Sewing With a Pattern

The time has come for me to make masks for the family.  I was told today that starting next Monday I am being mandated to wear a mask at work.  I get it! I really do.  I work in an office all by myself, but must still wear one unless I'm eating lunch.  Seriously, they had to say in the email "unless you're eating lunch."   I have so much to say about that statement, but I just have to remember that is why McDonald's coffee cups have to say Caution Hot!

I can sew...somewhat... OK, straight lines and primitive dolls.  I have never sewn anything with a pattern piece per se.  I have watched multiple videos and gotten several mask patterns at my fingertips.  I will be trying several different styles and sizes because Bill is a big guy with a big long head.  Don't tell him I said that! LOL. My daughter is going back to work tomorrow and she to has to wear masks.  So, everything craft wise will be on hold until I make some.

So wish me luck and check back to see what odd shaped things I come up with. :-)

Happy Halloween to Me

I swore to myself I would get an earlier start on my fall/Halloween items this year.  That way I can get an earlier start on my Santa's and snowmen too.  I know I know... most crafters are a season ahead.  I just haven't been able to do that.  I like crafting fall items in fall and Christmas at Christmas.  To be honest my crafting is normally for fun not profit since I have a full time job.  I won't say I don't sell things, but I just don't go overboard and stress myself out.  

Back to what I was saying about getting an early start.  Today I received my first shipment of Halloween goodies.  I normally don't decorate with Halloween unless I make stuff that doesn't sell or doesn't sell right away.  Secretly though I love the vintage looking Halloween stuff.  You know the old blow mold figures and paper mache JOL's are my favorite. That being said I LOVE to paint them too.  But I also like my plain old pumpkins for fall too.  I will have some of those on the way in a few weeks.  I have to space out my spending. LOL.  I'm going a little hog wild for Halloween stuff. By visiting tonight you will get a sneak peek at what I will be working on.  BTW, I'm so excited to work on these that I took a couple vacation days Mid-May to paint.  :-)

I came home from work to find my box. Ready set cut the tape!

A box full of paper... LOL

So here are some of my new items...

This guy didn't last long last year.

This one says TRICK on one side and TREAT on the other.

This is one I haven't done before.  If you look close there are small witches around the base.

I thought this one was kinda cute with the scarecrow.  I haven't done one like this either.

I love this witch.  My son says I have to add a mole to her when I paint her.

A witch and cauldron.  Also new this year.

Of course JOL's.  I will have 3 different sizes this year.  I will also have plain pumpkins like this that I may make into pails.

Can you see why I'm so excited?!?!?!

Update from last week... My daughter made dinner once for herself and brother 1 time since I was working 2nd shift.  She claims she cleaned up her room, but I don't see much of a difference.  She has OCD, but not the neat and clean OCD.  She is like those people you see on the TV show "Hoarders: Buried Alive"  She gets overwhelmed and doesn't know where to start so she doesn't do anything.  I can't help her because I just want to throw stuff away, but it has special meaning to her and she has to look at it and touch it. Although since working her OCD has gotten better.  I know that's hard to believe, but it was bad bad.  She is on medication and sees her doctor regularly to keep it under control.  

Hopefully now that I'm back on 1st shift I can post a little more.  I did just finish a project and need to start a couple for some customers.  So, I will keep you updated.

New Project

Last week I started to get a little overwhelmed and anxious so I headed to my studio aka my basement.  I don't have a fancy schmancy studio.  I have a space in my basement just for me and my crafting stuff.  According to Bill I have lots of it.  Is there really such a thing? I think not!  I LOVE to do too many different kinds of crafts so I have stuff. LOL.  OK, back to what I was saying.  I went to my studio and decided to clean up my space.  Believe it or not that is therapeutic for me.  As I was down there I was trying to decide what to work on next.  I have been having a really hard time getting into crafting.  Just not feeling it.  I normally do a lot more painting of sheep and bunnies, but I had no desire.

I was hoping by cleaning up I would be inspired and I was.  I looked in my tub of wool and saw my frame.  Yep. It is wool hooking time.  Am I good at it? No! Do I enjoy it? Yes! LOL. I pulled out some foundation linen that was really cut weird from other projects and decided to square it up.  I now have 2 ok sizes of things I could make with it.

