Seussian Piano - Finished Piece

Someone asked for a picture of the finished Seussian piano, and I realized that I DO have one.  I tried to post it in the comments on the Seussian Piano post, but alas, I am falling behind in my blogger knowledge so I couldn't do it.  Hope this picture helps. As for the piano, I had intended to paint a black line around the white, and paint foot pedals as well, but I ran out of time.  I made the keys by googling a picture of a piano keyboard and copying that design with black and white duct tape.  Hope this picture helps!

Random Questions...

1. What the hell is with those teeny, tiny front pockets they now put in jeans?  Even if you are the owner of a pair of very small hands, you can only get, at most, half of your fingers in there, so just forget about carrying some cash or a shopping list in there.  Are people actually THAT fearful of getting the dreaded "pocket lines" across their upper thighs?  The only thing worse than this type of pocket is a completely fake pocket.

2.  When you die and your spirit leaves the physical world, and you go on to live in the afterlife, I've heard people speculating that you can present yourself as whatever age most appeals to you.  If this is so, I think I'd choose to be 28, but my big question is:  If I chose 28, does that mean I have to sport the hairstyle and clothes I wore when I was 28, or can I mix and match decades?  I'm not quite sure I want to get stuck wearing what I wore in the 90s for the rest of eternity.

3.  At the time of this writing, QVC is currently selling, for $28.49, a device that reaches for the toilet paper when you can't reach for it yourself.  Why is this even necessary?  If you have limited mobility, isn't it still easier to just remove the roll of toilet paper from the holder and put it in an accessible location before you sit down?  In my humble opinion, you still can't beat opposable digits. 

Gratitude... In the Moment

I am totally going for this living in the moment thing.  Living in the moment, gratitude, connecting to source energy, etc, etc. I get it, and I try to do it.  So, here I am in the beginning of January and I thought to myself, instead of waiting for the perfect photo taking opportunity, I'll just take photos of whatever appeals to me RIGHT NOW.  So this afternoon, when I was about to head out to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner, I grabbed my phone, walked into the yard and found a few interesting things to take pictures of. The picture above is moss growing on a rock on the side of our driveway.  

I know people who hate moss, but I love it.  It's like outdoor carpeting.  Moss doesn't love our summer weather, but in cool and rainy seasons, it looks great.  Since we've so far had a mild but rainy winter, the moss is loving it out there.   Check out this picture below... more moss:

I was happy to see that my pot of thyme is still looking good.  I should have used it in the chicken soup I made last week, but I didn't even think to check it - I just assumed it was dead for the season.

And then I found this marvel, right there on the ground. 

...and now I'm thinking, if a bird can make this amazing piece of fabric, basically, out of twigs and string and found objects and she has just a BEAK and not even opposable digits...

 ...then I can certainly do whatever I want with my life, can't I?

The case for loving January...

Happy New Year - would you believe me if I said that I like January?   A few weeks ago, I saw a post on facebook describing how Winter is really a nurturing season, we really just need to see it as such.  Winter is kind, it said. It showed a graphic of a large oak tree under which were three little burrows.  A fox was curled up in one, a bear in the other, and the third contained a seated young woman reading a book. Winter is nurturing it said, and I thought yes, yes it is. The post described winter as a time to recharge oneself, to look inward, to rest and rejuvenate so that in the spring one would be ready to burst forth with renewed energy into new realms… after a good winter, one would be ready to grow.  How can you be energized for the new if you don’t rest first?  I like the quietness of January… the cleanliness; I like how your surroundings look clean and uncluttered after putting away all those Christmas decorations.  I like getting back to just what’s essential.  

I believe that January is a time for decluttering your environment and your mind.  We all know about actual, physical spring cleaning, but the mental cleaning and pruning is always underrated. January is the perfect time for you to inspect the plants of your life prune and them carefully.  Dig up the bulbs that you’ve mentally planted, cut away the dead bits and make room for new, healthy growth.  

Young people, just like new gardeners, have only a vague idea of what they should grow in their gardens.  They want to keep everything - all of their plants.  They look to accumulate, fill their gardens with abundance… they want to save and stockpile for the future. They have no idea what will grow in their gardens so they try a little of everything, and there is nothing wrong with that.  When we get older, however, we become more discerning.  For example, you may accept the fact that you’re no good with most roses, but you love peonies, and they love you.  Why fight with the roses when they are clearly not your thing?  As a more seasoned gardener, you see that your space is not infinite and you realize that you need to cut out the bits and pieces that don’t really serve you.  You don’t mind the pruning; it has become easier.  You see beauty in the lovely, uncluttered space.  In January, we can look at our lives like the seasoned gardener looks at his garden.  You ask yourself, why should I hold onto things that make me sad?  I don’t need a clutter of abundance when there is such beauty in the empty space.  When I clear out my heart and mind and space, I make room for new things to grow.  Like a gardener who has pruned and weeded well, I’ve made space for new possibilities and it is indeed, beautiful.  Thank you, Winter, for this gift. 

