bedtime. It's been a busy day !

Happy Brat Day !

 

Current Mood : Happy and knowing it.

Spent on dolls and such : $8.25

 

Today was one of those ‘I'm a selfish little $%it' days. I own up to it, I know I was being a brat, but I took care of it, and didn't make it much of Beloved Hubby's problem...

 

Today was the last day of the big ‘garage sale' flea market. And I wanted to go, bad. Beloved didn't want to go yesterday, and said he had no time today. I'd been good all week, especially since I hadn't been able to go anywhere by myself in almost two weeks. No thrift stores, no prowling, nothing. I know, I'm a big whiner baby, but I enjoy those things. Even when I had transport, I'd cut back on it a lot. So I was really looking forward to the thing.

 

So what's a girl to do ? Especially a big, bratty one like me ? The sale was only about a mile and a half each way - and I proved last week that my darling Molly-car still works, she just has a great deal of slippage in first gear. Anybody behind me at traffic lights would just have to be patient, that's all. Heck, Molly-chan would have to do if there was an emergency at school and Beloved was 35 miles away, as he often is.

 

Yeah, I could have walked, it was a balmy 45 degrees in 15mph winds, but I'm a big lazy brat, don't forget. So I made sure my cell phone was charged, that Molly-chan's battery had a good crank amp, and left early enough so that traffic was at a minimum.

 

And I had a great time ! I found some fun patches - the "100% Goddess" one is going on my sewing machine cover ! - and a coffee-cup sized disco ball, for 50c each. Surprisingly, I found a great Asian-themed dress form that's a bit bigger than Barbie size, for $1.50. And, I scored two new pair of shoes for Timey and Dottie, a Swingy dress for them, too, and another pair of smaller shoes that so far are still looking for owners, and two Dancerina pair of ballerina slippers. Those were a buck each. Yeah, the Dancerina doll's feet are just a bit bigger than my Dancerella's feet, but they nearly fit. If I put tissue in the toes, they're fine, she can even dance in them. In any case, I now have two pairs in different shades of pink, and if it really annoys me, I can always eBay ‘em for a profit.

 

Mostly, I just had fun looking around and being out by myself for a while. It was actually kind of exciting not knowing if I'd make it home OK ! But Molly-chan didn't let me down, she started up and ran silk-smooth. (sigh) I miss my Molly more now than ever... And yes, it was a real risk, but I'm glad I did it. I completely own up to being a brat about the whole thing, but I have no regrets. Just that I spent all my money ! J 

 

Before I left, though, I finished the "Barbie on the Runway" purse. Only took about an hour, so I think the whole thing ran about five hours, max. Made the straps first, and even ironed them down, which gave me an idea for even further reducing the per-unit cost of the Wristlet Key Fobs. I have got to get back to work on that project. Anyway, they installed easily, as did the soft Velcro - yup, I used the good stuff on this one ! - for the closure, and the "Made By Dorrie" tag. Loaded it with the previous purse's contents, and carried it proudly at the Flea Market.

 

Oh, and I forgot to tell you what happened yesterday - mostly ‘cause yesterday's entry was already epic in length. I was standing there, resplendent in my Leia hat-wig and matching scarf, perusing the repro Malibu and Superstar dolls, when a lovely lady asked me where I'd found such a cool hat. I told her I'd made it, yatta yatta, and she said she'd never seen anything as adorable. J It occurred to me that I was kinda~sorta costuming as Princess Leia while looking at ‘new' Barbie dolls... and time seemed to warp a bit. It was like so many of my childhood wishes had come true, right at that moment, but I hadn't realized it until she focused things. I could have a new doll if I wanted, and I finally got to dress like my favorite heroine. No one could take that away from me, or even make fun of it. That moment was mine - and the lady's, although she may not have realized the significance she had in my little story.

 

It may have taken me 42 years, but I have my happy childhood.

On the move - mostly to the Lab !

Current Mood : Excited !

Spent on doll/craft stuff : $4.32

 

Busy, fun day. Dearest Son loved his Birthday Cake earlier this week, and adores the  new printer. I loved his cake, too - it was delicious ! The Wall-E figure on it had a greater range of motion than the action figure did. And now he has two Wall-Es and a Eve in that scale.

