Check out My DIY Flyers Logo Hoodie

 IT IS SO GREAT, RIGHT?!?

Remember a couple of months ago when I went to a Philadelphia Flyers game and sulked because the merch was too expensive and vowed to violate their intellectual property rights and make my OWN Flyers merch for myself, thank you very much?

Well, I achieved my dream, and it turned out awesome!

The key to the entire enterprise is the Cricut that my partner surprised me with on Christmas. I still need his help with the graphic design, because it works best if you do your templates in another (*cough, cough* better *cough*) graphic design program and save them as svg files to just export into the Cricut Design Space program, but once you've got that, everything else is a dream:

Honestly, my partner's inspiration for this gift was probably watching me, starting this time last year, hand cut a billion applique pieces for the eclipse buntings that I sold the snot out of last year (I miss you, total solar eclipse!). Because the Cricut cuts fabric, even fiddly little shapes, and it cuts it perfectly, just as smooth as butter:

There were a couple of bits in those tight turns where it didn't quite get the full curve, but it was easy to snip:

After that, I just had to baste everything down with fusible webbing and applique it on!

I appliqued it to a Goodwill hoodie, and it's my newest favorite thing:

I keep waiting for strangers to admire it, but 1) I don't go anywhere, 2) I try not to talk to people when I DO go places, and 3) you probably can't actually figure out that it's homemade unless I tell you, which I won't because see 2).

It was such a success, however, that even though I don't yet have another Goodwill hoodie to place it on, I'm already working on version #2, the Flyers Pride logo:

And then I might see which of my favorite teams end up in the Stanley Cup playoffs and make them my next DIY logo. The Stars are playing so well this season, so fingers crossed!

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

Rainbows and Red Wings: I Went To a Philadelphia Flyers Game on Pride Night!

I guess that going to NHL games has become one of my empty-nest hobbies, since I went to my very first game the day after I dropped my very first kid off at college for the very first time. It's a way more fun pastime than the mid-life crisis I'm currently working on ramping up!

Is it coincidence that both of my children just happened to enroll in colleges next door to NHL franchises that I really like? Honestly, yes, but the drop-off after Winter Break always feels even sadder to me than the Fall Semester drop-off, and there is nothing better to cheer one up after sadly dropping their beloved baby off at school than a long ride on the Septa, a long walk through the frozen parking lot, and this on the horizon:

Lol at the ubiquitous flattened Girl Scout cookie box. I don't know whose troop had the genuinely brilliant idea to sell Girl Scout cookies in the arena parking lot, but you are supposed to take all your trash with you when you leave, ahem:

Okay, and what's the only thing that could be even better than going to a regular NHL game? Going to an NHL game on Pride Night!

The NHL, like most (all?) male sports leagues, has a homophobia problem that's absolutely disgusting, so it's extra exciting when I can be part of an overtly queer-welcoming event. Because dude. Bisexual women in long-term heterosexual relationships also appreciate representation! The Flyers team also includes one of the most committed advocates for queer representation in hockey, #21 Scott Laughton. Also, here's their TikTok:

So overall, it was just really nice to be there on Pride Night and feel like (hope that?) for the Flyers, at least, Pride Night is more than just set dressing.

I'm sorry to say, though, that although the Flyers Pride logo is cool as hell, the vinyl on the shirts felt really cheap, so I didn't spend my mortgage on any merch. Don't tell their intellectual property lawyers, but a couple of days ago I used Photoshop to break the Flyers logo into layers that I can cut with my Cricut and I'm going to piece and quilt my own Pride logo Flyers sweatshirt, ahem.

Now, you guys. What's the only thing could possibly be even better than going to a real NHL game on Pride Night?

Well, when I was shopping for Flyers tickets, I found a couple of resale tickets for a crazy good price, considering that they were second row center ice just behind the away team penalty box. The caption also said that the tickets included access to something called the SHIFT4 Club, which omg you guys. It turns out I bought resale tickets from a season tickets holder, and the tickets included access to a VIP club with all-inclusive food and drinks:

I literally researched to find the exact time that doors opened for this club (90 minutes before the game), and my partner and I got there when it opened, and then we FEASTED!

I am eating proletariat food in the photo above, but my partner had a full-on steak with mashed potatoes and asparagus.

They even had boxes of popcorn ready to take back to your seats, which we balanced with two hard ciders, two hot dogs, a tray of French fries, and an order of chicken strips while we made our way down to the best seats I may ever have at an NHL game:

I mean, you guys. How good are these seats?!?

Happy Pride, indeed!

Also, Gritty!!!!!!!

I was too busy enjoying myself to take a ton of photos, but it was a good game! 

Not super high scoring, and the Red Wings didn't play nearly as aggressively as I'd expected them to, but Philadelphia played nice and fast around them.

And we even made it on the TV! Kind of...

I think it counts, lol. I've got my orange hat on and everything!

And during the intermissions, we ran back to the VIP club for more snacks...

...and then juggled all our new snacks back to our seats to watch more hockey:

The Red Wings played a shockingly clean game (ahem), so I only got to enjoy a visitor to the penalty box once:

And then when Larkin was in the penalty box, I was equally shocked to hear all the horrific slurs the Flyers fans around me were screaming at him the whole time. Philly sports fans are a WHOLE MOOD, y'all.

