BLARG

there's absolutely no reason for this picture except that it makes me laugh

I have been terribly neglectful to this little blog of mine, my sewing machine, even my blog reader.  I signed into bloglovin today and had over 250 blog posts to read! It's my day off, so I knocked down on that number quite a bit, went to the bank, bought stamps (what?!?--I haven't needed to buy stamps in like 3 years LOL) and have been generally productive.
I'm even pre washing some fabric. I had the grandest of plans to cut and assemble my sorbetto pattern while fabric was washing, the cut it out and make it all this afternoon. Well, I still may, but for some reason I am having the WORST time getting the whole pattern to print out. I had printed the whole thing, I thought. Turns out as I cozied up on the couch with scissors in hand, only half of it had printed. WTF??? Which I guess is just one of those things, because, well I don't know. So, I'm gonna try again, although as I found out this morning the printer in our home office is being terribly ornery. Whatevs.
I haven't completely not made anything though. I just haven't sewn anything as of recent. I finally finished that waffle textured scarf. FAIL, by the way. I only bought one skein of that particular yarn, and downright refused to buy more make the darn scarf long enough, because by about half a foot into the knitting I was about bored to tears. I diligently sat, though, and knit until I literally couldn't knit anymore (not enough yarn). It was long enough to be a cowl, so I bound off and used the long tail to stitch the two ends together. I considered keeping it for myself, but honestly, could not see myself wearing it. So, I pawned it off to one of my bosses from work, who said he'd give it to his grand daughters and they can play dress up with it, or whatever. It makes me feel better that a failed project will at least be enjoyed by some giggly little girls.
ALSO, I am like 95% done on crocheting a completely different scarf, which will end up being a present, I think! (SHH, don't tell). I'll post pictures after the gift giving has occurred so she doesn't see before hand and all my fun is ruined. =).
The house is clean, the laundry is caught up, and I need my printer to cooperate.
Nice talking at ya. ;-)

summertime goodness

some things that have kept me away from my beloved sewing machine...

still testing..

Ahh, much better. I changed the name of this little blog here, including the web address...which changed everything for bloglovin. Soo, I do apologize to my 4 (wonderful) bloglovin readers from heart on my sleeve, but I think I lost you in the switch. I think the google friend connect followers are still unchanged. I'm sorry for any confusion or inconvenience--but I needed a change. Heart on my sleeve was not a well thought out name, I chose it on a whim, not considering how many other blogs and things would already have the same name.

Soo, new name, eventually new (ish), fresher look. Yeah!

testing..testing..

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Little Treasures

Have I mentioned at least a hundred times that we love yard sales here? Well, we do. Sincerely. You can find stuff you actually really need and have been looking to buy retail for next to nothing, and also some really great vintage/antique/collectible items. They are awesome. It's something to get us out of the house on days where we don't have much to do. Do you go to yard sales? Well, you should. lol.

On a very recent yard sale trip, I feel like I scored big with a bunch of vintage loot. And do you know what I paid for allllllllll of these items? One dollar. What?!?! You can hardly buy a piece of candy for a dollar anymore. I was thrilled to pieces. Take a gander.

2 vintage scarves, a glass honey jar, a few yards of lace, a bunch of vintage self cover buttons, and a small handbag

Everything is in really great shape. I mean the scarves are super clean, no stains. The larger of the two with the blue flowers has a little tag that says "Made in Italy" and it's 50% rayon and the other 50% is nylon, I want to say. The other scarf is quite small, but it's interesting because it has a bunch of pictures and writing on it describing the process of making fabric. I got a kick out of it. =). The buttons I grabbed because it just seems like a good notion to have on hand, and the lace looked bridal (lol) because it's white with a little bit of silver on it. The handbag ( I think it might be handmade) has a super interesting outer layer texture to it, and is a sweet blue fabric inside. And the honey jar. I just love it and and can't explain why haha. It says " 1 pound pure honey" on the front.

Now, if your eyes aren't completely falling out of your head yet from reading my ramblings, I have a couple of other little treasures to share with you that we picked up today from the Golden Nugget Flea Market. 

 

Look at this sweet cross stitch/embroidery.  I have no idea how old it is. I paid three dollars for it, but I just had to. It's almost the same prayer we would say at bedtime growing up. =). Except that after we said that we'd say "Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the LORD my soul to keep. Guide and keep (?) me through the night and wake me with the morning light. Please God bless: Mommy Daddy Leah Kayla Ben Aunt ___ Uncle____ Cousin____ etc etc etc and all our friends and animals and _____ and ______ and ______ in the world. AMEN." I'm sure our extras took about five minutes but it was cute and I loved doing it. Seeing this took me back to that innocent sweet time so I was happy to pick it up.

AND finally, something I'm extremely excited about--although I paid way more for it than I normally pay for anything at flea markets or yard sales--a miniature printing press, complete with the (badly decomposed) original ink brayer, and the original box.  It's only big enough to make business cards, or something similarly sized, and probably only accepts about size 7 font. But it's so neat, with original gold paint on it, and doesn't need much cleaning to get it functional. We paid $30. The guy wanted $40 but hubs talked him down. =). 

So yeah, that's it. =). What are some of your favorite finds???

