Saturday morning breakfast & bag

My favorite breakfast...the one I ask for on special occasions...is eggs in a basket. There was no special occasion today, unless you consider Saturday a special occasion like I do!Cut with a heart-shaped cookie-cutter. I don't think it tastes the same without a heart.Whole wheat toast with real butter, please. And a glass of OJ. Gotta have OJ.Of course I can't leave the puppers out...she gets dog food topped with beggin' strips...mmm...
After breakfast, I finished sewing my new knitting bag. Instead of hauling around my projects in a plastic grocery sack, from now on I'll have this to make me look stylish (& less bag-lady-ish).And then, after photographing my new bag, I just sat there, enjoying the nice fresh summer air with Cody. I feel like I need to soak it in before its gone.

I don't think I'm ready for Fall just yet.

Melissa

A remote idea

I know. Everyone says you shouldn't have a TV in the bedroom. But my husband & I enjoy drifting off to a nice sitcom. And, more importantly, where else would I go when Project Runway's on & he's watching something else on the living room set? To the bedroom I say!

The only problem is, we have to put our remotes between us on the headboard (so we can both reach them) & from there they regularly fall behind the bed. Many a night, I'm crawling around on the floor with my back-scratcher trying to push them within reaching distance. Such a pain.

Sewing machine to the rescue!
Now I can use my back-scratcher as a back-scratcher & not a remote pusher-outer.

Melissa

Knitting for cold body parts in need

It's over! My yard sale is finally over! I made a whopping $135 for all the blood, sweat & tears I put into it. Oh well. At least now I have extra spending money for my trip home to Montana. That's next week, baby!

So what's up on the knitting front? Well, not now, but come winter there will be a world of cold body parts out there in need of knitted things, like hats, scarves & blankies. I decided I want to cover them.

This whipped up rather quickly after work on Friday:

[July Baby Pom-pom Hat]

I hope it fits a baby. I do not have any babies to test these things on. Can someone lend me a baby?!! Okay, well it does fit this big-headed stuffed dog.

So this year, I've chosen The Dulaan Project. An organization out of Flagstaff, AZ collects knitted (& probably sewn) warm items throughout the year & sends them to Mongolia, where the winter temperatures plummet to way below freezing. The next shipment goes out in July 2010, so this gives me 12 months, in which I will try to make 12 items to cover 12 cold body parts.

Next month's hat:

This hat pattern was ripped out of a Martha Stewart magazine forever ago. It's the only hat pattern I can do, so there will be many versions in different sizes & colors.... Oh! Wouldn't earflaps be cute?! I might have to experiment with that.

Or maybe I should learn to knit beyond rectangles. Don't be fooled by my hats & purses. They look round, but they are all rectangles that I've folded over or manipulated into something else. By the end of the year, I want to have some socks on my circular needles & be knitting in-the-round. I bought this book for inspiration:

The Coquette sock will be first on my needles; I like ankle socks:

Second on my needles will be the Ragg Hiker; oooh, they look warm:

Another purchase:

I WANT THESE LEG WARMERS!!!

And how cute are thes angora baby booties?!! Again, can someone lend me a baby?!! :)

And, finally....yes, Coy, I'm still working on your scarf! [I was going to put a picture here, but I decided you'll have to wait.] It is soooo much better than the one I made for myself. I think your neck will have something soft, warm & cably to cover it this winter.

Until then, keep cool everyone!

Love, Melissa

A glorious weekend

Yes, I said glorious. Why? Because the sun was shining longer than 5 minutes & because I scored free paint & a free chair (above).

Early Saturday morn, I was reading The Farm Chicks' blog where I found out Glidden was giving away free quarts of paint (which they've since run out of - but are now giving away free $5 rebates). And while I had no idea what to paint with it, I fell in love with the Canary Song yellow. Because yes, I went straight in to stare at all the pretty colors. I'm secretly mesmerized by paint chips & the names of paint chips. Who comes up with these great names anyway? "Sea glass" being my particular favorite of the Glidden collection.

Anyhow, the Canary Song was ever so cheery & I've been thinking lately that my house could use a good dose of cheer. I ordered it.

Hmm...now what to paint?

After the paint ordering frenzy, I felt energized & got straight to work Spring cleaning the house, getting stuff ready for my pending yard sale & taking our Winter/Spring backlog of recycling to the recycling center. I love recycling, but it really does take over your garage if you don't have a nice weekend to clean it out. And as I pulled our truck back into the driveway on arriving home, there it was...the chair I've wanted all along for my sewing table. I've daydreamed about this chair. The rounded, spindly back. Yes. My neighbors just set it out on the curb for Monday morning trash pick-up & I saved it. It's dirty, but I'm thinking some soap, water...& maybe some paint...yellow paint?...might turn it around. Actually, now I'm thinking a nice shade of blue. Ahh...well, something in this house will be painted yellow, if not the chair.

Now a few random things.
While folding laundry Saturday afternoon, these clean white towels stacked atop my white washing machine thrilled me to no end. I love white on white. I admired it for some time before giving in & putting the towels away. *sigh* I felt compelled to take this picture & share it with the world. Wouldn't it be great to jump in a pile of clean white towels? I think that is my newfound dream.I also think I might be turning British. Is that possible? No accent yet, but my evening treat before bed all weekend was tea & toast. Aveda tea, which is my favorite tea in the whole world. And cranberry orange toast from Great Harvest Bread Co., where I visit more often than is necessary.

And more evidence I might be turning British... I began yearning to watch something Pride-&-Prejudice-ish late Sunday afternoon. After a brief search at Netflix, I found Wives & Daughters which I was able to play from my computer. Of course, this taking place in early-1800's England, the ladies in the movie do quite a bit of needlework. Which got me in the mood to knit. I knit in the English method, not the American-Continental method (more evidence). So I picked up a project & knitted away 3 straight hours while totally engrossed in the movie. It is long, much like Pride & Prejudice, but highly recommended by me. Very good.

