To Work or Not To Work

First off, I'm linking to a new Blog Hop that was started today by ""Capers of the Vintage Vixens" .  http://capersofthevintagevixens.blogspot.com/  I'm linking up my Etsy Shop, which I really have not been very active with lately.  It's such a fun hobby and most of what I make I usually give away to family or as gifts.
For those interested in Buying or Selling, this is what it is about.

Every Tuesday  they will dedicate their blog to: Sellers and Buyers. We are so excited about it!!! This is how it works: First grab yourself a cup of tea and sit back and get ready for some fun.

For those of you who have an online boutique, etsy, or other web-based store you can advertise here FOR FREE! At the bottom of this post  you will notice the "linky". Click on "Click Here to Enter", fill in your store's web address and image. Then "Get the Code" and post it to your blog every Tuesday! It is a Blog Hop, so your site will be advertised on blogs around the world.WorldWide! 

For you who love to shop, this is where you will find the best deals and most unique things. From vintage to antique to handmade. Something for everyone and sure to be lots of fun. And if you like it... let your friends know :-)


I've also been debating the idea of starting a new business venture.  I've been retired from my own insurance business for over 7 years now and I really enjoy staying at home and doing my thing.  Then we moved into a new, big house,  my sons' got married and 5 grandchildren came along. So I've been busy and I still enjoy it all, but I'm thinking now that I'm very capable of doing something that would make me a little more of my own money.  Here's the catch and the reason for my hesitation.  I want to work when I want to work; I don't like to leave my house; I want to be able to visit my grandchildren whenever I want; I want to be free to travel whenever I want; you get the picture!  So I've been keeping my mind open for a while now to anything that might fit into my requirements and schedule.  Yes, I want my cake and eat it too!  At least I'm very lucky enough to not HAVE to work, although the extra money would be very nice and relieve Hubby from having to bear all the stress and responsibility.

I know I'm maybe looking for the impossible, but I MAY have found something that's close to measuring up.  It's ACN - It's a tele-communications service provider that was featured last year by Donald Trump on the Celebrity Apprentice and will be featured again on his show in March.  I won't go into explaining all about it, but here is a web site if anyone is curious.  http://www.acninc.com/

If anyone has any comments on this, or personal experience with ACN, or just can relate to my inner debate, I'd be interested to hear about it.

In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy my home, family, grandkids, and Etsy hobby.  It's just that a little extra of my own spending money might be nice, too!

Art, Crafts and "Stuff"

I decided at the last minute last week to enter a local craft show.  I was the last entry of forty vendors to reserve a table last Wednesday afternoon and the show was held on Saturday.  I don't do craft shows normally, but this one was being held at our Lakeview Lodge, which is right around the corner from my home.  Literally.  I can walk there.  Which, of course, I didn't do on Saturday because I had all my stuff to lug.  I have little "stuff" though and I don't have an over abundance of "stuff", so getting it there was no problem.  My problem was gathering it all together and tagging everything on Friday night.  That's when you realize you have more "stuff" than you thought you did.

So here it is, my "stuff" all ready for hubby to carry to the car and drive me over and unload for me.  I could have managed myself but I think he must have had a moment of feeling obligated, since I was complaining loudly (on purpose for him to over hear) to my mother on the phone that parking might be a problem.
Mom also knits and she was sharing the table with me to sell her beautiful shawls.

Here we are setting up our table and there's Mom wearing one of her shawls.  It was actually a very fun day with a very good turnout, but we only sold a few things.  At shows like this people are looking more for crafty Christmas decorations and/or less expensive items.  Our "stuff" isn't cheap because we use expensive yarns and my little quilts are very time consuming.  We knew that going in, but that's OK.  The Lodge also served lunch and we visited with a lot of people and we made enough to cover our cost for the day.
I came home with a renewed interest in catching up and updating my on line Etsy shop.  I had been ignoring it lately since I just haven't had the time to pay attention to it or make or list anything new.  Now with my new phase of slowing down and trying to do more of what I want to do, I am having fun with Etsy again.( I have a link to this on my sidebar.) I just don't make things quickly.  Some people list new things every day and I just can't do that.  Here's a new mini "fairy" quilt I listed yesterday.  I was told by some of the wonderful Quiltsy ladies on Etsy that they have heard this term used for the very mini quilts and suggested I try using that tag on my listings.

