Keeping Busy and Other Nonsensical Things

To start off I will get the bad mojo out of the way. My website looks like a five year old created it. Like a mass produced, fill the pictures and content into set spots and call it good. Uh, so not good I cannot even tell you. This blog looks positively divine, comparatively. So. Still working on that. (Did I cry? No, but I stomped around and had a fit like that five year old that did the site. :0)

Other goodness though, would be going to Seattle to enjoy a weekend away with a girlfriend, eating and drinking our way through downtown. Perfectly lovely. Also, West Seattle Fabric Co. will be carrying my patterns, so a little bit of write off going on? Why yes I think so! And those gals (Monica, the owner, and Meg, sweet friend and employee) are fabulous I tell you. The neighborhood is terrific, with everyone walking their dogs, enjoying coffee on the sidewalk... I want to live there. And I am not kidding. When I walked into the bright space of the shop, I was greeted warmly by Meg, and found out that Monica was across the street enjoying lunch with her husband and daughter. They popped over and I got to meet them all, with their little daughter all dressed up witchy and super cute for Halloween. Loved it, and a perfect end to a great weekend.

I know I have said before that "Night Circus" is a good book, and since Halloween is my favorite holiday, I volunteered to have book club here, and (duh) chose that book. It's not a Halloween themed book per say, but very magical with a "night" and all black and white color scheme. I had a little too much fun prepping for this party, but all seemed to enjoy it, as I even placed a dress code on the guests, and dressed up as one of the main characters myself! Tomato Basil soup and a bevy of sandwiches comprised the menu, with black forest brownies for dessert. YUM. Fun night!! (Also, I am slightly OCD, and since the theme was all black and white, I of course covered up all my furniture with white sheets. :0)

This is why.

I am systematically recovering the cushions on my microfiber couch. Anyone with this color of microfiber, with kids and/or pets, knows how difficult they are to keep clean. I have an impossibly great collection of home decor weight fabric, so I patch worked it all together to create large sheets, and cut out the pattern. (By "cut out the pattern", of course I mean that I set the cushion on top of the sheets of patchwork and cut around it. :0) The hardest part was stuffing the cushions in without ripping or tearing the seams. I encourage child labor on this, and had my eldest sit on the bent cushions so I could pull the fabric over. So you see, I have a bright and multi-colored living room, which is wonderful until you are doing a black and white themed dinner party.

We did discuss the book briefly, and are considering changing our "book" club, to "wine" club.

This is one of my new (By "new" I mean of questionable date and purchased second hand.) "girls". I am currently stalled on a ruffle vest pattern, and having a dress form to work with is divine. There were two sizes, so I bought both. I will probably recover them. In answer so some of your questions, "Why wouldn't you get a dial-a-size?" I had considered it, but to be honest, my studio is located very central in our home, and being a bit OCD, I wanted them to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Plus they are fun to dress for the holidays, like I did here.

Well, thanks for sticking with me while I toil on the website, and finalize some other projects. Also thanks for sticking through my ramblings, I am going to go polish off some more Halloween candy now. Then my hubby is taking me out to a nice lunch at our favorite restaurant before taking the kiddos out trick-or-treating. WOW it just occurred to me that we only have one trick -or-treater. Sad how they grow up so fast. And sad that I am running out of candy.

Enjoy your Halloween!! :0)

Anticipation...

Waiting for a preview of my new website is like waiting to give birth. Seriously. It can show up in my "in-box" any day now!! In the meantime, I have sent off some patterns to be previewed by a wholesale house, and worked on some new designs.

The "cake dudes" (Really. I don't know what else to call them.) embroidery set is almost ready to go to the designer who puts things into a lovely readable format. They are turning out so cute, and today I'll be working them into a wall quilt pattern. :)

I've also been enjoying quality kid time, like taking pictures of my son, when he got stuck in his car. Because, only a great mom would photograph the incident before lending a hand. Not so much enjoying the child pictured having Chicken Pox. Apparently you can still get them even though you have been vaccinated. Who knew. And yes, my having Shingles is what gave it to him. Poor guy. And poor Mama, he has been making up for two sick weeks with all the terrible two"ness" he can muster. Glad he is better though! Besides, being a little naughty makes for great photo opportunity. :)

My oldest daughter got to go to her first dance in high school. She was so EXCITED! Of course she looked beautiful, and of course I felt old, but she so enjoyed this first right of passage, and I enjoyed the girl time shopping for dresses and doing her hair and make-up.

