"Ifits"

Winter in the Pacific Northwest can be at times very dreary and gloomy. Sometimes we don't see the sun for days on end. But just once in a while it decides to come out and play and the wait is worth it. This is the view from the back of our house. It was so nice to be greeted with this amazing sight as soon as daylight approached. I am afraid not much was done at the front of the house on this day. I tried to stay on the back side as long as I could. It didn't last long though as we are right back to the gloomy's again.
We did manage to get out for a short walk over the weekend and spotted quite a few bald eagles along the way. Only this one was willing to sit for a bit so we could take his photo. He is an immature eagle and he still looks that scruffy brown color. It's not the greatest pic but hopefully as the weather gets better and we venture out more we will have lots of opportunity to take more pics.
I am patiently waiting for all of these lovely soaps to finish curing. We have about another week to go. I think that is the only thing about cold process soap making that I don't enjoy...the waiting. I am sure that most soap makers feel the same way. I can't be the only one...can I?

I have been racking my brains all day trying to decide what to have for dinner tonight. Some days I could just cook up a storm and other days I am at a loss. Wonder why that is? If I do try to cook when I don't feel like it then it quite always turns out not so great. It's the same with sewing and soap making too. When I am not feeling creative then it is best just to not do anything.

So I guess tonight we will have "ifits". Translated it means "if it's there then we will have it, if it's not then we won't"!

See you soon!

Lovely New Things

Some lovely scrumptious new things came in the mail this week. I fell in love with this tape as soon as I saw it. Isn't it just so sweet! Of course being a tea drinker I just had to have it!
The next two lovely things were these wonderful embroidery books. There are so many embroidery designs to chose from.
Here is a peek at the inside......and some more...
...and even more!
So I think this afternoon I will kick back on the couch, with a nice cup of tea of course, and drool over these new books.

Soap making is done for the day...
I made these two soaps yesterday and unmolded them this morning. This one is Champagne and Strawberries,
and this one is called Dewy Cactus Flower. Both should be ready in about three weeks or so.

Hubby is off tomorrow so that's all the blogging for me this week.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Another Soapy Weeekend!

Well once again last week just got away from me like I am sure it did for some of you. I really do think the weeks are getting shorter!

I had intended to blog more and do so many things. But then they arrived. My new soap molds finally came in the mail after waiting so long for them. They sure were worth the wait as I think they are amazing. I just love this little pink heart soap. What a great gift to give to a knitter. When it first popped out of the mold I let out a little girly squeal, embarrassing I know!
Then another little squeal as this little beauty emerged. Then I was well and truly hooked and everything was immediately put on the back burner, including dinner. Who needs to eat, right?
It's hard to pick which one is my favorite. I just love them all.
My husband was partial to this one. He likes the calmness and simplicity.

I could go on listing soap after soap. It was one of the funnest weekends I have had in a long time.

While doing this post today I realized that my sewing life is slowly being taken over by my soaping life. I think my little blog is turning into a soaping blog. I do understand that not everyone is into soap and I may lose some lovely friends that visit here regularly, and for that I am feeling sorry. Maybe along the way I will pick up some new friends that enjoy looking at and making wonderful soap.

I finally finished my soaping day and sat down late on Sunday evening to wind down before heading off to bed. On the TV was the show "Last Restaurant Standing". In case some of you haven't seen this show it is about couples that compete each week against each other. The object being who ever is the winner gets to open their own restaurant. After the show ended hubby turned to me and said "What would you name your restaurant if you were the winner"? Two hours later I was still tossing and turning in bed trying to come up with a name can you believe!
Lizziejane just seemed to much like a diner to me. As hard as I tried I just couldn't come up with anything. So my question to you is "What would you name your restaurant if you were the winner"?

I hope it won't take you a long as it seems to be taking me!

Have a lovely Monday everyone.

