Things I’m pondering right now:

• Does it hurt my cat’s feelings that I call him “fat butt”?
• Is the name-calling perhaps the reason why he feels compelled to drink out of my water glass?
• What the hell was I thinking when I decided to stitch that zipper in by hand?
• Should I have gone to bed two hours ago?
• Will tonight’s Lost make more sense when I watch it tomorrow than it did while I was sewing while watching it tonight?
• Did that shrimp taste a little funny?
• How is it possible for one 3-foot-tall person to make such a huge mess in such a short amount of time?
• When is my husband going to finish writing that darned email?
• How sick is the dog going to get after eating a half a bag of Easter chocolate (imported German, I might add), including the aluminum wrappers? (I know chocolate is like poison to dogs; I don’t know how she found it and am genuinely concerned about her well being. And ticked that she had to eat the expensive stuff instead of the Cadbury Mini Eggs, which are cheaper and more easily replaced.)
•  Should I start the dishwasher tonight or wait until after breakfast tomorrow?
• Did I turn off everything downstairs?
• Do I have to work out in the morning?
• Where did my daughter hide my checkbook?
• Why can’t I train the cats to go fetch my slippers? (My feet are cold!)
• Can I actually justify buying more fabric?

My folks called me last month to tell me my stepmother was having a mammogram that day after finding a lump in her breast. They were optimistic it was nothing but thought I should know what was going on, just in case.

“Just in case” led to a biopsy, a PET scan, an echocardiogram and — likely next week — a mastectomy. Her oncologist says the outlook is great. There’s nothing to indicate the cancer has spread, and everyone seems ready to get started and get Jo cancer free.

It was only two years ago that one of my dearest friends fought The Big “C” and won, but I have not forgotten the stress of the unknown, the waiting, the healing.  I think it’s prepared me for my stepmother’s journey, although instead of living down the street, she is hundreds of miles away — too far to hug and reassure, but as close as my heart can hold.

I’m still kickin’! Sorry for the bit of a blog break but I’ve got a bit too much on my plate right now and the Internet is always the first thing to get knocked out of my schedule. It’s gotten to the point that I’ve stopped putting things on my to-do list because it’s just stressing me out that I’ve got so much going on. I hope to make a good dent in things in the next few days and will be back soon to share the last Try It! I’ve checked off (and am now addicted to!), the umpteen sewing projects I’ve been working on and my revamped sewing space.

xoxo,
Mary

Here’s the little cupcake dress I finished the other night. OK, mostly finished — it still needs buttons and buttonholes (any suggestions for button color?) but otherwise is done. Oh, wait. I need to rip out the hem and redo it. See how wonky it looks? It’s not just the picture. The hem really is that wonky. That’s what I get for sewing so late.

The dress is a pattern I picked up at the Expo (I can look it up if someone is that interested). Cupcakes are again from Sublime Stitching; I’m really enjoying that book and just embroidery in general. I have lots of ideas for other projects. For the record, I’m still plugging away on my crocheted scarf. I’m determined to have one wearable object, even if it takes a while. The experience has convinced me that I’ll need to sign up for knitting and smocking classes if I want to actually make something I’m willing to show off.

I think this dress will be perfect for all those special events and parties we’ll be hitting when the weather warms up. For now, it’ll be virtual party wear for …

Glitter Text Generator

The Ultimate Blog Party! I’m joining the fun at 5 Minutes for Mom and taking part in this year’s global blog event. I even put up a nice glittery banner just for the party! The Blog Party is a great way to find other cool blogs and also win some pretty nifty prizes. I’ve already found quite a few great reads to add to my Bloglines, plus “run into” a couple of friends whose blogs I already read.

For those who are stopping by for the first time, I’m Mary, the self-professed craft addict. My blog is about a year old and documents my many adventures in crafting — some more successful than others. When I’m not crafting, I’m hanging out with my three kids or spending time with my very cute and tolerant husband (aka Honey).

What’s a party without food? Gotta feed my guests so I’m going to share one of my favorite recipes. It’s actually what I made for dinner last night! I found the recipe for Spicy Chicken Cakes with Horseradish Aioli in Cooking Light magazine last year and it was an instant hit with the fam. That’s no small feat around here, since there are five very picky eaters in this house. I have made a few modifications to the recipe, namely using Ian’s wheat panko breadcrumbs instead of making my own. I also use packaged ground turkey breast instead of grinding my own chicken. Martha Stewart can do everything from scratch if she wants. I have three kids, a husband who works too much and no interest in doing every little thing. We also like our aioli a little hotter, so I add a lot more horseradish. Enjoy!

It’s staying organized that seems to be a challenge for me.