 

Today, we returned to Mal-Wart for a few things. I found the D-rings I wanted for the Wristlet Key Fob project, on the button rack, of all places. There wasn't a one in the store anywhere else, not even in Hardware. It's a good thing I wanted ‘small', because the ¾" ones was all they had. Got a pack in gold and silver.

 

I'd been reading about all the good ‘50^th Anniversary' Barbie stuff everyone else was finding at their local M-W, but our store, of course, was bare. Until today ! I feasted my eyes on the new Malibu and Superstar reproductions, as well as the travel mug, magnets, and other goodies. I was unable to resist getting the tote bag pictured above, and at $2.44, I considered it a good valued indulgence. And, let's face it, that box Joanne at In The Pink gifted me with kinda dampened my ‘I wants' quite a bit. I still haven't found places for it all.

 

That said, I found a pretty blonde doll with a kickin' dress form that I want, bad. Too bad she's $18., and all I want is that dress form ! I'm surprised at how much I liked the repro sets. I didn't think I would, since I have several flea-market Malibus, a Bubble Cut, and a TNT, and goss only knows how many Superstars. But if M-W still did layaway, I'd be in some serious debt about now. At least two, possibly three, at about $40. each...

 

As a late birthday present, Beloved Hubby sprang for a Nerf revolver for Dearest Son, so I spent a good chunk of the morning dodging orange foam cylinders from both of ‘em. I was surprised to learn that Beloved can already twirl the thing like Murphy does in Robocop.

 

Was twirling around myself on line, not really up to much, when I remembered my little pre-bedtime burst of inspiration last night. Was tidying up the lab from the Leia Hat-Wig project when my fingers found the "Barbie on the Runway" tote bag I'd won last summer on In The Pink. I'd had big plans for it, but ultimately didn't use it very much, even though it was pretty darn cool. It was simply too big.

 

Um, when did ‘too anything' matter to me ? I'd long since thought that the bag would be perfect smaller, I'd be glad to carry it as a purse, it was just too big. I'm surprised it too me this long to complete the thought. Why not cut it down, remove and replace the handles, and use it as a purse already ?! I could, easily ! And why not ? It'd beat having it sit around and wait for the rare opportunity to carry French bread and a picnic lunch for six.

 

So I grabbed it up again, and snagged the good aluminum ruler. And my current purse, it's a good depth, with straps that I like. I soon determined where to cut, and what I'd need. Initially, the idea was to remove the straps, cut the bag, fold it in, and sew the straps back on. Maybe two hours, tops.

 

Well, I spent over four on it off and on today, and it's not quite done. But I didn't just cut, fold, sew, either. Before I had the straps off, I was surprised to learn how cheaply they'd been sewn on in the first place - and they weren't even the same length ! Even allowing for hems and folds, the straps were more than an inch different. Hmpft.

 

I also realized I didn't really like the straps. They put the bag right up my armpit, which isn't comfortable. I like a shoulder bag. How to make that happen...? I was mulling it over with the strap pieces when Beloved came in from some garage work, and handed me three large D-rings he'd found out there. Nice, big D-rings. Hmmmm....

 

A few minutes later, I'd about figured out what I'd do. I had some Barbie fabric - given to me by the assistant librarian late last year. It was left over from her daughter's bedroom makeover, several years ago. I also got some pretty Disney Princess stuff. But the bright pink, happy Barbie fabric would be perfect for straps ! And by playing with the strap ends and the D-rings, I could make them not only any length I wanted, but I could change them whenever I liked. Cooool.....

 

Scouted around the garage and found a fourth D-ring. Whew ! Since we're down to one vehicle, and by then Beloved was in it, headed off to work, it would have ranked if I couldn't finish for lack of a D-ring ! I soon had the purse cut down, and the logistics worked out. Loaded up the sewing machine with a good heavyweight needle and sat back for a few.

 

The purse body landed on the Barbie fabric I had out. It really looked good together. The straps would be perfect ! But... wouldn't it be nice if I lined it ? With the Barbie fabric ? I knew my last attempt at lining a purse - that jeans one - hadn't gone well, but clearly I'd learned from it, and even if the lining was baggy, who could tell, or care ?

 

So I cut out enough fabric to circle the purse, and be deep enough to touch bottom with some to spare. Made the fabric into a tube, and sewed the bottom shut, then tucked it inside, wrong sides together, and sewed. I'd be folding the top edge down over it, so that'd work out fine.

