Be*mused

Golden oldie

I've recently received a number of emails regarding this previous post and yesterday I noticed that a lot of readers were finding it through Google searches this week.  Since I'm (still) tied up with trying to hammer out a house contract today, I decided to re-post it for those of you who are currently in a graduation gift quandary.  Hope this helps!

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Did I ever mention that I'm a rubber stamper?  Was, actually.  I haven't done much in the last few years but for a long time it was a big part of my creative life.  I taught workshops and classes at rubber stamp stores...stamping on fabric, using window templates, designing pop-up cards.  But that's fodder for another post.  I mention it because yesterday it struck me that we're nearing that time of year again...graduation month.  And I have a great idea to share, especially for those who are facing the 'multiple graduates' gift dilemma.

When Molly & K were 'around the age' and late spring signaled the yearly barrage of high school graduation/party invitations from friends, cousins and children of friends, I designed this gift certificate, somewhat out of exasperation.

8 1/2" x 11" cardstock, with return card/SASE insert

Don't let me hear, 'But I don't haaave rubber stamps...'  The main idea could be translated in many ways.  Stick with me!  This particular card was stamped (and colored in with Prismacolor pencils...I love an excuse to color) on a piece of cardstock in which I cut 4 slits to insert the return card/envelope.  The inside of the card requests the recipient's college address and asks to allow for a 2-3 week delivery time.  I write my address on the return envelope.  When we give one, I sign our names in the lower right hand area of the cardstock (below the inserted return card/envelope) with a small notation that it's redeemable anytime during freshman year.  I then purchase white or colored (8 1/2" x 11") envelopes to use (and sometimes decorate) so that the certificate can be delivered flat.

Click for closer view

This may just have been my best idea ever.  Aside from not having to come up with individual gift ideas or that magic, appropriate monetary amount which is *enough* but not *so much* (especially when gifting a group of friends), everyone gets one of these and when they're redeemed, recipients are off at their own colleges...no comparing!  It also relieves the expense of a gift-heavy month. 

Remember that however many you give will eventually be redeemed.  It goes without saying that it's usually the day before you leave on your African safari trip or you've just returned from having a root canal that one of these will arrive in your mailbox.  (Hence, the 2-3 week delivery advisory note on the return card, also a subtle hint not to redeem it a week before the end of a semester.)  In anticipation, I always tried to have a few mailing boxes and plenty of brightly colored tissue paper on hand.  My care packages varied in size and content, depending on the recipient, but always included at least one type of homebaked cookie.  Additional insert ideas I've used at one time or another include:

• snack foods (nuts, fruit leather, chocolate)
• phonecards
• dorm toys (frisbee, foam boomerang, etc.)
• mug, hot chocolate, teas
• notecards/stamps
• seasonal holiday items/decorations (depending on redemption time)
• cold hard cash (always popular)
• funny items appropriate to the individual (I was always *on the hunt* ahead of time.)

Often a return card would arrive with a excited note that it had been forgotten and just found in a desk drawer...like getting a gift twice!  If you're stumped for gift ideas this graduation season and you don't mind sending packages, think about your own version of this.  What student doesn't love a care package?    

Did I ever mention that I'm a rubber stamper?  Was, actually.  I haven't done much in the last few years but for a long time it was a big part of my creative life.  I taught workshops and classes at rubber stamp stores...stamping on fabric, using window templates, designing pop-up cards.  But that's fodder for another post.  I mention it because yesterday it struck me that we're nearing that time of year again...graduation month.  And I have a great idea to share, especially for those who are facing the 'multiple graduates' gift dilemma.

When Molly & K were 'around the age' and late spring signaled the yearly barrage of high school graduation/party invitations from friends, cousins and children of friends, I designed this gift certificate, somewhat out of exasperation.

