opinions needed, please

ok, since flickr is having problems, i'll load these pics here and ask for opinions... i'm doing a booth at the blue dome festival this year, and i was trying to think of an interesting way to display the pillowcase dresses and aprons i make.... so i found one of our hammocks and strung it up, but i don't really know how it looks. i likey, but maybe it doesn't really work. please take into consideration that this is in my back yard right now, and i don't have anything else in like the yarns and such, but tell me what you think. good idea, bad idea, and if good, would putting the other hammock on the other side of the tent be overkill?

a breakthrough in molly's recovery!!

first things first, a kiss for you from my bunny dingus :



yeah, it's been a week since i've blogged. i've been busy. very busy. i'm on an sewing kick right now, don't have any idea why, but there it is. in the last week, i've made 15 aprons, 6 pillowcase dresses, and 1 hippie twirly skirt. and a bunch of other stuff. getting ready for the blue dome festival is hard work!! luckily i haven't been out serving people, but i'll be doing that later in the week.

anyway! news of molly!!!

she's the french angora rabbit i have: she's a rescue, and i've had her almost a year. we really don't know much about her, except that she came from a
home with small children. when we got her, she couldn't
stand to be touched, and if you put your hand in her hutch
to feed her, she would lunge and try to bite you. on the rare
occasions that you "had " to touch her, she shook and
trembled the whole time making this little rabbit squeak
that let's you know they're scared.
it was really sad that she didn't realize that nobody
here was going to hurt her.

so this past week, as i've been feeding her, she's been
getting closer and closer to my hand every day. and then yesterday, she put herself between the food dish and the cup of food. i pet her. just for a second. she made her squeaky noise, but didn't move away. today, she actually
laid down in front of my hand, and let herself be pet on the head for about a minute. pauly got to see it and took the picture for me. if i didn't have a picture, i might not believe that it really happened. she's such a sweet girl, and i'm soooooo excited that maybe we'll get to be friends someday. yay! molly's home!!

so, while the camera and the bunny barn were in close proximity to each other, i decided to take some pics of the goobers.... here they are:



seamus, a total turd bomb. and i'm being nice! all he wants to do is get laid. unfortunately, that ain't happening for him. if he had a t shirt it would say "hey baby, meet me in the bushes."



then there's the 3 boys, aengus, dingus, and fergus mcgee. they all will be one in about 2 weeks. they're brats, and always chomping to get out and go to turnout. but i love 'em to death.

aengus:


fergus, he's the white one, and dingus, who's aengus' brother.

lots of sales!!

mercy! time to brag!!!

we've been busy. paul and i both have our own shops on etsy, and we share one together as well, http://thespinnersemporium.etsy.com

we've had a rash of sales all of a sudden. we're not sure where it's coming from, but we don't care!

in spazspun, i've sold 7 skeins of yarn, here's one:



in the spinners emporium, this is what's sold since last week:

4 Wraps per inch gauges
3 Double whammy WPI gauges
1 spinning batt
2 Niddy noddies
1 Wrist distaff
1 Diz
4 Kid mohair packs
1 Plying template

obviously, spinning is making a serious comeback!

I thought i'd brag about our great sales here on the blog, so as not to upset those on etsy who are having a tough time of it right now.

oh! I just listed some of Fergus' yarn today:

soft, just like the bunny! aengus, dingus, and fergus are all going to be a year old in a couple of weeks. i wonder if they'll let me put those funny little birthday hats on them!

i know they won't blow out the candles, but i think i'll make them a cake anyway.... i'll eat it! mmmmm....cake........

lookie!! a poll!!

so, i'm trying out new things on this little blog of mine, and i thought i'd try a poll. just to see if anybody answers it.

so, please, for the love of all that's holy, answer it.

i couldn't think of a good question. well, maybe it IS a good question. you should probably be aware of how long it's been since you've consumed the "green tree" as i like to call it.

more later....

Tom Jones and Pumpkin Muf-cakes

well, what in the world do those two things have in common?

i don't know, either...

for christmas i told my paul i wanted a tom jones CD. and today, i finally got it. totally worth waiting for.

so, i put on the cd, don an apron, and try out a new recipe a friend gave me. Of course, i had to make an adjustment for my own personal taste. it goes like this:


Pumpkin Muf-cakes

1 spice cake mix
1- 15 ounce can of pumpkin. not pumpkin pie filling, just plain ole' pumpkin
1/3 cup Hershey's cinnamon chips
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional- but i had to have 'em!)

combine the cake mix and the pumpkin until throughly blended. then mix it some more....

fold in the chips.

put in muffin/cupcake papers and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

easy peasy.....

and when they're done, you've got this:







these are awesome! and i hate pumpkin. i've never found a reason good enough for me to eat the stuff, but these are incredible! of couse, adding the chocolate chips helps, imo, but even without them they're awesome.

