When Company Comes

One of my long lost high school buddies came to visit over the weekend. It's been 7 years since our last visit. She said to me, "do you mind if I bring my dog, Max?" and I said, "no, not at all!" When she pulled up in her 1 ton flat bed diesel pick up and Max stuck his head out the back window I thought, "HOLY CRAP". Max is a 100 + pound Rottwieler. Everything IS bigger in Texas.
Our poor dog weighs in at 54 pounds. When he saw Max he got behind me (like I was going to be able to do anything about it). By the time Elizabeth and Max left on Monday morning, Loki and Max were best friends.
You learn so much about yourself when company comes.
You really realize how much you appreciate your own routine. My house is not fancy, and very lived in and loved. But I start feeling insecure about it. I notice the cobwebs or dust bunnies and the bare spots in the lawn. While my friend was talking I would find myself making mental to-do lists. I missed Celebrity Apprentice. I didn't make it to the Soroptimist club's community service day. I made 4 trips to the grocery store and washed the dishes twice a day. And I drank a lot of beer.
So my crafting projects were set aside for a few days. I did make it to Joann's to purchase binding for the baby quilt where my friend quizzed me about how I was going to sew it on. Now I'm not sure...and so I go in search of my quilting book to see if that is indeed how I should do it.
We are all resting now from our weekend. Loki is taking extra naps, and his wounds are scabbing over and healing. The cats have come in the house and while still jumpy, at least aren't glaring at me. In a couple of days we will all be back to normal and I will get that binding on that quilt one way or the other.

Small Town Living

It's pouring rain. So I think today is a perfect day to finish a few projects. The baby quilt - it's ready for binding. To purchase baby quilt binding I have to drive to Santa Rosa. Karl is insistant that the baby quilt have silky binding. So....I decide to do Mother's day cards. I need double stick tape. Off I go in the pouring rain to CVS. They don't have any double stick tape - they are out (of that and a lot of other things) so I run over to Rays - nope they don't sell double stick tape. Ace hardware - they used to carry double stick tape - but today there is none. I seek out the helpful hardware man (who happens to be my son) and he tells me "if this is going to be another incident like the shelf incident yesterday I don't really want to deal with you." Only because I felt like the shelf brackets I purchased there were defective and caused me to have a fit and drop the f bomb a half a dozen times while trying to explain to him what my problem was. He was insistent there would be double stick tape and really would have wanted to prove me wrong.
So I came home with a family size bag of doritos and no double stick tape.

If I owned a craft/fabric store I would be putting the binding on my baby quilt gift, and working at my large spacious and cheerful work station.......

I think I will go work on those first Saturday quilt blocks.

Crap room

I decided maybe I should explain the name - Crap Room quilts. My craft room is just a mud room converted. I enjoy my room. I have a chair, TV, and of course all of my craft supplies, sewing machine, fabric....you name it I have managed to find a place for it in the small corner of the world I call my own. The room has windows all along the walls, and I love to sit and listen to the rain hit the tin roof. It's my happy place.
My husband calls it "the crap room". The name has caught on.

Block of the Month

So my friend in Oregon convinced me to try a block of the month - First Saturday - with her. I will be doing this long distance. It's now April and I'm 2 blocks behind. Don't be surprised. The first quilt block was fairly easy and looks great. The second one gave me fits. I finally got it assembled, hung it up, took a picture of it, and then when I decided to show the picture to a co-worker I realized I had put 2 of the units in incorrectly. So I tore it apart and put it back together. Ha ha ha - I'm sitting in my chair admiring my work, and I pull out my envelope and look at the quilt and look at my squares and...yes....you got it - it's wrong! I had to pull it apart again and put it back together. I think it's right now. But I'm almost afraid to start the next block.



I'm not a real experienced quilter. Obviously. I don't even know if quilting is the hobby for me. I'm too impatient. I like to rush through things and get them done. I have, like most crafters, several projects going at once, and many unfinished or unstarted projects. I see a craft, think, "I can make that," and the next thing you know I have all the supplies for that one project (usually enough to make several of them) and by the time I get to them I wonder why I was ever interested. And usually I'm doing more than one thing at a time.



My partner and I have a booth at the local antique/shopping mall. We also participate in several craft fair events throughout the year. We started out with jewelry. I do have a full time job. I have to pay for my hobbies somehow. I find myself sitting at my desk, staring out the window and imagining creating full time. If only it would pay the bills.

Tea Cup Candles

Project of the moment - tea cup candles. I made a few of these for craft fairs, and have sold some in our space at the mall. Now I get requests. So I got out all the supplies and spent Friday evening pouring candles. As usual nothing goes without a hitch. I didn't like the appearance of 5 of the candles, so I popped them in the freezer and then popped the wax block out of the cup, and spent a good portion of the morning remelting and remoulding. Then I attached the saucer to the cup, and tied a ribbon around each one. the very first time I made these and tied a ribbon around them my daughter said to me that I should make sure customers know to remove the ribbon from the cup before they lite the candle. She was right. That will be the finishing touch on this batch of candles. I also had a couple of cups without saucers and was thinking perhaps I would go to the goodwill store to see if I could find a couple of saucers. Then it occured to me - I have an entire booth full of bowls, saucers, glasswhere, jewelry cards (you get the picture). A quick trip to the store and I had a few of my individual saucers to help finish up the project.
Maybe tomorrow I will finish the quilt blocks and work on the baby quilt I am making. Maybe.