House of Blues

Mother Nature can be quite a tease. Just last week it was sunny and warm, and summer was just around the corner. Today it's rainy and cool, and the weatherman says we might even get some frost tonight. The treehouse is feeling a little like the House of Blues.

I started a new gardening angel, but was disappointed with how she was turning out, so I've been frogging, I mean disassembling. How's that for a 13-letter Jeopardy word?

Here's an angel I made a couple of years ago that I was very happy with. Note the hand-crocheted collar. My grandma Ferna would be pleased to know I've mastered the tiny little crochet hook.

Here are the hands and feet for the one I'm working on now. They're made from tea-dyed muslin, and the shoes have been painted with a base coat of gesso and will be painted a color to coordinate with the outfit. Probably not basic black.

In other news, I'm making progress on the red v-neck cardigan (aka the red pest--for the gauge aggravation it caused me).

Oh, and I did get out for that driving lesson with Mr. Gadget. I'm happy to report that I didn't drop the clutch, kill the engine, or crash into anything. In fact, in my humble opinion, I do believe I drove his fancy sports car better than he does. Did I mention the neck brace I've had to wear occasionally after a ride across town with him?

I do have experience driving a car with a manual transmission, but it was many years ago and it was a four-speed, not a six. Back when I was single, I drove one of these:

Mr. Gadget is quite fond of telling the story of how, when we were dating, we would occasionally end up side by side, waiting for a red light, at an intersection we both passed through on our drives home from work. Sometimes he would invite me to his apartment for dinner as we sat there in the road waiting for the light to change. He likes to remind me about how I would often ask him what he planned to serve before I accepted his invitation, which, of course, I don't remember.

Little did I know then how he would eventually find a way to get back at me. He asked me to marry him, and then for the next 27 years, every afternoon about 3 o'clock he has asked, "What's for dinner?"

Sheep du jour

I've been on a creative roll lately.....probably because it's been so pleasant in the treehouse this week, what with the sun shining in, the trees all leafing out, and a continuous stream of feathered friends stopping by the window feeder for a bite to eat. Some of them are content to stay put while I move around the room. Others fly away if I even slightly move to pick up the scissors.

I finished this sheep doll today. His arms and legs are skinnier than his predecessor--the black sheep. I'm not always good about marking my patterns. On some pieces I allow for a seam allowance, and on others I trace around the pieces and sew on the traced line. I assumed the patterns for the sheep appendages allowed for a seam, but I was wrong. I've now marked them so I'll know next time. My time-saving techniques usually come back to bite me.

This sheep is wearing a scarf I knitted from leftover sock yarn. I have lots of leftover yarn in my stash, so I may be making more sheep. Or snowmen. I'm sure they would be happy to wear one of my knitted scarves too. I haven't really minded giving the red pest a time-out while I've been knitting on these mindless little scarves. No gauges. No measuring tapes. Not even any concern about needle sizes. One size fits all.
So other Marcia and I have decided to cancel our trip tomorrow to the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival. Neither of us needs yarn. It's probably going to be crowded, and gas is expensive. Besides that, she's got a new greenhouse toy that needs assembling and I've got some yard work I've been procrastinating about, I mean planning to do sometime this weekend.

I also need to schedule a driving lesson in Mr. Gadget's fast and fancy sports car. We may be taking a road trip soon, and he thinks we should take his car. It has a six-speed manual transmission and every gadget known to man, including cruise control, a built-in GPS system and a recently added radar detector. I'm a little anxious to say the least, but I've told him I should have no problem driving as long as I don't have to stop.....

Cats in cats

Here's what I've been working on for the last couple of days. I've sold a few cat dolls over the years; there are lots of cat folks. People have asked on occasion if I could make a dog, and I've usually put them off by saying I haven't been able come up with a good pattern. But the truth is, I'm just not a dog person. Making a dog doll would be work instead of fun, and I'm all about keeping this hobby of mine fun.

And speaking of fun, I do enjoy dressing cats in cats, especially if I'm able to find just the right print....usually one with cat colors in it. One of my biggest challenges has been finding the right supplies for whiskers. I've used upholstery thread that I've unsuccessfully tried to stiffen with glue. I've tried nylon thread. Nothing has worked to my satisfaction. Then, the other day I was in the dollar store and I found a big roll of cheap sisal twine. Eureka! I untwisted it and sewed a few strands into the face, then put a dot of glue on to keep them in place.

So yesterday Big City Girl and her best friend from high school jetted off to Las Vegas for a little vacation. Their motivation: irritating job stuff, irksome man issues, the promise of sun, a big hotel pool, and slot machines.

