Plodding Slowly Towards Organization

Oy Vey!  Is it truly the middle of May already?  Where has Spring gone?  It feels like it was only my last blog when I was still talking about mittens.  Oh, wait....  that was my last blog!  How could I be so negligent?!  Sigh...

In my defense, I've been sick.  And I know, not being able to breathe is no excuse for not blogging!  Maybe I should have named this site "the Slacker Blogger;" although I'm sure that name is already taken by some creative soul who has better things to do with their time than blog!

So let me fill you in on all the things I've been doing and not blogging about.

We had our first ever yard sale!  Woo Hoo!  Business was brisk and we got rid of a bunch of old junk in an effort to make room for new and improved junk.  In preparation, I read blogs specifically about how to host a yard sale and in following all of the blogs' advice, I slightly overpriced most things so there was still room for haggling.  Surprisingly, few people haggled.  If someone didn't like the price I quoted, they simply looked at me like I was crazy and put the item back.  The few times I tried to haggle by myself by quoting lower and lower prices, I think I scared the people off.  The more desperation I showed, the more determined they were to leave.  I would like to say that at least I didn't chase people down the street, but that would be a lie...  It was only one guy. And it was just to give him something for free. And it was something he wanted. Really...  sigh....

So, there was one happy consequence of having the yard sale, we actually organized and cleaned a corner of our basement, a small part of the garage, and a kitchen cabinet or two.  Check out my small and dark basement!  In addition to our huge quantities of yarn and liquor, you can actually see cement floor.

It's still a work in progress, but at least I can say now that there's been progress.  This year.

So in addition, I think I've finally hit on a stellar storage solution for yarn.  Since I like to buy in mass quantities when the sale is right, I've got a lot of different colors, brands, and thicknesses of yarn.  What I've been doing is simply organizing it by the size hook indicated on the label.

And, as you all have silently noted as you tsk tsk under your breath, I've been neglecting my shop dreadfully.  I've been crocheting and have new things to add, I've just been in no mood to put on makeup and pose for my mom in the back yard as she takes my picture in more hats and scarves.  Maybe I could just pile them all on at the same time and make do with a single picture?  Sigh...

Also, I've been meaning to share with you all about my efforts to corral my little collection of tools and useful stuff.  My little collection is not to be confused with the hubby's Work Tools & Very Important Stuff.  You see, not only is his collection much bigger and more expensive (hence the capitalization), but his collection consists of more than just a screwdriver, packing tape, craft wire and a measuring tape.  I don't even know what all he has, but I'm sure it's all quite necessary.  As is my yarn...  yeah....

But back to my little collection.  So I did have this start off as the ubiquitous junk drawer in the kitchen.  After a few years, I realized I now had 3 junk drawers & a tool box.  How did this happen?  You may choose to blame the large collection of liquor I mentioned earlier, but I must disagree.  It was my penchant for crafting, hanging, framing, straightening, sliding, and any other verb you can think to do with furniture, pictures, decorations, and well-intentioned Martha Stewart ideas.

So  I decided to carefully dump everything into a sturdy basket in an awkward little kitchen cupboard.  The cupboard is narrow and deep, so I thought it would be perfect for the job.  It was then I discovered my basket was actually too heavy for me to lift out of the awkward shaped little cupboard.  You can see the nightmare in action below.

So, I had to think of something else.  But while I was thinking of something else, a perfectly wonderful idea occurred to me.  Rather than simply tossing all of my potato chip bags on top of the fridge in an unsightly heap, why not hide it away in another basket?

Much healthier looking, even though the appearance is deceitful.  But now all you see is plenty of fiber, both wicker & cereal.  Much better!

And that was when I thought of the "something else" aforementioned.  I realized what I need to do is use an over-the-door organizer and put everything in the pockets.  I then hung my organizer inside my basement door.

So great!  I was so so happy with the result!  Somewhere to store my bigger items, i.e. screwdriver, hammer, box cutter, & raver-style glow sticks.  And then, just cause I was on a roll that weekend, I had the hubby hang a very manly cubby-tool box on the basement wall.  Now I also have a place to organize my unused earthquake straps from my picture-hanging-nails from my batteries of all shapes & sizes.  Yahooie!!

Again, so happy!

Stripey Mittens Anyone?

A friend of mine spied a cute pair of mittens in the book Clever Crocheted Accessories by Brett Bara.  She asked me to crochet a pair for her, which I did. However, maybe I'm just a backwards kind of girl but it felt odd to have the cuff buttons line up with my thumbs when wearing it.  I'm sure it helps if you have to button them on, but I'm thinking that yarn is stretchy enough that you would never need to unbutton these little beauties.  So, here's a few pictures of the mittens I made following the book, but if I make these again, I think I'll alter the pattern so the buttons line up with the top of the ring finger instead.  If I do, I'll post pictures here.

