Show of hands, who else watches Clean House? Is it just me, or does that show make you feel just a little bit better about your housekeeping abilities? Actually, the first time I watched it, the hosts all kind of bugged me, but now I just really like them and their goofy jokes make me laugh, and I love it when Niecy gives the homeowners a well deserved smackdown when they won’t get rid of their stuff.

If you are a fan, you can imagine my surprise and delight when I saw a sign for a Clean House yard sale in a nearby town this past Saturday. I had to run errands on Saturday anyway, so I decided to check it out. I didn’t really plan on buying anything, but as soon as I walked up to the driveway, this little footstool caught my eye. There was a piece of tape on it that said "Antique", but no price. I only had $20 on me, so I wasn’t sure if i had a shot, but I had to try. Aren’t the legs cute? The cushion is faded and grungy looking, but otherwise in good shape.

I picked it up, and heard a rattling sound. I discovered that the top
lifted off, and the inside was filled with some lovely treasures:


Look at all those scissors! The big ones are pinking shears. I love the small, black embroidery scissors. Now I just have to figure out how to clean them up a little. I think I will take them to the knife sharpener and see what his opinion is.

Anyway, back to the yard sale, I was quickly accosted by Trish, who is so stinking cute, and a camera man. She said the footstool belonged to the homeowners’ mother and they were asking  $30. It  didn’t take much convincing for her to agree to $20. I even showed her that it was all that was left in my wallet. She said my wallet was very organized, which was quite a compliment, considering the source, and also that is was very cute and fierce. I’m not sure if I want them to include the footage of me. I’ll look like a gigantic Amazon next to Trish, and I’m not sure what all I said, but it’s likely that I sounded a bit flustered and foolish. Oh well, it was fun, and although I didn’t see Niecy, the others all looked like they were working really hard.

As exciting as my television debut was, I’m really happy with my lucky find. I’ve recovered the cushion with plain, natural linen. Eventually I’d like to do some crewel embroidery on linen to cover it, but I wanted to at least make it look a little more presentable in the meantime. I’ve also painted the wood with a coat of primer and a coat of glossy yellow. I think it’s going to need a little sanding and a second coat, but you can be sure I’ll take a picture when I’m done. I’d also like to line the inside somehow. with fabric or paper, I’m not sure which. 

I’ve also got pictures to share and a tutorial in the works for the t-shirt project, and I just caught up on the last two episodes of Project Runway, so maybe we can have another PR discussion too.Whew! So much to do!

Does this happen to you? You get an idea, and you can’t stop thinking about it, and you just have to try it out right then? That happened last weekend, when I was thinking about some vintage mother-of-pearl buckles I’ve been hoarding, and how pretty they are, and how I’m not quite ready for skinny belts just yet, but would like to wear one of those buckles anyway. So I dug around in my drawer of vintage lace and scraps and pulled out this bit of embroidered silk, and made a belt for my wrist.

Here’s a better view of some of the embroidery:

I stitched the silk to some linen and attached one end to the buckle, wrapped it around my wrist and slipped the other end through the buckle,tightened it up, and wore it! I think it’s kind of fun, and quite pretty.

Later today my sister and I are going to make a t-shirt, so come back soon for a step-by-step photo tutorial of the flower-y t-shirt!

I ripped this picture out of an Anthropologie catalog awhile back, and remembered it while on a recent trip to Old Navy:


Cute, right? The price? $98. It’s a t-shirt people. Who pays $98 for a t-shirt? Not me, but I really do like this t-shirt. So, back at Old Navy; they have lots of t-shirts for just $10 each, and they’re a lovely soft cotton knit. I bought two stone colored t-shirts, and cut one up and stitched the little heart shaped pieces to the other. I’m not sure if I’m done yet, but I think it’s looking pretty good.


I’m a bit on the busty side, so I may not want to add more. We’ll see.

I also got an unexpected package in the mail this weekend. It’s the second book which includes a pattern by moi:


I love those pomegranates on the cover. My creation didn’t make the front cover this time, but it did show up on the back, which was a nice surprise.


And here’s a look inside:


It’s a lovely book, although more for inspiration than actually making any of the projects exactly as they appear, I think. I love the flower magnets (also on the back cover), and think they would be a fun little project. It also makes me want to make another mini-quilt. They’re just so much fun.

