Just in case… you ever really wanted a Chocolate Dog Studio cup cozy or French Press cozy, but didn’t want to pay shipping. You can now buy one here in TULSA! I’m so excited. Chocolate Dog Studio cup sleeves are consigned for sale at the New Java Dave’s, at the Farm Shopping center.
Stop by and say ChocolateDogStudio sent you!
talk to you later,
Karen
Here are some photos of our March as it roared in with ice and snow storm.
I took several photos over the course of the day for the college girl. It is always so amazing to me that it was snowing on Sunday and the very next Friday it is supposed to be 60 degrees plus! Â This was Sunday morning as the ice and snow started.
About noon it was really snowing pretty hard.
Then we got another layer of ice.
Here is the next morning. Which is really nothing to those of you that live North of us, but quite amazing to us. March snowstorms are not unusual for Oklahoma. My tulips are sprouting and the daffodils are up but not blooming yet. Spring is on the way.
I have been sewing, crocheting and working on more 100 items in 100 day stash projects! This week has been busy with a trip to a college for a couple of scholarship interviews. It was nice to spend one on one time with DS and to think that he graduates in a couple of short months. Our home seems to be getting quieter and quieter, but this week will be busy with our daughter’s college friends visiting here for parts of Spring Break. It will be fun and crazy with a lot of food and laughter.
Talk to you later,
Karen
Confession time
The quilt is quietly killing me. Well, not very quietly, I must admit that there is a certain amount of huffing and puffing as I haul that quilt around, between and through the sewing machine. If you add in the fact that my sewing machine isn’t quite happy to be sewing right now, then you can guess what I am going to say next. After fussing about it to myself anyone who will listen, I moved on to crocheting, and modge podging. Something that will actually allow me to complete a project. These photos are just quickie phone photos but they get the job done.
I found this pattern here and it is wonderful.
http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2011/11/crocheted-skinny-scalloped-scarf.html
I also decoupaged some tea boxes with fabric as I was needing some drawer organizers.
Here they are drying.
Talk to you later, My FIL just arrived for lunch!
Karen
p.s. I am in deep trouble. My father in law brought four more tubs of fabric from my mother in law’s stash. oh wow. He said I could make 100 more items…!
There are certain rules that should be followed when sewing a quilt.
1. Always use a quality cotton fabric as the backing, never a twin sheet. Â A twin sheet might be cheaper but you get what you pay for.
2. Always use fabric of about the same quality.
3. Always quilt the quilt as close as the label says you should.
4. Do not use Rayon thread as any of the decorative stitching, because rayon deteriorates quickly when washed repeatedly.
How do I know all of these things, because I once did all of these on one quilt. It became THE quilt to my daughter and now all of my errors and tightwaded-ness are haunting me. I took it down out  of the top of her closet to repair it. When I  saw how much repairing it needed I almost gave up, but she loves it. So it is worth saving. I have given it a new backing, new batting, patched all the holes, and it is slowly coming together. Basting it all together on the floor about killed me but it is reconstructing slowly. That really does look beautiful from a photograph but is quite the nightmare to sew on. Some of the fabric wasn’t cut on the grain and stretched. Some of it was a good quality and some wasn’t and you can now tell. So, it is rather wibbly wobbly in places. I don’t think she will care, if it isn’t perfect.
I have been wrestling it for two days and I am no where close to being finished with it, to top it all off my sewing machine is acting up. I am taking a break right now. I have ordered a new bobbin case. I hope that solves the problem but this repair is taking longer than I thought it would!
Talk to you later,
Karen
P.S. This is #10
WoooHoo!
people are joining in!
Lou from http://louslabors.wordpress.com/ has decided to join in. She changed the rules to fit her goals!
I grew up with this saying being repeated over and over during my childhood.
It has had a huge impact on me as an adult. I do feel that it is wasteful to have so many crafting supplies and then to not use them. I find myself running out to buy a little bit of this or a little bit of that and I wondered if I could actually create 100 items over 100+ days without going to the store. So I started this challenge to use up my supplies. You can find  the original blog post here. http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/01/17/1-thing-for-100-days-challenge/
I have finished #4 and #5
#4Â oatmeal colored scarf with brown edges
I completely used the oatmeal colored yarn. I almost finished the brown heather yarn. They were two complete skeins at the beginning.
#5 Shortened and Hemmed curtains for daughter’s bedroom.
