organize!

By nature, I am an organized person (check out all 200 skeins of embroidery floss!) I love being able to find things quickly and knowing whether or not I have what I need to complete a project before I start it. I hate stopping mid-stream to go pick up a 59-cent item across town. It disrupts my creative flow.

I knew when I started to avoid the craft room after the holiday season that something was up. The space had been bothering me for a while as it was. Fabric was overflowing in giant plastic tubs, stuff was cluttering every flat surface, and I was having a hard time finding what I needed. When my grandmother passed and my grandfather was moved into a smaller space, I was gifted a beautiful 1940s-era armoire in need of some TLC. Having nowhere else to put it, I placed it in front of my idea wall in the craft room figuring I could always stand for some extra storage where crafts are concerned. However, the armoire was too big for the space and needed some major cleaning. It overwhelmed the room and sat empty. This weekend I broke down and decided to re-organize the craft room so I could finally go in there and not be frustrated and bothered by the mess. I cleaned out the armoire, papered the drawers, and moved it to the closet (which had to be cleared of its contents first.)

Now I've decided to re-purpose most of the room. The good news is I'm finally getting things organized again. The bad news is it's taking me forever since I'm really going through everything trying to decide if I still need it. Lots of purging going on. This is what it looks like now:


I've had to keep the door shut when I'm not in there working on it. So that's the long answer on why I haven't been posting about crafting lately. That should change by the end of this week. I'll share some photos when I finish up. I've been tossing valentine ideas around in my head and I need to get those started pronto!

florida primaries

I just voted. How about you? Florida has closed primaries, meaning you can only vote for candidates within your registered party. I used to be an Independent, but since I couldn't vote in primaries, I switched affiliation to Democrat in 2000. Even if you are a Florida Independent voter, today's election is important to determine the fate of Constitutional Amendment 1, which would decrease home owner's taxes and all the services that they pay for. My community also happens to be voting in 3 new city commissioners so I expect voter turnout to be higher than in the rest of the state. We'll see. You have until 7 p.m. to cast a ballot. Make sure you do!

and the winner is ...

Friday's Vanilla Coke taste test had three contestants and one clear winner.

Contestant #1: Coca-Cola Vanilla. It had a strong vanilla flavor, but it tasted more like vanilla extract. Add to that the tinny taste often found with canned Cokes and it was just okay.

Contestant #2: Regular Coke with vanilla flavoring added. We added one tablespoon vanilla flavoring to an entire can of Coke. The directions on the bottle said to add two tablespoons, but we were glad we stopped at one.

Contestant #3: Sonic vanilla Coke. I assume this is what #2 would have tasted like if we had added both tablespoons to the Coke. In other words, it was rather sweet.

The verdict: #2 was the clear winner, but that's not really a surprise. Mixing your own drink usually produces better results. Unfortunately, I'd rank Coca-Cola Vanilla last due to its vanilla extract flavoring. But considering I love Vanilla Cokes in any form or fashion, I'll still enjoy each version.

picture post

Here are some current projects I'm working on, some already started and some that will be soon -- like today.









Also, I've added new songs to my current music obsessions in the sidebar that have either been on heavy rotation on my iPod or have been pleasant old-school surprises dug up by shuffle. I love a good surprise.

coke is it

A few weeks ago, I was talking to one of my friends about the demise of my favorite Coke product, Vanilla Coke. Once Coca-Cola announced they wouldn't make it any more, they introduced Black Cherry Vanilla Coke. I liked that combination so I didn't complain too loudly. Then that version disappeared too, leaving me with only Cherry Coke. I'm not a huge Cherry Coke fan but the taste of canned Coke is not my favorite so I deal with it.

Of course, fountain Cokes are by far the best drink in the entire world. Finding a restaurant with the perfect syrup to soda water ratio is like hitting the jackpot. It goes without saying that it must be actual Coke, no Pepsi products for this Southerner unless truly, truly desperate for caffeine. But I digress.

