boogaj

The Daring Female's Guide to Ecstatic Living

A while back, Natasha Kogan sent me a copy of her new book -- The Daring Female's Guide to Ecstatic Living.  After one look, I knew I would like this book! 

Basically the book is a well structured listing of 30 dares to help you improve your life.  It includes everything from "Dare to Learn Someting New Every Day" (you know I like that one!) to "Dare to Just get in a Good Mood".  But she doesn't just list the dares.  She writes a bit about her experiences and perspectives, gives you suggestions on how to take on the dares and even has little writing exercises to get you going. 

One dare that I took to heart was "Dare to Not Label Yourself".  Why?  Well, I always thought of myself as an introvert.  I just took it for granted that I was shy and that I couldn't do certain things as a result.  I never thought that I could do a podcast!  But I just went for it.  And you all have been very kind.  Nothing bad happened and now I don't feel like such a wall flower!

My next dare?  I'm going to read a magazine article every day.  Goodness knows I have the magazines around the house! 

If you feel like you are stuck in a rut -- in your creative life, career or personal life you may want to pick up a copy of this book.  There are literally hundreds of great ideas packed inside.  Who knows, one of them may just be the start of something wonderful for you!

Back-tack 3!!!!

Back-tack 3 is almost here!  I can hardly wait!  (And it sounds so mysterious!)

Spinning Nice CVM ~ Adding Nasty Receipts

I'm in tax time hell.  And I can't complain -- not one little bit.  Why?  Because my Mom -- in addition to being a darn good financial planner -- is a tax accountant.  Now *she* is in tax time hell.  So I really can't, or shouldn't, since my pain is so small by comparison to that of a person I love so much. 

Yet I complain.

Because I have been adding up numbers all day on little slips of papers -- receipts -- ARGH!  Yes, I should do this at the end of every month so that I'm not facing a mountain at the end of the year (or the end of March the following year), and that is the plan.  I found my spreadsheet with January's numbers all filled in so it looks like I made it one whole month before flaking out.  Hm.   

But you didn't come here to hear about the not so fun (dare I say downright miserable) part of business ownership, right?  You came here to see the CVM! And here you go. . .

Can I say enough nice things about Liz who sent this lovely fiber to Theresa & me?  This was the stuff we carded when we went to The Fold.  (I talked about it on my first podcast.)  And yesterday when Theresa came over for a spin-in, I spun it up. 

It's so springy!  (Theresa showed that aspect off with photos.)  And I like to really ply my yarn well -- so it looks almost felted.  Very soft too!  I have no idea how much I have, but I think I need to knit up a little headband out of it or something.

Well, I need to go pack up some packages.  I'm behind after all that tax stuff. . .

Is that crochet?

First, a quick thank you to everyone who listened to my first episode of Stitch-Cast & an extra-special thank you to everyone who left me comments.  I really appreciate it!  I was very nervous about it and you all made me feel so much better!

So about that picture up there.  Can you believe it?  Debbie Stoller has done what no one else could -- she taught me crochet.  And easily too!  I sat down a couple nights ago (after 4 vodka tonics -- weak wedding vodka tonics, but vodka tonics nonetheless. . .) and started to crochet after picking up her book and looking at several pages.  Really!  It's true!

So if you are like me, and you have tried to learn crochet from a bunch of other books but failed, I suggest that you pick up Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.  Seriously.

My first podcast is up!

Ready or not, my first episode is up over at Stitch-Cast. If you listen, please leave me a comment over there and let me know what you think!

I'm so nervous!

Knitting Rules is now available!

Where have I been? Or did this just happen in the last day or two? Stephanie's new book is now shipping from Amazon! Woo-hoo!

Booking Through Thursday

Time for BTT:

1. How do you decide to read a book by an author you haven't read before?
   Well, I usually like to check winners of major literary awards.  I also get lots of recommendations from Pete.  He knows my taste in books really well and reads a lot about the litereary scene so he's a great resource!
   
   
2. What sort of recommendations count most highly in making that decision?
   Well, recommendations from Pete because he really knows me.  And I can tell you that I've read a lot of books that have won or been short listesd for the The Man Booker Award, so I know that there's a good chance that a new author to hit that list will be something I might like.
   I'll tell you what I don't listen to -- critics!  I look through the reviews in the Chicago Tribune and just shake my head 95% of the time. 

