Crocheting Frenzie!!!

Mike and I decided to have a lazy weekend, after the jam-packed one we had last week. I was off Friday and decided to do some estate saleing. I picked 4 that looked promising, but they were all pretty much a bust. I did find a few ornaments for my vintage ornament wreath that I hope to complete by Christmas, but it was slim pickins'! Hopefully, once I find enough ornaments I will be able to make something that looks as AWESOME as this

http://retrorenovation.com/2011/09/25/vintage-christmas-ornament-wreaths-the-first-wave-of-georgia-peachez-2011-designs/

I also found a jar of marbles. Marbles? Yes, marbles. Thanks once again to Pinterest, I have found a great project. Unfortunately, this one will have to wait until next year, but I am all ready to make it happen now!

http://gardendrama.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/garden-art-on-the-cheap-diy-glass-marbles-in-your-fence/

Jar-O-Marbles

Saturday we planned to do NOTHING, we watched a bunch of movies, and I did manage to work in some crocheting. I decided to pull from my unfinished project box. Now, lets be clear, this box is not huge, but I definitely need to finish some things in it! Including my Christmas table runner. I have been working on this for about 2 1/2 years, and each year Christmas comes and goes, and the runner goes back into the unfinished box without ever seeing the table. This year though, I am determined to finish it!

I had seen different examples of Filet Crochet online, and I tried a couple of little things, and I decided that I wanted to try something bigger, but I couldn't find a pattern that I loved, so I decided to make my own. The nice thing about filet crochet is that you can basically use any cross-stitch pattern to achieve the look you want, but once again I couldn't find anything I really liked. It was Christmas time, and I decided that I wanted to make a runner. I wanted something that felt vintage, but with a modern twist. Finally, I found this website http://www.myphotostitch.com/ where you can take a picture and convert it to a pattern. BINGO! Now I just had to find a picture I liked. I played around with a few different Santa's, but finally I found this awesome clipart

http://grainedit.com/the-ghost-of-christmas-clip-art/

Next up was to decide on crochet thread, I went with a silver with a metallic thread. FYI - you need a lot of thread to make this runner. I have gone through 8 balls thus far, and will probably need 2 more.

I've found Hobby Lobby has the best selection of crochet thread

You will have to play with your pattern a little to get it the size that you want, but when you're done you will end up with something like this

As you can see, my pattern has been through the ringer!

I've found that it is easy to just cross off each row as you complete it

So I guess you might be asking "What is filet crochet?" Filet crochet gives a much more delicate look, kind of like lace. Essentially, an empty box is a post, 2 chains, and a post. An X is a post, 2 double crochets, and a post. (i.e. post = double crochet). My recommendation is to jump online and get a feel for it, but it REALLY is easy!!!

So here is what I have so far

I used the safety pins to count every 10 boxes in the beginning

I don't know when it will be done, but, doing my best Scarlett, "AS GOD AS MY WITNESS" it will be done before Christmas this year!!!

Sunday, Mike worked all day putting another tap in for our kegorator. So now our nameless bar has both domestic and import drafts ... great. Speaking of our nameless bar, anyone have any suggestions for a name? We thought Camp Ladefoged, Fort Ladefoged ... We want to keep it camp-kitchy!

While Mike was working on the taps, I decided to continue my lazy weekend. I spent the morning looking for patterns, and then I spent the afternoon making this hat for Miss Maddy

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rose-beanie

Madeline Marie Savidge 10/06/11

I couldn't make one for Maddy without making one for Nixie ...

2 yr old vs. Newborn

Even when I think I'm going to have a lazy weekend someone goes and has a baby, causing me to go into a crocheting frenzie!!! 

So how did you spend the weekend? Any unfinished projects you're working on now? And what should we name our bar?!

An Only In Denver Kind Of Weekend

Thursday afternoon one of my girlfriends at work, asked me to go out with her on Friday night. I told her I felt like I had something planned, but couldn't remember what. Mike and I had planned on heading up to the mountains on Saturday, but I swear I had something planned for Friday night ...

http://www.canvasandcocktails.com/

Oh that's right ... Nikki and I were going to Canvas and Cocktails!!!

C&C is this great Denver based business that combines ... you guessed it ... cocktails and canvas! Each night a different painting is taught. You may be thinking, there is no way I could do that, but the way the class is taught, it makes it so that anyone can achieve greatness! Once you decide on a painting that you want to do, reserve a seat (they go quick!). Arrive early, if you don't you have to sit at cafeteria style tables, with little elbow room, but if like Nikki and I, you arrive early, you can snag one of the few hightop tables for 2 or 3 people. Then, pick out your apron, grab a drink (or a bottle of wine), and get your colors.

Most of the aprons are just covered in old paint, but if you search hard enough you can find one that really suits your personality ...

Here is the painting that we were going to do that evening.

Nikki and I agreed that we would like to change it up some to fit our particular decor. I have decided to go with a Paris theme in the guest bedroom, and I decided on a purple palette to match my new bedding.

We lucked out because it turned out our instructor, Brittney, was the owner. The class is a combination of instruction, dancing, singing, ...  and painting. After 2 bottles of wine, and Nikki winning a free class by shaking her boot-ee, we ended up with some pretty sweet pictures! I wish my Eiffel Tower was better, but we had such a good time, who cares!

In case you think there is no way you can drink and paint at the same time, here is the proof that even drunk, art can be achieved!

