A Perfect Fit

I bought this basket a number of years ago, thinking that our cats would like sleeping in such a cozy space. Neither of them cared anything at all for the basket -- just like a cat! Blinky would get in it sometimes, especially after we sprinkled catnip inside, but that was about it. Caleb and Alexa like to play with the basket, so it's not a total loss.

A few days ago, I couldn't find Blinky anywhere. This is where I finally found her.See, it is nice and cozy. She hasn't been back in it since, though.

Make Sure You Have it All

Make sure when you are about to take your baby out in the stroller that you have your purse, bag, purse, bag, and purse with you. You can never be sure what you might need. I wish I could have gotten a picture later of Alexa pushing the stroller. She had a hand on each handle, which necessitated the use of her shoulder to hold her cell phone to her ear while she jabbered away.

Good Eats, Good Fun

Last week I forgot to give you an update on the event we attended -- the 10th birthday party for the Food Network show, Good Eats. James and I agreed that it was one of the most fun thing we'd been to in years. We laughed through the whole afternoon. They were taping this show and occasionally the camera would pan the crowd, but don't expect to see us on television as our seats were high up in the balcony. Still, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center is not that large, and we could see everything perfectly. The show will air on Saturday, October 10th at 10 p.m. (10/10 at 10 for their 10th anniversary. Get it?)

Spell Checker?

I had a good laugh this week when I came across an order from an American Vision customer. He wanted us to know that the book he ordered was to be shipped to a prison inmate. For that reason, the spelling of the recipient's name was "cridical."

Work and More Work

The folks at American Vision called me last week and asked for my help. For years we've been trying (without success) to integrate the online store with QuickBooks, the software that pretty much manages all aspects of the ministry (sales, inventory, donations, financials, etc.). The president and vice-president were in agreement that it was time to scrap all that, and find another way, which they asked me to do. I spent some time studying and testing options, then I went into the office on Monday, spoke with all the worker bees and explained the changes to the way the system would operate, and then set about trying to bring order to over two weeks (or ten months, take your pick) of backlogged chaos. In short, my work-at-home hours have been averaging 6-8/week. Last week, I worked 28 hours, some of them doing hard time in the warehouse. I don't mind, though, since I have my eye on a $1,200 sewing machine! Next week I will only go into the office on Wednesday. Monday is a holiday, Tuesday is babysitting day, and I'll need Thursday and Friday to get ready for the 90th birthday party on Saturday. I'll have another couple of months of extra hours, although a good many of them will be from home, until my work routine should settled down to about 12-15 hours per week of off site work.

So, not much sewing happened this week, although I did get the borders attached to the baby quilt. No pictures are forthcoming until it's finished. I still have to layer backing, batting and top, then quilt it and attach the binding. It's a good thing I still have three months to get it finished.


Finally! The peppers are starting to ripen. I don't remember what kind of plant I bought, only that they are sweet peppers and that they would turn orange when ripe. I thought maybe they'd go from green to yellow to orange, but nope. They're going straight from green to orange. It's hard not to pick them now, but I'm trying to wait until they're completely orange. We're now harvesting more tomatoes than we (I) can eat from our single plant, and that's with some critter still munching them. Fine. You have some, I have some, and there's still a surplus. BLTs on the lunch menu today.

Stay Tuned

Weekly blog update coming later today.

Sewing This Week

I didn't have a lot of time this week for sewing, but I did finish piecing the top of the baby quilt for number three, Jordanna (unless her name changes between now and December). It will have double borders, and I've cut one and pieced the other, but I haven't attached them yet. I'm not going to show the whole thing until after I give it to Emily, so you'll have to be content with this sneak peek. I also made one postcard -- for a new baby.

All Wet

We made an impromptu visit to the Georgia Aquarium on Thursday. It was our first visit, even
though the aquarium opened almost four years ago! (Wow! Time flies.) Anyway, James had some comp time coming and he decided to take off on Thursday; and I thought it might be a good time to go since school has just resumed but it's still to soon for field trips. It was not crowded at all and we had a great time. Since I've been to aquariums in Chattanooga, Charleston, and Tampa, the only really new thing for me was the beluga whales, and they were worth seeing. I think I could have sat and watched them for hours; they seemed so calm and peaceful.

But I enjoyed watching these not-exactly-calm otters, too.

