Crayons for a Cure!

As part of my fundraising efforts for the Nike Women's Half Marathon with Team in Training to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I am recycling old crayons.

For a $5.00 donation, you can purchase a bag of recycled crayons in a variety of shapes, including:

"Little People" 

"Large Hearts" 

"Small Hearts"

"Flowers"

"Assorted Shapes"

They make great back to school gifts, give away or raffle prizes, or even stocking stuffers!  

Please send me an email at oglesbmc@yahoo.com or leave a comment and let me know if you'd like to place an order.  You can also donate directly to my fundraising page at: http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/nikesf12/moglesbhcr

For an additional $5.00, I will ship your order, but please remember it is summer and hot, and the crayons are made of wax.  

Please help me to raise $3,000.00 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!  Every little bit (and little bag of crayons) helps!  Thanks for your donation! 

Another finish

After babysitting this morning, I came home to work on another little drawstring bag, in hopes of perfecting the technique a little bit more.  The last one I made a few months ago definitely had some flaws, so I tried to be more careful with this one.  

I started this bag back in March or April, and due to to time constraints or moving, it never got finished.  I had it cut out and ready to go, but today I finally finished this little guy!  

Here he is all flattened out.  I made the main bag and drawstrings out of the same fabric.  I also used contrasting orange thread for the string slots, in hopes of making it a little bit more funky.  

Here it is all cinched together, and I think it turned out pretty well!  

I've been hoarding this fabric for a few years now, and I'm so glad I finally found a good use for it!  I'm definitely going to be making more little bags with it, as the pattern is the perfect size!  

Hopefully I can also make more of these in an attempt to raise more funds for my TNT LLS race in a few months!  I'll most more about that as I have time to whip more of them up!  

(Hopefully very very soon!) 

From PhD to FINISHED!!

So this summer, I seem to have found myself mostly unemployed.  I've done a little bit of babysitting here and there, and I've had a few other opportunities... but I've gotten quite used to my free time.  And honestly, I think the first few weeks of summer were spent just recovering from the school year.  But last Friday, I finally got my butt in gear!  I bought a GroupOn for the Fabric Hut, and AMAZING fabric store in Norfolk, and I bought a new cutting mat, that's a whopping 43x36"!! My old 18x24" Olfa mat was ruined in the move somehow (water and sunlight warped it, apparently).  Then I finished buying fabric to make the baby blankets for C&J's babies, and even some fabric to get started on some pillows!

So... this was my goal, and finally on Monday I FINISHED the baby blankets!!

Here are two photos of the finished blankets!  They are made with the same fabric, but arranged slightly differently.  They measure about 28x26", so they are a little smaller than I wanted, but not too bad for my first attempt at baby blankets!  I wanted to take some photos of the progress, but it was slow but steady going, so I didn't want to stop and distract myself any further.  

 The basic technique was the same as for a pillow.  I stitched the edges (as seen in an example at Quilting Adventures), to make sort of a binding.

This is the back and front of one blanket.  The back is made with minky, the softest stuff around!  I want a blanket with minky! 

Here's a close up of the back and front again... sooooo soft.... 

Here they are, folded and ready to go!  I can't wait to give them the blankets!  I didn't have them ready for the shower, since we had JUST moved, but at least they are finished now!  The babies arrived early, but I still have them ready before their due date.  Maybe I can post some pictures of the babies and mom and dad with the blankets too!  

Alright, on to my next project, which is some new pillows for our new-used couches.  I tried to find some pillows that I liked that weren't too expensive or frilly, and that seemed impossible.  So I'm going to make four pillows, using THIS TUTORIAL.  So far I have planned to use a set of greens, blues, and oranges, and then I need one more.  I bought a bunch of Kona solids, so hopefully I can get started on that later today or Monday.  I can't wait to post more pictures, and more posts, since I'm actually making more stuff!  Woo hoo!

Notta One.

