Decluttering

The last few days have left me increasingly stressed about the amount of clutter and unnecessary things in my house.  So I've been going through mail, washing dishes and laundry, putting things in the box for Goodwill, shredding, cancelling unused credit cards, etc.

My new resolution is take care of today's stuff today.  All the mail, all the dishes, all the things we got out.  They all have to get dealt with before bed. There's a huge backlog of stuff to do - piles on the desk, boxes of unfiled papers I meant to deal with months ago, craft tools to organize and put away. But that stuff needs to wait until today's stuff is finished.  I was talking to somebody about scrapbooking and how overwhelming I find the prospect, and they offered some sage advice.  Start with the events that are most recent and then work backwards.  I've decided to apply that to daily life.

Today I think I nailed it.  But it takes 21 days to make something a habit, right?

There haven't been many posts since this summer.  But believe me I have been crafting up a storm.  I am giving nine homemade gifts this year and some of them still aren't finished.  I can't exactly talk about them here as the recipients all know about my blog.  After Christmas I'll share some of them with you and some of the other projects I've been busy with this year.

Flower Girl Dress

Very very scary.

About to cut main fabric for my daughter's dress. I think I have her size figured out, but she freaks out every time I have her try on the sample bodice. At this point, I've decided to just make it big and adjust it down if needed - better than oh, crap sweetie, you're gonna have to suck your tummy in so mom can zip you up.

Sample bodices. Left is a 3 and I swear it fit her the first time I put it on her.
Right is a 4 with the width of a 5. Fingers crossed.

Other craft madness has been going on too, but have had no time to blog.  Will catch you up on what I've been making when the dress mania ends.

Bridal Shower

My sister-in-law's shower was this weekend and it was fantastic!  Imagine a tasty brunch in a restored Victorian mansion, surrounded by beauty, sunlight, and laughter, and that's what it was.  The ladies who organized it did a great job!!

One of the tasks I helped with was dessert.  I have been dying to show the little hearts I made as toppers, but I wanted them to be a surprise.  I designed a little filigree heart and piped it (tip 2) in melted white chocolate flavored with pina colada.  I let them set overnight, then spritzed them with Wilton's new pearl color mist, which is stinking amazing.  Since we don't have air conditioning, I put them in the freezer until time to go on the cupcakes.

 

And here they are! I meant for the icing to look nicer, but I should have gotten up an hour earlier.  The little flowers are actually Starburst candy.  I squished them up and rolled them into the flowers.  The tropical fruit flavors complemented the colors of the table flowers perfectly.

When I started applying the filigree hearts, I laid them down because I was afraid they would break on the way over.  But I didn't really like the way they looked with the taller roses around them.  On a whim, I tried standing them up as they were meant to be, and once I secured it with an icing leaf, they stood up just fine.

Here's the dining room in the mansion.  The tables are set with vintage mismatched china,
and each setting had a tasty cake pop favor atop it.

At the shower, I got another project commissioned, but it's a surprise too.  Once it's finished and delivered, I can show it here.  Super excited about that one too. 

In the meantime, it's time to get serious about bridesmaid dresses.  I have to make mine and I have to make my daughter's.  Those will be my priority craft projects over the next couple of weeks, and those I can show as I work. :)

In Wedding Mode

I got to spend this afternoon with my fabulous sister-in-law and her wonderful future mother-in-law.  Today was the first fitting for her wedding gown, and she looks stunning in it.  Looking at dresses in the store and talking about hair got me excited about the projects I have to finish before the big day.  I'm making my bridesmaid dress (this, only sleeveless) and my daughter's flower girl dress (the green one, but with a neutral sash)

A few months ago I ordered the book Fit for Real People after reading about it in a set of McCall's pattern instructions.  It is fabulous.  I can't wait to put the tips I've read about into practice.  I got out my daughter's pattern first since it's more complicated and will take more time.  However, I haven't a clue what size to make her.  A) the wedding isn't for two months; I have no idea if a growth spurt will hit, what direction it will go or how far.  B) I can't find the finished garment measurements ANYWHERE on the blasted pattern.  The outer envelope says it's on the pattern tissue, but damned if I can find it.  So, I cut out all the pieces and attempted to tissue-fit the bodice on my daughter.  Getting a two year old to wear paper clothes with straight pins in them is not fun. Or easy. I think I got a good read on what size I need to make, but I'm going to wait a little longer to cut the pieces to a size.  It's really important that I get the size right; it's not like I can take it to the store and exchange it at the last minute.  For now, I've employed my giant piece of cardboard as a pattern piece holder.  I'm hoping over a few days the lines in the pattern tissue will drop out somewhat.