This morning I noticed BCG's horoscope in the local paper.

And I'm debating whether to send her a text message wherein I would make mention of this Lady's name. Would this qualify me as a bad parent I wonder? Maybe I'll just keep quiet about the whole thing, since what I've learned about parenting so far is that keeping my mouth shut is usually the best policy.

BCG, whose degree is in Communications, has never seen a need to communicate on a regular basis with her parents. It started in high school, during those turbulent teen years, and continued through four years of college. So I was pleasantly surprised and quite taken aback yesterday when she called to tell me she had arrived at the airport, then again when she got to the connecting airport, and finally when she landed in Las Vegas. It was enough to warm a mother's heart. Kinda makes me wanna cheer for Lady Luck.....

Wready for wrens!

Yesterday, while out running errands, I stopped at the local garden center to purchase a replacement birdhouse for the one that finally fell from our backyard tree and broke into firewood. Luckily, it was vacant at the time. Each spring, during the first week of May, the wrens arrive like clockwork in our neighborhood. One usually lands on our deck rail and bursts into song. A wren's song is such a pleasure to listen to, the least I can do is provide them a home.
This morning Mr. Gadget was good enough to hang the birdhouse from the tree. He tied the end of a nylon cord to his hammer and hefted it up over a high branch. Then he pulled and tugged till it was in just the right spot. I heaped on the praise for his manly strength and good aim. I'll be needing his help again soon when I finally get around to buying some bags of mulch for the planting beds, so plenty of compliments can't hurt.

"Hoist it up a little higher," I suggested. "We don't want the deer poking their noses in and disturbing the baby birds."

"That's perfect!" Oops! Looks like I forgot to take the price tag off. Oh well. The birds won't notice. Well, I hope they won't notice. If they see what I paid for this little piece of real estate, they might be expecting me to furnish it too.

My neighbor has been luring bluebirds and chickadees to her yard. She's not particularly fond of wrens. She says they're aggressive and unfriendly to other birds. So I've assured her I'll keep them over here on my side of the street. Now that I think about it, maybe I should have considered a bribe. I should be able to wrangle a jar of her tasty home-grown tomato sauce out of this deal.....

Frogging fun

I finished this frog today....and I found him a chair of his own, so there were no fights. Making a frog is much more fun than that ripping-out-of-the-knitting kind of frogging I was suffering through last week with the red pest sweater. It's coming out better, by the way, on the third try. Or maybe it's just some creative reading of the tape measure.....

I made the frog's outfit from fabric I purchased at the big discount fabric store in Anaheim during my last visit to California. I know it's hard to believe I'd pass up Disneyland for a fabric store, but it's true. I made the orange print bow tie from a fat quarter I got at Joann's. The two pieces met here in the treehouse and I think they were meant for each other. It's almost serendipity....or as Mr. Gadget would say, "Sara Dipity."
Here's a close-up. For your sake, I hope he doesn't stick his long tongue out right about now. I drew his eyes with a black pen and filled them in with watercolor pencils, and I appliqued some eyelids. His mouth is embroidered. He has a dragonfly button on his tie. Sometimes I attach a butterfly net to the frog arms so they can chase dragonflies. It gives them something to do. There's nothing quite as bad as boredom in the frog world.

So I'm not sure what kind of character I'll start on next. Maybe a cat, or another sheep. I do want to try a nun doll--something I mentioned long ago. Maybe a nun with a little bit of attitude. Gotta love a nun with attitude.

A fashion statement

Today, while working on Mr. Scares-the Crows, I realized I spend more time and effort choosing outfits for my dolls than I do choosing my own. I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of a gal, but that would never do for the characters. They have to be nicely decked out so they'll attract attention.....and hopefully happy buyers.....at craft fairs.

In the past I've used dark brown felt for scarecrow hats, but I decided to try something a little different this time. This one is the same style as the snowman hat, but not as tall. I usually sew store-bought sunflowers on them, but I made this one from scratch. It's just a little brown yo-yo thingie sewn onto a few layers of yellow fabric that I cut in circles and fringed.

I sewed a few patches on his outfit. It's important for a scarecrow to be well-accessorized. This one is cut from his hat fabric. I'm happy with the way his hands came out. I was trying for a gardening-glove look. I think I'll grunge them up a bit with a little coffee stain for a more weathered look.

