First Load Of Boxes Packed!

Were moving this summer. Across the state to the Spokane area. We really love the Idaho panhandle too. We'll be going to check out rentals within the next month. Anyways... My first major hurdle in packing is done and I'm feeling really good! Our laundry room has always been considered “The Pit Of Dispair” It's always been stuffed with large clear bins filled with extra fabrics and art supplies. Over the years it's also become the place to put all that stuff that we still wanted to keep but didn't know where to put. I wish I had taken a before photo. I started out slowly bringing out random things and re-boxing anything that we were keeping. It ended up that almost ½ of the stuff ended up in the goodwill, garage sale, and garbage piles. I really couldn't believe the amount of stuff that had piled up.

I'm following this woman’s packing method and absolutely loving it! If your moving and some of your stuff will end up in storage this is certainly the way to go. I won't have any trouble finding things when we unpack our home or when we search the storage area for something.

Here is a picture of the “Pit Of Dispair” area in the laundry room now. All nicely cleaned out with neatly labeled boxes with plenty of room for more boxes as I work on the other rooms.  Origionally this area was filled almost 3/4 of the way up that window and the shelves were stuffed.

And, here is our garage sale pile. It goes all the way back to the slider. And, with the garbage and the goodwill the pile was as tall as the table. I'm not sure where to put our garage sale stuff. Hubby is working on his car in the garage and there just isn't room... so this stuff may stay inside for quite a few weeks.

On another note, I'm feeling better today. I found some free maternity clothes on Craigslist from the nicest women ever. They are in the wash and I'm excited to try everything on. The pants will all be to big, but we all know I can alter them on the sewing machine!

Also, just check out my freezer. All those meals and readied ingredients just make me smile. Tonight, my hubby wasn't hungry due to a late lunch so it was “Every Man For Himself” night. Ali ate a bean burrito and Ray made Mac & Cheese for her and Cael. It was her first time making it alone and she smiled the whole time. She was so proud to sit down and eat it with her little brother!

What?! Baby #4?

 

Yep... you see my sidebar and the above photo right.  We are expecting baby #4 on December 1st. Our little one in the ultrasound above is 13 weeks 4 days along. 

This little one is a surprise for us.  We are still in a bit of shock even though we are feeling excited about him/her.  I mean really.... just look at that profile.  For my past 3 babies the first ultrasound was done between 6 and 8 weeks for dating purposes.  Those ultrasounds look mostly like a peanut.  This little one shocked me.  He/she is a fully formed little person about the size of a lemon all curled up.  Perfect spindly legs and arms.  Pearly spine, stomach, bladder, and that beautiful fluttering heart.

How am I feeling?  Well,  I'm tired, cranky, nausaus, weepy and feeling huge.  None of my regular pants fit.  So Saturday I pulled out some older pants from my closet and revamped them into maternity pants.  They are much more comfy, but I'm still in that "I feel huge, but you can't tell I'm pregnant" stage.  This little one is pushing out much much faster than any of my last 3 did.  My midwife says it's because my muscles are good and stretched out by now.... yeah.  Soon shirts will be a problem too.  As most of the ones I have still fit but don't cover the maternity band.  That's ok though... just more sewing fun to be had.

How are the kids and hubby?  Well, the kids were shocked but happy.  And, of course Cael won't really understand what's happening until baby arrives.  Hubby is doing good too although he is certainly craving a good meal.  I can't seam to pull myself into the kitchen to cook lately.  I sorta fixed that today though.  I did some good freezer meal cooking today while I felt good enough.  There are at least 12 meals in there to help out on those days when I just don't want to eat... which is pretty much every day.

I figured I would kinda track my pregnancy here.  So far I've had just the 1 appointment with my midwife.  All is well but she wasn't able to find the heartbeat.  So, she sent me off to get an ultrasound.  I wasn't surprised by this.  It wasn't until my 16th week or so that they were able to get Cael's heartbeat.  Anyways.... the ultrasound went fine.  The tech said "Did you know you have a tilted uterus?"   Yes, I knew.. but just kinda forgot about.  She told me that that was why the midwife couldn't find the heartbeat.

