In over my head? or brave enought to attempt it?

Okay, I have a new idea. I was thinking about my open shelf unit for the sea shells I have collected and was feeling a little precarious about the whole thing. The thing is, our property directly abuts the railroad and our house shakes just a little every time it goes by. Thankfully it creeps by at about 20-30 mph, but still...it's enough that we are very carefull about properly hanging pictures and breakables.
So here's a free tour of "How MJ's Brain Works:"
Without a glass front to the shelves, I'm thinking the shells may not be so safe inside the shelves.

Then I got to thinking about securing them within the shelves or on/in something different than the shelves, which lead me to recalling how I sewed my hubby's aunt's weaving to a canvas which I painted first.

Except not all of the shells have holes in them which will lend to being attached to some material by simply stitching a loop around it.
Then I recalled one of my favorite beaders' work. Triz is a magician with beadwork! The technique I'm thinking of now is called Flatwork. Check out her site as well as her Etsy shop... absolutely incredible work!
Now I'm thinking...I'm a baby beader. Flatwork is like WOW, way ahead of my level. Do I dare attempt it? Or do I plunge in and learn as I go?
Still mulling it over...

The Old Red Barn Quilt Giveaway and a rainy edition of Lunchcapades

I wonder if a bribe would do any good?
I keep checking back at the Old Red Barn Quilt Giveaway. The youtube videos are fantastic! At first I was completely against the notion of doing a video about why I want to win the quilt, but my creative juices got going and I think I could manage something! The only problem is I'd need my hubby's help with the camera because there's no way I can do a sock puppet interview and hold the camera too!
Today at lunch we had a bit of rain. Or should I say a "splash" of rain. I sat in a parking lot waiting to go into a store for 5 minutes then gave up, put my hair up and made a run for it! Normally a little rain wouldn't bother me, but it was the kind of downpour that makes cars pull over on the side of the road, that when you have your winshield wipers on full blast, it's still kindof hard to see...really coming down!
Come to find out...the store didn't even have what I was looking for! Rrrrrr...




And I have to vent a little about the loss of the best antique shop I've EVER been to! They tore it down to put up this...



They completely cleared the tall old pine trees and leveled the two long barns that had been converted into the store. Yes, you heard right...two of them! All of this landscaping is new, the traffic light is new...at least they kept the one hardwood tree! Now don't get me wrong, I'm totally excited about the new Michael's they're putting in and I'm sure there's a strong market for the new Circuit City, but did they have to put it THERE?!
I stopped at another antique shop though. Not nearly as big, not nearly as much charm, but still a great place to find antiques. I found these treasures:



A pack of red vintage seed beads for $2 and an amber and gold bangle for $3. Not sure of the age. It has a tag with a "Rick's" logo. Either way, I love it.



Fieldbook of Natural History, 1949 for $1.60.




Girl Scout Handbook for $4. I don't recall the age off the top of my head.





And this treasury of beads for $5!


Many of the beads I'm not crazy about, but these two blue and white ones really caught my eye! Plus there's a whole strand of smokey grey ones that didn't photograph well that I completely adore as well.

Included in the box were these pieces...a blush cameo, rose and bow pins.

All in all, I'd say it was another successfull lunchcapades!

Yard Sale and Thrifting finds

Today I gave myself a $40 limit and found some great stuff!

I only went to two yard sales, then went out to the country to a friend's house and HAD to stop at a thrift shop along the way. It's not often that I get away from the city and I'm always up for a trip to a new thrift shop.

I'm so glad I stopped because I found a few great treasures! My total for the day was $30 exactly! And this is what I found...


Two pairs of pants, two pair of shorts and a bandanna. This pair of pants has already been turned into a pair of shorts! My first successful refashion!!


Two gorgeous silver trays...


...an antique top... I asked the woman if she made it and she said she found it at an antique shop. I was just getting it for the beads but now I'm not so sure I want to take it apart!



I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this skirt but I I love the material and it was only $1!

I have a growing collection of pitchers and absolutely love handmade pottery. I lucked out finding two such pieces today!

Handmade by DD in 1975.



Handmade by Kitty in 1960.

I really did buy this for the buttons! Well, if it fits, the buttons can stay where they are. But if not, the buttons are totally being used elsewhere!

Parhaps the buttons will be donated to this shirt! I definitely didn't buy this for the buttons. And it's not quite my style right now, but I have a vision of some changes. I think I like the color most.

One of my most exciting finds! At 25 cents each, I found a circa 1994 pattern, ...

circa 1966...

and a crochet instruction book circa 1974!

Plus these two old scissors at 50 cents each.

Plus I found a small shelf to display my shells and a men's bike in perfectly good shape for $10!