Speaking of books, I’ve been doing a little reading lately. I was just browsing at the library and happened upon The Friday Night Knitting Club. New York Times Bestseller! the cover proudly proclaimed. And it’s about knitting, so I’m sure I would like it, right? Wrong. Very, very wrong. I don’t think I got past the third chapter. It was so poorly written, I kept wondering why the author didn’t have an editor. She couldn’t have with all the awkward sentences. Most knitters that I know are also pretty smart people, bad writing isn’t going to get past them. The characters were all such cliche’s, I just couldn’t take it. And then the main character gets all pissy because the father of her daughter comes back into her life, and she doesn’t want him to have anything to do with them. I get that the guy cheated on her and dumped her, and that was a really jerk-y move, but now he does want to be a part of his daughter’s life and she’s so selfish that she’s going to deny her daughter that opportunity out of spite? He’s not abusive, he paid child support, there’s no reason for her daughter not to get to know her father. Better late than never. I hate it when chick-lit books have to be all "girl-power" and we don’t need no stinkin’ men to be happy. Blah blah blah. Why belittle men to give a woman a sense of self-worth. Maybe it all turned out different in the end, but I can’t be bothered. And that’s what I thought of that :o)   

The overwhelming majority said turquoise, and because I am basically lazy, I decided to go along with the majority.


I liked the suggestions to paint it the same color as the wall, and if I start hating this, maybe that’s what I’ll do, although I think if I start hating this, that will be motivation to take the time to look and find something I really love. I’ve got lots of little pops of turquoise, yellow and green around the room, so for now this fits in just fine.


Five people actually called me weird and my sconces hideous. It’s okay though, I can take it.

First of all, some extreme cuteness, I hope you can handle it:
 
Friday was a Holiday, so I took Winston to the vet for all his shots and then we went to dog beach. Winston was a little overwhelmed by it all, and I think he was probably not 100% after all the vaccinations (I think he had 3, including a rattlesnake vaccine), so he spent most of the time like this:

That’s my knee his head is resting on. Oh well, it was a beautiful day, and it’s always fun to go there and watch all the dogs running around and having fun. Afterward, we went to the dog wash. Winston is not fond of baths, but we made it through and then went to a dog-friendly place for lunch. He got a lot of compliments for his good behavior.

I’ve also been feverishly working on quilts, and I just might make it in time, thanks to my mom who is helping out by doing all the hand-quilting of one quilt, while I do the other. There may even be pictures in a week or so.

I also thought I’d try coloring some Easter eggs. Here’s what you get when you start out with brown and blue eggs:

I like how the speckles came through on the yellow-y egg. Now I just have to figure out what to do with a dozen hard boiled eggs. I love deviled eggs, but there’s only two of us, I don’t think we can eat 24 deviled eggs.

One last bit of cuteness:

Lucy always has to get involved when I take the camera out.

I’m pretty sure I’m not going to have much time for writing the rest of the week, but I’ll try and post a few photos here and there. Happy Spring!   

Does your to-do list ever get completely out of control? Mine seems to have developed a mind of its own, but I’m showing it who’s boss and whipping it into shape, although I may soon collapse from exhaustion. I may be exaggerating a little, but still, sheesh, I have a lot to do right now. I even had to add ‘clip fingernails’ to the list, because I kept forgetting and I just don’t do long nails, and they were getting annoying.

I did take a little time out for a couple nice activities, however. First of all, I took some pictures of the ornamental plum trees at our post office, which are currently fully in bloom. I think I’m going to send one of these to my sister for this week’s Photoshop picture, and see what she comes up with. I played around a little with giving it a cross-processing effect, which I kind of like.

Before:

After:

I like them both. The sky was so brilliantly blue this morning, it was just perfect for taking pictures.

I also needed to make an Easter bunny egg cozy, because I didn’t have one.

The pattern is from an Yvestown/Cherry Menlove collaboration. I used a felted angora sweater, which I thought was apprpriate. And notice the egg cup matches Yvonne‘s (from a previous Christmas swap). My bunny is quite startled by the fact that he has an entire egg inside him.

You can see more bunnies in the Flickr pool.

So now, for the rest of the month I have to buckle down and finish two quilts for a new book from Lark. I was just looking at their website, and the one with my little yo-yo quilt is coming out soon and it looks really good.  Two quilts in one month? No problem. Heh.