More Crafts

Thought I would update some more on my works in progress. Yes they are all crochet. Yes, I seriously have a problem.

This is going to be made an afghan. I've got one of the repeats of the pattern finished. now I just need about 8 more.

This scarf is made out of merino wool. I just finished it this weekend (started it this weekend too). It still needs to be blocked though, but I think there's still time before it gets cold....

I have 90 of these in various stages laying around my house. I've corralled most of them to a plastic bag, but these are the colors I'm using in my guest bed/craft room. I love the green, blue, and brown all mixed together. I'll post more of my plans for that room soon, but essentially these will be joined together to make a bedspread. Hopefully I'll finish it, someday. 90 of them, really? Yes really.

Well I should actually be climbing into bed, but wanted to post these before I forgot to.

My weekend and crafting

This weekend was (as usual) filled to the brim. Always on Sunday night by 9:30 either Adam and I will mention (last night it was to Adam's dad on the phone) that the weekend has flown by. I never understood as a kid why adults were so tired on Monday. I mean, come on! you've had two days off work and you're complaining you're tired. Ha! You are old. Here I am though with a weekend rampage hang over and it has nothing to do with alcohol.

Crafty Update
I've finally finished my bag and it supplied me this morning by toting all of my magazines and catalogues to work. Have I ever blogged about my catalogue obsession? That may have to be a blog all your own.


Here it is before its inaugural journey

The front was just going to be a patch, but Adam suggested I put it on as a pocket. Great idea!


Close up of the embroidery, flaws and all.... If I had to do it again, the strands on the back do in fact count and will show up if not put in their proper place. Also I still have no explanation for the little bit of puckering in the fabric because honestly I don't know enough about embroidery.

This is the baby boy blanket I finished last week. It is so soft made from Lion Brand Homespun Baby yarn. I really love the blue color, but it's been discontinued (I know because I was a little short on it and went on a craft store frenzy in order to find it and couldn't).... Now if only I knew a little boy to give it to. So many little girls around here :)

Here is some detail of the blanket.

I also made a scarf this week but have failed to get pictures of it... I'll get those as soon as I can.

Tea Time
I love tea so much! Here's a beautiful tea brand that my dear Darby-Friend has got me hooked on.

Some of the tea comes in the beautiful sachets that fill up at the tea unfurls.

This time around I was in Paris while drinking the tea. It's a good spicy tea and just the way I would imagine Paris to taste. If Paris had a taste.

Movie Update....
We've gotten to movies that remind me of my grandmother, or appeal to the English teacher that still roams around inside of me. And one of my favorite movies ever. This week has indeed been a good movie week.


West Side Story- Oh Romeo, Where for art thou? Oh wait, wrong movie. And I love that the girl doesn't die in the end because she's so passionate about her true love being killed. A little more realistic in today's view. But Adam claims it's an English teacher's dream.... two and a half hours equates to 4 class periods. Now if only I could get "I'm so pretty, oh so pretty, oh so pretty and witty and gay..." out of my head. I do love this movie and recall watching it at my grandmother's house when I was a kid.


The Greatest Show on Earth- 1. Charlton Heston=not the best actor in the world, even as Brad, my favorite character. 2. Betty Hutton is so spunky, she reminded me why I love this movie. 3. Jimmy Stewart as buttons the clown/murderous doctor. This plot line seemed so much more normal when I was a kid than it does now. Really? A murderous doctor, turned clown?
This movie reminds me of Sundays with my mom. We used to watch this at least twice a year while we were cleaning the house or on rainy days.


On the Waterfront- I had many misconceptions about this movie, but it still did not disappoint. I just thought it would be more about love and romance than the mob. Silly me. And why is Marlon Brando so attractive in this movie? I don't know, but he is. And what's with the pigeons?

So many comments (not on the blog though...)

So Adam and I had "the talk" last night. Probably not the talk you are thinking of though. This "the talk" happens at hilarious times in our relationship. Here's (generally, not exactly) how it goes.
Cara: You really should shave that thing off
Adam: Nope
Cara: It's pretty mangy
Adam: Nope
Cara: (last nights try) Then go back to the goatee
Adam: But then I have to shave, nope.
This talk can be triggered by a lot of things. Sometimes it's when people find out that I don't have memories of Adam without facial hair (he's had it since he was 15 and we started dating when we were 17) or in this case when he's talked to family and friends who read the anniversary blog and saw that picture (I swear it was trimmed like the day after we took that picture, back to being short). But we've been having the same conversation for years (literally years) and to tell you the truth I've given up, I'm throwing in the towel. He can have his facial hair I've resigned.

