Thrifty Knives

My son has been a naughty boy all day today. The temperature finally warmed up to a balmy 50-something, and I really wanted to take him out, however he had other plans. He wanted to scream all the live long day and had no interest in going thrifting. Perhaps he got his fill yesterday. Yes I took him thrifting yesterday but I thought we could hit a different one today. No such luck. Maybe tomorrow then.

Anyway, to get my thrifting fix, I was reading Thrift Store Adventures today, and let me just say that this dude is my hero. Seriously. You should totally check him out. Apparently once he encountered a psycho waving a gun in the Salvation Army parking lot. Reminds me of the time my dad was working on his car near the OSU campus, and some homeless guy walked by, waving a gun, shouting off drunken nonsense. My dad had a drill in his hand and started acting like it was a gun right back at the guy. The guy was too drunk to know the difference and then wandered off. True story.

Anyway, Thrift Store Adventure's encounter with the Salvation Army gun-waver reminded me of my own thrift-store-worries. It seems to me that the steak knife section should be kept under lock and key rather than just sitting out in the kitchen aisle, free for the grabbing by any random psycho. Forks? They're fine. Spoons? They're safe too unless you're Alan Rickman from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He tells his cousin he's going to cut someone's heart out with a spoon "because it hurts more, you twit!" But for most of us, spoons don't pose too much of a risk.

But steak knives?

I always feel a little unsafe when I'm in that aisle. It's a shame too, because I enjoy perusing the kitchen aisle. I have many, many collections and a great deal of them are kitchen-related. Take my red-wood-handled vintage kitchen utensils for example. They're always located in the same bins as the steak knives. If I want to dig for my treasures, I have to risk my life. I enjoy adding to my collection, but is it worth dying for?

Would you trust these people with a steak knife? That weird guy standing a few paces away... You know, the one who keeps eyeing you? Creep. Or what about the woman screaming bloody murder because you stole that pyrex dish right from under her nose, and she had her eye on it first. Oh no she didn't. And then there's the lady hoarding all the ceramic cat figurines.

Yep, they should lock up the knives.

Happy 206th Birthday, Ohio!

Dear Ohio,
I am so sorry, my beloved state of mine. I knew it was your birthday yesterday, however I just too pooped to take pictures and blog about it. Today though, I am refreshed after napping from about 7:45 until about 11 last night (during which time hubby took care of the little man), and then some short bursts of sleep throughout the night. I like it when Joel sleeps for three hours, like he did after his 4:50 am feeding. Yay. In honor of your birthday, enjoy some photos.

Love,
Jodie

P.S. I would have made you some cookies with the above Ohio-shaped cookie cutter, however I am on a diet. Pay no attention to the cheesy hashbrowns at the bottom of this post. I really am on a diet.

P.P.S. All this talk about cookies is making me change my mind. I just might bake you some cookies after all.

A little crafty barn I painted when Ohio turned the big 2-0-0. If you're not from Ohio, you probably don't know this, so let me share it with you! Some guy went around to each of the 88 counties and painted one barn in each county with our bicentennial logo. Phew! I can't even imagine how much work that would have been! This little crafty barn took enough time!

Here's part of my little flag collection. Did you know that Ohio's flag is the only flag in the union that isn't a boring old rectangle? You can't tell it from this shot, however Ohio's flag has a little V cutout at the end, so it's five-sided. Also in this picture: some thrifted items! I had this little doggie when I was little and was totally stoked when I found it at a thrift store while on vacation last summer in Piqua, Ohio. (What?! Who the hell vacations in Piqua, Ohio? Long story. Let's just say we were on a cemetery-hunting vacation...) I found the little turn-of-the-century ruby red souvenir glass pitcher for a mere couple bucks. I was so afraid that when the cashier rang me up, she was going to exclaim, "Wait a cotton-pickin' minute! This has been priced wrong!" and make me pay twenty bucks. But alas, she said nothing and off I went, happy as a clam! I just checked on ebay; there's one just like it (with a different name on it though) with twelve bids currently, going for 18 bucks. Woohoo!

