This Isn't Going So Well

Many thanks for the kind comments on the Flea Market Sampler. And for sending me the links to the craptastic crafts. I'm glad those crafty tree huggers are going to save pantyhose from the dump. Someone's got to.

I'm going to have to get the Irish Potato recipe from Cathy because I would like to believe that she and LadyDoc are right about the local delicacy. We'll have to see what Ange thinks. ;)

This is what I set out to do this month. This very short month where I spent much time cleaning the house and uh, applying for jobs, that's right. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

1. Flea Market Souvenir SAL--finished section two
2. work on mermaid SAL over each weekend--see below
3. one Saturday, work on French marquoir--didn't do it
   
4. SBBC gift...ooooh could the lucky birthday girl (or boy) be you?--worked on it, and I have plenty of time
   
5. 10 hours on something from the WIP--yes, I worked on my Monthly Manias
   
6. Finish-finish one project from the to-be-finished pile--I am (still) finishing a few gifts I owe
   
7. Make Sissy's messenger bag--done!
8. Finish DD's RR and send to bestpal--not a stitch
9. Make an anniversary giveaway--yes, and it was won by Ange

So, yeah the mermaid. The situation is worse than originally diagnosed:

You'll notice that we've lost some body:

I'm going to make her a focus project for March. My mother better love this thing more than she loves me.

Winner

And the winner is....

Ange!

In addition, because I think of the celtic knot as my little St. Patrick's day draw, Ange will also receive the bizzaro Philadelphia treat, Irish Potatoes:

They are neither Irish nor potatoes. And they look like dirt! But they're a "Philadelphia tradition for over 100 years." If you want to know more, go here. I am a full service website.

(Ange, please send your snail mail--my e-mail is in my profile. Thanks!)

A Finish and Some Addition

I finished the middle section of Flea Market Souvenir! Now I think I must turn my full attention to the mermaid. I've neglected her for far too long--and my mother's birthday is creeping up on me.

Don't forget, I am drawing the winner of the Celtic knot tomorrow! Today when I was at the grocery store I saw the perfect accompaniment for the pin cushion. It's a specialty of southeastern Pennsylvania, well Philadelphia particularly. And it's perfect to go with a Celtic present. I don't want to give too much away, so no telling--Cathy, I am looking at you. Anyway, it's a special surprise. Go to this post to be entered.

Well that's a Surprise

Places I never expected to find Susie Bright.

I have much to share. Just need to run some errands.

Upcycling

I'm have found myself perplexed on occasion by many of these DIY people who are greening the world by saving the cardboard from the recycling pile. I mean, some stuff I see is cute. Other times they have taken sleeves from one thing and created a Frankensteinian outfit by sewing them onto another shirt or using them as leg warmers (leg warmers! Can I bow out of environmentalism if it means wearing legwarmers? I think every woman who was in high school in the 80s should get a pass.)

This just floored me: a toilet paper tube covered with wrapping paper to corral an extension cord. Really? I don't have that kind of time. Also, my extension cords come with a handy self-corall-er (that little plastic doohickey that plugs into the female end). Then I put them in a plastic shoebox so they won't slide off the shelf. I suppose what I should have done is saved all my shoe boxes ever so that I could have wrapped one up in card making scraps all fancy like and used that for storage.

You should play along. Go forth, find a ridiculous DIY "upcycle" project. Leave a link in the comments so we can all point and laugh.

PS: I think number 6 might be child abuse.

Sisterhood, Moving On

Today is my baby sister's 40th birthday. Here's one of her gifts:

You may recognize this as the messenger bag I made last April. The pattern is from the Village at Chelsea Lane.

This is the lining fabric. It's fun, but I thought it would be too busy on the outside. She dug it.

And it seems appropriate to announce that the sisterhood pattern is moving on. Check out Kathy's blog.

Catching Up

Today we are taking the niece to the cat show. This was her Christmas present. She wanted to go to a Cat Museum, and while I could have taken her to Malaysia, Moscow, Lithuania, or Amsterdam...Oh wait, I couldn't take her to any of those places, she doesn't eat anything. Well, it does seem excessive to spend that kind of money on one of the kids and send a chess set to another. Anyway, the cat show seemed a lot easier and closer. So no stitching to report.

Last Saturday, however, Valentines day, the dude took me to the stitching shop and bought me Smoke Flower and a few skeins of floss. Isn't he the sweetest?

