I went and picked up a chicken coop this weekend. And then I ordered 25 day old baby chicks. I’m not quite sure what I’m getting myself into, but I think it should be fun! They won’t be arriving until sometime the week of September 25, which is good, because I still have a lot to do. I cleaned off the coop, so I’ll be able to paint it next weekend. I also need to build some nesting boxes and put in a pole for them to roost. I’m not showing any before pictures until I can show some after pictures too. It’s just too ugly right now.

I packed up Lou, and she’s on her way to Washington:

Her new owner’s name starts with an ‘M’, so I added a glittery letter.

I wanted to make more monsters this weekend, but I started working on an outfit for my sock monkey, and didn’t have time for anything else:

Since she’s still a work in progress I’m not going to worry about the blurry picture, when she’s all done I’ll try a little harder to take some clear pictures. I think I will be adding her to the shop. Aren’t her puffed sleeves cute? And her little handkerchief apron? I didn’t get her little purple-ruffled petticoat in the picture, but it’s cute too.

My dad was attacked by a Chinese catfish. Yikes! He’s okay though.

I added Lou to the shop today.

Lou has several older siblings in various homes across the country. Lou herself actually traveled to Ohio for Plush Rush. Her big sister Olive went home with somebody, but Lou flew back to California and has been hanging out with me. I have plans to work on a few more monsters this weekend.

When I was adding Lou to etsy I realized that I hadn’t connected my Paypal account to my etsy account. Doh. I hope no one wanted to order something with Paypal. It’s all fixed now, luckily.

I’ve really enjoyed reading other bloggers talking about Pure Style, and living simply. I am slowly trying to simplify and pare down. One of the things I hope to do by making and selling things is to use up all the Stuff I have. I feel so weighed down. But it’s not easy to let go of things I might need someday. I live in a very small house, we don’t have a garage, but we have a little shed and a tiny guesthouse. Lately it seems like whenever we want to find something we look everywhere, moving piles, making messes and shifting junk around. I don’t like the feeling that my stuff is such a controlling part of my life. So I am letting go. And it’s hard.

I listed my piano on Craig’s list yesterday. It’s 30 years old, and my grandfather bought it for me when I was young. I took piano lessons for four years as a child, and never really had the touch. I could play, but I wasn’t anything special. So someone is coming to look at the piano on Saturday morning, and they might just take it with them. I never play it, I never will. I can only do so many things in the hours I have each day. Our living room is way too small for a piano. I know it is the right thing to sell it cheap so some other person can use and enjoy it, but it’s still going to be hard to let it go. Could somebody please reassure me that I’m doing the right thing?

The sofa cushions aren’t all finished, but you get the idea:

I think it looks good. This room is going to be seriously colorful and fun. I hope it will flow well with the rest of the house. This is going to be one of those very long, bit by bit projects. I was already going that direction, but the addition of the orange pillow just confirmed it, I think.

I want to give one more recommendation for this stitchery kit. The instructions were very easy to follow, I think you could be a beginner and not have a lot of trouble learning how to embroider using one of these kits (I did choose the most difficult one, there are some other very cute ones that would be even easier). The linen fabric is really lovely, and you get a piece for the pillow back too, the pattern markings were very crisp and clear, and colors of the wool yarn were just perfect. What are you waiting for? Go get one!

In between all my stitching and sewing, I carved some tiny rubber stamps:

I thought they would be fun for stamping ribbon for tying up gifts.

I’ve been working on some other things too, and I’m going to be opening up my etsy shop sometime this weekend. I’m calling it my "Save up for a plane ticket to China" fund, although after the last couple months of vet bills, car repairs, new washing machines and various other unexpected expenses, it could just be considered a "Get all the bills paid so I stop having anxiety attacks about the finances" fund. Either way, I have some fun stuff to sell, and I hope you will visit and spread the word, I would really, really appreciate it!

I can’t stop embroidering:

Only two flowers to go, but I think I am going to take a break and re-cover the sofa cushions so it will be all ready for it’s new pillow. My fingers are a little sore, they need a rest.

I’ve also started another little project, which I need to finish up on my sewing machine:

This is going to be a little something for my niece. She loves airplanes.

I’m on a roll, there should be a whole lot more to see tomorrow!

Sorry for the terrible pun. I couldn’t help it.

The post office wasn’t hatin’ yesterday:

And I sat right down last night with my remote control and got started. This is just like coloring in a coloring book, only with yarn instead of crayons. These colors are so fun. The linen is really lovely, and the color is just perfect. I’m not quite sure how to photograph orange, it’s a little off in my picture, in reality it’s a little deeper, not so sherbet-y looking. And there is even a piece of lime green linen for the back of the pillow. Now I’m really going to have to recover the cushions on my living room settle, I have the perfect deep periwinkle Susan Sargent print just waiting to be used for this project, and my orange pillow will look great on there.

Of course, then I have to tear down the hideous wallpaper and repaint the living room, make slipcovers for the two wingchairs and figure out what to do with the piano, which doesn’t really fit in our little room, find a new cabinet or stand for the television so I can get rid of the slightly unstable Ikea armoire and get the wood burning stove fixed or replaced, because at this point, a cozy fire will be just perfect in our cute little living room. I’ll also need some art for the walls, I’m thinking about maybe a small wall quilt, or maybe a wall full of small quilts. Oh, and curtains, I have to figure out some window treatments, I have no idea what to do there…

All because of an orange pillow.

I always take a knitting break at some point during the summer. I guess it’s partly the heat and partly a need to re-charge the knitting batteries. But now I have a bunch of summer shows saved on my Tivo, so I need something to do while I watch TV in the evening. I’m finding myself drawn back to needlework projects. I’ve done some cross stitch in the past, and a little needlepoint (although I never actually finished a needlepoint project, unlike my sister-I wish she had picture of her needlepoint, it’s really quite beautiful and amazing). I especially love samplers. I don’t know why that is, just something about the alphabet all stitched up in pretty colors and a showcase of various stitches all lined up just so really appeals to my asthetic. I have a Shepherd’s Bush sampler I made 10 or 12 years ago. I’ve never managed to frame it, I should do that. I loved making it, and the pale colors are so pretty and soothing, and I don’t think it’s too cutesy like a lot of cross stitch can be. Plus there are some other interesting techniques in there as well. I think the bottom section qualifies as hardanger, doesn’t it?

I’ve done a very little bit of regular embroidery, and some ribbon embroidery. I think I’m going to try out both again, for my TV viewing projects this month. I ordered this fun kit from Kristin Nicholas:

I was also lucky enough to get one of Hilary’s Stitchettes. I also dug out that pretty piece of pale green linen you can see on the right in the pictures above. I think I might use it for something like the monograms or samplers seen here. I love the red with the natural linen, but wouldn’t they also be pretty as sort of tone-on-tone pieces? Maybe my green linen with white floss? I think I might try it out.

Linen, wool, silk and cotton. Those are some of my favorite words!