Wednesday, November 29, 2006

It fell into my basket WIP-really



Every year by the time I get the tree up I'm hitting myself over the head that I didn't make a new tree skirt. By then, of course, it's nearly over and I have grand plans for the coming year where I will make a Martha Stewart Christmas by the following year begining with a fabulous elaborate tree skirt. Well, that never happens so yesterday while I was perusing in JoAnn's for assorted items, I saw this really fast pre-printed sew-it-up-in-an-hour tree skirt. It's a lot more cutesy than I normally would pick but at this point in the game I had to take what was available and it's bright and cheery. I got two Hobbs batts and was able to use my coupon on the big one so that was a great buy. I also bought some Robson-Anton thread for which I had to trade my first-born son, but I do like this thread. Again, I only use it for top stitching since I only have one son. Then, since it's in the same shopping mall area as Wally World(walmart) I went there to see if they had the iron I was looking for. I won't go into the great iron extravaganza of last year-sufice to say that even though I was born in Germany I will not ever buy another Rowenta. Anyway, the best iron I had for years was a cheapish Black&Decker. That thing went on forever(until I dropped it) and then began to leak. Last week I saw on JoAnn's on-line that B&D had come out with a new model that is supposed to rival the Rowenta in terms of weight and heat etc. I like a good heavy iron that gets really hot. JoAnn's store person told me they only have it on-line so I shuffled over to Walmart and found it-on sale. I'll let you know how it turns out-today I need to press some window toppers that are drapery weight material and if the iron isn't a good one it can take forever to press them.
On an artistic note, I am begining work on a wedding announcement for my friends daughter who married a few weeks ago. I make these things look like antique sampler-type framed pieces with the names and dates and such. I'll show it when I finish. This one will be water color pencils and pen and ink. I should probably clean my house-dust bunnies are taking over. Before I go I want to thank all the nice people who stopped by to comment on things I've shown-Since I started this-I feel so energized and encouraged. That's a wonderful feeling and I suppose what makes this blogging thing so special. My family are all great people but they have almost zero interst in what I do artistically so it means a lot to have people I consider really talented, say nice things and offer encouragement. Great motivation.

5 comments:

Jo Raines said...

Hi, my long-lost twin! Your post is so hilarious! I have some Robison-Anton thread as well and I know what you mean. They think highly of their product but it is worth it. I had a Rowenta, too that leaked and I now buy Sunbeam or Black and Decker as well. Funny!

Rian said...

I too have been threatening to make a tree skirt for years. If we had a JoAnn's to run to, I'd run right out and buy one just like yours.

Debra Dixon said...

When I married Wes I inherited all the Christmas stuff too. So, last Christmas I took one look at the huge gold lame treeskirt and knew immediately that I had to do something with it. I covered it with a crochetted lace tablecloth so only a little gold shows through--wonderful! I have never made a tree skirt. Seems like too much work to be covered by presents. Your idea will work just fine!

sophie said...

... raising hand ... me, too, me too. I have a couple tree skirt patterns that I've been meaning to make for a couple years. I get a reprieve this year, since no tree is really possible with the wild kittens-almost-cats. Big brother now weighs in at 11 pounds and could easily climb and topple a tree ... of course, he'd probably just be following his adventurous little sister's bad example ;-)

Janet said...

I can sure relate to the tree skirt thing. I've always got such big plans for the next year's Christmas but somehow they never materialize! Martha Stewart, I'm not!
I also know just how you feel about the blogging community and all the encouragement and support you can get from them. It's great isn't it??