History transcription

I’m a little tired at present and would dearly love a candy bar. Oh well.n

I’ve been copying my old blog as per my eldest’s advise, to bring it here in the form of a history. It will be written in chronological order from oldest to newest, unlike the original blog. I feel that helps when reading a history. I’m not getting a lot of traffic here, as yet, but I hope that will change. I’m also working on a Bolaidh Bláth story and I think Vaset, the dragon, and Yelrish, the clank, will be part of it. We’re struggling with pdf pattern creation. Joey and Arthur are trying to help. It’s just new territory for us all. I keep thinking I should just trace and scan, but it’s not very professional looking. n

My ducklings aren’t getting any action. Easter was a little late to post them for sale. I’m trying to drum up traffic, but it’s a lot of work.n

The sun was out today and so was I, the dog liked that. I made Liam a pocket dragon and the pocket bunny I made him for Easter was a big hit at the store. He received quite a few compliments. I wonder if the dragon will be as popular?pocket_dragon_1.JPGpocket_dragon_2.JPG

Liam just arrived home and he brought me a candy bar! Oh joy!!n
Sinéad

Happy Easter!

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I’ve finished my duckling pattern. Now the hard part, putting it in a format that I can sell. I’ve listed two of the successful creations and I’ll need to make more to get the photography for the instructions completed. But, I’m a lot further along on this than I am on my little Bolaidh Bláth. Last night I refined the bill design and the new ducks will be a little different. It’s really cool how a small change in the shape of an edge can change an overall impression.DSCN0732.JPGDSCN0745.JPG

Dyeing

I spent a good portion of yesterday dyeing flannel with dandelions. It made a nice pale yellow, perfect for the ducklings I’m designing.n

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It’s spring and as I pulled out our decorations, I was disappointed by the large number of store bought animals I’ve been using. Well, that had to change. Joey made two new sheep and I’ve made a piglet as well as working on ducklings.sheep.JPG I knit a mallard, bunny and I purchased a pattern for a very small felt duckling. rabbit_duck.JPGThe felt duckling is cute, but not what I was really looking for and neither was the knit duckling, for that matter.n

I find it is harder for me to do the necessary design work these days. I think it is because my brain feels sluggish a lot of the time and it’s relaxing to just follow someone else’s instructions. Sadly, I can be quite good at design and it could prove to be a money maker, but it’s going to be an uphill battle right now.n

Wishing you a Bountiful Spring!n
Sinéad

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

DSCN0659.JPG Our leprechaun, Rory, is in fine spirits and enjoying his pipe with his pint o’ Guinness. Liam will be substituting Scotch whiskey this year for his tradition of an Irish whiskey toast. It’s what was in the cupboard. Don’t tell Rory.n
DSCN0658.JPGMy yule hat is coming along. Joey purchased bells but they don’t really ring, so I’ll be wanting different ones.n
DSCN0647.JPGArthur cut me a six inch section of dowel to use as a rolling pin and I love it. It’s maple with a camellia oil finish. We’re using that oil for everything from tool care to moisturizing and cooking. It’s great!

We’re there

I’ve uploaded “Silly Poems” which contains the poem “Just One More Time”.n
I finally photocopied the original illustration and then inked the parts I wanted to keep. That made it easier to extract from the busyness that was on the page. We were really short on paper at that time, until a friend brought us a bunch of fliers to reuse the backs of. It’s hard to believe how different it is now. n
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The waistband changes I made on my work pants have worked out fine. And one of the Bleuette dresses is finished and looking good. (I decided to make two different ones from my old pants) I’ll upload pics when the second is done.n

My head is very cold without a hat and very itchy with one. :/ Back to the hijab. Speaking of which, my daughter took the plaid my son wore with his kilt for first communion, (he was small) and wore as a hijab. She even used one of my celtic pins to secure it.n

Sinéadn
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Goodbye hair, once again

I had to cut my hair all off again. I don’t like doing it, but I like hurting less. I’m just glad there’s an action I can take to relieve the irritation and headaches.n
I’ve been working on remaking a couple of the pairs of pants I’d already finished, the sweats and the twill work pants. Elastic waist bands have been my go to for finishing the waists of my pants because my stomach is too sensitive to pressure for a regular waist band. But, here’s the problem, the heavier pants don’t fit right or stay up with elastic. Back to the drawing board, as it were. The work pants have had their elastic removed and I’m putting in straps and buckles for adjustment. These will ride below my belly like an over weight old man’s pants. So far, I don’t have that large of a belly and I can’t tuck my shirts in any more, making the look of the waist less important to me. It’s all about function and comfort. We’ll see if that solution works once they’re done. I took a different approach with my sweats and cut them down so that they fit more like yoga pants. The waist band still isn’t quite right, but I can wear them. I’m waiting for it to warm up a little bit more so I can wear them without “long johns” to decide how much I want the waist band changed.n

As a treat for myself, I pulled out the Bleuette patterns to make a dress from my favorite striped pants. The seat of my ten year old pants had disintegrated but the legs were still salvageable. And what better way to keep around a favorite fabric than on your doll. I’m hoping the fabric translates well, as it would have been too stiff for this when it was new. I have my fingers crossed.n

Sinéad

Lace

I’ve been working on a lace shall pattern from Haapsalu today. It’s fairly easy but that doesn’t mean I’ve had an easy time with it. :/ n
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I’m also working on cream puffs. I have the icing and the custard made but had to turn the kitchen over to Liam so he could make dinner. That was a few hours ago. I should be able to get back to it soon.n
See, I did!n
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Sinéad

Arthur’s Birthday

I just realized I had forgotten to post this earlier.IMG_1161.JPG
He made his own cake and “frosted” it with jam, then he placed the circus with the candles on top and he couldn’t wait to light them. He enjoyed his gifts, two new scarf sarongs with a lapel pin, a batman compendium, a Wonder Woman figurine and we watched Star Wars, Return of the Jedi. Oh, and Liam made pizza with Arthur’s assistance. Not a bad 23rd birthday, he even received a metal model tie fighter to assemble.

