DIY love

 If we were ducks this would have been a great week but we are people so it was a dull and semi uneventful week.
  The biggest highlight to my week was the other evening the oven part of our stove did this crazy explosion of  flashing light and noises that sounded like a mad scientist's lab experiment gone wrong,really really wrong.it ended with a loud POP that put me in this crazy zone where you find your self in stop motion time.So my world paused and I was thinking..."Do I need to call 911? Do I need to run for it? What the heck?" No flames.no flying metal as the oven exploded,it was over and all was safe.I must say I have never been so grateful that Chance was home,for the first time in my life I was not too sure of what to do.I have a healthy respect for all things electrical and so does Chance,that stuff can kill you,we'd rather leave it to the professionals.
  We waited until the next day to open the oven to have a look.The element was fried and the part that plugs into the back of the oven was MELTED,craziness....See why we would rather leave electricity to the pros? So we need to replace the element with hope and prayers the oven still works.That is on the to do list for this morning.Cross your fingers for us,replacing a stove is NOT something to be doing right now.But if it is dead the stove top still works so we will be fine until payday next week.
  While rained in I have been keeping myself busy sewing.I have started an A-line skirt ,I just need to pick up a zipper for it and I can finish it.The calendar says summer is coming so I am trying to fill in some gaps in my small summer wardrobe.
  Some of you may know I have a passion for vintage stuff.Two of my biggest passions are textiles and aprons.I have a big stack of both. And although it may sound goofy I do wear the aprons ,even the red Hostess apron made from netting (looks like a Tutu ) for Christmas. It's a hoot and I love it.So here I am rained in and needing a project to keep my brain from going numb and I was surfing the web and found this pattern on line. It uses a vintage dress as the base of the apron(vintage textile,apron and sewing rolled into one! Whoop Whoop! )  and looked easy enough so I am giving it a go.We had a vintage dress in the Halloween box that did not fit anyone and most likely never would be used for dress up so I am using it for my apron.When I finish I will post pictures.
  This morning I found myself wide awake at 5 AM with no book to read and the rest of the household sleeping I checked in with some of the blogs I like.I found through One Pearl Button a link to a tutorial that is now on my To Make List, it is the Eco Travel Lid.I linked over to the tutorial and it is super easy to make. I will need the lining fabric so when I go for my skirt zipper I'll pick some up then.( I also found one more Super Secret Project I am working on for Chance and I's Anniversary.It's a surprise for him.) When I saw the Eco Lid I thought "Why didn't I think of that? " easy, can be made from recycled materials and re-usable perfect!
  Obviously I am on a DIY kick while I am waiting out the rain.This week I also found this blog posting at Homegrown Evolution 's blog. Now their posting is about projects and ideas that became disasters.I can appreciate this posting,not enough Blogger's admit to their flubs and it is unfair to my thinking.Crap happens folks,learn from it and you will grow. What grabbed my attention was the link for a book they are intending to read written by Mark Frauenfelder,the editor-in-chief of Make magazine.I was hoping it was this other book I saw,did not write down and can now not find,the title seemed close but it wasn't the book I am searching for.Frauenfelder's book is about his adventures in all kinds of homesteading DIY type projects and all of his ups an downs with them.(there's the connection to Homegrown's blog entry.) Now I have not read this book but would like to at least look it over all because of one of the reviews on Amazon's page for the book.The review is a snarky rag from someone who does not seem to understand why people make things for themselves.The last few sentences in the review mentions the amount of monies spent on DIY projects and how they are only for people with endless free time and money.Sure I can see that but it does not have to be that way. The rest of the reviews and the introduction to the book are in total conflict with the first review and since we have done many of the projects listed I am ever so curious to see for myself what's up with this book.Is it good information? Or is it just another person trying to make a buck off of information that is easy and most of the time free to find? Maybe he's yet another person to jump on the trend bandwagon,I don't know we shall see.Has anyone read this book? Let me know if you have.
  Homesteading and DIY are so interconnected that finding the line of difference is difficult to do.One can not just go out and buy most of what is needed when you homestead,you have to make it yourself .There can be a lot of power in that, freedom of choices,pleasure,satisfaction and the power called knowledge.
 I am going to spit in the wind here.I phrase it that way because boy have I tried to dangle carrots in front of my readers before and no one bites but I am stubborn and maybe this time I'll get someone to bite! Tell me your who,what,where,how and why's of why you DIY.
With that I close by saying, Just DIY it!
  Rois