Saturday, December 04, 2010
Some actual Turkey Talk
Saturday, November 20, 2010
The Gifts, The Graphic, and The Gross
Sunday, November 07, 2010
This is what I've been up to....
My oldest daughter & I are getting ready to participate in our first craft show. I with a variety of stitched items, such as aprons, purses, grocery sacks, and quilted wall-hangings & blankets, and she with her beautifully cross-stitched, framed pieces.
Truth be told, we're a little nervous about this venture & hope we're not wasting our time. Part of me thinks I'll hate people pawing through our things "judging" them, and part of me thinks hanging out together & chatting with the people coming through will be fun. Time will tell, and then I'll tell you!
These purses are what I've worked on this week... the Autumn purse below is mine & filled with all my junk, thus the shape of the bag is a little bulgy-looking. The Poinsettia purses are to sell. There are two different sizes & two different trims on the pockets. They're so cute. If there's one that doesn't sell, guess who's keeping it??
Yesterday was a soccer & sewing kinda day. Today I'm taking a Slow Sunday. I started my day with a brisk doggie walk by the river, did my devotions & talked with God, then made a yummy potato/egg glop for brunch for the girls, the hubby, and me, cleaned it all up, and now I'm gearing up to work on some small pillows. They're to be sold too. I'll post pics once they're done.
Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend!
Denise
Monday, November 01, 2010
New month, new beginnings....
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
My stitching obsession grows larger than life....
So where do we go today? Michaels... whose logo says, "Where Creativity Happens". Let's just be clear on this.... creativity rarely strikes me in the middle of a buying frenzy because I've lost most rational, sane thought beyond I MUST HAVE THIS and this and this, and ooohhh one of these.... hmmm I might NEED this when I do THAT. Sigh.... it's a sickness in stitchery consumption, I know. I spent $90+ on 53 clumps of floss, another storage container for my exploding floss collection, 4 wooden letters for younger daughter to paint (who incorrectly quoted how much they were!), 1 paint for said wooden letters, 6 more aida cloth "just in case" (although one is the very cool shimmery stuff called "Silver Dusted"), a book called "Sample the Seasons", 1 flashlight (random!), 2 candy bars & a bag of Riesen's.
The candy was to restore our depleted energy of course! Because after that I still had to do the weekly grocery shopping chore.
Now if only I would start to CREATE with all this creative crap!!!!
p/s Tried to post a picture but, alas, I'm getting no cooperation from the uploader >:-/
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Labor Day Shopping Spree
I also grabbed some Christmas fabrics and .....
Halloween fabrics (I've got two mini quilt
tops done for my mini frame Zlaty!)
Stan Stan the Hairy Man -- Stanley the cat likes to curl up in my sewing room now that the weather has been cooler at night. I put him up here on my table so Smokey the spastic black lab puppy wouldn't try to chew on him.
I have lots of things I'm either in the process of making or gearing up to make. I'm going to try taking some of my wares to a couple craft shows this November, get my website up & running (it's out there, just with no content!), and set up an etsy account.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Radiant Star Quilt is done!
Anyway, I'm very pleased with the results & it seemed Randy was too. But being I'm a homeschool mama, I've been running ragged trying to catch up from my obsessiveness over the quilting. Once I start quilting, I just want to quilt & quilt & quilt. Sure my body protests, the feet hurt, my back hurts from hunching over, my hip hurt from hunching in an uneven way (I HATE being uneven as anybody who knows me will tell you!) I'm neurotic & a bit obsessive you might say ;-P
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Show & Tell
First off, I finally bought some proper hardware with which to hang my thimbles. I don't recall what this piece was originally, but I picked two of them up thinking they'd make fabulous thimble displays. So after having them sit around for years, I finally got one up on the wall in my sewing room:
As you can see I have PLENTY of room for further collecting! Some of these are actually from my MIL.
This same week I also attended Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA. I spent two afternoons attending a luncheon & two lectures, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I heard Pepper Cory, Morna McEver Golletz, and Valerie Schlake speak, and each lady was chock-full of great information & so willing to share!
I went back to the show a third day to view the quilt show & visit the vendors with two very good friends. This was the first year I've gone on a Sunday, and I'll admit to enjoying the thinned-out crowd. You know how there are those certain stands that are near-to-impossible to get into without a little elbow-bashing & lots of patience? And while on the whole we quilters are on a giddy high to be at the quilt show, talking to one another like we're life-long friends, and giving friendly advice on those color combos you're picking out, SOME of us can become another type of animal when we see THE PERFECT bolt of fabric to finish that project at home, drooling with anticipation to just get our hands on it whenever this slow train of people would just MOVE already!!!!
