What I've been up to as of late...

I shared some personal thoughts on our family blog tonight.

For the rest of the update on current life events, I have been house sitting for my sister and her husband for the last couple weeks while they are out of the country enjoying a fantastic vacation and a wedding.  I brought my daughter with me, of course, and we are taking care of their 2 dogs and 2 cats.  It's been a WONDERFUL break from the heat that was already encompassing life in Phoenix.  I look at the forecast and compare Phoenix to Newport, Oregon frequently and smile as I set the heater here to 68 degrees.

The 2 dogs are beautiful black Russian terriers.  They require a lot of activity to keep them and me sane, and it has been a lot of fun to get out and go on hikes with them.  I throw Lola into her carrier on my back, and I am sure it's an interesting sight to see me hauling a baby and hanging onto the leashes attached to 2 big dogs.  I love when I can let them off leash...they wear each other out.  I really enjoy hiking along the coast on sunny days and in the wilderness on cloudy days.

In a couple weeks I will be back in Salt Lake City.  I really miss Utah.  It became my home.  After a visit there, I will head back to Phoenix and find a part-time job.  I am and am not looking forward to this. :)  I am looking forward to getting in a position to find an apartment or home to rent and to have our family together in our own little space.

Patrick is living in Salt Lake City right now, working diligently on getting some projects finished up in his shop and getting packed up to move his business to Phoenix.  It has taken longer than we expected, and it has been really hard to be apart for so long.  Long distance marriage is tough.  I miss our daily routine and sleeping so contently next to him.  We pray continually that things will go well for him and he will be able to join us as soon as possible.

I have been busy being a mom to the most amazing little girl in my world.  I can't believe she is 21 months old.  I see her legs getting longer and more lean, as well as her arms, and I just get a little sad that my baby is growing into a little child.  I love this stage we are in, though it exhausts me.  She is so alert and smart and has such a fun personality.  She's getting into her independent stage where anything I hand her is no good...she's got to get it for herself.  I make sure to breathe deeply and allow messes to happen for the sake of memories and her learning process being fulfilled.  Sometimes I want to just bite her cheeks, she's so cute!

I've also been crocheting a bit and keeping my creative juices flowing.  It's a nice outlet.  I made the beanie she's wearing in that last picture.  Not too shabby for my first beanie with flowers!

Anyway, life is stressful for sure.  But it is always so deliciously good.

Hello again!

Wow, I have really fallen off the blogging wagon! My mind has obviously been elsewhere for the last couple months, which has been a really good thing. I think I'm ready to get back into the blogging world now that My world is a lot more stable.

During my break, I did make a little bag/tote one day. The craft bug has been biting me pretty hard lately. Deciding what to do can be a challenge. Here's how the bag turned out:



I used fabric I had on hand for the bag and to line the support piece inside, and I used fabric I had pieced together previously for the strap. Not my favorite color scheme, but I just needed to make something.


Here's the inside. I cut out a piece of cardboard and covered it with fabric using a glue gun. Totally brought me back to my teenage years when I covered a lot of notebooks with batting and fabric and made all sorts of pretty notebooks. Perhaps that is when my love/infatuation with notebooks and binders began...


And here is the bottom of the bag. I used a plastic bag from Z Gallerie as the template, and it turned out pretty good. I think I'll use this bag to hold my current embroidery projects and embroidery supplies.



I also stitched a Jack-O-Lantern face on a fabric pumpkin that I stitched years and years ago and finally put stuffing in a few weeks ago. I still need to find a cute twig to put in as the stem, then pull and seal it shut. I unfortunately stitched the face too low, but it's cute to look at, anyway. (I'll try to remember to take a picture!)


My crafty efforts lately correspond with a quote I recently heard:

Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction.

~Deanna Spillman

So, I'll take my imperfect crafts over no crafts at all. :)

TV, Tears, Books, and Dreams

I love the emotional chaos I experience revolving around my period. I actually got teary watching a girl win some prizes on The Price is Right this morning. What the...?!?!

I stayed up until 3:30 am doing nothing last night, then woke up before 8 am with horrific cramps. Thank goodness I had some Midol and a rice-filled hot pad that a friend gave me years ago. It heats up beautifully in the microwave. So take all that pain and discomfort, throw in some emotion, and voila - tears at The Price is Right. :) Silly.

There was an item to price for one of the games on The Price is Right that totally inspired a crafty idea for me. I got a couple wooden frames at DI the other day, and the frame on The Price is Right had a really cool design either painted or wood-burned into it. I'm totally going to get a wood burner and do this to one of, or both, of the frames I got!

