Baby Afghan

In September one of my dearest friends, Shannon announced that she's pregnant!!! She's the first one in our group of friends to have a baby and it has been so exciting. I knew instantly that I would have to make something awesome for her. I flipped back and forth between a baby blanket and an item of clothing. However, after making the dress I made my niece and seeing how babies grow SO FAST and you don't even really know what size they'll be when they're born, I went with a blanket. Now I didn't want to make just an ordinary pink baby blanket. Oh she's having a girl... I searched around on ravelry, pinterest, etc. looking for some inspiration. I decided on this chevron pattern but wanted some nice colors, not just some lame soft, dusty, baby colors. I went to Joann's and found this beautiful pink. It's Caron Simply Soft in Watermelon. It's so bright but not neon, I just loved it! I opted for an off white, also Caron Simply Soft and Vanna's Baby Yarn in Duckie. I really think they all compliment each other so well.
I'm not very happy with the pictures I got of the blanket so I hope you can at least kind of appreciate how pretty it is. I finished it the night before the shower (procraftination at it's finest) and it was so cloudy the morning of. The yellow isn't as velveeta cheesy looking in real life, I swear!! It's a very soft, baby yellow.
Anyway, Shannon loved it of course!





It was kind of funny too at the shower. These two older ladies were sitting at a table with the book club girls and I (sans Shannon since she had to be shmoozing with the other guests). We were all chatting and somehow it was mentioned that I had made the blanket before the gifts were actually opened. The ladies both started talking about how you don't see many young girls these days knitting, crocheting, quilting, etc. I immediately informed them that there is a craft revolution happening, they just don't know about it! They kind of laughed it off but the other girls backed me up. We told them how much I craft and talked about swaps I've done with other people, etsy, etc. Then after Shannon opened the afghan, her mother in law came over and asked me if it was knit or crochet and where did I learn to do that. I let her know that it was crochet and that my Nana taught me when I was little. I didn't stick with it but I started again about 2 1/2 years ago and haven't been able to stop. She was really impressed as well which really...never gets old! I kind of love that people get this first impression of me (the two ladies were kind of appaled to find out I have a giant skull and graveyard tattoo on my ribs...they asked if I had other ones after seeing the one on my wrist. I don't randomly tell people about it!) and then when they find out that I make things, it all changes.
It just goes to show you, you can't judge a book by it's cover!

Anyways...sorry I've been MIA the last week or so. I'm still adjusting to my new work schedule and was feeling a bit blaaaahh about blogging. If that makes sense?

I hope you love the baby afghan and have an awesome day!


Jamie

Tea Wallet for Mom

My mom saw the little felt heart ornaments I made and she asked if I could make one for her. Of course I would! She asked me last Thursday so after work I went home and while I was rooting through my fabrics I realized that I should make her a tea wallet too. I mean, she's the whole reason I love tea!! I wanted everything to get to her before Valentine's Day though so I had some planning to do...how the hell could I make the heart ornament AND the tea wallet in time to get them to the post office the next day?

Do any of you do this? Make ridiculously unattainable goals for yourself?!?

Anyway, I decided that I would send her one of the ornaments that I had already made to keep for myself and make the tea wallet. It wouldn't take too long and I had a few hours Thursday night after work and a couple hours before work Friday. If you look at the tutorial, I sent her the red heart with the white and pink gingham fabric.

Here's a lil' look at the tea wallet. I like this color combo together, light blue and white flowers with navy blue and white stripes. They both remind me of my mom and look good together so it was win, win. She didn't know I was mailing them to her though. I seriously love randomly mailing things to people when they don't expect it. There is nothing quite like getting a package in the mail!



She received the package on Monday and said it made her day!
I hope you have a great weekend!

Jamie

Fun Fact Friday #7

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When was the first time you were hurt?

Now I realize this question can be interperutted different ways. I am going to describe the first time I was physically hurt...that I remember anyway.

