Shorts and Stripes

My most favorite pair of shorts were whipped up a few years ago with leftovers from a quilt I made for one of my nieces. I decided I should do the same type of thing now with my patriotic leftovers so I have some really cool shorts to wear next month. Well, and the rest of this month, too!

I've heard noises in the house late at night a couple of times in the last week. I wondered if another uninvited visitor had discovered the clandestine entrance I had tried to block off... Even though it's not October, I did NOT go down into the basement to investigate.

Using my patriotic stash meant I had to go down into the basement to go through my stash. Please don't be any critters down there!!! I was pretty nervous at first. I found three boxes of crafts busted open and upside down on the basement floor. I visually inspected the roof and upper edges of the unfinished basement but saw no evidence of creatures having fallen through. Or living in the basement. (No droppings, chewed boxes, scratch marks, nests...)

This does hasten my cringing impulse to make absolutely certain nothing can ever again gain basement entrance without my permission, but I'm going to need the guys from church who are often asking what they can do to help to help! Still just a bit anxious, I inspected the overturned boxes and the surface where they'd been perched prior to being dislodged. Apparently, the box they'd been on top of had expanded/bulged over the years, and the split-sides boxes eventually just toppled. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

AI images for humor only; I have no pets

One of the overturned boxes contained a bunch of yarn left over from back in the day when I was bear-addicted. I plucked the turquoise yarn before sealing the box and returning it to its now flat and level resting place. I don't know what I'm going to make with the turquoise yarn yet, but I love the color and can't wait to use it.

After the other two boxes were checked, sealed and settled back on top of the adjusted and resettled larger box, I had to move six more heavy boxes to access the giant stash bin that holds all my pink stash and all my patriotic stash. (Really missing my Chief Box Mover!) Ten minutes later, I was replacing all the boxes and so excited to dive back into my patriotic stash. I have more ideas than just shorts, too! Plus, this is the first time I've been excited about sewing and designing since I lost my beloved Lizard. Eight weeks, if anyone is counting.

Cutting strips from my patriotic fabric stash made me miss Joanne's for the first time. I wasn't a regular customer, but I certainly visited when I needed one more color or one more theme fabric in a rush. They always had a pretty decent variety of various holiday fabrics. Thankfully, I had enough strips without any repeats, so I got by with what I have in my stash because I used black on sides of the right front panel I didn't have enough patriotic yardage to fill. Using what I have instead of buying more is always rewarding.

Even though my favorite shorts have lasted for years of wear and through multiple washings, I learned my lesson about clothing seams after my most recent handmade dress. I cut my patriotic jelly roll strips at three inches instead of two and a half to make sure my fabrics don't unravel upon first trip through the laundry routine. I topstitched, too, for an added measure of peekaboolessness.

Once I finished assembling the shorts, I wasn't sure I had elastic. I really didn't want to have to buy more. Initially, all I could find was several packages of quarter-inch elastic. Finally, beneath my fleece selvedges, which still need to be sewn together for a future project with a giant crochet hook, I found an entire unused package of 3/4-inch elastic. I finished the shorts in a day. I can't tell you how long it's been since I was able to finish much of anything in one day!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

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Butterfly Bows

My neighbors informed me last week their June 20th baby is being induced next week. I had planned to make a pink baby quilt with bow-inspired blocks to match the theme of their new baby's room. Given recent unexpected circumstances, I wasn't sure I could get a pieced quilt together on time. I was more than three months late with a quilt for their first baby last year. I didn't want to be late again. I did something I don't do a whole lot because I like for my fabric designs to be my designs. I used AI to create 42 butterfly bows, some with very heavy editing because AI still isn't as good as the real thing. I came up with a cheater panel I am pretty pleased with, given all that's been going on.

I also made some coloring book pages in AI with more butterfly bows, and these required heavy editing, too. Nevertheless, I think this will make an appropriate quilt back. The Spoonflower fabric likely won't be here until after the new baby arrives, but quilting should take only a day or two. And, it will be a one-of-a-kind gift. Maybe one day I can turn some of my real butterfly photographs into butterfly bows with my own artistic talents and Photoshop. Until then, I think this will do.

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If Only...

(affiliate links to my designs)

Back in the day, my motto was, "If you can't climb 'em, quilt 'em!" I guess now it's, "If you can't climb 'em, make a T-shirt."

These new POD (print on demand) toppers in my Etsy shop make me wish I was still climbing mountains. I would wear these!

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A Whole New Dress

My newest dress has been patiently waiting since September to come to life.

I grabbed a few minutes at the sewing machine every chance I got for the last three weeks.

And I finally finished!

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Funny Story

(affiliate links to my designs)

My pink cosmos are exploding, and it looks like I'm going to get at least another week and a half of beautiful flowers, if the ten-day forecast can be trusted. (Sometimes it can, every once in a while...)

I captured one photo a couple of weeks ago that made me yearn for a smiling flower face. I've done this before with sunflowers, but never with cosmos. I immediately set out shooting cosmos so I would have a wide variety of color

I literally was on my hands and knees and even on my back trying to get just the right angle. I was all over the ground. Four straight days. Every chance I got. I was addicted. I kept going out for more.