i got 20 muf-cakes out of this recipe and for those of you who care about such things, they're only 1 weight watchers point.

i could eat the whole batch, and not use up all my daily points.....


i've listed some new yarn that's looking for a good home, so if'n you're in the mood for something blue, go check this handspun out:

spaz is too tired to think of a title

so there.

let me start with a rant, if i may. I HATE LAUNDRY! it should be banned. i hate it hate it hate it.

everytime i turn around there's more of it, growing like mushrooms, staring at me, taunting me, daring me to ignore it with it's beady little eyes. dare me, will ye? by god, watch and see if i don't.

damn it! i've got no clean clothes left. so now i must confront the pile. i can hear it chuckling as i sort it, and as i carry it to the washer, the laughter grows louder and more intense....i'm seeing red by the time i throw it in the drum. i'll drown you, you stinking rotting pile of cotton! oh, is the water too cold? oh you poor, poor things....well let me put it on hot, and we'll see if we can't warm you up. oh wait, let me think about that. no. cold, ice freaking cold is all you deserve and all you shall get. i can hear the laughter becoming a gurgle, gurgle... hee, take that you mofo!

after 20 minutes all is silent... time to put it in the dryer. better yet, lets haul it out and hang it on the line. i can hear it pleading with me - "ouch! don't pinch me against the line so tight!" " hey- i don't want to be next to THAT shirt- we don't look good together", and my all time favorite complaint from the laundry- "if you hang us out here, the birds might crap on us!!!" as if i would rewash????? pfft. whatever.

then comes for me the worst part.... the happy chatter of clean clothes as i carry them in and prepare to put them away. "oh- i had a great time, did you see my tan lines??" "she put that clothespin in the wrong place, and now i've got wrinkles...waaa!" "i smell so good, come closer, don't ya wanna smell me?"

so as they chatter away, i force myself to ignore the goodbyes and see you laters, and all the other crap they have to tell each other, knowing that all too soon, i will have to endure it all again.

ah, laundry day. thank god it's only once a week.

spring cleaning.....

in the kitchen. well, really only 1/2 of the kitchen. i wanted to do the whole thing, but i try to keep in the back of my head that i have fibro, and if i want to get out of bed tomorrow, i'd better not push it.

so, today, the work was centered on the built in that paul made for me. it holds our wine, my canning, and all of my "witchy" herbs, as the kids like to call them.

it's obviously time to make the summer wines!! i like the gewurztraminers, reislings, and the liebermilch wines. they're light and fruity and taste great whilst floating around in the pool when it's 110 degress.... and it helps that it only takes about 6 weeks to make 24 bottles at 14% alcohol!!

i emptied out some old applesauce that was too old to use, and got all the canning jars ready to go....

soon it will be time to make strawberry jam. then this summer, it will be tomatoes from the garden. the last two years have sucked for tomatoes here, and i'm hoping this year we'll have a bumper crop. nothing beats opening a jar of summer tomatoes in the middle of winter.....

then this fall, more applesauce. there's an orchard about 45 minutes from us, and we go down there and pick a couple of bushels every fall and turn them into sauce. and decadent apple pies....

that's all i can anymore, jam, tomatoes, and applesauce - i've discovered those are the most practical things as they're affordable, and we actually consume them.





i went ahead and listed seamus' yarn in the shop: here's his pic:

he's a good bunny. he's a rescue, and he's gotten pretty comfortable here with us.

and that makes me happy.




oh, this is the yarn from the batts i showed you yesterday!

it's almost half spun up, and i'm really liking the way it's turning out. now i just need to find a really simple, but really nice looking lace shawl pattern. if any of you know of one, feel free to pass the info on!

the brilliant "miss harley"

today was harley's first day of levels obedience.

think of it as elementary school. she went through puppy kindergarten with no problem, and levels is like 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade. So we go today, and there is only one other puppy there. (i love doing this kind of thing on weekdays..)


so, after one session, she gets kicked out of the class......

haha! she was promoted to level 2!! and i looked at the sheet for level 2, and it's just an expansion of what she already knows, so it shouldn't take us long to complete that either. then, one more level, and we can start working on agility!! she's already running through the tunnel we have here at home, and jumping the little pvc jumps i made her, so we're well on our way. she loves it so much, and that's whats really fun about it.



these are some batts i made today, they're 50%
baby alpaca and 50% tussah silk.
I'm going to spin them up and use them to
make a shawl. i figure that it's about time i
really tackled some lace knitting. i just haven't felt like i'm ready to do that yet, and i have no idea why. so i'm going to prove to myself that i can do it. i hope i actually have the patience to complete the project......

i want to imagine it being soft and wonderful, and beautiful. i'm going to spin up all the fiber, then dye it in a dark red. the silk should take the majority of the color, and it should give the yarn a very interesting look, that hopefully will make the shawl killer.....

we'll see. i'm going to start spinning it up tonite.



