A finished (almost) quilt top! My first one!

Wonky quilt for Ayden, originally uploaded by razberiswrl.

I'm going to add another row, but essentially it's finished. Now to piece the back and figure out how the hell I'm going to quilt it!!

Super sweet giveaway at Quilt Frenzy!

Head over to enter to win a whole year subscription to Love of Quilting! This is a very generous prize!!!


Quilt Frenzy


Good luck!

It's Crimmah up in the house!

Yeah, I call it Crimmah. Wanna start something??? :D LOLz

So, you already saw the nifty wreaths I made and the paper garland to hold our cards ... now here's the tree!




I don't know what exactly this hodge podge of homemade, purchased, and given ornaments on the cheapo fake tree says about us, but it's just how we like it. There are ornaments that my Grandma gave me every year until I was 18 (give or take a few, some broke over the years or just disappeared. You know how that goes), the ornaments my kids bring home every year, ornaments I've bought at Target for 75% off after Dec 25, lol, and some I've paid full price for because I just had to have them. There's also a couple of plastic keychains that Miss M INSISTS on putting up every year, a My Little Pony and a Nemo. *shrug* She do what she do ... Also, that weird braided thing on the wall is something my Grandma made in the early 80s. Apparently I helped, and apparently I loved the thing in said 80s, so she sent it to me, lolz. So, even though it's not my cuppa, up it goes! Every year.


My favorite things on our tree are my Space Ghost ornament (from Hallmark ... they didn't do Brak though!! *sad pout*), a couple of styrofoam birds with glitter and feathers glued on them from Michael's (we've all seen them, lol): a little pink one and a silver peacock, a little angel in a walnut boat that my godmom gave me when I was little (it's a stupid ornament, but I've always loved it, and she's dead now, sooo ...), and this bizarre ornament my oldest made in preschool that amounts to a couple of q-tips glued to foil with some glitter on it. It's so funny!


Mr. Raz would probably say his favs are the StarWars ornaments, and possibly the Sponge Bob ones. The kids each favor the ornaments they've made themselves or the ones that have their names on them, lol. Either way, they are always all up in the tree. Daily rearranging of the ornaments is a MUST for Razzy chilrents.


Our tree topper is a little special ... Mr. Raz has always had a thing for nautical stars, like, WAAAY before every douche bag in town started getting them tattooed on their shoulders (sorry if you have one tattooed on your shoulder. I ASSURE you that YOU are definitely not one of the douche bags of whom I speak ... unless you are a dude, wear tight t-shirts, kiss your muscles, spend more time on your hair than the average woman, fake tan, and have ever referred to yourself as a guido ... THEN I probably am talking about you ... I'm not even sorry. LOLz) ... Anywho, we're not religious folks, we celebrate Crimmah because it's just the tradition we were raised with, and we like giving, eating good food, and hanging with our family, so we see no need to deviate from the status quo. So, neither of us wanted an angel on the tree. I wanted a big red bow because that's what we did my whole life, and he wanted a star but I could never find one I liked, so for years we went with nothing on the top of the tree. About 4 years ago I got a nifty idea. What if we put a nautical star on the tree??? COOLIE!! Of course, I couldn't find one. Figures. So, I decided to make one. I bought a 2 sided metal barn star ornament from Kohl's (on sale with a coupon! Woot Woot!) and painted it with that cheap paint from Michael's. It was a lot trickier than I initially thought it would be. The paint kept wiping itself off if I went over an area twice, took about 894,752,934,861,039,476 coats on each side ... but it's TOTALLY AWESOME!!! And he loves it. I rock.


Oh, we also have the silly pickle ornament (read this if you don't know), and hide it on Crimmah Eve before going to bed. "Santa" always leaves a "pickle prize" under the tree that the kid who finds the pickle gets to open before mom and dad get up. Mysteriously, the prize always contains 3 small items tailored for each child's likes and a note about how great it is to share, LOL!! Listen, I am a smart lady, and I like to sleep in. That stupid pickle usually buys me an extra 30 min of shuteye on Crimmah morning. ;-)


So there ya go. Merry Crimmah, y'all!!

A couple of crafty finishes and recent NOTD

I finished up some yarn wreaths that I've been procrastinating on big time. The small blue one is Miss M's and is now hanging in her room, the larger gold one is for my sister in law for giftmas, and the gold on on the wall is mine! The instructions I followed are here: Yarn Wreath with Felt Flowers



Next up is a paper garland I was inspired to make after receiving an excellent holiday card (thanks Lems!!). I originally saw the idea on whip up and can't remember the original blog the instructions were on to give credit. :( Sorry. I used all 'on hand' materials; cut the squares, triangles and circles from cardstock and sewed them together with the off white cotton thread I already had on the machine. A few clear tacks, one bump on the head and some clippy doodads I had laying around, and I am ready to display all the cards we receive this year!!