Little Sisters

Aren't little sisters just the best. Look at what mine sent me. These wonderful flowers arrived on Friday afternoon and were a complete surprise. Even though we live so far apart we always keep in touch with each other on a regular basis. I do wish she lived closer though as I miss her terribly. Thank you little sis!
As if the flowers were not enough I also made some lovely butter cream frosted cupcakes. Sometimes you just need a cupcake! These were just lovely with afternoon tea.
It was just so dreary and gloomy here today that it was really hard to roll out of bed this morning. But roll out I did and tackled some soap making. These soaps are fragranced with Lush duplicate fragrance oils. They should be ready in about three weeks or so. Some days I could make soap all day long and other days you couldn't drag me into the kitchen to do it.

Well that's about it for today as hubby has just walked in the door and dinner is calling.

See you soon!

What a mess!

A few weeks back we had an unusually cold spell here for a few days. Numerous people had pipes burst and our daughter was one of them. Over the course of two days two pipes burst in her house and caused major damage. I don't think she will look back on Christmas 2009 fondly. As she put it " I am living in a Swiss Cheese house".
Many holes had to be cut into the walls and ceiling to find the offending pipes. Then came the tearing out of walls and the big drying up. A total of three rooms were destroyed. The kitchen, the media room and the laundry room. I am thankful that one of them was home, as I can just imagine what more damage there would have been.

Things are starting to come together a bit though. The fact that it happened over Christmas time made it tougher to get the renovations started as everyone was on holiday. Yesterday some more progress was made so hopefully things will be back to normal soon.
On a lighter note I did finish off some of those little acorns that I have been wanting to make. Of course I probably went about it the wrong way but they turned out OK in the end. First I wet felted the fibers into these cylinder shapes. Then I cut them in half to make two acorns.
Then with a needle and some glue I put the caps on. I think I must be secretly looking forward to Easter already as I seemed to have picked out Eastery colors. I don't think they turned out to badly for a first attempt. My acorn caps were all different sizes so some of them were quite tiny. I think I kind of like that.

Well here we are with another weekend almost upon us. I am keeping my fingers crossed that our weatherman is correct when he tells us that this Sunday will be dry and somewhat mild. We haven't been out for one of our really long walks for quite sometime. We also have some pruning to do in the garden. So I hope we will be able to get it all done before the weather turns rainy again.

I hope you have a lovely weekend whatever it is that you will be doing. See you all next week.

New Year, New Bags

Well finally I have come back to my little blog! I never realized how hectic the Christmas season could be when you have become a soap maker. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be in my kitchen at 11 o'clock at night making soap and filling orders. As grateful as I am for all the wonderful sales, I am secretly a little glad that it has slowed down a bit so I can try to catch up on all the things I missed.

I actually managed to get in a little sewing. I have in my fabric stash lots of fabric that is really wonderful for making bags so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I am quite pleased with how these two pieces have turned out. I think I might add some to my long, also neglected little shop.

I am of course still working on all the other little projects that I have started and hopefully as I manage to get them finished I will post them all here so you can get a look see!

The weather has been not so great here. We have had lots of rain but we did manage to get out for some walks and spotted this wonderful goose sitting in the grass. They are starting to all congregate now down at the animal refuge. It really is an amazing sight to see so many of them altogether...noisy too!. It was bitterly cold and I thought that my ears would freeze off during our walk. It is nice though to get out of the house and breathe that wonderful fresh air after being couped up over Christmas. It helps to walk off all that extra food that we ate too!. Of course I am still making soap. Here is one of our newest creations...Neapolitan Ice Cream that really does smell of Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla. I really got quite a craving for some after I finished making it.

Well I think that is all I have for today. Hopefully I will find some interesting things to show and talk about so I won't be gone so long. I really missed my little blog and you a lot.

Have a great day!

Merry Christmas one and all!

I couldn't let the Christmas Season pass without wishing everyone a warm and wonderful Christmas. I am afraid my little blog has been dreadfully neglected this past few weeks. I hope that soon I can get back to regular blogging again now that the Christmas "crazies" are almost over.

There has been lots going on, some good, some not so good. Our poor daughter had a couple of pipes burst in her house and had a major flood. So now they are in the middle of having walls ripped out and some major remodeling taking place. Will be back in the New Year to talk more and show some pic's.

All in all it was a very good year for our family. I hope that it was for yours too.

See you soon. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!