I finished The Zahir by Paulo Coelho this morning while treating my abdomen with the hot pad. I really started reading this book in December then forgot to keep reading it for several months. I'm a pretty fast reader if I can stay focused long enough to actually read a book. Anyway, I really enjoyed the book. It took me awhile to get into it, but that's because I wasn't ready for it. In December, I was ready.

I am a huge fan of Paulo Coelho. I swear when I read his books, it is just the time in my life that I am touched very specifically by the book. This happened with The Alchemist and Eleven Minutes. I think I've read The Pilgrimage, but I can't remember! It seems like I had a pleasant dream about the story, and it has fueled my own passion to have a personal pilgrimage. I would be ecstatic to actually go walk/hike the road to Santiago by myself. Yep, by myself. I mentioned it to Patrick once, and he would flip out if I were gone, in a foriegn country, on foot, by myself, for a month. I suppose I understand, but that doesn't remove the yearning from my soul. I'm pretty sure I've read By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, too, but like The Pilgrimage, it's foggy in my memory. I'll read both of these again.

So, if you haven't read anything by Paulo Coelho, go get The Alchemist. It's a place to start.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Iwas crafty today!!! I should wait to post this, since I'm sending these to my nephews and nieces, but I just can't wait! I'm kinda pleased with the result. :)

I made this Valentine:








Not too shabby, eh?? :) Now I wonder if I have any envelopes that would fit these cards.... AND, what am I going to do for Patrick for Valentine's Day???

I want to make this

A yardstick coat rack!

This would look fabulous in our house. :) And it's super easy to make!

Painted Canvases for My Bedroom

Now that I have a camera again, I can finally post some pictures of what I've made! One of the girls I work with has "Craft Day" with her roommates every so often. Her name is Makayla. She invited me a couple months ago to participate. I made the lotus pillow for another friend's birthday on that day. Before we got to crafting, we hit up Michael's and Big Lots for supplies. Big Lots had small, medium, and large canvases for a great price, so I grabbed 3 large canvases to do something with. I think they were $10 or $15 each. The smalls are $5, so the large was probably $15. I want to go get some small ones to paint for friends. I still haven't done Christmas gifts, so I better get on it. (YES, I am a huge procrastinator!!!)

I finally decided what I wanted to do with the canvases, so I bought some paints and went to town. Now, I am not really an artist. I can be creative once in awhile, but it's not something that comes naturally to me...and I don't know the ins-and-outs or shortcuts for what paints to use on canvases. So, I used a foam brush to paint the dark brown paint on these canvases. It took forever. Next time I'll buy some spray paint to save loads of time.

I can't remember where I got the inspiration for the designs, but this sort of design has been my favorite for awhile. (***I found the link that inspired me: It's the MUJKA ILLUSTRATION BLOG.) Anything with swirly stems, leaves, etc. floats my boat. So, here's the set, hanging above my bed, and a close-up of each:

Vintage Gift Idea

I'm pretty sure I've posted this picture before, but I need to remind myself of this project. My creative juices are flowing in regards to this one!!



This is a collection of vintage multi-stamp transfers of old cars. My husband is a vintage freak and an old-car freak. This would be an awesome project to do for him. I just can't decide if I should do a wall hanging or a quilt.

My mom and her neighbor have been playing with her neighbor's humongous quilting machine. This thing takes up an entire room, and they've done some amazing work on quilts my mom has made. She is finishing a project and asked me if I want it. I am so wishing I had a camera so I could have taken some pictures. It's so pretty. I just don't have a lot of space. So don't kill me, but I said no. She told me (and I knew) that she would rather it go to someone who really wants it and will treasure it. A lot of time has gone into that quilt.

So, I want to embroider the old car patterns, put it together as a quilt with some sweet vintage fabrics, and have my mom and her neighbor quilt it. I'm giving myself 12-18 months for this project. :) Either next Christmas, or a year from Patrick's birthday sounds like a reasonable timeline.

Lotus Pillow

***The pictures from my phone were deleted for whatever reason,
so I uploaded this picture. Hopefully it stays. :)
It's not the greatest picture, but it gets the idea across. ***

My camera is still suffering from a major attitude problem, so I took pictures of my latest completed craft with my phone...I'll have to figure out how to edit these pictures. Until then, here are some side-ways shots of a pillow I made with my lotus flower embroidery for a friend's birthday. It turned out really cute!

I worked on it on Sunday at "craft day" with a few friends. I've got a great craft/project idea in mind to decorate our bedroom. I'm glad I found a group of crafty gals to hang out with!!

Embroidery pattern for a curtain

I know this is a tiny picture...I haven't yet figured out how to scan stuff and have it be normal sized. However, this is an embroidery pattern I am going to do on a curtain for our front door! I'll post pictures as this creation comes to life. The embroidery is going to be close to the bottom of the curtain, and I'm going to use ribbon the same color as the "Love Ribbon" I made for the living room. I'm pretty excited to have something other than a nasty piece of old fabric tacked to the door.