As for the tips, I'm currently wearing Zoya Irene, but haven't taken pics yet. Last week I wore Finger Paints Autumn Moonlight with a no name sheer pinkish glittery top coat over.




And just for fun, here's a pic of my cat Grapefruit. He's 11 years old, and we've had him since he was about 4 mos old. He followed my sister in law home from the bus stop, or so she says, lol. She was only 12 then, and is now 23. :) Anyway, Grapefruit is my oldest baby, lol, and he gets to do whatever he wants WHENEVER he wants. What he wanted last night was to sit on the tv and annoy the piss out of Mr. Raz! HAHAHAAAA!! I present to you "Decoration Cat."




So, there was a Payday candy bar commercial on at the time I took this pic. I find it both hysterical and embarrassing that there appears to be a nutty turd as big as life on my tv. LOLOL!!! Mmm. Appetizing. Makes me want to run right out and get one.

OMG I'm so sick. :( :( :( Worst timing EVER.

This was me last Saturday (well, one of them is me, lol) promoting the musical Scrooge: The Stingiest Man in Town at the city Christmas parade. I felt great.

Today? Not so much. The show opens TO-MOR-ROW. TOMORROW! And I am sick. SICK!! NO!!!! Why?!?! There's so much to be done, and I feel like ass. My head hurts, my nose is pouring snot, my throat is sore and swollen, my whole body aches, and we open TOMORROW!!!

I haven't painted my nails in 2 weeks (Lincoln Park After Dark Suede), and I just removed that chipped polish last night and filed my nails for the first time in a month yesterday. I have only sewed the things I needed for the show (6 gold bags with ribbon draw strings and a hack job of a petticoat for Miss M's costume--yes, she's in the show too!-- where I just cut the tulle and lining out of an old flower girl dress of hers, trimmed it and sewed some elastic to the waist). I have barely gotten dinner on the table this week. It's all I can do to do my hair and make up for the dress rehearsals.

This is just bad bad timing. Le sigh. Pity me.

I love when a new project is free! Paper flowers ...

I've been a crafting fool today. YAY!

So, I saw the most adorable little paper flower adornments at Bee In My Bonnet some time ago, and decided to give them a try tonight. I had everything on hand!! No running to the store and spending up more of our precious money on a whim, LOL!!! I'm so bad for that. Anyway, check out Bee In My Bonnet for the instructions to make these cuties.

I used different designs instead of all the same and only 4 tiers instead of 5. I just kind of mixed and matched my prints randomly. I also haven't decided if I will add leaves or not.

Close up of one of my favorite combos

A pile of pretty. Shame the colors get so washed out with my camera.

With flash ... gives a few of the colors a little better representation.

I have decided that one of these little cuties will adorn all of our xmas packages in lieu of the standard bow. In an effort to be more environmentally conscious, I also intend to wrap with either a new, made by me pillow case or newsprint tied with ribbon. I hope it goes over well!

Quilt Along Progress

Here are a couple shots of my quilt along progress (That Girl ... That Quilt Along)



Here is the mountain of scraps rendered from wonkifying my blocks.


Here are a couple of blocks laid out to show the wonky effect. It's pretty subtle, but gives the simple layout a little more interest.

Now I just need to sew the blocks into rows and the rows into the finished quilt top! The QAL layout is for 5 blocks by 8 blocks, but I'm not crazy about the long and narrow look. So, instead, I think I'll do 6x6.

I finished Miss M's blanket!!!

It's SO big. It took SO long. I am SO glad I'm finished!!! I started this crocheted blanket about 3 years ago, but only had about a 6 inch wide strip done as of this summer. Apparently I'm a slow starter ... Anyway, I started working on it in earnest mid-summer and it is DONE DONE DONE! Here's the whole thing on our love seat.


I used a yarn by Bernat in a raspberry color. 11 skeins in total. I got them on clearance oh so long ago. (and yeah, the cats scratch up the furniture)


Here it is folded in 4. It nearly covers the love seat cushions.


I added a ruffle around the edge in a teal color. I wanted something that would stand up to the raspberry, but I don't especially love it. In hindsight, I think a buttery yellow would have looked nice. Or brown maybe (her comforter is bright pink and brown).