I don't know my exact age, I was under 5 though. We (Mom, Dad, sister Jessie and I) were living in the Double A apartment. To you that means nothing. When I was little we lived in an apartment complex called Kings Village. The apartments were addressed with letters and numbers. The first apartment was AA something...I don't remember the number. The second apartment was V270. See...so we always refer to the first one as the Double A apartment.

Anyway, I was in the back yard on my white and purple big wheel by myself. I have no idea where my mom or Jessie were, I imagine in the apartment. I was just riding along the sidewalk by myself. To my left were the rows of apartments and to my right was the woods. There was a step down in the middle of the side walk. The back yard was on a slight incline so there were steps randomly. I don't know if I conciously decided to or it was by accident by I rode my big wheel down the step. As you can imagine when the front wheel went down and the back wheels were still on the step, my little face smashed into the center of the handle bars. I could taste blood and see a little bit of it on my handle bars. I started crying. I looked to my left and saw a neighbor who I didn't know sitting in her living room looking outside at me. I know she knew I was hurt because she had her sliding glass door open and must have heard me crying and was looking RIGHT at me. I remember thinking that any moment she would get up and come running out to see if I was ok. Instead she turned back to the television. In my little mind I thought "What a bitch!" Well not those words I'm sure, but I definitely remember thinking that it was so mean that she wasn't going to come out to see if I was ok!!!

I don't know if my mom came out to get me or I just went inside. The next part of my memory is that I had one of the little ice packs that my dad used in his lunch box wrapped in a washcloth held on my lip.

When my dad got home, I was laying on the couch and he sat next to me and said that he heard I got hurt today and to let him see my lip. I stuck it out and he said that I would be ok, I would just have even bigger lips for a few days. (I don't know if you've ever noticed from my pictures but I have kind of big lips, my dad does too.) He laughed and I must have looked mad because he said was "just joking kiddo" and kissed me on the head.

It's a little choppy but that's the first time I remember getting hurt.

What about you?!

Jamie

Fun Fact Friday Disclaimer:
I found The Imagination Prompt Generator and loved the idea of writing posts based on its random prompts. Every Friday I will share a lil' something about myself based on these prompts. I see it as a means of sharing a bit more about myself with you! It will be a random topic or question and my responses will be pretty free form and random as well. I'll of course edit for spelling and punctuation but I want to just let it flow for the most part. I hope you enjoy and maybe even join in!

I'm Mad

As you may or may not remember, I participated in the Oh Strumpets Valentine's Day Craft swap. I showed you last week that I sent my partner a few stuffed heart ornaments and bunting, you can see it all here in case you missed them.



Saturday I got an envelope in the mail with a card that had an image smaller than the card itself taped to the front, with two stickers stuck on either side and a bunch stuck to the inside with a random Far Side comic. I can't even use these stickers if I wanted to because they are already used now. The Love pennant is cute. On the post-it-note included my partner said she is "not a crafty person" but hopes I will enjoy the stickers. I guess they are nice to look at. My main issue here...WHY WOULD YOU JOIN A CRAFT SWAP IF YOU ARE NOT A CRAFTY PERSON?!?!?!?!?

Now for the most part I try to keep things positive on this little blog o' mine. I find that in blogland everyone is generally happy and positive...or I should say that's generally the part everyone blogs about. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. There's tons of shit in life that sucks so why put even more energy into writing and posting about it? Just to drag it out...I get it, it's not always a great idea. Today however, I am mad and I am going to talk about it.

I am mad that I spent time, money, my coupons and energy to make those felt heart ornaments. I spent time at Joann's looking for the felt and coordinating fabric, cutting out the stencil, cutting the felt and fabric pieces out, embroidering the back and sewing them together...3 times. I am mad that I spent time in Joann's looking for cute Valentine's Day fabric to make the bunting. I cut out all those triangles, sewed them together, attached them to the bias tape, cut out the felt hearts and stuck them on. I am mad that a few times I even second guessed myself whether I had put enough effort into these crafts for my partner. I'm mad I spent time writing a letter to my partner to include in the package. I'm mad that I looked forward to going to the mailbox every day waiting for my swap package. I am mad that I am now jealous when I look in the Flickr group and see what everyone else got, instead of being happy for them.

