BRAAAAAAIIIIINNNNNSSSSSSS

Squares

First of all, I just have to get out how much last week SUCKED. It was a horrible week. Work really got me down, I have to say. I am determined for this week to be better. Blogging always makes me feel at least productive. :)

I've been working on my next big project for a few weeks now. The comforter that's currently on my bed is a loaner from my Mom, and it's very nice, but it is a little heavy, and I am a HOT sleeper. Meaning, I get really, REALLY hot when I sleep. It's a weird thing, I don't know why it happens, but I have always been very sensitive to getting too hot when I sleep. Then I overheat, and have to run to the bathroom to be sick. Lovely, I know- but it's something I have always had to be careful about. I NEVER sleep with the heat on during the summer, and I keep it very cold in my apartment during summer nights.

So, I've been trying to find the perfect cover for my bed, and I remembered the quilt that I used during college, that my grandmother bought for me, and how PERFECT my temperature was while I was using that quilt. Unfortunately, it is a twin-sized quilt, and my bed is a full. So then I thought, well, why don't I just learn how to quilt, and make myself my very own custom-made cover! And I did some research, found a few books (that I need to pick up at the library), and in the meantime, got very antsy without a major project, and decided, screw it, I ALREADY know how to crochet, why don't I just do a quilt-like crocheted blanket? So I chose a pattern:

This is the Babette Blanket, specifically, the photo above is the Purl Bee's version of the Babette Blanket. I chose a different palette, blues, greens, creams, (my go-to palette lately, I suppose). Here are the yarns:


This pattern requires that I make 50 small squares, 49 small-medium squares, 16 medium squares, 7 large-medium squares, 2 large squares, and 2 extra-large squares. So far, I've finished the small ones, and am about halfway done with the small-mediums. It takes me about 40 minutes per small-medium. It is going to be a long process. Here are some of my squares:


So, I'll keep ya updated on my progress. I hope I don't get too burned out. I'm already dreading sewing them all together.

Puppy Pie

Something horrible happened yesterday that I've been having a really hard time not thinking about ever since it happened. Around 10 am, I was taking my recycling out, placing it neatly into the bin, when I heard a woman right across the street from me call her dog's name out frantically. "Buddha, Buddha!" It caught my attention, and I looked up just in time to see the big black lab, who had run out into the street, get hit by a car. Hard. He screamed, ran over to the side of the road where his owner was watching in horror, and laid down at her feet. He never got up again. It was so devastating to see that happen, I was paralyzed on my porch, sobbing, and couldn't even go over to her to help her. Luckily, the man who hit the dog and several other pedestrians came over to help, but the dog never even made it to the vet.

Besides feeling angry at the woman for not having her dog on leash in a very heavily trafficked part of town, I've also been feeling panicked that something like that could happen to my dog. I ALWAYS keep Yoshi on a leash and harness when we are out, and he's never gotten away from me in the 3 years we've been together, but he has gotten away from others, and he is so strong-willed and unpredictable when we are out. All it takes is for him to get away from me ONE time, and I could be in the same situation as that woman. I haven't been able to get enough of Yoshi since I saw that. I just want to pet him and scratch him and snuggle him until he can't stand me. He got a new bone today, and a lot more treats than usual yesterday. And in Buddha's honor, I felt inspired to share some photos of my Yoshatron.

Door Candy

I have a huge list of projects I intend to complete for my apartment. It's coming together, slowly but surely. Every month or so, I'll take a look at the (ever-expanding) list, figure out one or two big projects I want to tackle over the coming weeks, and a few smaller ones that I can use to break up the tediousness of the larger projects. Then I'll figure out all the supplies I'll need to complete those projects, and I'll make an order online for the supplies I need. For June, my big project was to recover the couch. I picked about 4 or 5 smaller projects. One of the smaller projects was a new wreath for my door.