Weight: -10 lbs
Food Cravings... well all I want to eat is bagels and chocolate.

A House Full Of Fiber

I finally got some good acid dyes.  I've only ever used the basics... egg dyes, kool aid, etc.  I now have 10 colors of Jacquard Acid Dyes.  They are soooo amazing to work with.  I purchased about 5 lbs of fiber from the Sheep Shed and went to town dyeing.  The house smelled like wet dog/sheep for a few days, but in the end I got some lovely dyed fibers.  Some of which are for sale in my Etsy Store and some I've been busy spinning up.  Don't forget to use that code I posted a few days ago for a 10% discount!  ATU42

Here's what parts of my house looked like.... a soggy wet mess.  I can't wait for the weather to be good enough to hang thing outside to dry in the sun.

 I made some mini skeins and dyed them in the base colors that I have so I can have swatches.  I also mixed some colors and made samples for those too.  I ended up knitting those little samples up into squares for reference later.

Past 6 Months Of Knitting

I've done a ton of knitting over the past 6 months or so.  I did a lot for Christmas and some just because.  Click on the links under each project to be taken to my Ralvery page with more details.

First up is my darling daughter in her matching 3 piece set.  The little sweater was made with the Juliet pattern.  Super cute pattern and very fast and easy knit.  She'll be able to wear this one for a while.  The gloves are Constellation gloves that I altered to fit her and the hat is a Kittyville hat.  She loves all the pieces and has worn them a lot.  The gloves and hat were Christmas gifts.  Also... the yarn was found in a rummage sale by my mom.  $5.00 for 10 skeins of yarn!!!!  I still have 4 skeins left I think.

This beauty is called the Rainbow Casu Cowl.  I loved this pattern and the yarn was great to work with.  It knit up fast and is soft and squooshy!

 The Meret Beret was new to me.  I don't usually knit beret's.  Next time I'll knit the band on much smaller needles as it's a bit big.  I need to use some bobby pins to get it to stay on nice.  But, the yarn is soft and I've worn it a few times.

 Jane.... The man they call Jane.... Come on... you know you want to sing it out loud!  This little cutie was a Christmas gift to my Firefly loving sister in law.  She loved it.  Wanted to wear it as a hat... hehe.  I was actually planning on making it a hat, but I just didn't have enough yarn.  She loves tea so this is perfect for her.  I almost kept it for me I loved it so much!

 Fingerless gloves for my mom.  Finally!  She's wanted a pair forever, but I've never found the right yarn as she is alergic to wool.  When I saw this yarn, I knew it had to be gloves for her.  I made them long in the fingers so she can fold the cuff down or keep it up and tuck her fingers inside when it's really cold.  She got these as part of her Christmas gift and loved them.

Gradient Mitts knit up for my MIL's birthday.  It's my handspun.  I've been hoarding this yarn for years.  It's always been one of my favorites.  It was always destined to belong to my MIL, I just didn't know what to make until I saw this pattern.  These are photographed on my daughter... they fit my MIL much better.

Another gift for my mom this last Christmas were these Beachy Broadripple socks. I love love loved knitting these.  I'm going to be getting more of this yarn so I can make a pair for myself.  They are super cozy on the foot and the pattern is really pretty and easy.  She loved these too.

 

These Vanilla Latte socks were finished just this last month.  They flew off my needles.  I really love this yarn.  They were supposed to be for me, but they ended up being way to big.  They fit my hubby great, so they are his now.  These were my first toe up socks.  I love making socks this way and will be doing most of my sock knitting toe up from now on.  I got to use up all my yarn!

