Updated the website. Links in the sig. =^__^= I’ll probably get actual content on the personal side up tomorrow or Wednesday.
I got a lot done over the weekend in the “order the house” category, and a bit on the blog! It’s exciting.
My boyfriend is a big computer guy, and he purged (as in, they are GONE from the house) three boxes of electronics. We also got rid of a bunch of recycling and shredding. I really wish we had curbside pick up here, but no dice. I did a bunch more sorting, and have been trying to be extremely critical about evaluating if I really want to own something. It’s slow, but effective.
I’ve got stuff to share, but I have to work this morning–will be back with pictures!
More digging, more planting, more watering. No potterings.
I actually finished the third square of my baby blanket, and started the fourth (and last). Hopefully, I can crank this one out faster - really, I just need to do some work on it every day and it’ll go pretty fast, I just haven’t been knitting much.
OK, here are some photos of what I’ve been up to.
I finished the fancy white dress for a baptism. Here’s my little girl modeling it, and a detail of the bodice. Now she wants one just like it for next year! I would not have chosen to do the lace around the neckline, but that’s what the little girl wanted. I’m not entirely happy with all of the dress, but since I pretty much had to make it up, I’m quite pleased.
Here’s a quilt top I just finished. If a friend of mine’s baby turns out to be a girl, I might give it to her. Or it might wait for some other day. I think I’m going to send it out to be quilted, so it will be done in a jiffy.
And lastly, here is my new blog, which is a reading challenge. I don’t know that I actually made it–my friend designed the background–but it’s my project!
That’s great Dangermom!
Ok, quick catch up - finished the quilt, but it took a while to get some batteries for the camera :smack:. I mentioned earlier that it looks like stained glass from inside.
Still in the cast, but getting around better - have reclaimed my washing, cooking, dishes and most of the other housework, which was a surprise. If anyone had told me a couple of months ago that I’d be gagging to hang out a load of washing, I’d have though they were mad. It’s exhausting, but a measure of independence, so I shovel down more painkillers and go for it.
To finish the craft catch up - a cushion cover, started the t-shirt quilt, sewed press studs to all this season’s new PJ collars (just gone mid-winter here) and made a stand for the kid’s edible art project (a gumdrop and toothpick Eiffel tower).
And…
Baked several cakes, managed to crutch my way through several morning teas, a couple of evening drinkies, two birthdays (one mine - fuck I’m old) and shopping, all by myself, which is how I got the batteries to take the pics of the quilt.
I’m taking on some knitting for a friend of my mother’s, if the timing is right I may get to make the 'Cast off - cast on" jokes after all.
I got some writing done while I was at my grandparents’, although not as much as I wanted to. Got a fair amount of worldbuilding done too, which I needed to do.
Anyone else? Or were you all too busy watching fireworks?
Wow maggenpye, that quilt is spectacular! I’ve never seen hexagons done with black before, and I like the way it brightens it up.
Last week I was assistant teacher at a quilt camp for 10yo girls. It was a ton of fun and the girls made beautiful things. But that’s pretty much all I did!
Otherwise, I’ve been applying for a job (had to write a diversity statement, barf) and prepping some school stuff for fall. That really was a big item on my to-do list this summer, so I’m glad to have figured out schedules for biology and ancient history, and my younger daughter’s writing course. I still have a lot of photocopying to do, and I need to re-read my older daughter’s writing program stuff. Oh, and wait for all the materials I ordered two months ago to show up. :dubious:
Project finally completed last night: I finished the new guinea pig cage.
We have two guinea pigs, and their store-bought cage was way too small for them as they grew. We had a “play-yard” sort of cage that we’d set up on the living room floor for them, but that was not a permanent solution; it was in the way, hard to clean, and our pug kept trying to eat their poop around the edges. Something Had To Be Done.
So, I done it. I bought a couple of wire pantry shelves, 6 feet long by 20 inches deep, bent them at the four foot mark, and zip-tied them together to make a 4x2 cage. Some judicious cutting was required, so I also bought a heavy-duty bolt cutter (my favorite new tool). Then, I bought a sheet of coroplast (basically like corrugated cardboard, but made out of plastic instead of paper) from a sign shop, cut and scored it, and made an open-top “box” that fit inside the wire cage, with sides about 6 inches high. The coroplast box sits inside the wire cage and contains the bedding. I put the whole affair on a wood panel that I outfitted with a “folding table legs” kit, and presto! Raised guinea pig cage, hygienic and easy to clean, and the dog can’t eat the poop anymore.
