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Last Month

To start July on a happy note I made a basket out of fun bulky yarns to hold a collection of the more yarns with which to play. Over on the crochet blog I'm doing a series of posts about what you can make from one skein of yarn, so first I made a baby bird. I also made a patternless tray basket out of a single skein of Chinese t-shirt yarn. I crocheted a patternless gift bag out of one thrifted remnant skein. I crocheted a liner for the art yarn gathering basket I made back in June. I made this throw out of an unusual, very pretty yarn, a skein of which I got in a mystery box. I altered two pair of trousers into shorts and tailored a pair of pajama pants to fit me better. I completed the July tote for my calendar project. I made a little basket out of wool blend boucle yarn and two others from my stash to hold my rescued embroidery threads. I made a bag for my journal from a project in GreenCraft magazine's Summer issue. I made this holid...
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Fascinating Ephemera

I was looking for a Victorian era photo album to use for a craft project, and ended up purchasing a lot of vintage paper ephemera for $14.99. Along with the album I got some lovely old photos, scrapbook pages, three Asian figurines (not pictured) and a ton of journal-making inspiration. I'll use some of these pages for my craft project, but I may turn the old album into a junk journal. The three magazines I received are from left to right: Collier's September 22, 1951 issue (ten years older than me!), Life April 19, 1948 issue (this one is older than my guy!), and Look January 26, 1965 issue. The first two cost 15 cents and the last one was a whopping twenty-five cents. Last time I bought a magazine I paid $15.00 for it, so prices have gone up quite a bit, lol. The old ads in the magazine are often hilarious to read. Here's one for Hunt's canned tomato sauce, possibly when it debuted on the market. No one shied away from bacon in the olden day...
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July Tote Progress

I have been stalling on the July tote for my calendar project -- vacation kept me very busy, and I again had some issues creatively speaking -- but I hope to finish it before August 1st. To see my progress, check out my album of pics here.
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Alterations

If I want to buy new shorts for myself I'll have to fork over between $15.00 to $20.00 per pair -- and that's at Wal-Mart, which is supposed to be cheap. I'd rather save money and make them, so I went to the local thrift and got these two pair of trousers (with pockets!) to alter, both for $13.98. To alter pants into shorts, you put them on, mark with a safety pin where you want the hem of the shorts on one leg, take them off, and cut off the leg you marked 1-1/2" below the mark in a straight line. Fold the pants in half, cut off the other leg at the exact same spot, then turn them inside out, double fold the hem inside out by 3/4" on both legs, pin and sew on a sew machine. You can sew them by hand but you'll need to use small stitches. The white pair of pants (I was tempted to keep these as trousers for winter, but I kept imagining how easily I'd stain them.) Here are the finished shorts. They fit me perfectly, they have pockets, and I...
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Small Happy Things

Last week we went to visit our nephew in his new home, which is beautiful. As we were leaving I noticed he'd framed and hung the bag of money I made for him in the laundry room. It's a reminder that he is loved. :) I ordered a bag of mystery dice for my favorite person, who also plays D&D (I was a dungeon master while I was in the military.) The dice are a pearlescent blue and lavender, and perfect for someone who lives in the islands. I finally sent a message to the vendor at the online thrift auction about this lot that I won back in June but has not yet arrived. They responded immediately, told me they're having staffing issues and can't find it, and issued me a full refund without me having to ask for one. That is the kind of customer service you just don't see anymore these days.
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Journaling Treasures

I've gotten back into hand writing a personal journal while I document the ongoing changes in my life this year. I don't write quite as much (or as prettily) as I used to, but the daily habit adds to my peace and calm. While we were walking around The Mercantile last week I spotted some journaling kits, emphemera and mystery bags of vintage things that gave me an idea, and invested in these three. First, the mystery bag's contents: A beautiful old beaded purse, four spools of vintage thread, an empty wooden spool, lavender, and seven cut sections of a birch branch. Everything fits inside the purse and will stay there while I cook up some ways to use it. The purse is definitely going to be a journaling project. :) The journal ephemera pocket matches perfectly with the journal I'm using right now. It contains a lovely little collection of tags and papers. The journal kit was a big surprise; I didn't realize it came with so many bits. I...
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What I'm Writing (for Pleasure)

I haven't decided if I'm going to publish the entire story online yet*, but if you want a peek at what I'm working on purely for the heck of it, check out the opening scene of my apocalyptic urban fantasy romance The Night We Met here . *Due to all the self-pubbed pilfering and AI siphoning I might just publish a few parts of it for fun, and make the whole thing available strictly by e-mail request. Or not**. **Yes, I'm that mean. :)
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