New saw!!

Lortone 12" slab saw arrived today!! Bubby sweetly put all the parts on, while I got in the way.

Notice my 'studio' in the background. This has been the summer of my shed. The outside shelf is already loaded with my many rocks, with boxes below of slabs, and rough. This next week, Bubby will be building me a table and workbench inside the shed.

Here is Daisy, my little tile Workforce saw, next to it's big sibling. It still needs a name.

...and a better shot of my shed! Who am I kidding? It's my very own playhouse. But instead of playing house with the boy next door, I'm playing with rocks and metal. Sweet.

WIP Wednesday!

Still knitting socks! Finished a special pair for siblings Anna and Eli from Spring Fling, and now back to Happy Socks. I just have the toe to go, and then on to it's match. I'm using lots of Knitpicks superwash sock yarn and patterns from a new book I purchased by Alice Starmore.

Cheers!

Fabric Napkins

Ever since we got back for Bubby's sister's house in NM, where they used cloth napkins, we've been wanting to move to cloth from paper towels.

Yes, I've lessened using them a bit from using my cloth rags, but every meal, we grab paper towels for our mouths. It was so seamless (lol) to use cloth at Chelo's house. They were plentiful, and thrown in with regular wash loads, no added wash and dry cycles.

 My frugal self balked at buying them for anywhere from $4-6 each for handmade. So I went to ask my best friend, Google.

There are great blogs about sewing your own napkins, and even how to sew the corners neatly! I read quite a few. And on this hot afternoon, I stayed inside and sewed and sewed.

Here's the result. 24 handmade cloth napkins.

So easy! All it takes is a fat quarter (about 17" x 22") and a doubled over 1/4" seam. I mitered the corners, fast and dirty, and they didn't turn out too badly~

I used happy fabrics from my plentiful stash, and ones with patterns (to hide messes when in use) and we'll be trying them out tonight!

I'm a happy camper, as making cloth napkins was on my summer 'to do' list. Check!

Poor Being a State of Mind

I'm trying to ride out my spending splurge.

It was/is planned, and I'm in no danger of losing my job, but I continue to have mild panic attacks about it.

BUT... my Rock Shed, aka 'Deepholm' is coming in two weeks.

How cute is that??

And after, the plan is to get my saw.

And then the spending will STOP. All my summer classes will pay for the saw and the rest towards taxes for teaching those 4 weeks of classes.

I think the way I worry about money in a very similar to the way I worry about my weight.

I fret after every single meal, every time I get on the scale before a shower. Heck, I fret during my meal, when hunger usually wins over the 'second helping and an after meal handful of nuts' fret! A 1/2 tsp. of sugar in my coffee? Yep, then too. And yet, to just about everyone that sees me, I'm not overweight at all. True, maybe constant fretting has kept me within 5# of my ideal weight, but mentally, it's exhausting. And not fun.

I wonder how much healthier it would be on all levels, to relish and enjoy the bites I DO take?

I find I'm the same way about money. My recent rock splurges have that same base 'WANT' that my second helpings do. Like scratching an itch. And then I beat myself up for it. True, these last few months I've been spending more than I bring in, but I also have a tiny bit in savings to cover it, and no bills will be left unpaid.

True, I have and use a home equity line of credit that I got to replace my leaking roof, and YES, I'm putting my shed on it too, and all of it will be paid off now in less than a year. Do I lose my Frugal Membership because I use credit? Will I be booted out when I get a new car to replace my 20+ year old truck in a couple of years and not pay cash??

Dear Universe, please don't let me turn into the little old lady that lives with one lightbulb on and no heating, and moans about not having money, then dies with tens of thousands of dollars in the bank.

Cheers!

Paypal isn't real money, right?

{{WARNING: this is a rambling post. 4 more days left in the school year. I'm surprised my brain is still thinking at all!}}

In my mind Paypal money, unfortunately, is akin to Monopoly money, or gold in World of Warcraft. Not real. My inner shopper comes out in spades with pretend money!

I had sold a couple of pieces, and the 'money' was there.