8 1/2" x 11" cardstock, with return card/SASE insert

Don't let me hear, 'But I don't haaave rubber stamps...'  The main idea could be translated in many ways.  Stick with me!  This particular card was stamped (and colored in with Prismacolor pencils...I love an excuse to color) on a piece of cardstock in which I cut 4 slits to insert the return card/envelope.  The inside of the card requests the recipient's college address and asks to allow for a 2-3 week delivery time.  I write my address on the return envelope.  When we give one, I sign our names in the lower right hand area of the cardstock (below the inserted return card/envelope) with a small notation that it's redeemable anytime during freshman year.  I then purchase white or colored (8 1/2" x 11") envelopes to use (and sometimes decorate) so that the certificate can be delivered flat.

Click for closer view

This may just have been my best idea ever.  Aside from not having to come up with individual gift ideas or that magic, appropriate monetary amount which is *enough* but not *so much* (especially when gifting a group of friends), everyone gets one of these and when they're redeemed, recipients are off at their own colleges...no comparing!  It also relieves the expense of a gift-heavy month. 

Remember that however many you give will eventually be redeemed.  It goes without saying that it's usually the day before you leave on your African safari trip or you've just returned from having a root canal that one of these will arrive in your mailbox.  (Hence, the 2-3 week delivery advisory note on the return card, also a subtle hint not to redeem it a week before the end of a semester.)  In anticipation, I always tried to have a few mailing boxes and plenty of brightly colored tissue paper on hand.  My care packages varied in size and content, depending on the recipient, but always included at least one type of homebaked cookie.  Additional insert ideas I've used at one time or another include:

• snack foods (nuts, fruit leather, chocolate)
• phonecards
• dorm toys (frisbee, foam boomerang, etc.)
• mug, hot chocolate, teas
• notecards/stamps
• seasonal holiday items/decorations (depending on redemption time)
• cold hard cash (always popular)
• funny items appropriate to the individual (I was always *on the hunt* ahead of time.)

Often a return card would arrive with a excited note that it had been forgotten and just found in a desk drawer...like getting a gift twice!  If you're stumped for gift ideas this graduation season and you don't mind sending packages, think about your own version of this.  What student doesn't love a care package?    

Happy Mother's Day!

It's damp and dreary today here in the heartland...the kind of day that calls for a good book, an afghan and a cup of hot tea, all of which are awaiting me in a little while.  But that doesn't mean things haven't been hopping already this Mother's Day!  We went out to eat last night, after a nice phone chat with K and his fiancee, who were in the middle of packing for a trip to Japan today.  I slept in a little this morning and when I scuffed in to check my email, up popped Molly on Skype for another Mother's Day chat.  We do this pretty regularly but usually set it up beforehand so this was a nice surprise and I got to hear about all of the plans for K's visit.  He has lived in Japan in the past, so the plans involve the familiar as well as some new.  Nothing makes me happier than thinking about them all spending the next couple of weeks together...well, one thing would make me happier but I'm not going this time!    

It's been a hectic 24 hours on the house front.  We've received another offer but it came with a number of conditions attached so we'll see how it works out over the next week.  We're trying not to get too excited but at the very least, it's encouraging to see continued interest.  (All good thoughts and prayers most welcome!)

Last week when I was going through photos to upload my marinating quilt projects to the flickr set, I came across these quilt block shots.  In January (2007..eek) I included one of them in this post and got a request to show the rest of the blocks in the set.  I photographed them with the intention of using them when I needed a topic and then promptly forgot about them.  And don't you know, I could have used them a number of times since then.  So here they finally are, Jennifer, with best wishes to you and all the other moms out there for a happy Mother's Day! 

Now I'm going to put on some water for tea.