Scrappy

Last week I spent some time trying to use up pink scraps of paper. I've decided to dedicate each month to using up scraps of one color in card making (and maybe scrapbooking too). I lost steam after three days, and I only got halfway through the pink scraps.

Here's what I did:

You might notice some red scraps in there. They were filed in the pink folder. Still, not all of the cards are complete. I plan on adding some stamping to them. Now I have to sort through and see what stamps might be appropriate for the cards.

I'm putting my plan here in case you have envelopes and file folders full of scraps too and you'd like to join me.

March: Yellow
April: Purple
May: White
June: Red
July: Blue
August: Orange
September: Black
October: Brown
November: Green
December: work on the files that still have scraps

Magazine Apocolypse

Craft Magazine--you know, the ones who loved my Phillies biscornu--is going out of business. I could never justify the hefty price tag. They are maintaining their web presence at Craftzine. In addition, O at Home, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, Domino, Cottage Living, and Country Home are all gone. (Apparently even though 9-11 drove us to nest, we're done.)

So, it makes you wonder about this:

I'll admit I don't get the Sandra Lee phenomenon. My mother used to do semi-homemade. She called it doctoring, and it's something she just knew how to do. Before you say she learned it in the kitchen with her mother, this is GrannieSB we're talking about. The woman can make toast and a martini. Actually, she's a bartender--she's going to be 87 soon and will retire for good then--and she can make lots of drinks. But food, not so much. So when my mother opened a can of B&M baked beans and stirred in sauteed onions and peppers and added a glop of mustard and ketchup, it's just because she thought those things would make it better, not because it was a recipe handed on through the generations that we need to go outside and find now because our mothers weren't home to help us anymore. You don't need Sandra Lee, just trust your taste buds.

(I say this like I'm some expert. But the banana bread from yesterday? I didn't actually measure the bananas. The recipe called for 6 medium bananas or two cups of mash. In another recipe Fanny said 2 large bananas was a cup of mash. So I figured I'd be good with 5 bananas and didn't measure. Now I have a banana bread that is totally tasty on either end, and mush in the middle. If I had cooked it any longer it would have burned. So when we get to the middle, we'll throw it away.)

The magazine industry expands and contracts with the economy. When things are bad, companies advertise less. That means fewer ad dollars to run the magazines. And some magazines are jettisoned. Last time, we knew we were coming out of the last slump when Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah--and didn't the Olsen twins?--put out magazines. We saw how that worked. (Just for the record, I said that there was no way Oprah was going to be on the cover of every issue. So I'm not always right.) But the point is we'll come out the other end of this sometime, and there will be magazines. Hopefully some of them will be as good as Craft.

Hello, Still Here

I'm kind of boring these days. How come going to a job that stressed me out so much meant I blogged more? Actually, I was just talking about this with a friend, and she thinks there are writers who write when things are bad and those who write when things are good. I'm definitely a things are bad writer--you should see all the diaries and journals I have where there are four pages about the latest boyfriend I had broken up with. Then I get over it and stop journaling. Yeah, four days, I'm pretty shallow.

So that's one excuse. The other is if I turn on the television and computer, I sit here doing nothing all day. And my husband expects his dinner on the table when he gets home! Actually, he doesn't. But it is, and he's been calling me his fifties wife. The good thing is that all those organization projects I've been putting off because I didn't have the time or energy are getting done. Come on over. Look in my medicine cabinets! Look in my closets! Open the wrapping paper storage*! Still working on the craft room, but you knew that wasn't getting done in a couple of weeks.

When I have been stitching, I've been working on my birthday exchange partner's present, which I can't show yet. But I do have a little something to show. It's for you, well, one of you anyway... The piece above is Ink Circle's July 2007 Celtic Knot, and it can be yours to celebrate 5 1/2 years of blogging. Respond to this post only before I get up on February 27th, and you'll win the celtic knot of "garish"** colors. It'll be a little pincushion for your sewing collection.

Okay, those rotten bananas aren't going to turn into banana bread on their own!

* It's the storage space in the guest bed/couch, where we store the guest blankets and pillows. The pillows were crushing the wrapping paper tubes, so I wrangled them into a Space Bag.

** That's what the dude thinks. The colors are DMC 727, 734, and 3746.

Interstices

I really meant to blog on Friday. I had some small progress on Flea Market Souvenir to show. But Sissy fell on some ice while she was walking the dog Thursday night and ended up in the emergency room. I had to walk the dog on Friday. Then take her back to the hospital to pick up her x-rays, on to the orthopedic surgeon they recommended, and then to physical therapy. We decided to have dinner with her to keep her company since we had a last minute plan to head to NYC for a show. More on that here.

