I made another heart !

Hope you had a fabulous first Friday of February ! I had some fun, still playing with stuff, and I downloaded at least five more freebie embroidery designs, including two that’ll be great on doll shirts – if I ever get off my big ole backside and sew ‘em ! I’ve discovered that I really enjoy using a design, however I obtained it, then posting a photo of it to the designer. They love to see their stuff in use, and yeah, I get some much-needed praise.

That said, my latest effort didn’t get much, but the photo isn’t the greatest, so I’ll just take what I can get and be happy ! Ya’ll know one of the things an embroidery machine can do is stand-alone lace – basically, the design is engineered to stitch out on stabilizer that washes away, leaving just the thread hopefully holding the design’s shape. If it’s programmed well and stitched correctly, you have a really cool doll prop, pendant, earrings, bookmark, napkin ring, ornament, gift – all sorts of uses. (grin) Little did I know, back in 1987, that the ‘lace’ initials and figures I bought in Belgium were exactly this. If you want, you can stitch these out on, say a shirt, and *not* make it stand alone, but it’s a lot more stunning when it is !

I’ve had quite a few failures figuring out how best to stabilize Free Standing Lace (FSL), as it’s commonly called (personally, I think it should be ‘free standing thread’), and I’ve spent waaay too much on incorrect stabilizers, but now that I understand the often misused terminology, my luck has vastly improved ! And I’m learning to use the surplus materials. Last night’s freebie, from the courteous coffers of Just Sew Sandy & Debora, was a small heart with a ‘shine’ hole in it, complete with a bail for a necklace chain or ribbon. And it came out pretty well, especially considering I reused some of my stabilizer ! Only took 15 minutes to stitch out, plus the usual hour of printing, prep, hooping, and photography. But I have my very own green heart. Go, me !

Yay ! A bouquet display !

Nice, quiet stay-at-home day, which was great – I got to play with my new purchases and put them away. This evening, I even stitched out a new embroidery freebie design. Show you that one tomorrow. Beloved Hubby came home for lunch with everyone’s favorite Chinese takeout lunch specials. So yummy ! Not much left for tomorrow, but it was so tasty today !

Finally opened the football display case – it’s perfect for my wedding bouquet and Dearest Son’s flower base. Glad I didn’t settle for the same-price basketball version. It does seem rather empty at the top, so I may redo it with some luxe fabric cradling the items, boosting them up a bit higher, later. I’m thinking green velvet. . . I’m sure some will go on sale eventually ! 


Did you know Beloved made that for me ?  You'll laugh, but all of it save the florist's tape holding it together at the bottom came from Mal-Wart, and he arranged it on the fly as I watched and fell in love with it - and him, all over again. The little iridescent flowers were detachable, and I gave nearly all those away on our wedding day, so I didn't really keep the bouquet I married him with. Superstitions are so silly, yet so pervasive. . .

Not sure why I’m still shrugging off actual sewing – I’ve stitched out maybe four designs, but haven’t really sewn anything all year. Hope I have some time this weekend to make something new. I’d hate for all this fabric sorting to be for nothing !

I believe I have your doll-size staplers ?

Haven’t heard from Corporate regarding the Great Dollar Tree Dog Debate, but I can’t say it really bothers me that much anymore. Thanks for weighing in, I appreciate your take on things, everyone. In this town, you can barely back out of your driveway without pulling into a Dollar General, Family Dollar, thrift shop, or local grocer, so it’s entirely up to me if I go back again. Today I saw some guy wandering around Local Grocery barefoot. Is it a full moon or something ?

It may well be, as I ended up at Hobby Lobby today, a store I normally avoid due to owner politics, not pet or footwear policies, because I’d promised Dearest Son some nice colored pencils. He’d used up several of his old set and wanted a couple extra colors to go with his birthday set (that we got off Amazon cheep !), and HobLob is about the only place for ‘em. So, clutching several phone book 40% off coupons, off we went.

He got several replacements and new colors, plus a car model he’s been wanting, with his allowance. I had some funds, too, so I snagged a glass football display case, half off. I’ve never collected sports props, but I did want a nice place to display my wedding bouquet, and the ‘It’s a BOY !’ vase Beloved Hubby sent me when Dearest was born. I possibly should have snagged the basketball one instead, the football one seems a bit large. I haven’t even taken it out of the huge bag it was packed in, so photos soon !

I also snagged a couple more sheets of glitter vinyl, more split-ring key rings, a big ole grey t-shirt to embroider on, a slightly outdated Simplicity pattern catalog, and a tiny pair of jewelry findings shaped like red staplers. They’re probably intended for cute ‘casual Friday’ earrings, but I saw them as darn near perfect for doll props. At 54¢, why not ? I was able to unscrew and save the tiny screw eyes and jump rings for later projects, too. I think it's right in scale, and Ghoulia's willing to share - she's got two !