He's wearing big, clunky shoes that look like they've been over the river and through a ravine or two. Or blessed by the crows, if you know what I mean.....
Sometime after I'd finished all the stitching, he asked me if I wouldn't mind getting him a chair. He seemed to think he'd get pretty tuckered out standing in the garden for days on end, what with those heavy, clunky shoes and all. I was happy to oblige. But I'm sure frog's gonna want one too, so there'll probably be an ugly fight......

Spring in the treehouse

It's been bright and cheerful in the treehouse the last few mornings, which has been just the excuse I needed to avoid the pesky housework. There are so many signs of spring outside--the grass greening up, the birds coming and going from the window feeder, the wasps flitting by, the sounds of chain saws.....I don't know why all this has moved me to make a snowman, but I don't question the muse.


He's almost finished. Just a few small details remain...hat decor, rosy cheeks, and shoe laces. And some stitches (much more professional) or glue (the lazy-crafter method) to secure his scarf in place. Then he'll have to sit around for a couple of seasons.....unless a snowman collector gets wind of him.


Meanwhile, I've started work on a couple of other dolls--one seasonal and one not so much. Here are some fixins' for the former....a frog.

And here are some scarecrow ingredients.

The lady who runs the senior shop nearby called to see if I had any dolls they could sell in their spring craft sale. I told her I would be happy to get busy and make a few. And then she rather sternly demanded, I mean gently suggested, that one of them should be a scarecrow. And who am I to disappoint.....what with my white sheep reputation and all. And speaking of white sheep, did you notice the fabric background I used behind the snowman? That's a piece I purchased with a white sheep in mind.


And speaking of sheep, there's nothing more fun for a fiber fanatic than a sheep festival. Other Marcia.....who recently hog-tied me and dragged me, I mean slightly nudged me, over to join that big ravelry website that's almost too big to comprehend.....has invited me to accompany her on a road trip to the Connecticut Sheep & Wool festival a week from Saturday. I don't need any more yarn, of course. And I don't need any more projects, what with the troublesome ones I already have underway....more specifically the red cardigan, a/k/a the red pest. So maybe I'll just watch other people buy yarn. I'm sure I could put myself on a yarn diet for a while. I doubt it could be much more difficult than one of those food diets.....

It's feeling a little frosty

So I asked myself this morning if I wanted to go outside in the spring chill and rake leaves out of the planting beds, or would I rather stay inside the toasty treehouse and start a new snowman.

Here's my progress so far: two boots, two arms and a hat. There was no particular reason for my decision to make a snowman, other than the fabric I bought a week ago was sitting here beckoning. I should really be thinking about witches, since fall will be here before you know it. Well, except for those nasty hot, humid summer months we must endure first.

And speaking of fall, I recently received an invite to take part in a fall craft fair. I didn't do any fairs last year, what with all the traveling and stuff, so I'm thinking it might be fun to get back in the game. I have lots of fabric and doll fixins'.

The only thing holding me back is this:

It's my folding craft table--the one I use at fairs. What was I thinking when I made the decision to use it in the treehouse during the months it wasn't needed for fairs? I'd be feeling a lot more positive about filling out that application if this table was folded up in the storage closet down in the basement.

Oh, and that red cardigan sweater I just started knitting? What a pest! I did a little gauge swatch and found I was right on the mark. So I cast on and knit a few inches....well, you might remember. It was just last week, when I was indulging in my two favorite forms of therapy for dealing with the trials and tribulations of motherhood....not to mention, the frustrations of dieting.

Then I thought it might be a good idea to measure it, just to be sure. It was almost 3" too wide. So I frogged the whole thing, started over one size smaller, and measured again. It was 2" too narrow. Now I'm on my third try....back to my original cast-on....and figuring I must have somehow miscounted. I don't think so, but we'll see.

I mentioned this to Mr. Gadget who, as I've said before, could also be called Mr. Science.

"I thought you told me math is an exact science?"

"It is," he said. "The only explanation is that your sweater somehow must have entered the Twilight Zone."

Black sheep envy

I was definitely not the black sheep in my family growing up. That was more my sister's job. Whereas I would never abuse my curfew, skip school or let my homework slide, she had no problem doing any of those. I was the good daughter. She was the one who gave our parents gray hair.Mr. Gadget wasn't much of a black sheep either. He had two younger brothers who shared that role. But there was a time, or so I'm told, when Mr. G. went home from college one weekend and his dad locked the front door, threw some dollar bills out the window, and told him not to come back till he'd gotten a haircut.I'm not sure if either Tech Guy or Big City Girl could be classified as a true black sheep. They have, for the most part, followed our rules, but there was quite a variety of tattoos, piercings, hair colors and wild get-ups. And those can hardly be labeled black-sheepiness these days, since they've all become pretty much the norm.

