More pics of my new homemade quilt frame

My new homemade quilt frame

Seattle Aquarium

We went to the Seattle Aquarium today. We decided it was the perfect day to go, the weather is nice and no NFL football today. We had lunch down there as well. It was a lot of fun, we both loved the huge puffer fish, he seemed as interested in the people watching as they were in him, he almost looked like he was smiling. They have some really nice displays where you can pick up and touch the creatures, starfish, sea cucumbers and things like that. The sea otters are my favorite, they are like swimming dogs and I love the way they swim around on their backs. The most impressive was the massive tank when you first go into the aquarium, it is just huge and so beautiful.

After the aquarium we walked around and went in a few of the shops, besides being just a little breezy, it was really nice, especially for a November day.

Wearing new scrub top!

Here I am in my new scrub top, ready for work. You may also notice that I cut my hair some more, I decided to have bangs. If I don't stop cutting it, I will be bald by next month, but I just can't help myself.

New Scrub Top

I finally got a scrub top made after several attempts. I didn't like the first one at all using a store bought pattern, it was too big and it hung funny on me, so I scrapped that one, the second one was my attempt at making my own pattern, and it didn't get much past the cutting out part before I decided that it just wouldn't work. The third one I used MPD (my pattern designer), which is a program where you can design your own clothes using your unique measurements, all was going well until I tried to attach piping on it and it kept bunching up and I just got frustrated with it, so along came attempt number four. Using MPD, I chose an empire waist blouse with elegent darts on the sides, if i had to do it over again, I would have added waist darts as well, but all and all I am happy with this one. I am going to wear it to work tomorrow and hopefully I will now be motivated to make more.

New Haircut

Here's my new haircut! I realized just how hard it is to take a picture of yourself while taking these. I also realized that my chin blends in with my neck and now I will be acutely aware of it and will compensate by walking around with my chin sticking out. Anyway, I snapped these pictures really quick right before heading out to work the other day so I guess they aren't too bad for the limited time I had to prepare for them.

Just a few more Pics of McMenamin's

McMenamin's

We got home from our trip to McMenamin's today. We had a really good time, there were 13 of us that went. McMenamin's is a hotel that sits on 40 acres of land in Oregon, just 15 minutes from Portland. It use to be a poor farm that was built in the 1800's and it was turned into a retirement home before becoming a hotel. The rooms are all painted by local artists, each room is dedicated to a resident that once lived there and they have paintings and stories on the wall about that person. Everywhere you look you can see paintings, even the elbows of the exposed pipes in the ceiling have little faces painted on them. They have a golf course, eight pubs or bars several restaurants, a gift shop and gardens all around. They make their own wine and beer which I saw a whole lot of being consumed. The rooms don't have bathrooms, so you use a community bathroom, which sounds worse than it was, I didn't have to wait in line once to take a shower. We managed to get everyone together for two meals, which is not easy, the other meals we had with smaller groups of us. We took a trip down to the Dam and got to see the fish ladder from above and below, there were some huge fish in there. We also went shopping at the outlet mall and of course found plenty of things to buy. For my birthday, my brother Barry paid for me to have an hour long massage while we were there and it was wonderful, I loved it, it's amazing how good you feel when you are done. We are already talking about our next group trip, we are thinking maybe Vegas! We have such a great group of friends!

They have arrived!

Here they are, it is a shame to put such beautiful appliances in our garage. I couldn't wait to put laundry in them. We all sat and watched it go through all of the cycles. We are on our second load right now and I decided to really put it to the test and fill it to the brim. I will be shocked if it can handle it. I don't think I will watch the whole thing again this time, it takes a really long time to wash, but the drying is really fast. They are so quiet that you can't hear them at all in the house. Well, back to sewing.

Me and my dress form

Well here I am, don't we look just alike? It arrived in two separate boxes yesterday, I was so excited! I have been trying my clothes on her. I am working on a fit test pattern right now with a new program that I bought called MPD (my pattern designer), you enter your measurements in the program and it will customize any pattern that you make up to fit you perfectly. The fit test pattern helps you refine your measurements. Besides working, I haven't done a whole lot lately. Carina, my DD, informed me that our dryer wasn't working, she fluffs her clothes every morning before work. We decided that it was time for a new washer and dryer anyway, we have been half-hardedly looking for awhile knowing that this day would come, our current set is 14 years old. We headed out to Sears and got a front loading washer and dryer made by LG. We are supposed to be getting it tomorrow afternoon, I never thought I would be excited about doing laundry. It also prompted us to clean the garage, (that's where the washer and dryer are).

Whoo hoo! I'm getting my dress form!

My DH (Craig) is getting me my dress form for my birthday! I showed it to him and he said, can I get that for you for your birthday, I haven't been able to think of anything to get you. Of course he can, I was hoping he would say that. I made an offer to the eBay folks and they accepted. I will be watching for that UPS truck until it gets here. I have the best husband in the world!

Dress Form

I am considering buying a dress form. I found this one on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/Professional-dress-form-Size-2-14-w-Hip-Free-Arm_W0QQitemZ150158018007QQihZ005QQcategoryZ50943QQcmdZViewItem

I would like to sew more clothes and design my own patterns. Right now I am pinning fabric to my body and trying to make alterations and it is a little painful. I'm thinking this would make a good birthday present to myself.

I measured myself and according to their chart I was a size 12, this was a bit concerning to me, I have gained a little weight, but I didn't think I was a size 12. I wrote the seller and he said that dress form size and clothing size are not the same, whew, what a relief! Anyway, I think this one is really cool.

Well, here is my first post, I thought it would be fun to start an online diary of my going's on and share with my friends and family and anyone else who is interested in my life, my projects, ideas and anything else I feel like sharing. I have tons of pictures of the many crafty things I have made over the years and the remodeling and building projects I have done and eventually I will post all of those pictures on here.

The first project I will post is the most recent one. On Labor day I decided that I needed to get something constructive done after sitting and doing nothing for two days, so I wandered out to the back yard and surveyed all of the scrap wood we had laying around, I had salvaged most of it from when our patio roof was destroyed in the December 2006 windstorm and also from the bathroom addition last year. Anyway, I decided that we needed more space in our barn/shop. I approached Craig (my DH) about this and he seemed very skeptical at first, but soon he was on board and decided he liked the idea. We first built the framing walls and set them in place. And then ran the stringers for the roof.

Then we added the walls. Next would be the roof.

We decided to extend the roof out to the end of the barn. I spent a couple of days up on the roof putting up the shingles, I would have got it done in one day, but I ran out of shingles.

After getting the shingles trimmed around the edges it was really starting to take shape. We got the barn doors moved over to the new opening and I got the wiring done for the two shop light fixtures and the motion light. We also got the floor put in. We still need to do some trim work on the outside and finish the walls on the inside, but I am really pleased with how it turned out. It is very satisfying to see your ideas come to life and a relief to see that the idea worked.