Jamaica

No I'm not dead. I've been crazy busy with work and derby. I am finally posting photos from the trip to Jamaica Corey and I took in April. It was beautiful! From what I've heard of Hawaii, it looks the same - green and lush, turquoise water, but unlike Hawaii it was affordable. We went to the Couples resort in Negril. Highly recommended. I miss the tree frogs singing me to sleep at night. Please pardon my extreme laziness--I didn't rotate the photos. Short on time right now. I'll come back and do it later. Promise.

Before and After

I bought this antique wicker chair from the 1920s off Craigslist. It has springs. They certainly don't make wicker chairs with springs anymore. The cushion had springs too, but I replaced the entire cushion with nufoam. It had been painted at least once and the cushion recovered 2 or 3 times over the years. I stripped it down and started at the beginning. Here are some before, during and after photos.

Yeah for batteries!

The camera has batteries again! I've been busy, but my sister Joyce has been busier. Here is a photo of my brand new niece, Kara Elizabeth.



I get to see her next week. I just finished making her the snuggy wrap blanket from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones.



It has a hood and everything. My baby blanket had a hood. It was white with bunnies on it with a silky yellow trim. Here's hoping Kara remembers this blanket when she's 36. The hood is key. It allows you to play super hero and run around with your "cape" flying behind you.





Here's a picture of my baby lounging on her favorite chair.



Corey and I had out back porch painted white. My dad also painted my porch swing (my birthday gift from Corey) when he was here a few weeks back too. I ordered some outdoor fabric and made a seat cushion and a few pillows for it. I think it looks nice.

I bought a few purple passion flower vines and got lucky and found some black and white pots at Home Depot. Hopefully, by next summer the vines will be crawling all over the trellis. Next is to hang twinkle lights and maybe install a ceiling fan. A rug and a few chairs and we'll be ready to entertain back there. I wish I had taken some before pictures. It was pretty bare. We had the deck built when we bought the house. There was just a 10'x10' patch of concrete at first. That's it. I love it back there now. It's so peaceful.






I also did a little rearranging in my craft room. In his book Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy talks a little bit about his aunt (I think) and how her book collection ended up being a burden over the years. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have NEVER been swilling to give up books. But I did a brave thing and donated all but a few that mean something special to me. Now I haver room to display a few things on the bookcase.






I just got the Audrey doll from Little Big Pants. Isn't she adorable? I was going to put my hair in pigtails and take a picture of Audrey and Audrey wearing my red with white polka dot skirt. I may still. I am such a dork.

I love Austin

Sorry guys. I have been meaning to post, but the batteries are dead in my camera and posts without pictures are boring. But I had to share this tidbit.

I had an "I'm not in LA anymore" moment this morning. I went through the Tuscany coffee drive through (in the Tuscany Shell station on the 360). I ordered a large sugar-free non-fat latte and a blueberry bran muffin. I got to the window to discover that my wallet was not in my bag. It must have slipped out somewhere yesterday. I apologized to the man at the window. Do you know what happened next? He gave me the coffee and muffin anyway! He told me he'd ring it up as cash, and to bring the $6.44 by sometime today. That would NEVER happen in LA. People actually trust strangers to do the right thing here. I love Austin.

By the way. I found my wallet. I left it in my gym bag yesterday. I will pay back the nice man on my way home from work today.

I hate mosquitos!

I have 36 bug bites. I am sad and itchy. Waldryl and Caladryl aren't working. Does anyone know a good remedy? I look like I have chicken pox. (*sigh*)

Happy Labor Day!

My parents left today after a four-day visit from California. It was really good to see them. As usual they helped out on several household and garden projects. Photos to come soon.

I finished several things while they were here. The first is a blouse from Sheila Brennan's One Piece Wearables. She is a big fan of avant garde design and creative draping and has created a book of clothing patterns made from one pattern piece each. The piece I chose was fun to make, but not the most flattering on me. It has a cute pouch pocket in front and I do love the material. Here are a few photos of the blouse on my new dress form and on my mom. It looks better on her. The bust dart fold up making the front look wrinkled in my opinion. Oh well. I'll try something different next time.







I also made my mom a patchwork bag like the one I made in the class at Craft-O-Rama. I took her to JoAnn and had her choose fat quarters. I was going to make her one for Christmas, but thought if would be fun to do together while she was here. Roni thought either the batting was comfy, or that I should stop sewing and pay more attention to her, or both.







That's all for now. Good night.