I like the look of shapes and geometric things.  So I decided I would make a small runner with odds and ends of wool I have.  I even hand cut some black for my border.  I have really been thinking hard about getting a wool cutter, but I'm not sure I would use it that much.  So, for now my rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat with work.

I took and dumped some of my wool in a bag to pull from.  Um, yeah I will need a lot more because I don't want to keep using the same colors.  BTW, this is really hard to be spontaneous with color  when you are OCD a bit. I still find myself planning the colors.

This is as far as I have gotten since last night.  I am pretty slow at hooking.  But that's ok.  It doesn't have to be done right away.  What's funny is I always seem to start a wool project when I am about to start 2nd shift at work.  Starting Monday I will be working 2nd shift for a week to cover for a lady on vacation.  It isn't you normal because the hours stink.  I will go in at 4pm and work until it's done.  Recently it has been between 2am and 3am because I work in food production.  We are having a hard time keeping up with the demand.  Yes that's good in some ways, but bad in others.

I think it's time to go cut some more wool.  You'd think I'd learn to make an arm guard for my frame, but no.  I prefer the cut up arm look.  

Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you soon.

P.S. If you read my last post my daughter has decided to "self quarantine" for the next week.  The anxiety of wearing a mask and being overwhelmed at work took it's tole on her.  She claims she will be cleaning her room and cooking twice this week.  I'll keep you updated if this really happens or not. LOL.

Ham and Egg Burritos

Tonight I had all intentions of making dinner.  I had leftover ham from Easter that needed used up.  I didn't want scalloped potatoes or cheesy potatoes, well, ok I couldn't because I used up all my potatoes when I made mashed potatoes on Tuesday.  I've been looking up recipes of what I could do with it.  I finally decided on ham and egg burritos for the freezer.  I had some brown eggs from a friend to use.  Speaking of eggs, I went to the local grocery store and their eggs ranged from $2.99 to almost $5 a dozen. Holy cow!  I about fainted.  

Anyway, my plan got cancelled because my daughter came home from work upset.  If you'll remember she is mentally disabled.  She is a high functioning autistic, has OCD, anxiety, and a non-verbal learning disability and works as a cashier at a local farm store Rural King.  This whole virus thing has her on edge especially at work.  She doesn't understand why people are coming into the store for non-essential items.  She says the lines never let up and now the company has decided NOT to limit the amount of people in the store at once.  They are already short on cashiers, but 2 have self quarantined themselves and made them even shorter.   Needless to say she is a mess and was crying when she came in the door.  She said she needed a cheeseburger so off we went to the Wendy's drive thru for a cheeseburger.

Our little excursion still didn't help the fact I needed to use that stuff up. So, I came home and looked up a few recipes and concocted my own  filling.  I don't know what has gotten into me lately, but I've been having the urge to cook and bake.  NO I'm not nesting. If I am some doctor is going to get sued. LOL.

What I used:

10 eggs

2 TBSP of sour cream

1/4 cup onion

2 cups of ham

salt and pepper

Shredded cheddar cheese

8 8"burrito wraps

I would use less because I had extra filling. I mixed up everything in a bowl then poured it into by cast iron skillet that I had melted butter in.  I cooked it up just until the eggs were set, but not over cooked.  I put them on a plate to cool a little.  Then I took a wrap put a tablespoon of sour cream on it then put the filling in the middle with a little cheese on top.  Then I rolled up the burrito.  One of the recipes I found said to wrap them in parchment paper then put them in a freezer bag and freeze them.  They said they will last 1 month.

That being said I bought my first roll of parchment paper. EVER... awhile back and opened it for this occasion. LOL.   I also bought a container of yeast at the bulk food store for more bread baking. Nothing like a fresh loaf of bread. Mmmmm.

BTW I posted this recipe in case I want to make them again. :-) 

I will leave you with this photo.  If there are mistakes blame it on Oreo.  He is too big to be a lap dog, but he insisted on sitting on my lap while I typed.  He is a little mad that I'm not playing ball and paying attention to him this evening. 

