Hoppin' to it!

I was in a productive mood. I keep weird hours - okay I am a TOTAL night owl. I stay up past 2am and sleep till noon or later. I get things done, but I just do them at different times of the day than normal folks. I get my morning coffee at lunch time. I eat lunch when the kids get home from school. I have a midday snack when they're eating supper. And after they go to bed I get some down time to just create. Today though, I started my creating early in the day.

The first thing I did was grab the green fabric I bought to match a bit of ribbon I got 20 years ago. There was a ribbon outlet down south of us at an outlet mall, and their big 'deal' was to stuff a zipper bag full for a flat rate. Well you can imagine I packed in as much ribbon as I could - some was remnant, some was tangled ribbon off-the-spool, and quite a bit of the massive mound of ribbon was damaged bits that the manufacturers still wanted to get a buck or two off of. I have a tight roll of 3" wide white satin ribbon begging for a project - probably five or more yards, at least. But the ribbon I have been most eager to use has been the 2" wide green satin ribbon. A great deal of it has a fold and discoloration, but enough of this ribbon was in good shape that I was able to use it for this dress. The rest just fell into place.

Matching pacifier, how cool is that!

I had the yellow fabric for the lining from a $1/yard sale at a craft and fabric store in Cali, back when I did a lot of Ren Faire. The frogs and turtles was a recent purchase, it sort of jumped into my cart off the shelves at Wal-Mart (I hear all you sewing mavens gasping and groaning - but my options are limited, as is my budget).



The buttons were from my stash of new buttons, not intended for this fabric. I had a pair of lime green buttons, because when I bought this I intended to make another reversible A-line dress and put another fun fabric on the back side - so I only needed the two green buttons. But I needed four buttons for this dress, so I had to go with what I had. I don't think they look too bad, they pull some of the blue accents out of the dress. it works.
 I made a basic bodice - actually used the pattern I drew up for the A-line dress, but changed the sides of the bodice so they were straighter, more fitted, and then split the back and added an inch to each center mark so there would be an overlap for the buttons. So there are three bodice pieces (six if you count the lining.) The skirt is in three panels, each double the width of each bodice panel, basted and gathered (draw up the bobbin thread to 'scrunch') to the right width.

The bodice's bottom edge sandwiches the top of the skirt, holding all those gathers in place. Then, because I think that edge looks kinda drab, the ribbon is added as a sash. I left the front of the ribbon sash wide, but gave the sides (just under arms) a little pinch and hand-stitched them into place. Then the ribbon just ties into a great big bow in back. The hem is simply blind-stitched, by hand.

When I make another little dress like this I may photograph along the way and try to make some sort of rudimentary tutorial, because as a NON-sewing person, tutorials have been a great help for me. I don't know all the terminology or all the tricks of the trade, but I have had fun coming up with things for Miss Maeven to wear.

1. 
   

I think she enjoys her new dresses too.

Hot Pixies

Er, I mean hot pixels. As in, my 7 year old camera is really in need of replacement. Apparently I have a lot more hot pixels than I used to, as evidenced by my recent long-exposure photos of a storm (yesterday evening we had QUITE the lightning show to the east.) I went through and touched up the photo to the right, but it took some doing. It was cropped, too, so I didn't have to touch up every hot pixel. I like having a camera that I can just turn on and shoot with, and know that every shot is print-ready without having to digitally edit. And though it still takes awesome photos, I feel like it's about time to upgrade. So now I'm sort of (passively) camera-shopping (dreaming) for the next big thing. Even though I am still learning to use this one. Yesterday, for instance, I finally figured out how to manually set the exposure time. Imagine that! This one was a 15 second exposure, on a wobbly compact tripod, with the wind gusting to 15mph at the least. One of a hundred shots I took last night. I'm stoked. Quite a few had impressive lightning strikes. All had really cool clouds. I love how, in this shot, you can see the glow from the right where the street lamp was really messing with my shots. I couldn't get quite the best part of the storms in frame because of that damn lamp. It really screws up our front yard stargazing, too. Didn't we move out to the boonies to get away from street lamps and light pollution? Well, didn't we? ;)

