You Go Girl!

Pebble Pendants

I made each of my girls a little pebble pendant for Christmas. The stones I painted on were about the size of a nickel. I collected these perfect pebbles this past summer when we would boat on Flathead Lake out to Wild Horse Island. As the name suggests, the island has wild horses. Seven of them, to be exact. I've only seen them once. But when I did, I was so excited I nearly peed my pants lost my senses. I am off topic, but it seemed important to tell you about the wild horses. Back to the pebble pendants...

I looked with purpose for the little stones each time we visited the island. I was particular in my choices. I wanted them to be just the right shape and color with a flat surface for paint, not too big but not too small. When I found a most excellent pebble specimen, I tucked it in my pocket for elfing at a later date. It was fun to pull the stones out of their hiding spot and paint on them long after summer days on the lake were just a memory. The necklaces hold extra meaning for my girls since the lake is quite possibly our favorite-ist place in the whole wide world. I grew up in a house on the shores of Flathead. Both sets of the girls' grandparents still reside close to the lake. My children have spent countless hours playing in her waves, sleeping in a tent by her edge with sisters and cousins, jumping into her frigid goodness as soon as they could bear it, and basking in the sun that sparkles like diamonds off her surface. It is a magical spot. Someday I hope to live on her shores again. For now the girls have a piece of the lake to remind them of her goodness and all the good things this life holds. 

Edited to add: Yes. There is one pebble pendant missing. My college daughter took hers with her when she went back to school. She must like it. :-)

Is This A Wool Sweater?

Ummmm...no. I was out and about thrifting wool sweaters for a little project that's been dancing around in my head when I came across this little beauty. Twenty four bucks for a solid wood desk. SCORE!! I can't wait to transform her into something wondrous. I don't quite know yet what the destiny of this sweet desk is, but for now I am smitten with the possibilities. Mr. Go Girl Incredibly-Manly-and-Handsome* doesn't always share my enthusiasm for thrifty finds. Mostly because my treasures sit in his garage for months on end. It bugs him. He's kinda OCD like that. He was out of town this week. In fact, he'd been gone for less than four hours when I loaded this into the back of the Suburban. That will teach him to leave me unsupervised. I was also late for church without him to keep me on task, but just a little. Shhhhh. I wonder if he'll notice this desk sitting in the middle of our living room upon his return tomorrow. I'm kinda thinking so. I'll give him just the right look though. He will love the desk too. Or maybe he just loves me enough to not say anything. Yes. I think that is probably it. I love that guy!

*Apparently it is not a good idea to call your husband Mr. Go Girl if you want him to like the desk you have sitting in the middle of the living room. Who knew? Thanks, Hailey, for pointing that out. You helped me dodge a bullet.

Score!!

So I happened upon this magical assortment of paper tape while I was shopping for cat food, goldfish crackers, and soda pop at Target. The bright cheerful patterns and delicious colors caught my eye as I wheeled my cart past the office supplies on my way to the checkout. I did a little gasp when I saw them. A happy dance ensued as I put the tape in my cart and continued to the checkout. SCORE!! 

After I bought this unexpected find of sticky goodness, I brought it home and joyfully covered this little cardboard tube. I'm not sure where this little tube came from.   It's been hanging around my house for a while. It looks like a mailer tube, only smaller. It has white plastic plugs on both ends and seem to be a perfect container for keeping my crochet hooks all together in one place.

 

Woot! Woot! My little hooks have a fanciful home. Oh happy day!

A Place for Jezebel

Did you know I have a serger? I don't think I've ever mentioned it before. It is not new. In fact, I've had it for 15+ years. It has spent most of its life in a bin on a shelf in my basement. Yep. On the shelf. Sad, but true. You see, when the Bernina Bernette Fun Lock 006d and I met all those years ago, we did not have instant chemistry. In fact, we were a lot like oil and water. I thought she was impossible. She knew I was an idiot. I named her Jezebel. She held her tongue. Well, I recently dusted off Jezebel. I gently oiled her, threaded her, and adjusted her tension knobs. She was right. I am an idiot. She works like a dream. I knew immediately that she deserved a spot of her own in my teeny-tiny studio. After several considerations, some simple, some not, I decided the easiest way to put Jezzie in my studio would be to give her the spot on my supply table. That meant my supplies and all the books I stored under the table needed a new home. 

Tah-Dah...my new supply shelves.

 

I bought an inexpensive shelf at Target that I didn't really like. A little LOT of paint and some fabric did the trick. All is well. Jezzie is happy. So am I. (***sighing contentedly***)

 

Project #1--A Gigantar Pegboard---Done!

Yep. Project #1 is finally done.  I built a spanky new pegboard. ALL. BY. MY. SELF. Power tools ROCK!

Remember my studio space before?  

 

The table is so deep that the back half was unusable.  Plus that big white wall...boring.

 

So...I flipped the table so the short-end was against the wall. Then added some spice including this new gigantar pegboard.  Let's take a closer look.

   

Here's a little shelf to hold my treasures.

 

Next, a file basket to hold, well, files and stuff.

 

 Add some paper-covered cans to store pen-like tools.