Speaking of books, I finished Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.  I'm ambivalent on this one.  I loved the writing style and got into the characters, but the ending?  What happened?  It almost seemed like he got bored and decided he wanted to start another books, so he got all sci-fi on me and wrapped things up in a way that I found unsatisfying.  And this is saying a lot because I hate the happy endings where all the ends are tied up neatly, but this just ended so oddly.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book though, so I'm going to be reading some of this others.  I'm thinking that The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle might be the next book of his that I try.

So what am I reading now? 

Waiting by Ha Jin.  It's a wonderful book and fits in well with my answer to today's BTT as it is in fact a winner of the National Book Award!  More on it soon.

I'm in iTunes

First of all, I'm in iTunes! (It's not pretty though -- I updated my feed trying to fix that, but not sure if it took. iTunes seems to take *forever* to refresh.)

And today I sewed the binding on my quilt!! I have to hand sew it onto the back, so no photos yet. Quite exciting -- this means it is nearly a real quilt! If tou want to see a real actual quilt, look here.

Stitch-Cast.com (my podcast)

My website is by no means all pretty yet. And I don't have a show yet. But I do have a promo and a url. So if you want. . . you can go over to www.stitch-cast.com and listen to the promo and let me know what you think!

Quilting Class Homework

On Sunday I thought I would try to do a little work on my quilt. . . well, it turned into a whole day project.   I just couldn't stop!  That first picture up there is the "quilt sandwich".  (Sorry for the skewed view -- I was standing on a chair and holding the camera up over my head.)   You lay out the backing (which I had to piece together) and smooth it out.  Then you lay down the batting -- I chose a cotton -- smooth that out and then the quilt top and, you guessed it, smooth that out.  Of course you have to iron the back and the top too so it all takes longer than you would think.   But look how flat it is when you are all done. . .

Isn't that cool?  (Okay, maybe only to me, or to another quilter who has done this before.)

After that I put something like 300 safety pins in the thing to hold it together.  Yikes!  My fingers were sore.  I couldn't find the plastic things that you put on the pins that are supposed to be so wonderful, so I soldiered on.  Here's the quilt all pinned up and partially quilted. . .

And a close-up so that you can see how I quilted it. . .

I machine quilted this and the quilting pattern I used was really not very smart.  See, when you machine quilt you have to move the whole quilt around, so every time I turned a corner -- which was about 1000 times, I had to move the quilt.  My shoulders were aching!  I didn't know any better though -- this is my first quilt after all.

I finished my quilting at class last night and if I have any time today (doubtful, since it's my nephew's birthday and I still need to get his gift) I may try to get started on the binding.  I'm really obsessed. 

Candy!!!

I have a lot to tell you about my super crafty weekend, but I heve to collect my thoughts (& photos) and that will take a bit of time.  So I distract you with candy!

Shellie sent me this super wonderful package from -- can you guess?  Did you guess Hawaii?  Then you are correct!  Look at that Macadamia, chocolate, Kona goodness!  She even threw in some fabric -- candy themed, of course!

This is a result of the candy swap put on by the awesome Mariko.  She started the Candyswappers yahoo group and each month we are doing a candy swap.  This month's theme was local candy.  Didn't Shellie do a great job?  (I did a miserable job.  What's local to Joliet, IL?  Not a whole heck of a lot.  I did include Dan's Homemade Candies caramels though which are the greatest candy you can get in Joliet.  So I wasn't a total loser.  Just hope my swapee likes caramels!)

So a big thank you to Shellie!  And another thank you to Mariko!

Back later with the crafty goodness.  In the mean time go check out Theresa's blog where you can read about day one of my crafty adventures.

Green

I almost posted this under the category "gardening" as I'm not much of a gardener and I have as much to do with the moss growing as with anything else in the yard.  Ah well. . .

Spring seems to have sprung around here.  The mosses and lichens are growing around the yard, and I have to say that one of the things I love about an old house is the history which produces such things.  We have little stone borders and walls here and there (some falling down) and the mosses really are very pretty when everything else is still grey and brown.

Why else would I have green on the mind? 

From a girl who's 25% Irish . . . Happy St. Pat's Day!

Podcasting to commence soon!

Well, I got the mic working and I have a domain name (yeah!) I could not for the life of me come up with a good name, so thank goodness for Pete. All will be revealed soon!

Fabric Splurge!