Last night was the finishing touch: I got another wire shelf, this time a 4 foot wide by 16 inch deep one, and cut a two foot section of it to fit at one side of the main structure as a “second story”. I zip-tied a panel of the remaining coroplast to it, leaving two inches of overlap to make box sides to keep droppings from falling out, and attached some outdoor-rated carpet to the coroplast with carpet tape. I thought finding good carpet would be the hard part, but at Home Depot it was less than $3 per linear foot off a 6-foot-wide roll. I then cut a section from what was left of the wire shelf to make a ramp, which I also covered with coroplast and carpet. The shelf rested nicely on one of the already-existing crosswires on the original cage. Some judicious cutting and capping, and the upper deck was complete. The piggies seem to love it, and the area under the upper deck gives them a dark hidey-space.
I haven’t taken pictures yet, but I will if anyone’s interested.
That sounds awesome Max!
Yes, Max T, photos please.
Dangermom, I remember watching a makeover show a few years back (are you familiar with Trinny and Susanna from “What Not To Wear”?) and they said “Adding black to any outfit just makes the rest of the colours look chintzy and cheap.” I looked at my half completed quilt, 
, and realised it was far too late. The black doesn’t ‘pop’ so much IRL, it’s an effect of the camera flash. Anyway it’s very warm and I can still remember where all the different materials came from - my whole family and a few friends are represented with the flowers.
The T-shirt quilt is a step closer, I measured and cut :eek: the blankets for the backing last night. My kid’s “blankies”!! Even if she hasn’t used them in years, her blankies!!! All cut up!!!
I lied, there was one more thing to add last night. I bought a little two-basket shelf unit thing, the kind you’d put on a pantry wall or inside a cabinet door in the bathroom to hold a few bottles of cleaning supplies or something. Cut one of the baskets off and turned it sideways, trimmed out a few of the wires, and tada! Hay basket. Attached it to the side of the cage with zip-ties, with another piece of the coroplast behind it to keep hay from falling on the floor. Now they have a jumbo-sized hay feeder! Piggies need a constant supply of hay to keep their digestive systems rumbling along. So far, they’re loving it.
I’ll take pictures tonight, hopefully the pigs will be active enough to be in the picture too.
Anybody get things done over the weekend?
I worked on my portfolio page, getting some major graphics done. I also got some graphics done for my personal site, so that’s all good. Photographed stuff that I’ve been meaning to sell for almost a year and will be getting that up today. Took care of a pile of papers that’s been sitting there since I moved in.
It’s moving week, so I’m in the throes of coordinating a big move. Luckily for me, most of it is, “Plan on having movers pack and move us”. However, since they charge by the hour, it seems reasonable to try to reduce that cost some, for what’s easy. This has the further advantage of certain things making more sense to me. For example, all our clothing will be packed in our suitcases (vs. the suitcases traveling empty). The exception being that we get up to 10 free-to-use wardrobe boxes, so our currently hanging clothing will stay hanging.
The house is a disaster, and so there’s no way I can manage to pack it all. But I’m hoping that with some packing, I can keep them to the lower ends of the estimates for packing and moving day.
This actually was something on my summer to-do list: a trip to the Bay Area with my kids. It was pretty quick, but we managed to hit the kinda random Rosicrucian Park in San Jose before the point of the trip–a BART adventure up to Berkeley. (My kids are country bumpkins, and a BART ride is the stuff of adventure and romance. The 7yo was kind of embarrassing, what with the yells of “Look! Escalators!” and the amazed pointing to 6-story buildings. :p)
Rosicrucian Park is definitely a must-see for anyone interested in the strange and weird. Also it has an Egyptian museum.
Tomorrow is DangerGirl’s birthday and I’m not entirely prepared.
I’m bumping this because I want to see it continue and I don’t really want to start a new thread.
I’m looking for some craft ideas for some silver bubble wrap stuff, it’s some insulated bags I receive shipments of cold stuff in and I have lots of them. I save them with the idea of using them for something but I have no idea what. I thought maybe a robot costume but that’s all I can think of. Any other ideas?
How structural are they? Could you make a free standing sculpture? Wings?
Either that or a 1/3 model of the iceberg that took down the Titanic (yeah, I got nothing).
I’m in the middle of knitting blankets for Moldovian orphans - 50 out of the first 64 peggy squares, with enough wool ripped from old projects to finish this, make another and keep the heavier yarn for next year’s queensize blanket for me.
Wings would be cool.
I just finished a smocked dress for a 2yo, which was a commission, and a fancy baby dress which is totally frivolous. Next up: a really cool fall jacket for my 10yo, but first I have to go get pattern paper.