This quilt is about 3-1/4" square and the whole thing is in a 5x7 frame.  I love making them, even if they aren't making me rich!
I also finished knitting the purple baby set that I was making for a friend's daughter's baby shower that was also on Saturday.  I got that delivered to her on Friday afternoon.

 I get quite a few requests for knitted items, but they also take a while.  I was asked at the show if I used a knitting machine.  NO!  Mom and I both knit by hand the old fashioned way.  I don't take too many orders at a time because I then get overwhelmed and feel pressured.  Not how I want to feel when doing what I love to do!
My wonderful hubby is working out of the house today, thank goodness!  Yes, he's wonderful, but I just have to say that he gets on my nerves when he's working at home.  He questions me all day about what I'm doing and I really feel guilty if I'm spending too much time working on my "stuff".  Only because I help him with paperwork and computer work and he constantly reminds me where the most money comes from.  I know, but------. So now I can relax for a while and do what I want!

Preparing For Three Weeks Away

I leave tomorrow for Spokane for a three week stay.  My newest grandchild is due any day and I'm going to be there to help in any way I can.  I'll be taking care of Riley (now 15 months old),  cooking, cleaning,  fixing up a new nursery, and anything else that I can do.   I also found out today that Brandon is getting his wisdom teeth pulled next week and thought it would be a good time because as he told Diana, "My mom will be here to take care of me".   I'm looking forward to it all.  The hardest part for me is being away from my own home for that long.  I love to be in my home.  I have a feeling, though, that after three weeks with my son and his family it will feel like home there.  My Bob will come out to us on September 11 and then we'll fly back together on the 15th.

Tomorrow we actually just drive to Pittsburgh to the airport.  We live 2-1/2 hours from the airport and since I leave at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, Bob and I like to go down the night before to have a nice dinner and a good sleep at the Holiday Inn.  It also will break up the drive for Bob, instead of five hours in one day.

I've been very busy getting ready to leave.  As with any trip no matter how far or how long, I have to clean my house before I leave.  Being gone for this long, there is no way it is going to stay clean until I get back, but I have to leave it as best I can.

Last weekend, my older son, Austin, and his two dogs spent the weekend with us.  His wife and three children were in New York visiting her family, so it was very nice to spend some time with Austin without the interruption and distraction of the kids. 

Isn't he cute?  It's been a long time since we've spent time with just him.  I so enjoyed it!

Next weekend, Bob is going to Cincinnati to pick up his 23 year old nephew to stay with us for a month or so.  He needs some big time help and guidance in making a decent life for himself.  His home life has not been great and I give him credit for at least realizing there is a better life for him out there.  Bob is going to try to help him get into the military, but we'll see what happens with that.  The selfish me is not looking forward to raising a 23 year old for an indefinite period of time.  The caring and nurturing me really wants to show him what a good home and life and job can be like. 

So, I needed to clean the guest room for Kyle, not that he'll know the difference, but I will.  Of course, I'm laundering every sheet, towel and piece of clothing in the house.  I have two more shirts of Bob's to iron so he has at least a couple of weeks without having to launder or iron his own.

Yesterday we had new carpeting installed in our bedroom.  It looks so nice, but that sure makes a lot of work.  While all the furniture was still out of the room, I gave it a good cleaning from top to bottom.  Then I did a slight re-arrange and junk clean up.  Very slight, but enough so that it feels like a brand new room.  We also got a new bench for the foot of the bed.  I've been looking for a bench for quite a while and we found this one in a small furniture store on sale last week.   This is it with my suitcase on top as I have been packing all day today.

I'm only taking one carry on suitcase and a carry on duffel bag.  I don't need to take anything other than T-shirts, shorts, some sweats and a pair of jeans.  If I need anything else I'll get it there.  Now I just need to throw in about three different colors of flip flops and I'm ready to go.