Calmer Weather

Well since the twister, I've been a little on edge, but thankfully still productive. I've been knitting on my brother's hat, bit by bit, and I will unveil it when I am done - it has hints of Fair Isle, hints of South American style, and will hopefully fit him when I am done.
I've also been crocheting on a special project, no big complex deal just something for a good, dear friend who deserves a little something. I'm slow going because I've had other things to do, and my arthritis kind of hampers intense crochet sessions.
Today however, I decided I'd make good use of my time and whipped out a dress for Miss Maeven that I've been planning and brainstorming for weeks. I took my 'standard' A-line style, and added a sash. That's pretty much it. The skirt is a little wider than my prior dresses, and longer too. I wanted to make sure that when Maeven bends over to pick up Easter Eggs, her little bum stays covered.
So now, I present, Maeven's Spring Flutterby dress:

She was not happy about posing, or swapping dresses, or anything other than snuggling at this point.

The little flutterby gems were randomly placed over the edges of the sash, to tack it in place more securely. I applied it with a strip of stitch-witchery tape, but my experience is the stuff eventually loosens up. This was just to get it placed properly, so the stitching would be easier, and so I wouldn't mar the satin ribbon with pins.

Spring Fling... A Twisted Tale

Last night about 11pm, I looked at our local radar and saw a line of storms that made my innards do a somersault. Very calmly, I put our fire department pagers back on the charger bases, made sure one was turned to county dispatch, and the other was turned to our city's public works. My husband installed and set up the civil alert alarms some time back for our 'city' (it's really a small town, the sign says 700 people but it's really more... that's just in "city limits", though our 'town' is considered more than that.) He's had the capability to test and set them off since then, but it isn't his responsibility - that falls to our mayor/city council and/or police department (quite a few of our officers don't even live here, and oft times they are not staffing a late late shift like that on Sunday nights.) To set off the civil alert sirens, you have to be somewhat near them and punch in a code to the radio while keyed up. We live right smack next to one of them, and my mother in law is very near to the other. So it's just very easy for hubby to test them and keep them operational for our little town... but it has never been his responsibility - not even when he was the fire chief. When he *was* the fire chief, I would set them off in his absence once a month to check them... but we've grown a little distant from the department lately. We are both still members of our volunteer department... just very busy with work and family, so haven't been up on our training or meetings or run many calls in the past year.
Anyway, disclaimer stated... About 11pm, the radar indicated we had a strong line of storms headed straight for us, with potential for tornadoes and hail. I don't know the particulars of how to set off sirens for a town, so I'm not sure how early or late or anything - I just knew I had to get my kids prepared, secure some precious treasures (family photos, digital photo archive, legal documents) find a good place in this old house to bunker down, and then deal with my next priority - alerting town.
I woke the boys and told them, "There's a line of storms coming, could be about an hour or two before they get here, I'll be watching the radar and keeping tabs on what it does... but if I do come wake you back up again I will need you to move quickly and don't question anything I say, just do exactly what I tell you and trust me." They all three went back to sleep.
About an hour later, still watching radar online and weather radio on tv (I do not own a battery operated radio... just never had time or money to deal with it) I start getting text alerts pertinent to my town - severe thunderstorm WATCH. Our county set off tones for all fire departments - an 'all call' for storm watchers and personnel to be at the ready. (At this point, the storm had just produced one weak EF1 tornado to our north-east within the county.) The air outside was still, quiet, only slightly moist - no indication we had anything more than lightning and rain coming. But given the 'all call', I roused the kids and directed them to hole up in the safest part of the house. I went to get my daughter's infant carrier car seat, and as we were all assembling ourselves and donning blankets and coats, the lights went down. No more radar (except on my mobile phone web browser).  The watch was upgraded to a warning only shortly before the power died.
After the power died, maybe just a brief moment, I heard a loud crack - but it wasn't thunder. My oldest son strapped his little sister into her car seat while I started trying to set off the civil alert sirens. But with the power being down, they could not operate. Mind you I have no formal training regarding weather emergencies (just 37 years of Texan upbringing) so I was just doing the best I could. I tried again and again, and stopped short of running across the road in the driving rain and wind to get closer to the siren - because to go outside would leave my kids alone in a high anxiety, frightening moment.
I already had one child having an anxiety attack. He was pulling it together the best he could. But my boys were raised in California for the first 8-8-4 years of their lives. (they are 13-13-9 now). So storms are not as deeply ingrained in their psyche as they are into mine. I wanted to be a storm chaser as a child. This storm was exhilarating, if anything. There was no way I was leaving the building for anything.
A fellow fire fighter, my BFF K - her wee treasure 'Lilah is my goddaughter - phoned me in our worst moment of the storm, "SET OFF THE SIRENS." I told her they were dead. She lives in a trailer. I could hear over the howl on my end that the howl on her end was getting louder, and my heart sank. The storm was indeed a tornado - confirmed later by the national weather service as a very strong EF1, stronger than the one to our north) - and it was going straight toward them. My mother lives to the north east of us, the typical route for such storms - but she has been staying with her mom and wasn't home - my concern there was for her house and property, which I could (and did) check on in the morning. My husband also has family in the area, scattered all over the county. I checked in with my sister in law and mother in law just after the worst passed us. I also texted my BFF back to make sure she and her hubby and family were ok. Called my mom, IM-ed my brother in the Seattle area. Posted our status to facebook. By now my phone was really low on battery - thankfully I have a spare phone that remains charged (swap that sim card) and a spare battery for my phone, and the twins' phones. So we were 'connected' still. Just in the dark.
After the worst blew over, I opened a window for ventilation - power was still out - and we all camped out in the living room. Sleeping bags on the floor, candles on the dining table (secure in containers - I'm a good Girl Scout) and Miss Mae's 'Violet' leapfrog dog to play music (Glow Worm also helped) to distract the kids. My youngest son, Monkey-Li (Liam) wanted all his stuffed animals around him, so I sent his biggest brother with him and one flash light, and they collected the menagerie for safe keeping.