I love this piece of cardboard. This is the fifth project I've used it for this year.  My favorite thing about it is that the sides are already creased to fold to the front and it stores half its size, but with enough depth that my project stays nice.  I've done two quilts and a painting on it.

And here's an update on the current sock project.  One down, one to go.  I tried a few rows of the Basket Check pattern I mentioned before, but with striped yarn - especially these Easter egg colors - it was just not going to work out.  So I went to a straight stockinette stitch for the leg and foot.  I went ahead and used the Eye of Partridge stitch on the heel that the pattern suggested.  I really like the way the texture looks, and I think I might use it on some mittens. (So excited about this mitten book that I picked up the other day!)

To do this week: Make final decisions about bridal shower cupcakes and create the pieces.  Finish non-crafting projects I committed to.  Not knit.  I have no time to knit.  Must... finish... other things... first...

Blitz

It has been one project running right after another today and I am so excited.  Here's my breakfast masterpiece, created using the Muffin Method in Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food.  I threw in some fresh blueberries and strawberries and sprinkled some sparkling sugar on the top - I love the crunchy crunch.

After that, it was time to get going on the mosaic stone. I've never mixed concrete before and there are hazard warnings all over the box, so I was pretty nervous.  The not quite 2 cups of water the instructions called for was not quite enough and I'm not sure I got it mixed well.  I'm a little worried the result might fall apart after one season.  (Note to self - bring the stone in during the winter.) I'm also worried the glass isn't secure in the stone either, but nothing I can do about it now.  Here are the fresh handprints.  I underestimated how much space they would take up.  Hopefully it doesn't look too crowded. Since the prints and the name were the last thing I added, I couldn't really modify the design at that point.

Having got the stone done, I set to work on my socks.  I thought I was going to get finished with these two days ago, but as much as I worked, the end continued to be just out of sight.  Finally today, I put the final stitches in - and Kitchener stitches are actually pretty easy.  They are super comfy, and now I am totally jazzed about homemade socks. 

I MADE THESE!!! ALL BY MYSELF!!!

So jazzed that I went straight to my office and pulled out another ball of yarn to make some socks for my daughter.  This is the second attempt.  Once I cast on the stitches for the first pattern and started to work them, it was pretty obvious they'd be too small.  So I went for a more reliable looking pattern (the first one didn't even say how to distribute the stitches around the needles) and am now started on child's medium Basket Check Socks. These will probably be too big, but she'll grow.

I'm using Patons Kroy Socks Yarn, Sweet Stripes on size 3 DPNs

I snapped this of the stone just a little while ago.  It looks like it's setting well, but I could have done a better job getting the concrete level before I started putting the stones in.  In another hour or so I have to go scrub the residue off the stones with a toothbrush (not exciting) and then the color will show through better.  Tomorrow afternoon I get to dump it out of the mold and it'll be ready for my garden!

Mosaic

There's no particular milestone behind this project other than I think my daughter's hands are adorable and I wanted to capture them. I found a stepping stone kit on good sale this week, so now's the time.

Here is the layout. I wanted to get the whole thing done today but vastly underestimated how long it would take to get the glass pieces how I wanted them. Tomorrow I'll mix up the concrete and put it together. The white pieces of paper will be replaced with my daughter's handprints.  Forgive the green scribbles; I had help coloring in the original draft.

Binge

Epic resolution fail today.  I went to JoAnn to use my 40% off coupons on a couple of knitting needles, and came home with this:

In my defense, every single skein of yarn was on sale or on clearance, and I have definite plans for each one.  Almost all of them contain natural fibers.  And, as I was unloading my haul for this photo, I realized that in my clearance-induced frenzy, I bought two of the exact same size circular needle.  So I didn't even get what I went for.

In other news, I finished the invitations for my sister's wedding and got them in the mail a couple weeks ago.  I forget how much I enjoy doing these until I'm in the middle of a project.  I always think, I should write more.  And then I realize I haven't because I have a giant list of other things I'm supposed to do.

 

Lastly, here's an update on my socks.  I am REALLY enjoying the Two at a Time approach.  I'm tickled pink that when I tie off the yarn, both socks will be DONE and I can put them right on my feet.  It's also cool that I can put them on now (can't do that with double-pointed needles) and see how much more knitting I need to do.  I did get really goofed up when picking up the gusset stitches and had to dump one sock to alternate needles to fix it.  But I got them all put back on the main circular needles and am going strong.