I finally finished sewing the second curtain for Riley's bedroom.  I'm ironing it right now.

This matches the first curtain and the quilt I made for her nursery. 

Then about three days ago, I decided I needed a bag/tote/purse that would be easier and more convenient for traveling.  I wanted a cross-over bag with lots of pockets that would work double duty as a purse and would also hold a small knitting project and a book.  I knew exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it to look, so I dug through my stash of fabrics and found an old pattern that I altered to my specifications and Voila!, here's my new  bag.

Perfect!  Don't you just love my artistic manequin?  My artistic son, Austin, gave it to me.  It's come in very handy in taking pictures of scarves, neckwarmers, etc. for my Etsy shop.

Here's a closer-up of the bag.

It has four pockets on the outside with velcro closures, and four pockets on the inside.  Then, of course, I had to embellish with lace, buttons, ribbon and charms.

This is the cell phone pocket. 

OK, my break is over and I need to finish my ironing and packing.  I'll be three weeks away from my computer and the break from high level communication probably isn't such a bad thing.  I did get a new cell phone, though, that I can e-mail and facebook from if I can figure it out! 

I'll be back in about three weeks with plenty new baby pictures!

New Stuff of Mine

I've been busy knitting.  Some for myself, some for my grandbabies, and maybe one or two new items for my Etsy shop:  http://charmingbynina.etsy.com/   I go in phases with the things I  make because I tend to get tired of doing the same thing for too long.  So more quilts, miniature quilts, and pincushions will be coming when I get in the mood.  In fact, I'm starting to feel a mini quilt urge coming on as soon as I have the time. 
Knitting works well for me when I'm busier because it's so portable.  I can pick it up easily and knit a few rows or take it with me in the car if someone else is driving, of course.  And it's great to take to a hair appointment or to sit and wait in a dentist or doctor's office.

I just listed this cable knit purse for my Etsy shop.

It's lined with a cotton fabric and then I crocheted and felted the flower on the front.  The yarn is Baby Alpaca.  I know my things are maybe a little more expensive than others you may find on Etsy, but I use very expensive luxury quality yarn.  You can really tell the difference once you start working with the better yarn.

I made this little baby set a while back for my granddaughter, Riley.  I'm now almost finished with another set just like it that my dog groomer ordered from me for her granddaughter.  She ordered a size 3 mos., but it looks awfully small to me.  If I have to make her a larger size that's fine because I'll give the one I'm making to my newest granddaughter, Leanna. 

 I made this little hat and bootie set for Leanna

 This set I just finished for my newest grandson that's due on September 6. 
Side note:  I leave for Spokane next Thursday to be there for the new baby.  I'll be staying three weeks.

This set I made for a girlfriend of my DIL's as she had a baby girl 3 weeks ago.  She saw the set I made for Leanna and asked if I could make a set for her baby.  She loved it and actually had professional newborn pictures taken of her baby wearing this. 

I finished this sweater for myself a few months ago and I love it.  It's perfect to throw over a tank top if it cools down at night or to go into a freezing grocery store or restaurant. 

Oh, and this is my new "natural" hair color and my new pink and purple glasses.  I'm embracing  a much more Bohemian look ever since I retired from the insurance business and don't have to look conservative anymore. 

And since I finally figured out how to set the self timer on my camera I thought I'd show the necklace my kids got me on Mother's Day.  It has become one of my favorite things.  It's Brighton, and the two charms on the left are the birthstones of my two sons next to a charm that says "mother" and the four birthstones on the right are my grandchildren with a "grandmother" charm.  One more will be added very soon.  It's actually becoming quite heavy, but isn't it beautiful!  I just love it!

As you've probably noticed, my blog background and header is also new, but I don't know if I'm satisfied with it.  It may change a few more times in the near future before I find something to stick with for a while.  I enjoy making the changes when I have the time to fool with it.  I've also updated  "My Charming Creations" page (click on the tab at the top).  I've sort of neglected that page for a while, so take a look if you'd like.

That's it for now.  More to come.