It was at least another two hours before they could calm down and sleep. I managed to crash out sometime around 5am. About 6am, power was restored, waking me up. The sun wasn't long after and I could go out and survey damage. The loud crack right after power died was a tree in our back yard, a previously damaged hackberry tree that was ugly and in a bad spot, so no heartbreak there. It split and came down on our goat-wire fence, easy fix. No other damage, but the storm moved our lawnmower (it *had* been right where the tree fell, but was moved across the yard and set down gently) and tossed our burn barrel way out into the road causing damage to other things - someone clearing debris removed the burn barrel before I got out to check things. Our other, lighter trash bin was left in the ditch, almost where it had been before. Certain things that stayed put, and others that got moved, just didn't seem like straight line winds, it was quirky and unusual- I knew for sure now it was a tornado. And that we had been right in the middle, and survived. Maybe it was those ruby red slippers I bought for Miss Mae a few weeks ago, or maybe it was just a whole mess of good karma, but we were spared damage. My mother's place, and hubby's uncles place also spared damage, save some trees and limbs. Our family is all very fortunate. Our whole county is very fortunate. No injuries, well none due to storm directly. I hear one person stepped on a piece of glass.

radar loop during the storm, we are south of Fort Worth

A barn to our northeast about a mile, flattened.

A barn on the left, house on the right, with significant roof damage - also about a mile to our northeast.

I haven't been back to sleep since the power came back on at 6am and woke me. I am operating on the residual adrenaline from the storm, what little caffeine and sugar I've consumed since morning, and sheer determination. Luckily, hubby's work sent him home early (not due to the storm) and he arrived at the house about the time I got to my mom's to check the property out. We got to spend a quiet, cool, fresh day together just enjoying each others company, both of us up since the witching our and tired. My daughter slept much of the day. The boys went to school - delayed start due to power outage - but then came home early due to another outage. It's just down the street. I was glad to have them back home. I needed extra hugs.