At least until tomorrow.

To my dear husband

Today (besides being Baby Ella's birthday) is actually my third wedding anniversary to my wonderful dear husband, Adam. If you don't know him, he's a wonderful man. I've recently heard him described as a stitch (I guess that means he's funny). He's also one of the smartest people I know, you wouldn't always know it because of how he behaves, how he spells, and how he still watches Saturday morning cartoons, but he understands the world in a way I could only dream of. And most of all it astounds me all these years later (I've known him 10) that he still refuses to shave off his facial hair.


So here's to you, Bear. I love you, probably more than I ever have.

She's Here!

Baby Ella Elizabeth Kipp was born this morning at 3:48am EST. She was 18" long and weighed 6lbs 5 1/2oz. Mom and baby are doing fine and kudos to Laura who still had enough energy to deliver after not sleeping for three days. Baby Ella supposedly has a head full of dark curly hair (both Mom and Dad were bald babies). Grandma and Grandpa Kipp are so excited too. Auntie and Uncie wish they were there.
Just in case you didn't notice, her initials spell EEK. :) I love it.
Isn't she beautiful? She's even a little pouty. :)

Ella! (screamed like Stella in a Streetcar Named Desire)

Baby Ella's here, well almost.... maybe....
Laura has been admitted to the hospital. She's been there since Saturday and still no baby Ella. But hopefully we'll know more today, or at the very least, Laura and Ryan can get some sleep. It's strange for Adam and I being so far away and all, I think I woke up five times last night thinking the phone was ringing. Pray for them, that the doctors (and ultimately Ryan and Laura) will make wise decisions and that everyone will be healthy.

Surprised? I am.
On Saturday, I ran my first 5k. I know you are thinking, yeah right Cara's totally lying. But I have witnesses and proof (most of my proof though is that I still can't walk properly). My witnesses are Aymee (who "jogged" it with me) and Adam who saw me start and finish. I'm not even going to embarrass myself by posting or talking about time, but I do want to get better, I really do. I did beat my usual treadmill (and estimation time) by over three minutes. And I did catch a bit of a cold because it rained the whole time.

Crafting
I'll be adding pictures later, but I finished a baby blanket and started a big person afghan this past week out of my yarn binge from Monday. I was almost done with the baby blanket when I ran out of blue yarn (it is blue and green striped) and I was about an inch or two from finishing the last row, and of course it was clearance yarn because they've discontinued it. So I had to be pretty crafty at hiding the strange corner, it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. Now I just need a baby boy to give it to (nudge, nudge Kooglers, if I knew what you were having).
I also started (and finished) the embroidery on the tea stained kerchief and I'm a little surprised that I was able to free hand draw part of the pattern and able to make up the stitching to fill it all in. It's smaller than I had originally planned and I'm sure my technique would be looked down upon by more experienced (I can notice a little puckering in the fabric and I have no idea how it got there) but all in all it's looking pretty good for my first attempt. Now I just need a block of time to finish it in.

Two Princes
I'm totally watching the Dateline tonight where Matt Lauer interviews Princes William and Harry. The total quantity of cuteness in the interview room must have been enough to knock out any woman. The cameraman must have been a dude. I watched the preliminary interview this morning on the Today Show.
(And kudos to those who caught my Spin Doctors reference above.)

Kipp Movie Update
We had a movie fantastic weekend, per our usual weekend now.

Adam forced me to watch Hamlet with him claiming to not know how to handle Shakespearean language. Me? I love Shakespeare, but unfortunately having been forced to watch Hamlet sometime during high school makes this one leave a bad taste in my mouth. Luckily not feeling well after the 5k earlier that morning, when I fell asleep Adam kindly let me sleep.

This movie was pretty good. I really don't have anything profound to say about it. I wasn't really a Betty Davis fan before the movie. I'm much more of a Betty Davis fan now.

Adam didn't appreciate the twenty minute dance scene at the end that did nothing to further the plot, but then decided that he should replay it to make sure that it didn't make sense. I, on the other hand, heart Gene Kelly. My favorite scene is when he sings and dances with the French children singing I Got Rhythm.