Anyway, I've recently gotten into "stitchery". I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with this term, but it seems very befitting to the craft as well. The outlining method used to stitch these patterns are very simplistic embroidery stitches. Occasionally, there are other more traditional embroidery stitches used, but for the most part, it's outlining. I love how these stitchings are being coupled with and/or bordered out with fabric. It combines my love for hand-stitching with piecing & quilting... HELLO?!??! What could be better???? (well maybe if you throw some chocolate into the mix)
I guess I never explained that these pics are of the stuff I picked up at Oddysey.....
So the pattern on the left looks like it could be quite nifty if I ever actually make it....
And the pattern on this right is another stitchery pattern along with how to put it into a tote bag. I'd love to make this for guild meetings!
I was looking specifically for yardage of Toy Story fabric, but came up empty-handed at the show. Out of fabric-envy, I HAD to pick out some small yardage pieces to wet my appetite.
The following two panels may turn into bags?? The one on the left reminds me of seed packets, so I suppose I could put them on grocery sacks or aprons? And the panel on the right has my mom written all over it, tho I'm still not sure what I'll do with it.
And last but not least, here is where I feel I splurged just a bit. I bought patterns for three 12" X 12" quilts to be hung on a small free-standing frame, and I bought the kit of fabric SEPARATELY for two of them. It about killed me to buy the kits separately, I'll admit. I'm usually way too cheap to do such things, and I'm usually very capable at finding fabric in my stash to complete small projects like these, HOWEVER, I want to work on it NOW. Know what I mean? I want to be able to start these when the urge hits & not go searching for fabric. Pure laziness is what it boils down to! And I'm okay with that.
Monday, July 26, 2010
No camera!
It's really a shame I cannot post a picture of my latest creation in disaster. There was recently a girls' sewing day hosted at my BFF's house, and three of us worked on sewing a lined, zippered purse! I was so excited to be learning how to put a lining in a purse, as I'd just recently learned how to put the zippers in. Toward the end we had to turn it all inside out, which we called the "birthing" process -there was a lot of huffing & puffing & grunting trying to get all that fabric & lining thru the little hole we'd left open to turn it all right side out!! So I'd birthed my bag right side out & sewed up the birthing hole, hung it so lovingly on my shoulder, petting that beautiful bag.... and when I reached inside to play with the pockets, thinking I'd start putting all my gadgets into the tailored-sized pockets for my hand sanitizer, chapstick, tissue pack, etc.... and realized that I'd sewn one whole pocket panel into the purse UPSIDE DOWN. You can all imagine the sobbing & screaming that was churning within!! Sigh.... I cannot go back to it yet. Yes, I could unsew a bunch, unbirth the sucker & redo it, and maybe someday I will... when I'm really, really bored & have nothing better to do.... hmmm... perhaps I'll just use it as a visual aid for when I do my next one?????
Stay tuned for pictures of my goodies from Quilt Odyssey here in Hershey, PA. I'm going to borrow one of the daughters cameras so I can do a show & tell....
Happy Monday!
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Summer Stuff
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Crackin' the Whip!
Friday, June 11, 2010
How to enjoy the silence....
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
The Morning Drag
Just got back from the morning drag... umm... I mean the morning walk. Most mornings I try to take the black lab puppy for a morning walk to burn off some of the exuberant energy that seems to always be pent up in his 70 lb body. And since I've just begun this routine, we're still at the point where he basically tries to drag me down the road. I end up with something looking like rope burn on my palms, one day I had shin splints (?????), one day I swear he almost yanked my shoulder out of socket. I believe we're making progress since this week he hasn't thrown any body parts into spasm or to the point of aching.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Montie's Birthday
I'd been up with him over night. He & I camped out in the family room: he on the couch & I on the floor, a roaring fire stoked throughout the night... we were cozy together, but he was in a lot of pain off and on. The last time I'd been up with him would've been around 5am. He had his pain pill, a drink, changed positions, and we'd talked a little. And while I waited for him to fall asleep, I lay there listening to the fire, thinking about what I had to remember to do in the next few hours when the house awakened, and I thought I heard Montie say something. I even asked, "What'd you say, Bud?" No response... and I thought I heard him utter something again, and again, no response. Initially this made me smile to myself because I thought he was dozing off & that the pain pill had kicked in -he'd been dozing off mid-sentence a lot while in the hospital... But all of a sudden the realization & utter horror kicked in that I couldn't hear his heart. And I digress.... he'd had two mechanical valves put in several years prior, so his valves sounded like a loud wristwatch that said, "tick-tick-tick...", but I heard absolute silence. The moments it took me to crawl over to him are still ingrained in my head in slow motion.. and I felt his chest & there was nothing....
