Words on Wednesday!

I used to do a lot of weekly posts, so I'm going to try to get back into that habit.  That being said, I'm going to do "Words on Wednesday."  As most of you know, I'm a quote freak, so it seems more appropriate than the usual "Wordless Wednesday" don't you think?  I used to do, "Words to Live By!" but now I don't know which sounds better.  What do you think?

Getting back into the swing of it, this first one is dedicated to Magpienight, we both have a tremendous amount of love for Golden Girls and Betty White.  I saw this return address and immediately thought of Rose Nylund.  If you're a fan, you'll know why.

 

Doesn't it seem like a street in St. Olaf?! Or at least the last name of one of it's inhabitants?

Anyhow, it's the little things like this that amuse me.  I hope you get a kick out of it, too!  See you soon, hope you have a craftastic time until then.

I'm a Bookworm!

Two posts?!  On a Monday?!  I know, I'm blowing your mind here.  I have to confess that I've been dying to post this, so I just couldn't wait.  I recently participated in the Phat Quarter Swap.  It was my first swap in a while, as I've been feeling a little iffy on the subject lately.  With a theme like "Books" though, how could I resist?!  I got word that my partner had received her piece and loved it.  Yay, success!

Want to see it?! Okay, here!

I was excited to here that we share a common love of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, so I went with that.  This is based on a photo of him in his younger days.  I really enjoy making personalized pieces for people in swaps and it's even better when it's something I love too.  I rarely work in one color, so it's always crazy to see all the detail you create.

I also had the pleasure of learning a new stitch for this piece.  I learned the Turkey Stitch, thanks to a little help from Youtube.  I think it worked great for his mustache. 

So, yeah, that's one of the projects that's kept me busy lately.  Glad I could share it with you.  I hope it's generated some interest in you for Marquez's work.  If you've never read any of it, cruise by your local library and pick some up.  I'd suggest One Hundred Years of Solitude or Love in the Time of Cholera.  Both are amazing, you won't be disapointed.

Thanks for tuning in twice today, guys!  You're the best :)  See you again later.

Two Little Birdies.

G'day, mates!  How are things?  Hopefully you enjoyed a lovely weekend.  I stayed busy with some stuff for my etsy, nothing too eventful to speak of.  

Just popping into show you this tea towel I made for a special lady, as a little thank you.  She took the time to surprise me with a sweet pressie and I wanted to show my appreciation.  My guy picked out the pattern for her, saying she loves birds!  

I'm not sure who originally made this one, probably Vogart, but it's apart of a "Day of the Week" Set.  (Sorry about that giant wrinkle, some of my domestic skills are less than stellar.)

This piece made me realize that my 24 Pack of Crayolas isn't cutting it anymore.  I need to splurge on the box of 64.....wait, do they still make the 101 box?!  I know they come out with awesome sets at Christmas time, but I don't think I can hold out that long.  I'm definitely hitting the crayon aisle on the next trip to Target.  I'm not so keen on the that brown color of the house but oh well, as my man Tim would say....make it work, people!

Well, I've got to fly away to work on some more stitching.  A few pieces to go up in shop and lots of happy mail to prep.  I hope you have a craftastic day, be back soon :)

Full of It!

Last weekend I was lamenting the fact that I had a "new-to-me" vase, it was nice out, and we couldn't spruce the place up with some fresh flowers. My guy said he would take care of it in no time at all. I huffed and puffed and quickly gave up, given our budget.

A few minutes later, I saw this... A full vase.  Full of good intentions, that is.

Well, I can pretty much admit that my heart melted.  Yeah, they aren't the prettiest and to most people they are weeds.  But, to me, they are the flowers that turn into wishes.  And you know what?!  They brightened my kitchen for a whole week.  Yellow, full, and going strong the whole time.  I finally tossed them out today because they weren't as bright as they started off and didn't open so wide anymore.

