greetingarts

sock it to me

Two packages from Amazon.com came for me yesterday, with four books that I'd pre-ordered and almost forgotten all about.  Soon, I'll put them on that as-yet-non-existent third blog I talked about earlier, but for now, I just want to tell you about one of them.

Now, I own (and have looked at) a lot of craft books.  I mean, really a lot, just ask my husband.  And there's usually at least one or two projects from each that I want to bookmark, or that make me want to start gathering supplies.  But I don't think I've ever had one that grabbed me so immediately and made me conquer my fears and whip out a finished product in less than a couple of hours. 

One baby sock, a pair of scissors, a needle, thread and some stuffing (a surprisingly large quanitity, actually!) all combined to create Beatty, the Box Tops bunny.  Remember my little request for Box Tops?  For each one you send me, you'll get a chance to win this little fella!  I'm extending the drawing date to October 15, and I'll pick a winner after I get the mail that evening.

And in case someone doesn't want to part with  Beatty, I'll make another from the other sock...

Good thing they come in pairs.

how many days until Christmas?

In case you're wondering, it's 92.  Yep.

 

So, good thing I stitched up Mr. and Mrs. Claus for Missy over the weekend, I got a head start on some of my holiday crafting.

The Mister needs a lot more work, but I think I'm going to make these into simple dolls, stocking stuffers, maybe.  The designs are available for sale here.

Incidentally, there's something I've been meaning to mention regarding Missy.  A couple of weeks ago I clicked on a link on Whip Up and saw a tutorial for a tooth pillow that looked nearly identical to mine.  At first, I was outraged.  Then, I saw that the blogger said the tutorial was from Missy, who I'd been emailing back and forth with for a few months, now, and I was confused.  I felt I knew Missy as a crafter, didn't think she would claim anyone else's idea as her own, especially since she comes up with such great ones all the time.  So I checked the dates.  She posted her tutorial on January 25, 2007.  I made my tooth pillow for Becca's first fallen tooth on December 9th of that same year.  Nearly 11 months later!  My anger was quickly doused, and I was horrified that Missy, or any of you, would think that I snitched her idea without giving credit where credit was due.  Especially since I've been toying with the idea of making a few of these for sale!  But honestly, I had never even come across her website at that point, and all of it - from the pink cheeks to the heart-shaped pocket on the back - was a result of my own creativity and drawn freehand, spontaneously, that night after we got home from dinner.  It wasn't even as if I'd seen it, forgotten where I'd seen it, and then embellished on a vague idea.  When that's happened in the past, I've always credited the person or mentioned the fact that the idea wasn't entirely mine.  I'm sure I have many more examples, but those are just a few that come to mind.

I emailed Missy, and we chatted about it.  She totally understood, and sent me the most reassuring email.  But I still wanted to put this out here, and explain to all of you who might have seen both links and done the math, and thought badly of me.  You know, there probably really are very few truly original ideas out there.  And Missy and I aren't the first or last two people who have come up with anthropomorphic teeth, or pockets shaped like hearts.  Now, although I say that, I am not in any way diminishing the seriousness and heartbreak of other crafters who have been ripped off and copied without permission.  Of course, this happens.  And, unfortunately, it happens quite often.  But I'm just saying, the next time something like this occurs to other crafters I will try not to be so quick to judge, and I will try to remember that, sometimes - not always, but sometimes - there really is such a thing as sheer coincidence.

this kind of genius hurts my brain

Seriously?!  I mean, how stinkin' incredible is this?

neither paper nor plastic

Okay, what the heck happened to last week?  Where did it go, and can I get it back?  No?  Sheesh, well let's move on, then.

During the last week of Kindergarten, Rebecca's teacher asked me if I'd make her some reusable shopping bags over the summer.  So now, three weeks after the new school year, I figured I'd better get around to finishing them up!  Here's my utterly underwhelming photograph... note to self: white walls, white door, white blinds and white bag does not equal a stellar picture.

I love the fabric, a sheet I found at the thrift store.  I don't think I paid more than a couple of dollars for it, and after making 5 bags, there's still a heck of a lot left.  I really didn't use any one particular tutorial for these, but looked at as many as I could and pieced together ideas from several. I folded the sheet in half, and took advantage of as many of the already hemmed edges as I could, especially the top edge.    I used French seams, so there are no raw edges, and I boxed the bottoms.  The finished bags are about 15" x 17" x 3".