The Hocus Pocus scarf

I know, I know. It's far too hot to be wearing scarves.
At least here...103 degrees Fahrenheit with a heat index of more.. hence, no pictures of me modeling my new knitted scarf. =).
I watched that movie Hocus Pocus recently. You know, the one with the Sanderson sisters?? It came out in 1993, I was five, and I thought it was SO AWESOME. I got the urge for some reason and got it on Netflix. It made me miss the fall. Halloween, pumpkins, the leaves, the crisp air. SO, I decided to finally use this yarn I just had to buy. It's my first knitted scarf, well, completed knitted scarf. I'm still working on that waffle-y one.

Just look at those colors though. Don't they make you think of apple cider, pumpkins, fall leaves? Well good, because that was the point. I love those colors. And they are so much prettier in person.
I knit in in plain ol' stockinette, with ginormous 19mm needles. It made it a quick and extremely comfortable project. My hands didn't get cramped once. AND it's about 72 inches long. Yay.

 I really didn't want to do any crazy pattern, partially out of laziness, but mostly because I didn't want to take away from the yarn itself which I am clearly obsessed with. It was good "tv knitting" for sure. 

So that's it, nothing too fancy, and definitely beginner level knitting. But I can't wait until fall to wear it. =)

gotta love some random beach time

 The other day, almost hubs and I took a quick trip down to Point Pleasant. I have to say..I don't know how I didn't know about this? I mean, I knew the place existed, obv., but didn't realize there was a cute little boardwalk and all that great stuff. We will definitely be bringing the little man back. It's a little more kid friendly/family friendly than say..Seaside Heights. Or so it seemed.

 

They had a wild west theme going on when we first arrived. Complete with a little live band and a man on stilts. There were even little props set up here and there for photo ops. I should have totally embarrassed Billy and made him take a picture of me behind the miniature jail cell bars. =)

 

It was just a quick drive down 195, then there we were.

 

Somehow the ocean air smells so wonderful when you haven't been there for a long time. 

Even when it's just the Jersey shore.

We had a really great little date night. 

And that's that. 

I did manage to take a few pictures of a finished project I wanna show you guys. But it was just too stinking hot yesterday to put it on and go outside for natural lighting. yeah.

Some insta-awesomeness

instagram= a free Iphone app that I can actually figure out  at 5am. LOVE.

I'd read little snippets here and there about instagram, and still had absolutely no idea what it was until this morning when someone wrote that it's an app--so I searched it and can tell you that if you have an Iphone, get it. My little do-do brain can do it with eyes halfway closed. AND it makes junky phone pictures look like this:

Flippin' sweet.

Since I last wrote, I got a car. Did you know I have been car-less since February? Well, I was. I had a 2004 GMC Envoy, great vehicle, but I wasn't really using it since almost hubby and I's schedule coincides so well. So it was a waste. I signed it over to my sissy in February, and have been very casually looking for something more practical for our needs since. The hubs has a SUV...so I didn't want to get another one, not only because we simply don't need two huge vehicles, but for gas savings, and being kind(er) to the earth, we opted for a car--that still has a lot of leg room for my tall man, and soon to be as tall boy. =). We ended up with a 2011 Hyundai Sonata, which I got a really great deal on, with a fabulous warranty. I plan to keep this thing for A.LONG.TIME. So, yeah.
This past weekend I picked up my wedding dress!!!!! Sissypants came with me to help me check for any "flaws" and to help me get into it to try it on =). It fits and will probably have to be taken in (woopwoop). I just love it. Last week we met with the catering manager and I really feel so much at ease now as far as food and drink goes. Once we officially book entertainment and a photographer it will be smooth sailing.
Stay tuned for more posts because I actually have things to talk about! Just you wait to see an actual finished project, everything I got for just one dollar(!!!!), and a fabric purchase that I'm super excited about (but feel super guilty about also).

Birthday Beaver?

Haha, sorry. It sounds funny to me.  Birthday beaver. Okay.

The other night I crocheted this little guy for my sister's birthday, which was yesterday. (Happy 24th Leebee!) I used the same pattern as I did for this fox. All in all it came together very easily, it took me about 6 and a half hours. As with the fox, I didn't have safety eyes so I just used black yarn. Also, the beaver's teeth were supposed to be out of felt according to the pattern, but I didn't have any with me, so I quickly crocheted some teeth, and to be honest I can't remember how I did it. I seriously just made it up and tried to match the general size and shape of the little pattern piece. I think he's quite cute if I do say so myself =). I named him Dingus by the way, which translated to Dingle to little Billy. HAHA, so Dingus or Dingle, whichever amuses you more.

I think she liked it. I know, a little stuffed animal seems like a silly present for a 24 year old woman, but Leah is pretty fancy, so I know she enjoyed it. Or I can tell myself that at least.
On a side note, my work schedule has changed finally from night shift to day shift. YAY! I'm very thankful.. But, bear with me as I transition my schedule accordingly. Waking up at 4 ish in the morning is new for me for sure. 
Happy Independence Day!

Swatch of Pink cables

 

I decided that I wanted to learn to knit cables. Soo, I did.

As you can see this is just a little swatch with scrap yarn.

But, considering I just started knitting, and I have no clue what I'm doing majority of the time (LOL), I was happy that I semi-figured it out. 

 

There's the wrong side. As you can see, I didn't figure out that I should purl next to the cable so it would pop more until I almost finished the swatch.  I'm sure there are many other tips and tricks for cables, that's as far as I got the other day.

Now, I need to finish the four UFO's I have in my life right now: two quilt tops waiting to be basted and quilted, my sister's afghan, and the waffle knitted scarf. Then I wouldn't feel quite so bad starting something new. Tonight though, I may have to divert because my sister's birthday is on Sunday and I'd like to make her a little something. =). SHHH.