In addition to crocheting, I have been honing my embroidery skills and the tablecloth pictured above is a beautiful inspiration. I have a couple of pillow projects in mind but I keep getting more new cases so I haven't been able to get these new projects going yet. But I have made some little bookmarks and the Valentine hearts too.
I have also been making crocheted cat toys. I make little packets of catnip out of cotton material and zip all of the edges with my serger. Then I make a little yarn pouch and tuck the catnip packet inside. I think the toys look like little ravioli. All of the cats that have gotten the catnip ravioli have really liked them. I think I've had 100% customer satisfaction. This video of Stella (SweetB's cat) would make a great promotional video if I ever decide to market these toys.
Last night I dreamed that I was all was all wound up in yarn and like a spider's prey, I couldn't move or extricate myself. I must have had the blankets wrapped around me. But another explanation may be that I crocheted until I fell asleep last night. Here are some photos of what I'm working on.
This is the body of this hat. I am trying to muddle through attaching the band now. I am having a little trouble with the Sc2tog to attach the band to the body. I'll get it done though. This hat was just going to be the practice hat anyway. There are all kinds of stitches and techniques in the pattern that I'd never used so it has been a great learning project. I am using some green wool yarn that I had left over from cashmere bunny tails - which were last Easter's gifts to the cousins, complete bunnies not just pom-pom tails.
I have also been crocheting lots of flowers. I thought I would eventually find something to attach them to, and they were a good way to learn a little bit about crocheting in the round.
I think I have found a project to use them on. I want to embroider some cute little motifs on some white curtains for Claire's room and I think these tie-backs might look nice in her room - in different colors of course. Claire is more of a pink and purple girl.
Last Saturday, after an impromptu Goodwill trip with Pat and Tammy, I dreamed about how to modify a wrap skirt that I had purchased. It was like the story of Kekulé's insight into the structure of the benzene ring - though obviously not as earth-shaking. I am always amused by the ideas that I have in the shower or while half-asleep. I often have great ideas about the cases that I'm working while I'm in the shower. I think it is because I'm relaxed and not distracted and my mind is just mulling everything over. These days I have quite a lot swirling around in my mind.
One last thing from the Goodwill trip, my thrift find of the week:
This vase was tucked way in the back on a bottom shelf on an end isle. I only paid $1.99 for the vase and there isn't a chip to be found and best of all the bottom is stamped "JAPAN". This vase is quite possibly the best thing I've found in a year. Inventory has been really sparse at the thrift stores since the economy took a nosedive. People are either looking for a deal or looking for something to sell on e-bay. One thing is certain for me, this vase will find a place of honor in the new house and never be an item on e-bay.
I have been stitching up felt valentines to take to Claire's Valentine's Day party on Friday. I think I'll try to get a few more made so there will be extras for siblings or moms/grandmas. I'm trying to get in a little embroidery practice before I tackle my first embroidered pillow top project. I purchased some linen on Monday from Canvas Works so now all I need to do is transfer the pattern and I'll be able to get stitching.
I have never thought that I was one of those women that (a) had to have a handbag to match every out fit in my closet or (b) carried around a 10-gallon handbag. Yet, despite (or is it in spite? ) of these ideas about myself I have been on a many-years long quest for the perfect handbag. I don't know whether such a thing exists though.
My current purse is by an Olympia designer whose label is called Tenderroni. Scott bought one of her purses for me as a Christmas gift in '08 up at the Olympia Farmer's Market. If you can't get to the Market you can purchase well-made vinyl accessories at Tenderroni's Etsy shop. Here is a photo of my purse and my matching coin purse too.
This winter, these accessories have been perfect, come spring I'll need to find something breezier. Like zakka, I think accessories need to change with the seasons.