The camera is alive!!

Turns out my camera just needed good batteries. Even though I put "new" batteries in, it still wasn't working! So, my trusty hubby got out his battery-juice-measuring-tool-thingy and let me know that the "new" batteries were no good. So, "NEW" batteries went in and whala! it works!!

Here's what my Bear & Bunny looked like before the kitties got to them. I'm salvaging the Bunny, but the Bear is one of Lunch's favorite kitty toys.




P.S. For some entertaining stories about our naughty cats, check out my other blog Family Life. It has been one interesting hell-week with these cats!

I don't look naughty!! :)

Damn cats

On Friday I got up the courage to pull out my sewing machine so I could turn the Bear and Bunny into stuffed dolls. It went pretty well, though I don't care for the shape of them. I stuffed them and started to stitch up the rest of the Bunny and a knot formed in the thread. After a few minutes of frustration I decided to set it aside for awhile.

A friend of mine came over for an hour, then I had to get ready and go to work...the Bear and Bunny were tucked away next to my sewing machine...

Saturday morning I noticed that the Bear and Bunny were missing!!!! On the floor was the poor Bunny...thread even more tangled, needle still hanging on. But where was the Bear? After looking for a couple minutes, I found him laying face down in the kitties little play tent thing. Those little shits! I grabbed the Bear and to my utter dismay, there are some pretty good claw holes in the fabric and a bit of embroidery floss pulled to the outside of the fabric. It's a good thing I like animals and it breaks my heart when people hurt them, because I seriously wanted to find Lunch (I'd bet a million dollars it was her) and yank out her whiskers or something. Grrr!!!

Several hours later after cooling down, I realized that:
1. I didn't like the shape of the dolls and would change how I did that
2. It was quick and easy to embroider both of them
3. I could pull out the stuffing and replace it with plastic grocery bags which would make a great crinkle sound and give the cats the dolls as new toys.
4. I'll make new dolls
5. The cats are smart little shits, and next time I won't leave the dolls sitting out.



I wish my camera was working so I could post some pictures. Oh well, this picture of NAUGHTY little Lunch will suffice for now.


She kept scooping water out of their water tank/bowl to make bubbles in the tank as it refilled the bowl. There was water every where in the kitchen. So to try to teach her a (unlearned) lesson, I mopped it up with her. (emphasis on unlearned)

Bunny and Bear Stitchettes in Progress

I'm half way done with a project! I decided to make the Bear and Bunny Stitchette Dolls by Wee Wonderfuls/Hillary Lang. Seems like most women I know right now are pregnant or just had a baby, so I may as well start making cute baby gifts! I started it today and finished the embroidery.

Here's the starting lineup of fabric and embroidery floss:



The embroidered Bear:



The embroidered Bunny:



The cute pair:



A few notes so far: I just traced the pattern with pencil (Bear) and pen (Bunny), rather than using a transfer pencil and ironing on a transfer. Tracing, being a little more simple, suited me today. The pattern says to tie bows on the Bear's shoes and on the Bunny's neckline. I was getting frustrated with the tiny little bows and didn't know how to get them to be permanent, as little hands and mouths would probably untie them. I know I wouldn't want to be responsible for 3" of embroidery floss being stuck in a kiddo's mouth or throat. Eewww. So, I omitted them on the Bear, and did French Knots on the Bunny's shirt instead. I'm satisfied with it. I think my bear's half grin looks a little smug. :)

Tomorrow I need to bust out my sewing machine. I'll be honest, I'm a little scared of it. I haven't used it in YEARS. My brother is super crafty and adopted my machine for the last chunk of years, so I am way rusty. I'm tempted to sew these dolls together by hand, but I know a machine would turn out a better, longer lasting doll. So, I'll be brave. I'll post finished pictures when they are ready.

The Beginning

Last December when Patrick and I were visiting my family in Phoenix, my mom and I rummaged through her craft room. I borrowed some cute embroidery projects, coveted her fabric stash (super cute vintage fabrics!), and she gave me a cross stitch that I did as a kid. It most likely is the first cross stitch I ever did.

I remember in 2nd grade we had an after school project where my friend's mom taught us how to stitch. We had a simple little apple pattern where we did a running stitch in red around the border of the apple. I remember being excited about learning a new skill and wanting so badly for mine to look perfect. I chuckle now...I still feel that way when I start a new project. Anyway, that's the first time I remember stitching.

The cross stitch was probably sometime after that, so I was anywhere between 8 and 10, I'd guess. Here's the little beauty:



Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with it. I could frame it, put it in a quilted/pieced block and frame it, put it on a pillow (the cats would mess it up, scratch that idea), who knows. I do want to put it up somewhere, though.

