Our house is turned upside down right now. There is a big plastic garbage can in the living room, along with cans of paint, two very large medicine chests and various bits of hardware. On the porch we have a couple bathtubs, one old, one new, a toilet, a sink and a big stack of tile. The bathroom door is off it’s hinges and leaning against the hallway wall. In the bedroom, all the shoes are in a mountainous pile rather than neatly lined up in the closet because the contractor had to cut a hole in the closet wall for an access panel. The cats love going through the hole to play with the little plastic spacers used by the tile guy. The kitchen has remained mostly unscathed, except of the box of toiletries on the table. To deal with the chaos I’ve started working on a small quilt, hand applique-ing circles to a bit of white linen. It’s very soothing, as I sit in my chair, peering over the stacks of stuff on the floor to watch the television. And there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. The tile guy will be done by the end of the week, and the plumber is scheduled to install all the fixtures on Monday. Tuesday, Spanky’s will be coming to take their lovely port-a-potty back, and I will be taking a very long, hot, bubble bath.

Sunday night I sewed the binding on the quilt and last night my brother called to say contractions were five minutes apart and they were heading to the hospital. Phew! That was close. I hope he likes it! I’m quite proud of the neatly mitered corners, all thanks to these very helpful instructions.

And just because all babies need lots of onesies, I spent hours and hours making these little guys. Oh, wait, they actually took about three minutes, thanks to the Mod Dots shop. So I wasn’t too original here, but I love these little robot transfers. There’s nothing wrong with the cutesy baby stuff, but I like to be the cool auntie who makes the fun and funky presents. Of course, I might just really be the one who makes the kids think "oh no, another homemade weird gift from that kooky aunt," but I think I’m okay with that too.

It’s testosterone central at my house this morning. It’s a shame I have to go to work and miss all the action. The tree people started cutting down the tree yesterday, and arrived early this morning to continue the job. We are going to have quite the woodpile when they are done. We’ll be selling firewood for cheap this winter, I suspect, so if you’re in San Diego and need firewood and don’t mind taking a little drive, I’ll hook you up. 

I’m taking pictures of each day’s progress. They are probably not that interesting to anyone but me. It already feels so different out there, sort of blank and exposed. I’m sure we’ll get used to it, and make good use of the space, it’s really quite a huge area we’ll have that wasn’t really usable before. Still, it makes me sad to see 400 years of history being cut down. I have to remind myself that it’s already started falling down on it’s own, and will just continue to do so, so it’s better that we’re not waiting for another branch to fall on our house, or shed, or worse, the chicken coop! These tree cutters are pretty amazing, and despite the fact that we are paying them a huge sum of money, I think they are really earning every penny. Plus they are just as nice as can be. So if you need a tree cut down, Perpetual Tree Care is the place to call.

Then the contractor and plumber arrived to start work on our bathroom. There’s been water damage to the sub-floor for oh, I don’t know, five years? So it’s time we do something about that, before the toilet falls through the floor with someone on it, most likely me. While that would be sort of funny, and a really, really good party story, I’d rather avoid that scenario if possible. I’ll have before and after pictures as we progress. In the meantime, since this is the only bathroom in our little house, we’ve got a port-a-potty out front! Don’t be jealous! They rent by the month, so we can keep it through October. Lucky! It even came with four rolls of toilet paper. What a deal. I love that the name of the business is Spanky’s. They also showed up this morning to clean it, even though it’s only been here for a few days, and hasn’t been used. I don’t think I’ll be drinking any liquids after dinner. It’s cold at night, and I would hate to have to go out there in my jammies in the freezing dark at 3 a.m.

It should be quite a week, don’t you think?

I haven’t gotten my copy yet, but thanks to eagle-eyed Belinda, who saw a copy on Sooz’s blog, it looks like Softies is coming very very soon. Do you see that? Wow, my little monster is on the cover! I did not expect that at all. Not only that, look how cute the other softies are? Now I really can’t wait to get my copy. I’m really really excited now. I can’t even type any more, I’m all woozy.

Two things I’m making at the moment:


I’ve started quilting the baby quilt. I have to confess that I’m a bit of a hand stitching snob. I just really like hand quilting better than machine. And except for the very sore fingers that I get because I don’t use my thimble properly, it’s a perfect tired-in-the-evening-watching-TV kind of activity. I’m just free-hand quilting a square spiral starting in the center of each block. I love the wool batting I got, it’s so easy to quilt through and it’s nice and fluffy. I’m not sure what will happen when I wash it. I still have a good sized scrap left, maybe I should make a doll quilt and see what happens in the washing machine.

I also started a new pair of socks for myself:


I was lucky enough to get some Vesper sock yarn back in the day, and I’ve been hording it forever. I wasn’t sure what kind of pattern would bring out the striping of the yarn the best, but I like what the little cables are doing.  The pattern is the Uptown Boot Socks from Interweave Knits Winter 2003.

There’s a little bit of a Harry Potter discussion going on in the comments to the last post, come and join if you’ve read it. I’ll be adding my thoughts later today too.

Boy oh boy, it’s been hot! I made myself something nice and cool to wear, so I could put on something besides a t-shirt. I love this fabric, it’s so nice and light and cool. I found it on sale a bit ago at my local Beverly’s. I think I spent about $12 for it. I also decided to try out my bias tape maker, and used that for the hem. The pattern is Simplicity 3887. I think I may make another one or two, if this heat keeps up!


More on bookbinding is still coming soon!

I’ve been making some more monsters. Meet Nell and Norm. They are available here. Proceeds will of course be going into the tree removal fund. I’m not sure what it is about these little guys, but every little kid I’ve given one too has just loved them. I got a bunch of wool sweaters during my time off a couple months ago, and I’ve felted them and started making monsters out of them. I like how the sweater felt is a little softer and squishier than the wool-blend felt I’ve used here. Nell is actually just back from a trip to Australia, where she was photographed to be included in a book about making softies. How exotic! I’ve never been there, myself. I might be a little jealous of my world-traveling monster. I like how Norm has a bit of a smirk. If you want to take him home, be sure you’re prepared to handle his little attitude problem.



Coming soon, I’m also binding a few books to add to the shop this weekend. Of course, I’ll use the opportunity to write another bookbinding tutorial, so be sure to check back in a day or so.