 

And some fabric buttons to hide the screws.  Really. There is no excuse for ugly. LOL!

 

Let's not forget the new fabric bar (a.k.a. a towel bar spray painted with oil-rubbed bronze paint) I mounted on the wall,

 

or the magnetic message board I hung above it.

Joy of all joys!  My space feels complete. 

Project #2, also a rockin' redo, is so close to done.  Now that my craft space is put back together I can finish Project #2.  Can't wait to show you.

Happy day,

Cassie

I Wish...

I wish I could show you some amazingly clever fabbity-fab-fab costumes that I lovingly stitched for the girls for Halloween.  But I can't.  This year the extent of my involvement in costumes was to get the dress-up box out of storage. Oh. Wait. I did craft Paige's crown out of some construction paper right before she left to haunt the neighborhood.  But for the most part, the girls creatively crafted their own costumes out of bits and pieces salvaged from dance performances and  Halloweens gone by. I think they look smashing.

 

I wish I could show you the glowing and grinning jack-o-lanterns we carved and set on our step to welcome trick-or-treaters big and small.  But I can't.  I waited until the last minute to buy pumpkins and there wasn't a pumpkin to be found in the town.  How was I to know that the sub zero temperatures we got at the beginning of the month turned bunches and bunches of pumpkins to mush?  A pumpkin shortage? Who'd of thought it?  We had to settle for Halloween luminaries this year.  They looked o.k. There's something a little bit disturbing about little candle tea lights in the bottom of paper bags, though. It seems like a no-no.

 

I wish I could show you the rockin'-redo projects I've been giving my creative attentions to the last few weeks. But I can't.  Neither one is done.  Here is a little sneak peek, though...

Project #1:

 

Project #2:

I wish I could think of a clever way to end this post. But I can't. So...

Goodbye for now~

Cassie

Sick or Old Made New (whichever you prefer)...

Not a whole lot going on in the land of You Go Girl lately. I have been sick. Lay-around-and-moan-because-you-ache kind of sick. Sweat-buckets-then-shiver-like-crazy kind of sick. Spend-all-day-staring-blankly-at-the-TV kind of sick. Yes. That kind of sick for FOUR days. I'm feeling better now. The only thing that seems to be lingering is a nasty cough and a voice that sounds like I have a two-pack-a-day habit. On the bright side, I watched all five hours of Pride and Prejudice on Saturday. I've seen it a billion times, but I love it and now my girls do too. I want to be Elizabeth Bennett. She always knows just what to say. 

Before the whole sick thing, I put the finishing touches on the shabby chic dresser for Hailey's bedroom; just another step in the bedroom move that turned my world upside down. The dresser used to look as sick as I've been feeling. (Click the link if you want to see...View this photo ) Now it is a lovely shade of blue that makes me feel like I'm walking through a field of daisies on a spring day. I love me a good rockin' redo.

 

Here's a full length pose from Ms. Dresser. I had the darnedest time getting a focused photo of her in all her glory. I'm still not sure I'm satisfied, but it will have to do 'cause Mr. Handsome and I already carried her down the stairs to her home in Hailey's room. It's too dark down there for a good photo; I'm not thinkin' that anyone wants to carry her back up the stairs for a second photo op.

Next up--paint the bed in Hailey's room and perform a little reconstructive surgery on a vanity for Paige's room. But first, I'm going to get all the way well and then escape with my family on a little road trip before school starts. Oh, it's going to be good a good one...WHALES are involved. Can you hear the squeals of excitement and joy as I type?

Toodles,

Cassie

 

Sewing Studio

I struggled with a title for this post.  I toyed with:

• THE BEST SEWING SPACE EVER--Nah, too boastful.  Besides that, there are a lot of amazing studios out there.

• I LOVE THIS SPACE SO MUCH I COULD DIE -- Too dramatic. What would the point be of having a space like this if it killed me?

• MR. HANDSOME I OWE YOU FOREVER BECAUSE I KNOW THIS IS NOT HOW YOU WOULD CHOOSE TO USE THIS SPACE. True, but too long.

In the end, I settled for a simple title: SEWING STUDIO. Here's a peek.  I'm the worst at remembering to take the "before" picture.  Just know that the walls in this room used to be Hydrangea, a lovely (oozing sarcasm here) shade of tan with a lot of pinky-purple undertones.  The little pop-out around the window was a deep plum.  There was a plum colored chaise lounge, the computer cabinet, and a piano in here, too.  Not any more.  Take a look.

Welcome...

 

As you can see, the shelves of love made it up from the basement.  As did my chair with the new duds.  I did take the arms off the chair.  I like it better that way.  Also up from the basement is my redone supply center.

 

My sewing machine is living in the old computer cabinet.  I stripped off some of the pieces like the printer shelf, the keyboard pullout, and the fold-down table.  You can't really tell in the picture but this cabinet has seen better days.  It's going on twelve years old now.  It's lived through a move and lots of use by the girls.  Someday I'm going to rock this cabinet with a redo.  But for now, I like how it's working.  I did install some lighting inside.  My dad will be so proud of me when he sees it.  He was always showing my sisters and me how to do home-improvement projects when we teenagers.