Someone at the grocery store recently told me losing her dog was like losing a child... sigh.. I could just look at her in dumb silence. Because I've lost several beloved pets that I cried over, and I can vouch for the fact that it is nothing like losing Montie... Montie & I shared Star Wars, Indiana Jones, sushi, snuggling in bed to read aloud to one another, pj days, making smores on the stovetop, "walks" on which he actually rode his red scooter & I'd have to run to catch up to his laughing smile, collecting autumn leaves, breakfast in bed on his birthday, holding hands, and I could go on & on.
My children aren't just my kids, they're my best friends & companions. In my heart I know Montie is soaring with God with no more pain, no more limited mobility, no more surgeries, headaches or health issues & restored to perfect health, but I'm just a selfish human being. I still want Montie here with me sitting in my lap, asking for the umpteenth time, "How many subjects are we doing today?", calling to me in the middle of the night to massage his headache away, talking away with his online PS3 friends, begging for more time with them....
Montie had Marfan Syndrome... it's a connective tissue disorder & he was born on the severe end of the spectrum. The majority of Marfan patients live a normal life span with proper medical care, however because Montie's symptoms were so severe to begin with, his Dad & I always feared we were living on borrowed time with him. And so for those 10 years we had, we're forever grateful... all of my children have changed me as a person & a parent in their own way, and Montie continues to leave a very special imprint on my heart....
Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Weekend Fun
Yesterday, Kathryn & another friend, Suzanne, came over to sew. Suzanne makes the most darling purses WITH ZIPPERS!! I've wanted to learn how to put zippers in forever, so the goal of yesterday was for her to teach us how.... and she did a great job of making everything understandable. In fact, she even took the time to type up instructions for us! How sweet is that???
You can see the smaller change purses sitting in front, which are even easier to sew up in a flash! The possibilities of things to make are racing through my head!!
Here we are modeling our purses:
Suzanne, Kathryn, and me... (and some of our sewing mess in the background) These are so much fun, I'm going to get to work on another one after this posting!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Okay, gonna press on. Still haven't "figured out" the pic/post thing. Obviously, I got pics up, but they're not cooperating by moving as I'd like, but I'm going to try not to obsess...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Can anyone lend a helping hint on posting properly??
Friday, April 30, 2010
New Beginnings
Thank you Zlaty & Karen for taking time to say "hi" & touch base! I'll admit to being a little excited to realize anyone even saw the blog yet :-) Simple things amuse simple people, I know.....
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
New Blog Introduction
I've been thinking some time about starting to blog about this crazy thing we call life, but it had to wait. I've been building up to it for years, and yet life as I knew it came to a stand-still 13 months ago. Part of me is afraid to put down these deep, dark thoughts, and yet I wonder if anyone will even read. Or if "they" do, perhaps my experiences will let someone else know they're not alone? If no one reads, and if nothing else, then at least I'll be "journaling" which is supposed to be therapeutic in and of itself, right? Or MAYBE you'll all be like, "Thank you GOD, I'm not as freaky as HER!!" lol
I thought about themes.....Quilting through Grief.... Sewing to Save My Sanity...... but I realized I've actually come to a place that's a step further than just living in my grief. Truthfully, at the time, I didn't know if it'd ever be possible. And truthfully, I never live in any way beside within the confines of my grief, and yet now there is more....
I love being a mom, a wife, a quilter, and I love to read, write, and sew. I love to talk & interact, share thoughts & exchange ideas. I have two teenage daughters (17 & 13) and a son who went to Heaven on March 19, 2009 when he was 10. I've been married to my high school sweetheart for 22 years & I just celebrated my 40th birthday! Above all & in front of all, I love GOD for being my savior & salvation.
Whew, that was a lot of information in a little paragraph, but I guess that sums up the important bits.
So I wonder, is this enough for a first-time blogger? Did I write enough?? I guess the introduction is done, so I suppose so. Now I can ponder the etiquette of blogging... how often is too often or not enough? How varied should I make my topics? Or should I even care & just go with my own flow?? Yeah, I think go with the flow.... that's kinda become my mantra in the last decade, and it's basically worked, so I guess I'll stick to it.
Good night!
Denise