My friend asked me why I didn't just buy vanilla syrup and mix it with regular Cokes. I hadn't really thought about it, honestly, since I try not to drink Coke all that much as it is. Anyway, he and I are getting together for lunch and a movie tomorrow and I thought it would be fun to make "real" Vanilla Cokes. I set about searching for vanilla syrup. When I couldn't find it at Publix or Target, I went to the web. I found Torani syrups are sold at Fresh Markets in this part of Florida, so I made a quick trip out there this morning. No problem. Then I hopped across the street to a Publix to buy regular Coke. I headed down the Cola aisle and couldn't believe what I saw. Vanilla Coke. In cans. On sale even -- buy 3 get 1 free. So I bought 3 Vanilla Cokes and 1 regular (after all, I still had the syrup.)

I was excited until I started to think about it some. Were they purging the last of their stash? Was it actually available at stores other than the Publix I regularly shop at? I was curious, so I stopped by another Publix that was on my way home. Sure enough, they had boxes of Vanilla Coke. Now I know for a fact that my Publix doesn't carry them (occasionally I check, hopeful that it'll be there.) I hopped online when I got home and found out that Coca-Cola reintroduced Vanilla Coke back in May (they call it Coca-Cola Vanilla now.) May? Why is it taking so long to reach stores again? I know it's not just Gainesville. I travel quite a bit and would have noticed Vanilla Coke bottles in the gas stations around the state. Anyway, I suppose I shouldn't complain. I bought enough to last me well into the summertime and, well, Vanilla Coke is back!

But now having two different ways to make Vanilla Cokes makes me wonder which would be better -- Coke with vanilla syrup added at home or straight Vanilla Coke out of a can. Tomorrow we'll test it and see. I'm even going to see if I can scrounge up other Vanilla Coke contenders between now and then (definitely Sonic, although using fountain Coke will alter the outcome I think.) I'll report back with our results.

In the meantime, check out this graph. What do they call Coke in your neck of the woods?

just in time

The scarf I've been knitting forever is finally done (yay!) In my defense, it was my first full-length knitting project unless you count the birthday card I made a few months ago. It took me about halfway through the scarf to really become comfortable with knitting. I wanted to knit a matching hat, but I'm not sure if this yarn is that good for that (and I can't find this color anywhere. Every other color imaginable in this yarn, sure, but no more green.)

Now that I'm finished with this simple project I think I'm ready to tackle something different. Apparently I have good timing. My Dad offered to buy me some Alpaca yarn while on a recent trip to Peru. I was excited about his offer and asked for a skein or two in blue or other bright colors. So when he emailed and told me he'd found some yarn, I imagined a few skeins the size of what I find at the yarn stores. Well, I was mistaken:







That, my friends, is a kilo of blue yarn. There seems to be a half-kilo of red and quarter-kilo of green. I was speechless. The yarn itself is really soft and well spun. I'm still not sure what to do with it all. But at least I know I won't be shopping for yarn anytime soon. As a second surprise, and fearing I wouldn't like these colors, my Dad also brought me back different dyes the Peruvians use to tint their yarn. These I'm really not sure what to do with, but the colors are vibrant. I'll have to put in some research time to figure out exactly how to dye yarn correctly (and colorfast-ly.) Suggestions, anyone?

*sigh* almost done

Well I figured out a way to organize all that embroidery floss I found on my antique trip a couple of weeks ago. Seven packs of 28-count floss bobbins later (that's 196 bobbins, thank you) and hours upon hours of wrist work and untangling random threads, I'm almost done winding my new-found stash. When I did the math, even including the floss bobbins, each skein cost less than 10 cents!

It's a pretty colorful bowl of floss, but I'm going to make them even easier to use by grouping like colors on giant metal rings leftover from my classroom days. I plan to keep the rings on the ribbon pegboard in the craft room for easy reach and inspiration. It was a calming activity to do over the last couple weeks while curled up under down blankets attempting to keep winter at bay. But I think my favorite part of all of that winding was coming up with some amazing embroidery ideas. Keep your eyes here for the results of all that brainstorming.