Spinning Adventures

I've been busy spinning the past few months.  Sewing has been on the back burner since Christmas.  I still have to post photos from the holidays.... maybe later this week.  After Christmas I received a jumbo fly wheel for my spinning wheel.  I can't believe what a difference it has made.  Those large bobbins can hold soooo much more fiber and I've had no problems with bulky and funky yarns.  I'm just loving it.  Below are some of my handspuns so far this year.  Some have already been knit up or are in the process of becoming something.  The rest are either sold or currently in my Etsy shop.  I'm offering a 10% discount to any of my readers in my shop.  Just use the code ATU42 when checking out!

Lovely Jelly Rolls

These are sooo inspiring.  More of my packages from the other week were these Jelly Rolls.  The two on the left I'll be taking my folks when I go next week.  I'm going to make a simple Jelly Roll quilt top while I'm there. (I'm hoping anyways....)  I'm not sure yet what to do with the other.  I was suposed to receive a charm pack of that line and instead I got the jelly roll.  I asked her if she wanted me to ship it back and she told me that if I could use it, then we could call it even.  Wow!!!  I'll have to pay that forward somehow.

On the left is Simply Color by V & Co. for Moda.  The top is the ombre co-ordinates to the prints in the bottom one.

The one on the right is Cuzco by Kate Spain for Moda.  It's a yummy collection.

Felt Food Tutorials

In 2007 I posted a thread on Crafster that caused quite a stir.  It led to quite a few felt food sales a few online interviews or mentions as well as Crafsters Best of 2008 in the Toys, Dolls And Playthings category.  It's been 4 years and I still receive requests for more tutorials and ideas.  With my son turning 2 this last August, I pulled out our felt food collection.  He immediately got started putting things together.  It's amazing how he just knew what to do with it all.  Now my head is buzzing with ideas for new items to make for him.  All that being said I have decided to finally add my short but sweet tutorials that I had posted on Crafster here.  I'm going to update this as I have time to be more detailed.  My ultimate goal is to put it all together in a PDF format for easy viewing and saving.  I will also be scanning my existing patterns and posting them as I have time. Well... on with it already!

For pictures and more ideas just click here.  I'm working on a good gallery, it's just not ready yet.

General directions and materials for all foods.

I used my machine for about 75% of all the sewing.  Detail stitching was done with embroidery floss.  I used polyester stuffing for rounder shapes and some thin quilt batting in things like, peanut butter & jelly blobs, bread (stacked a few layers) spaghetti sauce, pancakes, etc.

Templates and patterns: For the larger circles I use a mason jar lid, small plate, small bowls.... things like that.  And all non circled shapes were just free drawn into the desired shapes. Really it's all about just the general shape of something. Most things in natural are “organic” so really you can't go wrong. Just check out my pictures and you can get an idea of the shapes used for things. For round shapes I found some free fabric all templates and just used those. Or altered them slightly for other shapes.

Wool felt or acrylic felt? I use both. My local fabric store has a very limited collection of wool felts. I buy some only when they go on sale of if I have a coupon. Otherwise I just use cheapy acrylic felt. It comes in about 20 colors and a few times a year it goes on sale for $1.99 per yard. That's when I buy .5 – 1 yard of almost every color.
Basic Instructions For Some Items.

Bread: The bread is just two cream colored “bread” shapes. Rectangle about 5” long and rounded on the corners. Then I cut 1.5” stripes of light brown for the crust.  I then sewed down the strip on one side of the bread, then attached the other side leaving a space for turning. (I left about 4” open so I could lay in batting) I then layed in about 4 thin layers of batting to make them full and hand stitched the opening closed. Alternately you could use polyester stuffing or just add a few layers of felt and make your bread thinner.

Infinity Bread:  I've decided to keep this one a mystery for the time being. 

Meatballs & Hamburger Patti:  Two brown circles sewn together leaving an opening for turning and stuffing. Turn and stuffed to desired shape then sew opening closed.  I added some fabric paint to add detail.  (grill marks on patti and splotches on meatballs) You could also use embroidery floss for details if you wish.