My usual late night hours of operation came in handy. Also my tendency to park on the internet and stay all day helped us avoid danger. Sure we all just stayed put in our beds and slept right through, but what if... what if... at least I had advance notice and was prepared. I'll look at that fabric stash, that yarn stash, that bead stash, and I won't think, when I get more time I'll do such-and-such. No, I won't say that, because I've got more time. And I am thanking my lucky stars that I do.

Something I made last year wearing something I made last year

Last year after doing one successful dress from a published crochet project, I figured I knew enough about crochet to design my own. Well I don't plan things out, I design on the fly. I usually make my teddy-bears stitch by stitch with no chart or graph or cryptic written instructions - I let the yarn and the stitches tell me what's next. I make a bear shape out of yarn, basically, and then there's a bear. Well the same can be said about a lot of my beaded items, and life in general for that matter. I intuit my designs.

So when I finished this little cornflower blue dress out of the cheapest cotton yarn (the stuff intended for dish choths.... super soft, loose ply) I was dismayed that it didn't fit my cherished 5 month old little miss. It didn't even have a good shape for a dress. Sure the skirt was full and frilly, but the flare fell at the wrong place on her and it just was too baggy around the bodice. The colors were nice, at least. And I'd recycled buttons off an old work coverall from some of my ex-husband's old navy uniforms that I'd saved for my fabric stash ages ago (they're too dark, but the right size - they're on the back.)


I even went to the trouble to try and make little slippers to match. They didn't stay on. I'm not sure if I frogged those yet or not, but I know I intend to.









Over the winter I brought the dress out a few times to use as a layering piece. Our house has no central heat and air, and no insulation. It's a 'temp'. We are saving for a new place, and this is a house my hubby 'inherited' so it wasn't really our choice location to live, but we kind of needed to get life moving along. (He took over a relative's loan, and since this is a small town, the house has some history in his family beyond that - his grandparents were renting a room here when his mother was a baby. Of course, it wasn't the heap it is now back then.) Anyway the house gets COLD, despite a big kerosene heater and space heaters, so the cotton dress was a good piece to layer over leggins, long sleeve onesie, and under a sweater.

Fast forward to today.  I've been eyeing the blue yarn, never one to waste. I could frog it to make another little dress, or use it for dish cloths, or make a few little head scarves (I still have ample yarn, I spent $9 on the yarn for the dress and only used $6 worth, actually less since there's so much of the yellow and white left over).

Run!

I figured I'd try it on her just one more time. The weather is warm and lovely. She's been enjoying just a diaper and tee in the house. Easy changes. Breezy legs.

Well... IT FITS! Happy Joy! The slippers may be a loss but the dress is a success! It's not for a 6-9 month, it's for 12-18 month. Consistent with my trend to make things too big, which I started back when I first learned to crochet, the dress just wasn't ready for Mae yet. But now Mae is ready for the dress.

I'm going to have to make some bloomers to match!

Kids Are My Silver Lining

The tablet pen gone missing was enough to cloud up even the sunniest skies. But there on the edge of darkness, came a beam of wonderfulness! SQUEEEEE!!! My oldest found my tablet pen!!! Miss Maeven DID pilfer it! It was in the bottom of a bin in her little big brother's room that has crayons and markers and pencils. Apparently my little miss sticky fingers decided that's where it belonged (okay, little miss smartie pants, I get the hint! Mom needs to ORGANIZE!) I looked through that bin four times. She was drawn to it every time I left the gate open yesterday. I retraced my steps a thousand times. It was either a moment of total senility on my part, or my little girl had learned to send things to the OZ (outer zone) with a puff of violet mist (she's not ever going to smoke).
I was so sure it'd be near there, and even went back after lights-out and searched with a torch - but I'm bat-blind or something and missed it. YAY AUS! He gets a 'get out of jail free' card, or some sort of reward.

I am so relieved and happy, I just may knit till my fingers freeze up, then sew. In fact, that's a very good idea. Apparently this Easter thing is next weekend (I don't pay attention to holidays' comings and goings) and I haven't even started Mae's Butterfly dress. Bad mommy! Organize! Get it done!

