We’ve all finally settled into the new house and Spring projects are underway, hence the silence here. This is not a typical update for this here blog, but I hope you’ll bear with me until the next Rant refuses to be shouted down by the more logical part of my brain. This type of stuff can usually be found over at my fiber blog, Starting Over Designs.
Duchess has adjusted to her new home but still loathes the dog and bullies Mr. Big every time he tries to take liberties with her. She’s developed a little belly from the steady diet of good food and now controls the whole house whenever That Damned Dog isn’t around. If only she would cuddle with Mr. Big everyone would be happy.
The Kid finally got a job! He starts late next week or early the next working in a brand new Thai Fusion restaurant in Eugene. He’s thrilled to finally have a direction and I’m thrilled that I might finally be able to have some peace and solitude on the rare occasion I’m actually home and able to relax.
Soapapalooza 2017 is underway! The Sweatshop Girls have a table at a new wool processing mill in Halsey and we need more Spring/Summer items to keep it stocked so the Sweatshop is in full production, mixing up our secret soap formulas as fast as we can. The house smells like a French bordello, but we can’t complain when everything is running so smoothly. I, of course, am using the Royal “We” in this case, as the other Sweatshop Girls are elbow deep with their own projects, but we’ll get together soon for a Dye Day if we can ever sync up our schedules.
In addition to the soap making, I’ve been sewing up Bowl Buddies, which kinda defy description until you use one and then you wonder how you ever lived without them. The darned things sell almost as fast as I can make them, so I don’t have a picture for you today, but I’ll update after I sew up the next batch. They’re all over the internet and I first saw them at a craft show, but never dreamed I’d ever waste my time on something so silly, yet here we are, about 100 sold and still in demand.
What they are is a square potholder with a cupped middle – you put your leftovers into a bowl, the bowl into the Bowl Buddy, the whole shebang into the microwave for re-heating and when you take the bowl out of the microwave you don’t burn yourself. Works great for cold stuff, too. I even sewed up a few for Awana in the shape of the trays her favorite microwave meals come in.
I know, right? I was fine using a dish towel for years! Who needs another Thing to Wash? Well, I’m here to tell you these things are amazing and I use them all the time. There are a lot of them out there, and many of them are crap – made in huge numbers with cheap materials and poor workmanship, all thin and saggy. Now, I don’t want to talk down about other crafters, but some of the shit I’ve seen at the craft shows just boggles the mind! How will Mr, and Mrs Average Citizen ever develop respect for handcrafts when much of what they see is complete and utter garbage? Gives us all a bad name and that makes me mad.
Nope. Not gonna rant about that today.
Sabu is loving her fenced yard, gleefully barking at everyone who walks by. There’s one raised bed in the yard and I’d love to add another for gardening this year, but time and $$ are short so it may just be pots on the porch this year, flowers and herbs only until I can get some space set up for veggies.
Work is crazy this time of year, and I better get back to it, so I’ll sign off for now…
I Won't Take It 