Random Projects
This has been a week for finishing up random old projects, some of which I've had hanging around the house for (quite literally) years. Most of them have made more than one move with me. They're the kind of things you look at say 'yah, I ought to get around to that, eventually', but of course you almost never do. It helps that sitting for long periods of time at the computer is getting less and less comfortable. It could also be this 'nesting' thing people keep telling me I'll experience, but I don't think it's quite that compulsive, yet.
First off, I picked up buttons for my booties, which have been waiting on my model-bear for a couple of weeks to be finished off. But it's not a high priority project, because those insanely pink things are never going to see my baby's feet. I'll make a new pair of a nice rose color, or white. But not that pink--I don't want her eyes to bleed. I also got pictures of everything people have asked about lately and posted 'em up on the internet. So here is all the recent baby-stuff.
The second is a blanket I've been wanting to make since I received about eight yards (four green, four black) of scrap Gore-tex material. This stuff, if you've never had a Gore-tex jacket, is fantastic. It is totally waterproof, but lets steam (and therefore your body-heat/sweat) out. I have had a hellishly green (fluorescent and minty, with hot-pink trim) Gore-tex jacket for years, and there simply isn't anything better out there for a raincoat. Anything better than Gore-tex, that is... not fluorescent minty green. Anyway, I have this stuff that was scrap-ends from their production line, and I've always had it in mind to make a picnic blanket. Something nice and fuzzy on one side, and waterproof on the other. There have been too many outings and concerts where we've ended up with soaked bottoms because the wet grass/ground seeps right through a regular blanket. So I picked up a scrap end of fleece at our local fabric store (while picking out buttons for the booties), and pinned together a nice effort last night. This morning, my handy-dandy sewing machine finished the project (with a little guidance from myself). And now I have a nice blanket. It's not perfect. I have a few questions for Mom (seeing as she is a fantastic sewer with many more years of experience than I have), but it'd take some pretty close scrutiny to catch the errors. Not bad for not measuring or anything, I'd have to say. Anyway, I have that project on-line here.
I also nipped down to a local frame-shop to have two more black-and-white pictures of Charlotte, NC, framed. I have two already that I originally framed to hang in my office, back when we were living there. That was more than enough. But this house has big walls, and needs more than just two dotting the clean, white surface at seemingly a random interval. So I found two others that look pretty good, that are already mounted on white-board, and took them in to the shop to match the frames on the old ones. Framing costs are painful, but I'm looking forward to a completed set. No photos of this, of course. Doesn't it seem a bit redundant taking pictures of pictures? Maybe I'll snap one off when the new frames are done next week.
I finally got around to putting my 20-week ultrasound pictures into the album I'm creating. I almost hesitate to call it a 'scrap book'. Scrap-booking is cool. I've seen lots of people do absolutely amazing stuff with their scrap-books. The thing is, I have just a little bit too much of an engineer in me, probably from eight years of being influenced by my dear man. My scrap-book is very precise. Each picture is 'framed' with square-cut paper in different colors, so I don't have to glue the pictures down, just the frames. The pictures still slip in and out. Just in case I want to do something different with them eventually, of course. As if I ever will... At any rate, 'new' pictures are in (actually they're three months old, but they're the newest I have) and the book is waiting for a few pictures of doctors and such--maybe until after the birth. I'm looking forward to the chance to show it off a bit.
First off, I picked up buttons for my booties, which have been waiting on my model-bear for a couple of weeks to be finished off. But it's not a high priority project, because those insanely pink things are never going to see my baby's feet. I'll make a new pair of a nice rose color, or white. But not that pink--I don't want her eyes to bleed. I also got pictures of everything people have asked about lately and posted 'em up on the internet. So here is all the recent baby-stuff.
The second is a blanket I've been wanting to make since I received about eight yards (four green, four black) of scrap Gore-tex material. This stuff, if you've never had a Gore-tex jacket, is fantastic. It is totally waterproof, but lets steam (and therefore your body-heat/sweat) out. I have had a hellishly green (fluorescent and minty, with hot-pink trim) Gore-tex jacket for years, and there simply isn't anything better out there for a raincoat. Anything better than Gore-tex, that is... not fluorescent minty green. Anyway, I have this stuff that was scrap-ends from their production line, and I've always had it in mind to make a picnic blanket. Something nice and fuzzy on one side, and waterproof on the other. There have been too many outings and concerts where we've ended up with soaked bottoms because the wet grass/ground seeps right through a regular blanket. So I picked up a scrap end of fleece at our local fabric store (while picking out buttons for the booties), and pinned together a nice effort last night. This morning, my handy-dandy sewing machine finished the project (with a little guidance from myself). And now I have a nice blanket. It's not perfect. I have a few questions for Mom (seeing as she is a fantastic sewer with many more years of experience than I have), but it'd take some pretty close scrutiny to catch the errors. Not bad for not measuring or anything, I'd have to say. Anyway, I have that project on-line here.
I also nipped down to a local frame-shop to have two more black-and-white pictures of Charlotte, NC, framed. I have two already that I originally framed to hang in my office, back when we were living there. That was more than enough. But this house has big walls, and needs more than just two dotting the clean, white surface at seemingly a random interval. So I found two others that look pretty good, that are already mounted on white-board, and took them in to the shop to match the frames on the old ones. Framing costs are painful, but I'm looking forward to a completed set. No photos of this, of course. Doesn't it seem a bit redundant taking pictures of pictures? Maybe I'll snap one off when the new frames are done next week.
I finally got around to putting my 20-week ultrasound pictures into the album I'm creating. I almost hesitate to call it a 'scrap book'. Scrap-booking is cool. I've seen lots of people do absolutely amazing stuff with their scrap-books. The thing is, I have just a little bit too much of an engineer in me, probably from eight years of being influenced by my dear man. My scrap-book is very precise. Each picture is 'framed' with square-cut paper in different colors, so I don't have to glue the pictures down, just the frames. The pictures still slip in and out. Just in case I want to do something different with them eventually, of course. As if I ever will... At any rate, 'new' pictures are in (actually they're three months old, but they're the newest I have) and the book is waiting for a few pictures of doctors and such--maybe until after the birth. I'm looking forward to the chance to show it off a bit.