Next up is one of my all-time-favorite movies. The Greatest Show on Earth. Can't wait!

Another quiz

Really I don't know what's wrong with me... but here I am taking another quiz. It's a DNA test I got from the How About Orange page. If you scroll over the sections of the square below you'll learn all about me, or you can view a detailed page about me as a Benevolent Creator here. It's really not like any "personality test" I've ever taken. Take it and then let me know what title you are.
http://www.personaldna.com/

Ft Worth Zoo Slideshow

We enjoyed celebrating our third anniversary (yes it's really only been three years) yesterday, a few days early, by hanging around the Ft Worth Zoo. We had such a great time (even thought it was SOOOOO hot) and then took a little nap before we headed to dinner at Texas de Brazil. It was so much fun.

A few notes on the Slideshow below.
1. Is actually a slideshow, there's five slides so click play.
2.Can be viewed as a full screen (if you can't read the writing.)

We're going to the Zoo,zoo,zoo. How about You,you,you.

What Book am I

I don't know why I keep finding interesting quizzes. But here is one what tells you what book you are. I took it first and found out I was Lolita and I thought to myself...."This can't be right, you didn't read the questions very well." So I tried it again paying close attention to the questions. That's better.

You're Compassion Fatigue!

by Susan Moeller

You used to care, but now it's just getting too difficult. You cared about the plight of people in lands near and far, but now the media has bombarded you with images of suffering to the point that you just don't have the energy to go on. You've become cold and heartless, as though you'd lived in New York City for a year or so. But you stand as a serious example to all others that they should turn off their TV sets and start caring again.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Obsession

I probably shouldn't be allowed to go to Joann's without a chaperone. Just a thought. Don't know if you can count them all, but yeah, there's 17 of them.

You Can't Take it With You

This was a great film. I absolutely loved the "kooky" family that Alice belonged to and the cyclical relationships between the characters. And who doesn't love a good courtroom scene a la Miracle on 34th Street. I would definitely recommend it.

I missed the beginning of this one, and spent the rest of the movie going "wait, who's that?" and "what's going on?" to Adam. He just kept "shhhhh"ing me and then asking me what I thought character's names were. We did highly enjoy some of the characters names and with the help of imdb.com were able to match most of them up. There was Gruffydd (pronounced Griffid), Angharad, Bronwyn, Gwilym, and Huw (pronounced Hugh). But what I found most entertaining was the making of the movie extra feature which included interesting facts. Here are a few:

The moive was supposed to be a four hour Technicolor epic (think Gone With the Wind)
It was supposed to be filmed on location in Wales (the setting of the film)
Because of WWII, the movie could not be filmed in Wales because of the threat of attack, so it was instead filmed in the California desert. This desert is brown and not the lush green of Wales (hence How Green Was My Valley) and so instead it had to be filmed in black and white in order to appear green.

We are getting to the point of the beginning "ugh, another movie" watching. It's still fun to see all these famous movies I've never seen, but I'm also starting to say, "go ahead and watch that one without me." How can something so fun suddenly become taxing?

Next on the list?

Yeah, I've seen it, but as Adam likes to point out, I actually fell asleep for the last 15 minutes, and therefore, haven't really seen it.

Another Quiz...

I saw this quiz posted on one of my new favorite blogs How About Orange and had to take it.

What Font Are You? (Standard Fonts)

Arial - You're pretty normal. That's certainly not a bad thing, as a lot of people like you.
Take this quiz!

Well there you go. Apparently I'm pretty normal.... I knew I could prove it sometime.

This is the Type of Flower I am

You Are a Carnation

You are down to earth and grounded. You tend to be more traditional than trendy. Your confidence gets you through anything. People trust you and are very loyal to you.

What Flower Are You?

Adam may beg to differ about the down to earth and grounded part.... don't know what I think though. What do you think?

A movie update too

Thought I should update you on the movie scene.

It Happened One Night is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Be prepared to say, "______ (fill in recent movie title) stole that from this movie." ALOT of movies have stolen ideas from this movie, but I assume it was out of love for this movie.

Gone with the Wind is our current movie we are in the middle of. One of my all time favorites. Oh, Clark Gable...... (sigh). On top of that Adam had never seen it, so he's said a few times, "there's not enough Clark Gable in this movie." (I keep saying, "Just wait a bit, there's more of him later.")