Now, as I'm fast approaching old-ladyhood, I think I will aspire to be more of a black sheep. Maybe I'll start lying about my age to get a cheaper train ticket and seat at the movies. Maybe I'll attempt to weasel my way into the local diner for the early-bird special. Maybe I'll start wearing bright floral-print dresses and tuck a tissue or two into my pockets.....

Well lookee here!

I've finished the dragonflies and packed them up for shipping. I'm finally done with the bugs. Do you recognize the wings on those two in the front? Yep, it's the fishnet print I've used for the Red Hat Lady stockings. I found it while looking through my stash for something a little different for the last two bugs (#49 and 50). Just call them the black sheep of the flock.......

Got Milk?

Yes, there's plenty of milk in the fridge for Mr. Gadget's tea and cereal. What's really got me anxious and trembling is we're out of COFFEE! I looked high and low in the cupboards this morning. I was sure I had saved some from when Tech Guy moved home with his electronic toys, dozens of various spices for who-knows-what gourmet delights he was going to cook, and his laundry basket full of dirty clothes. But I must have gone on a tear and thrown it out. Lucky for him I didn't throw out the laundry too.

So I had to resort to making myself a cup of tea. It seems to work for Mr. Gadget in the mornings, but it's not high-test enough for me. As I was sipping my tea (with sweetener but no milk) it dawned on me that there was some of yesterday's coffee still in the pot. Sometimes I'm lazy and don't wash it out right away. I'm the same way with the dryer filter. Why clean things right after you're done when you could clean them just before you use them again I always say. So, after my cup of tea, I had a cup of yesterday's coffee. It's really not too bad if you get it hot enough.

Tomorrow I'll be doing the grocery shopping. I'll go early and buy a cup at the counter where they sell that coffee America runs on. I'll buy a can of coffee too, so I won't have to worry about the pot running dry for a while. And let me just assure you that I will never be one of those cigarette-smoking types who has to make a special odd-hour trip to the store for my fix. But if Mr. Gadget just happens to be going out early to fill his car up with gas, I might ask him if he wouldn't mind.....

Back at the wheel

So today, with all things quiet on the cherub front and my mom license safely tucked back in my wallet, I decided I'd better put aside my current dollmaking projects and address a nagging little repair job.

A few weeks ago Tech Guy brought me a pair of his favorite jeans in which he had somehow torn a hole in a rather precarious spot. Hmmmmm....is that the right word for it? Let me check the dictionary. Yeah, I think that says it pretty well.

Luckily, I had saved some old jeans fabric for just these types of jobs, even though it's not quite the right color. That won't matter to Tech Guy. In all its precariousness, it's not going to show much. The first thing I did was baste it in place. There was a day when I could just stitch a patch right on the outside of his jeans, and it didn't even matter if there was a superhero on it. But now he's officially a grown-up, so more subdued patches are his preference. Then I just zig-zagged the heck out of it. Next, I pulled out the basting threads and voila! They're good to go. Tech Guy can kiss his air-conditioned pants goodbye. But I'm thinking, now that it's Spring and the weather is warming up, he may miss that little bit of a breeze.

I don't care much for pesky little repair jobs, but this one wasn't too bad. At least I had some nice company.

Hens have it easy

Whoever gives out the medals for meritorious mom service should seek me out and pin one on my chest for being in the thick of some hazardous duty over the last several days. It was so easy mothering these two little cherubs who asked nothing more of me than to just turn on the hose so they could fill up their backyard blow-up pool.

It got so dicey I was even considering turning in my mom license for one of those mom I.D. cards that only identifies a woman as a mom and prohibits her from actually having her foot on the gas and her hands on the steering wheel.

But things are a little better now. I've found some excellent therapy.

And while I was out on a little shopping excursion this morning, I saw these cute sheep planters at the local dollar store. I almost made an impulse purchase, and then suddenly remembered I don't do gardening anymore.

But I did find just what I was looking for, and that was a small desk-sized easel for my roosters.

Yeah, I know. Eggs and roosters don't go together. Trust me, there's a hen party going on just out of view.

And there is a bit of good news. Spring has sprung here in the northeast and it's starting to warm up. I have a fool-proof method for determining, without referring to the calendar, the precise date of the season changes. It's the day the socks come off and the day they go back on......

