It's the second to last day of October and it's hot outside.  Like in the mid-70's hot.  Too hot for the second to last day of October.  I can feel the rain coming - I have the headache to prove it.  Or the headache could be from all the candy and lack of water that I have consumed (or not) today.  Probably a combination of the two, truth be told.

Yesterday I had a little luncheon for six friends.  I served butternut squash soup with a spinach salad (pears, pecans, blue cheese, red onion, balsamic vinaigrette).  I set the table with my grandmother's silver and the napkins I pressed last week.  It was delicious and went off with a hitch.  The house was mostly picked up so an hour with the vacuum and duster was all it took to get ready.  It amazed me.  I feel like I have turned a corner, that I can see my life moving forward in a much more mindful and happy way if I can just keep this cleaning thing up.  I'm praying that once the hard work is done, it'll be a matter of maintenance.  Please let it be so.

I've been knitting - two small projects are already completed and one is on the needles.  I want to share those with you, but it's too hot to put wool on my body and then take photos.  When the temperatures dip, I will show and tell.  Cross my heart.

I haven't sewn much - a few single girl squares.  That leaves 17 to sew.  There are some camera straps almost finished, but I want another colorway or two or three before I update the shop for the last time this year.  Mid-November is the goal.  I can't take special requests or email anyone individually when I stock the shop.  I will keep you posted via the blog.  That I can do.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow and I just hope it can hold off or be a sprinkle so the girls can enjoy the holiday.  I have a vampire and a gypsy this year.  The vampire's teeth are already broken and the gypsy has lost her earrings, but they are both dealing with less-than-perfect just fine.  I am so thankful for that.  I tried replacing the vampire fangs, but it's the day before Halloween and, of course, no one has any left.  The fact that my child is being a trooper is a blessing.  Did I mention that I am thankful?

We're going to a concert tonight.  Front row seats, too.  I'm looking forward to a date night and especially seeing this band.  I'm also anticipating an empty morning tomorrow.  I plan on filling it with coffee and my dvr-ed shows from this week.  I might even break out the glitter.  Or some felt.  Or maybe both.  Endless possibilities - I like that.

I have some new shoes.  They make me smile, too.

So there.  That's what has been going on with me.

Here's to a great weekend for all of us.

Just thought I'd share my view.  Pretty amazing, if you ask me.

This weekend was a wash craft-wise.  I had big plans - sewing some quilt squares and working on my next swap project.  Neither of those happened.  I did, however, make some progress on the state of our house.  I taught my girls how to clean bathrooms and watched them do just that.  Nice, huh?  I also went through my plethora of knitting bags and chucked all the unfinished projects that I no longer wanted to make.  Socks, anyone?  In the process I found about 6 cable needles, dozens of stitch markers and the illusive size 7 dps.  That was good.  I spent 15 minutes trashing out the sewing room and it barely made a dent.  Baby steps, people.  Baby steps.

Last night, I found myself with the laundry folded and the house picked up so I cut into a felted orange sweater to make this pumpkin.  It was serendipity that I actually had an orange sweater and the ribbing from a brown one to pull this together.  I made the whole thing up and in about 30 minutes, the basic form was finished.  I spent another 15 minutes adding the stitching lines today.  It's not totally what I envisioned, but I kind of like it anyhow.  We'll see what the girls think - they are my toughest critics.

I'm off to buy a better paper shredder.  Fun stuff, huh?

I thought I'd be back here on Tuesday, but, you know, life.  I really appreciate all your comments about chores/cleaning from earlier this week.  If you find yourself in the same situation as me, there are some good ideas in the comments.  I'm trying FlyLady for now.  I'll let you know how that works out.

In other, much more exciting news - well, exciting for me - one of my projects is in the Fall/Winter issue of Stitch.

