Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Adventures in sewing: Shirt, birds, machine cover, scarf

Here are some projects that occurred during the parental invasion...

I turned a dress into a shirt. It was a t-shirt dress that used to go down to my knees. I wore it to the Kentucky Derby with a big hat that had a big purple flower and big purple feather on it (homemade of course). And it was cold and poured down rain, so I was also wearing spandex leggings and polka dot rain boots. What. A. Sight. But I'll get much more use out of this shirt now.



I started my bird creations. I only finished one and I have about nine more to go (or less if I decide I don't need that many). I have an idea of what I'm going to do with them when I'm done, but that could change at any moment. I only had one accident while figuring out how to sew these things...I sewed the head shut, but I knew I did it as soon as it happened! Sewing things you're going to stuff is slightly different from sewing flat pieces of material. I think I have the hang of it now, at least a little bit.





The sewing machine cover turned out better than I expected. My mom and I went shopping and bought half a yard of upholstery fabric. I knew there was going to be trouble when I started taking measurements and estimating the fabric. Mother dearest kept saying, "Just cut it! Don't worry about it! Just cut it!". Uh, no, sorry, that's not how I operate. I'm my father's daughter when it comes to that. Measure, measure, measure and measure again, then cut. If I would have "just cut" like she insisted we would have had to buy more fabric and the world may have come to an end. I wanted to line up the print, but I knew we wouldn't have enough fabric if we cut it that way. Thus, the print is not straight and does not match, but I think it turned out just fine and we didn't have to go back to the store.








And see the "chair" in the picture above? It's a storage ottoman that I bought at Meijer and pops and I put some casters on it to make it like my mom's sewing chair. My little sewing station is coming together!!!!!



Here's my collection of sewing books. I did lots of research and narrowed it down to these three.


I also made a no-sew scarf from an old tank top. I found the tutorial on Shwin & Shwin. It's super simple, super cute and super quick. (Pardon my t-shirt, I was in a hurry to take the picture before I forgot.) I'm not too keen on the pink, but it's the only thing I could find since I was in a hurry to make it because I was so excited.



I think Lizzy looks even better in the scarf!

The pups: Lizzy, Benji, Tracey

Here are some pictures of the pups from The Parental Invasion. I, of course, took no pictures of my family, just the dogs. Go figure.


Lizzy awaiting their arrival (and enjoying a nice fall breeze)


Benji lounging


More lounging


Seriously?


Tracey doing what she does best


Lizzy reclaiming her spot


Lizzy watching to make sure I put all of her toys in the correct spot

Normal people are overrated

From Live-Inspired.com:

"Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting."

I couldn't agree more.


A little bit of sunshine

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Life, passion and good thoughts

 From Sometimes Sweet:





From The Daily Love:

"Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. To stay with that shakiness - to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge - that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic - this is the spiritual path." - Pema Chodron, Buddhist nun and author

"If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths. Our limitations and joys begin in our hearts. We can always replace negative with positive." - Betty Eadie, author

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want." - Margaret Young, singer

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Art of Non-Conformity

I stumbled across this during one of my many link-to-link-to-link adventures. I believe I started on Amazon and read a review that led me to The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. I haven't done much reading about it on the site or in the downloadable document, but it peaked my interest because he says the first thing you should know is this:

You don't have to live your life the way other people expect you too.

He talks about ruling the world, which is not in my five-year plan (Ha...Who am I kidding? I don't have a five-year plan. I take that back, my five-year plan is to figure out what I want to do with my life, but I guess that's more like a lifetime plan...at least for me.), but he also talks about being successful doing something you enjoy AND helping others. I'm a big proponent of helping others.

This has the potential to be a very inspirational read. I'm kind of excited about it! And if it totally fails my expectations, no big deal, that one quote was worth it.

(The parental unit is here for an extra-long weekend. I won't expose you to the details.)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Littering punks

I can’t stand it when people litter.