Big City Eyes

On Friday Big City Girl came home for a visit, and when she returned on Saturday I decided to tag along. We thought it might be a good time for a walking tour of the garment district. Here's a picture of our train approaching the station just before we boarded.

We had lunch at a quaint little place in her neighborhood, just off of Houston St. That's pronounced house as in where you live, and ton as in 2,000 lbs.......not like that city in Texas. But maybe you knew that already.

Afterwards we walked over to the subway entrance and made our way down the stairs, while BCG apologized for the rather unpleasant odor which she said was unusual. The subway car smelled fine though, and in short order we were climbing back up to the fresh air and had somehow been miraculously transported to the heart of the garment district.

We browsed in several fabric shops. BCG was hoping to find something suitable for a new dress she was eager to make with her new sewing machine. She wasn't crazy about the green and black animal-skin print, but eventually we found a nice piece of dark blue cloth that I assured her would be easy to sew with and should work well for the dress pattern she had in mind.


Then we headed off in the direction of a button and trim shop I wanted to visit, but were stopped in our tracks when we saw this.


"Wanna go in?" I asked.
"Duhhh!" said BCG, who is quite adept at making wonderful things to decorate her neck.


That's where I found the eye beads. I have no current plans for these, so I'll just keep them in my button and bead stash until a future time when they'll be exactly what I need for whatever project I have underway.


And that was the extent of my garment-district shopping. My tiny shopping bag fit easily into my purse, leaving my hands free to drink a cup of coffee on the train ride home, snap a picture or two along the way, and cover my nose if more unpleasant odors should be encountered.....

A marathon plus one

Mr. Gadget and I have been married for twenty-seven years today.

There are many things that can be said about our long and happy relationship--one of which is that soon we will have matching sweaters. As you can see, Mr. G's has pockets, but I don't think he uses them much except as a place to put his hands when having his photo taken, although there may be a few breath mints in there and some small change. He calls this his "Father Knows Best" sweater, since it reminds him of the one Robert Young wore in the old TV show.

Mr. Gadget and I met in a place that most folks who are well-versed in psychology would say didn't bode well for a lasting relationship. We met in a bar. And it almost didn't happen. I had made plans to meet some girlfriends in this particular bar--we only went there because they had a great band for dancing, and we liked to dance. We weren't actual bar flies.... Our meet-up was scheduled for 9 p.m. which left just enough time to join a nice male neighbor who had invited me over for steak on the grill. After a glass of wine at his place, I wasn't really in the mood to go to the bar, but we didn't have cell phones in those days and I knew my girlfriends had already left home. And I've always been ever-the-dependable one.

Mr. Gadget had just popped in for a beer, and to enjoy the music I found out later. As I sat at a table with my friends, I noticed him standing at the bar....he had more hair then, and he was wearing a nice red jacket. He was also wearing some cute little round glasses.....kinda like John Denver used to wear, and I was a huge fan of his.

I ever-so-casually mentioned to my friends that I was going to the restroom, and afterwards I was going to go ask that cute guy over at the bar to dance. They gave me one of those "yeah right!" looks, because, after all, I was a rather shy young woman who would not ordinarily do such a thing, but I'm sure the wine had loaned me some courage. Mr. Gadget was taken aback by my request, and told me he didn't know how to dance.....so I had to think quickly (not exactly my forte) and I offered to teach him.

So that was the beginning of our life together, and little did we realize at the time that all these many years later we would be sitting here in our recliners, in matching sweaters, watching Jeopardy night-after-night, while debating the pros and cons of signing up for long-term care insurance and wondering if we should just go ahead and sign up for another cruise instead.....

If I'm going to talk about spiders.....

Then I suppose I have to talk about webs.....

Other Marcia and I took a road trip yesterday to do a little yarn browsing. Well, maybe we did a little yarn buying too. After all, they were having their annual April sale.

Here's Marcia with that excited look that comes over people who are about to snag some fiber. In addition to a well-stocked yarn store, WEBS has a warehouse o' yarn on the premises--stocked with rows and rows and shelves and shelves of yarn.

There's plenty of sock yarn too.
And yarn on cones, if you're into weaving. And books and patterns galore. Here's a small sampling:I picked out some nice red wool....

to make this:

I don't plan to make it with pockets. I'm not a gardener. And I don't need them to carry tissues, even though I've seen lots of older ladies carrying tissues in their sweater pockets. I don't think I'm quite old enough for that yet, but I'll save some yarn so I can add them later. That way, when the time comes and I'm an official old lady, I'll have plenty of room for tissues and a few lifesavers. I like the colorful ones. I've never been a fan of peppermint.....