But I had a goal. I wanted to apply to the Artery, an artist coop here in town. And I felt I needed more rock~ so buy, I did. It was very pretty rock.

Ocean Jasper

Boulder Opal

TIffany Stone

So now pretend money is gone, and I did not get accepted into the artist coop.

Sad panda.

I have a new goal, however. In August, there's an opportunity to be accepted through a jury of my work into an Open Door Arts Studio space here in town. It's brand new, grass roots, and friends have already been accepted. But fresh from licking my wounds from my recent rejection, I feel my wraps are too common. I heard they had rejected a quilter and a knitter. The judges, one of whom I'm familiar with, obviously have a distinction between 'Art' and 'Craft.'

I have stopped pushing the wire, and had made pieces that I thought would be more acceptable to the artist coop.

... and now I feel I have to get riskier to be seen as 'arty' enough to be accepted as a possible tenant for these studios. Which means more tools and materials to take it in the direction where I want to go. Heavier gauges, micro-torch and dipping my toes into silver smithing.

(Frugal aside: I had taken a class in high school in jewelry making. And I had kept all these 35 years, the pad that you solder on. I was so excited! I wouldn't have to buy it, and I knew where it was! When I showed it to Bubby, he looked at it carefully, googled, then pronounced that it was asbestos. Asbestos!! Argh.)

I only have 7 years before I retire, I say to myself. I need things in place before my regular paycheck disappears. Things that came up this year were Bubby quitting his job and going into business for himself. New roof. New air conditioner.

There are more things on that list in this 7 year time span. Pay off my mortgage. Get a new vehicle to replace my 22 year old gas guzzling truck. And sell my jewelry.

I really feel that this Open Studio is a wonderful opportunity. The idea of becoming part of a community and be around other artists is exciting! So....I guess I'm still on my spending spree.

P.S. No shed for me. They didn't even show up! What kind of business is that? Grrrr.

AAHHHH! I'm about to splurge. I've kept my yarn diet, but I'm about to use the money I've been squirreling away for years for a for a shed! Not just a shed, but my very own shed that I will not share with anyone. Not my kids, not my boyfriend, not the chickens. ME. MINE. ALL MINE.

You see, I have a tendency to be easy going, and so I tend to let things go, whether it was the only new car I ever bought in my life that ended up going to my daughter and had me on my bike through one winter, or my space which looks akin to a garage filled with things that aren't mine, or borrowing my vehicle (a 30 year old toyota pick-up) because I can easily walk to work.

And I don't really mind, I don't have many needs. So I'm a little surprised at my thinking when it comes to this shed.

I think it has to do with age.

IF I don't get the shed now, before I retire, I'll never get one.

And I want one. Before I die.

I think this is along the continuum of a Middle Age Crisis. I guess I'm a late bloomer.

OR I just have repeating episodes of mild versions. I thought I had one at 50 when I joined the race team and suffered in race training rides twice a week, felt like hurling often, limped in with a flat on the one official race I rode on the windiest day imaginable, and one concussion.

At least being Queen of a 6' x 8' shed is safer.

I'm Very Fond of my Rags, tyvm

I don't think I'll ever to paper towel free. The jury's out as far as over all impact: washing and drying vs. paper, but I had absolutely nothing important to do one afternoon, so I decided to make myself some rags!

Not just from anything. I found 3 well loved items. One was a light blue pair of sweatpants I've owned for over 25 years. Another was a purple tank top that was retired when I got a swath of rubber cement on it at work (don't ask) and the last was flannel pj's.

Then I simply got scissors and cut those puppies up into various rectangular shapes, down legs, around bodies, skirting pockets. I sewed the seams, and ta da!!

My own private, custom, designer rags!

Yeah, my daughter thought she misheard me when I told her what I was sewing. Fortunately, she's used to me.

BUT cross my heart, when I pull out any one of those rags to wipe a damp counter, or a minor spill, I get a little bit of a warm fuzzy from my history with that square of fabric. That has to be worth something.

Cheers!