Giveaway at Marigold Manor

Teresa over at Marigold Manor (formerly known as "Inside the Mind of a Mini Mad Woman) is having a lovely giveaway to celebrate her impending 100th follower. Here's the goodie basket! :-)

Here is a link directly to the post regarding the giveaway, but it's worth your time to follow the original link to the main blog and see the neat stuff she's got going on.

OMG a Mini!

The wellspring of miniature work hasn't completely run dry in my corner of the world. Last Thursday was the local mini group meeting. Our project was hosted by the same gal who did the jewelry display project back in June.

This time we made a Halloween decoration and gourd birdhouse.

Silly me forgot to put a scale in the pictures, but if you look closely the birdhouse is hanging on a toothpick.

I forget what the project for October is going to be. November will be some sort of Christmas-y wall-hanging.

I'm heading back to the sewing machine. I've got another non-mini, non-Rendezvous project in the works. All part of the mental reset from earlier in the week. Pics soon!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Katie Arthur from Dollhouse Miniatures and Hitty Art by American Folk Artist Katie Arthur!

Kathie has some fantastic minis on her blog. And for anyone who loves Miss Hitty dolls it's a treat. Stop by and say hello.

Mental Reset Buttons

Every once in a while I get so bogged down with a project or idea that I have to do something completely different in order to trick myself into caring about the original project. This goes beyond having the attention span of a six year old like my friend, Casey, says she has. This borders on beginning to loathe the project entirely. Sort of how I feel about knitting really. (I think I will always be primarily a crocheter.)

The problem I faced was how to take a break from sewing the Rendezvous clothes, but not have to put away all the sewing errata in the dining room just to dig it out again after I was done playing with something else. I prowled through the room-sized craft closet (my supposed workroom) and found a kit for a quilt that I purchased years ago at a Hancock Fabrics.

The kit contained 13 fat quarters, backing material, and fabric to make the binding. There was also a coupon for free batting that had expired some years ago. To be exact, it expired before I bought the kit on clearance.Wild colors, huh? No wonder not many of them sold. I think people were put off from the fabrics because they couldn't see how fun they could be sewn up. But I kind of like them, in fact I like them more sewn up than I did as fat quarters. [The other choice was a combination of pinks. I prefer to leave all the pinks in the world to Marsha over at Sassy Mini Dolls. ;-)]

The directions called for cutting the fat quarters into 8.5" x 10.5" rectangles.Which I then sewed into rows.I tried following their "suggested patter layout" but it quickly got ignored in favor of just playing around. Ok, the real reason is I got myself mentally turned around while trying to follow their suggested idea and didn't figure out the problem until a couple of rows were sewn. ;-)

Once the top was finished, FH helped me get a picture. I'm behind the fabric. If you look close, you can see my shoes.
I think the brightness of the colors gets toned down a bit once the whole thing it together. It's not nearly as loud as I thought it might be.

I have some batting and the backing fabric together. I will be taking all three layers to a friend's house to get a second pair of hand getting the "quilt sandwich" put together and pinned. Then I will have to find a hoop or frame to use for hand quilting.

Yes, I'm going to quilt this by hand. Three reasons:

1. My current sewing machines are not equipped for machine quilting, nor do their models have walking foot attachments.

2. I need the practice.

3. I'm too cheap to pay someone else to machine quilt it, given most folks charge by the inch and my hands still work just fine.

No clue as to when I will start quilting this one. Probably will know more after I see my friend on Thursday evening. Maybe by then I will have decided whether to quilt in the ditch or stitch contours in the rectangles.

I've got another quilt kit to play with that has been in my stash since the maintenance men brought it over from one of the abandoned houses. [The tenant up and left in the night to avoid back rent.] I will post pictures once I do more that stare at it. ;-)

Belated Welcomes!

Now that we're home and things are calming down I noticed I missed welcoming new followers.

The first are Pamela Terry and Edward of From the House of Edward. Pamela is a wonderful interior designer with the soul of a poet. Edward is her wonderful, big, white dog. One cannot welcome Pamela without including Edward. That just isn't done.

Next is more of a welcome back than a welcome. Lori at Oh Mini Of Mine has returned to blogging. Her projects and company have been sorely missed.

Happy to have you all along for the ride. :-)

We Have Run Away

FH and I have taken advantage of Tempie's improvements to leave the critters' care in the hands of a friend and run away for the weekend.

Our location is a secret, but this was the view during dinner:
We will return Monday. Have a nice weekend. :-)

Say Goodnight, Gracie

Rest in peace, little sweetness. May your little corner of the Heavens give you unlimited peas, Cheerios, and yogies.

Gracie February ?, 2009-September 2, 2009

Layette, Lead, and Leather

The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous. FH and I took advantage of Tempie's improvement and escaped the house for a while.

Saturday was sewing circle, where I crocheted instead of sewed. A college friend announced his impending fatherhood so I dug out a crochet project that has been hibernating for about five years now.

The jacket had been mostly finished except for the end of one sleeve and the button edges. Now it just needs the bit of pink trim and the pink flower motifs.
One bootie was finished and it's pink motif was done but not attached. I've started it's mate now.
Not to be stuck inside all day I joined FH and our friends in the task of pouring "round ball" for the muzzle loaders.If folks want to know more about this process, I have blog fodder and pictures.