Ummmm.... am I really this crazy?!  My Team in Training mates are trying (very successfully, no doubt) to talk me into running the Nike Women's Half Marathon... in SAN FRANCISCO!!!

Part of me says, "Yes, dear Lord, there you go AGAIN... you have officially lost it this time!"  And I agree.

The other part of me says, "And what is your one good excuse NOT to do it, and train, and fundraise, and go?"

And I can't think of one darn good reason.

Well, besides the obvious, "Holy crap, that's a lot of funds to raise, and far to fly, and I've heard it's a *little* hilly out there... and and and... and.... and..."

And I'm scared out of my mind.

Notta ONE.

Conundrums and Soup Explosions

Today I was listening to an interview with the creator/writer of the HBO show "Girls."  I watched the first episode a week or two ago with Rob, and was pretty disgusted, mostly by the pretentiousness of it all.  If you want to see why other countries hate us (without the eating contests) or what the phrase "First World Problems" really means, watch this excuse of a show.  If you want something "edgy" or "enlightening," watch anything else.  And then the more I listened, the more and more and MORE pissed off I got.  I channeled my inner Republican old man, "Get a damn job and pull yourself up by your damn bootstraps!" I internally ranted!

And that is how this clusterFUNK of a Case of the Mondays set in.  Not to mention being a little lonely, a little sad/nostalgic about something I may have interpreted on Facebook, and other things.  Including my job...

So what did I do?  Look up graduate school AGAIN.  Including SCAD eLearning, and EVMS's Art Therapy program.  And I began dreaming up a job that I REALLY enjoy... unlike the job that I USED to REALLY enjoy.  And then I started thinking, "How can I pay for this? How can I get help to pay for this? WHOM can I get to help me pay for this?!"

And now suddenly I'm no better than the rich white female characters on "Girls" demanding that their parents support them financially after college for unlimited years.  And I feel like a piece of crap.

So I decided to make soup, and pour it over orzo, because I was watching Anthony Bourdain, and I wanted to pretend I could make risotto from scratch.

And then the mushroom soup exploded out of the pot so much so the lid came off, and it looked like a science experiment.

Dinner FAIL.

At least a friend posted this on Facebook... hope springs eternal?

‎"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Goodbye.

Dear B11,


You've been the best apartment a girl (and her cat sidekick) could ask for for these three years. Though this may be our last night together, may we part with no ill will. You have great light, abundant window sills, and gorgeous sunsets. I even got used to the fog horns, trains, and river funk. I hope you can make someone else as happy and safe as you've made me. 


Love, Melanie.

The best kind of TO DO list...

... is one full of projects you WANT to do, not stuff you HAVE to do!

With that in mind, I have several potential projects in the works, and in order to get the anxiety of moving off of my mind, I've been doing a lot of internet window shopping (with my credit card far far away), and concentrating on things to create.

First things first.  J&C, two of Rob's friends, are expecting twin boys this summer!  And since I only make things anymore (or so it seems) for babies or weddings, I MUST make these babies something awesome!  And simple, because my goodness, there's going to be TWO!  I also firmly believe that every baby should have something handmade.  It's kind of like an unwritten rule for me.

So I bought some blue minkee that is 30" square... and I have the baby fabric from the quilt show.  And Monday afternoon I finally figured out what pattern I wanted to make/use (it had been marinating up in the brains for a while now), so now I just need to get to work!  Minkee by the way is quite possibly the best fabric every invented.  I think I need some of this just hanging around.

Second things... and very ambitious things... I have decided to make the Wiksten Tova Pattern shirt!  Just look at the beautiful versions everyone has made on the Wiksten Flickr Group!  They are beautiful!  And they look great on everyone.  I have a feeling I will have to combine a medium top with a large bottom for the pattern, but there was a Sew-A-Long a few weeks ago, so I think I can do it.  Hopefully with some help from my mom too.  I bought some awesome green and dark orange fabric for it, and I would post a picture, but it's currently in the washer.

Alright, when I have something pretty or frustrating to post, I will.  But until then, time to take down the curtains....