Additional Fabric for Queen of Hearts Costume

When I last posted, I had just purchased a jacket and two pieces of fabric for my Queen of Hearts costume from Savers.  This past weekend, I went to Joann Fabric and Craft store.  I knew I wanted a black and white checked fabric.  I found one with alternating squares of black and white, but that looked too much like a flag on a car racing track.  Then I found this - diamond checks.  I thought I might use it for the large collar of her dress, and maybe some highlights on other areas. PERFECT.  I bought 3 yards of it.  I checked out the Valentine's Day fabric, but nothing really spoke to me.  Then I found this lovely photographic roses print.  This is perfect for the Queen of Hearts, right?  I mean, all that talk about painting the roses red, etc.  I got three yards of this, also.  I seriously had no idea how I was going to use these prints, but I figured I could decide at home. 

Back at the ranch, (so to speak) I knew that I wanted to remove the sleeves on the blazer, so I did that right away.  I was left with this: 

Although the jacket is lined, it was pretty easy to take the sleeves and lining off with a seam ripper.  I think I'll have to cut the shoulders back a little bit and make the arm holes a little bigger to accommodate the puffy sleeves I have in mind.  I thought about the checks for the collar and now I can't decide if that will be too busy of a print next to the face, especially with the roses print thrown in there.  I'm thinking of going with a big white collar and maybe making a piping around the edge of the collar in the checked print.  To get a feel for how all of this would look, I decided to lay the fabric out on a flat surface so I could picture it better.  

Here's my plain red, alternating with the roses print.  Then I decided maybe I can use the checked fabric as a belt highlight along the waistline.  There must be a proper name for that, but I don't know what it is.  (I definitely didn't need 3 yards of the checked print, but oh well.  See below:

I liked the checks in that spot, but it seemed a little too busy with the brocade weave of the plain red.  I added some black in between... (which is actually not fabric, but a t-shirt dress I had hanging around - I'll have to buy the black fabric).  When I added the black, I liked it a lot better.  I also put the end of the roses print under the black jacket to simulate puffed sleeves.  NOW, it's kind of coming together...

I still have the pink fabric (tablecloth) from Savers.  I'm thinking it might look good cut into heart shapes and sewn in a line down the black strips of fabric in the skirt.  Maybe I can add one strip of black with pink hearts down the sleeves, too, to bring the pink up to the top half of the outfit as well.  I'm feeling encouraged to continue this project.  So now I need to buy a few yards of black fabric and some white for the collar.  Oh, and a bit of iron on interfacing to stiffen the collar and to iron on the back of the pink for when I cut out the hearts.  Hoping to  make some more progress by the end of this coming weekend.  Wish me luck! 

Queen of Hearts Costume from Thrift Store Finds

Just when I've been floundering around for a creative challenge, Halloween arrives! Well, it's not halloween for another month and a half, but this is the season of prepping for Halloween.  A few weeks ago I said to my husband, "well, it's almost time for Halloween prep" and he looked at me like I was insane.  We live on a private road with 3 houses and practically no one sees the front of our house so he knew I was not talking about decorating the outside of the house.  But I digress... (as usual) 

I'm excited because I'm going to a Halloween party.  I'm not into gory, gross Halloween, (I'll pass on the rubber face masks of zombies and the fake blood everywhere) but I love making costumes and getting dressed up.  I've been tossing around a few costume ideas and this weekend I settled on the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.   

There are LOADS of costume and make-up ideas on Pinterest for the Q of H. There ARE really nice costumes you can buy, but I like the challenge of making one myself.  In the past, I've gone to the fabric store, picked out a pattern and fabric and made my costume that way, but that method can be QUITE expensive.  AND time consuming.  Plus, I'm just not into the nitty gritty details of sewing a costume from scratch.  And my sewing machine has become temperamental. So this morning, I took a trip to the local Savers (for those of you not in this area, it's a thrift store chain) to see what I could find to fit my costume goal.  

When you start with pre-made pieces you have to be open to different options.  You can't go in there looking for a very specific thing because it's quite likely you won't find it, but you WILL find something that will work. The most important piece I needed was a top in either red, white, black or pink.  I needed a base to sew the skirt onto - something that could attach a skirt to and I could tailor to fit me.

I found a few options:

A corduroy stretch blazer from Loft.  I liked it, but I wasn't sure the buttons in the front would work.  Plus, it was not really red, but a kind of plum-ish red. And it wasn't long enough for me to attach a skirt and have it hit me in the right spot.  AND the stretch might be a problem if I sewed a lot of trim or embellishments to it.   