I must be hard up for material if I'm typing about sprouts again. Just a couple of notes. Yes, one tablespoon of seeds per tray is too many. Yes, radish sprouts are spicy and your preschooler may not like them. Yes, it is definitely worth the effort to grow your own sprouts instead of eating commercially grown sprouts that are grown using fecal-contaminated water (yuck).
Now, some notes on a topic that is not related to sprouts but does follow the thread of do-it-better yourself - homemade bread. I purchased the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and I have been baking loaves of plain and also parmesan & sun-dried tomato bread and we have been loving it. This really beats the loaves of crusty bread that Costco sells and we can have this bread every day of the week, all it takes is a little bit of mixing and some dough resting time and presto - bread for slathering, dipping and dunking.
dough and improvised pizza peel
here is the dough resting
bread carnage - what remained of the loaf, sorry I forgot to photograph it before we cut it up and horked it down
I had thought about starting a weekly post where I would share a photo of the week's splurge or fantastic thrift store find, but then I realized just how spoiled I am and that it would be too embarrassing to have to admit to how many times I treat myself during the week. I am trying very hard to curb my discretionary spending. I may have to put myself on an allowance or start giving myself a real paycheck from my business account. Anyway, enough about how I am single-handedly stimulating our local economy. Here is what I really wanted to talk about - or show you.
I had a request from Deb, of Debz Talkin' (see the sprout post a few weeks back) for a photo of the quilt that Scott's grandmother made for us. Here it is... (pardon my terrible photography skills)
I had always known that this was such an incredible undertaking (it is hand-quilted, not machine quilted) but it wasn't until I started reading about the how-to's of quilting that I truly appreciated what a treasure this textile is. It is such a treasure to us that we don't use it. Now isn't that a shame? And I am sure that this is not what Grandma intended, but how do you think we feel when the cats make it their cozy spot or heaven forbid one of them throws up on it. Well anyway, it will be really nice to have a quilt rack for displaying this treasure.
While I had the camera out, I took a photo of the quilt that Grandma made for Claire when she was born and here it is...
This was the perfect quilt pattern for Claire since we have four cats and so does her little quilt. And here is our little pumpkin back when we received the quilt from Grandma. It is incredible to think that she is four years old now. How was it that she was ever this small and this cute?
And here is a quilt that I found at Goodwill a few weeks ago. When I washed it all of the batting clumped up so I need to undo the ties, put a new layer of batting in there and I think I'll redo the binding while I'm at it. The way the quilt is constructed, the back of the quilt is folded around the sides to create a make-shift binding. I have a hunch that the quilt has been damaged or cut down for some other reason. Some of the star blocks are cut in half at the binding and there isn't a border just a truncation of the stars. I like the quilt anyway. For a thrifted textile it has a lot of character. There are some interesting fabrics and I like to imagine the quilter sitting late at night piecing the top together, trying to unwind from a long day of taking care of her family. I think I'll use the quilt on the daybed in my sewing room in the new house. It is such a cheery quilt it is sure to perk the room up and help to inspire me.
My last entry on The Serge Protector was posted on Claire's birthday. I can't believe how fast time seems to pass. I know that every day has 24 hours but some days feel like they only have about 12. If you ask me what we have been up to I wouldn't be able to tell you a single thing, well, except for visiting the doctor. In the last two weeks, I have taken Claire to the doctor a whopping five times. She has been one sick kitty with a sinus infection, bronchitis and a double ear infection, all of which has been complicated by her asthma. Of course, Claire doesn't tend to keep her germs to herself; so now, just as she is getting her energy back, I am totally sick. Occupational hazard is all I can say.
With my get-up-and-go completely gone, I have been sitting around trying to teach myself how to crochet. It is going fairly well. I have also been doing a fair amount of embroidery. I am getting some practice in before I tackle some larger projects - throw pillows for the new sectional and also some new pillows to spruce up the old sofa. I made some little felt valentines for Claire's preschool class and the teachers and I have been making embroidered felt bookmarks too.