Another thrilling first? My first overtime! The Flyers scored just a few seconds into the first overtime, though, and then, glory of glories, the victory cuddle pile happened to take place right in front of my seat:

Lol at the dude having to physically hold the door to the penalty box closed so the players don't crash through it and all fall on the floor:

It was such a good game! I can't wait to go to another Flyers game after another school drop-off, this time wearing my homemade quilted Pride logo sweatshirt.

Also, my partner literally pulled a chicken strip out of his coat pocket to eat on the walk back to the hotel.

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

Kid-Free in New York City: Day 1

Back in late 2021, the whole family took a super quick trip to New York City right before Christmas. I was feeling my post-pandemic oats and I could not wait another minute to finally see Hadestown on Broadway!

In retrospect, I really should have waited another three or four months, because our trip coincided with a COVID surge in New York City and a lot of the stuff that we'd wanted to do got canceled--including Hadestown, sob. 

Over the next couple of years, I often thought about trying to schedule another quick trip to see the show, but I just never did it. And then for Christmas last year, my partner did it for me!

So just a few weeks after dropping our older kid back at college for the semester, my partner and I left our younger kid home alone to chug along with her school and ballet and take care of the pets, and he and I flew to New York City, just the two of us, for a two-day adventure.

Here's me trying to figure out how to get from Newark to our hotel:

But here's what I consider my REAL first thing in New York City:

My egg, cheese, and pastrami breakfast sandwich is on the poppyseediest poppyseed bagel I have ever seen!

Fun fact: my partner ordered bagels from bagel shops twice during our two-day trip. Neither time did he check the bag. BOTH times he got shorted by one bagel!

New York City has some hard lessons to teach...

We stayed at 3 West Club and were quite comfortable there, with nearly everything that we wanted to do within walking distance. There was kind of some weird decor, though, and when I Googled to figure out what on earth... yeah, the place is apparently run by the Women's National Republican Club, oops. Guess that explains all the Teddy Roosevelt paintings and elephant statuary!

Anyway, we were really only there to sleep. The rest of the time, we were out here!

My partner thought the Museum of Illusions looked interesting, so we did that first. 

It WAS very interesting, but maybe not $23 a person interesting... or that may just be my New York City sticker shock in general? 

Regardless, it was fun to see all the cool visual effects and take photos of ourselves looking like one of us is really tiny while the other is really short or like we're hanging from the ceiling or standing at an impossible angle, etc. 

Someone who actually knows how to work their camera phone would have done better, because I was fighting for my life trying to figure out how to take selfie videos or use the self-timer or not have fourteen chins.

I think this illusion is the coolest, but my teenager says she can't see it! Can YOU see the dots undulating in a wave-like motion?

If I ever go back, it will be well-researched and with a shot list in hand!

I'd wanted to do Chelsea Market and the High Line the last time we were in New York City but the weather never seemed right for it. This time, though, the weather was wonderful, AND we were just a few blocks away!

I had to looky-loo at every single food stall and menu board, but all we actually bought to eat were these delicious mini doughnuts:

Then, to the High Line!

While we were on the High Line we saw Little Island and decided that what we ACTUALLY wanted to do was go there.

So we did!

There are some really lovely vistas of Lower Manhattan and the Hudson River from the upper levels, including a tiny Statue of Liberty super far away. 

For most of the afternoon, we just wandered--

--detoured back to Chelsea Market for a proper lunch--

--wandered some more--

--and then got completely lost in Penn Station. Fortunately as we were wandering determinedly in what turned out to be the absolutely wrong direction, I saw two people in Rangers jerseys walking the way we'd just come from. So obviously we let them go by, did an about face, and followed them straight to Madison Square Garden.

How is this for happy coincidences? Before we scanned our tickets, I spent ages in the gift shop mooning over the New York Rangers knit hats. I really wanted this one, but I would have taken any of them, but mostly I didn't want to pay what they were charging for anything so I left empty-handed. 

New. York. City. PRICES!!!

So imagine my hysterical excitement (or do not, because it was A Lot) when we finally scanned our tickets, and just on the other side was a guy handing out free New York Rangers knit hats!

It's itchy as hell and I do not care. I love it!

You know you've got great seats when you take every escalator that exists, then finally emerge into the arena, show the usher your seat number, and he points up and says, "Last row." Lol! Who doesn't love a bird's-eye view!

Somewhere around here in between plays the DJ played "Suffragette City" so I texted my teenager a video--David Bowie is her favorite!

The Rangers weren't playing very aggressively that night--in fact, they spent most of the game just sort of skating leisurely around the rink, handing the puck over to Calgary whenever they got tired of passing it back and forth--but Calgary seemed fine with it enough to let them score twice, so we got to watch the Rangers win in their home arena!

Afterwards, I wasn't up for the bar hopping or clubbing or M&M store shopping or whatever on earth the other billion people out in the streets were doing at 10:30 pm, but happily our walk home led us through Times Square, so we got to sneak in a little more sightseeing:

Then it was back to our Republican stronghold for pizza and Princess Bride on cable.

Tomorrow: HADESTOWN!!!!!!!

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!