 

Attaching the strap brackets back to the purse body was a nightmare. The thread kept breaking, and I hated asking so much of my dear little Kenmore-Janome. It was never meant to sew through four layers of strap, one layer of canvas, and a layer of cotton. But with enough perseverance, and adjustments to tension (less) and stitch length (longer), it worked. The bigger challenge was to sew both the strap ends down. Eight pieces of strap, one of lining, two of canvas purse, since the top would be folded over. Still, somehow, my machine pulled it off ! I got the foldover done and the strap brackets are sewn down.

 

All that's left is making the straps, attaching them to the D-rings, adding Velcro to the opening, and sewing in a ‘Made by Me' tag. I'll post a photo tomorrow. So far, though, I'm really happy with it. And my sweet sewing machine ! I just have to rest, I can barely see straight. At least my fingers don't hurt anymore. My entire right arm does, though...

 

In case it works out, I took occasional photos, so I could add it to ‘Somewhere That's Crafty' when that page is ready. So much to do ! I can't wait to finish it tomorrow !

I predict a very crafty 2009...

 

Current Mood : Happy, and satisfied. I did it ! 

 

Whoo-hoo ! Today was a good day ! A telemarketer tried to scam me, but I already knew about his little tricks, and refused to give my name or acknowledge him other than, "I don't want the service, refuse your product, and ask that you not call this number again !". It was the worst sort of scam, too. They offer you a ‘packet of rebates', get you to agree to take them, then get your name. A month later, there's a bill on your phone line for $50./month for ‘Tech Support'. When you protest that you didn't agree to the bill, they have your acceptance and your name on file. No way, slimeball. I caught wise to this junk when they called about three months ago, and successfully refused the service. Of course, the bustard hung up on me... I hope he's proud of what he does for a living, because I want to play ‘Piñata' with him sometime. I'll bring my own rope ! And bat !

 

I also took the plunge and made the Leia Hat - Wig. It actually came out OK, but it's probably the worst sort of silly to everyone but me. I think I did pretty well for someone who mostly free-handed it. Lots of hand-sewing on it, to get the ‘earmuffs' coiled, then attached to the base hat, so it took about three hours. Machine sewing took maybe 15 minutes total. I'm gonna make another one, and make the ‘earmuffs' a bit thinner. The fleece I used was thin and cheap, but it is one warm hat ! Dearest Son's bus driver couldn't believe it, and the little girl who also sits up front told me she though it was beautiful. (smile)

 

From there, I washed out a former salsa jar that had a nice shape, wrapped some green seam binding lace around it, and it's now a vase for the feather rose Beloved Hubby got me. Worked on Site #2, Somewhere That's Crafty !, for a few minutes, but it's not going public until I have some crafts ready to go in it. So, maybe this weekend. When I re-make the Leia Hat-Wig, I'm gonna go with a narrower strip to make the buns. That should help the overall look. Goss knows I got plenty of fleece. That didn't even use a third of the yard.

 

Right now, though, my fingers hurt a bit from all the hand-sewing, so I'm gonna call it a night early. Hope your day was fun, too !

 

PS to Michelle - I agree, it woulda been a lot easier to use Ship-to-Store, we've used it before, and it was nice. But for some reason, this printer didn't have that option. It was either ship to the house or nothin'. Oh, well. We were lucky that it worked out, that's fer sure ! Thanks for the advice !

Ponderings...

 

Current Mood : New-project eager !

Spent on fabric Monday : $3.34

 

With everything going on this week, I've shamefully neglected the kitchen and dishes. So I got off my lazy butt and did dishes and counter-and-floor cleaning for a couple hours. I have a unique rule - it's time to take a break when the dishwasher's full of clean dishes ! I hand-wash everything, ‘cause the built-in dishwasher doesn't work very well, but I use it as a dish-drying rack, and every couple of weeks, run a cycle to clean it. I hate having towels with dishes drying scattered around, so I wait until the current load's dry, put those away, and then tackle the rest.