A short, brocade shirt from Forever 21.  I liked the brocade on this, but while it was appealing, it was also sort of a drawback.  It was black and white with silver and white seed beads on it, the print was a little bit geometric and I thought it would detract from the hearts theme.  Plus, this was borderline crop-top, and while it had a zipper in the back that would allow for me to custom fit it, it would again be really short in the end, creating an empire waist dress.  Because of those two cons, this one was out. 

A stretchy front zip jacket in red. This one would have worked, but it was XL, and I want the top of my costume to be fitted so this would have required a lot of alterations.  More importantly, it just didn't excite me.  Gotta have some excitement. 

A few different vests in grey. These were options, but one had a modern print to the grey fabric, and both were too short for me to make their buttons work.  Out. 

The above Lord and Taylor, linen jacket in black with the FABULOUS buttons. ($7.99) I was totally attracted to this jacket because of the buttons.  They're was made me notice it on the rack.  When I looked at it, I noticed - hummm, nice and long, so even though it has buttons, I can make my dress a drop waist dress if I want to, and the buttons will work.  There are SO many buttons, it will be secure enough for me to wear without an additional shirt underneath if I want.  It does NOT stretch, which will be a plus when sewing on embellishments, and it is pretty much my size. I scooped it up.  

I got a fabulous red curtain/tablecloth (for $2.99) and a pink tablecloth (also $2.99) as well to make my skirt.  I plan alternate the red and pink in stripes.  The pink is an oval tablecloth and I think I can use the rounded parts for the front of the skirt.  For the top, I'm going to 1. round out the neckline, take off the sleeves and add embellishments, then attach a skirt.  

I'm pretty excited with my start.  Next, I'm going to check out the fabric in the fabric store and see if I have any clothing items at home that will work with this project. 

Pallet Heart - Hmm, how to finish it?

At work, every year in late summer, we get a shit-ton of deliveries.  Some of them, for example, copy paper and text books come on pallets.  Last summer I got the brilliant idea that I was going to use some reclaimed pallet wood to make a few of those decorative wall hangings I see all over Pinterest.  I had been to one of those pallet wood stenciled sign classes and and I was a little disillusioned that the sign wasn't actually made of pallet wood, but with NEW wood that was made to look old and weathered.  I love the idea of recycling something old into something new and I had just bought my own jig saw the year before so I thought wood signs in shapes was the way to go.  

I stayed after work a few days and cut up the pallets with my jig saw after I tried at home to actually take one apart (see my post Pallet Problems). Our head custodian took pity on me (a jig saw works, but not well - it is the WRONG tool for that job) and cut up a few more pallets for me to use. I was inundated with pallet wood, but for the plan I had, I needed some really long pieces, and I did not have many of those.  

I created a template out of oaktag and arranged the wood on the floor so that I would be able to get the most out of the pieces I had.  I kept all the "good sides" up for the front, put the "bad" sides on the back and arranged the wood to get the most mileage out of each piece.  Then I glued them together with Elmer's Wood Glue.  (I realized that the edges of pallet wood are not really parallel, so there were some problems with this - I invested in a mini hand plane after I spent quite some time sanding with a palm sander to get the edges to match up.)

The glue held really well.  I placed my oaktag pattern on the glued wood and traced the heart shape.  I cut it out with my jig saw, and sanded and still, the glue held.  It held so well, in fact, that I didn't realize the cross pieces I had also attempted to glue on had never made contact, so they weren't stuck on at all.  I leaned the heart up against the wall in the living room to decide what I wanted to paint on it and as it got jostled around during vacuuming and whatnot, it eventually came unstuck and I got disgusted. 

Fast forward to THIS summer, and my continued attempts to finish projects I've started.  

I got some screws of the right length from Home Depot, reattached the support pieces and painted the heart read with watered down craft paint so that you could see the woodgrain through the paint.  That was another disappointment - I thought I'd be able to find STAIN in different colors, but apparently, that either doesn't exist or was not easily found.  (I looked for orange to paint a pumpkin I had also cut out.)

So now here I am, with my pallet wood heart all finished EXCEPT for the lovely quote painted on the front.  I'm not sure what I want to paint on it.  I want it to be something down to earth.  I love poetic quotes, and literature quotes like: 

"My heart is and will always be, yours." Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility 

But I still keep thinking I should go with something like Adam Sandler's song from The Wedding Singer:

"I wanna make you smile, whenever you're sad, 

Carry you around when your arthritis is bad.  

Oh, all I wanna do is grow old with you.  

I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches, 

Build you a fire if the furnace breaks, 

Oh it could be so nice, growing old with you."

I really like it because you know, that's what marriage is really about.  BUT IT'S TOO LONG TO FIT!

Help!!  Any suggestions?