My Cozy Little Sewing Room

Today is Monday, which means it's time to show off your cottage.  This is hosted by Cielo at The house in the roses.  Follow this link to see all the beautiful rooms and cottages:

Show off Your Cottage Monday

This is the door to my cozy little sewing room.  This picture I found in an antique store just reminded me of how I feel in my room.  Like a little girl playing with her toys!

This is where you will find me almost every night, sitting in my favorite chair with knitting or sewing in my hands.  I had this chair and ottoman made a few years ago.  I had been wanting this chair with these fabrics I picked out for a long time.  I also ordered extra fabric and was able to make some throw pillows to match.  The pillow on the left is one I made doing a faux chenille sewing technique made of flannel.  And if you can notice the crocheted doily on the back of the chair, that was made many years ago by my great grandfather.

My dogs hang out on the couch as long as I'm in that room.  The couch is quite old.  It was my grandmother's and my boys used to take naps on it at her house when they were little boys.  It's in excellent condition and has so many memories for me and I also like the small size of it.  I had a white slipcover on it but I just got tired of messing with it.  The quilt on the back was the very first full size quilt that I ever made about ten years ago, and a few more throw pillows that I made for the dogs to cozy up with.  The little end table was found at Cracker Barrel by my mother about five years ago.  I should have taken a close up picture of it because it has the prettiest roses and ribbons decorating it. 

My little TV sits on top of a repurposed old sewing machine bottom made into a stand.  The top was brown but I painted it white, as I did with every piece of furniture and trim in the room.  The scarf under the TV is a gift from Germany given to me by my mother when she was living there for a while.  The table under the mirror was a credenza in my old dining room and it was also a light oak wood.  My husband put the legs on for me to make it the right height for me to stand at and cut fabric and iron.  Again, I painted with a white wash, then stenciled lace on the drawers and glued on cloth covered buttons and hearts.  This little room is so jam packed that it's hard to even point out every little thing in there.  I made most of the wall hangings, the collection of pin cushions on the TV stand, and the framed mini quilt on top of the TV.  All the baskets on the floor are filled with either yarn or fabric.  The closet is also filled, but I won't even go there!  I try to keep it as organized as I can, but this is all stuff I need.  And I love just sitting there amongst it all.  Uh Oh! does this sound like a hoarding issue?

 

The sewing machine is from 1970 and was my grandmother's.  It also started out brown, sort of Early American style and came with a Singer sewing machine.  I used this old machine of hers until just a few years ago when I finally got a new Janome.  Here's the original owner's manual that came with the cabinet and machine and this is exactly what it looked like.

And you guessed it!  I painted it white with pink and green trim.  Then I sanded spots to give it a more shabby look.  The cover on the chair came from Sure-Fit slipcovers.

I just didn't know when to stop and stenciled the roses on top of the cabinet. 

I made the curtain, but they did not originally start out at curtains.  It was a quilt top that I had never made into a quilt and I needed curtains, so I cut the quilt in half, sewed a backing to them, made a rod pocket and they worked out perfect.  But then after I hung them I thought they didn't quite look frilly enough, so I hung lace behind them that hangs down beneath.  

Everything on the little white shelf is stuff I've made.  More pincushions and miniature pillows.  I also made that mini little quilt hanging under the clock.  It's a quilt of a sewing machine.  Oh, and notice the lamp shade on the right.  I made that, too.

These are some miniature quilts that I have made.  I  have thought about selling them, but I would have to ask so much for them that I doubt anyone would buy.  Besides that, they take me so long to make that I hate the though of parting with them.  I'll have to show more on these in a different post.

My mother and I also do counted cross stitching and she made this for me.  Isn't it just perfect?

I made this wreath many years ago, incorporating things I like into it.  It's maybe a little cheesy, but I love how I feel when I look at it.

So that's my cozy little sewing room.  It's not very big, and there's a lot crammed in there, but when I'm in there I just feel like I'm wrapped up in one big comfy quilt.  I hope you enjoyed seeing it as much as I enjoy being in it!