Learning curve

The switch from a 25 year old sewing machine to a new electronic model has proved to be somewhat time consuming.  Not only retraining my hands from automatically flipping switches that aren't there, but trying to memorize settings and processes...the instruction booklet is getting a bit dog-eared already!  I decided to pick up an ongoing project to work on to gain some comfort with the machine without having to worry about construction challenges.  The schoolhouses were handy, two blocks cut and ready to piece, so the selection was easy.  However, my new Janome has such a precise 1/4" foot/markings that I ended up having to fiddle a bit to get the blocks to match my earlier pieces.  Fortunately I have the rest of the week free so tomorrow I'm going to audition three or four options I'm considering for borders.  It feels good to be sewing again without the fear of my machine going dead (the old one) or stopping at every juncture to look up a code (the new one.) 

I think I'll keep her!

Most of my projects have been packed away in the closets in the interest of showing the house to its best advantage, but while looking for a few things this week, I came across some pieces that I really love but had forgotten all about.  Most I have written about on the blog at one time or another, so this afternoon I went through some photo archives and uploaded a bunch of the unfinished tops to their own set on Flickr, keeping them within quick reach, virtually if not actually.  I was surprised at how excited I was seeing them pop up on the screen and I'm hoping this will spur me on to finish some of them up.  As I'm writing this, I'm recalling several others that I forgot to include, so there may be some updating over the next few days as well as added info regarding details that I didn't have at hand, seeing as how the whole uploading was a spur-of-the-moment idea.

This most boring of shots was my biggest find in the deep recesses of the closet, an old drawing pad full of quilt ideas and border sketches from at least fifteen years ago.  Sometimes I'm so overloaded with ideas from blogs & websites, books & magazines that I end up pinging from project to project, all variations of what others are doing which is probably the reason I so frequently lose interest and wander off.  These drawings and notations are a happy reminder of my own voice and have me all whipped up tonight!

We're going to be IL people!

Is it just me or is time passing at warp speed lately?  Whoosh!!  This last week has found me getting more friendly with my new sewing machine (or rather, it with me), knitting like a fiend in the evenings (more on all this later in the week) and, grumpily, working outside with allergy-head to spiff up the house & yard for showings and an open house which was held this afternoon.  It was a perfect day, sunny and comfortable, and the house showed to its best advantage.  The yard looked especially nice, as did the deck which well it should have after I scrubbed it, Cinderella-like, on my hands and knees.  When I returned to the house afterward, the realtor said we had a number of visitors and that the response was overwhelmingly positive.  *Looks great!*  *Lovely hardwood floors!*  *So clean and spacious!*  *Love what they've done with it since the last owners!*  Thud.  All of the lookers were nosy neighbors.  No sale this weekend.  Unpack the moving van.  Chicago will have to wait a little longer.

Wanna buy a house?

So why my optimism that we're going to be IL people?  Make that MIL and FIL!  Our son and his longtime girlfriend got engaged this weekend and we couldn't be happier.  Being the out-of-state, mother-of-the-groom, my role will be minimal.  But, yikes...one short year to address my hairstyle, or more aptly, lack thereof.  I've been considering a change for weeks months eons and this may provide the impetus to do something daring in the next few weeks, which would at least give me the year to get it back to its current state, in the event of tragic outcome.  In any case, it may provide fodder for an upcoming post.  (Always looking at the bright side.) 

The outfit?  I'm going to relax about that for now and let my personal shopper present me with some appropriate options.  You'll get right on that, won't you, BB?

Lots o' random

The weather is glorious this week, perhaps seeming even more so after that never-ending winter.  It felt good to get out and do some yardwork until the pollen starting raining down like snow, finally sending me off to the drugstore in search of some Claritin.  I was highly allergic as a child, taking weekly shots throughout the year, but now my discomfort is usually limited to what I call *lilac week*, though I don't think I've seen a decent lilac bush since my arrival in the heartland.  When we lived in Cleveland, I had huge bushes (trees!) at both houses, the last as high as my second story bedroom window.  Friends would always appear that week to cut bouquets and despite heightened allergic discomfort, I always had to bring in one full bouquet for the kitchen table, much to the incredulous dismay of also-allergic K.  Bad mom.