I bought webbing for the handles (cost almost 10 times as much as the sheet!), and made darn sure they weren't ever going to go anywhere... those suckers are secure.  They're about 6", long enough to put over your shoulder, but short enough so you can carry the bag in your hand without it dragging on the floor.

 

These five were delivered today, and were enthusiastically received, if not enthusiastically modeled.  The look on Jessie's face just cracks me up.

"What am I?  A bag tree, Mommy?

Just kidding.  See?  There.  There's a teeny tiny smile.  She really was having fun, she just didn't want to smile for the camera.

white wedding

We went to a wedding this past weekend, which we'd known about for ages, of course.  When we got the invitation months ago, I remember thinking that I should go and check out the registry right away so I'd have the best choice of gifts.  There is a Macy's less than 6 miles away from our house, after all.

The days passed.  Days and days.  Days turning into weeks.  Lots and lots of weeks.

So when I finally got to the mall five days before the day of the wedding, almost everything on the registry had already been purchased by other guests.  Big, fat, bummer!  Most of the items that were left were quite out of our budget, or just weren't things that I felt good about giving.  I mean, I simply cannot stick a package of 2 standard-size pillowcases (not even king-sized!) into a gift box and cheerfully present it to the bride and groom, even if said pillowcases do cost $99.  Almost three digits for, what, two yards of fabric?  Sorry, just can't do it.

So, after finding some piecemeal items remaining on the registry from the Martha Stewart collection, including a wire breadbasket, I decided to supplement and personalize the gift with a handmade basket liner.

I took a piece of linen that was roughly 19" square and ironed a narrow double hem (about a quarter inch) all the way around.  Then topstitched that with my sewing machine, which, much to my amazement, turned out pretty darn near invisible.

Then I used a size 7 steel crochet hook and single crocheted all. the. way. around.  the square, about an eighth of an inch (or less) apart, with three single crochets at each corner.  Then I used Trim #21 in the the book 150 Crochet Trims by Susan Smith, called Iris Edge, which is basically 2dc, 1ch, 2dc in every fourth single crochet.  The corners aren't exactly the neatest, but since I started this on Thursday, and the wedding was Saturday, I was pretty happy with the way it came out.  I was also going to do some embroidered initials on the corners, but some people don't like monograms very much, so I decided to just call it finished.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and a fun, well-done party afterwards, though I got incredibly sad and almost started crying at the reception.  Maybe it was hormones, or the heat and fatigue of the day, or probably the idealistic romanticism contrasted with the starkness and bluntness of real life.  But anyway, the girls had an absolute blast.  We literally had to drag them off the dance floor.  They are going to be serious clubbers when they get older (hopefully much, much older).  Jessie kept everyone in stitches, with her stylin' moves and energy.  She flung herself around with abandon and dropped one boy (4 years old) for another (6 years old) for her uncle (39 years old) for her grandpa (74) for her great uncle (76 or so).  Guess she likes older men!

me and bo derek

What's your color IQ?  Someone (thanks, Carrie!) from an online quilting group I belong to passed on a link to this fun little quiz.

The lower the score, the better.  I got a 10, and have no idea why the movie popped into my head when my score came up.  It's not like I ever saw it or anything.  I mean, I was eight when it came out.  Funny, the things you remember. 

What's your score?

would love to post, but...

...sometimes I can't find my keyboard.

I'm drowning in a sea of unredeemed Box Tops.  Some have expired already, some are still okay.  I have to sort through them all, bundle them into groups of 50, and then submit some forms and get them sent off before the submission deadline.  Then I can be done with the previous year's stuff, and start fresh, with my own ideas and organization.

And oh, did I mention the Campbell's Labels?  Sigh.

By the way, if anyone wants to send me Labels or Box Tops, I'm thinking of holding a periodic drawing (say, around the first of the month?) for a surprise giftie, handmade by me, from everyone who mails them in.  You'll get one entry for each point or Box Top, just email me for the address.  Thanks!