I made this cozy wool muff back in July and am anxious to give it a whirl as the temperature starts to drop.  Did you have one of these as a young girl?  It's a fun project that shouldn't take too long to make - an afternoon or maybe a bit more.  It does require a little patience to sew through all the layers, but the construction is simple.  I made mine out of wool and velveteen, but I think it would be equally as cute out of corduroy and flannel with a folksy ribbon.  Let me know if you make one - I'd love to see photos!

I really like this issue of Stitch.  It's full of great projects and many of them are well-suited for holiday gift giving.  I just started to make a list of the items I am anxious to make and it's long.  Too long to share.  You'll recognize many of the contributing designers if you read blogs, which I assume you do because you are reading this.  Really, it's all so good.  And I'd still say that if my project hadn't been included.  But it was, so yay!

Good afternoon.  I'm feeling pretty great today - hope you are too.

This weekend I came to the realization that I don't function well when there is chaos around me.  OK - I really knew this about myself before this weekend.  I just didn't know what to do about it.  And as I said last week, I'd like my house to be clean for more than 15 minutes at a time.  Here's the realization:  I am the biggest obstacle to keeping this house picked up.  All this time I have been looking for a solution, but not getting to the heart of the problem.  It's not the myriad coats and shoes thrown on the mudroom floor or the fact that my children leave papers scattered on any available flat surface that is driving me crazy.  It's that when it gets messy, I don't deal with it right away.  In fact, I don't deal with it because it is messy and then it even gets messier.  Follow?  I decided to focus on the problem and to do that, I am going to have to change my behavior.  Instead of waiting until it's overwhelming and then tackling it all in one full swoop, I am dealing with bits of the cleaning each day.  So on Saturday, I cleaned the front part of our house - living room, sun room, dining room, front hall and stairs, powder room.  And then I stopped.  Yesterday, I finished the laundry and made the girls and myself put it all away as soon as it was folded.  This morning, I got up and picked up the family room and the laundry room.  I'll probably tackle the kitchen and the mud room this afternoon.  Breaking it up into these little tasks is more manageable for me.  It's amazing how much I can get done in 20 minutes!  And once something is clean, it's that much easier to keep it that way.  I'm sure this is not revolutionary for some of you, but for me, it is.

So yes, I am feeling pretty good today.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  And once I get this house sorted out, I am going to have to enlist the girls' help to keeping it that way.  I'm pretty good about making them help out, but other than clearing the table after dinner, they don't have any specific chores.  I'd like to change that.  I know some of you have kids the same ages (almost 8 and 10) and I am curious what chores your children have.  If you feel like sharing, I'd love to get some feedback on that.

All right, back here soon (probably tomorrow).  The sun is finally out and I can take photos of some things I have finished up over the last week or so.  See you then.

Hi there.

I've been feeling very quiet lately.  September was all rush-rush, get here and there and then move on to the next thing.  And while it was all fun - two weddings and a family trip for the four of us - it was crazy, so crazy.  All of the sudden, I looked up and it was October.

And now October is half over.  I can't really tell you what I have been doing.  Well, that is not entirely true.  There has been some sewing and some knitting.  Some I have to keep hush-hush for now and the things I can share, I haven't photographed.  So really, I can't share them either.  I spent a good portion of last week in the kitchen concocting soups, baking bread and generally making a mess.  I've done lots of laundry and cleaned the bathrooms, but I can't seem to get it together to have the entire house clean at one time.  That would be so nice - well, nice for the 15 minutes it would actually remain clean.  A girl can dream.

I have a gypsy skirt to sew and bills to pay and more laundry to fold.  At some point, I should probably go for a run, too.  And once I get that all finished and the house somewhat clean and my children to and from their various commitments, I will be back with more words.  Until then, I'm still here.  I'm just being quiet.

 

...is that your weekend is full of all sorts of delicious things.

I have mentioned this before - I know it.  But someone emailed me this week asking about the labels and said they couldn't find the info on the blog so here it is:

I buy my labels from Namemaker.

Namemaker has a blog filled with great ideas for their products.  Not only do they have labels, they also have personalized ribbon, wrapping paper and more.  Check it out - you can even read a little bit about me.