 

 

Also, if I haven't mentioned that fall is my favorite season, let me just state for the record, that I LOVE fall! The colors, the cooler temps, and my favorite holiday of all, Halloween. I feel re-energized. Look forward to future postings of fabulous fall stuff. A recipe I'm thinking, some Halloweenish decor... Can't wait!  Enjoy your day! :0)

On Loving Life and Other Stuff

Been away from my computer of late.  I had composed a beautiful blog piece on things we teach our children, and accidentally hit the "back space" twice. If your thinking I lost that post, you would be correct, and if you guessed I threw my coffee at the computer you *almost* would be correct there too. So I'll try to catch up with my life here in this one, and if you get bored, I totally get it and understand if you need to go do laundry or something.  Although I'd almost rather do anything before that!

I attended a beautiful funeral for an old friend, with my oldest daughter, as she knew him best.  I knew that he would be honored for his service in the military as well.  It was a very nice ceremony, with reminiscing and kind words for a man who spoke few words of his own, but showed such kindness and grace to all who knew him.  I tried to explain to her what a big deal this was.  A soldier marched towards the large screen with our friend's picture on it, and stood at salute, while Taps was played.  Surrounded by all of his family and friends, there wasn't a dry eye to be found.  My daughter was clearly a bit puzzled.  Even more so when another soldier marched up, and the American flag was unfolded, refolded, saluted, and then presented to our friend's widow.  I could sense she still didn't understand.  When we left I tried to again explain the importance of our government recognizing him for his service, that with his service in World War Two, that he helped us retain our freedoms.  That all of her grandfathers had served, and would be honored in the same way.  That they were willing to give up there lives, so that she, and all of us, would remain free.  She was very sober for quite a while, and I wondered why I hadn't ever discussed something like this with her before.  I take for granted that which was earned for us by others willing to die for it.

That same weekend we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and trekked up to one of our beautiful pumpkin patches.  There is a corn maze, a hay maze, cider, apples, horse rides, pie, and a personal favorite, pumpkin spice donuts.  The line is always long, but so worth the wait.  They are hot, cinnimony goodness!  Of course the oldest picked the biggest pumpkin she could find, the rule being that you have to be able to carry it yourself, at least to the cart!  I swear, it was 50 pounds, and I am totally not kidding about that. HUGE.  Our son chose a nice smallish one, and then another, he just kept putting more in the cart, it was so cute.  He narrowed it down to two though.  There is always a nice craft fair in the grange hall, and I picked out another Halloween decoration from one of my favorite crafters!  I took a lot of pictures, perfect weather is hard to come by, and so far our family pictures have had to be rescheduled due to rain.  They are scheduled for tomorrow, as is.... RAIN.  So we'll see.

I have been sick, and in addition to that, having heart "issues".  They run in our family.  I have had numerous doctor visits and tests, with more to come.  So far it isn't life threatening, (YAY!) but it does appear to be my new "abnormally normal" existence.  (Not yay, at all.  More like rather annoying if you will.)  It amazes me how much time and brain space I have allowed this to occupy.  It literally is on my mind, all the time.  It looks like I'll be adding exercise to my daily routine now as well, (and really, I DO need to commit to that) coupled with a heart healthy diet.  Maybe I'll lose some of that stubborn baby weight.  Although I truly don't think the fat is stubborn in this case, that would be me for not doing something about it earlier.  If you are looking at my picture on the sidebar and thinking to yourself, "she doesn't look like she needs to lose weight..." I'll be honest with you now.  That was before sweet little P came into our lives.  So exercising I will go.  I've already cut most caffeine out of my diet, and most sugar, so... hopefully the rest will be easy???

Although I haven't been blogging lately, I have been diligently working on patterns and products.  The Fritzi Teddy pattern is with some testers, as is the Reversible Commuter Bag.  Almost ready for testers is the patchy That Bag is Mine bag, and Happy Birthday Owlette pattern.  Also in the works but not ready for testing, is the Sweet Trio.  It's a parfait pin cushion, a cheesecake pin cushion/button holder, and a tea towel embroidery design.  Also up is Plushbot.  Not quite ready for testing.  The bags are already with the photographer, as are the teddies.  Trying as well to prepare for two craft shows I am doing.  I'll be selling the prototypes and gaging people's interest in certain things.  The first show is in a week, the next in a month.  Wish me luck!!

I missed my Modern Quilter's Night Out, and I was bummed.  I missed the friends, the wine, (not that I get to enjoy that much anymore) and oh did I mention my friends?  They are a terrific lot of happy, sewy, modern hip ladies.  And sometimes we talk with British accents.  That would be pre-wine by the way, so you see, we really are a fun group.  *Love* my gals, everyone needs friends like these.  :0)

Halloween is two days away, and my son absolutely positively REFUSES to wear his robot costume.  I didn't make it thank god, or I'd really be mad!  So instead he's getting a purple mohawk (pretested last night, at least he thinks this is ok) a skull t-shirt, and jeans with black sharpie "rock star" "cool" etc... written all over them.  It'll have to do. 

Thanks for sticking with me this far!!  I'm off to do some sewing while the family is away at Grandma's...

Enjoy your day! :0)