I looked for my little open arm spiders, too, because they are so cute.

What I didn't look for or even think to beware of was slithering residents. Last week, while watering my lavender, I discovered a miniature snake.

I carefreely ambled back in the house for my phone, then sauntered back out to snap a photo I could use to try to identify the species. It was just a baby, maybe nine inches long. It hadn't moved at all. I walked back inside to photo search my young guest/tenant. Was not expecting a danger noodle at all. It's been years since we've had nope ropes in our yard!

Just as I discovered I had trouble brewing in the backyard, I noticed my neighbors huddled over my driveway on the opposite side of my house. I stepped out the front door to greet them and noticed a coiled visitor also occupying valuable territory in front of my house. And drawing quite the crowd. Just about all the kids in the neighborhood had to try to get a closer look. (My neighbor carefully guarded the button-tailed visitor to keep young 'uns from getting too close.)

My neighbor was able to gently shovel both reptiles into an orange construction bucket before relocating the twins to a non-disclosed area where humans will not be on the menu. Upon his return, he warned me because, he said, rattler mamas don't typically have just two babies. He told me to be very careful in my backyard. Lots of places for creepy crawlies to hide. YIKES!

Needless to say, I haven't been in the backyard much since then. But that's okay because I have plenty of cosmos photos with which I can play.

One of the flowers had the most beautiful coloring. I couldn't resist creating a greeting card.

That gave me an idea for more Spoonflower fabric.

Which meant I had to create a new cheater panel, too.

I'm going to try to save the seeds from the bi-color flower. It's just so darned beautiful!

Eventually, I'll probably get back outside and shoot some more cosmos. But I'm not so sure I'll be rolling around on the ground anymore!

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Noro Days

(Can't you just hear Bruce singing Noro Days?!? Now it will be in your head, with modified words, all day!!!) More than a decade ago, probably closer to a decade and a half ago, I was on a sock yarn kick. I bought every clearance skein I could find. I knitted or crocheted socks for all my female friends for Christmas. I still to this day have bins of luscious yarn, sometimes in color combinations that don't really tickle my toes anymore. At one time, though, those hanks of crazy sock colors were like buried treasure every time I found a new sale.

Noro definitely was my favorite. I bought quite a bit (not sock yarn) in one colorway fully intending to knit a sweater that winter. I also have a bunch of gorgeous purple silk sock yarn which also was supposed to be a sweater. They go together so well, perhaps I can craft something using both stashes one day...

During sleepless nights, I sometimes dig through my sock yarn bins and work up little Etsy projects with that exquisite sock yarn – in sometimes unusual colors. I was kind of looking for a project I remembered starting but never finishing a long, long time ago. I can still remember how that yarn used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, I could make my crochet hook dance. And maybe I'd be happy for a while... (And now you'll have THAT song in your head, with modified words, all day long!)

I remembered designing this purse back in 2010 or so, and I would hunt for it whenever I had a few minutes of nothing else to do. I finally found it a few weeks ago, but not in the sock yarn stash. It was buried beneath a pile of beautiful black, satin-like vest lining leftovers. Along with a second purse I didn't even remember making!!!

Both were crafted with Noro highlights left over from projects I made back in my Noro days. Both needed to be lined, and both were stashed safely away for the day I could get around to hand-stitching a lining. That day has come. I cut linings for both this week, pinned the linings in place, then packed the unfinished bags in my neat little quilted crochet bag (formerly carried weekdays aboard the commuter train) so I can hand stitch the linings into place whenever I get a chance. I'm really hoping I'll be able to list them in my Etsy shop soon! Because they are so totally unique!

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Sunflowers Make Me Smile

(affiliate links to my designs)

I've been collecting sunflower photos in my garden this year because the photos are fun to collage when I can't sleep at night. (I did a sleep study last month, and I have an appointment with my primary care this week to review options, now that we know I have sleep apnea. Perhaps my sleepless nights might be soon coming to an end. Let's hope the photo creativity doesn't jump ship with the sleeplessness...)

Last week I noticed pairs of sunflowers that looked like eyes. So, of course, I had to play in Photoshop. But first, I had to get just the right eye shot. I got a few "on the vine", so to speak, but I didn't really have enough room in the photos to later compose a smile, especially given some of the backgrounds.

After a few fun Photoshop smile attempts, I decided to shoot a few more eye shots with better backgrounds. During the process, I accidentally broke two of my Ring of Fire snowflakes from their mother stem. As a result, I got to pose them in what I thought might be more photographic locations.

The nice thing about removing a sunflower from its stem is that other sunflowers likely will bloom from the multiple side buds below. Especially with the red and chocolate cherry sunflowers!!!

I'll probably keep trying to create more sunflower smiles as long as I still have sunflowers. And inspiration... But for now, I have a few new to share.

I needed extra reasons to smile last week, and I hope these sunflower smiles make you smile, too.

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