I found the instructions and the feather pdf download for this wreath on the Etsy Blog called The Storque. It was fairly quick- the most labor intensive part was cutting out each of the feathers. And I was REALLLLLY skeptical that the glue was going to bind the paper to the metal, as they kept slip-sliding around- but leaving them under some books for a few hours helped hold them in place while the glue set.

New Couch (Sort of)

Well, the "posting every day thing" went well for a few days...but whatevs. I've had a busy few weeks. Lots of travel for work, a couple of vacation days, and mostly working like an insane woman to get my apartment in some semblance of readiness for a baby shower that I threw for Glenn's sister. I didn't get all of the projects that I wanted to have done finished before the day of the shower, but I definitely think the apartment was much improved by the date.

One of the major things I undertook was recovering all of the cushions on my couch. I am by no means skilled in reupholstering, but my couch has seen better days. It is the most COMFORTABLE couch I've ever sat or slept on, and is still very structurally sound, but years of living first with multiple dogs and kids at my parents house and then multiple young adults and Yoshi at MY house, the cushions are beyond being able to wash the dirt out. Here's a reminder of what it USED to look like:

So, keeping in mind that I can neither reupholster the entire sofa myself NOR pay someone an outrageous sum of money to do it FOR ME, I picked out three Amy Butler fabrics from Fabric.com, 4 yards each of 2 and 2 yards of 1, all for less than $80. Here is my "inspiration board" from Fabric.com:
I thought the colors were modern but would still complement the current fabric on the couch well, since I'll have to leave the body of the couch as-is. I planned to use the top left fabric for the main seat cushions, the blue-flower fabric for the throw pillows, and the green and lime fabric for the back-cushions.

My mom brought me my Grandmother's OOOLD sewing machine. Brought it to my office, and I carried it up- the thing must weigh 50 pounds at LEAST. I had to switch hands every five seconds carrying it out to my car. And then the stupid thing WOULDN'T WORK!! It's missing a part, and it's old, and I can't find the part, and I can't find an owner's manual- so, long story short, I ended up hand-sewing each and every cushion. Took me about 4-5 hours per cushion. But I finished at around 3 a.m. the night before the shower. OK, I'll admit- the seat cushions haven't been sewn yet and are currently only pinned on tightly- but I couldn't bear to have them showing in their former dirtiness with the bright clean cushions surrounding them. Here's the finished product:

Now I just have to find a way to keep Yoshi from licking himself on the sofa...

Cuppitycakes

Ahhhhh, Thursday evening. Settling in to watch the Braves usher in a new pitcher (very excited to see him play!), sort of thinking it might start storming any second now, and feeling EXHAUSTED. It's been a big week! Work has been busy, as usual, and I put a lot of energy and effort into getting ready for my little get-together last night.

About 8 of my coworkers came over last night- and it was a great time! It was the first time any of them had seen my apartment, so I put extra effort into making it sparkle (and yet, I STILL spied Yoshi fur floating around throughout the evening!)

It was a wine gathering, so everyone brought a bottle (we had a lot of wine!) and I sort of improvised a Sparkling Wine Sangria- and it was delicious! And so refreshing! Here is what I used:

1 cup Triple Sec
3 clementines, sectioned
2 limes, cut into wedges
Ginger Ale (about 3 cups)
1 bottle sweet Sparkling Wine (I used Cook's Spumanti- very inexpensive)

I put the fruit into the pitcher first, then poured in the Triple Sec, and about a cup of the Ginger Ale. I muddled the fruit (without destroying it) and placed the pitcher in the fridge for about an hour while I prepared the food.

Once a handful of folks had arrived, I pulled the pitcher out and poured in the sparkling wine (wait until just before serving so the bubbles don't flatten). Top off with additional Ginger Ale.

I served a pretty basic menu of snacks- a few dips and things- and of course- CUPCAKES. And oh man. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started those cupcakes. Who on EARTH has the time to bake everything from scratch on a regular basis?!? I started the cupcakes around 9:30, and popped in Twilight to watch at the same time. By the time the movie ended, I still had plenty of baking and finishing left to do.

