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)

Parfait Pin Cushions

I could NOT resist the temptation to do something fun with these antique cordial glasses, and having a plethra of cute fabric scraps...  (Scraps that I hoard, love, frequently look at touch, yet rarely do anything with. ;0)  I wanted a "sweet shop" look,  (almost typed "sweat shop", that is another post entirely) and picked colors based on how they look in my fun new space. Here they are, and time willing I will post a quickie tutorial on these, they are soo easy!

Of course these are removable from the glassware, in case I feel the need to have a shot of cordial.  And because he's sweeter than these little pin cushions, here is a totally unnecessary yet absolutely adorable picture of P.  :0)

Enjoy your day!

My New Happy Place

I am so excited to share my new space!  My sweet hubby helped me turn two doors into a desk, old apple crates into storage shelves, and randomly place cute knobs on all of it to hang projects in progress, take photos of those bags, etc...  The gorgeous quilt on the wall was a gift from a friend, and instead of a lamp purchase, I picked up these super cute chinese lanterns.  I have tons of antique crystal, so instead of keeping it in storage, it will help keep me organized by holding threads, bobbins, needles and floss! Out of the pictures is a huge armoire filled with my fabric.  Maybe someday I'll share.  Pictures that is, the other is unimaginable.  Oranges and blues, of course.

I promise to use my nice camera next time, by the way.  These turned out grainy, but you get the gist.  I'm off for some more sewing on (*sigh* another) doomy gloomy day. Enjoy the day!

A Busy Friday

I can't wait to share the furniture I am working on, in preparation of my new little "studio".  After moving my sewing into a tiny cramped space to keep it all from the toddler, I am moving it back into my semi spacious room.  My hubby and I have an affection for reclaiming furniture, or making it from old materials. So in addition to our bowling lane table, we will now add big heavy pained glass door sewing table.  The paint is drying as I write this, but I am so thrilled I just had to write about it.  To go under it will be a funky chair that we sprayed orange and recovered in neat-o Amy Butler fabric.  I will share pictures after my retreat this weekend.

I so love my hubby for his can do attitude, especially when I give him a project like "make these two doors into a desk please", and his love of lengthy bike rides.  I decidely do not like that can do attitude however, when it translates into me going with him on said bike rides.  I can hardly walk, and have taken enough Aleve that I could probably (Crude alert!) pee out a brand new bottle.  I can't wait for my little out of town excursion.  Have a wonderful weekend, and someone please pass me my wine.  :0)

Rainy Days...

The house is picked up, kids are at school, (or Grandma's) and it's doomy-gloomy outside.  The perfect day for hot coffee, candles, and sewing.  I am working on four different patterns simultaneously, and while that sounds very much "why on earth wouldn't you finish one first", this is just how I work. Plus I believe that when I debut the website, the Twitter, the Facebook page, I should have at least four patterns lined up. I like to give people choices. While four isn't as good as say, 13, it is better than one.

I have a retreat lined up for this weekend, at my sister's cabin on the lake.  I'll be working on craft-showy stuff as we are participating in a small boutique style show.  I hope to have some patterns ready to go by then, and maybe some custom fabric as well. (I so admit that last one may be a long shot) What I will most certainly have though, is lots of prototypes.  Bags, robot and bear plushies, purses, and ornaments.  It takes me approximately no fewer than five of something to make absolutely sure I get it right in the pattern.  Soooo looking forward to it!  (The cabin, the time spent with great gals, and good wine. Lots of good wine. ;0)

So happy day to all of you, and happy doomy-gloomy day to me as well!

Sneak Peak of the Reversable (Hobo? haven't decided yet) Commuter Bag

Just one of the five I have created so far, I really want to be sure the pattern has well written instructions and details!

Inspiration!

Inspiration can come in many forms, and today I was blessed with several. Dropping my little one off at Grandma's today I received lots of kisses, "bye bye(s)", (sorry, couldn't even tell you proper grammar for writing that one) and "got goo!" which is him saying I love you. Sooo sweet! Then stopped by my favorite fabric shop seeking inspiration, and that does it every time. Just the smell and fabric sets my world right. My friend there offered to do me bodily harm if I didn't get some work done on those patterns, so that too,  is inspiring! On my way home I got behind a jeep, top off, with a big sticker on the spare tire: "LIFE... LIVE IT". I thought about that for a while, and decided to paint that on my wall. Inspiring.

I am totally and completely loving the cooler weather right now as well! Fall is my favorite. The colors, and the pumpkin pie. The trips to the orchards for fresh picked apples and the corn maze, and it all leads up to my favorite holiday of all time, Halloween! I would love to say that I make my kids' costumes every year. Yeah, just can't back that up. But we love going to pick them out at the Halloween store, that counts, right? :0)

Well I'm off to work. I'll post a sneak peak at the Hobo Commuter Bag, and since I lost all my links on my blog I better do that too. Oh and research printers, (yes, almost ready to print!) and packaging. I need to figure out how to post a freebie pattern here as well. I'm having an inspiring day, hope you do too!