Tag Archives: auburn

Catching Up

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Haven’t posted in quite a while.  Been busy as usual.  See above for just a few of the things I have been up to.

Busy, Busy, Busy…

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First, let me just share a video of what we experienced this last week.  See those white dots?  Those are Hail Softballs!!  This storm totaled at least one of our cars, took out both front windshields and completely obliterated the sunroof on Scott’s car.  If you watch it, stick around for the end…it gets worse.

I have been quiet lately, but not because I have nothing to share.  On the contrary, I have been busy organizing my clothing patterns (fodder for a future post), sewing and baking.  I was able to finish the second UFO I posted about last time.  The dress is really cute and will go on the Etsy shop soon.

Candi

A few weeks ago, I made my (made for me) first “period” specific clothing item.  It is not much in the realm of costuming, but I actually love it and am ready to move on into something more challenging for myself.  The pattern is an Edwardian era apron and is a free download from the internet.  Taping the pieces together went perfectly, however, the instructions left something to be desired.  You can’t beat the price though, so I gave it a go with some calico fabric that had been in my stash for years.  Here is the end result:

Me in my new apron

Yes, I am sure there were no microwaves, refrigerators, or flip flops in the Edwardian era, but I wanted an apron that I could use today and this one was just right.

Speaking of updating, you know the “maxi-dress” that has been so popular for the last several years?  I have bought several (second hand, of course) and really like the light and comfortable feel of the dresses.  The problem is that they are essentially made for 20 year old ladies (read: college girls) who have something up top to show off and the ability to do just that.  I am beyond that stage, so I would end up wearing a sweater or something over the top of the dress, or not wearing them at all.  So…I decided to fix this and up-cycle the dresses into skirts that I will actually wear.  I cut off the tops, straight across, with a rotary cutter and then attached elastic to the top edge.  Folded this over and sewed again, and that was all there was to it.  This was soooooo easy and fast to do, and now I have three new long skirts to wear this summer.  Whoot!!

New Maxi-Skirts

So, wearing my new apron, I set about baking some cookies.  Now, those of you who know me, know that I don’t cook.  However, I came across a free Kindle book on cookies that explained more about why and how to mix the different ingredients together.  I have always just thrown everything in, mixed in the stand mixer for whatever I thought was long enough and then baked the cookies in the oven (more often forgetting about them after I put them in than not) and hoped for the best.  Well, I took this book’s information and attempted to make some cookies the proper way.  They lasted one day.  I think I did good :-)

Mmmm, Cookies

It’s Complicated

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My Thanksgiving post for this year is a hodge podge of things that may or may not be related.  Speaking of relations, my father, stepmother, and step-niece came for a visit from Dallas for the holiday.  I am so thankful that they took the time and energy to make the 15 hour trek out here to see our home and visit with us for a couple of days.

They are from Dallas and, as far as sports go, they are Cowboys fans (more or less).  While they were here, we were able to expose them to the finer points of SEC football and what being a “fan” really means.  Saturday, we watched the Auburn/Alabama game in which the Tigers were slaughtered and then the entire coaching staff was fired.  Yes, college football can be brutal.  We talked about many things, but since it was rivalry week, we spent a lot of time talking about college teams and various rivalries.

When they got back to their hotel, they sent us this photo.

Now, if you are a college football fan, you will know what is wrong with this picture.  However, this picture means so much to me because they were thinking about us and took the time to stop and take a photo for us that they thought would best commemorate the day. They remembered that my two favorite teams are Texas and Auburn.  Never-mind whether they got the two schools mixed up, I LOVE this photo!  Thanks Dad and Shirley!

Here is another photo I really like.

This photo was taken at church.  Scott was introduced in the church newsletter for his new position as the business administrator and they used this photo.  I really like it!