Creating Enough Time

As those of you that follow me know, I try to stay on a self designed schedule so that I can do everything I need to do in a day.  I get very frustrated and a little stressed when I fall off my own wagon.  One piece of the organized schedule that I'm still playing with is the computer time.  I need to find myself a better time and limit for this.  I get on this computer to do one thing and as I'm sure you all know, before you know it you're carried off into cyber la-la land and you become sucked into a virtual place that you really didn't intend on visiting at that particular time and when you negotiate your way back out of it several hours have passed. 
Anyway, I've gotten a little bit off of what I intended for today.  I'll get back to this computer scheduling thought another time. 

One area that I do stay on schedule with is my evening time for knitting, sewing, and creating.  I wish I could get a lot more done in that regard, too, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.  I'm also finding that I can't stay awake as late as I used to.  My Etsy shop isn't filling up as much as I would like it to, either, because my creations have consisted of personal items for family, new babies and myself. 

Since Baby Granddaughter, Leanna (due around July 6), has a nursery color theme of pink and chocolate, DIL Melissa has asked if I would make lined curtains for her.  We started off looking to buy curtains and we just couldn't find the right colors in the right size.  Here's the fabric we found at Wal-Mart and it is the perfect color and pattern.

The pink with brown polka dots is the main fabric and the fabric on the right is a pink flannel for the lining.  She wants them lined because their house can get cold in the winter and she wants to be able to keep the cold from coming in too much from the windows.  We need four panels that are 50" long x 42" wide.  So far I have two panels complete.  I was cutting the flannel on the third panel and measured wrong.  I was so mad at myself.  Now I need more pink flannel.  I'm considering writing a tutorial for lined curtains.  If I have time! Leanna should be here in about five weeks, so I need to stay focused on getting these finished and hung.

The other project I'm working on is a summer cardigan for myself.  I'm using a pattern from the book "Flowers" by Noro yarn.

Every pattern in here is so nice.  This is a picture of the one I'm making.

I'm using a hand dyed silk/cotton yarn.

I also am making it a little longer than the pattern calls for.  At my age I don't want my midriff showing.  So far I have the back and fronts finished and I'm almost done with one sleeve. 

This is the back.

With a little bit of luck I'll have it finished before the snow starts falling again!

 

I never could understand people that say they are bored.  I just can't imagine that feeling.  I need more time to do everything I want and need to do.  Or maybe I need to give up an activity or two. (Thought about what this would be - for a nano second) and--- Nope, not an option.  I'll just keep tweeking my schedule.

Baby Shower Ideas?

Thank goodness the blog problems are fixed.  That was just so frustrating yesterday.
Back to the good stuff.
 I've finally had time now to work on baby things.  As I've mentioned, we have two new grandchildren arriving shortly.  Baby girl, Leanna Rene, will be welcomed into our lives around July 11.  Our other baby will be coming in September, but we don't know if we are waiting on a girl or boy yet.  We should know that in the next few weeks.
Leanna's birth date is coming up soon, so I'm going to be giving my DIL a shower on May 8 here at my house.  This will be her third child, but the first two were boys and it's been over four years since the second boy, Landen, was born.  She needs some new pink stuff this time.  And I love pink. 
I got started on the baby quilt that I showed the fabric for last week.  It's coming along better and faster than I expected.  I like to design my own patterns.  I draw it out on graph paper first and make sure I have all the dimensions and measurements correct.  Without a finished colored picture I don't always know what I'm going to get.  I get a picture in my head, but that doesn't always translate into what the finished quilt will look like.  So far so good on this one.

I fussy cut the little teddy bears out of the printed teddy bear fabric.  I'll also use this teddy bear fabric as the border around the quilt.

There will be 12 - 9" squares total.  I now have half the squares completed.  I should have it finished in time for the baby shower.

I want to stick with the color theme of pink and chocolate for the colors and food at the shower.  I'm working on ideas for this.  Strawberries and chocolate brownies.  Or strawberries dipped in chocolate.  Pink fluffy jello salad.   I have some pink dishes - might need more.  I have pink votive candle holders.  I'll have a cute pink and chocolate cake with teddy bears, or maybe individual cupcakes.  If you have any ideas for me I'd love to hear them.  I'm just starting to think and plan on this so I'm very open to ideas.

