Herbert, the 5-eyed monster

I made another sock monster today. We named this one "Herbert." (They all get names; Matt usually helps me with that part.)

Herbert is a working-man (see, he's wearing overalls). He is a technician at the local nuclear power plant. One day, about five years ago, an unfortunate accident permanently affected poor Herbert. He used to have 10 eyes, but now has only 5. He manages to get along pretty well, and has a uniquely happy outlook on life now.

Herbert's arms are posable. I filled them with pipe cleaners (oh, wait, they're called "chenille stems" now) along with the normal fiber-fill. His suspenders/overalls are made from felt ribbons, and beads, and are removable. His eyes are buttons. Because of the buttons, beads, and sharp chenille stems, Herbert is meant for an adult or older child.

Herbert will be looking for an adoptive parent this weekend at Gateway's women's retreat silent auction. I hope he generates good revenue to fund scholarships for next year!

Links: Random Things I'm Liking

Just a few random things I've been appreciating over the past few days:

• Brother's All-natural freeze dried fruit. Available at Costco. No sugar added, just real fruit that's been freeze-dried. The apples are a bit sweeter than I'd really like, but they are tasty. Pears & the combo pack of bananas & apples are better. Good as a snack.
• Sock-pig pattern. I think I need to go buy a water-football and some chenille stems so I can make one of these.
• Great video about living our dreams, etc. (not preachy at all - just a great story). This was shown at the conference I attended last week.
• Chick-Fil-A. They were a sponsor at the conference. I'm bummed that I misunderstood the guy handing out the lunch options and didn't take the chance to try the new spicy chicken sandwich. I may have to stop by a Chick-Fil-A here in Austin this week to see if this new item has hit our market yet.

More sock monsters

My friend Lisa is working with our church's women's retreat again this year. Lisa works with the silent auction part, which raises funds for scholarships for those who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend. She asked me last night if I might contribute a few Sock Monsters to the auction. We looked thru my back-stock and selected several which will hopefully find adoptive families this weekend.

So, if you happen to be a Gateway woman going to the retreat this weekend, please look & bid! Great gift ideas for your kids, nieces or nephews (providing they're older than ~4 due to small parts). Also a fun idea for coworkers as cube decor!

This inspired me, so I pulled out my supplies again (haven't made any in months) and whipped up two new Sock Monsters today. I think the second will go to the Silent Auction, but the first one just might need to stay here. :) Still deciding...

Here is Natasha, my first ever Sock Elephant!

I was inspired by (but did not use the pattern from) pics here.


Updated: By the way, the vest is definitely a homage to Babar (who would wear a 3-piece suit, I know, but a vest is a good start).

Natasha is sporting a spiffy blue felt vest!

















This little guy still needs a name. He's made from a baby-sized sock, so he's pretty tiny. He has a key-ring in his head, so he could be hung from a child's bookbag.

The sock had Hello Kitty designs, which wrap his legs.
















Update: We decided this little guy's name is Keynan. I haven't come up with a back-story on him yet.

More bags

Yesterday & today (before I head out to California tomorrow for the Catalyst West conference), I squeezed in some time sewing. I made two bags.*


The bag to the left is one I created myself, roughly based on a super cute bag that Steve & Sara gave me for Christmas. I'd been using that other bag daily, so I knew the style worked for me! I like this colorway a lot - good thing because I have enough fabric to make 3 more (hmmm... gift idea...)! It's a simple tote bag with a button-closure and fully-lined interior. It has pockets to hold a pen, cell phone, and checkbook. This project probably took about 2-3 hours for me to finish, mostly because I had to make it up as I went along.

The fabrics are almost entirely from the Natural Effects line from Marcus fabrics, purchased at Creations in Kerrville.







The bag to the right is from a McCalls pattern (#5822, which I bought for just $.99 at JoAnn - gotta love sales!). It is a fully-lined bag with two interior pockets and one exterior pocket. It has a zipper on the top and two long handles. This is the small size bag (the pattern has medium & large also). The fabrics are all cheap-o fabrics from JoAnn (40% off this week, so I figured it was good fabric to use for a project that I really didn't expect to turn out). I'm quite pleased with this project! I wish I'd done the medium size, though I was able to fit almost all of my essentials for my flight tomorrow (other than headphones & a book) into the bag.

I modified this slightly from the original pattern - notably using fusible interfacing & quilt batting rather than "buckram" (whatever in the world that is!) and fusible fleece. I also modified the top binding, doing it in double-fold style (like I would with a quilt). Otherwise, the pattern was easy enough for a beginner like me to follow. Don't look too closely, or I'm sure you'll see errors - but it seems to hold together and is pretty cute, I think!

*Technically, I made three bags, but the third turned out so badly I didn't photograph it. Trust me: you do not want to make the "grab bag" free pattern from http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/. The directions are hard to follow and the end result is anything but good (messy seams, odd size, tough to hold, etc.). Oh well, call that a learning experience!

Accountability April Update

It's past the middle of April, so here's an update of how I'm doing with my April-resolutions. I hope the others who are trying this are doing well at theirs!

