~~~Gratitude~~~ winter makings

This is how it looks out my window this morning.  Not very spring like!  March came in like a lion and is going out like a mule!  A slow melt may not be so bad.  It is...I...afterall, that always gets anxious when winter has nearly come to an end and I haven't gotten to all my winter projects.  I have, finally, accepted I will never be caught up!  That is an illusion because, for me, ideas beget ideas.  So here are some the ideas that have been hatched this winter and have actually been completed!

March is when I enlist the assistance of my DH for sewing machine maintenance.  I lug all the machines to the dining room table and DH brings in his compressor and blows all the lint out my machines.  Then we oil and grease.  My newest fancy machine only requires one drop of oil.  But the rest have detailed oiling diagrams.  The little Singer Featherweight I found at church sale years ago, paying only $10!  I haven't been using it...the sewing room is pretty crowded. Since it just got oiled I thought I should run it through it's paces.  Well, folks, I think I am in love!  It works so sweetly and is perfect for puppet making!  There IS room for one more machine in my space and heart!

This winter I came up with a new product!  I call them Pillow Puppet Pocket Pals.  First came the Bunny then I made some Piggies!  Working on a Panda pattern right now ideas are begetting ideas!

Bunny

Piggy!

I had some fun with my prototype bunny!  Bunny has a dot of velcro on it's paws for fun positionings and goofy poses!  Like this one reacting to another snowstorm!

Hanging in there with some goofy fun!

Peaceful contemplation of the winter beauty...

Here are a few more of my winter creations!

Black-eyed Susan

See no Evil * Speak no Evil * Hear no Evil

Goldie Fish

....and today's sewing...Bachelor Buttons!

 I am grateful for the lingering winter that is extending my creative ideas beget ideas without the distractions of spring.  And the time, the room, in my life to make them come true!

~~~~~~~~~~~My Lively Life~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fiber Art, Weaving, Hand Spun

http://www.etsy.com/shop/injoyemporium

Hand Made Eco and Upcycled Cutie Buntings, Clothes, & Toys

http://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyEcoCutie

Vintage Collectibles, Buttons, Clothing & MORE! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/injoytreasures

Sea Glass & Copper Wire Ornaments with things I have gathered

http://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyGatherings

My Blog~~Makings, Musings, &  Lifestyle on the Land:  

http://injoyemporium.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/injoyemporium

http://instagram.com/injoyemporium

http://www.pinterest.com/injoyemporium

"Be Joyful because it is humanly possible"~~~Wendell Berry

---Shop News--- Technical Difficulties = Moose

A new herd of Moose Puppets are back in my EcoCutie Shop--Yeah!  I have to admit it took me longer than I had hoped.  I had the usual distractions --- FINISHING the Gardens...well nearly <---next blog...I hope.

I hope, because I am having technical difficulties these days.  It all started when I nonchalantly updated my 2011 iPad 2 with iOS8.  Guess my "old" iPad is not limber enough for this operating system.  Now I feel like I am on dial-up internet during a big freeze... I get random freezes now.  Oh well, I thought, I do most of my work on my desktop.  Late last Thursday night I got a blue screen on my 2007 Vista Desktop.  The next morning after posting it on FB I was informed by several reliable techie sources this is know as the "Blue Screen of Death"!  Ah, how melodramatic, except I wasn't feeling very mellow about it!  I got into sort of a tizzy.  I had been planning to upgrade and go over to the Mac-Side this fall....that was until my son's college book bill came....

I spent Friday in DIY crash course trying to understand DH's Windows 8 laptop.  Windows 8 is the number one reason I am going to Mac.  If I have to learn something new it might as well be Apple.  DH uses his computer mostly to read the news, email, and watch a video now and then.  I had all sorts of tangles trying to get a few programs loaded.  I kept breathing and telling myself, "If I can warp a loom, I can do this...this isn't harder than teaching my Self to weave...."  I took some programs off my Vista and did a systems restore.  It is working for now and I am rearranging some of our finances so I can get the new Mac Mini.  Limitations may happen and blogging will go down on the priority list.  So if you don't hear from me you will know why!