Sticky Fingers and Knotty Knuckles - a minor lament

I had begun this blog wholeheartedly intending to post at least twice a week, and include photos of a finished project or at least a decent work in progress in each post. Well life doesn't always go as intended. For starters, I'm dealing with twin teenagers, a nine year old with mood swings and attention issues, and a kleptomaniac toddler (ok so my daughter is 14 months old and it's NORMAL for kids her age to grab and run off with everything under the sun.)
So when the blog began I had all these grand plans. Several dresses, some knit projects, I was just going to truck along and get them whipped out and really have a productive spring. Nope... kids needed too much attention, joints decided to freeze up on me, and I lost steam. And hubby's schedule of classes put him right smack in the middle of my work space for sewing.

I've been battling arthritic hands for years, half my life at least now. It's just osteoarthritis (I've been tested for RA), but it's pretty crippling all the same - and it's in more than just my hands, so I get to play 'which joint is swollen today' every day, depending on the weather and what I've been doing. Diet can really mess me up too. Sometime well before Halloween last year, I strained my index finger on my right hand by overdoing the knitting - yep, a knitting related incident. It was extremely painful, and I seriously thought I'd broken or dislocated it, because of how swollen it was. I went to the ER after it bent sideways at the joint while I was palpating for crepitus (feeling to see if there was a break in the bone), the doc was kind of dumbfounded that I'd hurt it pickin' and throwin' yarn, but there it was. X-ray came back normal, they splinted it, sent me home to consult with my regular doc (at the time, I had no regular doctor). I went to my new doc the next week. She ran a full blood work up to check for things like Lupus and RA, which came back a big resounding NO (more on that another time) and granted me a referral to a specialist for more help with the finger  (ok I had to call back to her office for the next four weeks with no results, and finally realized that my insurance, which I was new to, allowed me to self-refer). Two months later, still splinted, still in pain, I finally got to see a hand specialist (orthopedic surgeon, yep, with all the bells and whistles pertaining to hands) who told me he had no clue what was wrong with my hand, (finger still visibly swollen, locked in extension, and needing a splint to protect it for daily activity) and the kicker was, he went on to say that I was pretty stupid to be wasting his time like that. I very literally cried. He did, as he was writing me off to go attend some luncheon, offer to have it X-rayed again, as if that would make the pain and swelling go away. And his ending comment was that splinting it was the absolute WORST thing I could be doing for it (remember, he told me he did not have a clue what was wrong with it, but was SO SURE that whatever I was doing to make it feel better was absolutely wrong). By then my finger had been injured nearly three months. When I saw him again in the hallway while waiting for X-ray, he told me he'd review the films but that he "hoped he'd never see me again." Seriously. I spent the next hour crying in the parking lot trying to pull myself together so I could drive home.

It'd been hurting for so long that I'd learned to knit with it in the splint, and quite well too. Now I had to decide whether he could be right, remove the splint, and try to knit carefully without it while hoping for it to improve, or ignore his advice based on his cruel personality and keep the splint on, and risk permanent damage. I split the difference, splint at night, off during the day. I also had to decide whether to report him to the state medical board for unprofessional attitude, whether to give a hearty gripe about the ER doc who insisted I keep it splinted, and whether to bother with seeking a second opinion with another orthopedic hand specialist. After all, if it did 'just' turn out to be osteoarthritis, they could give me an injection of steroids for the pain and swelling (but if it's RA, they'll tell me to buzz off). Which was what I suspected it could be after the first X-ray came back ok, and had gone to the hand specialist to confirm and treat. But he 'had no clue what was wrong'. He said it several times during our brief appointment.
There was no excuse for his attitude. I've had snippy doctors before, when I was on military insurance or medicaid, and honestly who can blame them for being testy when they have to give you a price break. But right now I have very good insurance. I even had a fairly normal hair color when I went in (right now it's three shades of purple with black, it was just auburn and black then) and I dressed conservatively. Yes I had my infant daughter with me but she was quiet, sat in her little umbrella stroller and just looked as cute as could be. It still irritates me that he was such an arse, but with my severe social anxiety I just can't bring myself to make a fuss about it officially.

