Rayen

Ten Things You Should Not Do (Even When the Internet Tells You To): Bathe only twice or three times a week: Unless you are living in a plastic bubble, you sweat and get dirty and generally stink by the end of every day. You always do, even if you think otherwise, because of the bacteria on your skin, the things you come in contact with over the course of the day and night, and your own (and perhaps other people's) body fluids. Please ignore poor hygiene advice wrapped in a "healthy" banner and bathe yourself every day. Every. Day. Also, use soap. It would be nice if you washed your hair, too, but I won't push it. Buy and Collect [pricey, worthless, or pricey worthless item] as an investment: Two words for you: Beanie Babies. Stop believing the get rich from collecting folks, who are getting rich off your obsession to get rich quick and spend your money on things like groceries, paying off your credit cards, saving up for a vacation or new car, etc. Fa...

Last week I had two pairs of thrifted trousers to alter: a pair of black capris to make into shorts, and a pair of jeans that were a wee bit too big in the waist. These are nice knit capris, but they look a little ridiculous on me, and the waistband gapes a bit so I don't mind chopping them up and tailoring them to make shorts. I hemmed the legs, put a couple of darts in the waist, and it's done. A nice pair of shorts for cheap. I'm having the same fitting problem lately with all bottoms -- my waist has grown smaller than my hips -- so I put a couple of darts in the waistline of these jeans, too. Now they fit perfectly. :)

I've taken a bunch more photos of the mushrooms I encounter on my daily walks with the dogs, and since I'm not getting tired of this, I'm putting them in an online album here if you want to see.

Last week I checked the National Hurricane Center site to see if there was any activity out there (and found zero); yesterday my guy showed me this on 8/10. The concerning area is the orange circle, which is in a position to come our way. So I thought I'd write up a post reminding everyone in the strike zone to be prepared. This is from 8-11, which shows much the situation changed in one day. We went from orange to red. It ended up to be nothing, but I did not take it lightly. This is why you prepare before the storm hits, so when it does you don't suffer more than you have to. My guy went out last week and hooked up my nephew's generator at his new house for the same reasons -- now we don't have to worry about him. So, what exactly do you need to do to prepare? There are tons of resources on the NHC's website, and what you want to do while you're preparing is to track the storm. Weather services start fear-mongering as soon as any storm approach...

Each morning and evening when I walk the dogs I've been noticing delicate white mushrooms springing up along the roadside. They seem to bud, bloom and wither in 24 hours, which intrigued me. I did a search and discovered they could be Bolbitus Titubans , or Yellow Fieldcap mushrooms. Not poisonous, not really edible, and one of the shortest fruiting mushrooms that appear after rain in pastures and where there is deadfall. All that fits. They do look like fried eggs on top of their very skinny stems. Every time I see mushrooms I'm reminded of how little I know about them, so I've started looking them up online to see if I can tentatively identify them. Of course you should never eat a mushroom you don't know 100% for sure is edible, and I wouldn't (not a fan of eating them, actually), but I am fascinated by how many varieties of mushrooms there are here. It's fun to see if I can find a match for what grows around our home.

I've been noticing a lot of crazy quilts being offered lately over at the online thrift auction. This is probably because 1) it's summer and a lot of quilts are usually donated during warmer times of year, 2) people have no idea what vintage quilts are worth, and 3) crazy quilts cannot be laundered easily. But are they worth acquiring, even for cheap? The high bid on this 86" X60" beauty current stands at $55.00, and I expect it will go for twice or even three times that in the end. It's hard to say from the condition in the photos if it's worth even that. Some of the patchwork is shattered, and the center motif embroidery looks incongruous with the rest of the stitching on the quilt. I'd pass. Bidding on this velvety stunner sits at just $21.00 for the high bid currently. It's the right colors, the stitching is quite nice, and we have a patch embroidered with 1915 on it to assure us it's vintage. Here's the thing about vintage q...

My guy and I took a day trip to the Barberville Pioneer Settlement , which is the best open air museums I've ever visited. To go along the tour with us, check out my album of pics here .

I found the perfect case for my super rare green and rose gold metal dice! I know, not exciting to you, but I'm delighted. :) It fits my dice and will protect them, and the dragon on the case is perfection for other reasons, lol. I also got one more pack of mystery dice. The dice are white, rose and gold, and came with three stickers and a dungeon master pin. Some trivia you don't know about me: Way back when I was in the military I was a D&D dungeon master. I have been casually playing an online D&D game to learn how it's done virtually, but that's just for fun. I'm too busy to join a live group, but I really love reminiscing about the D&D days of my youth.

The thrifted fabrics I chose for my August tote were all in new condition: clean, odorless, as if they'd come straight from a fabric store. So why did I wash them first? Two words: dye shedding. Dye shedding is always a hazard with unwashed fabrics. Most quilters would also agree that red is the worst. I handwashed each fabric individually in cold water and a little detergent. The red linen shed plenty of dye. So did the chili novelty print. When a fabric is multiple colors along with the red like this one, it's best to add a color grabber sheet to the wash to soak up the dye, or areas like the white background of this print and lighter colors in the print will turn pinkish. The bug print shed red, blue and yellow dyes, turning the wash water a greenish orange. You should always wash any fabric you thrift if possible before you use it; that will remove any dirt or debris you don't notice along with storage or age odor. If the fabrics do stin...