While I was shopping today, I flipped through this book: The Sock Knitter's Workshop: Everything Knitters Need to Knit Socks Beautifully.  This one is going in my shopping cart.  So far, all the sock patterns I've seen have a distinctive "homemade" look to the heel.  The workshop book has instructions for getting the diagonal heel like the socks you get from the store.  I'm excited to try it.

To do list:  Finish socks. Clean workroom - it's a disaster - again.  Get serious about bridesmaid dresses and gather up the rest of the supplies I need.  Oh, and royal icing doodads for sister's bridal shower cupcakes in two weeks.

Progress Report: Commissioned Quilt

Paula, I really am working on your quilt! Today I got several strips of sawtooth pieced. Once I put the other beige patch on the end, these will border the four patch squares. Looking at this little pile, it doesn't seem like I got much done today, but once all these subunits are done they'll zip together into squares quickly.

Summer Dress #2 Complete

One package of extra wide double fold bias tape my foot! I'm pretty sure I used more out of the second package than the first one. Anyhow, I think the result is adorable:

Project And Bonus Project

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!  Thank you to those who serve and for all those whose lives were given in pursuit of peace and freedom for our country.

Über productive day today. Five loads of laundry washed and line dried, and nearly all put away. Kitchen chores done AND I even scrubbed behind and under where the trash can lives. Grocery store run. Some business paperwork prepared for tomorrow. Several pages colored with my daughter and some fun books read. All before naptime.

At first I thought I might take a nap, but it's so hot here today there wasn't a comfy spot to rest. (We don't have air conditioning - our 160 year old home didn't come with it and we haven't put it in.) Then I remembered that my project list included a summer outfit for my daughter. Well, it just lists one (setting the bar low for myself), but I have fabric and patterns to make at least a half dozen. I picked the easiest looking one out of the lot and got to work.

Since kids grow so fast and I'm cheap, I didn't want to cut the sized pattern pieces out of the original printed tissue. Instead, I got out some bulk white gift tissue (that I'm sure I bought on clearance on December 26) and used a marker to trace the sized pieces onto that. Then I used those to cut out the fabric. The pattern I made today, McCall's M5419, has six different options in it. I kind of got on a roll and cut out tissue and fabric for two dresses.

Note to self: however tempting, do not use child's coloring table as a cutting table without cleaning it first. At least the crayons are washable and will hopefully come out of the dress.

If your cutting table looks like this, get out the Magic Eraser first or suck it up and go clear off your actual work table.

So, here's what I got done today. This is the dress I got finished. It's view F from McCalls M5419. I used some tutti fruitti cotton fabric I bought at JoAnn last summer. I had two problems with the dress - one mine, the other could be, I'm not sure. The first thing I messed up was the narrow hem on the armhole. The instructions were fine, but after two read-throughs and an application it was clear I wasn't doing it right. The raw edge goes to the crease. You don't have to sew it first, like I did. Got the second armhole and hem just fine. The second problem popped up when I tried it on my daughter - way too big around the chest! It hung WAY down on her back. I had to remove about four inches of elastic and now there is an ugly spot where I put it back together. I'm probably the only person who will notice it, but I'm worried it'll rub on my daughter's arm while she wears it.  So, are you supposed to stretch out elastic when you measure it for a pattern?  This is the third time I've made something with elastic in it that ended up being huge.

Front view

Back view.  Hopefully the ruched back won't cause drama when she wears it in her carseat.

The second dress was actually the first one I was going to work on, but then I picked up the other one and just kept working on it. This one is some poplin I found on the remnant rack at Joann. It's view C, also from M5419. I debated about using the hot pink bias tape or white, but my husband suggested I use the pink and I think it turned out great. Well, it will turn out great, once I get to the store for another pack of bias tape. The back of the pattern envelope says I only need one pack, but I don't have enough left to do both armholes. (Really? 13 inches beyond the edge of each armhole?) I'll do them both out of the new pack to make sure they match.

It'll tie above the shoulders.

Hopefully I won't have to make yet another run to the store for thread.

SO worried I wouldn't have enough, but the hem is done already and I'm pretty sure this will finish the job.

It's Not A Tangled Mess

So happy that they actually look like socks and I'm not spending hours untangling yarn! Hooray for two at a time sock knitting!

