Monday, March 7, 2011

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
— Albert Einstein

Lots of changes being made around here... and not a lot of actual work getting done. Lots of new babies on the way, and lots of new baby things being made! Life has gotten stressful, but the sun is shining. I know the grass is greener on the other side of the fence... because I can see it... but mine is still covered in snow.

Photos of all the newness soon to come...

:)





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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Hello Stranger!

It's been a while huh? I have not fallen off the planet, just been a busy Mama. Times are changing, and life is continuing. Crazy how even the best laid plans don't work out sometimes.

Anyway, I'm back and hoping to keep this updated now.
I've opened a brand new Etsy shop also! It's empty right now, but it's soon to be super!

Introducing -- ShinyHappyFitOfRage.etsy.com!


Still a work in progress, as most things I'm making. Not sure if I'm crazy about the banner even though it is one of my favorite Amy Butler prints. I got the last scrap available at my supplier the other day. I'm thinking about framing it. I've been slightly obsessed with framing things lately. I just put up 25 frames on one wall in my living room. Why not frame fabric? Especially if I don't want to cut it up.

It's crochet season for me, so I've got lots of goodies in the works and up for sale. My slouchy hats have been very popular this year!

Thumbtacks are new to my long list of things I make also! They are so bright and pretty, I love them.

I made these guitar appliques a while back and wasn't sure what to do with them. I almost made them into a quilt, but instead I stitched them onto a bunch of t-shirts and onesies. They turned out great!!
I Heart Ipanema has been pretty good to me as well. The store is becoming pretty popular, I'm very proud, and thankful, for their success! It's nice to have somewhere local I can send people to instead of just Etsy. I've tried out a couple other opportunities, but I Heart Ipanema has been the best! If you are ever in Kalamazoo I encourage you to check it out!

Lots more to share soon! Thanks to those of you that have stuck around/returned after my long absence! <3




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Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sunday Success

I've been busy! Making tons of things and enjoying my summer. I even got a nap on the beach the other day - life is good!


I made this fab pouch as a custom order. I'm in love with it and I want to keep it. Darn this making-a-living BS. ;)

I was invited to a trunk show in Battle Creek yesterday at Art Center Too. What an awesome place! And they set me up right across from Sew Unique Threads, so of course, I bought fabric. This was really neat newsprint-ish fabric with some red thrown in. I cut a woman right out of the middle of it and made it into the French Smoking Girl Pouch. Which will someday hopefully get listed in my Etsy shop.

I took a couple hours today to try this tutorial from Prudent Baby. I only made one wrong cut, which was no biggie, and now I've got 10.5 beautiful yards of mustard yellow double-fold bias tape! Thanks Prudent Baby!



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Friday, July 16, 2010

Papasan Makeover! And some other goodies...

So I finally made something for ME and it's amazing! What was once a boring, black papasan cushion, is now a bright, fabulous, eye-catching papasan! I had to move it to the main living room just so I could stare at it.


I used scraps for the entire thing! The smallest piece is ~0.75"x 1". The biggest is around 8"x4" and I tried to avoid using anymore of those after that one starting piece. I didn't plan it out or measure anything, just cut-sew-add until it was gigantic and wonderful! Can you tell I like it a lot? ;) I was tempted to make it into a quilt but I can't imagine quilting it all by hand since it would be too big for my machine. So I went back to Plan A and made a huge round papasan cushion pillowcase! It has a pocket back that I stitched closed with huge stitches, so I can easily remove it to wash it. Lord knows nothing stays clean with a 5 yr old in the house!

That great store I Heart Ipanema, that I've got a bunch of goodies at here, has been a pretty cool experience. Stuff is selling pretty well! One shopper didn't find what she wanted so Nicole sent her my way for a custom set for her friend's baby. I'm convinced, I make fun stuff, and that's why I get to meet the most fun people doing what I do! She was really sweet, and she loved the Pillow Cubes, Tie Bib, and Bunny Rattle!

I was surfing Noodlehead again and saw this great tutorial for Car Pillows! Since I *still* know a scary amount of pregnant women, like I seem to always these days, I made a whole car lot full of Car Pillows. Girly ones too! That's right Mamas, you're all getting pillows, I'm ahead of the game for once!