Let me take you through my process.

1. The materials
I made the chocolate-chip cupcakes from the February issue of Martha Stewart Living. Although, instead of the chocolate-chip frosting, I made the Basic Buttercream, and tinted it pink.

2. Mixing up the Batter

3. I guess these are Stiff Peaks??

4. Finished Batter
At this point, my brain kept telling me- this looks like MUFFIN batter, not cupcakes!- and I started to doubt myself- but the batter tasted much sweeter than muffins, so I tried to relax.

5. Cupcakes Cooling
Still looking a little muffin-y....
Now, let's get that frosting started....

6. HOW MUCH butter???
Three sticks, to be exact. Oh, and a POUND of confectioner's sugar. geeeeeeeez.......

7. Lots and lots of mixing later...
I'm really not a big "pink" girl- I'm not sure what inspired me to go pink with these- oh wait, yes I am.

8. FINISHED!!
These were the remains after the party last night. Can you believe after all that toil, I plumb forgot to take a photo of the finished, decorated cakes the night I made them? Thank God I remembered before I passed out last night- not the best beauty shot- but I have one more:

8. Cupcake!
And just so you know, they did NOT taste like chocolate chip muffins covered in frosting. PHEW!!

Springtime Crochet

I am making cupcakes for my get-together tomorrow night. It's my first EVER totally-from-scratch baking attempt. I am very nervous. Currently waiting for the butter to soften. It takes FOREVER!

I feel very behind getting ready for tomorrow. I have a LOT of cleaning yet to do, including freeing my home of all the fur tumbleweeds that Yoshi has blessed me with, just since Sunday (the last time I did a major fur removal). I lost my car key yesterday- the reason for my being behind. It just slap fell off my keychain. I realized it around 10:00 last night, and spent 30 minutes with a flashlight looking up and down my street searching for it. And thirty minutes this morning. AND thirty MORE minutes this evening when I got home from work (late). I felt SURE that I had given Glenn my spare- but he couldn't find. I had basically resigned myself to calling a locksmith and paying the $150 for a new key, when I thought I'd just check a couple of unpacked boxes I hadn't gotten around to to see if I could find the spare. And lo and behold, in a box full of stuff from my "Pens and Pencils and Other Spare Items" drawer- there was the spare!!! Miracle of miracles!! And as soon as I opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat- there was the original key, wedged between the seat and the console. I felt like celebrating by spending $150 on something frivolous. But instead, I will spend that money to FINALLY get the transmission fluid flushed. I guess. Grumble.

So, long story short, I am way behind. And butter taking forever to soften is not helping.

So in the meantime, let me share with you some springtime crochet!! I got on such a role with my crochet over the winter. Scarf after scarf after scarf- two winter hats, a set of gloves (none of which have I shared here, come to think of it), and I felt a little stuck once the weather started to warm up. What could I make now that I didn't need to keep any extremities warm??

Stitch n' Bitch The Happy Hooker came right to the rescue. A purse! So I grabbed some super green yarn (I am in a very green place right now-although, working in advertising, if I hear ONE MORE company use the word "green" in their campaign, I am going to lose it), some fabric, a few other notions, and whipped one right up. Here's the final product:

Glenn is going to help me build a light box for my photos. The green is so much greener in real life! Like, super healthy GRASS green. This was made using almost exclusively HDC- leaving an eyelet row in which to weave the ribbon. Here's the snap closure:


And as you can see, I used the same fabric for the lining that I did for the backdrop in the photo. Here's a better look at the inside of the purse:
And a navy ribbon detail:


One more look:

I like to think it's smiling at me. :)

Tomorrow I'll share some pictures of my cupcakes (hopefully NICE pictures and not pictures that indicate utter disaster...)

BTW- the Braves are up 6-1. Go Bravos!