Back On The Sock Wagon

Four years ago I had an afternoon all to myself while on business travel in Seattle. I happened upon a little knitting shop right by my company's office building, which turned out to be a great place to while away the afternoon. I think that was my first visit to a small independent yarn store; all my previous craft shopping was at the big stores - Hobby Lobby, JoAnn, and even Wal-Mart. So I was totally unprepared for - and overwhelmed by - the winding aisles full of beautiful, soft yarns in every color imaginable. I wandered for a while, wishing I knew how to work the gorgeous yarns into something other than a dish towel or scarf. I must have looked lost, but the shopkeeper was kind and guided me to a sock project. She set me up with three balls of Cascade Fixation yarn, my first set of double pointed needles, and a pattern.

The color number is no longer listed as an offering on the Fixation page at Cascade Yarn.  That's how long I've had this project lying around.  But I love the stormy blues and I think they'll be really nice.  I'll call them my Seattle socks.

To my surprise she invited me to sit down and knit a while, which was good because I really had no clue what I was doing. But by the time I left, I had a few rounds of ribbed cuff started.

Four years later, I'm ready to actually make the socks. After attempting a couple other patterns, I realized I don't really like the pattern the shopkeeper picked out for me. AND I'm a little worried about how the elastic content of the yarn will affect a pattern not written for it.  Thankfully a good friend introduced me to Ravelry, a wonderful social site for knitters where you can find lots of patterns for free.  AND you can search for patterns specifically by yarn. I found one pattern using I liked using the Fixation yarn, but it was only a reference to a pattern published in a book.

Well I have the book now and I'm ready to go. The premise of the book is that you can knit two socks at the same time on two circular needles. (this blows my mind!!)  I'm excited about this because I'm not good at finishing projects - but the pair of socks will knit up at the same time and they'll match perfectly when finished.  I won't have to worry about when I'll get to the second sock or if it'll be the same length.  I've got the required stitches cast on; we'll see how it goes!

Hopefully this will turn into some cute socks soon!

Blogger for Mobile

Just a test post to see how to post from my mobile. Updates on my projects are coming soon! I may have been quiet but I've been steadily working on things.

Hooray for Candy Clay!

My house will be invaded by characters from the Street next week.  Specifically, they'll be on a cake.  I have worked a lot with fondant, but it can get quite expensive and I've gotten feedback that it doesn't taste so great.  So to sculpt all the critters that will be on the cake, I decided to try candy clay.  You can find the recipe here.  It's recommended that you make it a day ahead and harden overnight; I did all the melting and stirring yesterday.

Looking at the hardened piles of chocolate, I wasn't sure they'd behave the way I need them to.  You can see the white chunk in the center and the chocolate pile on the far left.  This afternoon I cut a chunk off the dark chocolate circle and sure enough, the heat from my hand made it start to squish.  It seemed a little dry, but still rolled nicely into the tree trunk on the left.  I used a butterknife to carve in some lines to make it look like bark.

The white behaved much better, I think because I put a couple of drops of strawberry flavored oil in the melted chocolate before I added the corn syrup.  It kneaded to a pliable consistency much quicker, and had a pretty shine to it.  I made all the colors in the picture using Wilton Candy Colors except the blue.  I didn't realize it until I dumped all the jars onto the table, but I got shafted when I bought the Primary Color Set from the store.  Someone swapped a red for the blue, so I have no blue candy coloring.  Fortunately you can still color candy clay with icing color, and so I used Wilton Royal Blue for the last chunk.  The black took a lot of color, but I started with a piece of chocolate clay so I got a nice black.

I tried to start the grouch, but the clay quickly got too warm to work with.  Instead, I decided to make all the colors I would need and let them sit for a few hours.  I think you can also put them in the fridge to set back up.  Anyhow, this is my project for the week.  Whenever free time allows, I'll be attempting to make small furry creatures out of candy.  And hope hope hope I get them done by Friday night.

To Hell With Socks

I have been accused by some people of being good at everything.  To them I say, I am sorry I have not been taking photos of my sock attempts.  They have been absolutely awful.

The basic pattern I'm working from (The Complete Idiot's Guide to Knitting Projects Illustrated) calls for several inches of ribbed stitch on three double needles.  Not a problem.  It's just like a hat, only tiny.  I will say working on tiny double needles in a tiny circle makes me feel like I'm all thumbs.  There must be some organized way to hold the needles so they don't stick out in all directions, but I haven't discovered it yet.  Anyhow, since I'm only making a sample sock, I'm not making the full length the pattern calls for.  I'm only doing an inch or two just to get down to the heel which is where I have no clue what's going on and need practice.