Enjoy!

I really do like the way the pattern directs you to start the cuff using the back loop only, then by the time you come back around you're using the front loop only.  It creates a very tailored little overlap.

Easter Dinner

Holy cow kids!  How is it that I've been so busy that I'm just now getting around to posting my Easter Dinner recipes?  Yikes am I slow!  Well hopefully my tardiness won't spoil your appetite for these delish recipes! (Yup, my stress levels are rising and so is the corniness factor)

In any case, here was our menu:
Ham with brown sugar, orange juice, & sprigs of thyme
    (I neglected to use orange zest & it was excellent without it)
Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, heavy whipping cream, and lots 'o butter
Carmelized onion & cornbread dressing
    (the recipe calls for 2 onions but I only used 1 & it was still quite yummy)
Baked apples with a smattering of butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, apple juice & raisins
Hot fruit compote (recipe is below)
Squash casserole (recipe is below)
Asparagus mimosa

Hot fruit compote:
1 can (16oz) pear halves, drained
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks, drained
1 can (16 oz) peach halves, drained
1/4 cup butter, melted or cubed small-ish
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:  place all in foil pan, place pan on grill for 20 to 25 min stirring often.  Obviously, I was not grilling  for Easter dinner, so I just placed everything in a baking dish and baked for about a half hour with whatever else was in the oven. I think I cooked it at about 350 degrees.

Squash casserole:
6 cups yellow squash, sliced (I used both yellow crookneck squash & zucchini)
1/4 cup chopped onion (I just used a whole, small-ish onion)
1 tsp salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
1 cup shredded carrots (I used 2 carrots)
1 pkg (8 oz) seasoned stuffing mix
1/2 cup butter

Directions: In a large skillet, cook squash, onion, & salt in small amount of water until just tender, about 5 minutes. (although for me it took about 15 minutes)  Drain well. Combine soup with sour cream & carrots, fold gently into cooked squash.  Toss stuffing mix with melted butter. Spoon 1/2 of stuffing mix over bottom of greased 11" x 7" x 2" dish. Top with squash, then stuffing mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Makes 8 to 10 servings.

And can you believe that by the time I finished cooking, it never even occurred to me to stop and take a picture! We all just fell to eating and talking like it was Easter or something!

However, I will link to Martha Stewart's picture of her asparagus mimosa so you can see how pretty it looks with a shredded, hard-boiled egg as garnish.  And I was astounded to discover it tastes even better than it looks!

Bon appetit!

Square dancing?

Hey y'all!  So last weekend the hubby and I went to the Disneyanna show in Anaheim to check out the rare and expensive goodies we have no business buying.  Personally speaking, I was a bit disappointed. The show was smaller than I expected, and most of the items being sold were trading pins.  Some of the pins are cute, but generally I don't collect them.  Instead, what I did pick up was a new set of salt & pepper shakers.

I already had the two outside shakers from a previous show and this time I only snagged the set in the center.  You'll see the two on the left have illustrations of the carousel and the castle to commemorate Fantasy Land. The 2 in the center show the Columbia Sailing Ship and the Mark Twain Riverboat from Frontier Land. The 2 on the right again have the castle on the front, and the back has portraits of a Victorian-era police officer and Gibson Girl commemorating Main Street.  I hear there's 2 more sets out there, Tomorrow Land and Adventure Land. Can't wait to find those & complete my set!

While walking through the parking lot of the hotel hosting the show, I saw a car covered with stickers proudly claiming "I square dance!" and other stickers about square dancing, not circle dancing.  At the time I mentally shrugged and thought "square dance humor!"  We then went to Disney Land were we saw that the stage next to the Bar-B-Q buffet is now open and part of Frontier Land.  This section used to be the stage in Fantasy Land for the Hunchback show, then it was converted to the princess dress up for all of the little princesses.  Now, however, the stage is firmly western and populated by a singing cowgirl and western dancers.

O.M.G. Do you see what I see?  Adorable little gingham dresses with giant bows and petticoats and even bloomers!  That totally looks like a square dance outfit to me!  And of course when I see something as adorable as this I immediately think "I could sew that for a Halloween costume!"  All I would need to add are maybe a cowboy hat and cowboy boots!  I might even be able to get 2 costumes out of that!

Hmmm....  maybe those square dancers are onto something!