A little more than six months ago, I did a massive purge-and-clean of my craft closet.  Oh, it was so pretty! And I did manage to keep it that way for at least a month. Over time, I fell back into my old habits, namely the “fill a bag and toss it in the closet” method of cleaning my sewing area. I can’t remember the last time I could actually walk into the closet — much less find anything in there.

With all the machine shopping I’ve been doing, I needed to clean my craft area to prepare for using everything. That meant I needed to find the manuals for my old machines (which are headed to Craigslist soon) and no way that was going to happen without doing some real digging. A clean out was the only way to go.

Because I had to spend most of yesterday at home, waiting for both the insurance adjuster* and UPS, I decided it was an ideal day for fixing my mess. I started with pulling out all of my fabric and folding/refolding it, then sorting it (Asian fabrics, silks, linens, corduroy, flannel and everything else by color) and putting it back in the closet. From there, I next went through all the bags, bins and boxes of accumulated stuff, purging and sorting as I went. The last step was putting all my patterns and tracings in their file boxes.

It took all day and  a good part of the evening, but it’s finally done. Again. Here’s hoping it stays that way!

I’ve determined that I don’t need any white serger thread for a good while; apparently I just bought more if I couldn’t find it where I expected it. And I have far more interfacing than I realized. Should be much easier to keep up with now that it’s all in one place.

Oh, and the most ironic find of the day? A book on organizing. Go ahead — laugh. I sure did.

*On my way to the sewing machine store on the other side of town (serger shopping), I got rear ended. Very minor but I’m going to need a new bumper.

Explore more at Wordless Wednesday.

I had the chance today to not only break in my new sewing machine but also a new pattern: the Emmeline apron from Montessori by Hand. I’ve really been eager to do it, but had a tough time finding fabrics in my stash that would work. I easily could have bought any of a number of fabrics but decided that it was best to cull from what I already own. Sometimes, that’s easier said than done.

While I often buy fabrics with coordinates, I rarely buy more than two fabrics for me. It took several tries to find three fabrics that worked together. I think it turned out pretty well:

I’m calling it my Proper & Punky Emmeline. The black-and-white fabric is Michael Miller’s Dandy Damask. I think the polka dot also is from MM, but couldn’t swear to it. The funky red fabric is from Joann’s; I bought it last year with the intention of making a punk-style Valentine’s outfit for Miss L but went in another direction.

Gotta say that I really had fun making this apron. The directions were easy to follow, although I did machine-stitch on the binding/halter straps instead of hand stitching them. Definitely faster, even if it’s not as pretty. I can definitely see wearing this apron on a regular basis (I am right now, actually).

Tomorrow’s another Word-free Wednesday and I’m planning to show a snippet of my current project. It’s quite sweet, if I do say so myself.

In today’s mail, I found a little surprise from my former employer: The proceeds of my retirement plan.

This came rather unexpectedly for two reasons:

1. I cashed out my retirement account when I left the company.

2. I left the company in 1996 — and have moved three times since then.

I’m not one for asking a lot of questions when money just shows up in my mailbox, but given the circumstances thought it best to call the resident expert on retirement plans a.k.a. Honey (who, coincidentally, practices exactly that kind of law).

I’m pretty sure he said it was OK to cash the check, although that was buried in the middle of a lengthy explanation of the hypothetical scenarios that may have led to this little surprise. He’s super smart and great at what he does, but after about two minutes, he starts to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher to me.

Still, it’s good to know that $55 is mine, all mine.

Look what followed me home from the Sewing Expo today:

Just kidding about not telling my husband; he’s actually the one who urged me to buy a new sewing machine. My last two machine purchases were from a big discount retailer. Great for the budget. Less so when it comes to sewing quality. Things started out well with my last Brother sewing machine — purchased about a year ago — but I soon found that it could be … inconsistent. Random thread tension issues that cropped up in the middle of a sewing project. Snapping bobbin threads. The complete unwillingness to sew a buttonhole on an actual garment (but willing to cover every scrap fabric with perfect buttonholes 10 times in a row).

I’ve heard great things about Janomes and the price was right, so I handed over the bank card and drove home with my very first Janome sewing machine. It’s currently on the living room floor, where I sat playing with it while watching the most recent episode of Lost with Honey. It’s so quiet, it didn’t interfere with our viewing experience even a little bit. And it sews like a dream, just so smoothly and perfectly.

Yes, I’m in love.

A friend asked if I could make coordinating half aprons for her little girls. She wanted them to be coordinating and use pink and purple fabric, plus have a pocket big enough for actually using. I was delighted to oblige. The fabrics are from the newest Lakehouse line — just yummy. I’m in a polka dot phase and that seemed to suit the future owners, too. I went for a slightly deeper waistband than I normally do; not sure if I’m as crazy about it as I thought I would be. I can’t wait to see them modeled, but will have to wait since they are destined for a couple of Easter baskets.