Attempt #1 was the worst by far.  I so wish I took a picture of it before I ripped it out in a huff.  I got all turned around turning the heel and had slipped stitches on the outside where they don't belong in all sorts of places.  I did it again two or three times down the heel flap and had all sorts of silly ridges in it.  It finally occurred to me that it didn't look right and I finally realized which pattern of stitches goes with which side of the sock.  Didn't even realize that was important.  I also realized somewhere along the line I came up with several extra stitches I wasn't supposed to have.

Attempt #2 had an even shorter leg, but I got the heel flap correct.  All the needles have the appropriate number of stitches.  Time to try "working the heel."  I had to review what "slip slip knit" meant, but all the other instructions made sense.  Until I ran out of loops on one needle and I still had three stitches left to make.  This can't be right.

Attempt #3 - I know how to make a sock leg, I know (now) how to make a heel flap, I don't want to do it again.  So I rip back just into the end of the heel flap before all the weird "working the heel" rows and try it again.  Same result, not enough stitches on one side.  I begin to think there is an error in the pattern.

Attempt #4 - Again I rip back just into the heel flap, and try altering the first couple of numbers in the pattern.  I think it looked sort of like what it was supposed to, but it was still too far to one side.  I am now very suspicious of the pattern and begin to look through the others in the book for confirmation. But I just don't know enough how the pattern is supposed to work to determine if it's wrong.  Am frustrated to the point that I rip out the entire sock.

Attempt #5 - New pattern. Faceted Rib Socks from The Little Box of Socks.  (I bought this a couple of years ago at the craft store because it was on clearance, though I had NO idea what it entailed.  Just looked cool.  It's not a book, but a box full of cute little cards, each with an adorable sock pattern.)  The pattern card says it's "perfect for a new sock knitter" - that's definitely me.  I fight through learning the special cast on it calls for, only to discover it's so similar to the one I already do that I give up trying to figure out how they're different and just do mine.  Uh oh, this one also calls for a slip slip knit but has an instruction card.  Based on what it says I'VE BEEN DOING IT WRONG THE WHOLE TIME. *facepalm* 

Which is probably why I kept running out of stitches earlier.

So, now I have to go back and try the Idiot pattern again, because apparently I AM an idiot.

Daughter's Quilt Complete!

So happy to report that I finally finished my daughter's quilt.  It's all washed and put away, ready to be wrapped up as a birthday present.  Here's some of the detail:

I also finished the robot.  He's been aptly named 'Robot'.

Tax numbers need a little prettying up to present to the accountant, but the data's all been entered which was the hard part.  So now I need something new to do. I'm itching to get started on the quilt commission I have, but I still need two more fabrics and I think I should take a small break from quilting.  I decided to attempt some socks.  I initially attempted to knit socks in February 2008 when I got to go to Seattle on travel.  There was a cute knitting shop right by the office tower I was visiting, and I spent an afternoon there before I had to go home.  The nice lady there helped me pick a pattern, pointed out what needles I'd need, and sold me some yarn.  She even helped me get the first sock started.

Nothing has been done on them since.

Tonight I'm breaking out the needles I bought four years ago and trying again.  Just a sample sock to start, made from electric blue sport yarn.  I'm working from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Knitting Projects Illustrated, which is an outstanding tutorial and reference for total beginners like myself.  If all goes well, family may be finding a ball of socks or two under the Christmas tree next year. 

Busy

I knew going in that February would be challenging.  As evidenced by the complete lack of posts for the last couple of weeks, it's been busy around here.  We had a wonderful (and long overdue) trip the first weekend of the month to visit some extended family.  I always love getting to spend time with them because it reminds me who I am.  The day after we got home my husband went on travel, and I went back to work full time.  Which is funny, since I only have a part time job.  I set my schedule for how much I'm available to work, and then I find out at the beginning of the month how much of that schedule is booked.  In January, I had a lot of time to sew.  In February, every single thing I scheduled is booked and it is busy busy busy.  And that's a GREAT thing. 

I've been continuing the sewing madness in the evenings after my little one goes to bed.  I could have been posting about it, but it would really have just been a summary of how much quilting I got done and what happened on the three episodes of Star Trek Voyager I watched that night.  It's almost done, though.  All the quilting is finished and this afternoon I got one edge of the binding sewn down.  Three more chunks of work time and it'll be all done!!