When my mother-in-law sent me birthday money and I called to thank her, she said, "Spend it wisely!"  I asked my husband if he thought this is what she had in mind  :)

At any rate, I was lusting after it, stalked it, and purchased it literally the minute after it hit the store.  I was updating my browser as the items hit the shop!  And I have to say, now that it has arrived, I am very happy with my purchase.  The pinks are a lovely salmony pink -- the reds are tomato-y -- the browns are dark chocolate!  Each color is just perfect and the prints are lovely too.  Just look. . .

And the rest. . .

I've actually been dreaming of what kind of quilt I will make with these fabrics and I'll share more of that in the coming weeks.  For now, I'm finding all of the discussions on Denyse Schmidt and her new fabric line really interesting.  You can find comments about it at disdressed, dioramarama and yarnstorm.

I'm generally of the opinion that Denyse's Quilt's are beautiful for their simplicity and use of quite a bit of solid fabrics, so I certainly wouldn't expect to use a bunch of her fabrics and one of her patterns together.  Just look at the quilt they are showing on the Freespirit website that is supposed to be showcasing her fabrics -- oy!  That's just not right as far as I'm concerned.  Take out about 50-60% of the prints, throw in some solids in their place and you would have a lovely looking Denyse Schmidt-esque quilt.  Or take her fabrics and make an all together different kind of quilt!  Just don't try to make Drunk Love with her fabrics, 'kay?

And a quick comment on her book -- Denyse Schmidt Quilts -- I love so many of the quilts in it and love that I can (now theoretically) reproduce them, but I have to agree with Liesl.  I really wanted to learn the method for making the quirky quilt!  She hit the nail on the head!  The patterns are all well and good, but I'm sure there is a method for making the quilt without a pattern and that's what I want to hear about.  Hmmmm. . . .

I bought the fabric from Fat Quarter Shop by the way and they were *super* fast and look how cute they tied it up!  I got half yard cuts which was a pretty good value.

Quilting Homework Finished!

I spent a good portion of the day working on my quilting homework.  This week we had to finish the top -- all of the piecing and all three borders!  Here's the top before the borders:

And after the three borders:

This week we learn how to quilt!  I'm completely confused as to how I'm going to get this quilted in a week, but that's the plan.  The following week is binding.  We'll see.

In podcasting news -- we got a microphone, only to find that we need some kind of preamp.  Hmmm.  I'm not sure, but I think this may be getting expensive and more involved then both Pete and I first thought.  At this point we are have decided to go for it though, so I ordered the mixer thingy and we should (hopefully) be good to go in about a week. 

If anyone out there knows about these things, please enlighten me!  We have a Shure SM57 and I've ordered the Behringer UB802.  I've also downloaded Audacity and I'm getting the hang of it.  Is there anything else I need?  I would hate to get the preamp only to find that there is one more piece of equipment that I need but don't yet have.

Project Colorswap!

Lynne is hosting Project Colorswap to go along with Lolly's Project Spectrum.  It's limited to 40 participants -- so get on over there if you'd like to sign up!  I already did!

And as for the podcasting . . . today we were thwarted in our attempt to get a mic, but we are plucky and have found a local music shop that can special order the model we are looking to get!  Stay tuned! 

Me -- podcasting?

Pete & I have been talking about podcasting for awhile. He has a very good speaking voice and is quite witty (please don't tell him I told you that) so I think he would be a great podcaster. And you know if there is a microphone in the house I'll have to give it a go!

Fry's -- here we come!

What do you think?

St. Baldrick's '06!

Thank you to everyone who sponsored Pete! He was able to meet his goal (although if you would like to donate, his pledge page is still open!) and we had a fun day. There he is getting his head shaved!

And here is his "after" photo:

Thanks again!

Now I'm off to work on my quilting homework!

Shearing! (of a different sort)

Time for the annual shearing. . . not of my sheep silly!  Of my husband! 

Here he is after one of his shearings.  Why does he do this year after year you ask?  To fight childhood cancer with St. Baldrick's!  And you can help.  Please, please!  No amount is too small.  If you have a child in your life -- a son, daughter, grandchild, niece, nephew, godchild, you get the idea -- please think of making whatever donation you can. 

You can read more about this great cause at Pete's blog or at St. Baldrick's website.  Pete hasn't met his fundraising goal yet, but I know that with the help of you he will be able to blow it away!! 

Thanks for listening -- this is a cause that is really near and dear to us.  It means a lot!

