So, so what? I made some doughnuts

I totally know my creative limitations. I don't try to pretend I'm an amazing seamstress. Most of what I know, I learned from Mrs. Kehl in 7th grade. (Do they even teach sewing in middle school anymore?) I mean, I've improved, and I can now make things in a few hours instead of the 3 weeks it took at Desert Shadows. But still, I know what I can do. And mostly it involves a straight stitch and no zippers. (I still have nightmares about zippers!)

After seeing the felt breakfast, a good friend mentioned how awesome it would be if I made doughnuts. Yes, it would be awesome. But a third dimension? Can't do it.

But the story she told was so funny and great that it was like a challenge I couldn't pass up. I had to make doughnuts for her kids. So I looked at some doughnuts online and figured out a pattern and went to work. The first one,...not so good. The hole in the middle was too big and it just looked kinda odd.

But I finally figured it out. And I was so excited, I drove over to my friend's house forced her into a playgroup just so I could give them to her.

So, friend, thanks for the challenge! And the playgroup! Next time we meet, though, I hope there are less kids and more booze.

Grandma Cuckoo

My mother lives near an amazing fabric store. And nothing else. Okay, the ocean, too, which is pretty awesome. And she has quite an addiction. To fabric. Which she passed on to me.
Yesterday, I received a box in the mail full of presents for the kids, (unwrapped, thanks mom!), and some fabric.

My mother told me to call her when I got it, to tell her I liked it. It was selected from the Courtney color palette that lives in my mother's head. I pulled the fabric out and thought, "She's mad!"

There were two fabrics and one was brown with flowers and the other was green with swirls. Neither of which was particularly "me."
She called and we chatted and I told her I liked it. It's pretty, I just didn't see what was so "Courtney style" about it.
Then, later, I showed my husband and I realized there was more fabric folded inside. TEN fabrics!

And together they look awesome! I totally see me in there!

So now I need to call my mom and tell her that
a. I'm a dork and b. she's awesome

And? If anyone wants to tell me what I should do with all this, I'd love to hear it!!
Quilts, no. We have too many over here. But what else?

P.S. One time, I taught Hartwell that my mom's name was Grandma Cuckoo. It was pretty funny.

And when the music starts I never wanna stop Its gonna drive me crazy

My husband and I were in Old Town Pasadena walking around with the kids. We decided to divide and conquer so I took the baby and wandered around the Crate and Barrel and he took the big one to run around outside. As Hartwell dilly-dallied down the street, a city bus pulled along him and stopped. The bus was full of people. The driver looked at Hartwell, who was in his own world, and yelled to my husband, "You need to get him a keyboard. A full size keyboard. He's gonna make you money." My husband kind of nodded and said thank you and then the bus driver added, "Not the little ones. A FULL SIZE keyboard!" Did I mention that the bus was full of people?

We've always thought that it would only help our kids if they have some musical knowledge. (And I have no problem forcing my boys into a band). We have a couple of guitars in the basement and Hartwell knows how to turn on the amp and get the music goin'. And when we visit Aunt Ninny, the boys attack the piano with such force that I always wished we had one. While simultaneously thanking the gods that we don't.

And then, the universe gave us one. An amazing friend needed to find a home for her piano and asked if we'd like to have it. We were so happy! Music everywhere!

It arrived yesterday and Hartwell sat sweetly at the keys and asked if he could play it. I thought,"Awww,...I can handle this!" Turns out it was a one time thing. Now there's nary a pause before "BANG! BANG! BANG!" But we love it. And I'm learning that multitasking in the presence of obnoxious piano banging can be done.

This is where we do all of our living.

I was sweeping my living room floor last night and marveling at the number of cheerios and cheese crackers in the dustpan. And dog hair. I live in a day care kennel.

I made my neighbor come over and smell my house. Like a first impression smell before the playgroup came over. (I have the best neighbor ever). Unanimously dog. Stinky, stinky basset hound.

All this cereal covered stinkiness makes me long for a time before children and before sweeping the floor took three trips to the trash can. And I came upon this photo. I love it. It's like how my living room was supposed to look before I was storing toys in every crevice. And when we used the fireplace. Even with candles. Now there's a furni pad crammed up in the chimney because it has no damper. But we used to buy firewood! And had a fireplace accessory set! Nowadays I would be biding my time before I was hit upside the head with a dirty broom. And can you imagine the face of the kid who discovers the bellows?!

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I had a white couch. White. Now I have a dark brown, ultra-suede arch nemesis. And there's no going back.

There must've been some magic in those recycled sweaters

I made more snowmen! They seem to be popular. I really like them a lot, but my love for things hardly translates to the universe's love of things. So I was pleasantly surprised. Which is the best kind.

I included a picture of a snowman before he gets poked full of sweater leavin's. (Spell check never watched Married with Children in the '80s, I guess).

It starts with a snowman shaped sweater piece and the squiggly yarn is poked through with a special needle. Permanently adhering it to the sweater. Then, I use that pile of colorful yarn to make the details. I don't waste anything. You can even see the orange yarn that becomes the nose.

I really hope I end up with one of my own. I don't have hardly any homemade ornaments on my tree.

On a completely different train of thought, I waxed my own eyebrows today. So if you see me, please don't mention that my stage right brow is a little off. I mean, they're blonde, but still.

Maybe I can get this lady to make me some emergency brows.

Toasty the Snowman

I just added him to my etsy page! I really like how he tuned out. I unravelled a sweater and it still had the curly, swirly texture of the knitting. Then I needle felted it to a base of the same sweater cut into a snowman shape.

I made a few but one is reserve for a relative and the other is for a MOMS Club raffle. 

I don't know what I'm gonna make when Christmas is over. I've had so much fun with the ornaments. I wonder if everyday trees will ever catch on?

Why, with the three million that I won on this Lucky Lotto ticket, I can take this $2500 and just blow it all on hats.

Something that's always bugged me about winter in L.A. is the weird hipster winter wardrobe. It'll be 70 degrees outside and there will inevitably be some woman with a trendy earflap hat and Ugg boots at the Whole Foods. It's not even cold! I guess they just make the seasons up as they go since we don't really have them. But I would appreciate a bit more judgment. Like, wait 'til it's 65 degrees or something.

That being said, the boys discovered their winter hats today and since they were so taken by how cute they looked, we went outside for a photo shoot.

Oooh! Maybe that why the hipsters do it! They love how they look!

And maybe I'm just annoyed because when I wear a hat, I look like I'm bald. Because my hair matches my skin. So I never get the cool hats. I just load up on scarves. And then buy hats for the boys.

Reduce, Reuse, Sleeping baby

I did it! I am finally an etsian! Not like the shopping kind. Like the selling kind. It's very exciting! I was finally able to get some stuff finished. I always have stuff that's almost finished that sits and stares at me and makes me feel bad. Which, not cool, crafts!

So here are some of the lovely things I threw together while waiting for Etsy to upload my scarf photos. It's very time consuming. And you have to come up with prices and shipping? I am not good about knowing my product worth. I always think, "How much would I pay?" But I'm a cheap bastard, so that never works.

(I am definitely laying off the coffee today. I am on full speed. And I still have to go to Starbucks. The obvious thing to do would be to order decaf. But when I'm there? With two wild babies? I think, "I'm gonna need more caffeine.")

So. The above items are basically made of sweaters I recycled and felted in the washing machine. Then needle felted with wool yarn to make the accents. And the mittens were finished with the blanket stitch. Needle Felting is amazing because it is so instantly gratifying. I think of something, poke it with a needle and TA-DA! Christmas tree!

I also included a picture of my sleeping baby. It was too hilarious to leave in my camera.
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