Uno Dos Tres

OK...I didn't take that much Spanish in college but I got by. If you are like me you probably don't know a lot of other languages either.
No, Pig Latin is NOT a language and neither is ibba dibba talk.

I have a Google tool bar. I love it...I do all my searching on Google BUT I am not here to advertise that, I am here to tell you about a couple of the buttons it has and the first one is called "Translate" and it can be your best friend. I used it today while I was trying to figure out what the heck this Spanish lady was doing with a particular craft project. Well now I know! It translated it fairly well. Oh, there were a few mistakes. I am almost positive she did not mean to say what she did. No, not on a craft site...unless she is more crafty than I thought!

The other fun button on the Google tool bar is AutoFill. Oh, I love that one too! You know when you get to a website and you really NEED to buy something and you have to put in all information? Well, one click of that button and WALA it does it all for you. You can also password your credit card number in there so if you want to put in your credit card number, put in your password and it will fill in those zillion numbers they request. We are talking speed shopping!

Anyway, give it a shot and see if you like it. Not sure if all tool bars have that but I know my Google does. Here it is...try it out!
http://www.google.com/toolbar/ie/install.html

Pushin' For A Cushion

Well, I just finished a custom made bench cushion for my oldest daughter. Oh, I had the usual fun of planning a sewing project for a family member. I loved looking for the fabric all the while matching it to the newspaper ad of tomato soup. While I was visiting her in Columbus, OH, she gave me an ad of tomato soup in a nice off white bowl and said, “There, those are exactly the colors I am looking for!“ After I got off the plane back in Fargo, I went right to Joann Fabrics, still clutching that newspaper clipping and holding it up against all the fabrics. There they were! They jumped right out at me! I got so excited and as usual, I had to tell all the strangers waiting to buy fabric about my find. They all agreed…it matched the soup or they were being polite to an overly excited woman.

First of all, I made the piping myself and it turned out so nice that it was pure pleasure to work with. I measured twice, cut once and was happy with it. That is always a scary thing. OK...I asked myself, why is this turning out so well? What is in store for me?

The piping also went on very well. I loved it and I loved the colors. I had not been sure of them but once I got used to the color and not the idea of eating soup it was OK. I continued on and put on the side of the pad to make the box-like cushion it was intended to become. Oh, the excitement was building. You have no idea how much I love to sew!

OK...sewed on both sides and then turned it inside out to see how wonderful the piping was. OH, MY. It was lovely. And then…what the hell? I had put the side piece on with the seams to the outside!! Oh, there was no way I was going to tear all that out. I decided to just take out the bad seams and fix them. OH...#$%^$&^#$% ...I am OK now…deep breath…it worked....whew....



Now, on to putting in the foam piece! Have you EVER tried to stuff 6 feet of green rubber foam into a very form fitting casing? It was like wrestling an old alligator without teeth. It was soft enough, safe enough, but by gosh that thing wanted to fight me for all it was worth.

I had left a large enough opening on the side to push it there, or so I thought. I would put in one end and then it just wouldn’t move so I had to actually shimmy it on there. Kinda like putting a size small panty hose on a queen size woman. I know this from experience...and it is not pretty.

OK…got it shimmied on but then the other end had to also go through that same opening, all the while the other piece was still sticking out. Another round of wrestling. I yelled downstairs to hubby, “Hey, you might have to help me with this”. He yelled up to me, “What are you doing?” He could hear me huffing and puffing through the floor grate of this old house and I am sure he felt pieces of green foam raining down on him but he is smart...he plays dumb...so he probably thought it was best to just keep his distance. I yelled back, “I am trying to stick a 50 pound 'gater into a 5 pound bag.” All I heard was silence. He knows after 30 years that it is best to just let me have fun with my hobbies and experiments no matter what kind of noises come out of me or what is raining down that floor grate. He did just that and I do know he would have helped if I had “specifically” asked. He does well with directions but I have to outline them for him. By that time I would have it done, sat on it and probably had time to replace it!
Anyway, by the time I got done I was actually sweating. Now THAT was hard work because it’s dumping freezing rain outside…I should NOT be sweating...no one should be sweating.

