WIP Fabric Wreath

In an attempt to spend a little time each day on something other than my shops, I've started a little Christmas project. This is different from the knitted Santa I haven't started yet, and the socks I'm supposed to be making in class and the place mats I bought fabric for this weekend. Yeah, this is another project I'm starting, haha.

I actually bought this fabric to make place mats last year and never got to it. Whoops! I got the wire wreath at Michael's for about $2.50. I think you're supposed to use thinner strips of fabric, but these worked fine for me. Just a bit harder to tie (and more expensive).

I've got about half of the wreath finished now...

What do you think? I like it and I hope I can actually finish it. Right now I have to hand sew zippers onto four monkeys heads.

Thankful

Today I'm thankful my new oven arrived in time for Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful that Julie sent me this book for my birthday so I could give my oven a test drive.

Naturally, I went with the Maple Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream.

The first thing I ever cooked in my oven!

I think Nick's coworkers were thankful he went to work yesterday.

Mmmmmm, cupcakes. So many things to be thankful for, have a safe and happy turkey day!

Over the Weekend

This weekend I headed south to the Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival in Puyallup (Nick even went with me!!). It's not the biggest show on earth, but it was a nice diversion and I did pick up a few bits of fabric. Are you surprised? haha That Japanese one on the bottom has already been turned into my new knitting bag.

Do you like it? I was way overcharged for the fabric so I thought I'd better make something for myself for a change. I made the handles extra long so I can wear it with a coat when I walk to my knitting class.

I also got this cool Washington Oregon tea towel. I think I'll stitch some borders on and quilt it. This will look nice in our family room area downstairs.

I also picked up some of what I call "filler fabric". These will be great for coupon organizers. The top one has already been cut to be an organizer.

And here's the update on my socks:

I've gotten to the heel flap now. There's a "design element at the bottom of the flap, but who's gonna know?

Now I'm off to paint the kitchen!! Yes, it's moving along nice and quick. The oven will be delivered tomorrow. All but one cabinet is built. There is a Thanksgiving!

This is how it looks right now. No soffits, no doorway...excellent!

I hope you aren't shocked by the colors we chose. Let's just say, "cheerful".
Here's a clue.

Soapy Love

This past weekend I got a chance to meet Kathy aka Lizzie Jane and her daughter Layla aka Layla! It's always fun to meet a fellow blogger/Etsy seller or two.

It just so happens that I've been searching for a new soap maker, so seeing these girls in person was a great opportunity to do some smell testing.

Needless to say, Nick and I found a few soaps we couldn't live without. They are so pretty and smell divine!

This one's my favorite. I love the buttons (of course) and the "monkey business" scent is so yummy. They have a pumpkin lavender soap too, *sigh.

Stop by & say hi to Kathy and Layla some time.

A Little Knitting

I wanted to share my progress from the sock knitting class Monday night. (How lucky am I that I can walk to a yarn shop?)

 

I haven't done much, but I'm happy with what I've got. The yarn is so pretty! These socks are knit on two circular needles from the cuff down. I have about 7 more inches to knit by Monday, yikes!

 

This is my next knitting project. I'd love to knit my way through this gorgeous book. Then I can move on to this one, then this one. The projects in itty-bitty toys are just too cute. I want to make everything in this book. And yes, there is a monkey in there!

I'm going to start with this adorable Santa. I have to get those socks done first. I wonder if I'll get him done by Christmas, hmmm.

The Coupon Organizer Pattern Saga

I don't like to just go on & on about things I put in my shops, but I'm just too excited about this one not to mention it.

Yes, I finally got the sewing pattern written for my coupon organizers, HOORAY!! I do spend a lot of time writing and designing my patterns, but geez, this one was months in the making. 

I swear all I make these days is coupon organizers, but they're pretty fun. I think my favorite part of sewing is putting fabric combinations together, these coupon organizers are great for that.

See what I mean? Look at those crazy colors. What's your favorite thing about crafting?

Of course, I'm still knee deep in monkeys and owls. I've got some new Christmas monkeys in the shop this year.

How do you like the Grinch? haha, it's fun to do a grouchy face now & again.

I think I've sufficiently advertised myself in this post to last at least until the end of the year. :) Thanks for listening. I start sock knitting class tonight, wish me luck!!

There's a Tent in My Kitchen

We're finally getting started on the long and slow process of remodeling "the vanilla kitchen", YAY! Unfortunately, mold is the reason we're moving forward with phase 1. Yep, too bad the home inspector missed that one. Anyway, I'm glad to get it all started.

 I get to have this tent for a couple days while things dry out. Then we'll be removing soffits and patching up the walls.

 

The first thing we'll tackle (once the mold is dealt with) is this wall. Major changes are coming my way, and a new double oven!!

To help maintain my sanity through the kitchen drama (and Christmas with two Etsy shops), I'm knitting a scarf from this pattern. Maybe I'll even finish it, haha.

It's a super easy pattern and I love the look of the stitches. I'm using pretty inexpensive yarn that I picked up at JoAnn for this scarf. I'm not ready for the good stuff yet, but next week I start a sock knitting class. That's going to be so fun and I can walk to the wool shop where I'm taking the class. I'll keep you posted on my sock progress.

To celebrate my knitting, I took a quiz to see which ewe I am. Here's my result!

A Perendale!! I knew it. If you want to know which ewe you are, here's the quiz. It's only a few questions.