AJ

Abigail Jane - thinks everything in life is about her.

Is she wrong?

Which of your dogs has to be the center of attention?

this isn't the post I had planned

but I didn't feel like vacuuming to get the required photos

so - you'll just have to wonder what it is.

Teaser!

Pile o' hand knit socks.

all for me.

this is sorta how I threw them on after their glamour shot on Sunday.

Parade of Finished Socks to begin on Friday.

More Birthday Love

The Princess came home for a long weekend on Thursday. Thursday afternoon she sent me a text saying I had a box. This box was from CoffeeYarn and I was excited before I even opened it!

We had planned on having salmon for dinner on Thursday and I knew there would be fresh bread to have with it. You don't

get photos of that because it's almost gone!

Also in the box: a lovely card, some stickers to identify who's wine glass is whose, a puffy basset scrap booking sticker, fun candles, kettle puff-corn, treats for the dogs, a knitting pattern - and my favorite - Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

I have been itching to bake bread all summer and now that the cold weather is upon us, I'm ready. I'm taking this book to bed with me to study up and hopefully soon - I'll be making my own fresh bread to serve with soup and stews for yummy filling week night dinners!

Thank you so much - everything is fabulous and I can't wait to try out your recommended bread recipes.

Dear Rowenta

My dear Rowenta - I was thrilled beyond words when I decided that you were going to come live with me. Tickled pink with your features - promises of your stainless steel soleplate stole my heart away.

The promises of your extra large water tank were thrilling. 90 minutes of ironing - without running out of steam? You must be joking!

The fact that you have a stable base and your own iron rest. Well that was just fabulous.

And then there were the whispered works about adjustable steam output and and your extra long cords.

So in March 2008 I bit the bullet and spent a fair bit of money buying you. I loved you. I packed you to 3 retreats and I was devastated when you quit heating. It was the strangest thing ever - one day you were pressing and the next you were stone cold. Why yes, I had plugged you and turned you on. But I loved all your features - your 33 ounce water tank and especially the fact that you didn't turn yourself off. Huge! There is nothing worse than being ready to press a seam you've just sewn only to find out your iron has turned itself off and you have to wait for it to heat up again.

So - I headed out to purchase another. I'm sure you can appreciate exactly how devastated I was when after one and a quarter tanks of water you just quit producing steam. Seriously?

I'm sure you'll also understand that after I return you to the store where you were purchased less than 2 weeks ago I'll be looking for a different brand of iron. Right now this one is in the lead.

Surprise!

to the left you see JB and The Musical One - to the right, JB and The Princess. They are at the surprise party that the girls organized and pulled off to celebrate JB's 50th birthday.


As his birthday was 3 weeks ago - he was quite surprised. He thought nothing of it when he walked in and saw a friend from work. I mean we all live in roughly the same area, but then he started looking around and realized he knew a lot of people there - and finally got it.

It was tons of fun and he got quite a lot of gag gifts for old folks.

JB was taking advantage of the Mr. Magoo glasses to read a card that were gifted along with the new fangled hearing aid. Our neighbor decided to see if it helped.

The party almost didn't happen. See JB has to work one Saturday a month and he signed up to work yesterday. I told him I didn't care what he did - the Princess was only in town for 4 days and he was not going to work. Plus we had a busy morning - but the girls pulled it off without a hitch and surprised he was.

Jeans?/Pants?

Okay - I'm asking for help from my sewing blogger friends. Do I have any left? Hello? Anyone out there?

One of my goals for 2010 is to start making pants. Up until now - wearing nothing but skirts and dresses to work wasn't that big of a deal. I have always driven myself - parked in the garage, walked 10 feet in the worst of weather. Now however - I ride the bus to downtown Seattle. Then I have a 10 block walk to the office. I need pants. I need pants that are nice and flattering.

I am a triangle. I used to think I was an hourglass. If you are in doubt - look at yourself from behind. I know! Okay have a friend do it. You will really be able to see from behind if you are a triangle or an hourglass. The other fitting challenges that I have are a full-behind, protruding front thighs, and the dreaded saddle bags. Lots of fitting challenges there.

Now you know why I make skirts - right?

So I'm asking those of you who have made jeans - which pattern? jalie? If so - the regular jean, which are described as being bootcut or the stretch. Or J Sterns?

Debbie? Dawn? Shannon? Angie? Carolyn? Sue?

You've read my fitting issues, my tummy is still fairly flat - for the most part, but I am wide - through the ribs. My goal is to have a muslin made to take to the December ASG meeting to get fitting help - but I'd like to have a good start when the pattern arrives.

Like Nobody's Kid

You all remember Dudley right?

The title comes from a co-worker telling me a story one time. His parents used to say to him when he was quite young and had just started dressing himself. Well you know how little kids just throw anything and everything together and half the time they are mis-buttoned and nothing matches? Well his parents used to say to him - "you look like nobody's kid."

Seriously? You say that to your child? Isn't that a bit rude? Oh well. When I see Dudley running around with tufts of fur sticking out all over the place - it's the first thing I think of. I don't say it - normally I say come here and I grab a brush and we sit down to try and get some of that soft white undercoat off of him.

I have spent at least 30 minutes a day brushing him with a combination of the curry comb and the fake furminator that we have and he still looks like nobody's kid. Any ideas on how to make him looked like he belongs to someone?

Just for the record - he's our kid!