April 2017

On April 1st, we were at the Big Rapids Holiday Inn for the Friends of Friends Craft Show.  We want to thank everyone who stopped by our both to look at what we had or just to say hi.

Lee made this wooden wallet out of walnut and cherry woods to replace his old magic wallet from the mid-2000s.  It's just a tiny bit bigger than the old wallet, but it looks so much nicer.  The strap to hold things in was cut out of a headband and sewn together since we couldn't find any elastic banding in town that was black.

Anyone want to open a craft store out here?  We appreciate Walmart keeping their craft department in our store, but a lot of times we can't find the particular thing we're looking for.

With the nicer weather we've had for most of the month, Stacey has been planning the garden again, and even started some plants inside.  All of the research shows that the expected last frost date out here is in mid-June!  We have had some annual flowers peeking up, some buds have opened up on the blueberry bushes, and we've had some asparagus stalks pop up.

Stacey finished her fourth block of the 2015 Story Time Sampler pattern from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  This particular block was based on Charlotte's Web.  It's hard to believe that we're a third of the way through 2017 already, but the block-a-month cross-stitch project says its so.

Stacey has been working on a modified Hermione's Everyday Socks pattern by Erica Lueder out of Cakewalk Yarns Footsie in the Betty colorway.  This has been a side project, worked on mostly while waiting for appointments, so the progress has been slow but steady.  The sock pattern was used for the cuff.  Cat Borhdi's Sweet Tomato Heel was used for the heel, which fits so perfectly.  The foot is just stockinette in the round.  The toe will be decided once that point is reached.

For a friends wedding, Lee assisted with making a very large cupcake shelf/future bookshelf.

Stacey decided to finally give in and try to sew herself a shirt.  After a trip to the local Walmart's sewing section, a pattern was decided on.  The Kat Weekend Top by Designer Stitch was used for the first attempt.  All measurements fell into one size, so no grading or extra steps were taken.  This pattern is for an advanced beginner or intermediate sewing level, which meant I had to watch a few youtube videos to get an understanding of what needed to be done.  All in all, the shirt came out looking good, especially the neckline that took about four hours.  :)  Unfortunately, the shirt looks better on the body double than it does on Stacey, but with one shirt out of the way, many more are to come.