Catching Up

Just an update on what life has been like the past couple weeks.  A few photos will help to tell the tales.

A bunch of the girls and I celebrated Jana's birthday last Friday. She's another one who has recently hit the 40 mark. I must say, many of us are 40, and older, but we party like we're 30!

Birthday girl, Jana, on the far left in the pink and the tiara. That's me, looking gorgeous with my mouth hanging wide open!

In honor of the birthday girl, I made myself a special skirt. I know it may seem a bit weird to honor someone by making something for ME. But somehow it just makes special occasions even more special. Besides, Jana's the one who turned me onto the sewing machine in the first place! And yes, I did get her a birthday gift! Remember, I'm doing better about the whole gift giving thing!

Anyway, here's the skirt!

It's made (or is supposed to made) using two pieces of a deep, dark gray wool that I found at Marden's (2.99/yard!). The top band is a soft taupe color, and it's stretchy. I found a stretchy shirt at the thrift shop, and thought it would make a great waistband. Check out that rickrack! It is the biggest rickrack I've ever seen! It's olive green. And there's my red birdie on the pocket. Not bad for a patternless project. I was actually inspired by this blog post: http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2011/01/woolie-skirts.html Have you ever checked out Amanda Soule's blog? I'm a pretty obsessive follower. She's a fellow mainer, mama, writer, crafter, knitter and so much more. At any rate, I decided that this would be the skirt for Jana's party. I managed to start, and finish, this project on the day of the party. There were a couple of blunders. First off, I cut the skirt too small and had to make some nifty side panels, which actually didn't turn out that badly. Necessity is the mother of invention, and I managed to figure it out. It needs some fine tuning, but I think I'll probably be making more of these. I have some gorgeous corduroy in a sort of salmon color that is begging to be made into a skirt! I'll keep you posted!

I've been pretty crafty and have added (and sold) a few items in my shop. Here's a sample:

Handknit and Felted Wool Bag with Crow

The Essential Crow Handbag

The Essential Red Bird Handbag

Two Red Birds and a Heart Wool Purse

I've made some other things, but these are my faves of the moment. I would really like to have each of these bags, but how many bags can a girl have? All the bags, with the exception of the orange felted one, were made without patterns. Certain fabric just calls out to be a certain shape, or I get a picture in my mind of what I want something to look like. Being able to make what I see in my head is pretty great, I must say!

We've been spending a fair amount of time outside, be it sliding, shoveling, or making igloos! Well, one igloo, anyway!

Crazy Lindy and her beautiful sidekick, Kieran!

Let me leave you with a pic of a recent thrift find. Check out these boots! They're some kind of dark fuschia color. Look at the bow! They were my size and for fifty cents, how could I pass these up?! I could do some major damage on a dance floor with these things! Well, probably major damage to my ankles. But I'll find an excuse to wear them sometime!