And let me leave you with a shot of breakfast. On the menu today: cheesy hashbrown casserole (I should be back down to my prepregnancy weight in no time, don't you think?) and chai in my can-you-tell-I'm-a-music-teacher mug. It's sitting on my bent wood chair next to the bunny night light lamp that we use since Joel has been sleeping in our room. Yes, my bedside table is crammed with so much crap on it, that I now have been reduced to using the seat of the chair as tablespace...

Binkie Clips and Kiddie Wallet Finished!

Joel spent a lot of time sleeping today, which afforded me the opportunity to sew, sew, sew! There was two tutorials that I was just dying to make: these binkie clips and this wallet for Joel. I thought the wallet would be cute in brown so that Joel's wallet would match daddy's. I didn't make Joel's out of leather, of course, but I did have a nice, sturdy brown fabric that worked out well.

Like always, I strayed from the tutorial. I opted to use steam-n-seam to close the hole after turning the wallet right-side-out rather than topstitching around the perimeter of the wallet. I also left out the button in favor of a sewn snap. I think it turned out very cute, especially after I put in those fake credit cards that come in the mail.
Cost: absolutely F.R.E.E.


These binkie clips were super easy to make, and the tutorial was very thorough and easy to understand :) I decided to use hot glue to attach the velcro to the ribbon because I could not find my liquid stitch, but other than that I followed the tutorial (I think). Unfortunately though, I realized that out the three pacifers that we have, none of them will work with these binkie clips because there's no way to attach them! *Sigh* I guess we'll have to go buy some more binkies!

You know what's really awesome about these clips? I didn't even have to buy the ribbons! They came free on gifts we received, so of course I saved them. I just knew there would be a project on down the line when these little lovelies would come in handy. I was right!

Ribbon: free.
Metal clips: two dollars.
Not having to bend over and pick up dropped pacifiers one million times a day: priceless.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today we're celebrating Dr. Suess's 105th birthday! My husband's cousin's wife told me about his upcoming birthday a few days ago; she said that _____ (I forget which store she said... Babies R Us maybe??) was having a half off sale on all Dr. Suess books, so she picked one up for her little tot who was turning one. Well I think I did one better - I thrifted a Dr. Seuss book yesterday at Goodwill for a quarter :)



Originally I ran out to the Pickerington Goodwill to look for two white sheets. We had done a photo shoot at T-3's place earlier in the day for her portfolio, and tacking up a sheet to the ceiling yielded very professional looking results. We also took a couple shots of the hubby, little man, and me, however we weren't really dressed for the occasion, so I'd like a do-over. The only problem: I don't own a single plain white sheet.

Easy solution: go get a couple at a thrift store! The P'town Goodwill only had two solid color sheets, one in a light green, and the other a light blue. I really need two sheets to match (one to hang on the ceiling, and the other to lay on the floor), and since they only had one of each, I passed.

I did, however, find several things for Joel. I was stoked to find a whole stack of Halloween iron-on transfers, new in the packaging. Each package contained two transfers; there was a total of six different designs, however I just purchased one package (79c). I was also very excited to find a very large, furry "3" applique for 99c; it will look smashing on a shirt for his third birthday. I also picked up three kiddie holiday VHS tapes for a buck each (Christmas, Valentines Day, and Easter), so they will make nice gifts for him when he's a toddler (VHS?! Am I living in the 20th century or what?! Hey, they were only a dollar so give me a break!) Last but not least, three books for a quarter apiece, including the one by Dr. Seuss.