 

 

The skirt from my old table fits perfectly on my new craft table.  Yes.  I said new.  I'm absolutely wild about this table.  My old table was a dining room table that Mr. Handsome and I purchased shortly after we were married twent--cough, cough,--y-some  a long time ago.  One of the legs was about ready to collapse because the fiberboard it was screwed into had separated and crumbled. The table was also too big for this room.  Mr. Handsome is not a Handy Dandy Hal so he couldn't make me a fabulous table like Randi's.  He did spring for this beauty, though.

 

This table is counter height so I don't have to prop it up on over-turned flower pots.  It has storage at both ends.  Wanna see?  It's a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

 

I think that about ends the tour.    I am a lucky, lucky girl.  I am thrilled to not only have a space, but to have a space that is so convenient to pop into.    The only down side is that my new space is right inside our front door. I  have to be extra neat and tidy so that our visitors are not assaulted by a minefield of fabric piles and floor debris.   Mr. Handsome is not sure I have tidy in me.  So far, so good, though. I'm really not as big a pig as he thinks I am.  Time will tell.  I am determined to do him proud.  LOL! 

Now that this space is largely completed, I'm moving down to Paige's room.  It used to be my sewing studio.  All the main pieces for her bedroom are in place, but it needs some style.  I love this part.  I'm sure I'll be sharing a bit of that space soon. 

Happy Day,

Cassie

Sewing Through the Chaos

You wouldn't think that moving one child into a new room would be that big of a deal.  But it has been.  Moving Paige from the triplet's room into the room I used as my studio has created a Mount Vesuvius of endless jobs and an eruption of messy piles throughout my house.  The process is kinda like a maze of falling dominoes...This thing can't be moved until that thing is painted. That thing can't be painted until this thing is relocated.  This thing can't be relocated until that thing is cleaned out.  That thing can't be cleaned out until...You get the picture.   Through it all, I continue to sew.  I've mostly been working on wallets for the Cora Paige Playground project.  These wallets have sold.

 

These two wallets were just listed in my You Go Girl shop yesterday.

 

Creating in the chaos reminds me of why I love to sew: 

1. It is tidy and predictable.  There are straight cuts whipped out by my rotary cutter and even stitches punched out by my sewing machine.  (It's sounds kinda violent with all that punching and whipping. It's really not, though.  It's empowering.  Tah-wan-dah!!)

2. It is orderly.  Sewing has a definite start point and a definite finish with a result you can see.  (Look!  I did that.  Me.  I finished something.  You go girl!!)

3. It is beauty.  Soft, smooth, clean, colorful fabrics mixing and matching to create a slice of loveliness.  (Excuse me for a moment while I go pet some of my fabrics.  There is therapy in this, people.)

I started seriously sewing  when the triplets were very small.  I had a five-year-old, a two year old, and three babies. Here's a visual, if you need it (December 1998).

I think I was looking for predictable, yet creative, order back then.  As you can imagine, I had to run a pretty tight ship on a set schedule, but the rule was to expect the unexpected.  And the unexpected happened often.  Believe me.  Having a space in my life that was predictable and creative was important.  Still is.  I need to create.  It calms me.

After moving a piano, relocating a computer, settling a chaise lounge into a new spot , painting walls, and sorting and moving the mountains of treasure in my studio, I am set up in my new space.  I want it to be fabitty-fab-fab shabby chic (on a budget, of course).  Right now it is mostly shabby.  I'm working on the chic part.  I'll post a picture when I'm done.  I'm so thankful that Mr. Handsome and the girls recognize how important is to me to have a space to call my own.  It's been a lot of work to carve out this space, but totally worth it.

Next up is moving Paige into her new room.  I'm a bit wary to start sorting through her piles of treasure.  Just to be safe, if I haven't posted by this time next week, send search-and-rescue under her bed to find me!

Toodles,

Cassie

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?

Everytime I see an orange, or say the word orange, I think of this knock-knock joke:

Knock-Knock!  Who's there?

Banana.    Banana who?

Banana.   Banana who?

Banana.   Banana who?

Orange.   Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

What can I say?  I also have knock-knock associations with cantaloupe and olive, but I will spare you the details.  Now, back to orange.  I have a thing for orange right now. 

I love these gigantar orange begonias growing in a planter on my deck.

My toenails have a fresh coat of orange polish.

My new favorite fabrics from Jona's store are the orange cuts of Farmer's Market.

   

I have a new chair to go with my chicked-out chaise.  This is a cheap ($8.00) Rubbermaid stackable chair that I did a rockin'-redo on.  I painted it with Krylon Fusion spraypaint in orange.  Then I made a chair pad using a little Ginger Blossom, a little Freshcut, and some bright orange covered buttons.

    

 

And finally, do you remember this doodle on orange linen.  It is now a spanky Glory Bag.

(Big contented sigh) Olive orange!  Get it?  Olive orange...I love orange.  I cantaloupe with orange because I'm already married (giggle, giggle).  Okay, I'll stop now.

Orange you glad I'm done?

Cassie