I’m extremely thrilled to update today.  It’s been a struggle to get things going lately (moving, settling in, job hunting, adding family members, medical issues, etc…) but we finally have PROGRESS.

As I sit here, with the dog plopped beside me and a certain orange tabby between the keyboard and me, I’m excited to knock a few things off of my previous post’s list.

Firstly, I have begun piecing together my sweatshirt quilt! My fancy new scissors made extremely quick work of about 60-75 old college/high school/travel hoodies.  Took a day to lay them out.  Didn’t start piecing them together for about an extra day or two.

Here’s what the layout will look like once it’s finished. Excuse the dog toys and cat tail…I can’t do anything in this living room without my four-legged helpers.

Wound up getting almost two rows together before running out of thread.  It’s just as well I did though.  Our electricity was out (again!) for 7 hours this morning.  I had a whole morning of doing other chores planned, but that went out the window and I have zero desire to do any of them now (I have to be in the right mood to clean this house….long story for another time).   It sounds like it’s taking a lot of time to do, but considering the size of this project (it’s already big enough to be a comforter on a full size bed), I’m chugging along at a great speed.  Not that I’m in ANY hurry, mind you. As I’ve been working, I’ve started to come up with more projects.

I keep my scraps in case I need to add a piece here or there to make the edges even.  While cutting out the graphics, I found my Audie boy curled up in the pile of scraps.  Maybe they smell like me, or maybe they still smell like my parents’ dog (the shirts were in their backroom while we figured out the whole wedding/moving thing), but either way, he was perfectly content to lay there.  This sparked the first idea. With these extra sweatshirt pieces, Audie is getting his own puppy blanket to put in his new airline carrier (more on that later).  It doesn’t have to be anything fancy for him, just something he can cuddle with.

Then I realized once I started the t-shirt quilt, I’d have a million more scraps (my t-shirts to cut are significantly more out of control than the sweatshirts–I have a huge cedar chest overflowing with them).  Here’s the next idea: tied rag rug.  I’ve been hunting an inexpensive rug for our house since we moved here (no carpet is a huge change for me and I miss it). I checked out Pier1 (yeah, MASSIVE mistake there.  Holy expensive price tag, Batman!) and saw this shaggy rag rug.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I could make one on my own for significantly less than retail price.  Thus, my new project idea was born. I am currently scouring the internet for the mesh canvas I’ll need for this huge undertaking (the rug will be 5′ x 7′ ideally).  I have a sinking feeling I might have to summon my will power and make a trip to the craft store–anyone who knows me, knows I can’t go to the craft store without breaking the bank.  Either way, I know I can spend less than the $250 price tag to make this thing happen.  I already have the fabric and the glue gun.  All I need is the mesh and mama’s off to the races!

Now that I have the creative juices flowing again (I’ve always been a creative type, thanks to a wonderful camp counselor who has inspired me in more ways than I can ever thank him enough for–I wasn’t even a camper when I worked with Captain Creativity. But that story is for another day), I keep finding fun projects all over the place.  After the quilts and rugs and doggie blankets, I have a huge bag of metal bottle caps just waiting to be up-cycled into a wind chime.  And wine bottles to turn into lamps/tiki style torches. And jars to be painted for my furbabies’ treats.

Needless to say, Pinterest is my go to for new craft ideas (though some of these I did think of on my own).

On to the other important progress!

I’m cautiously going to say that Audie is 99.9% done with potty training!  He has been doing so well! He now goes by the door and stares at you when he wants out.  Or he’ll get in your face to tell you now is the time. This new development is awesome since I’m home with him most of the time.  We are starting to put him in his carrier when we go places together so the mess will be confined.  The last two times we’ve been out, he hasn’t gone in his carrier at all.  I know this is fairly mundane news, but this pooch….he has a huge bladder so when he decides to go, it’s Niagra Falls type clean up.   He’s WAY too smart for his own good though.  We’ve been bribing him with a treat after he goes outside to potty.  The little stinker has this figured out and will go out, do part of his business, come in for a treat, then 5 minutes later, he wants out to finish.  He has his daddy more whipped than me though.  I don’t let him come in before he finishes ALL of his stuff outside. Since I’m with him all the time, I know his schedule so I can plan on when I need to let him out for more than a quick one.  The Mister doesn’t know that and Audie milks it for all it’s worth!

So now we’ve checked two things off the goal list.  My plan for the back in shape stuff will likely start after Audie gets the green light from the vet to go for more walks–he needs one last booster that’ll be done in a couple of weeks.  Once he’s allowed to come outside the yard, I plan to at least walk him down along the beach every night.  Not a lot, but it is something.  He’s still leash training so once he’s got the hang of that, we’re switching to running.  He’s so high energy (thanks to his terrier mix), he needs to run as much as I do.  It’ll be good for us both.

Here’s to keeping up with these goals.  It’s a nice little routine and I want to keep going.

Anyone with suggestions for posts, let me know.  I want to start blogging more than my day-to-day business.  Lord knows I’m getting rather boring.

Cheers!

-A