Birthday weekend

I think I need to write something today before we get to a 10 day lull. I've had a busy past few days...

My parents got here last Thursday evening. I'd spent the day getting ready, cleaning and fixin' up the guest room for them, and had chili cooking in the crockpot. Friday we went out for lunch, then came home and dropped off Josh and my dad, and my mom and I went out. We hit up TJ Maxx, Restore, and the mall. I found a few things at Restore, and also tried to teach my mom a little bit about thrifting - how you can't put things down, and how you have to learn to browse with one arm, while you hold all your other finds on the other arm. It was interesting, and we both found a few good things. She was pleasantly surprised at my ability to spot higher quality things in the midst of all the crap.

Find of the day was this:

Anyway, by the end of our shopping spree my mom started feeling bad, so instead of going all the way downtown for my birthday dinner, we ate at a local pizza place that's just up the road.

Saturday my brother (Paul) and almost sister-in-law (Marla) came up with her kids. They brought me birthday flowers, a cute owl pot holder/towel set, a new grill (!!!!), and presents for my animals. (A new bed for Belle, that she absolutely loves, and a pack of rawhides for Orion, which he ate in one day.) They also brought food, and Josh lit up the grill immediately and cooked up the fajitas my parents had brought from HEB, and we feasted. Then we all loaded up (well, except my dad) and went to Garvan Gardens to see the lights. There were so. many. people. Luckily we left at like 4:45 and got there right at 5:00 so we got in before it was too bad, but walking through was insane. Plus I had taken Orion and I think that at least 80% of the people we passed had to touch him. I can't even count how many times we got asked, "What kind of dog is that?!" or "What's his name?" At first he enjoyed it because he loves people and attention, but by the end he was tired (it's like a mile walk, maybe a bit more, and he's really not a high-energy type) and pulling me, and ready to get back to the car. Bella (Marla's younger girl) fell asleep in the car on the way back to our house so they loaded up and left. I passed out at 8 because I hadn't gotten too much sleep the past few days, and I think my poor tired, sick parents did too. It was a great day, though, overall.

 Sunday we lazed around the house all day. My parents had already said they would buy us either a new bed or a couch for Christmas, and since no one felt like going couch shopping, (and I refuse to buy one I haven't sat in) we ordered a bed online. It'll be here next Monday, so last night I started prepping the room by moving our current bed into the craft/guest room, and putting the air mattress on the floor in our bedroom. It'll be easier for me to clear out the area, and move the air mattress around and clean under it and stuff over the next couple of days...plus it's a queen size (as opposed to the full size we've been sleeping on for the past 6 years) and the new one is a king, so it's a little easier to estimate the size of the space I need to have cleared out and ready. (Also, in case you're wondering, the air mattress is still set up because after my parents left Josh got sick so he's been sleeping on the air mattress so that I don't get sick too.)

Ok, well, we're about to go eat lunch/dinner and have a few drinks since my entire birthday weekend was a booze-free affair. :) Ciao for now!    

Plans

Well it's been a busy, fun, and exciting holiday weekend, and it's not looking like things are going to slow down anytime soon! My in-laws brought me the table and chairs I wanted (!!!) along with another chair (and ottoman) I completely forgot about asking for. They're both in great condition, but have been sitting in a warehouse for...a few years at least, and have more than their share of dust and mud wasp houses on them. I hope to have at least the table done by Christmas; cleaned, stripped, stained, and sealed. The chair I absolutely love (the style/size are perfect), but since I'm supposed to get a couch in a few weeks, I'm going to wait so that I can pick a similar fabric to re-upholster it with.  

Here's all the chairs in our carport immediately after they unloaded them from the truck:

And you can see part of the table (the leaf is upside down on top of it) in the background of this picture of me after I smashed my phone with a hammer.

It's really gorgeous, I'll take better pictures soon, it's got a lot of detail in it, and it's the perfect size, but for the moment I'm just enjoying spending time with Josh and my mother-in-law. (The men went home Friday.)

Today (which for me, is still Saturday) we went to restore (I KNOW.) where I got three sweaters for re-purposing, and one for wearing. (I have to say, though, I actually have plans to make gifts for everyone this year, and so all these sweater are going to be made into matching accessory sets for various loved ones.) We also went to Michael's, where I got a few more Christmas things (ugghh 50% off), and out to see the Christmas lights at Garvan Gardens. I came home inspired and put up some lights around our front window (on the inside.)

Well, I'm pretty tired from all the adventuring we did today (probably should have worn better shoes for walking at the Gardens, but oh well) so I'm going to leave a few pictures of the lights here and get to bed. I hope everyone has had a great holiday!