I’d intended for us to go out for lunch, but we pretty much spent our limit, and we had some tasty treats at home, so after a quick visit to that grocery, we were home. Beloved was home early, so we had lunch together, and hung out for a while. I fell asleep on the sofa, mind full of bouquets and memories and glittery doll shoes worn with stapler earrings.

Sweet dreams, ya’ll !

Dorrie vs. Dollar Tree Dogs

Game Day today ! Went pretty well, although I confess I didn’t wanna go. One of the minor issues that bothered me last month was our Library declaring that I’d damaged a book. Water damage. And, since it was a new book, I had to pay to replace it – thirty bucks ! And with that kind of fine on my card, I couldn’t use any of the Library’s services ‘til I got it under ten bucks. No debate, no negotiations, just twenny bucks if I wanted to check out anything or use a room ever again then ten more to pay it off. I had a year to do so, then it’d go to ‘Special Collections’, whatever that means. Of course, two days later, I got word that my request for that Force-forsaken Star Wars novelization was waiting for me. Arrrgh. Luckily, we had the fundage that week.

What all that has to do with Game Day was that I was whining about it with S. when some guy I’ve never met announces in a rather snotty tone, “Well, I’ve never damaged a Library book before. I’ve never even had a fine !” . I gave him my sweetest, most insincere smile and said, “How nice for you. I hope you never get into a problem with the Local Library System with no recourse !” and continued the insipid grin until he turned away. S. told me later he’d been proclaiming his superiority as a parent (on weekends) to anyone that would listen until I came in with Dearest Son. Hate to be so rude, but. . . well, I’m good at it ! I had less than zero interest in dealing with Mister Perfection again, but he gave me a wide berth. Whew !

Then, while making our usual visit to Dollar Tree, there was some guy with a dog, casually shopping the food area, by the bread racks. Um, what ? It was just a cocker spaniel / poodle mix with muddy paws and not even a rabies or address tag, much less anything that indicated it was a registered service animal. Of course, no one employed at DTree was willing to bother said dog lover – yes, they already knew, and it wasn’t my place to say anything, I’m just another customer  - so, we left. Manager said she’d look up ‘the rules’, but I already know if they’re not gonna do squat while the dog’s in the store, they ain’t doing anything later. Between my allergies and Dearest Son’s fears, it’s not worth my time. If they want to become PetSmartCo, fine, they can do without my $20.- $30. a week. I requested the nebulous ‘rules’ from Corporate, but haven’t heard back yet. Not really counting on it, either.

Sorry to all you dog folks – I just don’t like buying food from a place I know hosts any animal that any person decides to drag in whenever. I know humans are probably dirtier, but I’m only metaphorically allergic to humans. However, all the service dogs I see at the VA are welcome anytime, they’re awesome !

Home tomorrow. Hope I get to sew something – I’m about to give up on going out in public !

Welcome, February !

I’m back in the saddle again ! Happy February – white rabbit ! Hope your January was awesome, ‘cause I missed you !

I discovered that I missed about two whole seasons of Hoarders  - I think I thought it got cancelled when Hoarding was, and we never watched the IL’s cable when we lived there – so I’ve been catching up on YouTube. Two of the best side-effects, for me at least, is that it encourages me to clean, and I can’t eat while watching it.

So, when I didn’t have any real plans for my first-of-the-month ‘fun funds’, I think it was influential, ‘cause I bought a six-slot cubby and three fabric cubes from Big Lots. I already had two, and knew what'd go in the 'empty' slot.  I went through the fabric that was sort of hidden – maybe 'forgotten' is a better word, because I was surprised when I saw it ! – and had everything ready to go for Saturday. Beloved Hubby was working, Dearest Son was visiting his grandparents, so I’d have hours to put the cubby together, and load it up with the fabric drift-piles that were really starting to bug me.

I confess, the fabrics are sort of just tossed in the cubes, not really organized, but I emptied two large bags and a box, donated some and gave the larger pieces to my MIL, and can easily get to what I kept, so I count it a ‘win’. I’ll get to sorting the individual cubes eventually, one boring, rainy day that’s sure to come.

Still haven’t sewn much, as sorting and tossing’s taken up much of my free time. I scored a Disney Store Rapunzel toddler doll wearing Animator Elsa’s dress at the OldTown thrift, and after breaking a brush in her matted locks, gave her a quick haircut. I think she came out quite nice ! Need to adjust my machine embroidery doll shoe design for her, and soon. Several of my LDP girls need shoes, too.

Also got a ‘Little Kingdom’ Elsa figurine – Hasbro makes dolls with swappable clothes of many Disney Princess, but I went for the slightly cheaper ‘makeup’ version, I now have white, purple, and green glitter for my hair, whenever I want it ! I got the Frozen Fever one, and hope to get the ‘ice dress’ nail polish set soon. They’re awfully cute !

I’ve tackled two embroidery projects – show you those when there’s not much else going on !