Soda:
I can count how many times I've had sugary soda since April 6th. So, this resolution is going well! I've had it twice at Rudy's, twice at the Round Rock Express, and twice while doing home improvement. And, three of those were Sprite, which at least is caffeine free. I'm feeling just fine without it. In fact, when I've had a glass of Sprite since, I've noticed severe heartburn afterward. There's good motivation to not drink it anymore...

I haven't bought any soda for myself to keep around the house (just stuff Matt likes). I've filled the fridge with a pitcher of homemade tea, lots of nalgene bottles of water, and also grape juice, so I'm doing fairly well at avoiding my urges to consume mountain dew while at home.

Rudy's BBQ and the Express games are my two weak points - Rudy's because they have Mello Yello on tap (yum!) and the Express because it's cheaper to refill one of our plastic cups with soda than it is to buy a bottle of water, and they don't sell unsweet tea. Oh well... I've been sneaking in a bottle of water and I think that's fine (the people around us often bring in coolers, so I don't think anybody can complain about a single bottle of water).

Mail Sorting:
I got caught up, but have slipped behind on this again. I think that's because Matt is picking up the mail these days. He brings it in and sets it down - where I've been trying to sort it immediately. This really is just a bad excuse. I need to do better about that. I've made a mail sorting station near the recyling bin, which I like. We used to keep the mail in the dining room, which made the house look cluttered from the front door. Hiding the mail near the kitchen seems to work better for me.

Other Things
It wasn't a specific goal for April, but I would like to report that our house is cleaner and less cluttered right now than at any point thus far in our marriage! (Other than our desks...) Today or tomorrow, I'll be taking a huge load of stuff to the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Feels nice to have fewer piles around the house.

And, we're virtually finished with our bathroom re-do project. I need to caulk a bit today, then Matt will seal the stone later this week. After that, all that's left are a tiny touch up of paint, hanging art, and installing cabinet handles. YAY!!!

My first bag

I think this is the first sewing project I've made for myself that I may not be embarrassed to take out of the house! It's a bag - fully lined with a zipper.

Pattern is from Simplicity (#2685 - on sale for $.99 at JoAnn today)

Fabric is from Amy Butler - purchased in Kerrville, Texas.

I think this is the first time I've sewn with interfacing without help (I cheated and used fusible -- since my prior attempt to use sew-in failed miserably). It's also the very first time I've sewn a zipper. The zipper isn't perfect, but it will work well as an inside pocket. Unfortunately, I got the lining fabric from my stash, and ran out without enough for the pocket - so you can see a bit of the floral scrap I used. At least that's on the inside.

Here's the bag (sitting in the nice afternoon sun on this gorgeous Good Friday in Austin, Texas).















Close-up of the pocket with the zipper. I'm so proud of it. :)

Look Ma, No Holes!

Drywall repair / installation people were at our house today, and patched up the holes after our electrical work. The kitchen looks so much bigger now that the big box-light and the resulting hole from removing it is gone.

Next decision will be what kind of lights to hang over the island. We're considering blown-glass pendants.

(The color is a bit off in this photo, since the mud/texture is still curing.)

We're still debating what to do about the popcorn texture throughout the house. Messy project!

Accountability April

My friend Lisa and her blogging friend Karina have launched a concept called Accountability April. This sounds good to me, so I decided to join.

It sounds like Karina wondered just how many people make a New Year's resolution to do something great or change something great, but see it falter a few months (or weeks!) later. They now invite others who have a goal which can be accomplished -- or kick-started -- in a month to join them in April.

Learn more about it on either of their blogs.

I started a goal about a month ago, and did great for about 2 weeks, but have almost completely lost it recently. I realized just how much sugary soda* I drink each day, and I want to stop that. So, my goal is to choose ice water, unsweetened tea (yum!), coffee (lightly sweetened with splenda) or juice instead of sugary sodas of any variety.

I'm trying to get back into this now, though I did have a Mello Yello at Rudy's yesterday. I think this is a realistic life-change that I can make, which will be good for me.

I also want to get back into another goal I made a few months back - to sort the mail every day and not let it pile up. I did well on this for a while, but home-improvement and rocket-building projects got me out of the habit. I need to sort the mail into piles:

• Matt to look at
• Coupons/Ads/Magazines we might look at/use
• To shred

Everything else needs to go into the recycling bin right away. (And shredding could happen every day, or at least once a week.)

These aren't exactly revolutionary goals to save the world, but they are goals that will improve my life and our home environment. If you'd like to join us, post a comment on either Lisa or Karina's blog and, if you're on twitter, follow us there. My twitter feed is linked at the right.

*I drink mostly Mountain Dew these days. I've found the taste of Dr. Pepper revolting since I got my gallbladder out. I can't stand Coke or Pepsi. So, it's really only eliminating one sweet liquid - but it will be a challenge.

Oh, and I give myself permission to not start this until Saturday!!! Getting thru the next 2 days (my last days before sabbatical) will be tough enough as it is!