Since I've turned making my August tote for my calendar project into a challenge I have a lot more enthusiasm for it now. I went through the bundle of thrifted fabric and pulled these three prints as possibilities for the inner and outer fabrics. I do love this coffee print, but it doesn't quite work with the other two, so I eliminated it right away. That left me with one yard each of the chili pepper print and the juvenile bug print. The chili pepper print worked better as the outer fabric when I paired it with the solid red linen from the bundle that I'm going to use as a band at the tote's top. So I have my fabrics for the tote. Stop by tomorrow and I'll show you why they got a bath first.

The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong is a debut mystery novel I spotted on a bargain books table at B. Dalton in Oviedo last month. Since I'm not a fan of first books I tend to pass these by and wait for the author to get some experience before I try them. First books are usually over-written or chock full of too many ideas, rest somewhere around the borderline of professional writing, and are often so terribly earnest that they're painful for me to read. Please understand, I am not a conceited snob -- my own first published novel was just as bad, and to this day I can't reread my own debut. Yet I love a good curse story, so on impulse I decided to give it a try (the discounted price definitely factored in, too.) I had no reason to regret the purchase, turns out, as the book is very well-written for a debut novel. The deft text, interesting protagonist and somewhat brooding/paganish/haunted storyline were excellent, and I remained completely absorbed to...

I'm still spinning my wheels as far as the design for my August tote goes, but while we were out thrifting I spotted this huge bundle of sewing fabric And thought "instant challenge." What if I have to use only fabric from the bundle to make my tote for the calendar project? That's also something I do a lot -- use fabric someone else provides to make something -- and it gave my enthusiasm a serious boost. The bundle turned out to be so large I'll have to show you all the fabric in two pics. Here's half, with a salsa/chili novelty print that is adorable, a coffee print I've used in the past and loved, a cute and vibrant bug print, and even some upholstery samples. Second pic. Most of the prints are at least a yard long. There's a lovely finished cross stitch piece, and the linens and lace butterfly are just as pretty. I don't often work with novelty prints so this is a good pile to use as a challenge for this month. I measured...

I had remarkable good luck thrifting clothes last weekend; I was looking for jeans and white or light t-shirts, and scored these three finds. The jeans still had the store tags on them; they've never been worn. Blue tags were also half off the day I went, so I got the jeans for $5.99. The white t-shirt was also half off at $2.99, and the blue sewing machine t-shirt was $4.19. I added a round-up donation, and paid $14.00 for everything. Here's my receipt.

While I was on vacation last month my guy and I visited the Dunlawton Sugar Mill Ruins and Botanical Gardens, a fascinating place that provided a glimpse of early 19th century Florida. The botanical gardens were amazing, too. To walk around the place with us, check out my album of pics here .

My ancient ironing board (which I thrifted) is coming to the end of its long life; the locking latch isn't working as it should and I will definitely need a new one in the near future. During our last visit to IKEA I noticed this tabletop ironing board for $9.99, and grabbed it. It's very lightweight, and not particularly heavily padded, but I prefer that. It also comes with a built-in hook for hanging, which is frankly brilliant. The tabletop design is appropriate for light items or piecework like quilters do. At 28-¾" x 12-½" it's not going to handle huge items, but for everyday ironing it's perfect. The fact that I can hang it on the side of my sewing room bookcase is even better. Recommended.

I have not enjoyed a summer vacation as much as this one in a long time. Not only did I get to spend sixteen days with my favorite person, but I celebrated my birthday in a beautiful place and got to do so many fun things. On the last day my guy and I went to the beach to walk and bask in the sun and wind down from a busy but happy vacation. I do like lake country a lot, but I'll always be a beach girl at heart. There's something about the salt air and watching the waves that soothes my soul. Before we left we walked the pier, where a bunch of fisherman were trying to catch something bigger chasing the schools of shiners (the wee little fish on the pier in the pic) that had come in close to shore. We watched a flock of pelicans diving for their lunch and it was one of those unexpected, spectacular sights that you often experience by the sea. Perfect day, perfect end to a lovely summer vacation.

My lot of three quilting books arrived, let's see if they were worth what I paid. All three books are in pristine condition, and chock full of ideas for making bags and small quilted projects. The projects are beautiful; here's one from bags book. These projects are interpreted from quilting traditionally done in different countries. I love the crazy quilt book, which not only details how to make the projects, but offers stitch maps for the embroidery involved. Smaller projects are more doable for me now, so I'll like find a lot of inspiration from the Japanese quilting book. Let's look at the numbers. Japanese Quilting Piece by Piece by Yoko Saito retails for $32.99. Foolproof Crazy Quilt Projects by Jennifer Clouston costs $27.95 to buy new. Yoko Saito's Bags for Everyday Use appears to be out of print and runs around $44.72 for the cheapest used edition. I'd pay $105.66 retail total for all three, so paying twelve bucks for the lot...