Things I Need To Do vs. Things I Want To Do.

I'm struggling right now between things I need to and have to do versus things I like to and want to do.  They are not usually one and the same.  Part of the frustration is coming from being so distracted by other life events over the past month that I've gotten behind in all my normal activities under both headings that I'm maybe trying to catch up in everything all at once. 
Under the heading of Things I Like To Do, this is what I've accomplished this week:

I took pictures of a really cute hat I finished knitting while riding in the car and sitting around at  hospitals.  It's knit from sheared mink that was woven into yarn. No minks were killed in making this hat!

No makeup on this day.                                                  

Also took picture of the red tweed fingerless gloves I knit, again while sitting in hospitals, to match the red tweed hat I made.

I've also been working on a set of three mini quilted pillows for  Spring to put in my Etsy shop.

I have two of them listed on Etsy and I hope to get the third one up today.  If you would like to see my shop, please go to:  http://charmingbynina.etsy.com/

That's another thing I've been working on this week:  Getting my Etsy shop organized and some expired listings re-listed and advertising again. 

Last night and this morning I worked on a fun project of exchanging our Florida time share for a time share resort in St. Thomas for the week of December 4-12 of this year.  The daughter of very good friends of ours is getting married there and we have been invited to the wedding.  We are looking forward to this fun event and vacation.  This is where we'll be going.

This will look and feel really good by December.

I also really enjoy working out on my deck and in my yard and gardens.  It's bothering me right now because the snow is gone and the sun is out quite a bit, but everything looks so bare and dirty.  I need to get out there and trim, cut, clean, etc.  This is all on my calendar for the month of April.

Now under the heading of "Things I Don't Mind " is cleaning the house, laundry, ironing, grocery shopping, and cooking.  I'm caught up on all of this except for the ironing.  The only thing I really iron are My Bob's dress shirts.  Every one of them is washed and hanging up, ready to iron.   I really have to get to this.

I Need To:  Get the taxes done, catch up on bookkeeping for My  Bob's financial planning business, set up a new web site for My Bob,  get mailers out for My Bob, well, you get the picture. 

Now that I put it all in writing I sound pretty selfish, don't I?  As Bob says to me, "which of these 'things to do' makes us the money so that you can knit, sew, Etsy, and go on vacations?"  I know, I know.  I'll get to it.

Oh - BTW, I really LOVE blogging about it all!

Time for a Makeover

I'm re-decorating today.  My Blog, that is.  As some of you know, I've had two blogs for almost a year and it's time to consolidate, re-do, update, simplify.  I don't need to have two.  It's hard enough to keep up with one and I don't feel organized about it.  My other blog is mostly pictures of my "things" that I make.   Since this is so much of who I am and what I'm about there is no reason that I see to keep them separate.  When I start a new project, complete a project, have questions on a project, you'll all know about it right here. 
Now with the new Pages Widget on the blogs, I have set up a page of "My Charming Creations".  The link to this can be found under my banner above. 
I'm leaving my other blog:  http://mycharmingcreations.blogspot.com/ up because I have 10 months worth of pictures on there that I don't want to lose, but I won't be posting anything new on there.  I also still have my Etsy site:  http://charmingbynina.etsy.com/  .  New things will go up there on a regular basis.

The other new addition to this blog is my Button.  You can see it on my sidebar.  I kept seeing these buttons on other blogs and they are so cute, but I had no idea how to get one of my own so that others can (hopefully) collect it.  So a big "Thank You" to Connie at Living Beautifully,  http://connie-livingbeautifully.blogspot.com/.  Connie made this one for me.  Isn't it cute?  It's Me!  Connie, you're a sweetheart!

Just like my home, my blog is a constant work in progress.  The goal is for it to change and grow for the better.  Also, as is the reason for re-decorating my home, I get bored easily.  I like to get new things sometimes,  or just re-arrange as in no cost decorating.  It's all just lipstick and rouge.  The heart and soul will remain the same.