I know that when joining swaps there is a risk that you may not get something you like, well made or even anything at all. Of all the swaps I've participated in through other blogs, private and organized ones on Craftster and Swap-bot that's never happened to me though. I always appreciate when someone gives me something hand made. This sucks though. I even feel bad saying that like I'm not allowed to be mad or something. After thinking about it and talking to Jeremy and some twitter pals, I think I'm justified. I got screwed and it sucks. I made some awesome things for someone and she gave me something that looks like it was thrown together 20 minutes before she put it in the mail box.

So...I'm mad and even a little hurt about the whole thing.

Thanks for listening.


Jamie

Happy Valentine's Day!

I saw this print over on Pinterest not too long ago and instantly had to pin it. Jeremy and I are always joking about how we're the most awesome couple we know so it seemed perfect for us! I don't make prints or anything but I decided this would be a cute little embroidery to give him for Valentine's Day.


I stitched it up Sunday while watching some Disney movies. I have no idea where I got this little square frame but isn't it so cute?! It's about 3" x 3", I thought it was the perfect size, not too overwhelming or anything. I will be giving this to him this afternoon. We are having a Valentine's Day lunch together.

Side Note:
Why we had lunch instead of dinner...
I just started working second shift last week. I work from 3pm -11pm and he works from 5am - 5pm (you read that correct, he works 12 hour days and then Saturdays too...he's a lunatic.) He is fast asleep before I even get out of work. At first I was really upset when my boss asked me to switch shifts. I mean it still sucks because I don't see Jeremy as much anymore. I was also upset because I figured I'd be like a vampire and didn't know when the hell I would be able to do some of the things I love. Like go to Joann's, the library, not grocery shop or do laundry at midnight, etc. I figured out a different kind of sleeping pattern though, not the normal wake up, work, then do other life stuff that I've been so used to. I get up around 11am and have a few hours to do whatever I want before work. I can crochet, do laundry, go to the library or shopping all before going to work. Then I get out at 11pm, go home and watch a movie, eat a little something, read and go to sleep. I like being able to get up before work to do stuff and not feel like my whole day is JUST for going to work anymore.

Anyway...
Jeremy had to take a half day off work today to go to the dentist. This all happened yesterday so it fell together nicely. We will be getting lunch after his appointment! I'm stoked because I didn't even think I'd see him.

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day and get to spend it with the ones you love!

Jamie

Movie Monday: The Grey on Date Night

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! My Saturday was pretty busy and Sunday I did a whole lot of nothing which I always love.

I volunteered to work some overtime on Saturday. This meant I had to be at work by 6AM so I could drive around a little golf cart in the warehouse and count pallets. Yup...count pallets. You know those plain whitewood pallets (I'm sure you've seen some awesome things people can do with them on Pinterest). The ones we had to count are different, they are painted blue and they can hold more weight. Every quarter there is an audit to see how many are in the warehouse vs. paid for...or something. It wasn't bad, easy work and I got free lunch out of it. Plus 6 hours of overtime pay.

While at work I texted Jeremy to ask what he wanted to do that night and his response was "Wanna go on a date?" Which of course I said yes to! Isn't he so cute?!

He always works 6-12 on Saturdays so after we both were out, we met at my apartment and napped. Once we woke up and showered we headed out for dinner. We went to Liu's Sushi House which has the most aaahhhmazing sushi!! Seriously, all I talk about the whole time I'm eating is how delicious it is!
We were going to the 9:50pm movie of The Grey but after we ate dinner we had almost 2hours to kill. (We were orignally going to get Hibachi which always takes a while so we gave ourselves lots of time between dinner and the movie. However, the Hibachi place was packed and we didn't want to wait that long to be seated.)