I wanted to show you this too, it's a floorcloth that i made a few months ago. the mariner's compass is my favorite quilt block. it's also the only tattoo that i have.....
i love it in the dark colors... i tried to make one in the "shabby chic" color way, but it ended up looking like the easter bunny took a sh*t on it! oh well, that's easy enough to paint over in different colors.....

harley just started barking, and i looked outside, and the sun is shining, but we're getting dime size hail! gotta love springtime in oklahoma....

i've got some of seamus' angora handspun that i need to list in the etsy shop tomorrow, but i just haven't gotten around to taking the pictures.... everytime i look at it, i think i want to keep it. but i just plucked another 2 ounces off of him, so i guess i shouldn't be stingy with it.

:)

Yeah, i FIRED you......

i was hoping to get out of town this week to go see my sister and mom in colorado, but it doesn't appear that's going to happen now. i needed someone to feed and water my 5 bunnies while i was gone, and i hired a 15 year old kid who lives across the street. i pay REALLY well, because it's incredibly important to me as these bunnies are not only an investment, but they're loved to pieces as well. he was supposed to come over sometime on saturday to learn the ropes, but we both ended up being pretty busy that day. so we set a time of 4:00 on sunday.

4 comes and goes, as does 4:30, and then 5:00..... at 5:30 he shows up at my door. and i'm fuming..... I said " I didn't think you were going to make it"

his response was "yeah, i got caught up in something"
i asked him what that "something" might have been, and he told me it was "sleeping"

he said "yeah, i stayed up all night last night, and slept all day."

well...sonny, it goes like this.....

"this is not my lawn that needs to be cut, this is not the flowers that need to be watered, these are living breathing animals that can't turn on the faucet when they run out of water. they can't walk over to micky d's if you don't show up to feed them. if i can't trust you to show up to learn how to take care of them when i'm here, how can i trust you when i'm not here? i'm not going to OKC where i can rush back in a hour if you "forget" to feed them, i'm going to colorado. i guess you're not responsible enough to do this job yet."

And then he says, "so, when are you leaving?"

And i told him that best case scenario, i would be heading out tuesady morning. and then i watch him as he's trying to figure out his schedule for the next day....

and i said, "maybe i didn't make myself clear- this isn't happening for you"

He says "wait- i'm not doing it?!!!!!???!!!"

"That's right, you're not doing it"

"WOAH!!!!!!!!"

yeah, just fired a person for the first time....

so, no colorado this week...

this is what i kept myself busy with all weekend- i was making checkbook covers and matching key fobs.... i'm going to make some luggage spotters to go with them. i made them for the blue dome festival, but i'm thinking about listing them in the etsy shop.

what do you think? list them or not......

i win, i win!

i answered a question on another blog about my favorite childhood toy and got entered into a drawing for a really cute finger puppet.

and i won! me! of all people! i never win anything!

he's on this blog:
http://redmarionette.blogspot.com/

didn't take any pics today, as i was busy kicking people out of their homes all day. 36 today, and another 30 or so tomorrow....sometimes that job really sucks... but then i can come home and play with fiber, so i guess it's worth it... it scares me sometimes tho, that we're only a paycheck or two away from being the people i'm helping to evict...

thin ice we skate on....

great. now i'm all depressed...

where's the ice cream?

oh, this will cheer us up....

puppy pictures!






little miss harley! this was taken last month, but she still looks the same, just a bit bigger...

she's such a good (in a bad way) little dog. i should actually say she's such a bad (in a good way) little dog. i like dogs who are stinkers.... and boy is she one. cranky when she's sleepy and snarky when she's awake. quite a bit like her mommy....

but smart, smart smart. she already brings me my slippers... and we're going to start our levels training in the next couple of weeks... and then it's on to agility!


so, yeah, there it is.

is this what happens when you pay off your car?

So, in February, i paid off my car!! yes, i'm excited at the thought of not having a car payment anymore...this car has never given me a bit of trouble, and while i like it ok, i'm not in love with it. it's a 2003 honda civic, and it's a good car, so i'm hoping that with proper maintenance, she'll last a few more years at least....

so, 3 days after i receive the title from the finance company, i get rear ended.... by a big mofo truck. like dump truck size truck....jump out, just knowing that my car's been totaled or something.... luckily, the dumbass who hit me wasn't really going fast enough to do any damage, so all's well there.