More pictures can be seen at www.theambitiousprocrastinator.blogspot.com

My weekend was off to a good start, and on Saturday Mike and I set out for a trip to the mountains. One luxury of living in Colorado is the fall foliage. Take an hour drive out of the city, and you can see some of the most beautiful fall landscapes in the country! We decided to take our normal route, Denver to Grand Lake, through Rocky Mountain National Park, and down through Estes Park. Here are some of the highlights:

In Grand Lake

Beyonce in Grand Lake!

One of the best parts of driving through Rocky Mountain National Park, is the chance to see wildlife, particularly the elk at this time of year. We saw a few here and there on our drive, but not as many as usual. We began our trek home, leaving through Estes Park, when we got stuck in traffic, it had to be a horrific accident right? Nope, turns out some of the local elk had decided to spend the day at the park!

We spent some time watching as a juvenile bull tried to creep his way into the herd of cows. However, his attempts were thwarted by this massive specimen

But I was able to snag some great shots of Mike before we had to run for our lives to get out of the way of the fighting bulls!

 You might be thinking that there is nothing that could make this weekend better ... WRONG!!!

If you want fun then listen to this, Denver's hottest hangout is the Justice League of Street Food Party! Food Truck promoter Fat Damon is back, and this time he has gone crazy! You'll see food trucks, hipsters, fire dancers, beef tongue tacos, bacon cupcakes, and slilts ... You know it's that thing when slutty girls stand on stilts!!!

http://vodpod.com/watch/3625166-snl-stefan#

Fun was had by all!

Phew!!! What a crazy, fun weekend. On top of all of that I was able to sneak in a little estate saleing (see http://thehouseonadamsdrive.blogspot.com/p/weekend-treasures.html), work on my craft room a bit, and scrape this weird blackout film off the glass slider! I know not every weekend can be as jam-packed as this one was, but I love when I am able to get out and see the great parts of Colorado while having a great time with friends!

What did you do this weekend? Does your city do any fun, unique events?

Kitties and Kegorators

Everything came together this weekend for our Housewarming party. We had great food, beer, and great friends! A lot of preparation was made for this weekend, and the last thing on our TODO list was to install our kegorator in the basement bar.

Bartender Not Included

When we started looking for a house, we knew that a basement bar was something that we both wanted, but it wasn't on our MUST list. But when we found the house on Adams Drive, we knew we lucked out! Half the basement is finished, and there is an unfinished bedroom that backs up to the built in bar, the perfect spot to put a kegorator! We purchased the previous owner's fridge with the intent to use it in the basement. 

Mike once again used his Googling powers and found a company called Beverage Factory, which specializes in home beverage systems, http://www.beveragefactory.com/. We got everything we needed from them to install our kegorator for $160. Now all we needed was Mike's dad, Jeff, to come up from Colorado Springs to help Mike install everything. 

Jeff was able to come up last weekend, and while they worked to install the kegorator I made myself scarce and set off to do some estate saleing! More on that later ... 1st up, READ THE DIRECTIONS (always important), empty the shelves out of the fridge, and build a shelf to support the keg ...

Next step, following the directions of course, Mike drilled a hole for the tube that goes from the keg to the tap ...

Ok, so at this point you are ready to install the wall tap. In our bar, the tap was being installed into the wood paneling, so to give it more support Mike and Jeff attached it to a 2x4 on one side. 

The final step is to tap your keg, and get to drinkin'! But there was one small oddity about our bar that we needed to rectify ... In order to get in the bar, you must open the half door, and crawl under the shelf that runs along the bar! No one can figure out why this door was installed without some sort of hinge allowing easier access. So before Mike and Jeff were done, they wanted to add a hinged door to the bar. To do so they had to remove the molding from the shelf, cut where the hinge should go, install the hinge, and reapply the molding ... Voila!!! 

This is about the time when I returned with my acquisitions. I managed to hit 3 sales, and the antique mall, all in about 4 hours! Here are my finds

Copper napkin dispenser, flower cookie cutters, vintage kitchen clock, copper measuring spoons, about 50 plastic coasters, and a handmade lantern

My favorite find of the day was the lantern. When I'm out estate saleing I have a list of sales that I plan to hit, and I use http://www.estatesales.net/ to find them. If I see a sign for an estate sale, I'll drive by to check it out, but can I just point out to everyone that an estate sale is different than a garage sale or moving sale!!! An estate sale implies that the owner has passed away or is willing to part with everything in their home, and it does not take place on a lawn. I can't stand when I drive off my route only to find some housewife calling her garage sale, an estate sale!

Anyway, back to the lantern, I found it by following a sign, and it actually was an estate sale. The owner was there, and she was in the process of downsizing into assisted living. She had the lantern priced at $25, and I offered her $20. She told me she would give it to me for $20, but only if I really loved it because her husband's great-aunt had made it for them! I told her, not to worry, that I loved it, and that I had the perfect place for it!

Special thanks to Jeff for all his help! 

I can officially say that our TODO list is done! However, that only means that now I can focus on all the small little projects that I want to do including painting the foosball men on our vintage foosball table (U.S.A. vs. The Netherlands), and stenciling the vinyl window shades throughout the house.

Kitten Intermission!!! 

I would like to introduce everyone to the 4 most amazing cats in Denver, CO (heck maybe the world), Mr. Bojangles, Lucky Boots, Barbara, and Detective Ricardo Tubbs ... 

Mr. Bojangles

Lucky Boots (and Mike)

Barbara (and Matt)

And now for your viewing pleasure, a video featuring Detective Ricardo Tubbs, brought to you by The Ambitious Procrastinator herself, http://theambitiousprocrastinator.blogspot.com/