I thought it might look nice if I rolled the blanket up to take a pic like the quilters do. Yeah, not so flattering on a crocheted afghan, lol!




I didn't use any pattern. I just did rows and rows of double crochet, and then I did alternating rows of dc and slip stitching, and then switched back to just dc and then back to dc/slst. The ruffled edge was super simple too. I just slip stitched 2 rows around to lay the foundation and then the ruffle is 3 chain stitches slip stitched in every other stitch of the foundation.

I don't even know if I'm using the right terminology, LOL!!! Anyway, overall, I'm really happy with this finish. It's my first crochet project ever, so in that respect, it's damn good! Miss M knows she's getting the blanket for xmas, but the teal portion I did all in super secret, so that detail will be a surprise. I can't wait till she sees it finished!

Sweet fabric giveaway at Retromummy!

Literally sweet, as in the Sweet Broderie range by Rosalie Quinlan. I'll tell you what ... if *I* win, Miss M's going to get a quilt and probably matching pillows. These fabrics are to die for for little girly girls.

Check it out and enter and Retromummy.

That Girl ... That Quilt Along progress ...

So, week one was pick fabric.

Check!

Week 2 was cut the fabric.

Check!

And now we're on week 3, assembling the blocks. Here is my progress so far.

That is 80 strips sewn to 40 squares and 80 seams pressed. OY! I need a taller ironing board! Bending over it is killing my back, and I have 240 more strips to piece and press!!!

I'm a complainer, but in reality I am really enjoying myself. I'm new to sewing, and getting better and better with each cut and each seam, and more confident. I can't wait to see the finished result and ship it off to my friend's little boy!!

Oh, and here's the sewing machine I use, just for fun.

Old NOTD Essie Pretty Edgy

The picture pretty much says it all. It's a really fun color, but I didn't love it on me. It probably had more to do with the weather than the polish. It just seemed ... wrong. I dunno. Anyway, can I just say how much I love Essie? I have NEVER been disappointed with this brand. It goes on super smooth regardless of the skinny brush, and dries super smooth and thin. Essie always wears like iron on me too. I wish I had more Essies!!

So, I joined a quilt along ...

I'm so excited. I hope I don't screw this up, I intend for the finished product to go to my friend's little boy, hopefully by xmas. Anyway, if you want to scope it out, just click the button on my side bar. :)

Three from Color Club Rebel Debutante

These pics are particularly poor. *shrug* What can I say?


So, I haven't been disappointed with any of the polishes from this collection so far. I bought the 7pc set, which of course didn't have the green or blue colors. Oh well. I wanted the neutrals more than more bright crazy colors (I have SO many of those already) anyway. These wear exceptionally well, apply nicely, yada yada.

Best Dressed List

Grainy full sun pic. It shows the color nicely though. I really think this might be super close to Chanel Khaki Rose. I do not have it to compare though. This color is like Ovaltine. Or chocolate milk with 3 drops of strawberry syrup added. It worked really well with my skin tone.

Charity Ball

This is at night under CFLs in my poorly lit kitchen. Doesn't do it justice at all. What I like about Charity Ball is that it is a ruddy brown. Other pics I've seen show it as a murky dark red, but on me it pulls more brown, and it looks REAL good.

Who Are You Wearing?

Wow. This looks kind of gross, doesn't it? I took this pic after several days of wear, and I had been picking at that middle finger. Ooops. I couldn't get an even remotely accurate color representation on this one, so I started experimenting with different colored backgrounds. The orange did the trick (that's my pimped out Kitchen Aid. Awww yeah). Who Are You Wearing? pulled really lavender on me. I didn't love it on me, but I have no complaints about application or wear.

Dinner tonight was pretty good. Here's the recipe.

So, I had leftover cubed chicken (well, it wasn't leftover, I purposely cooked way too much yesterday to have enough for 2 additional meals, but anyway), and I have a huge stock of pasta right now (Barilla Picolini for only .38/box!), and we're soooooo sick of spaghetti sauce, so I thought of trying a creamy, cold pasta salad. It worked out.

1 box pasta of your choice, cooked al dente
1 bag frozen peas
cubed chicken breast, cooked
italian salad dressing, about 1/2c I guess
sour cream, about a cup I think (you could use mayo too, but I hate that nasty shit, so ...)


Mix the sour cream and italian dressing, add in the peas and chicken and pasta, stir, serve. Well, let the peas thaw ... then serve. Easy! The kids all ate it without complaint too.