I must be feeling a little better though. I am up later than 9:00 and I am back at the computer. I uploaded photos of the house. You can see the slide show on the right-hand side of the page here. I really like the photo of Claire in the bath. I can hardly wait to see her in the new house and out in the back yard. We will be moving just in time for spring and we will finally have a place for her to enjoy the outdoors anytime she wants.
Well, here we go again. Another winter and another flood. Claire and I went out for a little while today to see just where we could get to and how bad the flooding was this time around. This winter, compared to the flooding in December 2007, the water seems to have come in more slowly (last time a dike broke and the water just rushed into Chehalis) and people appear to have taken the warnings to heart and gotten out while they could. I think that the situation is infuriating. You don't hear people asking why or demanding solutions. And that is exactly what I want for this community - answers and solutions. I can't imagine how communities here in Lewis County can keep rebuilding and finding ways to survive these yearly floods. We are once again cut off from the remainder of the I-5 corridor by freeway closures to the north and to the south of us.
Of course, there are businesses that may be benefiting from the isolation. The Safeway parking lot has been packed for two days - with the closure of Fullers it is the only grocery store accessible during flooding. Claire and I ate lunch at the Chehalis Deli today and we certainly weren't alone. I think all of the likewise flood-gawkers had detoured there to get a warm sandwich and a cup of soup. The Deli was packed and every table was occupied by people talking about the flooding. It is a sad source of conversation, especially in these dismal economic times.
Claire and I made a few terrariums just before Christmas. We made one for each of her teachers and a couple for us too. I think they looked really nice and I want to make some more as soon as I can find more appropriate glass containers at Goodwill. Here are a couple of photos of our work in progress and also the finished product.
Here's Claire doing the decorative work. She was in charge of putting down the layers of rock and charcoal at the bottom of the container and she also put the decorative rocks around the plants. I put down a painters plastic drop cloth in the kitchen and we made a big mess which was easily carried right outside when we were finished.
Here are the finished products:
The two on the right were given away and the other two are growing quite well in our house. I want to make a few more terrariums before we move. I think that the terrariums may be a good way for us to bring some green into our lives in a way that is compatible with four cats. The glass Ball jar has a small conifer and moss in it that I dug up in the backyard. The other three containers were planted using miniature tropical plants from my favorite local garden store.
I don't really know why I woke up thinking about sprouts this morning. This is a bad week to start this experiment as I may have to travel to Idaho at the end of the week but I think Scott and Claire can probably remember to rinse sprouts while I'm gone. I picked up a bag of seeds last week at the grocery so I've been itching to get the sprouter out. The seeds are certified organic (seems like a good idea) and are a mix of alfalfa, radish and broccoli.
Years and years ago, when I was a vegetarian, I purchased the Northrup King Kitchen Crop Sprouter. Strangely, I found the receipt in the box. The Sprouter was purchased in 1999 at a hardware store. It hasn't been used in a while. I'm so glad I hadn't sold it at a garage sale or taken it to Goodwill. I just hate it when I get rid of stuff and then need it later. That is true pack-rat mentality peeking through. No wonder I usually keep things long after their usefulness fades. You never know when you'll want to grow alfalfa sprouts again.
So anyway, it has been so long since I've used the Sprouter I can not locate the directions. So I searched the web. I found a neat photo and some interesting links here and also a nice blog post about the Kitchen Crop Sprouter (see link below) where you can see some photos. I was hoping to find more instruction on using the Sprouter, but I guess I'll just wing it.
The seed photo mentioned above reminded me of my thrift find for the month of December. 
It's a cloth bird feed bag. The logo isn't printed squarely on the bag so I've been thinking about ripping the seams, cutting the bag down and using this image as the front panel of a grocery tote bag. I have found that four canvas shopping bags are not sufficient. I end up storing merchandise returns or library books or mittens and hats in them and before I know it I've only got one or two in the car ready for carrying groceries. Maybe next week I'll whip this bag up.