Today, on the way back from a wonderful Turkish lunch with Jennifer, we witnessed inhumanity. OK, that might be a little too intense of a description, but basically we saw two punks littering.

We were stopped at a crowded crosswalk and were standing behind two punks who had probably just left CVS after an exciting shopping trip for cigs and whatnot. They were playing around with their goods and taking them out of packages, then suddenly the acute hearing of Jennifer and myself (and everyone else standing there) was alerted to something falling to the ground at the feet of the punks. Clearly they’re going to pick this up, right? It’s not like it was something small that they can say they didn’t notice. Nope, they didn’t pick it up – shocking. So when the light turned green they started to walk away. Here’s when it got interesting…

Punk 1: (Litters)

Light changes.

Punks: (Starts to cross the street.)

Man in suit to punk 1: You dropped something.

Punk 1: Oh yeah, I don’t need it.

Man in suit to punk 1: You should pick it up anyway.

Punk 1: (Picks up litter and continues across the street.)

Jennifer and Tiffany: (Cheering internally!)

Punk 1: (Drops litter AGAIN…two feet away from the curb WHERE THERE’S A TRASH CAN)

Jennifer and Tiffany: (Stopping stunned in the middle of the street, mentally saying OH NO YOU DIDN’T!)

Jennifer: (Stops a cab turning onto the street and picks up the litter – it’s important to note that she doesn’t like germs so she’s venturing out of her comfort zone for the good of the planet!)

Tiffany to punk 1: You dropped it AGAIN (mentally: you donkey!)!

Jennifer to collective punks: Do you need this?

Punk 2: Oh…uh…no… (while punk 1 pretends like he can’t hear)

Jennifer: (Throws litter in the trash can.)

IN YOUR FACE LITTERING PUNKS! You got called out in front of a group of people the first time you did it, then to be “cool,” you decided to do it again. Not smart. We’ll call you out on it again and again. Good luck picking up the ladies when you’re getting called out about not being able to put your trash in the proper receptacle. It makes your look like an awesome catch.

I’m so proud of the fact that someone, aside from Jennifer and myself, stepped up and said something to the punks. There's hope!!!!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Flea party

I've really had enough of the parasites on my pup. Seriously. I'm OCD clean and I make sure she's up-to-date on all of her medication, yet my dog is the one that the parasites are drawn to. Enough already!

Last weekend Lizzy had been sleeping in bed with me and I went to brush her hair off the sheet she lays on. Before I did that, I noticed little specks of dirt. Any normal person would brush them off and go on their way. Not me. I got out the lint roller and rolled up the "dirt" and analyzed it. It looked like tiny dead black worms. Gross. So I did what anyone would do, I Googled. Turns out it was flea poop. WHAT?!?! Lizzy is on monthly medication fro fleas and ticks. I never take her off if it because I've dealt with fleas before and it's not pleasant (and I don't need to rehash my earlier tick story). Did I mention that all of this was happening around midnight? It was a good time.

So what do I do? I decide to wait until morning to deal with it. I woke up on Sunday morning and ran the flea comb through Lizzy and found a flea on her stomach. One flea, at least it's not an infestation (yet). Then I washed and vacuumed everything she touches and crossed my fingers and hoped that it was just a fluke.

Ha. Yeah right. I got up this morning and she was scratching like crazy. I lifted up her tail and found one on the bottom of it. Ahhh! Now I'm getting concerned. I decided to give it a few more days before I call the vet and ask them why I'm paying $130 a year for something that doesn't work...and, of course, what I should do now.

I've been watching her all night to see if she scratches. I saw her do it once, but nothing like she was doing this morning. Now my brain is in overdrive (as if it isn't always like that): If she does scratch is it another flea? Or the old flea bites that haven't healed? Is the medication going to work at all? If it doesn't work, the flea eggs could hatch, right? Are there flea eggs in my carpet and spread around my house? Do I need to flea bomb the apartment? My parents are coming this weekend with their dogs, are they going to bring more parasites to join the flea party?