Bacon:  Layer three free form cut pieces of felt into bacon shapes. (2 brown, 1 light brown)  Stitch “fat” blobs in center of bacon.  Cut out just the top layer of felt to reveal the light brown “fat” underneath. 

Eggs:  Cut two free form white egg shapes.  Cut one yellow circle.  Sew yolk to one white egg shape leaving a small opening to stuff. Add some stuffing and sew the opening closed.  Sew both egg whites together.

Bow Tie Noodles:  Cut 1” wide strips of felt. Using either pinking shears of regular scissors cut them down to 1” x 1.5” rectangles.  Then I gathered the centers and ran them through my sewing machine. If you want one continuous length of noodles, dont' cut the thread between sewing them. Sew one , then sew a few stitches without any fabric, then insert your next noodle and make one long string of noodles. This will save you so much mess! They will all stay together and still look awesome in a bowl.

Quesadilla: Three large circles (two cream one orange). Sandwich first the cream, then orange, than anther cream together. Sew all the way round.  Then using either your rotary cutter or scissors, cut the quesadilla into pie shapes like you would if cutting a pizza. Take each piece back to you sewing machine and stitch around the wedge. *Note that my kids used the quesadillas for pizza crusts. It worked great and makes one thing act like two!
Cucumbers were just two green circles and two smaller cream circles all sewn together and detail stitched.

Onion slices:  For these I cut out two large circles (maybe 5-6” round) and I cut the circles in half.  I then started sewing a kinda rainbow (kinda hard to describe) so that I could cut the pieces apart to make it look like a sliced onion.

Kiwis, Lemons & Limes, Cut one circle in appropriate color and fold in half. These have a bit of stuffing in them and were stitched closed.  I detail stitched where necessary.  The kiwis have an extra cream circle in the center and I added black seed beads as the seeds. For toddlers, feel free to makes the seeds with embroidery floss.

Apples & Oranges: These are made with two pieces.  The top “flesh” part  was a circle cut from a mason jar lid.  The rind was a pointed oval.  I used the machine to attach the pieces.  I won't do that next time as I think it distorted the shape.  I'll hand stitch them.  I used embroidery floss on the details in the center.

Strawberries: Cut out circles then cut the circles in half.  Machine stitched the flat side together to make a cone.  Stuff the insides with fabric scraps or any stuffing and gather up the top. I then used green yarn as the stem and attached it to a green square piece of felt.  Then I stitched freehand the green square to the gathered top.  After it was secure I cut off the access green felt into a wavy circle.  Then I stitched on the yellow seed beads. Again, you could use embroidery floss for the seeds for younger children.

Carrots:  For baby carrots cut two free form ovals (the more uneven the oval the better)  Sew ovals together leaving an opening.  Turn, stuff, hand stitch opening closed.  For whole carrots, cut a triangle and stitch up side.  Stuff and free stitch some green on top.

Flat Stuff Including:  Lunch Meat, Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Pickles, Bananas, Pepperoni, Pancakes, Butter, Tea Bags, Cookies, Chips, Sauces....
- For these I cut out 2 layers of felt in the correct shape of that food.  For most of these I just used a fancy stitch on my machine (you could also use a zig zag) and stitched the two layers together.  Some needed additional detail stitching inside the piece.  The tomatoes and pickles I sewed the two layers together (leaving a small opening) and then turned them right side out.  Then I top stitched and did the detail stitching.  The pancakes, butter, and tea bags have one layer of batting inside.  Sauces are layered pieces of felt free stitched together.

Needle felted items:

The grapes were needle felted into shape.  I then took a piece of hand spun yarn (any chunky yarn would do) and knotted up the yarn a bit then sewed the grapes onto the yarn.

The cherries were needle felted circles.  It then used brown embroidery floss that I pulled through the whole cherry and then knotted up the stem.

The fruit snacks were needle felted into oval shapes and I made them felt bags.  The wool I used I had dyed using kool aid.