Last night, i'm going down the highway, and there's this pickup in front of me. he's got an open trailer that's he's towing.... he was doing the speed limit and everything, and me, being me, i like to go just a wee bit faster. (hush now, mom!) and something just didn't feel right about being behind him. so i decide to pass. i always turn my head and look over my shoulder, as i don't trust using only the side mirrors (see, mom, you DID teach me well!) so, i put my turn signal on, turn and look, and as i return my eyes to the road, i see two rain gutters coming up out of the trailer, and sailing right towards my car......

sheeeeettttttttttt! they were like 10 feet long, completely over the entire lane that i'm in, and there's nowhere for me to go, and those suckers are flying! one goes under my car, creating quite a bit of noise and bump, and the other hits right in the middle of my windshield, and goes flying up over the top of my car......pull off the highway, change into dry pants and look over the car.

again no damage....

today! i'm out serving peeps, and up about 300 feet in front of me, there's a big 'ole truck full o' dirt.

yeah.

a clod the size of my fist comes flying out and boing, boing, boings it's way right onto the top of my car. sounded like a can of corn bouncing off the roof. i didn't even stop to look.... screw it.

so, whomever is up there trying to jack up my car, i'd appreciate it if you'd cut it out.

now. k, thanks.

and in other news, this handspun is now listed in my shop.... go ahead, buy it. your mom called and said you needed new yarn.....

aprons, angoras, and stoopid judges.....

so yesterday was busy, i was sewing, and spinning and enjoying the spring weather....

and waiting for the judge to sign the "executions" that i have to serve... i swear he watches the weather channel, and picks the crappiest day of the week get those things ready. and then i'll bet he sits there behind his little judgy desk and laughs knowing that i'm out there in the hideous weather kicking people out of their apartments.... he doesn't do it directly to me, he just hates the lawyer that i work for, and this is his "special" way of getting back at him. jerk.

this is one of the things i was working on yesterday, a scallop apron. not bad for my first one, and i made the bias tape myself instead of buying some from the store. I like the vintage type aprons and think i'll go looking for more of those patterns.....


this sold yesterday, with only 23 views...

handspun from one of my bunnies, Fergus McGee,
He's a ruby eyed white angora, and he makes some
kick ass yarn!


Oh! and i finsihed the knitting needle case, that was an Alchemy request on etsy. i think it's the largest one i've ever made! 36 pockets, and it's made from some really cool japanese fabric.

monday, monday, lala- lalalala....

it was an adventurous weekend. well, not really... ended up in the minor emergency room saturday afternoon. yeah, i kept trying to pass out. and since paul had a bleeder in his brain like 5 years back, he's a bit panicky about those things... long story short, it's either a sinus infection, or an aneurysm. so, considering the fact that i'm still here, i'll assume that it's a sinus infection. not to worry, the doc said if i try to pass out again, i am to immediately go in and get a cat scan. the reason i didn't do that on saturday? have you ever been in the ER of a hospital on a holiday weekend in oklahoma.... yeah. all the yahoo's doing their yahoo things.....

so, i thought i'd introduce you to one of my bunnies.... this is Aengus Mcgee, after his hair cut- it's not as bad as i thought it would be, really.

he's a real sweetie, he'll be a year old in may. His coloring is what they call a "tort". He's a french angora, and when i clipped him, the fiber was 4 -5 inches long, which is really nice. His favorite thing to do is throw his toys around in his cage, and of course, turn out.....he's got a great hop and thump!

so, today, i've got to finish up a t-shirt quilt, and go to the fabric store to get some material for a knitting needle case i'm making thru alchemy on etsy, do bunny turnout, clean out the bunny barn, make some more stuff to sell at the blue dome festival, and......play with harley!!

puppies and bunnies

so as of today, it was time to get the fiber off of mr. aengus mcgee, one of my angora rabbits. now, aengus likes alot of things, carrots, sunflower seeds, chewing on my hair, just to name a few. being plucked is not on that list. he hates it. so, i clipped him. basically, gave him a haircut. and when he went back to his hutch, and felt the breeze blowing on him, he was grateful... i'm not the best at clipping a moving juvenille bunny, so i won't share pics of him after his cut, as i'm sure you'd all laugh at the poor boy, but this is the incredible fiber i got off of him....almost a full ounce!



and tonite, we went to cyndi's house for dinner, and took harely over there to play with mac. she's gotten quite a bit bigger, and even mac was surprised at how fast she was...shes' the little brown one...



































and some yarn i put up in the shop today: hand painted cotton.....

welcome to my little world...

so, i went to guthrie and picked up my new spinning wheel yesterday. yeah, i'm in love. her new name is "bella" she's a louet s75, the first wheel i learned to spin on, and now i have one of my own.




don't think i'll ever buy another wheel again... *sigh*



today, cyndi came over to get rabbit compost for her garden. she brought her dogs, mac and lizzie to play with miss harley.

oh boy! a certain puppy i know slept real hard this afternoon. i'll try and post of picture of her later....





and yesterday i was out in the garden, and found this........

any guesses as to what that is?


get your mind out of the gutter!!! it's my peony, just starting to stick his little "head" up out of the dirt. spring must finally be here... i saw my first mosquito the other day.....