 

And that kind of work always leaves my mind free to ponder - unless I have my Mp3 player blasting ! Today, I did, but I still pondered. I'm figuring out how to do the directions for the Wristlet Key Fob I mentioned Sunday. It's not really a doll craft, so it doesn't belong on Somewhere That's Green, but I want it posted where folks can find it. I'm thinking of starting up a second site for just crafts and stuff that aren't doll-related. That way, the crafts don't vanish after a week or two, the way they would hosted on other sites. I'll let ya'll know first, and where to find it - I know you really wanna get a jump-start on all those Christmas '09 key fobs.

 

Got another invitation to Toy Fair this year, from the same toy company who spams me every few months to invest with them. Ah, well. Dream big, I always say.

 

I should be working on the Wristlet Key Fob Directions Project, but I don't have any D-rings. I swear, you don't think about having no transportation until it trips you up in some way. The one I mocked up has a large blue paper clip standing in for the D-ring. Hope to obtain some today or tomorrow. But while that's temporarily on the back burner, I started another craft project - the fleece Leia hat.

 

I've been enamored of the crochet Leia hat since I got a photo of it - gosh, who sent me that ? - but I can't crochet. I've tried several times, but just get massive headaches. So, it hit me about two weeks ago that if I can't crochet it, perhaps I can sew it. Haven't been near a fabric store in months, though, and the local Mal-Wart didn't have brown fleece.

 

Until Monday. It's cheap fleece, but it'll work for an experiment ! Scored a yard at $2.84, and a winter remnant for a quarter. Well, the remnant had little ice skates in the print, I couldn't resist ! So, anyway. I was thinking that, with a good base hat, you could make almost any sort of wig-hat you wanted. Imagine - a yellow fleece Sailor Moon hat. Or a classic Barbie ponytail hat. Dreadlock-hat. You could get darn near any effect you wanted, provided it's over the top and doesn't require a lot of starch.

 

There's any number of free fleece hat patterns out there. I've printed up a really basic design, and the first one's cut out. Turns out, a half-yard makes two hats, so with the ‘earmuffs', probably a half-yard would have done. But hey, you can always use a spare fleece hat in the middle of winter. And I'm learning that about half my initial prototypes are functional and useable, so go ahead and use at least the semi-good stuff, and matching thread. So that's what I'm up to. I hope to have the base hat sewn up tonight, and work the earmuffs tomorrow. Ordinarily, I'd wait to sew the earmuff parts first, but they'll have to be hand-sewn to the hat, so I might as well make sure that works first.

 

Wish me luck !

Gift scrambles...

Current Mood : A bit dizzy, actually...

 

Busy day again, but I didn't get much done. Beloved Hubby was home, so I went on errands with him, and things are looking up. May even get my Molly-chan fixed next month, which would be heavenly.

 

Won a contest on In The Pink a short while ago - the site owner was cleaning out, and the prize was a boxload of dolls, clothes, and props she was ready to move along to new pastures. Those pastures were mine, amazingly. The box arrived, and, wow ! I didn't even finish unpacking it before I felt overwhelmed and amazed at her generosity. So I did a quick ‘opening the box' photo-story, but it still took an hour to set up the photos, and another hour to get ‘em prepped - cropped, scripted, word-ballooned - and posted so I could link ‘em. I liked how it turned out. Even got to use the Belle and Ken I got from the thrift store last week. I just can't use stuff until I've thanked the gift-giver, so I'm hoping she counts my little story as a thank-you card ! ‘Cause I can't wait to tear into it all !

 

I keep hearing about all the great new Barbie dolls and purses everyone over at ITP has found at their local Mal-Wart toy sections, but our store didn't have jack. Unless Jack is a character in High School Musical or Hannah Montana. Then, they'd have tons of Jack. Ours is playing ‘shuffle the section', so gondolas of shelves are completely empty, but hanging over them are signs for My Little Pony and LeapPad, while a few leftover dolls from Christmas crowd around one corner forlornly, possibly waiting for a sign, an accurate one. 

 

Some drama over Dearest Son's birthday gift. It arrived today - yaaay, it was early ! - at our old address, and someone there signed for it. Oh, &^%$... Luckily, the current tenants were very honest, and hadn't opened it or anything, so we drove over and picked it up. Whew ! That could've gone so wrong. I know I told Mal-Wart to use the address on our payment, but they sent it to our old addy anyway. Got home and made double-darn sure the website had our current address. It did, so I have no idea where the communication breakdown was. Just glad Dearest will have his gift in a couple of days.