And that's all for now. M

p.s. If you want to sample my favorite tea, let me know. I'll happily slip a packet in the mail for you.

I thought I'd lost these forever...

Well now. I was sifting through old emails & look...I found these long lost photos (our computer crashed last year...no backup, lost everything...sooooo cliche).

Anyhow, here are the li'l purses I knit for my nieces. There is no pattern. Sometimes I just play around & good things happen.

Of course, I did a more extensive search of the email archives...ohhh the many wonderful & horrible things I found. I will share them later. :)

M

Superbowl Sunday

I pretty much missed the Superbowl today. Oops! I had more important things to do like laundry, general cleaning-up, 7-layer dip making, knitting, blogging (which I'm missing the end of the game for now...might as well! Jonah will catch me up.) I just don't seem to have the TV stamina I used to. I get too figity. Good thing I started knitting.

Speaking of knitting, Jonah just requested a scarf in hunter's orange.

I call it the "Outdoorsman."
My goodness that's bright!!! Yes it is. I'm keeping the pattern small & simple. Nothing fancy for my man...although, I did offer to embroider a heart or weave in a ribbon & bow. He said no to this.

My cousin, Coy, also requested a scarf. I decided on blue because her favorite color is blue. I know this because we used to fight over grandpa's one & only blue cereal bowl. I really didn't have a thing for blue. Just making things difficult. She isplanning a trip to Utah to compete in a triathlon...SO, here is the "Triathloner."Okay, if by chance you are the one person who has never tried 7-Layer Dip, here is how I make it.

This is the first...um, 5 layers? There really are more than 7 layers in this dip.

1 lb. ground beef mixed with taco seasoning
1 can refried beans, heated
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 tomato, diced
1 small can diced jalapeno peppersNext, I add:

Sour cream (as much as desired)
Guacamole (ditto)
Salsa (ditto)
1 small can sliced black olivesThen, I top it off with:

A handful of lettuce, chopped up very small
1/2 onion (the other half)
1/2 tomato (the other half)
A few handfuls of Mexican blend cheese
Dig in!

Don your game jersey (in our case, it's the New Orleans Saints...poor Saints), grab a cold drink & plop down in front of the tube.Or pass out... My baby. Yes. She has a Saints jersey too.

Love, Melissa

I can't believe it.

Remember these tiny monogrammed pillows?

I made them for a contest at Sublime Stitching & just look who won!!!

Yay! I think I win the first 4 issues of Craft magazine. That's cool, but I'm more excited about winning in general. I never win. :)

Melissa

To be a kid again

Just for a day, if I was transported back in time...

Maybe I would play in the big mud puddle on the corner, write an imaginitive story for my parents, climb the old apple tree (the one with the low-lying branches), or sew clothes & household items for my dolls out of old socks.Last week, I happened upon this Micro Monogram challenge & thought...why not? I probably won't win, but it would give me an excuse to sew up some tiny pillows (which somehow led to an entire bed ensemble) just like I did as a kid. My Barbies would be proud.If you were a tiny gnome, or troll, or tooth fairy, wouldn't you be tempted to stop here & take a nap?

Oh man, I hope we have a little girl someday. In the meantime, I'll take it along with me next time I visit my nieces.

Melissa

My new, finally finished, scarf & winter bag

I did it! I put the fringes on my much desired & long awaited green cable scarf last night while chatting with Deanna on the phone. It's done. I'm not totally digging how it looks because I purled too much across the front & forgot that makes the edges curl in. So mostly all you can see is the back which is not as pretty as the cables I spent so much time knitting on the front. I AM still wearing it, however...one, because I spent sooooo much time on it & two, because it is SO soft. My neck is in heaven. I can't stop running my fingers through the fringes either. I have lots more of this yarn. Perhaps I'll knit another, with a different pattern of course, as a gift to someone special. This is the winter bag that I knit last year. I just finished sewing the handles on this afternoon. I love it.Things have been pretty quiet this weekend. Mostly knitting & watching football. I suppose it's time to take the puppies out for another walk... Melissa

Whipping things up

Well, the weather outside is still frightful, so its a good excuse to spend quality time indoors getting to know my new pretty pretty pink & white Project Runway version sewing machine. This is the Christmas present I really wanted! Thank you, Babe. I love this crafty/baking blog . The author, Alicia, recently published a craft book which I bought. So here is my version of her Happy Birthday banner. Could've used it for J's birthday, but not to worry. It will surely be used for many happy birthdays to come!There is also a Welcome Home banner in the works, which will be hung when J gets back from his deployments. Need to buy fabric for the lettering today...I'm thinking navy blue? And I love soft books. I wish they made soft books for adults. Pride & Prejudice, the soft book please. :) BUT, until that awesome day happens, I will continue to sew them for my neices & nephews.I hope everyone is having a lovely week.

Melissa

The Finisher

I was happily knitting my scarf last week when the pup knocked over a pile of books on the floor, uncovering a forgotten embroidery project from July. Then, a few days ago, I realized we don't have a Christmas stocking for Jonah because I didn't finish making it last year. And yesterday I pulled some wrapping paper out of the closet & noticed a handbag I knit last year & meant to sew handles on. Oh yes...I'm that girl. The starter of many projects. The finisher of few. Well, now. I guess it is time to become The Finisher. So, I am working on my summery pillowcases here, during the day & my scarf at night.Aren't these embroidery threads just beautiful to look at? I find myself staring at them a lot. :)And I will finish sewing the handles on my winter bag next.Unfortunately, Jonah's stocking is MIA. Oops. I'll keep looking & make sure it is ready to go up next Christmas.

M