Sorry about the awful photo. The curtains look great and don’t drag on the floor.
How are you doing? What number are you working on?
Talk to you later,
Karen
My blog posts are running about a day behind what I am actually finishing up!
people
I originally wrote this two years ago and now we are facing the third child to graduate and leave our house, yet my emotions are much the same as they were then.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/103074242/comfort-coffin-fine-art-print-bird
Our oldest daughter is a senior this year. She will be graduating and  heading off into the great adventure called life which is exciting. I am sure that this is how she sees it. I know it is how I saw it. I am afraid that now I see it as an abyss full of dark and menacing shadows. Yes, I know I am being over protecting, but Moms do that sometimes. I did not feel this way when our oldest started out to college.
Well, back to the context, we are headed to a College preview week, not day or even weekend. It is a week of activities to help them get used to being at a college. It is a Monday to Thursday experience of living in the dorms, eating dorm food, even taking some mini classes, trying on a major to see if it fits. The college has bent over backwards for us. Which is exceedingly nice. There was one point on Tuesday that they had talked to me more on the phone than my mother had for the week. Â I quickly remedied this on Wednesday and called my Mom for a long involved chat about sending your daughter to college. I came away with the knowlegde that it doesn’t get easier when you are a Grandparent. The abyss becomes the mouth of a hungry dragon that breathes fire.
I know that this weekend is set up to help us as home schooling parents cut the apron strings, and to assure us that they do know how to take care of our kids. So I will be there for the week as well, feeling I am sure somewhat like the third wheel. So there I will be living in the dorm, eating dorm food and even taking some mini classes about financial aid, helping your student prepare for college. Â I Â hope that I leave the week feeling that the abyss at least has some lights and a few life preservers stashed here and there, along with some friendly faces. I need to go and pack some super long twin sheets and my clothes, I keep putting this off as I am not quite ready to do the letting go required of me. Thankfully, I have a WHOLE YEAR of final events to get used to the letting go. Do I sound sarcastic, well I intended too. I rather wish that the letting go was like labor , BOOM there you go, and 24 hours later you have a graduate. They have fledged and left the nest successfully, but they don’t and it doesn’t happen this way.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/96487883/birds-nest-feeding-baby-birds-spring
Yes, well. She survived and did wonderfully well, loves college, made friends and has great grades. Her friends ARE the one she met at the college preview week.  So now on to the third child. Say some prayers for me as we head into the last stretch of the Sr. year of high school!
Thanks,
Karen
One of the joys of reaching this point in my life is the ability to say “I don’t do that well and I don’t have to prove that I can, or I can survive quite well not doing ___________.” In fact I reached this point one Thanksgiving when a very close and dear friend gave me a recipe to create a 3-d turkey cake. In fact it is this very cake here.
Susy made it and it was beautiful. “You can do this, won’t it be fun! It is so Easy” she said.When I was finished, my turkey was laying on his back with his little turkey feet up in the air. He looked like someone had blasted him with a shot gun. In fact, I made little turkey feet out of pipe cleaners and stuck them in so that you could see that he was in fact a true Thanksgiving turkey! I still smile about that turkey cake. Will I every make an elaborate cake like this again. Nope, never, ever, ever… I can make a bundt cake from scratch and I can cook good meals. I don’t have to make 3 -d cakes ever again! I don’t have to keep up with the other women in my life…they have their gifts and I have mine!
There are other things that have I have decided that I just don’t have to stress about anymore. I don’t have to have superstar perfect children. Bear with me a minute on this. Then there is the time we were signing some papers and I sent all four of  the kids 10 and under out the back yard to play. The lady we were meeting with said “what well behaved children you have.” I said, oh they are probably playing in the mud in the back yard. What were they doing…yes, exactly playing in the mud, rolling in the mud, throwing the mud. There wasn’t an inch on any of them that didn’t have mud on it or in it.
Our children are perfect children, and are perfect at being imperfect human beings growing, learning and making mistakes. Don’t even get me started telling you how I know what five rolls of toilet paper dissolved in a bathtub looks like…or how much water it takes on the floor to make it like a slip and slide,or exactly what kittens do when they are dunked in a kiddie pool, or what happens if you put a twist tie in an electrical outlet, or ….well the list is endless.
