I ordered some buttons from Sewing Stars, a Providence-based crafter. I am going to put them onto a new bag/pocket book I want to make. I decided one section of the bag will have a bunch of pin back buttons on it. So I started searching etsy for more buttons, which I am grumbling about having to pay more for shipping than buttons are worth, but without a big craft fair to go and scoop them up at, what am I going to do?

And then I decided to design my own! Very exciting! I ordered them from Kitty Crossbones on etsy. I get 100 pins with up to 10 different designs. I figured I would make a bunch of promos for Moses and Zoe and then the rest I will come up with designs that can sell in my shop and use for my bag.

I got out my currently very small button collection to see which of my fabrics they match.

Zoe promptly came over to supervise. I found it most amusing that she first pretended not to know that she had sat on anything at all and then was suddenly fascinated by what was under her.

What am I in the way?

On to more interesting things…

Here is the puppy quilt for the special order.

Here are both quilts all ready to go.

And silly Moses. He was watching Zoe and I out the window yesterday. So I figured why not give him a chance at it. I put the harness on him. He crawled away from the door and flopped down. I think he may have been playing dead. He didn’t move until I took the harness back off of him. I guess I don’t have to feel guilty for not taking him outside anymore.

My car is at the mechanics. Apparently my oil pan rusted through and is leaking. It is going to cost about $320 to fix. Really I should be happy that I haven’t had to fix anything on my car in a long time. After all it is a 99. My Sentra has been good to me over the years. Having to find a new mechanic to trust is one of the down sides of moving. Also finding a new doctor and eye doctor and stuff like that, not fun.

Pat and I went for a few walks around the neighborhood this weekend. Pretty chilly out there, but it was good to get out and get some exercise.

I finished a baby quilt for a custom order. I like the way it came out. It has cute little dogs on it. I will have to take a picture of it before I send it out.

We rented Junebug and Talladega Nights. Pat gave a two thumbs down to Junebug and said he liked Talladega Nights more than he thought he would. I am not sure how I feel about Junebug. I wouldn’t call it a favorite or anything, but I found it kind of interesting. I was the one who wanted to rent Talladega Nights, because I enjoy Will Ferrell. I thought this movie was alright. It definitely wasn’t on par with Elf or Anchorman, but it was way better than Kicking & Screaming.

Today we finally had the locksmith come out and change our locks. Yay! I finally have my own key to our house! Moses got very freaked out by the locksmith. He apparently does not like tall men with hats who use power tools and leave doors open. He first decided to take cover under the couch and then fled upstairs where he lodged himself under Pat’s desk behind his computer. When I went up to check on him, I found him back there visibly shaking. Poor thing. I wonder how long it will be before he decides it is safe to come back downstairs.

Today I brought Mom back to the airport. Where did the time go? We did get lots of stuff done, but it feels like I just picked her up yesterday!

One of the things we accomplished was the above turquoise Ellie. The pink Ellie is the one my Mom made for me when I was little. She made Ellies for me and my sisters and my cousins. There were lots of Ellies, but she has since lost the pattern. So we took apart my sister’s Ellie and used her to make a pattern for a new round of Ellies. I think the pattern needs a little tweaking, but for the most part I it came out pretty well.

I think I made it sound like I was putting my Mom right to work while she was here for a visit, but really most of my to-do list was stuff I needed to get done that I just needed encouragement to complete. My Mom’s motto is a lot like Nike’s “Just do it.” I knew if my Mom was here and it was on my list I wouldn’t be able to procrastinate any more. So I finally bought a bunch of new clothes with a gift card, Pat and I got the tub regrouted (mostly Pat on that one,) and I completed a bunch of other little tasks.

When I don’t know how to do something right, I tend to put it off. With my Mom sitting right there watching me, that is not an option. She was funny when I was putting the bottoms on the feet of the Ellie. I was asking for instruction and she basically says- yeah its hard, just ease it in. I guess with sewing I really need to just learn by doing. The only way to get good at sewing curves, is to actually sew some curves. And they aren’t going to be perfect the first time, but I will never make a perfect curve unless I first make some wonky ones.

The stuffed animal is going to be a cat. Surprise, surprise. The body actually came out pretty well… The head on the other hand, not so good. Back to the drawing board. Its not that my design was bad. Its just that my design would have been better for an expert seamstress. Which I am not quite yet. Straight lines, I’ve got down. Tiny curves on the inside of a small piece of fabric…well I still need to work on that. So for now I am thinking I need to design an easier to sew head.

