It is raining cats and dogs today. Wouldn’t it be so much fun to be splashing about the puddles in these adorable Hunter clogs? I have a pair of their rain boots, which I adore, but they can be a bit stuffy and a pair to put on. I think that these would be great to slip into for a trip to the gym or to run errands. Perhaps they could be a Happy Autumn gift to myself?
(9/24) UPDATE: Shawn surprised me tonight by bringing home a pair of these in red!! I have the best hubby ever!
Happy Fall, y’all! I am so happy for it to officially be Autumn. I don’t know about you, but it is my favorite season. Snuggly sweaters, beautiful crisp weather, the smell of burning leaves, apple cider, the list goes on and on.
Well, it was a hectic week, but I survived. We had a really nice time with the family here.
Highlights included a trip to the Dane Co. Farmers Market, everyone falling in love with Glass Nickel pizza, a trip to Spring Green to visit his grandmother’s cousin, and watching Gran Tornino together. Only major debacle was that after brewing four consecutive pots on Sunday morning, the coffee maker couldn’t handle brewing a full pot of coffee. I think that the old girl blew a gasket or something. Will need to rent an industrial one next time they visit. All in all, I’m calling this one a success.
The family left on Friday morning, immediately afterwards Shawn and I drove down to Chicago so he could do a little competition shopping for work. We hit Oak St. and Michigan Ave. and had lunch at Fred’s the restaurant at the newly opened Barney’s. After shopping we met my sister, nephew, and some friends for dinner. Good pizza, some Chianti (four bottles!) and a ton of laughs. Back to Madison on Saturday morning to spend the remainder of the weekend in relaxation/recovery mode and just enjoying the quiet house. Aaaahhhh.
So, among the million things that I have been doing this week to prepare for Shawn’s family upcoming invasion, umm . . . I mean visit, one of them has been getting the spare bedrooms in order. Something that I have been meaning to do is get a chair to go with the vanity. I haven’t been able to find one that I like, that isn’t a ton of money. (Can I help it if I have expensive taste?) I have the old chair that my mom bought for me when she gave it for me. I think it must have been a kitchen chair or something. It’s based off of a bentwood chair, but done it white metal tubing. Not the most attractive thing out there. But it fit the vanity and is fairly comfortable. . . so I decided find a slip cover to make it more presentable. Unfortunately, the only ones I found were pretty awful looking. Either that or they cost an arm and a leg. After looking at the construction of a couple in the store, I decided to attempt to make a slip cover for it myself. Ambitious, considering that I’ve never made a slip cover before in my life and have only been sewing for a little over three months. Well, I have to say that it turned out pretty darn good. I got a yard of navy blue canvas from Walmart ($4!) and just kind of figured things out by trial and error. I finished off the bottom with a a little red fabric that I had in my stash to give it a little pop. I’m pretty amazed that I could pull this off, it’s given me the confidence to try my hand at some more ambitious sewing projects. . . curtains anyone?
Wowza! Check out these amazing photos from the newly upgraded Hubble Space Telescope. Super amazing!
Shawn and I got back into Madison from our Labor Day Weekend trip to Columbus. A ton of fun was had. Highlights include a Buckeye win over Navy, a post-game victory burrito from La Bamba’s, and seeing good friends at Kaci’s baby shower. Lowlights were a post-game trip to the car impound lot to retrieve the towed rental car and the resulting migraine that knocked me out of commission for the rest of Saturday evening. Overall, a good trip.
Now that the fun and games are over, it is time to panic. Why? My mother-in-law is coming to visit for a week. Not to mention, Shawn’s aunt and grandparents are joining her. Eeek!
I had some leftover yarn from the blanket, so I decided to make some booties. Tiny feet!
I am sure you all have been wondering if I have given up my knitting in favor of sewing lately. Not to worry, I’ve just been working on the same project for a while. Remember my dear friend Kaci? She is pregnant and due in November. She found out a couple of month’s ago that they are having a little boy and they’ve decided on the name Elias. Isn’t that sweet? The minute I found out that Kaci was pregnant, I decided to knit her a baby blanket. I used the pattern Big Bad Baby Blanket from StitchNBitch. I picked out some cozy cream colored yarn and got started. It was a fairly easy pattern, yet it had enough detail to hold my interest. Good thing, because it too a while to complete. I got it done just in the nick of time – the baby shower is Sunday! I am pretty happy with how it turned out, I just hope that Elias likes it!
Well, I’m still on my crafting/organization kick right now. I decided that I wanted to make a cozy for the sewing machine, a.k.a Bro. Since Bro is down in the basement, along with the rest of my crafting nest., I thought that he’d need a cozy to keep off the dust, cobwebs, etc. It was pretty easy to make. I just measured out the approximate dimensions and then made a pattern. I added a little contrasting fabric for trim so it wouldn’t look like a big sack, then added a little skirt to the bottom to spruce it up a bit. Easy peasy. I only wish that I might have had some interfacing or batting, that way it would have had a bit more shape to it.
I just hope that it isn’t too feminine for Bro. . . or maybe I should change the name to Bromina?
I don’t know what it is, but whenever back to school comes around, I love to get organized. From the kitchen cabinets to my purse, I love to clean everything out and start fresh. This led me to search for a tissue solution. As an allergy sufferer of olympic proportions, I always have a packet of tissues in my purse. However convenient they might be, attractive they are not. Usually half-way through the pack, it turns into a rumpled mess that will no longer stay closed and looks like it has been mangled by stick-fingered first grader. So I went on a meandering little trip via the internet to find a simple tutorial on how to make a tissue holder. I came across this one on the blog tuttifruiti. Super cute and crazy easy!!! It took me five minutes to sew it up on the old Bro, but you could easily hand sew this as well, if you don’t have a sewing machine available. I could make a million of these! How cute would it be in a gingham print or a tweed? I am seriously going to make these for everyone. What great little presents they would make. Christmas, Mother’s Day, or just cute hostess gift. I can’t wait to whip up some more!
Widdershins 