Copyright issues have been a hot topic for years among artists and craftspeople, often rightly so.  It's a tricky subject, however, when accusations of infringement are raised pertaining to designs based on long craft tradition.  Throw in the internet as soap box, stir the pot a bit and things can get pretty ugly quickly.  A recent such episode on a popular quilt blog left me with a distinct feeling of *ick*, so when I read the title of Fleegle's recent post, Copyright Confusion, I almost clicked by without reading it...No more, please!  Prompted by Ravelry discussion boards on the topic, her take is wonderful comic relief.  Click over for a good laugh. 

For years I have stumbled out of bed in the morning and started my day by downing 3 cups of coffee (Starbucks...strong) over an hour or two.  I recently broke the habit and have been coffee free for over a month.  (Aside from a sip from M's mug on Sunday morning which did not leave me craving more.)  I'm surprised at how easy it was.  A startling side effect...my handwriting is suddenly much nicer.  Not so much success, however, in shedding a measly yet stubborn 4 lbs.  It seems to have settled in one place (*ahem*) and is preventing me from wearing last year's cropped pants out in public.  The struggle continues.

I've been spending some of the week diddling around with my new sewing machine.  Have I mentioned before how much I dislike instruction manuals?  Despite that, I'm getting comfortable with it but am not really working on anything special.  My many WIPs are neatly stacked within sight (Me, me!  Finish me!) but...eh.  Dare I start something new?  Why not?  Something fresh, a result of play, not plan.  Like these two quilters, Isabel and Lucyellen.  Fun pieces, aren't they? 

Shakin' all over

It hardly seems right to be posting mitten shots...sheesh, Christmas-y looking mitten shots, at that...just as I am preparing to dash out to buy my pansies for the front porch.  A front blew through this morning, however, so I'm taking advantage of coolish, gray day to showcase my latest, before summery weather reappears.  I think this mitten is my favorite yet.  In fact, I like it so much that I'm making another.

The mitten on the right has been finished and blocked.  As you can see, the other is a bit lumpy and twisted, but all will be equalized in its blocking.  (It's waiting for a thumb, as well, but that should be taken care of tonight.)  To block, I usually pin my mitten (on a towel) to a firm background and cover with a wet facecloth.  After a few hours, I flip it over and repeat.  I noticed that this week that Alice over at Kathryn Ivy has shared a tutorial for DIY mitten blockers.  Something else to consider.  And I'm happy to report that my instincts were correct.  Knitting the cuffs first absolutely diminished any sluggish feelings toward working on the second mitten.

Official Ravelry portrait

These mitten photos seem dark to me (do they to you?), but when I've tried to lighten them a bit, the lovely red skews to orange.  The yarn is, in fact, that luscious dark red that quilters refer to as *turkey* red, one of my favorites that works wonderfully with these greens.  Hmm, now what next?      

A friend from California emailed yesterday to ask if I'd felt the earthquake.  Oh yeah, I did, though I apparently was in such a deep sleep that when I awoke, I thought it had been part of a dream until they mentioned it on the news while I was making my morning tea.  Later, knitting away on my mitten in a doctor's waiting room, we felt another good jolt.  It surprised everyone because the office was in a large hospital, no flimsy office building, and it lasted quite a few seconds...first some small trembles, followed by a good shake.  Maybe I need to make myself an emergency *grab and dash* backpack to hang by the back door like they do in Japan.  In any case, I'm not complaining.  We'll take any excitement we can get here in the heartland.  And speaking of excitement....

M volunteered to assemble my new sewing table this afternoon.  I got tired of waiting for it to come in and swung by the shop yesterday to finally pick up my machine, table or not.  Turned out they had had the tables for several days but had neglected to call people.  Tomorrow's dedicated to yardwork but Monday's the start of a pretty open week and I'm planning to spend a good part of it playing with my new machine.  Can't.wait. 

