Idea for a Guest Room...

So, how fun would it be to do a wall of famed, but mushed together travel photos? What?? Boring, you say?? No, no - good ones, beautiful ones! Here are thumbnail ideas...

Now what say you??

Two!

A link to the 2nd one that I've stitched on...a photo, not a scan. It is a much better representation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/allabelle/4312851820/

#1 Finished!

This is a scan of a print I stitched on. The print I made in MS's screenprinting class (and a few extra sessions b/c I missed some classes & work slowly).

The quality of the scan isn't great, but you get the idea. The image is remininscent of out Thailand trip. The hotel in Bangkok was amazing & they had a tree in the open courtyard. Off of the tree there were birdcages hung which had plants in them! I LOVED it!

House spaces...ideas?

So, the house we are buying has a weird pass-through space between the kitchen & livingroom. I want to do something fun. This is a very loose idea (scan is a little light), but maybe:


Maybe another idea for the ceiling:

Projects, projects, projects...

This morning I made bread, patched my jeans, and made paper-heart garland. AND, I did it all before noon!

At mom & dad's over the weekend, I cut out all these hearts (old magazines). This morning I sewed them together. It took about 5 minutes to sew them together on the machine! Yay for easy projects! I saw this somewhere, so it is not my idea...craft mag blog??...can't remember. Anyway, it turned out to be super cute & is hanging in our kitchen!

**There are more pics on my flickr.**

We have also bought a house (as I'm SURE everyone knows by now! :). We walked through today for the inspection. Well, all I can say is that it will certainly be a PROJECT!!!

We love the house, though & it has a TON of potential. I'll post pics of ideas at some point...

In other news, I cut myself some bangs before work on Friday. I had a few extra minutes in the morning (ah, idle hands...) and, well, I think it is actually okay. I am getting used to them & kinda like them. I think my face shape looks different, no?

Ties!

Below are 2 of the 8 (?) ties I need to finish.
I screenprinted on old ties & then stitched on them!


(Thank you Mr. Model :)

Now for the close-up:


And the 2nd finished (mostly):

Coat project done! Yay!

FINALLY! I finished re-lining my coat.
This coat was the best 7 cents I've ever spent!

I got this coat at a rummage sale at least 10 years ago. The coat also came with pants (it is a man's tweed pant suit from back in the day). The pants were HUGE and SHORT ! but the coat was/is perfect.

I have been meaning to re-line this coat for...well, since I got it, but finally had to give in this year b/c the sleeve lining was litterally in shreds. I used all fabric & materials I had at home (yes for cheap!) except for the satin binding. Below you can see my process:

Remove lining from coat:

I acutally ended up re-enforcing the seams b/4 I put the coat back together.

Mark the lining up, remove (note the holes & tears - these are the good pieces!). I would then trace the pieces so I could make a new lining! I also saved the tag you see on the right to sew back onto the new inside pocket.

I chose a fleece lining so it would be warmer & I can wear it in the winter. Pink seemed like a good color to make it sufficiently girly:

I added a pocket in the inside made of fabric I had dyed before. I also dyed the binding to match the pocket. The pocket has a separate compartment the perfect size for my IPod.

I also stitched 2 leather hearts & stitched over the edge of the lapel in pink. Yay for details!

Bread is delicious

Yay for homemade bread!

Homemade Bread in 5 minutes a day:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Artisan_Bread_in_Five_Minutes_a_Day/

This actually works! We have used this recipe & it is super easy. We liked it so much we purchased the book which has many variations & have used that too.

Just wanted to share b/c it is easy & delicious. It is also a great way to know exactly what is in the food you consume without the huge time it takes to make bread normally.

And a Calzone we made with the same dough:

Progress Report.

Hello 2010!

So, to go back to the beginning & look at my goals (when I started the blog) & what I am doing, have not done, changed...Since April:

1. Stop eating meat. I did well on this. For the first maybe 5 or 6 months I barely ate any meat. Sometimes it is necessary (like when you are invited to dinner). I am still doing well, but have modified it somewhat. My decisions do not affect just me, so there is a compromise. I eat little meat & when I do, I try to by free-range, etc. I have eatten almost NO red meat since April.
2. Take short showers. I do well on this except when I have the day off!
3. Make our own cleaning products. We do our own laundry & cleaning. We are using bought, but biodegradable dish & shampoo/cond.
4. Recycle. I have to send my #5s away to be recycled, but I have hung onto them. We do well here.
5. Compost. We have not done this. Maybe over the summer when we are eatting a lot more fresh fruit, we will join Bennet Compost...fail.
6. Write & organize. I've done this somewhat, but can do much better (the writing, not the organizing).
7. Stop buying new plastics. This is SO FREAKIN' IMPOSSIBLE. I can do better...
8. Paper instead of styrofoam cups at work...I keep trying, but seem to not be able to accomplish this...
10-12. Buy organic, eat less dairy, pack lunch. I do okay here. Can do better...
13. Powerstrips. We do this well.
15. Buy only used clothing & books. I have bought one new piece of clothing since January of last year (although, I have gotten a few things as gifts). Even gifts I gave of clothing were used clothing (and super cute). I have bought 2 new books...I KNOW, but the library was taking forever to get them, so I gave in.

Overall...B