While I took a turn at casting, FH started work on a knife sheath that he's been meaning to start for a month or so now.It's not finished yet, but I will get pictures when the work is done.

Gotta run. It's gorgeous outside again and Tempie is still eating on her own! :-)

Thank You!

Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone for their warm thoughts and good vibes while we prepared for Tempie's surgery.

She's having issues eating again, but I know from past experiences that post-dental surgery aftermath doesn't lend itself to making one hungry. So we're back to her "favorite" pumpkin trick again.

I'll be around as time permits this week. Between her feedings and getting some projects finished the blog may be quiet a few more days.

Thanks again, everyone!

And There Was Much Rejoicing!

Tempie made it!

Now we can take her home and get her eating again normally.

However, she will have to go back in six months to get at least one, if not two, teeth pulled. The right side of her mouth is full of teeth that do not grow right and they will continue to be infected, break, and grow points that stab her tongue. Once all the bad teeth are gone, the teeth on her left side will grow right because she will be able to finally chew properly.

Gotta go. I have a bunny to cuddle.

1770's Woman's Bedgown

The pattern for this piece is by Kannik's Korner and comes with a wealth of historical documentation. One note states that a bedgown is a "kind of short clothing which the women wear to the bed, and which they keep in the morning in the fashion of 'deshabillé' [undress]." (Originally from "Supplément a L'Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers" by Denis Diderot et al, 1777.)I used a 100% cotton that is a woven navy blue and tan plaid. Here is the front; I used braided pieces of wool yard to make the ties at the front. The one is unlined, unlike the original pattern. It's too hot to be wearing multiple layers of lined garments outdoors all day. I will be making a second one that is lined to wear when it gets colder.
The back view showing the long pleat down the back. (Sorry for the picture quality. This was the best I could get.)Here is the pleating on the sleeves.I tried one of the suggested variations which was to create "pocket slits" in the side pleats to allow access to one's pockets through the bedgown. I have to say I'm glad I did. I recommend this pattern to anyone who wants a bedgown. The instructions were clear and well written, and also full of interesting history. I will say that I was unprepared for the shear size of the main pattern piece. Once I stared at it for a bit I was able to figure out how to work with it. A much larger table to cut and pin on would have been useful.

If you look closely there are no shoulder seams on this piece. It was sewn from two pieces (left side and right side) and then the sleeve extensions and arm gussets were added. This means the main body pattern had to be cut twice, once per side.

There are instructions for using 58"-60" wide fabric and cuting once on the fold. I'm going to try that if I can find something I like in that width.

Oh yeah, I have to say that this is quite comfortable to wear. I prefer it to my friend's red one that I wore to other events only because her red one is made from a heavy cotton and lined with flannel.Nobody took pictures Saturday, so I have to wait for things to calm down enough around here to have FH take some of it being worn. That may not happen until after we get back from St.Louis.

Tempie Bun

The latest on Tempie is she's actually eating enough on her own. This means she and I are both free from the stresses of canned pumpkin, at least for the time being. The pain medication is helping tremendously. The signs of infection/fever are also abating. Her activity level has increased a bit.

We are taking her for surgery Friday morning. The vets will be removing at least one tooth and filing down the other molars. They may also clip a bit more off her incisors since I don't think they did enough when we were there last week.

The bad part about this surgery is the tooth they need to extract is one they tried taking out before. It's in a really bad spot and the roots are wrapped where they shouldn't be. She ended up almost bleeding to death last time. According to the vet, she looked pink when they got the bleeding under control. They had to keep her overnight then and push fluids so she could start making new blood. This is the other reason the surgery is on Friday; we can pick her up Saturday if necessary.

FH and I are going to be camped out with both rabbits at my mom's house from Thursday night until either Saturday night or Sunday morning. 'Bert is going with to get a check up, which leaves just the cats and mice here. Little D's mom is going to come over and feed them for us.

Hopefully during the week I can get some sewing posts up and running. Or even (dare I think it?) some miniatures going again. ;-)

How To Change the Color of a Bunny

Feed her canned pumpkin.

Before:


You can see just how pleased she is about the whole process.

Screeching Halt

The sewing has come to a screeching halt as Tempie is very sick. One of her molars is infected and needs to come out since it's also broken. This is the same tooth that the vet tried to remove once before and she nearly bled to death.

Needless to say, we're all (including her veterinarians) slightly apprehensive about the prospects of this procedure. However the situation can be summed up by the following points:

1. We ignore the issues and she dies in a slow and painful manner

2. We go forward with the surgery and she dies under anesthesia with no pain

3. We go forward with the surgery and all of the vets' skills and a lot of good fortune will give her more time to enjoy life.

Obviously we're hoping for option 3.

Since she won't eat on her own right now, much of my day is spent feeding her by hand. The goal is to get more food into the bunny than onto the bunny and myself, but that isn't always the case.

For the curious or those who may need the information, I'm feeding her 3 tablespoons of canned pumpkin (if you have fresh and want to boil it, go for it) mixed with about 1 tablespoon of baby food bananas and some water. I've used fresh bananas before but they aren't always ripe when I need them.

Of course this means we both end up orange.

Cute Filler