Next week my Mom is coming! Yay. There are so many projects I want to work on with her its crazy. I should make a list.

Today is the last day of Owl-A-Day week.
Here’s Liam.


And here is Julian.

I also finally posted the second baby quilt on mosesandzoe.com.

And I ordered some business cards from Office Depot. Kat sent me a link to a coupon for business cards for .99cents and I decided to check it out. Unfortunately I couldn’t put the new logo I just drew on it because you could only have text, but hey .99 cents… maybe I can try to print my logo onto the cards. So my total order with tax came to $1.06, I am wondering if they are going to send an Office Depot truck to our house to deliver it. I feel a little guilty, but not that guilty.

I finished another pillow yesterday, but it doesn’t look quite right. Some of the quilting looks a little pinched. So I am going to try to just take one corner apart to fix it. Hopefully I won’t have to take the whole thing apart.

I have also been working on some cards and matching lined envelopes. That is what I will be working on all weekend so that I can get some into the shop before Valentine’s Day. Seems like I am always running behind on these holidays. Perhaps I should be working on Easter themed stuff now.

Tonight we are going out to dinner with our friends Carol and Kevin. And they are giving us free tickets to see the Hurricanes tomorrow night. Pretty exciting. We have never been to a NHL hockey game before. In high school I used to go to the school games all the time. Our high school was lucky enough to have its own rink. I used to get to skate during gym class. I haven’t been skating in a long time and it will probably be a long time before I get to again. I left my ice skates at my sister, Kim’s house because I figured next time I go skating it will most likely be with her.

Yesterday they were showing kids on the news sledding in the snow. So funny. There was less than an inch of snow. The hills were totally green and kids were pushing themselves down. I guess it was working, since the hills were slippery, so who am I to scoff?

We got our utility bill today. I did a little dance… well actually I danced all around the house to be honest. We had figured a large $$$ amount into our budget because we had no idea how much utilities would cost. It cost a tenth of what we had budgeted. Yay!

Kat came over today and we worked on a new project. We put paper and fabric in between glass slides and sealed them with copper foil. I am not sure what the finished projects will be, but it was a lot of fun.

Pat is out getting me chinese food right now. He’s so good to me. I am very lucky.

I banged on the door and the windows and rang our doorbell a million times and yelled Pat’s name at the window. The men working on the house next door seemed amused. Pat apparently was listening to music on his headphones pretty loudly. Lucky for me it was really nice outside… because I had no shoes on. Eventually Pat heard the knocking and came to check it out.

Cold weather is headed our way so I will have to be more careful!

I have been working on a few baby quilts. I decided to put a satin binding on the edge. It is harder than I thought. I am going to try to finish the first one tomorrow so I can post it on MosesandZoe.com. Here is a pic.

This could be your chance to be our neighbor in the new Rockland Ave. We promise to let you borrow a cup of sugar and/or eggs as needed. There are also a couple of other houses, 2 houses in the other direction, for sale. I think they might have garages, if you’re interested in that kind of thing.

We’re really happy with the neighborhood we’re in. It’s active, but not crazy. You can walk down the street and not get run down, and the neighbors are friendly. It’s certainly made moving far away easier.

In Other News
This is the 400th post we’ve made on Rockland-Ave.com! So go us! We’d like to thank the academy, and our loyal readers and lurkers. Without you, we would have been bored of this long ago. Sometimes it’s hard to think of stuff to write about, but being able to see what we’ve done with ourselves over the past few years has been pretty darn cool.

Social? Yes we are
Yesterday we met up with NC locals Kat and her husband Matt. We went to see the movie Children of Men which was very dark and gloomy, and not the feel-good-movie-of-they-year by any stretch of the imagination. I thought it was great movie and a great story, and a scary vision of the future. It made V for Vendetta seem like a comedy. We all agreed to see something a bit more light hearted the next time we go out together. It was quality sci-fi though, that’s for sure.

We also ate at Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries. Maxium taste and maximum unhealthyness! I had a double-cheeseburger, which in retrosepct was a bit too much, but it was really good. Kate mentioned the fries were very good, reminding her of salt and vineger chips a little. Kat and Matt are fun to hang out with, and know where the good burger joints are.

Tonight
Me planted firmly in front of the tube watching the season premier of this.

MosesandZoe.com
Kate’s been a machine at the sewing machine! Be sure to visit (and re-visit) her Etsy page at MosesandZoe.com to see what she’s been up to!