Finally, here is Ebby enjoying the remnants of the holiday ham.  She is never spoiled :-)

Not much else to report here, except that I have three dress orders and loads of Christmas gifts to finish up in the next three weeks.  We are hoping to cut our own tree this year.  Stay tuned to see how that goes…

Some Random Completed Projects

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This week, we found out that a friend is having a baby girl. So, I made a little welcome gift for her.  I have also put this outfit on the Etsy shop, for anyone who is interested.

 

Having leftover scraps, I made a shirt for this week’s game.

Then, there is this that I actually made several months ago as a present for my daughter in law.  Today is her birthday and so now I can reveal it.

That is about it for now…just wanted to throw these up there for historical record and to make note that I am still alive over here.  :-)

Oh, This is Too Much Fun!!!

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Today, I took a break from my latest order (a white smocked baptismal dress) to have some fun with some machine embroidery.  Fall is almost here and that means college football madness is right around the corner.  I needed to create a few birthday gifts, so here is what I accomplished today.

         

The absolute best part is that the shirts were under $10 each.  Using this machine is SO much fun!!  I have to be careful or I will be spending all my time playing with this craft!!  What do you think?

Week Eleven – The Madness of March // Flat Stanley’s Visit

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This week was filled with learning all the new ways to use the iPad 2, renewing my use of some older networking tools, cooking pastries and candy, showing Flat Stanley around town, and getting psyched up about the start of the actual Sock Madness 5 competition.

The iPad 2 is SO much more useful to me than the generation one was. With the camera feature, I am able to journal everyday about anything and everything, then include photos with my entries in the journal. The video feature is amazing, and the ability to use Facetime is super fantastic. I can pretty much do anything computer related on this device I can think of, except text messaging and phone calling, which are actually cellular activities anyway.   If I could do those two things on my iPad 2, I would totally ditch my phone!

This week was slow at work (everyone is on Spring Break), so I was able to attempt the Facebook thing again. It is a little more understandable, but still confusing. I think the problem I have is that I am not “friends” with a lot of the people on there. I have no desire to connect with blasts from the past, or keep up with people who cross my path from time to time. Getting past the “friend” label and what it means to me compared to what it means on Facebook is probably my biggest hangup about using it. But, in an effort to keep up with my son and his family, I am giving it a go.

Our grandson. William, sent his friend Flat Stanley to us for an adventure. Scott and I took him into town for the tour of the Auburn sites and then he took a ride on the John Deere back at the farm.

The kitchen adventure began this week with the creation of St. Patrick’s Day candies for the people Scott works with at the church. I used some new candy molds I bought recently with green, yellow, and chocolate melting wafers for the candy. This is the easiest candy to make, takes the least amount of time, and produces an impressive result because of the candy molds. The tall ones in the box have pretzels as their “lollipop” sticks and the round ones are chocolate covered mint flavored Oreos.

The cooking continued with the frying of rosettes, something that I have always wanted to do, but just never made time for. I grew up eating these light, airy pastries and have had a rosette iron in the drawer for years. I just never made them before.

The third “candy” item I made this week was chocolate caramels. These are so delicious, but I think I could have let them boil a tiny bit longer, as they are softer than I would have liked. Oh well, this is why I am making these things in the first place, practice.

Finally, March Madness started this week and it has been fantastic! So many close games and with the job I now have I am able to watch all the games! Not only can I watch them from my television, but I can also catch every game on my iPad 2.  Yes, I am a geek.   Friday I went with Scott to Best Buy and while we were walking around the store, I fired up my MiFi and the iPad 2, and watched the live feed of the game on NCAA.com.  Oh yes, I did!   It was really funny.

Back at home, while waiting for Sock Madness 5 to start, I started on a surprise gift for the new baby.

The official name of the team that I was placed on for Sock Madness is “Sock Madness and the Sock of Secrets.” It is a take on Harry Potter, of course, and I like it so much better than the other three team names. Now, the ultimate madness is that I am just waiting (and constantly checking my email) for the round 2 pattern to be released! AAAAHHHH….

Week Eight – Angels in the Snow and Auburn Basketball

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This week I present to you my rendition of Angels in the Snow, a tatting pattern by Miranda Rensberger, aka Tatting Fool.