 

Headed to Dollar Tree today - ours is picked pretty clean still. But we got some wrapping paper for the upcoming birthday, and Beloved picked out a red rose made of feathers for me ! It's quite lovely. Now I just need to find a nice vase for it, so I can have it on my desk.

 

All attempts at fixing Tippee Toes' hair have failed. It's nowhere near the cute little mop it was in 1980 - it's kind of a grown-out shag lookin' style that's quite thin. That and her overly-happy face just look clownish to me, and I'm not a huge fan of clown dolls. So she may end up going back. I'd be mad at m'self for wasting the $1.99, but I got four blouses and a blanket for other dolls out of it !

Money talks.

 

Current Mood : Steadily improving and hopeful.

Current Image Notes : I got this in change at Mal-Wart. You are beautiful, you know.

 

Actually got to sew a bit today ! Futzed around with the wristlet key fob, and I figured it out. I may need three yards of webbing ( about $2.) and some D-rings, but that's pretty much it for next Christmas' school gifts. Hope to get the directions written up and posted either Wednesday or Thursday.

 

From there, I fixed the denim ‘Bear Stuffers' shirt I got in the thrift store bag with Tippee Toes. It needed a new side seam, so I took it in a bit so it fit the Little Disney Princesses and PDorrie, and didn't billow as much. In essence, I made it a square instead of a triangle. Also removed the bow from the back to the side. I thought it was cuter that way.

 

Also fixed the golf outfit I claimed from a yard sale bear for the LDPs. The Velcro tore when I took it off one of the Auroras. I may also have to tack down the collar on the underside, it keeps popping up. Right now, it's pinned, and I'll iron it tomorrow, see if that works. Also got the two other shirts from the Tippee Toes bag washed and dried along with the issue clothes my partially ‘Beast'-dressed Beach Glam Ken was wearing when I got last week. All the stains came out, on all of them. Whoo-hoo !

 

Finished up with the lace relocation - and found a little surprise. I bagged up some seam binding lace that had been wrapped around a cool old pattern leaflet from McCalls. It features designs by Nolan Miller for Linda Evans and Joan Collins, and some patterns from Mariette Hartley. A bit of research shows those particular pieces were out in 1984. Twenty five years ago. I'll have to scan it, for kicks. It may be a while before we see lapels and belts like that again !

 

Got the grocery and birthday party shopping done. Dearest Son's gift may be here as early as tomorrow, so I'm glad we got everything we need for it. Believe this or not, I've been worried for the last few days that I'd order his cake, but get told that they don't have the Wall-E one anymore. Of all the things for me to worry about, it's his birthday cake !

 

Not much else going on. I wanna get the wristlet directions written up, and I have another project in the wings... while there's not a lot going on, there's sure a lot to do !

Making stuff out of other folks' inspirations...

 

Current Mood : Hopeful.

Current Image Notes : Was noodling around with Barbie logos in PaintShopPro when I decided I wanted to do one for her 50^th this year. This is what I ended up with. Oh, well.

 

I'm not entirely sure where today went. Seems like I turned around, and Sunday was gone. Well, that happens.

 

Beloved Hubby left fairly early for work, so I moved a few displaced items in the garage and got Molly-car moved in. She'll be protected from the sun and the birds and tree sap until we can work on her. At least I feel like I haven't completely neglected her.

 

It was so nice outside, I did a load of laundry and hung it outside on the clothesline. It dried just fine, only needed some dryer fluffing and lint removal for 10 minutes. It's hard to believe it was 40 degrees yesterday and 67 today - with mid-70s expected tomorrow. In January ! Meanwhile, the South is getting socked in with snow. It hardly makes any sense. So all I can do is enjoy what we got when we got it !

 

Found an interesting craft on Craigslist - a keychain that slides over the wrist. It's basically a strip of webbing with ribbon sewn to it for decoration, finished into the shape of a loop. It sounds simple enough, but there's two variations. One has a piece of hardware to finish it that makes it a very easy, very quick craft. But the hardware tends to run a buck each - plus shipping. The other has a large D-ring instead, but I can't find a tutorial for those. Can find folks willing to sell me the directions for $5., but...