And last but not least, one of my best friends' sisters is getting married! I hemmed her Mom's dress for her... by hand I might add... and then used some of the scrap to make her a snap pouch to match the dress! I hope she loves the little surprise! Congrats soon Rachel!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Deer Creek!

I've been MIA. I haven't had much to say, and I've had a heck of a lot more to do since I stopped working my second job. Not sure how that works out!

I just made it to Deer Creek 2010. For those of you not in-the-know, Deer Creek is an annual show Dave Matthews Band puts on at the Verizon Center in Indiana. This was my first year making it to Deer Creek, which has been going on with a group of my friends for many many years. The guy who started this tradition couldn't make it this year since his first baby didn't get the Deer Creek memo and was due this past week. He showed up in spirit as an almost life-size picture of his face-on-a-stick thanks to the Pub crew.


Hahahahaha!

We can't say it was boring by any stretch. The cops ran over our Ladder Golf and didn't even slow down and apologize. One of our group chased them down. Don't chase cops, they aren't nice about it. I watch far too much Cops and Inside American Jail so I was just hoping they didn't taze him.

Soon after we had to call them back to our campsite to remove the trippin' moron from across the way. We'll call him Dick from Chicago. Because that's what he was, and that was also his very fitting given name. Dick from Chicago peed his pants in my new camping chair then started smacking everyone. He got arrested and I can't think of anything more beneficial to him considering the amount of drugs he ate and the things that would soon happen...

Dick wouldn't have wanted to be in his tent during the storm that came through soon. Especially considering his tent was the first to be demolished. Not just any ol' storm with a little bit of rain either. 70 mph winds followed by a downpour for hours. EZ-Up tents can't withstand 70 mph winds no matter how well you stake them down. Our super-stakes stayed in place, while our 3 canopies became THIS twisted mess of metal:

However, our tiny tent stayed standing and mostly dry!! A quick trip to the store and some duct tape and we had shade again!! Notice the short carport! haha!

Next day... cue the heat stroke. 93* and sunny was not a good mix for me to be laying out in while drinking breakfast. Lesson learned - A Bloody Mary is not a meal, and heat stroke is a serious problem. I'm still lounging at home attempting to bring my temp down. 99.8 is better than the 104 I was at!! Ever had heat stroke? I haven't. My brain quit working. All of a sudden I was too hot. Then I needed a short nap. Then I had to yak. Then I felt alright. Took an icy cold shower. Did you know a cold shower is not a good thing when you have a fever? I didn't even know I had a fever at the time. I thought I had a lunchtime hangover from drinking my breakfast. Ended up sufficiently chilled for a moment in the shower and stomped back to my campsite in the mud. Pointless huh? It became naptime again quickly for a good chunk of the day. Heat stroke tip #2 -- Don't nap!! Heat stroke can put you in a coma. That's just not what ya wanna do when you're camping. I went all over the sickness spectrum for Saturday and Sunday. I consider myself rather intelligent, but I didn't really know a thing about heat stroke. Up til this year, I had really never had a major issue with spending hours in the sun. Heat stroke is BAD. I recommend checking it out on WebMD before you go on any outdoor vacations that are going to be hot and sunny. There were a lot of things I didn't know, and a lot of things I did wrong. Next time, I'm dragging my happy ass down to the medic before I ever get to the point that I'm at right now. And you should too, should you ever be in this situation.

Ok Dr. Delainie, that's enough.


Check out this mud!! Luckily we parked on a paved road adjacent to this muddy mess. Unfortunately this was right next to our camp and all the cars that got stuck sprayed mud all over our tent. I watched an F150 get stuck and pulled out, then immediately after that a little blue Beamer thought it could do better than a big truck. Uh-huh. Ok pal. We soon all gave up on washing our feet.

These poor little ants couldn't get out of the water. There were a ton of them! We built them a beer can and PVC pipe bridge so they could get down. They did and they did fast! Way too much water running through our site right here...

Well that's all I've got for now. I've got about 10 zillion projects in the works so I'll post about those soon! Now I need some ice cream... to get this fever down of course :)


Edit: I completely forgot to mention, we were on the news!! Or at least our campsite was since it was so completely messed up. The guy asked me to talk, but I wasn't about to show up on the news yet again looking like shit. Unfortunately that's kind of my thing. Check it out here.

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