Random Thoughts on Thursday

I'm just filled with random thoughts that don't make a ton of sense these days.  I was trying to get a photo of Mr. Beauregard's eye - it's recently got all cloudy.  But he didn't want his photo taken - and this was the best I got.  And I had to hold his head to get it. 

I'm thankful that a dog's sight is not their first sense - especially in a scent hound.  But it still makes me sad.  He's coping well and other than his eye being super cloudy - he's not acting like his vision is impaired at all.

We've started adding frozen blueberries to all of the kibble because a very good friend said that it could help with his sight.  I don't know if it helps or not, but they are all enjoying the purple  goodness in their food.

Do you give your dogs only dog toys?  My big hounds *love* anything that makes noise - seriously.  So last week - after an especially long day - I bought them a noise making pig from the angry birds game.  Yes, it was a kid's toy, and it was fairly expensive for how long it lasted.  But for 3 days Lucy adored it.  She pranced through the house with the piggy in her mouth, she'd bring it to me so I could throw it (yes - we do throw balls in the house) and chased it.  She wrestled with Beau over the piggy and she made it oink.  She was in heaven.  When her not so gentle mouth broke the noise maker - well she was done and she ripped it apart to get the offending broken part out. 

The good news is she will still play with it a little bit.  But now it will become one of Beau's treasured babies.  He picks one every morning, takes them around the house and yard, carries it everywhere until he had breaky - then he's done with it until next time.

Until next time - have a safe and happy Thursday.  Remember the little things in life that make your life worthwhile.  Hug your pups and humans and tell them all that you love them.

More Napkins

As much as I love the tree napkins - I adore these.

I cut the fabric 13" square, rights sides together, sewed, pressed, trimmed, turned, pressed

and then I did a little zig zag around the edges to close the turning opening.

I adore the subdued print on the front - but the polka dots on the back - love.

I had more of this fabric available than the plaid - so this is a set of 12.

Personally - I love a set of napkins that has at least 4 more napkins

than you would normally ever use.

That's so you can rotate them all in usage

but you have extras if one gets stained or torn.

I really need to make some more napkins for me.

Knitting

Sometime last year, I friend of mine mentioned that she needed a little something to throw over her shoulders and wear to a fancy schmancy party. 

At that point I had just invested in knit stitch dictionaries and had some very pretty black sock yarn.  So, with ideas, yarn and needles in had - I set to work.  I will tell you the first several times I tried it - it did not work.  

Then finally it clicked.  I've now written a pattern and have it out for test knitting.  I've knit it twice and hope to have a pattern available around the end of the year.

This feels pretty cool.     

Sewing

My sewing lately has consisted of the crafty variety.  Much, much earlier this year, I signed up to Pay It Forward and I'm just now getting around to actually doing so.

Somewhere last year - it all runs together these days and I can't remember anything - I saw these very cute tree napkins. 

With just slightly over a yard of each fabric, I made 8 reversible half circle napkins.  Of course there are no photos of them not folded like trees.  They are all exactly alike - I just folded them differently.

I think they will match the dishes of the recipient well and I hope she likes them. 

I love using cloth napkins and really should make some more for myself some day.  They are super easy to make and don't take any time at all.  AND when they are done you feel like you accomplished something - while napkins should "fit" with your dishes, they are still flat!

Visit - Part 2

In photos.

Brief description: Sunday we had brunch at the Space Needle restaurant.

Then we took monorail downtown, walked around Pike Place Market.

And just generally had fun. Enjoy our day.

Catch Up

 I've mentioned that The Princess came to visit last month, right?  It was 4 crazy, see everything possible in Seattle days. 

First stop on the tour?  Dick's Drive In and the Ballard Locks.  Seattle is full of public art - and the *kids* decided this was art to be played on.  You can see only one of my kids was acting like a monkey and hanging from the sculpture.  Kids!  You can't take them anywhere.  From left to right:  The Musical One, The Boy, and The Princess. 

We also went to Freemont and saw the Troll this day.

The above was a plaque I saw at the junk market we went to on my birthday - love it!

Have a fabulous week everyone - I hope to have some sewing and crafting to share soon.  

Model Dogs

And by ~Model~ I don't mean perfect!

The Musical One was asked to knit four Steelers themed hats.

It just about killed JB to put one on his head.

But she consistentely used him as her fit model - which was good.

The stripes on each hat are all just slightly different.

While Beau & Lucy didn't like wearing them at all

I hear they were well received by the persons who ordered them.

Ruffles

In the middle of September Lori interviewed Lynne for National Sewing Month as a podcast through Sew Forth Now.  The theme was returning to sewing and one of the links Lori included was to Ruffle Fabric and a tutorial for making a ruffle skirt.   I immediately ordered both the silvery grey and a rich brown ruffle fabric. 

I thought the ruffles would run parallel to the selvedge, so I ordered 2 yards (needing enough to round my hips).  However, the ruffles run perpedicular to the selvedge so my 2 yards of each color was enough to make 4 knee length skirts - for adult women!  Of course it helps that one of the friends I made a ruffle skirt for is short - seriously - her skirt is 18" long verses mine at 26".

These are super easy to make, althought I'm not sure how to wear it.  (and honestly - posture?)  I'm not positive the sweater was the best choice, I think a belted button down might have been better.

While JB said it was just "Meh" it was fun to wear and I felt girly all day long.  So - do you have any styling tips?  How would you wear a ruffly skirt? 

Toil or Trouble

What is with my face whenever I have photos taken?  Anyway - yesterday I did nothing but putter and play in the studio and I had a great day indeed!  

I plugged my sewing machine for the first time since the retreat - the first weekend in October! 

I bought this cute Halloween print at a local quilt shop this past summer - it was on clearance and I think I paid about $10 for 3 yards.  How could I pass it up?  It hung out all summer - but really the window for wearing a skirt that says "bubble, bubble, toil & trouble" is pretty limited.  So, After cleaning up the studio and putting away the summer fabrics - I found the Carolyn skirt pattern and got to work.

I added 4" of length to the pattern pieces and it's just about perfect.  The entire skirt was sewn with black thread, and because it's a quirky I didn't put a lot of effort into finishing the inside.  I did fold the seams under and topstitch them to keep the fabric from fraying.

Here's a close up of the print? Isn't is cute? I can honestly say that most people I work with didn't notice it was Halloween themed.  You can also see in the close up - the seam topstitched with the black thread.  Which is really a seam finishing technique.

The one most thrilled with the skirt?  The neighbors 3 year old son.  While I was putting candy in his bowl, he was pointing out witches, cats and bats.  But he couldn't find any ghosts!