First Plushie! A Ferret

He began life as a line drawing. I've been wanting to make plushies for ages now but I've  been scared to start until I found this blog, While She Naps. In it the author is doing a series on the basics of plushie making. It was as if a light bulb went off in my head and all of a sudden I started "getting it". Below if my first try, a ferret who was requested by my husband. He has yet to name the guy.

Sew together but not stuffed.

Showing where I turned him right side out.

 

All stuffed with eyes and nose sewn on.

I over stuffed the neck a little but I think he's still cute. After posting pictures on Facebook I may have 2 orders in the works. Seems like my business is finally starting up.

Zebra Baby Blanket

I made this as a gift for a friend and I thought in a way it could serve as my first tutorial, sort of. I photographed a few different steps in the process.

The zebra fabric is 100% cotton quilting fabric with a layer of cotton batting in between. It measures 40" x 40". Nothing fancy about how it was made. I sewed it right sides together, flipped it right-side out and closed up the opening.

 

 

Next I hand sewed a blanket stitch around the entire parameter of the blanket using 3 strands of embroidery thread.

 

 

After the blanket stitch was done I crocheted a row of single crochet stitches. I used a F hook. The yarn is Carnon Simply Soft.

 

Last was crocheting the shell edging onto the single crochet row. The pattern is very simple.

sc * skip st, 5 dc in next st, repeat from *

 

There you go. I really like how this came out and it wasn't very difficult at all. I think the 40" x 40" size is pretty big though. I may go a bit smaller next time.

test

Velody.minti.com

Friendship-smendship

I just got hit upside the head with an incredible feeling of loneliness. The lack of real friends to talk to or spend time with is bringing me down. I’m kidding myself with these online groups like I really am apart of them. Like the newer Facebook group. I keep seeing the other moms get closer and closer because they have the time to comment back and forth with each other repeatedly through the day. I know I’m part of the group and I get comments, I also comment to others but I’m not making any best friends there. The working moms group on CafeMom? Yeah I’ve stopped visiting it after once again another judgmental thread on single income families. I know I can’t say a thing either because it’ll be hit back with comments about putting on my “big girl panties” etc etc. I hate this trend of the current generations about “so I’m a bitch/asshole but I say it like it is/as I see it and I don’t give a crap if it’s mean.” No you’re just a bitch/asshole because you could say the same thing to someone in a more considerate way you’re just too self absorbed to take to time to think of the other person’s feelings before you say it. Sometimes I feel like that attitude is everywhere and I’m the odd man out. Actually at the moment I feel like the odd man out of anything. Other than a family member when was the last time someone called me to just talk? Someone messaged me? E-mailed me? My only friend seems to be my sister-in-law who I know doesn’t see things the same way, she has plenty of friends. I know a lot of it is my own doing. I’m not available to people to do things outside the house, either because of time or money. It makes me forgettable now. I long for that quintessential BFF who I can talk to about anything. Also is someone who values my friendship the same way I do theirs. With the only 2 women I consider friends I ever talk to I know that as the hierarchy goes in their lives I’m not at the top. I’m lucky if I’m in the top 5, where they are all that I have. I once had that friend, the BFF who I could talk to about anything. I'm realizing now is how much I really miss her. There stopped seeming to be time in her life for me and she just stopped calling. Eventually my calls to her seemed to be more of a hindrance then anything and I just one day stopped calling her. She never called me back. We're on Facebook with each other now and make comments back and forth. Is it worth writing her? (FYI this isn't the same friend whose friendship I tried to salvage a while back. She is one of the aforementioned 2 people and I've come to grips with that to a degree. We're friends we just aren't that close, never were and never will be.)

Sometimes I wish I could be one of those bitch types. For some reason they seem to never be lacking in friendships. I don’t get it, I really don’t.

Houston We have Mobility

How time goes by. Wee Rose is now 5 months and has succeeded in rolling over to her belly from her back.

I was driving home from work yesterday and I was contemplating how much faster time seems to go by now as a working parent then it did just a few years back in college. I'm sure it's do to the fact that I am idle much less now then I was then. I also thought about how it is almost Hubby and I's three year anniversary but yet in many ways I feel our relationship is still in its infancy. Think back to college though and 3 years was one hell of a long relationship. How your perception of things changes as your life changes. It's the same in  what you view as important and what you're willing to sacrifice.

So Sad When Things Change

I decided to switch Wee Rose over to formula today and stop nursing. I made it almost 5 months but we want to start sleep training her in anticipation of our trip up North in a few weeks. In doing so she needs to start eating larger bottles then she currently is during the day. Right now she eats ever 4 hours like clock work, 4 oz. The hope is to shift that to 4 times during the day @ 6oz every 4 hours and then sleeping through the night. Yes yes there are ways I could do this and keep nursing. I'd have to switch to exclusively pumping though and I don't want to do that. I don't think going to formula is that big of a deal though nor do I feel it's very detrimental to her future health. Honestly my main reasons to do it were finances and bonding, that's it. Well we got a nice break on the finances for awhile and we're fully bonded, using a bottle now won't change that.

It still makes me sad though because I didn't make it to the goal I set of 6 months. It probably doesn't help that I've been especially feeling down recently and back to crying again regularly. I know it isn't Post-partum nor is it due to hormones gone wild it's just me generally feeling like there is always something wrong with any action I do or sometimes don't do. Someday I'll hopefully learn to just be happy with the fact that I have a good job, a husband that is happy and 2 beautiful healthy children who couldn't have a care in the world. That's all that is important right?

Overwhelmed

The kids are doing great but I'm definitely feeling overwhelmed. Having 2 young children, working full time while trying maintain a semblance of a decent well run household is wearing me down. I've almost finished implementing a menu planning method that is making things slightly easier. At least I'm no longer having to wonder what dinner is but as a result I'm making better meals (a plus) but they take more prep work and more dishes to clean. I've also started trying to schedule chores through the week to take the load off the weekend. The result seems to be that I'm doing more work because I'm not neglecting as many things anymore. On top of it all work is sucking right now and I'm stressed over a few set backs we've had in getting our debt paid off. I'm sure I'd be handling all of this better if I was getting adequate sleep but the wee rose has only slept through the night once and there has yet to be a repeat performance. Other than that she's a wonderful baby, she's very happy and only occasionally cranky to where nothing will consol her.

I'm just stressed to the max and I see no end in sight. ::le sigh::