Another side note about the saying on the pattern: Make your own sunshine. ... I realize that even when I was a young child, I always understood that people are ultimately responsible for creating their own happiness. We choose to be happy...or not. Regardless of the circumstances, happiness is still a personal choice. My mom did such an incredible job teaching that principle to her children. Some of us absorbed it better than others, and I consider myself very blessed to understand it. I love my mom! :)

THE Lotus

Okay, I think I've finished the lotus flower embroidery I've been working on. I think it has turned out pretty well. I must send my thanks to Lost, for through watching season 3 on DVD, I have been able to finish this last masterpiece. It's been fun.

Isn't she pretty?!?! Now I need to figure out what to do with her. Granted, she's on the kitchen towel of creation, but at the same time, I'd love to use her on a card or something cool. I'm damn proud of how she turned out!!! I love it! :)

I was crafty today!!!

I've been wanting to put up a "Love Ribbon" for awhile now. I found a great vibrant orange ribbon that matched the decor we're shooting for in our living room, bought some medium sized clothes pins, painted them a vibrant blue, and made some fabric pinwheels from fabric my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas (Thank you Ashlee!!!), and topped it off with some cute yellow and red buttons. I put it up over the entrance into the dining room, and I am so extremely pleased! Here are some photos:


I really think it adds good energy to our home to have love notes up on the wall. I love it. And, it feels good to have a crafty day!!!

P.S. Thanks Jana, for helping me paint the clothes pins!!!!! I love you!!!

Embroidery stuff, plans, practice, etc.

I've been working on developing some of my skills with different embroidery stitches, and it's been a lot of fun. I bought a little gift set at Wal-Mart that had some Jasmine tea, a cute teacup, and a little calendar. The calendar and the box it all came in had the cutest floral design on them. I used the floral design from these to inspire a floral design to embroider. I'm really happy with how cute it looks!! Here are two designs:


I don't love the French Knots in the petals, but I wanted to experiment with that. That's been my focus...experimenting and developing my skills. I want to feel more confident when I do embroidery on REAL projects! :)



Last summer after we found my awesome bike at D.I., Patrick and I would ride around and hit up a bunch of yard sales. I found this embroidery work at a huge yard sale and bought it, because it's cute and has a great example of using various stitches to create a great piece.

My bike:




The piece I bought:


I'm also a tea lover. I opened up a box of Yogi Tea and noticed the awesome design they have inside the box. I want to tie this into an upcoming project:



Such a cool lotus design!!! I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

And last of all, I really need to put together a cute little bag to hold my embroidery floss, current projects, needles, scissors, etc. This is my current "sewing bag." So sad...


So...I'm keeping my eye open for a cute design somewhere. If you know of any, please send them my way!!!

New Pattern/New Project

Today I received in the mail a pattern I bought from PatternMania on Etsy.com.

Here's the picture:

Description:

Design 413 transfers to make an embroidered 63" x 91" Old Fashioned Car Quilt. Each block measures 12" square.

Included:
1908 Chevrolet
1904 Oldsmobile
1904 Studebaker
1912 Packard
1896 Ford
1893 Duryea
1911 Model T
1908 Ford
1904 Ford
1903 Cadillac
1908 Buick
1909 Studebaker

Condition: Very Good, unused.


I'm going to make a quilt for Patrick. I'm super excited to join his ranks as a vintage products lover and consumer. As I complete blocks I'll post pictures. :)

My First Embarkment on Redwork Embroidery

I thought I had posted this on my blog, but apparently it didn't happen! :) I am so excited about this project I did for my mom for Christmas. It took quite a bit of time, and I loved every minute of it!!!

The pattern I used is: Aunt Martha's Sunbonnet-Mother & Daughter, Too 3948. I used embroidery floss #321. The main pattern part I used 2 threads and a normal stitch. For the outside border (square or circle) I used 6 threads and the split stitch. I didn't sign any of them, because I think I'm horrible with creating my own letters...something I'll have to get over. Anyway, this is the collection.


I liked this one because of the socks. I don't know if they're getting ready for bed and going to read a book, or what?? Doesn't matter...it's cute.



My mom loves to quilt, so this pattern was perfect to add to the collection.




Mom also loves to bake and cook and passed that passion onto me. So, I love this pattern, Mother and Daughter with their creations at a Thanksgiving (I guess) table.


My mom also plays the piano beautifully. I never took any lessons, but I enjoy listening to her play. This was my first time doing french knots (for the music notes). You can tell (or at least I can tell) that I got more comfortable toward the middle and end of the notes. The top left notes aren't as full and comfortable looking. Great learning experience!


So, that's my latest project. I can't wait to get started on my next one...once I figure out what to do. :)