Blue Screen of Death

I was a bit cranky by the end of Friday.  May face had been in front of screens for too long.  I decided to turn everything off, make a cup of tea and just look at a real window for a while.  We were having a wild rainy Nor'easter.  I felt better after that.  I spent the evening creating in quiet.  Just my little weavette loom, handspun yarn, needle & thread.  I made these little beauties for gifts.  I really enjoyed creating them so much that I hope to make some more for the Emporium shop this winter.  It was fun to dive into my huge collection of doodads and create off the grid so to speak.

I continued with the off the grid theme and finally finished my Mooses!  It was quite a lovely rainy day for sewing.  Computer woes does have the benefit of "showing" me how much time I have been spending "there" instead of "here".  Feels like time for a re-evaualtion of my use of TIME!  Always, a silver lining!  

Puppets make fun tree toppers too!

Spinner of Yarns, Weaver of Dreams, & Sewing to Mend the Soul

~~My Lively Life~~~
~Fiber Art, Weaving, Hand Spun 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/injoyemporium
~Hand Made Eco and Upcycled Cutie Buntings, Clothes, & Toys 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyEcoCutie 
~Vintage Collectibles, Buttons, Clothing & MORE! 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/injoytreasures
~Sea Glass & Copper Wire Ornaments with things I have gathered
http://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyGatherings

My Blog~~Makings, Musings, & Lifestyle on the Land: 
http://injoyemporium.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/injoyemporium
http://instagram.com/injoyemporium
www.pinterest.com/injoyemporium…

Solstice ~ Summer Dress

It summer, no ifs ands or buts about it!  Summer is great but, believe it or not, it is my least favorite season.  Sometimes all the work of my chosen lifestyle gets to me.  It is also the time I call the itchy, scratchy, sweaty time.  Summer's saving graces include swimming & the hope of tomatoes.  Swimming has started (6 laps today...bit cold...!), tomatoes are still a dream.  Today, the first day of summer I have been in sort of a funk.  I usually set Tuesdays & Thursdays aside to do Etsy work but I couldn't quite muster the energy for that or garden work.  I puttered around being ineffective this morning so I decided to give my Self the afternoon off!  I decided to sew for my Self (+ it is noisy outside ~ it is haying time in the neighborhood)

I am a dress wearer.  No philosophical reasons, I just find them more comfortable than pants...plus they are fun to sew!  I literally wear my work dresses until they fall apart.  Last summer my favorite thrift shop summer work dress finally bit the dust.  So I took it apart and made a pattern with some improvements.  

This is the dress I made last summer. But with only one favorite and many of my other dresses falling apart it was time to sew another.  I had actually cut it out the second last summer and never got around to sewing it!  I cut out a couple of project last summer but I choose the work dress because it is what I need most.

I actually thought at first I could get all 3 projects done today...not a chance.  It has been awhile since I made a dress...last summer!  I made a few boo-boos at first until I got into the flow.  One thing that is fun for me about dress sewing is that I can go fast on my sewing machine!!  Puppet making is mostly at clutch speed for accuracy.  I even checked my email while I was doing the final reinforcing finish to the side seams.  (I felt like a show off to my Self!)

Here is the finished dress.  Some to the features I like about this design is the slightly forward seam pockets.  (must have pockets for Runa treats!) The high neckline helps with sun protection a bit.  I added a pocket to the bodice for my Ipod.  I like to listen to books or music during my walks or tedious tasks like carrot thinning.  This dress will never see an iron again.  It will probably never be worn off this property either.  Now the other one can go in the laundry!  

These projects will have to wait for another day...hopefully not until next summer!

Mirror Selfie with the new dress...dangerously sewing with barefeet...uncombed hair due to earlier funky feeling...all better now!  Time for a cup of tea!