Summer's Over

My one-day-a-week babysitting started back this week as Emily returned to teaching. The kids put their little chairs "center stage" on the hearth. You can't see it in this pictured, but Caleb's play glasses have Mickey Mouse-shaped sunglass lenses that are hinged and flip over in front of the clear lenses. He wasn't wearing the now-famous green hat, though. They both wanted to take pictures with my camera, but I held onto it while they did so. Caleb didn't do too badly.

Munching

In spite of all the fencing and netting, something is still eating my tomatoes! My gardening "helpline" suggests a couple of different insecticides, so I hope that takes care of the problem. Now you know why we don't do much gardening.

Found

The birthday party I'm planning for James' dad is two weeks away, and I haven't made a whole lot of preparations beyond getting the invitations mailed. I'd been looking at dollar stores for plates and napkins in a fall color to match the tablecloth I want to use, but hadn't found any. I stopped at Big Lots this week, and success... plates and napkins in a dark, evergreen color. And these hopped into my cart when I wasn't looking.Yum. Sour apple is my favorite flavor of hard candy, and caramel is second on my all-time list behind chocolate.

Fudge and Pralines

No, I haven't been making candy, although it's not a bad idea. We are going to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center this afternoon to see the live taping of the 10th Anniversary of Good Eats, a Food Network program featuring Alton Brown. I don't watch much of the Food Network, but Alton Brown is a local guy who often explains the science behind cooking, always in a humorous way. (Like why you stir pralines -- or was it divinity? -- while it is cooling, but you don't stir fudge. It has to do with the size of the sugar crystals. Hence, the title of this post.) His shows sometimes include visits to local food markets or kitchen supply stores, and that's fun to see, too. I'll give you a report of the show next week.

Where Did the Week Go?

It went by so fast -- unlike when you're working! Monday I made my usual grocery store and drug store runs. Run of the mill, that is. Also on Monday I went to the framing shop to order a shadow box of this Boy Scout memorabilia.This will be a birthday gift for James' daddy next month.The rest of Monday and Tuesday (excluding my dental cleaning -- no cavities) was spent doing the housework that didn't get finished last week. Also, I did some minor cooking in preparation for lunch with a couple of friends at my house on Wednesday. It was lots of fun looking at pictures from a recent class reunion and then looking up people in the yearbook when we had no clue who they were!

I went to Hancock Fabrics and Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts on Thursday. One of the things on my list was outdoor fabric to redo the cushion on the porch glider. I didn't come home with any. Bummer. I was also looking for Christmas fabric, but I'm still a bit early. They had Christmas crafting-type fabric out, but not really any dress fabric. Bummer. And I had to go to Little Quilts because neither of the fabric stores had leather thimbles, and I recently lost the one I had. Bummer again. Then... I had to go back to Jo-Ann's on Friday because I didn't realize that the sale featuring several things I wanted didn't start until Friday. This extra trip is beyond bummer, but I'm trying to keep it clean here. I got six patterns for $1 each. One dollar is about right. There's no way on earth I would pay $15.95 (the regular price each of three of them) for an envelope full of paper. If you want to look at my purchase Emily's way, I saved 94% on patterns! I also got ten spools of thread and a roll of quilt batting at half-price.

I spent a good part of Friday morning trying to figure out how to list something to sell on Ebay. I finally got there. Or here, if you prefer.

Finally, I've had this for a month and I keep forgetting to post it. When we vacation in the Charleston area, we usually attend Sunday worship at Eastbridge PCA in Mount Pleasant. When we stay on Isle of Palms, it's not a bad trip, but when we are at Folly Beach, it's nearly an hour drive. Come Sunday morning of vacation, James and I decided we didn't want to make the hour-long drive. (Takes longer to recover from the seven-hour Saturday drive to get to the beach.) So, we decided to go to the local Baptist church. It was an OK service, with a good, scriptural message. I love their slogan, taken from the bulletin:

Slackin'

At 8:30 on Saturday morning, I realized that I'm slackin' on my Saturday posting. It's been another busy week. I don't know how I used to work full time!

The purse I showed you last week sold, so I needed to quickly make another to take its place on Etsy. I pretty much did nothing else on Monday and Tuesday.I think this is my favorite one. (I say that every time.) I like the floral panel in the center and the floral handles. Here's the pocket detail inside.

Now I can't remember why, but I needed to use the scanner this week. So I opened the computer hutch in my sewing room and waited for the computer to boot up. Turned around, and "Guess Who?"

