stuff and things have been happening!

So firstly, Sandy. That damn woman  knocked out my power for four days. I was right in the middle of pinning a project I was working on when my power went out. It wasn't even my whole street, either. It was a nugget barely a quarter of a mile that sounded like Rocky Point for the rest of the week with generators everywhere. Our problem was caused by two trees, one that fell directly on the power lines causing the pole to lean out quite a bit, and a few yards further up the road was a larger tree that had fallen completely across the road. The tree guys and the electric guys were on my road all day the Wednesday following the storm, they cleaned everything up and put things back in place...and power didn't come back until around 6-6:30 Friday night. Right, then.

So I haven't been doing a terrible amount of sewing lately, I've got QUITE a bit of schoolwork to get done in the next month...honestly this will take a miracle. But I have been able to get a few Christmas presents started for some people. I hope my recipients enjoy homemade gifts...if not, they should. They're thoughtful. Nobody wants the thoughtful gifts anymore. *sigh*

But anyway, I did get to sewing something yesterday...even if it isn't a huge deal. Mom and I went to the Salvation Army yesterday (...CHEAP FABRIC, people! Salvage some stuff!) and I came home with two bulky sweaters (one of them is a buttery colored Eddie Bauer heavy cable knit...score!). Mom got more. So I got going when I got home to making some boot warmer sock things, and I looove them!
I started with this white sweater I got for $3. I slipped it onto my machine through the collar BEFORE I cut anything. I stitched all the way around each arm at the top, right around underneath each armpit. This doesn't necessarily have to be neat, it is just to keep everything from unraveling on you when you cut the sleeves off.

 When I was finished with that, chop of those sleeves right above when you stitched, and you should get two of these. Flip them inside out, roll the rough edge over and sew your hem.

 Slide onto your leg & stuff into your boots. Done! I did these in like 5 minutes before I headed out to class last night. My legs were toasty warm. Also don't judge my pigeon toes...Bear calls me Tommy Pickles. It isn't nearly that bad though.

Also, just as a side note, Miss Girl is a hero! Friday night I went to take her across the street for our goodnight tinkle time, and she started dragging me with a purpose to the other side of where our neighbor parks her car. She starts growling and pulling harder so I tried to pull her back into the street and a little THING starts following us- I freaked out, thinking "Oh sh*t, is that a bobcat?! Miss Girl is going to get mauled and so might I and OH MY GOD." It turned out to be this little puppy...aw. He had no collar on but was extremely friendly and just as well trained. I took the dog to my neighbor's house while Mom went home with Miss Girl so she could make some phone calls to figure out whose dog this was. We ended up figuring it out and he got back home safely. The owners didn't seem concerned...I wanted to let them know that it wouldn't have been the first time a small dog got loose at night around here and turned up eaten by something days later. Smart people.

He was such a good boy, though. I had so many kisses from him all over my face by the time we got him back to where he belonged.