 

I was kind of thinking these would be excellent crafts for next year's school Christmas gifts. I already have quite a bit of webbing in three colors, mostly from yard sale craft batches, and let's not even get into all the ribbon I have. Heck, I could use fabric instead of ribbon, or even some of the ton of lace I got. And if I needed more webbing, it's certainly cheap enough. But that hardware really singes my bottom line. That costs more than the price per unit of the last two years of gifts combined - and then doubled ! 

 

So I've been trying to figure out the D-ring directions, and I think I may have it. It's just that the way I think it goes would make it quite thick to sew through, and I'm not sure if my machine can handle it. In any case, if I figure it out, I'll make a tutorial of my own. It's ridiculous to pay so much for a piece of base metal you may not really even need. 

Sofa Deliveries 'R Us !

 

Current Mood : Improving. 

Current Image Notes : This is the cover of the book I've been sewing from - for Erika's dress, Shinobu's blouse and skirt, Janice's dress, and Midge's dress, all from the ongoing Challenge. It's a great book, if you can find it !

 

Yaaay ! The sofa set is out of our garage and with a family who could really use it, and the drive up wasn't far at all. Worked out well for everyone concerned, and those are always the best deals. I always love it when it works out that way. We've ordered Dearest Son's birthday present, and when I do the grocery shopping, I'll pick up the cable and ink - yup, he's getting the printer he's been asking for ! - and order the Wall-E cake he likes. It's not gonna be a big blow-out party, but it's what we can do right now.

 

Beloved Hubby and I went to the flea market today - there really wasn't much there. I was kind of worried this'd be one of those ‘Here's a Barbie Dream House for $20., a vintage case for $10., and six Steffie-faced/Midge dolls for $2. each' kind of sales. Nope, I think there were maybe six 60s-era baby dolls, and the Barbie car set seller, and that was all. She still has the not-Barbie house with sixth scale dolls seated in it, and nothing else I haven't already seen, or come close to wanting. Whew ! About all I got out of it was some slight walking exercise, and a business card with the dates of the scheduled sales for 2009 on it.

 

Beloved was still down in the dumps somewhat, so I made favorite meals and watched stuff-blowed-up movies in the family collection with him. He knew I'd been itching to sew, but said he appreciated my focus on him, and he's back to work tomorrow, so I'd have Sunday. Well... it's a nice thought, but sewing with Dearest is often a bit of a challenge. He has sooo much to tell me - whenever I'm trying to do something else. Kind of like how you can't find your cat when there's time to cuddle, but cook or clean something, and you can't move without a cat a half-inch away. I often believe our son is part feline.

Ch-ch-changes....

 

Current Mood : Unsettled.

 

Well, today was kind of rough for Chez Insanity. In an effort to reduce bills, we turned the black truck back into the local dealership it came from. That's why Beloved Hubby was working on it yesterday - we wanted it as nice as possible, so it'll sell quickly for them. We both feel pretty bad about the whole business, but we've done everything else we could do. The person who was supposed to take over payments instead drove it with a bunch of delayed promises for months, then gave it back with nothing more than a shrug. And fumes in the gas tank, no oil change, and a dented rear fender.

 

The dealership has recently undergone new management, but old management is still slightly involved in some fashion - and he was a major.... um, Rear Admiral. I think you know what I'm saying. We'd made arrangements with new mgmt., but this seaman had to get his digs and insults in, for some reason. I hope that Life grants him what he deserves one day. No more, no less, for good or not.

 

In any case, even though it was the dealership who first offered to take the truck back, it was still very hard on Beloved, so I spent most of today commiserating, being there for him, and not letting on that I'm now completely without transportation until we get my Molly-car fixed. Which will be a few months. (sigh) At least I had a good reason I couldn't volunteer a few more hours at Dearest Son's school - yeah, they called while we were at the dealership. Talk about yer crap timing...

 

On the plus side, the garage is cleaned out, and while I was working on it yesterday, I pretty much sold our old sofa set - if we can deliver it to a neighboring town tomorrow. We'll use those funds for Dearest's birthday coming up this month. And it'll be out of our garage ! I'll move Molly-chan in there Sunday, once it's gone.

 

So today was kind of a bust, sewing-wise. Maybe tomorrow - to be truthful, I wasn't in much of a mood for it by the time we got today's big event done.