April’s Junk

Hit a thrift shop looking for a quilt to cut up, didn’t really look as I bought it, omg I’m in love

I wish that my Grandpa were still alive to tell me about these photos.  none of them were marked.  But I know that they tell a story.  Some I can identify landmarks, others symbols, but in all I see the innate beauty within.  I felt they needed to become something, but would not dare ruin the originals, I did preserve them the best I could by not altering the scanned images in anyway.  there are others too all from the same era but these captured my interest in a way I cannot explain.

I can’t beleive it is halloween already.  I’ve been up all night making spooky treats for a spooky dinner tonight.  I should be working on my Son’s halloween costume (yes horrible mother that I am I’ve waited till the day of).  Possibly, just possibly, I should be working on adding more stock to my own shop.  But instead, I find myself thinking ahead to the Christmas Season which is fast approaching I decided to do a little window shopping in my favorite place to shop, Etsy.com.  I find myself enamored by all the wonderful fun things there are to find there like these beautiful felt foods, they would make a perfect gift for a child, or just the young at heart.

For those looking for creative ways that aren’t wasteful (eg non paper gift wrap) the seller emjdesign has a number of different fabric gift bags available at very reasonable prices, I think my favorites I’ve found are these aqua and brown bags, at $5 for 8 the price really cannot be beat!

This lampworked beaded bracelet from bm1coastsbeadworks would make a great gift for a good friend or the hard to shop for mother in law.  I love the flame like interior of the beads and how it combines natural colors with fire.  She has many other beautiful bracelets in her shop too

We all have that family member or friend who loves nothing more than to be in the kitchen cooking or baking.  Teristreasure has a number of  wonderful quilted goods for the kitchen, but my personal favorite so far has to be this whimsical retro design featuring polkadots and vintage style aprons.

adorable cannot begin to describe these gift tags from craftheart, pink and penguins, I never would have thought to combine the two but seeing it done makes me wish I had!  I envision these atop gifts under a tree decorated in retro style ornaments.  Just beautiful!

I think peppermint reminds us all of the holiday season.  From candy canes to discs there is something about the scent of peppermint that brings a holiday smile to the face.  Swanmountainsoaps has a wonderful product bringing two favorites together with vanilla and peppermint in a sugar scrub.  I am a personal huge fan of sugar scrubs they leave your skin super soft and touchable.  at $4 for 2 ounces you could easily afford to buy a few to give to co-workers this holiday season.

While on the subject of soaps,  from smokeymountainscents, we have the perfect gift for those on the naughty list, coal soaps. I can think of at least a million people I know that these would be fun to give to (ok, maybe I am exaggerating just a tiny bit).  These also just make me giggle, and anything that makes you giggle is definitely something you should have.

I will be the first to admit that the gift selection for the men is a little more sparse, but I found these key chains to be quite nice and I think they would make a great gift for the manly man on your shopping list.

And lets not forget it can get cold in most parts of the country, that means it’s scarf and hat weather for many, this scarf is both cute and fun

Ok I will call that done for now, I hope you’ve enjoyed shopping on etsy with me.  And until next time have a great weekend!

I’ve worked quite  a bit lately on getting things done, and have 10 crochet and knitted projects to show.  not the best photos

Crochet projects:

Knitting (less projects and less detail but I”m still real pleased with them)

I’ve also spun a few more yarns but haven’t yet had the chance to take photos of them.

I have found a new love in the art of spinning yarn.  It’s taken me a few skeins to work out how to get decent yardage (the very first skein was 30 yards, and I’ve worked up to 106 now)  but I don’t think they are bad for the first yarns I have ever spun.  Without further adeau:

carnivale - this is the 2nd yarn I spun using commercially dyed mernio with about 5% tencel and 15% new zealand top wool, approx. 50 yards

Ocean breeze 100% merino commercially dyed in shades of blues/greens mixed with cream  approx 65 yards

Frightful - 90% merino 15% new zealand top, commercially dyed, plyed with cotton thread approximately 65 yards

Autumn Fire, merino in red/goldenrod/harvest orange/espresso ply with a commercial merino/micro acrylic, 110 grams 106 yards,

or why the CEO’s and decision makers at Hershey Company are dicks.

I am sure we have all heard about the decision Hershey Company made to quit using cocoa butter due to the current economy.  If not, a quick summary it’ll no longer be Milk Chocolate you are getting, but ‘chocolatey goodness’  when you drop your $1.20 for a candy bar, because the company has decided to eliminate using cocoa butter to cut costs, and go to using vegetable oil as a substitute.

I know I cannot speak for everyone out there, but I must say when I spend my $1 for an indulgence of candy, I want to know that I am getting  something good, not something chocolatey.  But I have a tendancy to take things a step too far.

After catching a short bit on Adult swim about the profits that different companies make ‘per employee’ in gross sales, I decided to do a little investigating into the Hershey Company along these same lines.  While I could not find Gross sale (before taxes and costs) numbers, I did find net sale (after costs and taxes) numbers.  In 2007  The Hershey Company netted almost 5 billion dollars in sales, with approximately 13,700 employees they are a very large company making very large profits.  (for the adult swim and/or math junkies out there this is over 3.6 million dollars NET PROFIT to the company per employee they employ) Here is an exerpt from the 2007 report:

 For the full year 2007, consolidated net sales were $4,946,716,000 (source reuters Hershey report summary)

I cannot even begin to fathom that much money, but I can fathom the taste of the new chocolate formula, it is yucky (in layman’s terms)

It is said that the change was to increase profit margins due to the rising cost of cocoa butter and a struggling economy.  Even if the ‘rising cost’ was $500,000,000  a year in raised costs, that is still roughly a 4.5 billion dollar profit margin for the company.

Companies like Hershey’s that put profits before product quality need to realize that if the quality lacks the creamy goodness we’ve all come to know and love, they won’t have to worry about profits in the long run, because there won’t be customers to buy their products.  We will take our sweet money somewhere else.   It isn’t the stock holders they should be concerned about — it’s the consumers.

And that’s all folks.

I’m back home after 3 weeks away and while I told myself I’d spend a few days sitting and doing nothing, I apparently lied.  I could not resist the temptation of playing.  Here is the result of yesterday (and today’s) resin play. I will not bore you with too many details, but you may notice I currently have a slight obsession with trees.

I’ve needed a functional project travel bag for a while. I’ve finagled and made due with bags that were never designed to carry a yarnie’s goodies around for much too long. Being a seamstress it’s actually quite ridiculous that I’ve gone this long without designing something that would serve the function I need while I am out and about travelling. There are tweaks I’d make to this design if I were to do it again but for the most part it is exactly what I need for the 20 hours I’ll spend in airports and countless hours I’ll spend as a passenger in a car over the next month.  Each photo links to details of what it is the only thing there isn’t really a photo of is the larger pocket on the knitter side which can hold a small project (which is all I really ever make!)

It’s been a stressful few days trying to get everything I need done completed before I make the trip back home to visit.  I’m excited but know that I need to swallow it and realize I won’t get everything done before I go.

no action shots but I’ve been playing with different stitch patterns.  Both are made from redheart soft (the blue is oceanspray and the other is off white).

If sex truly does sell, I could probably make quite a bit off the off white one, or Maybe I just have a dirty mind.

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working on a silly little scarf.  Trying to teach myself some more complex stitches to incorporate into my crochet.  I think this will be a scarf ultimately