It reminded me that it's not what you have, but who you have it with.  I'm sure we all know this, but sometimes we need something bright and in your face to remind us.  Thanks, Cakes, for always showing me what's important.

I admit, I have tunnel vision sometimes.  I look right past the real stuff, nit-picking silly things.  So I savor the moments that make me stay grounded.  What do you do to help keep things in perspective?  I'd love to know how you guys get it all together.

Ton's of new stuff coming at ya, see you again tomorrow.  Hope you have craftastic weekend!  Talk to you soon :)

Caturday

Hey, guys!  Off work and loving it, I get a weekend day with my honey tomorrow, so I'm excited.  Even if we don't do anything crazy fun, it'll still be nice.  It's rainy here, so we'll probably just escape long enough to walk the dog, come back home and watch too much Dexter.  (Love that show!)

I was trying to take some photos this morning, quick before work.  Of course, that got the attention of my little trouble maker, Boris, who was asleep in the next window over.  The second I moved something, he was right there to investigate.

 

"This doesn't go here, lady!"

Then he proceeded to sit in the dirt and crazily rub all over my poor little plant.

So, I'm thinking, great, I have a crazy cat and now he's taken a shine to this thing.  Thankfully he didn't start to eat it, just rub.  But man, I thought he was going to break it!  So, I kept grabbing him and bringing him in the other room.

Then it became a game.  I'd move him and he would race back and jump back up. 

Eventually, he became bored with the plant destruction.  Then he wanted to see what was going on up on the window sill I was photographing.  This was taken seconds before he pounced, knocked a bunch of stuff over and freaked out.  Life around here is always eventful. 

This guy keeps me on my toes, he's certainly a little busy-body...and very insistent!!

Do you have stubborn little beasts too?   I'm lucky that Chunky and the little girl, Natasha, are such good little kitties.  Three naughty cats would drive me batty!

Hope you guys have a good night, I'll check in with you tomorrow.  See you soon :)

Poofy Clouds!

Hey, guys!  Just checking in on this rainy Saturday.  I have to make it quick, I'm on my lunch break!  I wanted to show you a custom piece that I made for my co-worker, Liz.   

She's going to her family reunion this summer and every year an auction is held to fund the next year's reunion.  Isn't that such a good idea?  Well, she wanted to bring something handmade, as a lot of her family is into Art and crafty stuff.  She commissioned me to make something fun.  She told me to surprise her and this is what I came up with:

I was experimenting quite a bit with it, but I'm quite pleased with how it came out.  She loves it and that's all that matter.

Ok, I'm back now.... 5 hours later, didn't finish on my lunch break.  Dillon wins that bet, but I tried! 

Anyhoo, on this piece I used lots of different techniques and materials.  A tiny bit of machine stitching to join the blue and green fabric and attach the label to the back.  Then some applique with felt and fabric, a little bit of poly-fill stuffing and tons of hand embroidery.  I even used some divine twine for the mini-bunting....I love that stuff.  I wish I had a huge crafting budget, I'd get it in every color. Someday....

Here's a close-up for a little more detail.

I finished off the back by sewing a label to some oilcloth and gluing it to the inner frame.  Check it out!

So, I can't decide what my favorite part is, the mini-bunting or the poofy clouds.  What do you think?  

Hoping to check in with you again before the weekend is out, lots of projects and silly photos to share with you guys.  Enjoy a craftastic weekend!  See you soon!

Best Weekend/Worst Blogger.

Hey, guys!  So, who get's the "World's Worst Blogger" award for the month of May?  ME!!  I've done a pretty cruddy job of keeping up on things lately.  I've been feeling a bit "blah" lately and my poor blog and etsy has suffered for it. Thankfully, I've still being pretty productive with other things though.  New regiment in effect, hoping it'll make a difference around here.  Thanks for sticking with me guys!

Even though it's a bit overdue, I still need to tell you about the Stitching Party with the girls!  It was seriously the best weekend.  I got the opportunity to catch up with old friends and get together with others for the very first time, it was amazing.

