This week has been very typically March – rainy, a little windy, a little chilly, but full of blooming trees and flowers.   For me it’s been perfect for being in the craft room and working on some spring and summer outfits for the girls.  Oona does keep my pace at little better than turtle speed, but I’ve made some progress nonetheless.  I’ve gotten 3 new books that I am absolutely obsessed with and they are keeping me busy.  I bought Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross and I can’t stop drooling over the different projects she’s got.  Her fabrics have always been some of my favorite – the mermaid quilt and curtains for Emily are from Heather’s Mendocino line and I have a pink VW Bus fabric of hers currently on my quilting frame (been working on that on and off for the better part of a year now).  If I can locate some more of her fabric from that line (I am not sure it’s still in production) I will be scooping it up for some of the designs in the book.

I am also going crazy over 2 Japanese sewing books I bought on ebay.  I’ve been noticing a lot of crafters in the blogosphere raving about them for months now, so I looked around and decided to give them a try.  They are fantastic!  The designs are way cute – for kids and adults – and even though the books and patterns are 100% in Japanese (and I don’t read or speak Japanese) they are so well put together that I am still able to understand them.  That’s really saying something, I think.  I made a little blouse for Oona out of some cute little bird fabric I had.

It’s the first pattern I have ever made where I couldn’t read the instructions and yet it still has turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever made.  I’ll be working on plenty more from these books,  I can already tell.  What’s better is that I made them using a $20 sewing machine I picked up used a few weeks ago.  It’s an older model Singer that’s pretty much no – frills compared to my model 401-A that I adore, but it sews very nicely and practically makes buttonholes for you, so I am over the moon to have picked it up for such a great price.  Plus my other machine really needs a servicing so now I have something to use while that is being cared for.

In non – sewing news I have found a lady who runs a small farm with lots of chickens and plenty of hatching eggs in the breeds I was looking for.  Sometime after we return from Mexico I’ll be picking up some eggs from her and we’ll be hatching some baby chicks!  For now I need to get to work getting everything ready for them.   I hope my mother doesn’t mind chicken sitting when we visit family later this summer!

Speaking of animals……. looks like little Jasper cat has ringworm.  Let’s hear it for fun fungal infections!  After the last ridiculously expensive go round at the vets I am hoping to cure it without a trip in.  I searched around the web and some shelters suggest using Lamisil cream to clear it up, which would really be preferable at $5 a tube.  But let me ask this:  who the heck is in charge of marketing this stuff?  And what the heck are they thinking?  Are they trying to embarrass people into NOT buying it?  Because the generic CVS version of Lamisil is a bright green box with equally bright white HUGE lettering that simply says JOCK ITCH CREAM. I mean, really.  How cruel do you have to be?  I wonder if the teen cashier who rang me out believed me when I feebly mentioned “It’s for my cat” ?