Halloween Haikus Tell You More

(photo: Public Domain NY Skyscraper Roof)

A cemetery?
Decorative spider web?
Cobwebs here are real!

Do I answer door
Or pretend to be in bed
Porch light flickers off

Choc'late bought on sale
Bags and bags of hidden sin
Mr. Hyde me now!

I have a quilting buddy, Gyleen, who consistently challenges us to create haikus on a chosen theme. I am thankful for all my creative brilliant friends who keep those around them energized and pushing boundaries. Thank you to you all.

And here starts a month of Thankfulness! For the next month I will blog-highlight something that inspires me, and people I have learned from and appreciate, not in any particular order.

Join me? Count our blessings together!

When I Want to Paint, I SHOULD Clean

I am itching to paint again. But I should really clean today. I have lost a spiral notebook with measurements for curtains I am sewing for someone. I should really finish up that project, and would, if I could find that silly notebook.

Why can't I find it? Buried treasure. It is somewhere around here.

Shoulds vs. Desires...

I think I want a clean house. I should want an organized, clean house. Maybe it is my definition of "clean" that I need to re-think.

I don't want to be frustrated when I am looking for something specific and I can't find it. I want to be more organized. I want to be able to walk into rooms, and not steer through deep piles threatening to collapse. I want company to feel comfortable.

I was impressed last Sunday by a comment from one of the sisters at Church about how to simplify my life: de-clutter. How freeing and un-complicated it feels afterwards. Not really during. It's painful, dealing with all those delayed decisions.

That is what my piles are. Am I going to do this thing, or not?

1. I have my must save-I-love-this pile.

2. Garbage pile.

3. Someone-else-will-love-it more pile.

But making these piles is messy! Cleaning is messy! I expose all my projects, the things I want to do/try. I have been in a gathering-stage for years.

John told me this morning about a show, "Raising Hope" and the joke about the mom's shed. Hoarding-style. We probably all have a little bit of that in us, the saving-just-in-case collection.

(And don't we encourage this, as Mormons? Food-storage? Domestic goddesses?)

I used to feel sorry for quilters who had one bookcase of fabric, and that was it. Most quilters I know have closets and bins and creeping stashes throughout the house. It would be nice to have it all in one place, all the colors organized in your sewing studio. Access to all of it, all the time.

I know I need to see storage or I forget about it.

So today is a day of unearthing treasures, remembering goals, and deciding if I am still going to make that beautiful creation, or give it/dump it.

Flowers & Belly Bands

For a friend's baby shower I made these yellow coffee filter roses. I am not a coffee drinker, and it took me awhile to find them in the dollar store (not used to looking for them). $1 for 150 filters=150 flowers. I cannot re-find the original coffee filter tutorial that I learned from to make these rosebuds...There is a good link through M(artha) S(tewart) to a mom who sells them if you google the subject. Or, if you come by my house, I will show you how I did it. Not hard. ANY color possible! Two of my sisters-by-marriage are currently gestating. Luanna and I brainstormed for good, affordable gifts, and she said the thing she loved the most were the hacked belly bands I made her during her last pregnancy. These did not exist 10 years ago when I was having my 6th baby. Rather than starting from stretchy-fabric-scratch, I found some super stretchy t-shirts, and hacked them.

Literally.

Cut the shirt right below the armpits, both layers. Zig-zag stitch around the opening, leave the already-hemmed bottom as the edge that shows, and you have a stretchy tube-belt. Good support, good coverage for that peek-a-boo tummy.

$1.25 for t-shirt from thrift store vs. $30+ range for the original.

Almost embarrassing to admit, but I really, really like these. Now. For me. And my NOT-pregnant-just-chunky, shirts-not-quite-long-enough-for-my-current body.

VERY convenient. Does wonders for modesty so you can stretch without showing skin. Nice with pants, skirts. See the above photo, that darker, under shirt, that was once a t-shirt. Biggest advantage is how low you can wear it, without the layers and heat of a tank top.

Find the stretchiest, smallest tshirt that will fit around your waist. Cut. Try it on. Most of the t-shirt knits do not need to be zig-zagged if they do not unravel, so you can wear it as is.

Fall Flowers

Disclaimer: THESE ARE COSTUMES

We don't normally dress this way. This is pretend. Getting ready for the Trunk or Treat next Wednesday!
Saturday was a good sewing day. Roxie is a character from the Lord of the Rings Fellowship game she plays online with siblings and John. Sequin pillow shams and a shiny sheet in her new favorite color made an excellent cloak-cape-hood.
And I saw this idea on another seminary teacher's blog. T-shirt HATS!

Cut out two circles, use the bottom of t-shirt for band around head (cut down to size of your head, unless using a tiny t-shirt) and make a visor. I used an old pair of jeans instead of interfacing. Fast, and raw edge forgiving. And suprisingly comfortable.

Remember, pretend. Not who we really are. Although me still wearing that painting shirt from yesterday is real life.

Beach on Broadway

Picture this: 4:30 pm, our house. Paint up and down my arms, on my neck. I had forgotten to take a lunch to work. Very hungry. John whisks me to our favorite Chinese buffet for an early sushi plus dinner, tells our children to please eat leftovers. I still had on my scary paint clothes from finishing up this project, but was too hungry to care. Of course we run into someone we know...I should have at least brushed my hair!

As you walk into this teenage girl's room, this is what you see:

Turning towards the closet doors to the right:


And behind you (notice the ocean waves in reflected in the shell mirror!)


Downstairs, same house, in the big family room (re-modeled extension off of original kitchen--I love this room!). Goal was to be subtle, make the saying look as if it were carved right into the wall. "Priory" is name of font. Used base coat color and added Payne's Grey for shadows and basecoat plus Titanium White.

VIP Table Can Talk When Lights Are Off

I went to school for Roxie's parent-lunch day. She is very affectionate and appreciative. The cafeteria was LOUD! The teacher on duty turned the lights out twice, with immediate silence results. The rule is no talking when lights go off. The teacher told the students that the VIP table can't hear each other talk.
Fish Tail braid works really well on her hair. She says she wants to grow it a little longer, and then will donate it.
Mural I finished up Monday. The clients have a beach-themed home. I painted clouds and seagulls in kitchen and waves and trees in living room and more clouds. Lots of clouds.




During job (client saves money if they do basecoat. But I will paint everything, if needed. Cutting in while standing on top of this ladder was scary. It's a long drop to the floor. Investing in scaffolding is on my wish list.