Crustacean Nation

I may have hinted in earlier posts that I am a big baseball fan. No secret there! So when it was announced that a new minor league team was coming to southern Maryland I was pretty excited. Then to find out the stadium would be very close to our house, well, that was too cool! So, when the opportunity to purchase season tickets came, I jumped!

The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are their name, and the slogan they are using is "Join the Crustacean Nation". And join we have! We were #49 to select our seats for the 2008 season! I can't wait!

So, Thanksgiving morning we all walked (well, DS rode his bike) down to the stadium's construction site to check on its progress. They closed the road for construction so we'd not seen it since they started clearing the area. Here's what it looks like from the outside (DS wearing a KS fleece pullover from last year's sewing):

And the inside - you can see the home team dugout!

I hope it's a mild winter so they have it done by opening day, May 2!

Meanwhile, there's another stadium under construction "in the area" - for the Washington Nationals. Sometimes my bus goes past it on the way home so I've been following the progress. Now there's an easier way - Stadium Cam! If you click time lapse you see the whole project from start to present. Or, you can click on a date on the calendar on the right to see each day. They started putting down the sod in the beginning of November, so that was fun to see each day's progress. I like to click from day to day to see what has changed!

Only 3 months until spring training!

I sewed!

It's wonderful having the sewing room set up. Well, at least set up enough to sew. last weekend DH bought a new panini grill/griddle, the Griddler, with removable cooking plates. I realized the plates that weren't in the grill at the time would need a protective cover, so stash to the rescue! I had a cotton remnant that I liked but had not a clue what it was going to be, and it was the perfect size for this! I made padded (with scrap fleece) book-cover like sleeves to protect them.

Then, Thanksgiving morning DH wanted a warming pad but I couldn't find the rice warmer I'd made last winter. Once again, stash to the rescue, and two were made in fast order. OK, nothing major, nothing that required a pattern or fitting, but that will be soon.

My "to do" list includes (in no particular order yet):

• Simplicity 4886, in the teal moleskin from Veteran's Day sale


• flannel sleep pants for me


• knit pjs for DS


• new bras (for me LOL!)


• doll clothes


• robe for DS


• robe for me (pink fleece!)


• purse for me


• dog applique sweatshirt for me, maybe a couple for gifts


• Christmas pjs for DS, niece, nephew

Where to start?!

Not this Year!

Last year I made nearly all of my Christmas/holiday cards - probably 60 of them. Stamped, embossed, etc. And I was pretty sick with a series of upper respiratory infections from Thanksgiving on, to boot! OK, so staying home sick did give me a little more time to work on them. Still, the room looked like an assembly line, embossing 6 at a time.
Monday we were in Borders, where the boxes of cards were buy two, get one free. Yep, store bought cards this year. Sorry to disappoint anyone on my card list. Maybe next year!

Lots of Thyme

I'm going to need a whole garden of "thyme" to sew up all this fabric! I have moved the fabric bins into the sewing room and I have no room for the furniture that still needs to go in here! OK, so some of the fabric will end up in the furniture, but ACK! Well, one bin is all fleece (not the pink fleece) and that will be cut into strips for the 4H Dog Club to make into dog toys at the December meeting. About a half of another bin is knits for DS's pajamas - he is in dire need of pjs that reach his wrists and ankles! One bin has several twill/bottomweights for pants for me - I can tweak my PMB pattern to perfection with all of it! I see flannel - sleep pants. Pokemon fleece - new robe and pjs for DS. Many many yards of hot pepper print cotton that was going to be curtains back in our veggie gardening days (before DS) - yep, the first candidate for the giveaway bag. And that's just looking at the clear bins I can see in! I'm just gonna pray for a blizzard, one where the government is closed but we still have electricity!

20 year anniversary remembered!

No, not hubby and I's wedding anniversary - that was 24 years in August. No, 20 years ago today the Washington DC area was hit with a freak November snow storm that dumped 15 inches of snow on the ground and I nearly totalled my little Mazda GLC hatchback! See, I saw the snow beginning as I walked the dogs when I got up, and decided that I'd better hurry and get myself to work before the roads got bad. 20 min later I had to sweep 2 inches of snow off my car! I decided to take an alternate route to work, to avoid a rather big hill I usually have to take. Well, not a mile from our condo someone in a large tank of a sedan had slid into the curb, so I attempted to give her a wide berth and make my way past. In the process, my car turned sideways and began to slide down the not-as-big hill. Right into the sedan. My passenger side door, right at the hinge hit the left rear corner of her car. Door, fender, dashboard - CRUNCHED! Thankfully, no one was hurt, and I was able to drive home. But, it was the first accident I'd ever had and my car was hurt! Yes, the car was fixed, but that took nearly 3 months, during which time some very wonderful co-workers took turns picking me up and getting to and from work. So, now I treat driving in the snow with a lot more respect, as in I only drive in it if I ABSOLUTELY have to!

