Not enough hours in a day, or days in a week!

Yes this past week has been very hectic, but also very satisfying. I'm running full gear ahead, helping out one of my friends with her wedding. Now of course, we came up with grand ideas that in order to stay under budget we need to make ourselves, so I apologize for the infrequency of my posting lately! Not to fear, I will be flooding this blog with all sorts of pictures and things to keep you all in the know.

I have been sewing up a storm lately, and am so glad that my Designer Ruby is able to sew things up beautifully and FAST! 1,100 stitches a minute is what I think I heard Ruby sews. Compared to the usual 600 stitches a minute most home sewing machines do, I'm sewing twice as fast as usual and still find that I could even go for a machine that sews faster!

Right in the middle it was decided to do a surprise dinner party/bachelor/bachelorette party. A Maple glazed Salmon dinner for twelve. Now I did break a cardinal entertaining rule, I tried not just one but two new dishes for this little get together, and am lucky they were both successes! I made Quinoa for the first time, and believe it or not, Salmon! I pulled the best of all my serveware for the event, and even dared to bring out my treasured Wedgwood Cream soup bowls. Luckily I have been collecting: dishes, flatware, linens, and serveware since I was 16 and the time finally came where it all paid off. Whilst the preparations for the day lasted since early in the morning the actual "dining" part took all of about an hour. Even so, it was my first official dinner type party and I hope that I can track down some pictures to show you! I was so busy running around, I forgot to take a picture, but here's an idea of how my events and buffets go. I did this little number for the opening of Adorment, a fine jewelry store in Newport, RI. Definitely want to thank my friend Nick O'Brien for snapping this picture!

Honey

Funny how all at once it seems you have so much to do! Recently I went into the hive and extracted some honey, and I've been having a lot of fun bottling all of it and also creating some extra things that go along with my new honey business endeavor.


I used a couple of my crafting tools to create a package custom created just for my honey, by me! (Can you tell I'm a control freak?) I used my YUDU screen printer to create logos of a honey bee that I drew for the outside of the box and also for the top piece of fabric. I felt the piece of fabric underneath the lid gave my bottles an old fashioned feel, while the crisp white fabric with the golden bee added a modern touch.


Now funny enough, while I have this big powerful Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby, I don't have the software that goes with it to create my own embroideries. Luckily I found a way to work around this with the first sewing machine I ever bought myself, the Futura SES-1000. I got it from HSN and it came with editing software that I was able to use to take the same little bee I drew for the tops of the bottles, and turn it into an embroidery file. The embroidery file seemed too perfect to not make tote bags, and since I designed the image myself, I don't need to worry about being sued down the road for copyright infringement (no really I think, AND worry about these things)

A peak at the tote bag making process, I always end up crafting on the floor.... (also the printed fabric is for the inside lining :-)


It's pretty exciting for me, considering last year I just gave all the honey I collected away, and this year I've already sold two jars! (May not seem like a lot, but it makes me happy, and keeps me wanting to make a better product) The first three customers I get are recieving tote bags for free as an added bonus to their purchase as a token of my true appreciation. As of right now, that leaves room for one more person to get a tote. I must say, it is pretty satisfying to be able to say that you: collected, processed, and bottled all the honey, and on top of that, designed the packaging, created the packaging, and then packaged it all together to be sent away to any of my much appreciated customers :-) Here's some of the photos I used for my Etsy Store.

The one worded txt message...

Ahh yes one of my pet peeves. The one worded text message reply. I absolutely hate them, and research has shown that one worded text messages are subliminally agressive. When I get a one worded text message, I don't reply. Which is actually where the psychology comes in. The one worded text is meant to give information and also let the person on the receiving end know, that a reply to the message is not wanted or needed. There's a few people in my family notorious for sending out these message of "joy". I recently decided to put my frustrations into a comic form and hopefully the message translates well.












Do you see the anger? Do you see the frustration!!

I created some embroidery files with these cartoons and I hope to be able to put them on tote bags for my etsy store. Until then hope you enjoy the cartoon!

Funny enough, due to personal inspiration I was able to draw more than one image for the last frame, I can't really decide which one I like more. The one above is the one I drew in succession with all the other ones. About two minutes after I finished all those, I drew this last one as an alternative. Which one do you like more?

Back Again!

I must admit, when my sister said "If I go to look at your blog one more time and I see that same Gladiolus post, I am going to punch you in the face!" I realized it had been too long since my last post!

So much has happened in the last week! I can't wait to tell you all about it. While I get those posts ready here is the video of planting Gladiolus I was telling you about last week.



I had to film this clip twice. In the video when I talk about planting some gladiolus a couple of days ago, that is actually the first time I shot the video. I thought everything went fine, but when I went to watch the footage I realized my microphone must have been knocked loose and the sound was scratchy and unusable. So out again into my garden I went, and I'm so happy the second time went off without a hitch! I hope you enjoy it!

Planting Gladiolus

Bulb planting is one of my favorite parts of gardening. I never tire of putting corms, tubers, bulbs and anything else you can put in the ground to get a beautiful flower.

Today was mainly focused on Gladiolus, tall beautiful stalks of flowers, as I was filming a little clip for my youtube page. Gladiolus are easily acquired at any home garden store, and if you want a variety that is a little more special there are many web based bulb stores where you can get amazing and exotic bulbs. I really like Dutch Bulbs. There's so many fine bulb distributors out there, I'm sure you'll find one that you like and will be planting bulbs in no time!

Here are some pictures from my morning:

The difference between the top and bottom of a Gladiolus bulb

Me using my long handled bulb planter

All planted! now... patience....

Remember if you plant Gladiolus every two weeks you will have a wonderful succession of blooms in your garden all summer long!