I would also be remiss if I failed to mention that T-3 gave me some goodies yesterday! She found two darling iron-on cowboy appliques on clearance for 75c apiece, and she gave me a bunch of bobbins. The funny thing is, the day before she told me about the bobbins, I was at Joanns staring at the bobbins, kicking myself for forgetting to check and see what kind my sewing machine took. There are two types of the clear plastic kind that look the same to me, and I wasn't sure which ones to get, so I left empty handed (well not completely empty handed... I used my 40% off coupon to purchase clips so that I can make these binkie clips. I also found a cross cake topper for Joel's baptism; it was on clearance for a dollar). By the way, T-3 if you're reading this, I discovered that some of the bobbins work but some jam my machine. At least I got a few new bobbins out of it! :)

Birthday Bunting and Sunday Stash

I finished the bunting today. Since there are so many different fabrics in it (14), I decided that it could double as my Sunday Stash post.

H: a thrifted cherry print skirt
A: a curtain that was in the house when I bought it
P: a remnant from a shower curtain I bought at Walmart to use in the basement


P: a bandana that was my grandpa's
Y: a shower curtain sample that I got when I worked at Kohls
hearts: purchased new at Joanns


The next three fabrics were part of my great-grandma's stash. My great-aunt gave me her stash after she passed away.


T: a remnant left over from a project for a friend
H: a sample given to me by my ex's mother
D: part of great-grandma's stash


A: a remnant I purchased second hand
Y: part of great-grandma's stash

And now... the Rest of the Story

The radio legend Paul Harvey passed away today :( He was 90 years old. I will greatly miss your 6 o'clock biographical/historical chat, Mr. Harvey. No one can do pauses like you!

In other news, we went to my husband's cousin's daughter's first birthday party today. So when I got home, I did what any mother of a 2-week-old would do... I started to make a birthday bunting for my son! Yes, I have fifty weeks until he turns one. So?

There's lots of blog entries out there dedicated to creating birthday buntings; I liked this one, although I'm not exactly following it. I did use it as a jumping off point, though.

I liked that she sewed the fronts and backs with right sides together and then turned them right side out so that the seams are on the inside. Many of the buntings out there are made with a single piece of fabric with the edges trimmed with pinking shears. That look is nice too, however I'd be afraid that it would fray over time. Since I plan on using this bunting forever, I just can't have frayed edges. Joel will be in his sixties, and I in my nineties, and I'll still be dragging the darn thing out...

I can't free hand letters very well, as evidenced by the baby blocks that I made. So instead of freehanding the letters, I found a font I liked in Microsoft Word, made it large enough, and then traced around the letters onto paper right off the computer screen. I then pinned the letters onto the felt and cut them out. Voila! Much better looking!

I haven't sewed the fronts to the backs yet, nor have I sewed the felt letters onto the fabric, however I decided to photograph a few of the little flags for your viewing pleasure. Notice the word that the chosen flags spell out... "DIRTY." That was a total coincidence! They even came out in that exact order! I think the sewing gods are trying to tell me something. Tear yourself away from your sewing machine for a little while so you can clean your house, damnit!




I had to use some heart fabric since my son was born on Valentine's Day!
Here's the same fabric I used for the the NY Rangers bib the other day.

Update: I finished the bunting today. Let me just say that bias tape is the devil. I thrifted a whole bag of it several weeks ago, so I figured now would be a nice time to use some of it. I planned on folding it over the top edge and sewing it down, however that wasn't working out for me. Instead, I ripped out the seam I had begun and started over with steam-a-seam. I decided to not fold the bias tape over, and instead used two strips of bias tape, one for the front and one for the back, held in place with steam-a-seam. I then stitched the top to keep the bias tapes connected together. That probably made no sense ... sorry. If you want to know more, I can try to explain it better. Right now I am sleep deprived from having a 15-day-old!

And now you know ... the rest of the story! Update: here's the bunting in use at his first birthday party :)

Relaxation Sounds

I totally love this website. It's a site that lets you choose up to five different relaxation sounds to play simultaneously. My favorite combination is wind chimes, flute song, creek, and bird sounds. Try it! I'm trying it out on my son right now. It doesn't seem to be working.