In the sewing mood at last!

We are just spending a quiet day at home, DH working on a paper for his class, DS playing on the computer, me hauling more stuff from bedroom to sewing room. After lunch I decided to take a break and go grocery shopping. As I pulled out of our driveway, my truck mysteriously turned to the left instead of right and I found myself at JoAnn Fabrics (about 5 miles from our house)! The Veteran's Day Sale was calling to me. Lori had interviewed someone from Simplicity on her podcast and it piqued my interest in their patterns again, and they happened to be on sale, 1.99 each. 8 patterns hopped into my basket, two for doggie accessories, one doll clothes pattern, one car organizer, one electronics items totes, fabric bowls, an apron, and one pants/skirt/tops separates. (I have to figure out the linking to the patterns on their website yet). Remnants were on sale at 75% their marked price (which is 50% off the regular price) so I dug through the bins and came away with 7 or 8 remnants for doll clothes, and one 2 3/8 yd piece of 60' wide suede-like home dec fabric in a rust color. That last one would have regularly been $52 but I got it for $6! I'm not sure what it will end up being - a skirt, a vest, pillows for the sofa, etc. We'll see. I also bought 5 yards of a teal moleskin for the pants and top from Simplicity 4886. That might be the inaugural sewing project for my room!
I did the grocery shopping, watched the Redskins lose another one in the 4th quarter, and now a pot of vegetable beef soup is on the stove while I watch/listen to the NASCAR race. I have to get the cable run into the sewing room so I can watch TV in here!

Confucious was one wise dude!

Last Saturday we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. My fortune cookie's fortune said, "Be Patient, the Great Wall wasn't built in a day!" We had a good laugh at that, as I had become quiet impatient to get the sewing room done!

So, Sunday the sewing room was finally painted! The whole time the fortune cookie kept coming back to me. I was a little nervous at first, because the paint in the can looked more pink than purple. I thought, be patient, and as it dried it became a pretty pinkish purple. I was interrupted a couple of times and each time I thought, Great Wall, Great Wall. When I spilled a little - Great Wall. When I got paint on the ceiling - Great Wall. In the end, my four "great walls" were done, and I'm quite pleased with it!

I put together the shelving units that support the scrapbooking desk in the closet, and ran over to Home Depot to get the melamine and have it cut to fit. Oops! I measured twice (well, probably 4 times!) but didn't take into account that the closet might not be square. I had to do some hammer tapping to get it into place, but that baby won't move at all now! And I have some leftover melamine that I can cut myself for shelves once I figure out where and what size. Oh, they make a melamine edge kit to finish that rough edge, just haven't used it yet!

This week I've been moving things into the room, a little at a time. The parakeet has been moved in, and there are still a few totes of "stuff" from the previous occupant (DS) to come out. I wish I had a totally empty spare room, but instead I have to shift a few totes at a time. Poor DS still has a few things in his new bedroom that will end up in the master bedroom once I get all the sewing stuff out! Ack!

The windows are still bare, but I'm thinking of just having white eyelet valances. This corner of the house faces the woods and the sewing room is on the second floor, so only the deer and birds can see in. More pictures tomorrow, as I hope to get to move the rest of the sewing stuff in, including the cabinets.

DH has Fabric Stash!

I wish I had been keeping better track of how much fabric I have purchased this year, because in a single weekend, DH has probably out-purchased me! On Saturday he brought home a roll of olive green nylon something water repellent fabric, probably 20 - 25 yards on the roll, from a local thrift shop. I could make rain ponchos DS's entire class (if I wanted to). On Sunday he brought home a roll of PINK fleece from a different thrift shop. 60 inches wide, 68.5 yards of the stuff, on a roll, wrapped in plastic! He said he thought I liked fleece pajamas. I could make at least 20 sets of pajamas for ME (size 18). Where to put this? We stored it on the back seat of the truck all week, mainly because A) we dont' use the truck much now that the price of gas has gone up again and B) I don't have a sewing room yet. And when I do, where will it go?

So, I am NOT claiming this stash as mine. It is DH's. I, however, will assist in finding uses/new homes for the fleece. Want some? Give me a shout in the comments and I will gladly send you a couple yards!