MAKE. IT. STOP.

Monday, September 13, 2010

The best tattoo ever

From Kyla Roma:



Seriously. I love this tattoo. I want one (or many). Not one that says "smile" - but something clever like that. I've been thinking about it for a while. I don't think I'm necessarily scared to get one, but I think I have a fear that I will love it and won't be able to stop getting them. Yeah, that's a good possibility. I've been considering the same one since college and I already have a second idea floating around in my head. This could be trouble...in the ultra-fantastic sense. ;)

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Adventures in sewing: Cloth napkins

My first sewing project was a success! I made a set of eight cloth napkins. They turned out great! They are perfectly imperfect and I'm ecstatic.


Sewing requires way more ironing than I was anticipating, but I'm starting to get used to it...even though I try to avoid ironing like the plague. Fold the hem...iron...fold the hem again...iron...unfold the hem...iron...fold the corner...iron...refold the hem...iron. I, of course, amended the ironing instructions to make them more efficient. :)

I cut the fabric into squares and decided that as long as they all looked similar in size I wasn't going to stress out about accuracy.


I did the folding and the ironing, then the sewing with one of the fun stitches on my machine. I don't know if the fun stitches should be used for holding things together, but I guess we'll find out. I decided to use contrasting thread to make the napkins a little more interesting.  My corner stitches weren't perfect, but most of them weren't terrible. I found two different ways for stitching corners and tested them both (I considered mitering the corners, but that requires precision and that's not high on my priority list at the moment).

Stitching to the corner, then pivoting with the needle in the material (I discovered this is my preferred method):


Stitching straight off the edge of the fabric (not a fan of this technique, but I'm sure I probably did it wrong):


My very first napkin:


Some of my good looking corners:



The napkins aren't perfect...not all the stitches are smooth, the lines aren't straight, they aren't exact measurements, some of the corners look really weird...but I'm proud of them! And the spool of thread was almost the exact amount that I needed. As soon as I finished the last napkin I looked at the spool and the bobbin and there were only a couple inches of thread left on each of them. It's a sign. I was meant to make cloth napkins. Ha.

Lizzy's typical location...napping on the back of the couch while I was sewing:


And the Buckeyes won today!!! O-H-I-O!!!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Modern rosette wreath

I couldn’t write about this as soon as I made it (it was a gift), but I intended to post about it sooner. I made a wreath – yes, a wreath – a month or so ago as a housewarming gift for my ultra-fantastic friend, Jessica. I’m not really into wreaths since they remind me of my mom’s decorating tactics, but this wreath has a modern twist and it turned out great. I’m very proud of this little project.

I read about it on The Pretty Poppy. It’s very simple, yet very crisp and elegant.


(It would pop on a contrasting background, but I have limited contrasts in my very-eggshell-white apartment.)

The rosettes took WAY more time than I was planning on devoting to them, but I have extras left over and, of course, some crazy ideas whirling around in my head about what to do with them. Hopefully I’ll get around to this sooner rather than later, since I’ve recently discovered how important it is that I take the time to do projects like this – it vastly improves my well being.

Here are the basic supplies.


And miraculously, the felt turned into rosettes.


And more rosettes.


They were easy to make. Just trace a CD on a piece of felt, cut it out, then cut it into a spiral. To add some variety, cut the spirals in different sizes or, after you cut a full spiral, cut it in half. This will help you get tall, short, large and small rosettes. But keep in mind that it takes the good part of an afternoon/evening to cut everything out. I watched a lot of mindless TV during the creation of the rosettes (cough, cough…Jersey Shore).