Christine's scarf

Hey there everybody!  Sorry to have neglected you all for so long, but I have been a busy little bee and I hope to make it up to you all with a crochet pattern.

A gal pal of mine asked me to crochet a scarf in warm fall colors using a ripple pattern, so I set to work.  For this project, I used worsted weight yarn because that was the only weight I could find at the store in an autumn-inspired variegated pattern.  It was still pretty soft, and had I seen this blog earlier on how to soften worsted or sport weight yarn, I would have treated the yarn first to make it especially snugly.  BTW, great creativity there SleepyCrochet on thinking of how to soften up affordable yarn to make it feel expensive!  Here goes the pattern I followed for my easy ripple:

Ch 22
Row 1:  dc in third ch and in next 2 ch, dc2tog skipping 2 ch in between, dc in next 3 ch; ch 2, dc in the next 3 ch, dc2tog skipping 2 ch in between, dc in next 2 ch, end work 2 dc in last ch, ch 2, turn.
Row 2:  dc in first dc and in the next 2, dc2tog skipping 1 stitch in between, dc in next 3 stitches, ch 2, dc in next 3 stitches; dc2tog skipping 1 stitch in between, dc in next 2 stitches, end work 2 dc in last stitch, ch 2, turn.
Row 3:  repeat row 2 for ripple pattern

I like to make my scarves long enough  so that when it is draped around your neck, the 2 ends meet somewhere around the thighs.  This gives enough length to wind it around in a multitude of ways!  Well, maybe just 2 or 3 ways, but saying "multitude" sounds much more optimistic, doesn't it?

Beware with the pictures listed below. After re-reading the directions and looking at these pictures, I think I took these pictures upside down.  Not that I was upside down, but I think I photographed the end of the scarf without noticing it wasn't the beginning.  But you're all a clever bunch of kids and I know you'll get my meaning!

You may notice that there's a little purple smudge on the bottom corner of the scarf.  That's actually not a smudge but my poor attempt at putting a purple smiley face on the scarf with a bit of needlework.  Christine is such a dear and exclaimed that it looked perfect, but I'm sure I could've thought of a better way to do the job.  It just escapes me...

Tea Towel Calendars

Hey there everybody!  So the fourth week of the new year may be a little late to bring up the topic of calendars,  but if you're anything like me you're always running just a little bit behind.  I finally put away my Christmas decorations and now the house is starting to feel bigger, cleaner, a little more back to normal.  I really do love to decorate for the holidays, but I also love to pack everything  back up and enjoy the fleeting feeling of a clean, minimalist house.  Which of course it isn't.  It just feels like that in comparison.

But back to the topic of calendars, I'm sure you all have items that you constantly keep a weather eye out for because it is simply impossible to find.  One of those items for me is an attractive tea towel calendar that I could hang in my kitchen.  I'd love to find one from 1935, the year my house was built, but those are so scarce as to be nonexistent.  Then I think to myself I'd like a calendar from 2006, the year we married; or 2008, the year we bought the house.  Then it finally occurs to me that maybe I should just be satisfied with getting a calendar for this year.  What a concept!

I soon discovered the website Spoonflower which sells a huge variety of tea towel calendars.  Below you'll see a picture of the tea towel I purchased from the site.  I'm thinking of hemming up the edges and inserting grommets in the top 2 corners or button holes so I can hang it on the wall with some colorful ribbon. 

And then it occurred to me that I could embroider a calender, like CuriousDoodles did for her Etsy shop. Although she used material that already had the year and calendar printed on the fabric and simply embroidered over the year at the top to add a dash of color.  The idea is clean and simple and I really like the finished effect; although I suspect there isn't much point in undertaking such a project at the almost-start of February.

So instead, I started poking around on Etsy and found Alicia Vance who purchased tea towel calendars from Spoonflower (mentioned above) for about $10 to $12 each, added a hem all around and added a dowel stick to hang it with and now charges $35 for her hard work and effort!  Way to go Alicia! 

Well, no matter how we keep track of the current year, I'm afraid it will go by much too quickly but I hope it's jam-packed with fun and creativity for us all!  Happy belated New Year!

Blogs blogs & more blogs!

So it's come to my attention that all five of you gals who read my blog (we're small, but interested) may actually want to read other blogs besides just mine.  I'll admit, I tend to be a self-centered kind of gal so it's taken me a while to realize that you all may be interested in what else there is to read in the crafting-world.  As a result, I have added a blog roll on the right side of my blog showing the blogs I subscribe to.  Enjoy your reading ladies!