I don’t have to have a perfect house. Wow, I admitted that on paper. Really, all my real friends really already know, I don’t have a perfect house. It is usually in a state of perfect disarray. It has six visual people that leave things out so they can find them again. A perfectly logical thing to do. We also tend not to see the work that needs to be done, but I will admit that I am working on that. It is getting better and getting cleaner as time goes by but a neat freak I am not. Come on by and hang out.
Talk to you later,
Karen
I did some serious thinking about the 1 thing for 100 days. I like to challenge myself in different ways. I am already doing the New Year’s resolution thing with exercise, house cleaning and devotional/reading time. I really didn’t want to repeat those things again. So this is my challenge and you are welcome to join me.
Here it is!
I will try to make 1 thing in 100 days using only the supplies I have on hand. I will not buy any more supplies except for thread, buttons and elastic. I am going to try to use a variety of supplies and techniques to make my 100 things. I have a 100 + item board on Pinterest if you want to see some of the inspirations for my projects. http://www.pinterest.com/chocodog/100-%2Bideas-for-using-up-my-supplies/
I have fabric, yarn, paint, batting, canvas, etc… I hope to make some things for our house that I have been putting off as well as come up with some new ideas for the ChocolateDogStudio shop. Â I am not going to simply make 100 cup cozies or Granny Squares. I could do that in three days.
Some of the projects that are half done will count as well as ideas that have been percolating for some time. I DO have yarn that I ordered last week and fabric that I bought before Christmas. So some of the supplies are new and some are very old. I have a bunch of vintage cottons that are screaming out to be place mats, quilts, houses or bunnies!
These adorable mice are from mmmCrafts. Â http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/2012/02/wee-mouse-tin-house-pattern-available.html
I do have tins! Do, I ever have tins!
Ticker tape quilts! Yes, I have batting and backing! IÂ have a ridiculous amount of crafting supplies, sewing supplies, art supplies, recycled materials, kids craft materials, etc. If you need something just ask. It is overwhelming to think about, dig through, sort, manage, keep organized and find what I need I have so much stuff. I do have two sets of purse handles, modge podge, bracelet blanks, animal fleece, wool suiting and several very nice larger pieces of fabric. It will be a challenge but I am more than ready. I have felt for some time that “Hoarders” could come and make a movie about the amount of craft things I have.
Here are the rules:
Join in with me and post your item links in the comments. I will post your items on my blog as well. Worst case scenario we will 100 prototype items and the Best case scenario is that we will have found new uses and homes for hundreds of craft supplies that were laying around.
I haven’t been so excited in ages. This is going to be so hard and so much fun at the same time. I am also getting ready to start another challenge. It is a granny square challenge. I will share more about it later.
See you,
Karen
****Note****************************************************************************************After I posted this I started a Pinterest board for all of our wonderful projects that we are going to finish! Â Reach me via my Etsy shop if you want to be added to the Pinterest page. I will need the e-mail you used to sign up for Pinterest with. I reserve the right to remove you from the board if anything above a PG level is posted. I will never, never use your e-mail for anything else, EVER. I will personally start posting on Saturday Jan. 13, 2014!
*************************************************************************************************
Here is my first project for the 100 things from my stash challenge.
Honestly, I had started this before I started the challenge and I have been working on it off and on for several days. Here  are some photos of the beginning of the project. I was inspired by different photos on Pinterest and blogs that I read. I try to decorate a little for each of the different holidays but I was wanting something new.
This vase with flowers and sticks is from http://mijnindiansummer.blogspot.nl/2013/02/vintage-altijd-bloeiende-bloemen.html.
Michaels version of sticks in a jar. Â http://www.pinterest.com/pin/364158319839146292/
So I started with the sticks in a jar.
Ok, a little reality here. The sticks are from  my yard. The curly ones are honeysuckle vines that came down in the storm. The jar is an old spaghetti sauce jar that someone felt we needed to keep. The plaster of paris holding the sticks upright in the jar is leftover from some school or scout project. The crochet is made up from the tiny balls of yarn and some granny square extras left over from a blanket. I painted the sticks in about ten minute sessions over a couple of days. So, it wasn’t a big time waster.
The felt hearts I had made up about six years ago to put in a bowl on the same table. They simply looked awful and I put them in a zipper bag and forgot about them. Originally they were simply one color of felt on the front and looked blah. Quite frankly, the felt was collected over the years. Some of the felt, I used in grade school. My Mom gave it back to me when the girls were in scouts.