I finally got that thing wrestled in there and finally got it sewed up. It ain’t goin’ nowhere! Oh, I hope it looks nicer when it is tied to her beautiful bench.

I do hope my daughter loves it. If she doesn’t, I may have to take up “gator” wrestling instead because after this...I have the experience!

SHE'S A LADY....WHOA WHOA WHOA...SHE'S A LADY

Isn't that an old Tom Jones song?

Anyway, this little bug is my goofy design and I just added a bit of whimsy to it for fun. Wiggle Eyes!! Not sure what to do with it, but I have some ideas. Gee do you suppose it will be used for Valentines Day?

The best part about making your own designs is that you can make them any size and if I want to I can add more hearts to the wings, or add legs...heck I can add 3 heads if I want to and make it a mutant.

Life is just too much fun.

Click here if you would like the SVG

REGIFTING

Now don't think that I am cheap or anything but I do like to give people what they want. This gift was a gift of love and years in the making.

My oldest daughter was always eyeballing my old Betty Crocker cookbook...vintage 1978. My mother had given it to me the first year we were married in 1980. Well, I know from experience that this has got to be the best cookbook ever written. I have tried a lot of the recipes in it and I have yet to have one fail and my new hubby must have thought he married a chef! They are the good old recipes with salt and cream and butter. No calorie counting. That might also explain why the recipes are so darn good!

Anyway, I started looking for one on the used books websites and I actually ended up finding one on eBay. WOOHOO. I was so excited! The most I seen it for was $49.99 and I ended up getting this dandy one for $15.00 and that including the shipping! Needless to say she was thrilled!. Well, I couldn't let my youngest daughter be without one. Even though she is vegetarian, there are plenty of good recipes for her too...complete with salt! I got her one off of another site. These particular cookbooks are not easy to find! There are some that look like this but they have to be 1978. That is part of the thrill of the hunt! The best part is...my hubby has been enjoying those recipes for almost 30 years. Maybe it was the cookbook that held us together this long or maybe it was how good I look in the kitchen humped over a hot stove or my rather large butt sticking out of the fridge...or maybe it is because I am just so darn thrifty...LOL

Now don't think I go around and buy used items as gifts for Christmas...I go around and find things that people will not go out and find for themselves. Maybe just a little labor of love for my babies.

MORE BAGS!

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Here is my youngest daughter trying to escape on Christmas eve to go shopping with her new bags. No, these are not vintage bags but some really cool fabric I bought on a quilt shop hop. I consider her taste to be more of "vintage modern", in other words she likes a lot of stuff from my old days...the 70s!!!"



It is what she found in the bottom of the bags that made her want to escape!

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Vintage Tablecloth Bags

Here was one of my last fun projects. This was a Christmas gift for my daughter. I made 2 shopping bags out of a vintage tablecloth for her. She does wonders with anything that is old...including her father and I, so I knew she would appreciate it.

First of all I was taken on a wonderful day antiquing and quilt shop hopping with some really great girlfriends for my birthday. Yeah, I know, it is tough turning 29 AGAIN. I think this is 25 years in a row now for that special birthday. Anyway, I bought this tablecloth at an antique store knowing that my daughter would just love it. I looked it over and seen it had a hole in it but decided to get it anyway. OK...I got it home but decided that hole was a bit much. I decided right then and there that I would make a table runner out of it and also a couple shopping bags. I got pretty excited about that. I was smiling and talking to myself like I do...the whole time I sewed them. I couldn't wait for her to open them!

When I finished them I just loved them! I did patch that hole and then I cleverly put a pocket over it. No one will ever know! I do so want to make some for myself!!

I hope I can spend another day with my friends to go hunting for some more vintage tablecloths! That was just too much fun!