On Saturday morning we took the train up to New York. We thought it would be less of a headache than driving, and it was. That gave me a few hours of stitching, but I worked on my birthday exchange. No photos until next month.

What I've realized while stitching in waiting rooms and trains is that I stitch mostly in the interstices of my day. And without working, or waiting, or traveling, there are no interstices. I guess I'm going to have to start scheduling my hobby into my day. That works for me. Because all those stitches these past few days have really made me happy.

Get Your Motor Running

For a person who has all her time to herself, I haven't managed much stitching. I haven't managed much of anything. I haven't been able to get myself into a schedule, even though I am trying to do the Fly Lady thing. So far I've managed 15 minutes in the study. I guess it turns out I don't like cleaning any better now than I did when I was working!

Let's see if I can find some motivation today.

Foodstuff

More memes. I guess I'm all thunk out lately. I got this from Brave Astronaut.

Instructions:

1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: Post a comment here linking to your results.

The Omnivore's Hundred

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile--Alligator, does that count?
6. Black pudding --and (Canadian) blood sausage which is more hard core.
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush and can I say how annoying that Bud Light ad is with the "fair food," "what's baba ghanoush?" Um, not fair food.
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses--not sure if I've had it but it sounds like something I'd like.
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns --you mean char siu boa?
20. Pistachio ice cream but I don't choose to eat it.
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda --sounds like something I'd like; I'm a huge fan of the anchovy
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar--we've got the photos to prove it.
37. Clotted cream tea--thank God for the English. You people make cream creamier!
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat--the dude had this at lunch recently
42. Whole insects--I'd like to try scorpions.
43. Phaal not sure I can handle this kind of heat but I'm always willing to try.
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more--not yet but we're getting there.
46. Fugu at a reputable place in Japan
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnuts I've had them hot and I still don't get it.
50. Sea urchin --my favorite sushi!
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi --at Morimoto
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal --only when desperate; in Poland they didn't have a filet o' fish.
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV--I'm a beer distributor's daughter, remember?
59. Poutine --not really a fan of gravy, but I'm always game for regional specialties
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads--always if they're on the menu
63. Kaolin--I've swallowed toothpaste and taken kaopectate, so I'm guessing yes.
64. Currywurst Who knew this existed? I'd eat that.
65. Durian--I'm thinking if Andrew Zimmern can't eat this, I couldn't manage it.
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake Beignets and a really lousy churro once.
68. Haggis --I don't get what people think is so wrong with this. It's scrapple, or you know, sausage. What do you think sausage casing is made from? Man up, people.
69. Fried plantain mmmmmmmmm
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette--have I told you about the plan to travel the world to try sausages in every country?
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost--I think I'd remember eating brown cheese
75. Roadkill Why?
76. Baijiu--sure, why not, but only the good stuff
77. Hostess Fruit Pie a staple of my high school life
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini--when my mom was in Italy she dragged the group to Harry's to try it. We're dedicated to the regional cuisine, even if it's just for the tourists.
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict --I don't love ham. But I will eat it with lobster tail
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam--I'm sure I've eaten it, I lived through the 70s after all. One of my friends' mom's once invited me to stay to dinner for "Spam Pie!" I called my parents immediately with the fear. They came and got me.
92. Soft shell crab--another favorite
93. Rose harissa--I'd try that
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor Not my favorite, ruins a perfectly good lobster
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

February goals

I am heading to a book group meeting before the Superbowl party, rush rush. But I did want to make my plans for the upcoming month known. I have expanded this list a bit, since even with job search and "homemaking" I think I'll have some time on my hands:

1. Flea Market Souvenir SAL
   
2. work on mermaid SAL over each weekend
3. one Saturday, work on French marquoir
4. SBBC gift...ooooh could the lucky birthday girl (or boy) be you?
5. 10 hours on something from the WIP
6. Finish-finish one project from the to-be-finished pile
7. Make Sissy's messenger bag
8. Finish DD's RR and send to bestpal
9. Make an anniversary giveaway

Yesterday I received a fabulous gift from Jacque--I won a giveaway on her blog. She said, "I hope it will be a nice treat for someone." Indeed! It arrived at just the right moment to brighten my mood. Thanks, Jacque!