My mother already requested one. Maybe for Christmas. I want to make some rosette artwork for myself!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Changes and dreams

From my coworker:



Turning point

From The Daily Love:

"I found that every single successful person I've ever spoken to had a turning point and the turning point was where they made a clear, specific, unequivocal decision that they were not going to live like this anymore. Some people make that decision at 15 and some people make it at 50 and most never make it at all." - Brian Tracy

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Success and things to think about

This isn't entirely my cup of tea, but I thought some of it was pretty accurate (at least for me). I highlighted what I liked best.

Top 10 Reasons for Entrepreneurial Success (from Jay Glotz and NYTimes.com):

1. Look for opportunities to do something better than just about everyone else.
2. Accept risk as a necessary evil. It makes for much less competition.
3. Act responsibly to customers, employees and vendors.
4. Goals aren’t enough. You need a plan. You need to execute the plan.
5. You need to fix the plan as you go. Learn from your mistakes. Most people don’t.
6. Do not reinvent the wheel. Learn from others — join a business group.
7. Make sure the math works. I know plenty of people who work hard and follow their passion but the math doesn’t work. If the math doesn’t work, neither does the business.
8. Make sure that every employee understands and works toward the mission.
9. There are going to be difficult times and you need to be resilient; whining is a waste of time.
10. There will be sacrifices. Work to find a balance so that you don’t become a financially successful loser. It’s not about the income, it’s about the outcome.

Change

“You’re allowed to change, and you’re allowed to enjoy who you’re becoming.” - A friend of Elena Brower, CrazySexyLife.com

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

One of those days

When my alarm went off this morning I hit snooze and rolled over. At that point I realized my throat was killing me and I could hardly talk. Shortly after that the pup was in my face. It's important to note that she knows better than to wake me up, so her sticking her nose in my face was a little out of the ordinary. Then I realized it was awfully light outside. Uh oh. I looked at the clock again. Hmmm. It says it's around 6 a.m. I peeled myself out of bed and wandered into the kitchen. The time on the microwave and stove were flashing. Great. It was really around 7:15 a.m. So I'm sick and late to work, eh, not good, but I can deal with it. Then I'm parked on the highway around 8:15 a.m. PARKED. People, it's 8:15 a.m., aren't you all supposed to be at work? Needless to say, I didn't get to work until around 9 a.m. But I made it! I decided to make myself some tea. And it just got worse from there. I opened the drawer and pulled out a jacket I always keep in there and a bag of different teas. That's when I realized almost everything in my drawer had honey on it (the honey for my tea had leaked). So I cleaned it up only to find honey all over my pants. AWESOME. Should. Have. Stayed. In. Bed. My coworker, Jen, kindly got me some tea while I was busy cleaning. Then I had a conference call at 9:30 a.m. I tried to dial in and realized that my headset wasn't working and, oh, my phone didn't have a dial tone. AHH. One of those days.

But on the plus side, I had a gift certificate for Gap that I purchased on Groupon (if you don't know what this is, I highly recommend that you educate yourself immediately) and went shopping on my lunch hour. I found a cozy sweater and a cute blue top with button details on the shoulders.

I just got done making tabbouleh, answering e-mails and switching around my volunteer shift this weekend so I can watch the Buckeyes!!!! All-in-all the day got better, but it was touch-and-go for the first few hours.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Adventures in sewing - reverse button showdown

I dismantled the sewing machine and showed the reverse button what's up!


Actually I researched the problem in a couple sewing forums and it sounded like the non-functioning reverse button could potentially be an easy problem to fix. They said to take off the bottom of the machine and you'd probably be able to see the problem. Well, that didn't work for me since the bottom of my machine doesn't seem to come off easily...I tried, believe me. My last hope was to take the side off.


It worked! With some poking, prodding, pulling, nudging, jiggling and a little drop of oil, I managed to bring the reverse button back to life. SUCCESS!

Now I feel like I'm ready (almost) to dive in and start the napkins.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Adventures in sewing - threading the machine

Pictures to help me remember what I'm supposed to do (with some old test thread I found in a Handy Stitch I never used). I'm sure it gets easier with time, but there are lots of things to hook and wrap and pull...