31 Days Series: Another hat.

Alright, I know, I've made a lot of hats already. BUT! This one is different. And by different I mostly just mean more complicated. Part of this stems from the fact that it was made from the arms, and didn't have a nice, snug, trim around the bottom like the other hats I've made so far did. (Told you I wasn't going to let a single piece of that sweater go to waste!) This meant I had to come up with a way for it to fit my head without flying off into the wind. Because I started this late last night with no real objective, and without really knowing if it was going to work, I didn't take pictures. I did, however, draw an amazingly accurate picture to show you how to start off if you want to recreate this. (Which I only recommend doing if you have random sweater arms laying around and no other way to use them. Otherwise, just cut your hat pattern from the bottom; it's much easier.)

Like I said, this is constructed from sleeves. Two of them. If you're using a shirt with short sleeves you may be able to skip the second half of this, but in my case I was using the top half of sweater sleeves, so I had to pick my brain and figure out how to finish it off. But we'll get to that in a sec.

Eh, you like that? ...ok, sorry. I tried. Follow the diagram, if you can. First you want to cut the sleeves off, and then open up the seam that closes the arm together. You'll have two pieces that are shaped like the third picture. Cut about an inch off the top (keep in mind; my sleeve pieces were about 8 inches long before I cut that off, so if yours are shorter you may need to cut less. If they're longer, cut some off the bottom too.) Put them right sides together and sew up both sides. Then finish off the top the same way we've done before.

Now you should be left with something like this:

Alright. Here's where it gets hairy.

We're going to add elastic! If you've ever made a skirt with an exposed elastic waistband, then you know where I'm going with this. If not, good luck! (Just kidding. It's not hard, but it's definitely going to test your patience if this is your first go at it.)

Start by cutting a piece of elastic that will fit comfortably around your head; tight enough to stay on, but loose enough to wear for long periods of time without getting a headache. Once you have the elastic cut, measure it, and mark the quarter, half, and three-quarter points on it. Then, sew those points to the corresponding points inside your hat. (Fold the edge over about ¼ inch, and just sew a zig-zag line across the width to keep the elastic in place; see the top picture.)

Now you finish it up by sewing the elastic all the way around the inside of the hat. Use a large zig-zag, and sew the ¼ inch piece of the hat that folded over to the edge of the elastic. It's a little easier if you work in fourths, going from one of the points you already sewed to the next, while keeping the elastic stretched all the way out. (This is the hardest part, and it may take some trial and error, so if you're not comfortable with the process, practice on some scrap fabric first.)

And now you are the proud owner of a scrap hat, that can be worn pulled down over your ears on cold days, and pushed back like a head band inside. :) Woo!

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31 Days Series: Angora sweater accessories

I finished my sweater accessories!! One $3 thrifted angora sweater turned out a hat, a set of leg-warmers, and a pair of gloves! Ready for the breakdown?

Hat.

Again, this is a fairly simple project, but if you need some guidance, Kirsten has an easy to follow step-by-step here.

I was also inspired by her post here to make a few other things and not let a single piece of this gorgeous sweater go to waste! But I did want to change it up a bit. Instead of simple hand warmers, I went all out on gloves. But first, I made leg-warmers! (Which are even easier than the hat!)

For these I simply cut the sleeves off from about half-way down and then sewed the tiniest of hems (about ¼ inch) since it won't be seen anyway. The bottom part will be tucked into boots. :)

And last but certainly not least, the gloves! I really wanted them to be comfortable and easy to wear, but also to look nice. I chose to use my alpaca gloves as a pattern. I half traced/half free-handed a simple two-piece pattern based on those gloves.

I cut the thumb part out from the bottom of the sweater (next to wear the hat came from) and the hand piece from the top to cut down on the amount of seams I would have to sew. (I didn't take a picture of how I cut the hand part, so I used my super-professional photo-shop skills to draw it out for you.)

To make the gloves you put the pieces together right sides in, and sew the side that will be on the outside of your hand closed. Then, you sew the thumb part to the other side, starting about an inch below the top edge. Sew half of the thumb piece to one side, and the other half to the other side. Then, sew the rest of the front and back together. (You should have approximately one inch on top, which will be between your pointer finger and thumb when you wear these, and two to three inches below the thumb part, depending on how long your gloves are going to be.)

Repeat for the other glove and you're done! Cute matching accessories, all from one cheap sweater!

Personally I still have a little bit of sweater left so I might make something else...just not too sure what yet. :)
And if you have any trouble understanding anything, let me know and I'll try to clear it up! I'm not the best at explaining things in detail. I would make a horrible teacher.

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