Seeing double

Your eyes don't deceive you.  An actual pair of mittens is in the works!  I had the hardest time pairing colors and pattern for this project but after knitting one cuff, I knew this combination was a winner.  I promptly cast on the second, to test my theory that knitting two mittens at the same time will prevent my falling into the SMS trap.  (SMS...Second Mitten Syndrome, cousin to the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome.)  So far, so good!

The sewing machine is still at the shop.  I literally stumbled on it, heading to my favorite local quilt shop to kill some time during our house inspection.  (Ok, one small good thing did result from the whole fiasco.)  Turns out the shop is a new Janome dealer and there sat my preferred machine, waiting for some serious test driving and dangling a tempting promotional price tag.  Aside from the reduced price, it came with a free custom table, which remains on backorder.  After asking you all for machine recommendations in January, I had done a little research and then decided to put off my purchase until after the move.  However, sales tax here is 6% and by late summer will be 10.25% in Cook County, so that sealed the deal for me.  I'll pick them up together when everything is in. 

Thanks for all the commiseration on the house situation.  I really try to avoid mentioning it here but there's no getting around the fact that it's the stressful backdrop to everyday living, cramping my handcraft life and as a result, what I have to offer here.  When I don't have much to write about, I get cranky, because for me, blogging is all about the conversation.  (And I've already told you I'm a big gabber.)  Frustrating as the house business is, we're no different than thousands of people across the country dealing with the same situation...*extreme buyers' market*.  And everything else in our lives is wonderful, so we can't complain.  Too much.  *grin* 

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

Anyone who has met me can attest that I am a big gabber.  I like nothing better than a good chat and if I have big news, I can hardly contain myself.  To explain my absence over the last week and a half, I'm a little superstitious and instead of tiptoeing past all the activity going on behind the scenes here, I chose to keep my mouth shut completely.

But today I'm back.  And what have I been up to over the last three weeks?  Wrangling with prospective buyers over a finally agreed upon price, accommodating their repeated requests for access to the house for various reasons, preparing for their inspection day, answering their response to inspection by scheduling numerous evaluations, estimates, and in some cases, work by various contractors for a multitude of mostly stupid, niggling items of concern to them and, finally, househunting in Chicago, for an eventual place to land.  This morning they responded to our bend-over-backwards efforts (not to mention considerable monetary outlay) by changing their minds.

So, how was your week?

The smallest ray of sunshine arrived this morning in the form of a phone call, amongst the many stomach-churning others (realtor, M, family).

My new Janome sewing machine is in and waiting for me to pick it up at the shop.

Tulips in snow*

Are you getting tired of these yet?  I'm not, and thank goodness.  These crazy weeks are testing my patience and the mittens are soothing my frazzled nerves.  It's a dreary day here, lacking the best light for good photos, but since I have to be away tomorrow and I wanted to post, I'm going with what I could get and will try to re-shoot these on a brighter day. 

Believe it or not, I'm still learning things on these mittens.  I have the major issues all worked out, but each separate mitten has presented at least one new challenge, some unanticipated, so the experience has not yet become rote.  I particularly like the colors in this one...three greens, three purples and two heathery grays...none of which are showing to their best advantage in these shots.  However (I know, *picky, picky*,) I think the cuff design is a little thick and would have been more successful if I had done one row of tulips and added in several narrow contrasting design rows.  I was *this close* to frogging it while on our drive to our Easter destination, but when I tried it on for a last look, at least half of the cuff extended under the sleeve of the black wool jacket I was wearing and it looked quite nice so I continued knitting.

We had a wonderful Easter with family in Ohio.  One of the highlights of the visit was being tutored by my two young teen nieces on how to use my (Christmas gift) iPod.  Easy peasy!  We had a lot of laughs as I peppered them with inquiries but soon I'll be bopping with the best of them. 

*Title dedicated to KathieB in Wisconsin.  Has it melted yet, Kathie?