My first Ruffian manicure

I did an *ok* job ... Base was Maybelline Gray-T Glamour, the purple is Color Club Ms. Socialite from the Rebel Debutante collection.

Inside, low light. I had a REALLY hard time getting a clear shot. My picture taking skills are like, degenerative or something. >:(




Sun!






I would have worn this for a whole week, except it chipped BAD on day 2. :'( I cry.

So, it's super difficult to get this right, and although I really like the look, it's way too much work. LOL!

Lamest blogger award goes to ...

ME! I'm so lame.


Not really. I just haven't had interwebz access at home practically all summer. And I just lost my job of 10 years due to the economy. My employer had to close the doors of the retail establishment he's owned for over 25 years. :( It's all good though, I'm sure I'll be gainfully employed relatively soon. I hope ...


So, I've painted my nails umpty times since I last posted. Here's Maybelline Sweet Clementine:

Outside, slightly overcast.


Inside under crappy lighting.

With a coat of China Glaze 5 Golden Rings (or whatever it's called, from last year's holiday line) in a little bit of sun.


Inside under crappy lighting.

The color of Sweet Clementine isn't exactly as pictured. It's closer to the indoor pics though. Very creamy and bright at the same time, but not as dark as the outdoor pics show. I liked it a lot. It was so long ago that I can't comment on the wear. *shrug* I know I added the gold glitter to give it some oomph, not to hide tipwear or anything.


The Divine Miss M had her off off off off off off Broadway debut as the most incredible Who Whoville and the entire Jungle of Nool (Seussical Jr.) has ever seen ... That's right. I said it. Here's a blurry picture.


The boys were also present for the festivities. They don't have a theatrical bone in their combined bodies, but they are very interested in the technical aspect. They participated in stage crew. I *thought* I had a pic of them ... but apparently I don't. I have no idea. ... and then I had the great idea to poke around in my mother-in-law's photobucket acct. Ha! Pics! I haz them! They're from her phone though, so they're only slightly worse than the ones I take with a real camera, lol.

I don't think I have cool internet nicknames for the boys. When Mr. Raz and I are trying to talk about them when they're in the room, we refer to them as Senior Uno and El Doche (Doe- Chay), lol, so I guess that'll do. Senior Uno is on the right. He's 10. El Doche is 9. Please don't EVER ask Uno is Doche is his big brother. He gets SOOOO mad.


All 3 of my rockstars!

The Divine Miss M favors her mother with a picture. Can I have your autograph??


Mr. Raz is NOT fond of the camera. :D


I'm still working on Miss M's blanket. It's about 2/3 finished. I'm so over it, lol. Since I like to flit from thing to thing, and I ran across some really beautiful items while blog hopping, I have decided to learn to quilt. Here's the top of my first project, a table runner.


I'm pretty proud of myself. It's pretty much my first time sewing, and while my seams are crooked, and it will probably be wonky once it's all done, it's still freaking awesome.

A close up of my prints. I don't know why it's so dark. The colors are actually really bright and refreshing. They look kind of drab here. Prob caz we've had NO sun in weeks (except last Saturday, but that was then, this is now). I'd link the project I'm doing, but I'm not sure if it's allowed by the blog owner, so, umm, it's a project called City Windows Table Runner and it's at the Moda Bakeshop blog.


I guess that's it. I need to go cook dinner for the kids now. I don't feel like it, but they need to eat, right??


FIN

I suck at blogging ... here's what I've been up to.

Sooo ... why do I save all this stuff up and post a bunch and then disappear for weeks again, rinse repeat? I dunno. I'm so particular I guess that it takes me what I feel is TOO LONG to put a post together. I need to work on being short and sweet, LOL!


Let's see ... we had some vacation ... well, the kids did. I worked the whole time I was kid free while the kids were with their Nan and Titi at Yogi Bear Campground. Didn't do a DAMN thing. *pout* At least I was there for the watermelon eating contest!

Mr. Cool and Collected

Mr. I Wouldn't Smile Nice for a Pic for Mom to Save My Life ...
Seriously, this is the best I could do ... tried to catch him off guard, otherwise, got goofy faces, LOL!

The Divine Miss M and her summer hair troubles ... LOL!
Camping happens.

We had a plague of sorts ...

This is a cicada fresh out of its skin hanging RIGHT on the top of my front door. The wings were almost fluorescent (dude, I spelled that right on the first try! WIN!) green. That's Funky Colors in Bourbon St ...

A turtle was rescued:

Gives Box Turtle new meaning, eh?? Hahahaaaa!