BTT

1. Do you have any books that are signed by the author?
   Yes!  I have The Cook's Book signed by Charlie Trotter and Mutts: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell signed by Patrick McDonnell.
2. Do you have a story behind the autograph?
   You can read about the Cook's Book signature which my husband got for me back here.  As for the Patrick McDonnell signature -- well, I'm a *huge* fan of Mutts.  I believe Pete got this book for me too.  I have several Mutts books, prints and t-shirts and I'm even a member of the Fan Club!

Have you experienced the agony?

Of running out of yarn?

As you can see, I'm all out of yarn.  This bag is simply not finished yet though.  I thought for sure that three skeins would be enough when I started designing it.  You know how that goes.  Ugh! 

So, I beg of you!  If you have a skein, or partial skein, of Cascade 220 in colorway 8012, lot no. 5473 that you no longer need -- please email me. 

I'm going to go off and sob quietly now. . .

Happy Hooker

I shudder to think what kind of web hits that title will get me.  Anyway. . . I've been kind of exhausted lately.  The season change is hitting me like a ton of bricks (it snowed here on Sunday -- it hasn't snowed all winter!  what the heck is going on?)  So please forgive my sluggishness and lack of much to post.  I do have some things to say, but not much energy to devote to writing things down.  So I will distract you with a book. . .

Look what just arrived in the mail -- it's Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet!  I haven't had a chance to "play" with it yet, but it looks really good.  There is a long section that describes the basics of crochet with lots of pictures.  This is exactly what I have been looking for!

And the projects are good too -- things that I would actually want to make (as opposed to pretty much anything in the crochet magazines that I always pick up, page through and set down).  I really want to make the "One-Skein Scarf" for my first crochet project. 

Once I have a chance to check out the how-to section more thoroughly and get into my first project I'll put up a real book review at Two Friends Collect Books.

In other book news, I finished Wicked and started Kafka on the Shore.  More on that later.

I only spent $2, but look. . .

. . . what I got!

Aprons!  Aprons!  And even more aprons!

Spike had to get into the photo.  He thought this was actually a cat toy -- or at least the apron strings!

Gotta have a fancy one for the holidays.

Can you even stand this one?  I just love this owl so much that I want to frame it and hang it on the wall. 

So even though this was all I got in our trek across town (we visited three different shops), I felt pretty darn lucky.  And how can you beat the price?  I saw aprons that weren't even this nice at an antique fair last summer going for $10-15 each.  The nice ones were fetching even higher prices and I saw nothing like my darling owl!

I *heart* thrifting!

$20 Thrifting Challenge

About to go out and hit the local thrift stores! Let's see what this $20 gets me. I'll report back later today!

Lemon and Blueberry Bread with Lemon Glaze

One of my favorite cookbook authors is Beth Hensperger (is it weird that I have favorite cookbook authors?)  And last week when I thought I was getting sick, I bought an entire bag of lemons knowing that I would want extra so that I could make some lemon bread.  At first I looked in my new favorite baking book (Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook), but Martha's recipe requires cognac (?!?) and something else I didn't have and it made two (?!?) loaves. 

Enter Bread for Breakfast and Hensperger's recipe for Lemon and Blueberry Bread with Lemon Glaze.  Quick, easy and delicious.  It made one loaf and I had all the ingredients -- hurrah!  You can kinda see how the glaze sinks in to the bread in the slice:

Great stuff -- even Maddie likes it!

Booking Through Thursday

I found this and may try to start doing it on Thursdays.  It's called Booking Through Thursday. . .

1. Do you finish every book you start, no matter how bad it gets? Why?
   No, in fact I started John Banville's The Sea and got bored with it, so I put it down.  Now I wouldn't say that it was "bad" -- but it wasn't the right book for me at the time.  This happens sometimes and I will go back later.  There are *so many* books that I want to read that I don't see any point in slogging through a book just to finish it.
2. Do you ever sneak-read the ending before you finish the book? If so, what about the book tends to cause you to do so?
   Why?  Why - why?!? WHY ! Why would you ever do this.  In other words, no.  I have never done this and see no point in doing so.  I read for the pleasure of reading, not to see what happens at the end of a book.  In fact, if the book is truly excellent I am sad when it ends and there are no words left for me to read.

Project Spectrum

Today is the start of Project Spectrum!  I just signed up yesterday after being reminded about it by Jan (Thanks, Jan!) and I haven't a clue what red or pink project I'll be working on in March.  Maybe I'll use it as an excuse to cast on this Trekking sock yarn.