I pulled out my embroidery floss and felt bits. I Â used the floss bits that I were too short to keep. No, really I had a bunch of bits and pieces of floss that were already separated and cut from the skein.
I used my infinite supply of buttons too small to use on anything on the front and sometimes the back to add a bit of interest and sparkle. It has turned out better than I expected.
Here it is finished and ready for Valentine’s Day!
Talk to you later,
Karen
This is meant to be funny but often times hits closer to home than I intended it to. I hope you can enjoy the spirit in which it is meant.
The life cycle of a large crochet project.
Personal experience tells me that there are at least 5 distinct phases of a project. There is the  dream phase, the beginning phase, the please let me finish this phase or Mount Everest, the I can’t wait to finish this or the downhill phase/ dreaming of a new project, and finally the I can’t believe that it is finished phase and I can’t wait to start the new project.
The dream phase is incredible fun. I tend to surf the internet looking for patterns, styles, colors or just plain inspiration. I will pull out all of my yarns and make a huge mess while I play with it. I have been known to start and stop, frogging the trial swatch several times before I hit on the perfect project. Pinterest is huge fun at this point. Dreaming about all of the projects, colors, styles and incredible possibilities. Â I am full of enthusiasm, excitement, and a bit obsessive.
The dream phase has enough enthusiasm and excitement to carry me through the beginning phases of a project. I am thrilled and happy. I am brilliant person for picking that particular color combination or pattern. How wonderful it is to be working on this project. Look the colors just sing! This  phase is accompanied by  stretching out the blanket and showing how beautiful all the colors are and much required admiring remarks from the family. This all sounds like bliss, until we hit the dreaded middle of the project or Mount Everest.
Mount Everest is the middle of the project where you aren’t quite half way. I have committed a fortune to the supplies for this monster. Yes, monster of a project and I am just not- Going- To – Quit. This is often muttered under your breath while your family sits on the opposite side of the room and says things like “Would you like chocolate while you work on this? Would you like to watch a movie and eat chocolate? How about some chocolate? Yes, frequently chocolate does help, but the bigger the project the larger and longer this Mount Everest feels. Quite frequently this is also where a project can become a WIP (work in progress) or PIG (project in grocery bag) and quietly put aside. My final thoughts on a big project are “please,please, just let me finish this before I die.” Which is silly since I am not on the brink of death and I will finish this project. Great background music is Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia (the original production). Followed by the Ava Maria as you pass over the middle of the project and slide down the back half of the project.
The last half of the project or down hill from Mount Everest is filled with anticipation of the next project. My thought processes are filled with dreamy thoughts about how wonderfully the next project will go and how happy I will be to complete it.  It will go so quickly and be so completely fabulous that I will finish it in no time…etc…  I may even order the yarn or spend time flirting with the yarn stores on line by putting items in my shopping cart one day and removing them the next or even a week later. Finally, good sense will take hold and the $30 per skein specialty yarn will get evicted from the shopping cart and I will decide to work with what I have on hand already. My husband will give me the look by which he means… “You already have five laundry baskets of yarn downstairs and two upstairs and you mean to say that you can’t use what you already have?” All the while I crochet happily away thinking and saying to myself “I am SO DONE with this project. Why did I pick such a large size blanket? What was I thinking about making so many color changes and look at all the ends I am going to have to weave in at the end?”  About 25 rows from the end I start estimating how many rows it will take to finish it and how many more nights I am going to spend crocheting. It looks like this. “Ohhhh, look I only have 15 rows left, surely I can get this done tonight. Surely I can just crochet faster and get it done by 9 tonight.”
My Husband finally looks over at me after ten and says… “Aren’t you going to sleep tonight”. Â So I grudgingly put it away and finally finish it up the next night.
The next night will show me doing a happy dance. As I show off the beautiful finished creation full of beauty and  of course loose ends that aren’t completely woven in. So, I sit down for the next two or three nights weaving in the ends of the project as I struggle to really finish it off right! Enthusiasm for the next project might shorten this weaving in phase or it might eclipse it altogether as I head off in the blissful beginnings of a new crochet blanket, or the middle of Mount Everest. Which is exactly where I am right now on this project.
Happy and obsessed is the crocheter that never runs out of yarn, because there is always a little bit left over to crochet with!
talk to you later,
Karen
So sorry about the bad photo at the end but I am a bit obsessed with finishing this one. I have another project on my mind that I already have yarn for, and the yarn for the project after this one is on it’s way in the mail! :0)