A few weeks ago I took my daughter with me on a run to JoAnn Fabrics.  There was an adorable stuffed robot on the front wall as a sample, and she loved it.  So of course I said I'd make her one, with not a clue where I'd find the time.  We found time to get it started today.  We're potty training, which means we aren't going anywhere, and I'm scratching the bottom of the play idea barrel.  Thus I decided we should have craft time this morning.  I got my daughter started with some crayons while I cut pieces out of felt.  (I'm proud to say I haven't bought a single thing for this project. The felt is left over from a gift I made last year, and the thread is something called Purrfect Punch that I bought in the 80's thinking I'd make all sorts of textured punch-thread embroidery.  I took the wrapper off it this only this morning.)  Eventually the crayons got old and she wanted to sit with me.  It's really hard to hand sew with a toddler in your lap, so I let her play in the button box and pick some out to make a face with. 

He's coming along pretty well.  I'm attempting a blanket stitch, which I have no idea how to do correctly.  My mother-in-law uses it on lots of her projects and it looks so charming, so I thought I'd try it.  I wish I had started somewhere besides his face to learn the stitch, but oh well.  My daughter already loves it and is more than ready to play with it, and he doesn't have a body or stuffing yet.

The to-do list is pretty short right now: finish the robot, finish the quilt.  After that I get to go look at the project board and decide what direction to go next.  Well, after I finish the presentation I have to give on Sunday afternoon and get my tax papers in order for our visit with the accountant next week.  Is it March yet?

The Basement

Between being out of the house this morning and total nap fail this afternoon, I wasn't able to get any new projects started.  However, I woke up from my 20 minute nap inspired to take on the basement.  It's on the list of projects at #16 and #17.  Below is a picture of the current sad space I do laundry in.  It's not a true before picture because I've already painted the wooden wall on the right and the pillar beside it. (And one brick on the back wall for fun.)  Before the current lively lavender/pink, it was the nastiest shade of dirty light yellow I've ever seen.  With bits of split pea green.  Needless to say, it needed brightening.

I didn't exactly pick out the new wall color; it picked me.  I know that my local Home Depot has good deals on oops paint, so I started watching the paint counters to see what would show up.  Surprisingly, someone refused to buy this lovely shade.  Anyhow, it met my criteria of being semi-gloss, bright enough, and not nasty yellow.  It was a paint/primer combination, but I don't know that I'd actually buy the paint/primer combination if I were out paying full price.  Here's the stairwell going back up to the kitchen.  I've already attacked the side of it with the lavender/pink - it used to be a very bland grey blue.

My plan, influenced by my mother in law and Mary Engelbreit, is to brighten the space up with a floor mat and a wall mural.  My mother in law makes adorable hand painted mats sealed with polyurethane, so I'm going to try making one too.  The floor currently is bare concrete, and very difficult to keep clean.  (Shoes are REQUIRED for basement visits.)  Never mind that occasionally little rivers run across it when there's been a lot of rain.  And I absolutely hate it when bits of laundry hit the floor on their way out of the washer or dryer; I feel like I need to wash them again to get the filthy floor dust off them.  So if I had a nice mat, it would both brighten the place up and give me a cleanable floor covering, which takes care of both problems.

The Mary Engelbreit inspiration came mostly from the colors of oops paint I was able to pick up.  I have some dusty blue, peach, rose, a couple of greens, some yellow and orange, and combined with the color for the wall, it reminded me of happy Mary Engelbreit designs.  I also already had this book: Mary Engelbreit Decorating Ideas: Projects to Make for Indoors and Out.  It's full of really cute designs complete with templates for you to make your own ME paradise.  I love the quilt pieces in the book, and thought I'd base my design around that.  I bought the fabric to make the mat months ago, but got stalled when I couldn't decide on a final design.  (I've noticed that happens a lot - when I hit a point in a project where I have to make a decision, it just sits... and sits...)  When I woke up from my brief nap today, I realized it didn't matter, I don't live down there, I can't recreate an ME original or anything like it on the wall, so just put something together already.   After a little bit of web searching this afternoon, I found some additional inspirations from Simplicity's free quilt pattern archive.  Check out the Rise and Shine Quilt and Prairie Flowers Quilt.  They're both fun and happy and pick up on the ME-style flowers I want to use in my design. 

I had a free minute after dinner to start working on my design for the floor mat.

Well, Rome wasn't built in a day.  I guess I'm working on this at Craft Day tomorrow while the little ones hopefully sleep.