He's CLEARLY pissed, but has no idea how lucky he is. If the neighbor girl, aka THE DEVIL, had found this critter first, she would have taken care of it to death. Instead, it just had to endure about 8 hours in my Amazon box and then I took it a mile down the road to the creek (where it prob came from, and shoulda freakin STAYED! Damn turtle and his damn wandering ...) when Mr. Raz got home with the car.



I've been on a crafting kick. I'm determined to finish Miss M's blanket. She's been salivating over the thought of a massive blankie for a full year ... yeah, I started it THAT long ago.

It's coming along. :)

My drive for sustainable living on the CHEAP has found me reclaiming fabrics around the house for use with later projects. I tore up my kids' baby bedding (kept the quilts intact, ripped up bumpers and sheets and crib skirts), then I went on a scavenger hunt to find the sewing machine I got for xmas 8 years ago. No really. It was a scavenger hunt. Someone switched it from it's original box on me. >:( NOT cool. Anyway, this is my first official thing I sewed ever:

It's a sandwich bag!

For ... silly bands??? (do YOU have sandwiches at the ready on your desk JIC there's a photo op? Thought not ... ;) )

Looks pretty good, right? Look closer ...

Whoopsie!

There's nothing in the rules that says velcro has to be affixed completely ... right??

Orrr that you have to stick to the edges ... (OPI Green-Wich Village btw)

You know, straight lines are ... soooo overrated.

Look, it looks GREAT in the first pic, k? Stop laughing at me!!

Some good cooking has been happening around here.

I made Lemon Curd A La Rachael Ray . Be sure to read my review on the recipe page! This shit is GOOOOOOOD, y'all. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. For real. My fav thing to eat it on so far has been ritz crackers. OMG, yum.

Last night I had a craving for something I never ever liked when I actually lived in the south ... Homemade biscuits with sausage gravy. I'm not a biscuit person for the most part, but these were a HUGE hit. Fluffy Biscuits on AllRecipes.com I did a modified drop biscuit at the advice of my mom. I HATE rolling out doughs. It ALWAYS ends in disaster for me, so I avoid it at all times. So, I WAS going to just drop dipper fulls onto the parchment and let the biscuits assume whatever shape they wanted to, but mom said to use less liquid than the recipe called for and liberally flour my hands and shape the biscuits the same way you shape a hamburger patty. It worked nicely (thanks mom!). I should have taken a pic, but I didn't. Anyway, if you like tender biscuits with a mild flavor, these are excellent. As for the sausage gravy, well, I don't need no stinkin' recipe for that! But you might, so here's what I did:

Sausage Gravy by raz

1lb roll sausage
3 or 4 tb all purpose flour
Milk, 2-3 c
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook sausage in large skillet (I like to use my cast iron) until nice and browned. When it's nice and done, remove the sausage from the pan and get rid of all but 3 or 4 tb of the grease.

Lower heat to medium and dump 3 or 4 tb flour in. Wisk it like hell. You want a paste that isn't wet enough to slide around in the pan, but isn't so dry that it can't be worked with the wisk. Add more flour if necessary. You are making a roux ... the point of a white roux is to cook the flour as LONG as possible without it turning brown. If it's bubbling hard, cut the heat back further. Try to get at least 3 full minutes of cook time, but if it starts turning brown, pour the milk in QUICK!

Start by pouring 2c milk in. Wisk the hell out of it until it comes to a full boil (you may need to crank the heat a bit, but no higher than med-hi, K?), this is as thick as this mixture will ever get. It will probably be too thick for gravy, which is fine. Just add more milk until you get your desired thickness. If you put too much milk in, you're pretty much screwed to a life of runny gravy, so go slow ... 1/2 c at a time. :)

Add salt and pepper to taste then add sausage back in. Serve over split biscuits! Mmmm ... Looks like a pile of vomit, but tastes like 500 pounds. Hoooo-boy! That's how we do!


Nail polish: Of course I've been doing my nails, but not taking a whole lot of pics. I'm wearing OPI Green-wich Village right now, and I love it. I have a bit of an experiment going on ... I'll post about that soon. I've also worn BB Couture Sex on the Beach (a blog giveaway prize!!! SQUEE!), which was INCREDIBLE, but my pictures SUCKED, so I want to swatch it again ... what's that? You want to see it anyway? Ok ... just one. I want to do this right so Kim from Overall Beauty will like me, LOL! No one likes someone who takes shitty pics, right? ;)

See?? I told you, bad pics. BAAAAD pics. Does it help to know that this was after 7 days of wear though?

The end!