Next ones I've marked to see:

You Can't Take it With You with Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore (I liked him in The Grand Hotel and he's Drew Barrymore's great-uncle). This may start a stint of Jimmy Stewart movies, I think there's a few that one. But it continues a Frank Capra theme we've been following off and on as well.

How Green Was My Valley I don't know anything about it, but it looks good.

Arts and Crafts Movement

Many of you know for the past six months now I've been in a ridiculous arts and crafts move. It's got me OBSESSED with many things and techniques that I'm striving to learn. Hence, this started the ridiculous need to crochet every pattern I can get my hands on and now I'm moving slowly but surely into crafting things that are a little more practical all year round.


I've always loved cross stich, scrapbooking and cardmaking, and who can forget in high school when I decided I would make all my own clothes, including my homecoming dress that had to be sewn on me because Mom and I forgot to put in the zipper.


But I'm learning to venture out into the unkown.


I've had this fabric that I love and its been moving with me for years and I suddenly had this vision of a wonderful summer tote that would keep me happy all summer long, would be a great airplane bag for the travel I'm doing this summer, and could tote all my crochet madness with me to work and back.


So I went to Jo-Anns and knowing enough to know I don't know anything, asked the really nice lady to help me. I told her what I wanted to do and she gave me an education in interfacing to make the bag stand on it's own, so to speak. Then I had this vision that I would like to try my hand at embroidery on the bag as well. Something free hand instead of from a pattern like most cross stitching (or at least what I've done) is.


So then I decided to pull out the design from the fabric and stitch that in a larger version on the bag itself. Then I decided that I didn't know if it would stand out enough. I remembered thought about the hankies that were still in the package that I was trying to think of something creative to use them for. But, darn it, they are bright white and the background of the fabric is more of an off white.


And then I (are you still following this? I swear it's almst over) thought about how I was reading about tea staining to tea stain my birthday invitations to make them look like parchment (the whole Harry Potter birthday thing is going to be awesome) and so I decided I would try my hand at tea staining a hanky and see how that worked out. It was perfect!! It also used up some of my Lipton that I don't drink ("Life's too short for cheap tea") and so it was a win-win all the way around. So I'm going to try to embroider on this hanky to make the embroidery stand out more against the pattern on the fabric and wait to figure out the shape of the bag until I get the buttons my dear dad (in law) found antiquing in Tampa for me that I'm so excited to see them, hopefully there's one i can use for the closure on the bag (did I mention I'm not good with zippers. See the homecoming dress mention above.)


So here are some pictures of all my adventures in tea staining. I hope embroidery is as fun as it has always looked.

Tea, Yum!

the fabric the bag is being made out of

the tea stained hanky next to an original hanky.

Here are some pictures of the other crafts that have been keeping me busy.

finished green baby kimono and hat

finished red baby kimono and hat

pink Baby Ella hat (she doesn't have it yet though)

white baby hat with cute little flower (thanks for the idea Eleamar)

Gryffindor scarf for Harry Potter events this summer

What is it about "free" Chipotle that makes everyone act like it's a holiday? The office is a-buzz with hatching plans on how everyone can get Chipotle for a non-perishable food item today. Me? I'm waiting for dinner to go. Adam gets Chipotle twice in one day. He'll be sick tomorrow.

We've started what I am dubbing "The Summer of Movies" or "Movie Bonanza" for Adam's thesis. We made another big movie purchase earlier this week and have begun to watch movies. Adam asked me to tag the movies I wanted to watch with him, and after tagging almost every movie (excluding war movies, I just can't get into them) he's making me choose day by day which I would like to see.

Last night's feature?

The Grand Hotel

I L-O-V-E-D it. I was a little unsure about it at the beginning, but it was truly a good movie. Then the special features on the DVD had a reinacted musical version where they spoke in verse and had a chorus line of bellboy girls. I think I liked that one even better. The musical one (unfortunately) did not win any awards and therefore cannot be analyzed by Adam.

Tonight it's either:

It Happened One Night

Mutiny on the Bounty

So many Clark Gable movies, so little time.

Things that make me sad....

I know that not everyone is taught well by their English teachers. But honestly, these are too much....
Hilary... you make me sad.... (This in no way reflects my political views, just that she needs a proofreader.)

"Let ARE Kids Walk" ???? These are parents who are protesting Texas school boards to allow their children to graduate even though they have not passed the state exam.... Maybe the kids should graduate and the parents should have to go back to school.