She would be sitting on the scanner that I intended to use.

The remainder of my week I worked at my bookkeeping job; met with a VA liaison for a couple of hours, working toward getting VA benefits for James' parents at the Assisted Living facility; cleaned house as little as I could get by with; and designed, printed, addressed, and mailed this invitation for a party at my house next month.This afternoon Angi and are are headed to the Braves game. 4:00 p.m. 90 degrees. Near-death experience forthcoming.

Sew, Sew, Some More

Although after my first selvage purse was made I said I wouldn't make another one, I've now sewn two more. Here is some of the detail of selvage purse #2. I listed it on Etsy, and it sold! (Thanks, Angi!) So, I decided I'd make another and list it, too. I figure that it takes me about twenty to twenty-five hours to make one of these purses. I could probably shave a couple of hours off of that if I could convince Blinky to go away while I'm working.

Here are pictures of selvage purse #3.

Finally Finished

I finished the jacket that I was making to go with a church dress that I already had. It wasn't particularly what I wanted to work on, but I knew that if I didn't finish it and wear it this season, it would become a UFO (UnFinished Object) in the closet, and would likely never see the light of day. Blinky wanted to "help" me while I sewed the button on. She was trying to catch the thread as I was pulling it along. (Notice the Braves game on in the background. I love sewing during baseball season. Actually, I love baseball season by itself.)So, I wore it last Sunday. I knew the fabric would be difficult to work with, but it's all I could find in a color that matched. It turned out OK, but I'm not overly thrilled with it.

Sewing This Week?

Back in 2002 I bought an entire bolt of bridal tulle. Not only did I make Emily's veil, we also used some of it decoratively for the reception and dinner. Did I sew something else with it this week? Not exactly. I kept finding half-eaten green tomatoes near my garden, so here's my solution. Now my yard looks like it has off-season Halloween decor.But I hope to eventually have some tomatoes, and maybe even a pepper or two.

Yet Another Sewing Project

If you think that all I did this week was sew, you'd be pretty much right! It was a fun week. I did work at my remote bookkeeping for about eight hours, and I kept Caleb and Alexa for a couple of hours. But I had a good week at the machine. Here's another nightgown I made for Alexa, along with a close-up of the fabric. Those in the know will know why I chose this material.

And not to leave Caleb out, I made him this pair of shorts from a remnant.

Sewing to Get Where You're Going

Here's what I made (from a scrap I already had) this week.We have a GPS that I got last fall pretty much for free with CVS Extra Bucks.It's been living in this heirloom:Up until Phillip was about three or four years old, he had very fat feet, and I had to pay big bucks at specialty kids' shoe stores and get brand-name shoes in a wider width that would fit him. It was painful at the time. I saved two or three of the cute, little boxes, though. It wasn't a very good solution for the GPS since it won't fit in the glove box. Also, James' company flew him to Pasadena for a couple of days of work this week, and he needed to take the GPS. The shoebox is no good for packing in luggage, either. So now you know what the small, zippered pouch is for.
Sewing is a useful skill. Don't have something I need? No problemo. I'll make it.

Fabric Bonanza

I hit the fabric jackpot this past week. Phillip sent me a package of some fat quarters and remnants he found at the JoAnn's store that is just about across the street from his apartment. (I have to drive 16 miles to the one in Kennesaw.) Included was this "remnant" of terrycloth. We have a ranch-style house with a very long hallway. This piece of fabric is about nine feet long! I told him that I thought I'd contact Zoo Atlanta and see if they need a towel for when they bathe the elephants! (Or maybe it would be better for giraffes.)

Also, a friend from church was given a bunch of fabric and she invited me to come and see if there was anything I wanted. Unfortunately, by the time we returned from vacation, it was pretty picked over by others. I did get a few pieces of mostly upholstery fabric, including some polished chintz. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but I'm thinking it would make a cute teddy bear.

What Happens When You Go on Vacation

I should have gotten Angi to come and help herself to some squash. The one on the right is a nice, tender size. The one on the left could be drilled out to make a home for a house wren.

Come December, They'll Be Big

Actually, Caleb already is the big brother, but in December Alexa will be big, too. They'll be the big brother and sister to a little girl. Her semi-final name is Jordanna Ruth. I found these half-price shirts at a local children's store that is closing here and moving to Florida.