Happy Monday

It's the day after Easter and it is cool and very windy here at the Homestead.  We have had some beautiful weather followed by some downright cold weather.  My sinuses are going crazy.  I have been battling a headache since Friday and the right side of my face is a bit swollen.  But I will carry on and keep on crafting even though I'm having a little difficulty seeing to thread my needle due to my headache.

Yesterday I decided to try out my wood burning tool I bought years ago.  It is by Darice and well, if I continue to do it I need a better one.  The tip I used got to hot and bent. I only burnt my finger index finger once. LOL.  I managed to freehand draw and trace "burn" the lines of it then paint it.  I have a bunch of cutting boards I bought because I was going to attach my other projects to them.  Well, you can see I didn't do that, so I painted one up and gave it a try.  

Today I took  a friend's advice on my strawberries and used seed beads on them to give them a different look.  You remember the wool strawberry tutorial  I did a couple weeks ago.  I finally got around to finishing them.  Let me just say I am very OCD and it is hard to put the beads all willy nilly on them.  LOLOL.

Let's put them together...

I also finished up my wool penny runner by putting a backing on it and blanket stitched around it.  It feels good to get some odds and ends of things finished up.  I have a couple quilt tops that MAYBE I will get to.  But with the nice weather I don't like to stay inside.  I'd rather be in my flower beds and spending time on my porch.

  You know even though I am still working I am finding more time to bake at home too during this stay at home order.  I've made pumpkin gingerbread bread using this recipe.  It was very moist and gingerbready.  Probably not a word, but it was so good.

Then I tried a no knead rosemary bread made in my Dutch oven.  Really easy and good.  The outside was a crispy crust while the inside was moist.  Bill and Bailey (my son) loved it too.  Bill even said it was better than the herb bread we buy at a local Amish store. Maybe he was fibbing, but I don't care it makes me feel good. LOL.

Well, that's all I've been into last week.  Hopefully this week I will get really motivated.  Bill was forced back to work on 2nd shift even though he has been working 1st shift for 9 years at this company.  They originally wanted him on 3rd shift but he just can't sleep during the day.  He is to light of a sleeper.  So, tonight was his first night back in 3 weeks. He already called me once and said the time was dragging.  This isn't convenient for us since I work 1st shift, but at least he is back to work and we will do whatever it takes to get through it. 

Spring has Sprung

The only place I go is work and home.  Though last week my daughter needed to go to the grocery store so we went there.  No, she doesn't drive if you'll remember because of her mental disabilities.  Other than that I have been nowhere and it is great! lol.  Most people are going crazy staying home, but not me.  Though by the time the salon opens I will have silver strands in my hair.  I didn't want to go silver yet, but I won't be the only one. My roots are already an inch or more. eek!  

Yesterday was gorgeous around here.  So, I was up and working by 9am.  I just needed to go out into the fresh air and get dirty.  I cleaned up the flower beds, which I'm thoroughly excited about because I planted a bunch of perennials last year.  Most of them are coming up.  I know one specifically didn't make it, but I'll wait and see a little longer.  The good thing is the greenhouses will remain open during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.  I can still get my fix. 

The daffodils are blooming!!!!

I am moving a couple of decor things around this year.  I need some new looks in the beds.

I see some green peeking out of the mulch.  Woot woot!  It is still too early for fresh mulch yet.  I want my plants to be up a bit higher.

No laughing.  This is the top of a tomato cage I cut off from last year when I made my rope beehive.  The pail is from a citronella candle Bill and I used up.  I think it is calling for a flower after I drill some holes for drainage.

I also did a bunch of rock raking out of the dirt so I can plant grass.  It is time here in Ohio to do that and I have plenty to do after the backyard fiasco last year.  More on the backyard project later.  My body is sore and I even got sunburned yesterday.  But it is a good feeling to get quite a bit done outside.  For me it is never ending working in my beds, but I so enjoy it.  I need to keep my eye on Craigslist for plants because that is where I got some really cheap ones last year.  I also need to split my hostas because my Mom asked for some last year and I never got her any.  I figure I can still go to their house and plant them next weekend for Easter since I will not be going in their house to eat Easter dinner with them.  I am still an essential worker as are my kids and I would not want to expose them to anything if any of us picked it up. 

I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy.  See you soon.