I think I did well!

So to recap...

Yard 1: 2 pair pants, bandana, small shelf, two silver trays, men's bike in perfectly good condition: $18

Yard 2: skirt, vintage beaded tank style top, handmade pitcher, cookie jar: $6

Thrift Shop: 2 vintage patterns, 1 vintage crochet booklet, two tops, handmade pitcher, 3 pairs of scissors: $6

Wardrobe Wednesdays and other assorted projects and comments

Yes, I know it's Thursday, but I never seem to have the energy to boot up the laptop when I'm done sewing. Here's what I accomplished last night on my wardrobe....
Nada, Zilch, Zero. *sigh*

I got home with all kinds of energy and expectations ... and fizzled! At least where the wardrobe is concerned. I think I'm a bit discouraged with my previous refashioning attempts, but I did work on sewing projects, for which I'm greatful.

I used to keep the projects which were small enough in a large ziplock bag in a bin under the table, but to me, out of sight really is out of mind, so I've been hanging them on a rack in plain view. The only problem with that is where to put the little extras like the perfect thread, etc...

Which is how I came up with these Project bags, or Notion bags. This way, when I haven't completed the project, I can hang it back on the rack and keep all the appropriate notions with it so I don't go back later and say - now where did that zipper go? or What size buttons was I going to use?

I started out with quarters I can't imagine using on anything else and which are so old, I think they may have been handed down to me through the generations... ; )



I was so pleased to find thread and ribbon from my stash that actually coordinated with both fabrics which I'd chosen!



I decided on a small loop to go over the neck of the hanger. But then I was thinking that the rest of the bag would gape open, so I considered a button hole, but didn't want to get into that, so I simply attached a smaller loop on the other side of the bag to thread the original loop through.





I made the bags approximately 5" deep by 7" wide, but I'd make them a bit narrower next time, maybe 6" wide by 6" deep.


I also keep one hanger that I just attach clothes pins to, so I hung the extra notion bags over the neck of that hanger, and now it's pulling double duty!


I then told myself I couldn't play any longer, it was time to do something from my to-do list, so I *yawn,* cut up an old t-shirt to make my kitchen rags (in lieu of paper towels). I got 10 good size rags out of a men's large tee. At zero cost, since it was one of my hubby's work shirts, provided by the company! Woo Hoo.




Then I picked the fabrics for the baby blanket which needs to be completed by August 7th, and cut it out. It doesn't need to be heavy, because it's going to Baton Rouge, Louisianna which has rather mild winters. I decided on the measurements and cut out the two fabrics, then decided I really do need to go back to the craft store to make sure the "short hair poodle" is washable.




By that time, it was rather late, but I wanted to take some long-overdue pics of some of my favorite yard-sale finds from this past weekend, so here are my unexpected treasures!

4 vintage buttons and a cuff link on a vintage safety pin.


2 beautiful scarves, age unknown.



Vintage beaded trim. Wow!

This piece is circular, as if the lower half of a shirt was simply cut from the top. It has one tear and a few stains, but is otherwise Gorgeous! It has a scalloped trim. the fabric is so thin, I hesitate to touch it! I'll probably carefully fix it up, tighten some of the loose beads here & there and frame it. The second picture is more representative of the acutal coloring.




And it was with this piece of lace. I didn't think to get the dimentions, but it could be made into a cape of sorts. It's not long enough to be a wrap. I almost didn't take it, but I'm so glad that I did!!


And of course, I finally found a scrap jar. Remember I'm sharing my craft space with my generous hubby's "Man Town" and it just works better in the flow of the basement to have the trash barrel about 5 steps away. Not a big deal, until you're snipping off thread ends and teeny pits of fabric. Then that 5 steps becomes an irritation. Then the table stacks up with all these threads and scraps. Then it's not nice and neat anymore. I don't work well with clutter...enter the scrap jar. I had etched it years ago and it landed in the craft trunk to while away it's years. I've rescued it from boredom and a life of unfulfilment!



And lastly...

This morning I had to stop for gas. But since the last fill-up I've really been conscious of my aggressive driving style and have tried to implement some hypermiling techniques. I drive a standard transmission and one of the neat things about my car is that it gives you a signal when you should shift. In the past I've always ignored it because it tells you to shift way before I used to and you'd loose torque that way. Well, I gave it an honest 345 miles (for the most part...sometimes I slipped before I remembered my intent,) and guess what...


31.229 miles to the gallon!

It's rated to get 26 city/ 33 highway but the most I've gotten is just squeeking into the 30 range. On this tank, I've done a LOT of city driving and I have to say - I'm impressed! What a difference driving style makes!