Our Weekend with Irene

Here in NJ, not too many miles from the Hudson River, we've just survived Hurricane Irene.  In fairness, this wasn't nearly as bad as hurricanes can be, and we didn't get it nearly as bad as they did down south or worse, the Caribbean.  Honestly, I think we slept through a good portion of it.  But not knowing what it was going to be like or how hard we'd be hit, we had to plan our weekend around it.

So I'll tell you what we did.  After moving all of the potted plants off the deck to the dining room table, lashing the garbage cans and grill to the deck, and moving everything else into the garage, we took a run to the supermarket for some non-perishables, stocked up on peanut butter and tuna fish.

At home, we did a ton of laundry as prep for a potential power outtage.  Then I made one of my misfits from the other sewing book Eric got me for my birthday, Hamish the Bat.

He's even cuter in person!  The wings are made of black felt I got to do my felties, like the classic zombie and zombie kitty I recently posted.  The body is an old orange and black mottled t-shirt of mine, perfect coloring for Halloween!  The eyes are buttons that I got last year from my nephew as a birthday gift.  And the mouth is just embroidery thread.

I couldn't stop with one and made Mad Hungry the wolf too.  His head is the same fleece I used for the elephant and the mouse, and his body was part of a black t-shirt.  Eyes, same batch of buttons as the bat.

Meanwhile, Eric baked us some loaves of bread to use with our peanut butter and jelly.

On Sunday morning, I forced Meg to go out for a walk, since she'd had her legs crossed ever since it'd started to rain the day before.  She hates rain.  Hates.  She thinks I'm torturing her when I make her go in the rain.  But such is life.

For brunch on Sunday, he used it to make us French toast.  I took the opportunity to rearrange my jewelry box too.  And when it cleared up on Sunday afternoon, we went for a walk.

Total damage:

Soggy, annoyed dog.

Deck plants in the dining room.

Twigs all over the deck.

One branch that nearly took out the garden.  But didn't.

And some casualties of the fruit-like persuasion.

Sunday night, True Blood.  In the end, not so bad!

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Artist Spotlight: Part Fifty-Five

You've met this talented Aussie before, here, here, and here.  Yup, Haffina of Haffina's Creations!

This time, I thought I'd focus on the wares in her Handmade Artists Shop.  So...

Check out this Men's red diamond pendant on leather.  You don't see a lot of male-oriented jewelry on handmade sites, so this is especially fantastic, made from a faceted glass pendant.

Or there's this kumihimo and polymer clay bracelet or anklet.  She braided the kumihimo herself and made the polymer clay beads by hand too!

Or this green circles seed bead choker necklace, which includes freshwater pearls.

See for yourself!

Night of the Living Dead

Yes, I know this one actually came before Dawn of the Dead, but I started in the wrong order, what can I tell you?  Point is...

Zombie Kitty!

Now Classic Zombie has a pet!  Is he cute, or what?  I love the eyeball "tag" on his collar.

I think I need to start naming these guys something besides Classic Zombie and Zombie Kitty.  Any ideas?

Dawn of the Dead

Eric is awesome.  My birthday was July 28, and he got me the best presents, but I'll get to those in a minute.  First, let me show you what I made.

A zombie!

The pattern for it came from this book, one of my birthday gifts from E.

Am I right about him being awesome, or what?  Not sure yet?  Well, I also got this book.

And this one.

And this tea and chocolate and fondant ribbon cutter.

And the coup de gras, a Brookstone back massager!

Oh, and by the way, we got to eat our first cucumber from the garden!

Was awesome!

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Artist Spotlight: Part Fifty-Four

You've met her before, more than once, in fact, but she's definitely worth another look, so this week I'm updating you on the adventures of Theresa Rusk of TRusk4U!

While she's still got an Etsy shop, she's focusing more these days on her Handmade Artists shop.  Find out about the move and more at her blog.  On the other hand, if you want to read about her real live brick and mortar storefront, you can check out her other blog, on which she features the artists who provide the wares in her North Carolina shop.

In the meantime, check out some of her new items...