This pattern is very easy to follow and I completed it in under a week.  The thread is Lizbeth, but I don’t know the colourway.  The thread was sent to me in the mail as a sample spool from Barbara at Handy Hands Tatting.  I like the thread a lot, but am not too keen on this colourway.

This week we also attended our last Auburn basketball game of the season.  In many respects, I am glad that this season is in the books.  The team was less than stellar this year and even though I have come to expect that, albeit almost enjoy it for the lower turnout it produces, it would have been nice to see them win a few more games.  One of the highlights of the season was Scott finally winning the Chik-fil-a chicken strips giveaway.  He tried every game to text for the win and finally did it.  However, the thing I will probably remember the most about the games is the faithful devotion of Goggle Guy.

Yes, we dubbed him Goggle Guy early in the season and he made it to all the games, save one or two.  Always front and center with his goggles on and his awesome pompom ready for action, he was a sight to look forward to.  If you know him or see him next year, tell him there are folks in the scholarship section that look forward to seeing him support the team.  I’m no expert, but I truly believe if Auburn Basketball had more student fans like Goggle Guy they would probably be contenders for the SEC title.  The lack of student fervor for basketball at Auburn is pathetic.  The new arena deserves better.

Quote for the week:

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you fail to focus on your goals. (Anonymous)

Week Three // We’re Expecting

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Well, ok, technically, “WE” are not expecting, but our kids are!  We found out this week that our son and his wife are expecting their second child (cough, cough…girl) in September.  William is going to have a baby brother or SISTER to take care of soon.  They will find out the sex of the baby at approximately 15 weeks or so.  Until then we just wait…

Today’s basketball game is Auburn vs. Alabama.  We pretty much make every home game, as it is a great venue for knitting and we both enjoy watching the game.  This particular game is extra sweet because Alabama will be handing over the Iron Bowl trophy and singing the Auburn Fight Song at half time.  Did I mention that we won the Iron Bowl?  War Eagle!  Oh yes, and the BCS National Championship Trophy will also be in the house for all to admire (ogle/covet).  I suppose I should mention, for those who don’t know, we won that too!  War Damn Eagle!!

On the crafting front this week, I finished my Remembrance Ring and made great progress on the cross stitch I started when I got home from the hospital.  Hopefully, the cross stitch will be completed next week.  Here are some photos of the ring.  I just love it and it was so easy!  What do you think?

Auburn Tigers Football Season (is just around the corner)

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…and so, I have finally added two new dresses to the collection on my Etsy shop. One is another adorable Auburn dress. It is navy blue and has Auburn across the front. The other dress is probably the most classy and detailed dress I have made to date. The detail on this second dress is awesome. These two dresses have been finished for a while, but had to wait for life to calm down and photos to be taken.

Now that I am back from teaching Hand Quilting at the Estes Park Fiber Festival (which was enormously gratifying) and I now have one graduate class, instead of three, on my plate, hopefully, I can get back to smocking, knitting, sewing….etc. It felt really good to get back into the teaching mode at the festival. I really love it when I can see students actually understanding and improving their skills throughout the duration of the class. Thanks to my minor afternoon contribution, I can say that there are 20 more people out there who have a better understanding of the art of hand quilting. Fabulous!

Now, on to the dresses. I have the fabric in the stash for an Alabama Roll Tide dress, but have yet to put a needle to it. Also in the works is an Auburn toddler bubble outfit that is just adorable, complete with paw prints. So, if you haven’t yet visited my Etsy site, please, please, please do. I would really appreciate it!

As always, comments are welcome and appreciated!

Fair Winds

Go Tigers // Auburn University Football Smocking Begins

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If you live anywhere in the southeastern United States you probably follow, or at least are aware of the SEC and it’s rival schools.   I thought I would get a jump on things by starting some orange and blue dresses for the fall football frenzy that is Auburn Football.  Below is my first dress for the season and the images are linked to my Etsy shop, in case you want to browse more.  Enjoy!