cici at home

summer thrifting

It's been awhile, so I thought I'd break back into blogging slowly.  Just a few of my summer finds.  Pyrex - not in a very pretty pattern, but in a very useful size.  And a lid. We really did need a new butter dish as our last one came crashing to the floor several months ago.  And a Fire King "B.C" bowl.  There are two, actually.  Of course, my kids (even my newspaper comic reading, emerging reader) has no idea who the characters in B.C. are - but they are obviously prehistoric and belong to the dinosaur era.  Need I say more?

Underneath it all, and perhaps the best finds - one of the napkins from a tablecloth and napkin set I found buried in a box at a garage sale.  Buried in the same box was the linen tablecloth (in near perfect condition).  Now the trick is to be able to actually use these tablecloths.  Placemats seem to be the only useful items at our table. The draping cloth always seem to be too much temptation - even for the almost 4 year old who can't seem to resist wrapping the ends in and around his bended knees.  And did you know the 18 month old is an aspiring magician? Oh yes - given any opportunity he is always practicing the tablecloth move.  Always.

fun for my children

But not for me.  I'm not sure who the culprit is - it could be any of them, really.

Was it the pudgy fingers of an 18 month old? Eying me across the room while he deceptively picks up various pins and then pushes them into the cushion.

Or could it be the 3 year old? So engrossed in the minutiae of painstakingly pushing each and every pin - and needle - deep into the tomato while trying to discover where the disappearing ones go?

Or was it the six year old? Absent mindedly pushing all the pins and and needles into the pin cushion as she contemplates life's bigger mysteries - how do they make soap? do you think mommy would mind if I made toast and salad for dinner tonight?  How can I convince my younger brothers to play house. again. all afternoon.

But its clear. Someone has removed any thread still hanging in the needle eyes. Someone has made flush all the pin heads on one side of the pin cushion.  Someone has done the same with the needles. This is not the first time this has happened. Nor the second. Or even third. I suspect its not the last.

And I need to purchase another pack of hand sewing needles as the inside of this tomato is holding hostage my last one.

kwik sew 2918, again (and again)

I can't stay away from this pattern.  I know a simple "trace 'em and cut 'em" shorts set would be faster - but definately not any cuter.  And while they're young, I like to go for the cute factor.  Its the pockets.  And the almost 4 year old must. have. pockets. now.  Which, of course, means I must. check. pockets. now when throwing them into the washing machine.

There were two pairs made.  One for the baby and one for the boy. Cute + matchy matchy = almost too cute for me to handle - because I'm the mom and so I'm a wee bit partial. Just a bit.

just a chair

And spray paint!  This chair has been sitting in my garage all winter waiting for me to give it a little TLC.  It was bright yellow and around cheap.  Perfect for throwing in the bathroom for a (more comfortable than the bathroom floor) place to sit (and knit) while the stunt baby is in the bath.

The color is actually a beautiful robins egg blue by Krylon.  I don't have the exact name but the can read "new color!". And it was! Lovely! and fun! to spray paint!  That said, it was a wee bit windy last weekend  and the Weeping Cherry tree is now spotted with this same "new color!"

making it up as i go

I'm probably one of the only people on the planet who hasn't purchased Amy Butler's In Stitches.  But I haven't.  My local library has it but it seems to be taking forever for my reserve to come in. When I found this wonderful sheet at my local thrift shop last week - I couldn't wait any longer.  I'll have to remain the only person in blogland who hasn't made her fabulous lounge pants.

I took my not-so-beautiful-but-the-most-comfortable pair of purchased flannel pj bottoms and traced, cut, and sewed.  Something happened in the tracing process however, and I didn't allow for enough seam allowances and a casing at the waistband.  Lucky for me, I had used the top, finished edge of the sheet at the waistband.  They now fit perfectly and comfortable - with no elastic.  I love them.

Yeah. They need hemming. It was 1 in the morning on Friday night and I needed to get some sleep.

round 2: whoo hoo!

Yep. I got it.  Oooh and she sews through the thick stuff like butter.  Like butter.  And its really not that scarey once you get going.

Oh - and a big thanks to Beki for all her suggestions.  Yep, even though I thought I had the bobbin in correctly - it wasn't.  And even though I fixed the threading issue - the needle was in wrong.

And now I'm off to sew - there's nothing like a new machine to get the creative juices going. Unless its new fabric.

round one: me & the juki

A birthday gift from my husband.  I brought her home, cleaned her up, waited for the FedEx guy to deliver my needles and machine oil, procrastinated - because she's big and scarey, got my nerve up, and she beat me.

First thing, the machine was threaded wrong.  Fixing this should definitely help the breaking the thread issue.  But I can't figure out how to get that bobbin threaded correctly.  The bobbin is in the case, and locked on. But now what? The thread doesn't seem to "pick up" the way my home machine does. The manual is 4 pages - 12 steps. Step three is how to attach the bobbin case. Hold the lever, snap it on.  Yep, the instructions are clearly very detailed.

Have I mentioned before how much I love puzzles?

blanched

Well, not the peas in this picture.  But the bags of peas in my freezer are.  I have always been a big fan of peas but I've never, ever, had them this fresh before.  Like candy.  Even the 17 month old couldn't get enough.  He tasted one in the pick your own garden and that was it- parked himself and tried to find out where to get more.  Peas aren't as easy to find as, say, strawberries or raspberries.

Speaking of raspberries. Black raspberries are just coming in season here.  So after we picked our several pails of peas we headed over to the (mostly underripe) black raspberry patch and began picking.  Of couse, the toddler doesn't understand black vs. red or ripe vs. green.  He, of course, found several bunches of the underripe, red black raspberries and began stuffing them into his face. I really didn't think much of it until I hear him choking.  I actually had to tip him upside down and do the back pat thing. A few fingerswipes later I found the culprit: (several) raspberry hulls.  At home, the gravity of the situation hit me - raspberry hulls have their own tiny prickers.  He's fine, of course. And we'll be picking berries next week to make raspberry jam. How to stop his chubby hands from cramming more berries - and the dreaded hulls - into his mouth?

thirsty?

because you could swing by and we could help you out.

and for awhile, "kids got dolls i don't want." Until I found out the dolls she didn't want were my childhood Cabbage Patch kids. I know I should just let go - but I can't.  And so they will be boxed up and sent to my sister for her daughter.

more nature stuff

I really wish I had something crafty to show - something finished, that is. Maybe I should start the work-in-progress Friday posts? It would, at least, give the illusion that I'm trying hard to keep up on the ever growing things-to-make-and-do list.

But just when I get started on a project big, monstrous thunderstorms move in and leave great big puddles in the front yard. And the mud underneath trees is especially fun to play with.  Apparently its really good for building worm houses. Yes folks, somewhere in there is a worm and a centipede: "rescued" and given a home in "safety."

And bowls filled with mud balls of various sizes.

Not shown: the log painstakingly rolled into a perfect cylindar and then rolled down the driveway.

Also not shown: the disastrous effects of baby destructo.