Dameian and I have deemed 2010 “The Year of Kicking Ass.” This means really working out (like running, ok, more like jogging and speed walking), eating at home the majority of the time, flossing every day, celebrating each day, and making a buck. Hey, I’ve got bills to pay. Ya’ll know about my Etsy shop already. I plan to keep adding little tidbits to it here and there. BTW: If you have an idea for a project, don’t hesitate to contact me.
My newest plan, edeavor, wish, and dream is to start a photography business. 2009 was the year of the Nikon (on the Ashley Calendar it was). I rocked that baby out. I even read the entire manual! I’d rather read the back of a lotion bottle, but I did it anyway. Why? I needed to know. I needed to know everything about my sweet Nikon. What tricks did she have up her sleeve? What in the world did all those settings do? What is her favorite food? It’s macaroni and cheese, see, we’re like twins. Did she love Dirty Dancing?
If you were wondering, her name is Julie. Maybe I’ll start calling her Jules for short.
Little by little, hour by countless hour, I started to figure things out. OMG I finally get aperture. Like, I really get it!
Which brings me to these photos that I am itching to show you. I’m really itching, winter eczema on my hands sucks. Over the next few months, I’ll be taking photos of family and friends who don’t mind me telling them what to do for a few hours. It’s called “portfolio building,” ya’ll. Lucky for me, a wonderful friend of mine birthed recently a terribly handsome little man named Jaxson James.
Whatcha think?
The great big fake tree is out of the attic and nicely posed in front of our big window. Sure, I’d love a real tree, but I’m trying to cut back on my carbon or something. This year, I’ve kept the tree simple. Dameian and I hung a bunch of red apples and red mini disco balls plus these favorites.
This first ornament was sent to me by Linda, of Robin’s Egg Blues. She has a lovely blog with lots of pretty blue inspiration. I love the ornament she sent me. It sparkles with glitter and rhinestones and makes a sweet addition to our tree.
My top picks:
This owl kind of reminds me of Fritz.
Christmas tree lights make great backgrounds.
My muse of the day, Sir Roscoe.
I’m just falling apart at the way the lights are reflected in his eye.
I think Charlotte has reached its color peak. My drive to town today was gorgeous. Yellows, oranges, and reds…absolute beauty.
Here are a few shots around my neighborhood.
A heart for you!
North Carolina was in a terrible drought when Dameian and I moved into our home two years ago. Despite that fact, and that I have no gardening skills, I decided to plant some flowers and some other things. This pretty mum was the only survivor.
*Click on the photos to see them in all their glory. :)
Hey, I made bokeh.
I think she’s gorgeous.
Lucy is a small dog. We think she’s a chiweenie (that’s chihuahua and dachshund). When it’s cold outside, Lucy shivers and shakes. We bought her and Fritz matching fleece-lined puffer jackets, but Lucy always manages to wiggle out of hers. Something had to be done. I’ll just sew her a sweater, I thought. Piece of cake.
I know, she’s the cutest dog in the world, and no, you can’t have her.
Recently, I checked out Betz White’s Sewing Green from the library. It’s all about using what you have, left over fabric, thrifted stuff and so on to make something new. She goes into great detail on using felted wool. I had no idea what this was before her book. Basically, felted wool is wool that has been felted, duh. Ever shrunk a wool sweater in the washer and drier? You just felted your wool.
When you agitate the wool fibers in the washer and drier they sort of mesh together creating a stronger fabric (while losing the knitted quality). This means you can cut it without unraveling the fabric. Got it?
I recently moved to the cold weather, so I don’t have any old wool sweaters lying around. The Goodwill to the rescue. Found two cute sweaters, washed them, dried them, vacuumed piles of wool fibers out of both machines, had felted wool.
And now for the Lucy sweater. Cal Patch has a nice tutorial of how to sew a dog sweater on Craft Stylish. I used it, you can too.
Here are my three sweater pieces before sewing.
Sorry! No photos of the sewing part. I spent an entire hour trying to make my machine do a simple zig zag stitch. It’s easy to do, but the machine kept messing up. I said it, the machine messed up, not I. After wrangling the thick wool through the machine, I had myself a cute dog sweater.
This time tomorrow, these dining chairs will be a different color – creamy white. I know, I too love the shade of blue in this photo. Looks a lot like my blue bench. However, this color is just a result of a little editing.
The chairs actually are a more dusty country blue. Like this:
Gah, it’s really more country looking than that last photo.
So, I want to paint them white. I think the white will contrast nicely with the pale maple stain of the table. Eventually, my kitchen will no longer be yellow. I’m hoping it will be a calm blue green gray someday. With white bead board all the way around.
While I was taking pictures, I shot these as well.
In case it’s not obvious, I will be making an apple pear cake later this week. Yum!
