bakers twine and crocheted hearts...

...are a wonderful combination!
This week I received a recent purchase of bakers twine in seven great colors in the mail from Becca at lavender's blue.

What to do with it all?!
Well, first, in blog reading this week, I found a very nice tutorial at //Between the lines// for crocheted hearts and knew I had to make some!
So, these

plus some of this

became a crocheted heart garland!

The hearts are so simple and quick to make, I think I need to make more... maybe to turn into pins for female relatives, to put on cards... I better think quick, Valentine's Day is right around the corner!

grandma's stand mixer...

... has belonged to me for a couple of years now. I don't use it often enough -- partly because I can barely stand to get all of that stainless steel loveliness flour dusty and dough dirty!

 grandma's stand mixer

And not only is the mixer awesome in its own right, it also has this gorgeous cover!

vintage embroidered mixer cover

I believe my grandmother embroidered it... if not her, then it is my great-grandmother's work. It's kind of a shame to hide the beauty beneath it, but I do love the cover as much as the mixer!

my first post...

... and I'm very nervous for some reason! I read so many great, well-written blogs and I know it can't be easy putting yourself out there for the world to see. I want to be witty and interesting, not dull and boring- but I guess it really comes down to the fact that I just need to be me. My one true goal for this blog is to document what's going on now in my life so I can look back at it in 20 years and LMAO!!

So, to start off, this is where I spend waaaaay too much time- but, I just can't help myself!

 

This corner of the dining room table is mine, mine, mine... except at dinner time, of course! I like to surround myself with a few of my favorite things. Right now those things are:

1. My Chococat Pez dispenser (forget Kitty! just kidding... she's cute too but this black cat is my fav)
2. Little plastic animals my kids got off their Shirley Temples (remember those?!) at my birthday dinner
3. Ear plugs for when my son is practicing drums (really, you can't practice after school when I'm not home?!)
   
4. A 1962 French Holy Calendar

I'm not Catholic but love this little book so much for three reasons: it's vintage, it's in French and it has the most darling illustrations!

My reason for parking myself in the dining room, which runs right into the living room, is that I can keep myself in the middle of all the action. It allows me to interact with and be available for my two teenage sons, my husband and our two pups. (Plus I have a direct line of sight to the television!) I also set my sewing machine up on the dining room table and do my other crafting and crocheting in this part of the house. Someday, when the basement is finished or the kids are gone (not quite sure which will come first and our youngest is in 8th grade... sigh) I will have my own studio. But, for now I'm satisfied with neatly storing my craft stuff around the house and making the most of my dining room table....

And what do I do with all of my real time in this virtual world? I have a vintage Etsy shop (which I need to spend more time on), I read a lot of fantastic blogs, I search for crochet and sewing patterns, and I have recently opened a Flickr account (which leads to subsequent browsing of so many wonderful things!). One would think that after spending all day at my 'real' job sitting at a computer, I would not want to spend my free time doing the same thing, but like I said, I just can't help myself!