Chimney Fire

Monday we had a chimney fire and for the first time in my life, I just wanted to stand there and let someone else take charge and deal with it. I’ve never made a choice to deal with such things, I just do when they happen. This was our third fire where the fire department was called and we extinguished it with a hose before they got there. The first two were on neighboring properties and the owners weren’t home in both cases. The second fire involved “breaking in” to the owners home because we had neither a phone nor a hose and would you believe he was upset with us? He was drunk, which is why his trash pile fire had spread to the grass and was heading our way, while he was wandering around the neighborhood. Anyway, I digress, Monday’s fire was in the horizontal run of our chimney. We had not used the wood stove very much this season and I had cleaned that portion of chimney before burning season and the entire chimney every season prior to that that I’ve lived here. Ironically, my husband had never swept the chimney in his 15 or so years before me, in this house, he used a chemical sweep stick that has a poor reputation. Well, I had a little fit of I don’t want to deal and then pulled myself together, assessed the situation and assigned tasks. My youngest daughter got on the phone and tried to dial 911. It’s amazing how many wrong combinations a dyslexic can come up with, but she finally got it right. Then she didn’t know any cell numbers or the address. It’s a good thing the operator has a way of knowing. With the assistance of his older sister, my son, who is afraid of heights in a somewhat severe sense, climbed right up on the roof with the hose. I remained inside pushing the fire that was in the pipe into the chimney to be extinguished. After the fire was out and the fire dept. had arrived (in record time), my son who was still on the roof, shirtless, was requesting a rope so that he could lower himself down the now wet slope that had him terrified of sliding off. The fire dept., all eight of them, were, rightly so, more concerned with checking for heat with their new gadgets, than assisting my son down. They were very thorough in their investigation, up in the attic, down in the crawl space, all sides of the chimney. They did a great job. Meanwhile, I got into the garage, retrieved a rope and climbed up on the roof to assist my son in getting down. A fireman showed up to hold the ladder, which actually made me more uncomfortable. I didn’t want to accidentally kick him in the face because he insisted on holding the ladder so that I had to climb down through his embrace. My daughters might have enjoyed that, but I didn’t. With the fire out and the the fire dept. dispatched to fight burning fires elsewhere and the assurance that there was nothing hot and smoldery where we couldn’t see it, ( I must say, that is a very reassuring feature of those gadgets), we stood in our smokey living room and proceeded to remove the wood stove and declare that there would be no more fires in this house until some one could replace the leaky stove and line the chimney.( It’s an old cinder block chimney and the application of cold water may have cracked it.) And it wasn’t going to be one of us, as we don’t have the resources to do that and move. And moving is of top priority. Also, Monday was my youngest daughter’s birthday and the dinner she was preparing was only delayed by 20 minutes. She was so proud. And at the youthful age of 22, she also enjoyed watching the firemen. ;)n
We don’t count our many kitchen fires as real fires because you don’t need the fire dept. for back up. You just put it out, even if it’s your sleeve that’s on fire, right Catherine.n

We have enjoyed two of the birthdays of our birthday season and on April 1st the season will conclude.n

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Just Duckie

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I made Duckie in the late 1990’s. She’s soft sculpture and has all her parts. She was listed on Etsy today. It’s strange, I’ve had her for sale before, but she’s been around long enough that I almost don’t want her to sell. Which is silly, I can’t keep everything I make forever. She’s resting in a real duck egg with a jointed mini bear and she has a diaper she can wear. There’s an egg stand and everything stores nicely in a velvet storage box.n
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https://www.etsy.com/listing/271330528/duckie-a-hand-stitched-soft-sculpture?ref=shop_home_active_1

Disturbing

We went out for a walk yesterday in the hopes of finding rental listings on the local bulletin boards. The weather was nice and there were too many people out and about wearing fragrance. Needless to say, I didn’t fare well and wished fervently I hadn’t gone out.

That evening before the worst of the headache hit, I was searching for food storage containers on-line and found a documentary on the disappearing male

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-disappearing-male

Very informative and completely disturbing. I knew about some of the issues but not the extent to which it has become a problem. When will we make it stop. Greed keeps companies from making the necessary changes and the most common excuse is a lame one: it would put us out of business to stop using these products. I call BULLSHIT! During both world wars factories completely changed what it was they were producing overnight. The extinction of humanity and many animal species apparently has no motivation to it. GREED for today, fuck tomorrow. That’s just sick.

Found photos

I thought I had lost the photos of the wedding couple I made a few years ago, but yesterday I found them and here they are: Candice and Davidn
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I keep thinking I haven’t made much in the past few years, but in truth, my projects have been for others and I sometimes forget to document that. So, I’ve been posting my work for others as well as things that are for sale on my Deviant Art page. These guys will go on there soon.n
I was enjoying the fruit blossoms today. There were quite a few trees with varying shades of pink out there. This one is in my yard.n

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May Blossoms Abound!n
Sinéad

Spring is in the air

MPscarf.JPG I finished this scarf last night. I call it my Mary Poppins scarf. It’s crocheted with the Solomon’s knot using cotton/hemp yarn.n
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The bulbs are up and getting ready and the hydrangea has new leaves.n

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There are even some tulip blooms well begun.n

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I’ve been out of it for awhile due to health issues. The dog’s talon wound is completely healed, YEAH! I have loads of ideas, but no energy to see them through. 🙁 Here’s hoping we find a rental in Chimacum soon.n

May Blossoms Abound!n
Sinéad

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