The movie theater we were going to is right next to Cottage Crafters which I convinced Jeremy we could kill lots of time in. Now I don't know if you have one of these near you, there's one in Allentown and then one a few towns over in Easton so I don't know if it's a chain thing or what. If you don't, you are missing out! There are so many awesome things in there. Local people can rent little booths to sell their handmade items in. There is also an entire area of antiques and things on sale. Some of them you can buy right away while others are part of a silent auction that runs for the whole month. If you want to bid on an item that is on silent auction, you are assigned a number and then you write down on the cards attached to each item how much you want to pay for it. At the end of the month, the winner is notified. I've never actually done that but it sure seems like fun! Anyway, they were closed =( There's a hardware store right near there too so Jeremy wanted to go in there and look around. Since I had planned on forcing him to mill around crafts and old crap for an hour, I figured it was only fair that I mill around and look at tools with him for an hour. After we were done there we still had some time so we just sat in the car and talked and watched you tube videos. Have you heard of these Epic Meal Time guys? Someone just told Jeremy about it so we watched some of their videos. He thought it was hilarious, after the 3rd one I was pretty much over it!
Eventually it was time for the movie!


In case you don't know, the movie stars Liam Neeson and the premise is that a bunch of guys who work on an oil rig in Alaska are on a plane headed back to Anchorage when it crashes! Only a handful of them survive the crash but that isn't the end of their problems. A pack of wolves sees them as intruders and are hunting them, trying to pick the men off one by one! Liam Neeson's chracter, Ottway quickly becomes the leader because A. his job on the oil rig was to watch for and kill wolves so he knows a lot about their behavior. And B. he just doesn't give a shit! He's going to do what he needs to do to survive, he is able to keep his calm and focus on what they need like shelter, fire, food, etc. while the others are all in the midst of freaking out. The men realize after a day and one of them being killed by a wolf in the night that they need to start walking. They have no real protection in the hull of the crashed plane and no one is going to find them. They head for the tree line they can see hoping it will give them more protection from the wolves. Well it was one hell of a walk in a freaking blizzard and not all of them even survive that. There is a terrifying wolf chase and once they are in the forrest you can hear the wolves howling all around! Ottway has them start fires around the area they are going to camp in for the night. They also carve big sticks into spears and then tape shotgun shells on the end aka A Wolf Stick haha! Apparently if you are able to jam the stick into the wolf, it will explode? I don't know if that would really work but it was very MacGyver of him! There are some tensions between the men but this night they talk to each other. You know, that touching "we're all probably gonna die" kind of talk; about their families, lives, etc.
The next day they keep walking and they even have to basically tight rope off this giant cliff across a ravine into another part of the forrest. There are more wolf attacks, more fights between the men, more injuries, and a hell of a lot more walking. There was also a theme throughout the movie that the survivors carry the wallets of the dead back to their families. They took them off those who died in the crash and then from each one who died on the journey. At the very, very end Ottway is looking through all the wallets. I got all teary eyed at this part. I mean you just saw these men as big burly, assholes who work on an oil rig. Then you see pictures of them with their kids, kissing their wives, loving their life, etc. and now they're all dead. I won't tell you the very end because I totally recommend this movie but Ottway is faced one on one with the alpha wolf and he does not plan to go down without a fight! He tapes a knife to one hand and some broken bottles to the other one. Baadasss!

It was such a good movie! I was on the edge of my seat almost the whole time. There were even a few times I yelped out loud and grabbed on to Jeremy. I totally recommend it, it was a perfect date!

PS...this couple brought their two kids...and by kids I mean an infant and a little boy who looked about 4 years old!! Who does that?!

Have a great Monday!

Jamie

Vintage Book Garland

A few weeks ago I entered to win this super cute vintage book garland from Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard (shop) over on Whimsical Poppysmic. I was so stoked to find out that I won!


It is sooo long, there are about 100 of those little paper circles. I know because I counted to make sure when I hung them that each loop would be nice and even. The picture in my apartment makes it seem like they blend right into the walls. My walls aren't white, they're more of this off white/very, very pale yellow color. They don't blend in at all though. They look so cute hanging up and they replaced my Christmas bunting perfectly!!


Also...look how cute the return address stamp is!


Thanks so much Chrissy and Janee for this awesome giveaway!

Everyone have an awesome weekend!

Jamie