Anyway, 'nuff ranting on that doc.
This finger is still painful. The knuckle is knotty now. I can't do simple things like open cans with a manual can opener, or pop a tab on a soda can. Forget tight jars. Dropping things is a common occurrence. My once beautiful graceful hands are now showing signs of age and destruction. I'm only 37. It really kills me. I have so much creative and artistic talent I want to utilize - I bead, I knit, I crochet, I do lamp work, I sculpt with wire and beads, I work with polymer clay. I want to learn wood working and lapidary arts, throw pottery, and bake bread. Things that hands are useful for, necessary.

So my work is slow going, at best - I don't knit as fast as I'd like to, and even when I do I have to take frequent breaks so I don't overwork my joints. I can't load up on foods I'm allergic to (which is quite a few things, like corn products) because it causes inflammation. So there goes my twizzler-fueled lampwork marathon, blast it. I put my beading aside for a while because peyote, RAW, and herringbone are just not fun when I keep dropping the needle. Maybe loom work will eventually be my method of choice, less hassle, but we'll see - the beads will keep. So I just knit and crochet now, mostly knitting because it is new to me and I am learning so much every day. I knit till my hands hurt, then I knit just a bit more, and then let them rest. I push it a little bit longer each time. If I feel like I'll be knitting for a few hours straight, I'll take an NSAID before I get to the pain threshold, and then quit when I feel I've made considerable progress. But I don't like to medicate as a rule, for any reason.

How does this relate to sticky fingers, you might wonder. Well... I'm getting to that. Because of my hand troubles I don't use a mouse with my computer. I use a tablet in conjunction with the touch pad on my laptop. It's a lot easier for me to click and draw with the pen, and if the 'tapping' bothers my still-injured joint (right index finger), I can click with the left hand on the touch pad, right hand controlling the pen's location. It is a very excellent solution, and has allowed me to do so much more on the computer than I could manage with the touch pad alone, or with a mouse. The pen has become my lifeline, mightier than any sword. It's the gateway to my social world (I'm agoraphobic) and to new crafting techniques, blogs, tutorials, patterns, and YARN SHOPS! I also am an avid game-a-holic.

So today, my sticky-fingered, button-pushing 14 month-old toddler, (aka Little Miss Pretty Princess Maeven)  managed to abscond with my tablet pen. DOH! I have looked everywhere. In a moment of distraction, she nabbed it. Or maybe I set it down, which is possible, while dealing with her for some other reason, and just can't recall where. But somehow, the pen has vanished. And it was in the space of five minutes, because I can think back to what I was doing before I realized it was gone, and I know it was in my hand. After that, it's just me looking for it. It is such an integral part of my daily life that it seems everything has come to a screeching halt. I'm sick over it. Tablet pens don't come cheap. I would almost be better off just buying a whole new tablet, but I can't justify that. I'm one grumpy bunny. I can't do my intarwebs routine! If I can't find it over the weekend, I'll probably die of boredom and frustration. Or insist on getting a new tablet - one with touch and pen capabilities... but I'll have to earn my own 'pen money' to get it. (oh the puns!) My fingers will have to suffer so that I can give them sweet relief, such irony.

On the other hand, now that the pen is missing, maybe I'll focus more on my crafts and have something pretty to post next time. For now, you get a shot of the culprit - pushing buttons and looking guilty - wearing the cris-cross dress I designed for her in checkers and flames, with ruffle-bum bloomers. The design was a draft and since I don't have a dress form, I have to tweak it on 'the real thing' which is not easy when it's a rambunctious toddler-diva... but I did finally get the sizing right (just not in this photo). Of  course, being MY daughter, she prefers to wear the dress backwards because the front's length hinders her ability to climb things and get into even MORE trouble. ;) Shown here before alterations, and worn front-ways.