To bed super late and up way too early, we headed out for adventures.  The guy to a boring symposium, me to a craft party- yay!  My gal pal, Josci, and I met up with Katy and Maureen of Sew Lovely Embroidery and Lisa of A Cuppa Tea with Me!  It was so great because we've been online stitchy pals forever now but this was the first time we got together.

Can I tell you, Katy and Maureen totally spoiled the heck out of us.  Check out the sweet decorations, it's it darling?!  (I stole this photo from Sew Lovely's flickr, it's chock full of gems like this.)  There was a ton of yummy food, tea, champagne...everything a girl could ask for!

They even gave us the cutest goody bags, I told you- spoiled.  Check out all the cute loot I got:

We stitched, we bitched.  Traded tips and quips.  All in all, we had a great time.  Here's all us girls together.  Yeah, I'm inadvertently giving you guys a glimpse of my bra...leopard nonetheless.  Classy, huh?  Someday I'll get it together.

It was a gorgeous day, the weather alone would have made the weekend fabulous.  Beautiful, isn't it?  I feel so lucky that I got to spend such a lovely day with great people.

Thanks again to Katy and Maureen for hosting a lovely afternoon, you ladies rock my sock's off.  From your patterns to your sweet words of encouragement, you are always amazing! xoxo

So, can you guys see why I had such a great time?  Thought so.  Tons of stitching lately, so lots to come.  Stay tuned.  See you soon :)

Winners!

So, yeah, I tried to post this yesterday but silly Blogger was not cooperating.  Figures, when I actually go to do something....  Anyways, with the help of my assistant, the winners have been chosen.

 

And the lucky ladies are AlwaysInspired and Corvustristis!  Yay!!  I'll be contacting you gals very soon to get all the details.

 

 Errrr, 3rd time's a charm, maybe?  The laptop died during my 2nd attempt to post this, possibly forever.  I'm working on our other computer and quickly getting frustrated with the awkward desk set-up.  *Breathe in, breathe out*  Ugh, guess it's time to bite the bullet and start saving some money.  New Macs don't just buy themselves.  I'm just grateful we have the other one to use still.

For the next few hours, I'm challenging myself to get a ton of things crossed off of my to-do list, so I  can have a nice relaxing weekend with the guy.  It's his birthday tomorrow!  Thanks to a trade, I have the weekend off...Yay!  It also means I don't have as much time as originally planned for this darned list.  Let's see how much I get done before work tonight!

Have a craftastic day, I'm off to be a busy little worker bee!

Caturday

In the evening and on weekends our neighborhood is really quiet, so Chunky is allowed to go outside while it's still light out.  He pretty much just lays on the porch and makes silly noises at the birds.  

While he's not doing that he plays his favorite game.  It looks like this.

He sits at the door and meows super loud....over and over again.  When you try to let him in he will turn around and ignore you.  A few minutes later, he will do it again.  It could really go on for hours if you indulge him.  After several dozen interactions like this, he will finally come in.  At that point he will saunter to the back door and demand to be let out again.  He scratch his favorite tree, then right back to the front door to play again.  It's a vicious cycle.  Like I've said, he runs this place.

P.S.  That's the roomie's new car in the background.  Every time I see it I expect Joe Pesci to come walking up the house with a baseball bat.

To Hold Me Over.

A few of you guys already know, but I'll let the cat out of the bag.  I have a huge giveaway in the works, I'm totally excited about it.  I can't wait.  While I work on that, I figured I would have another small one.  You know, just to hold me over until the big one.  Can you tell that the anticipation is killing me?

I've gotten so much positive feedback about my Arcade Barrettes and Brooches, so I thought I would show my appreciation by giving away a few of those. The winners may choose a style already in my shop (more to come tomorrow!) or I will make a custom one just for you.

I'll choose two winners on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011.  To enter, simply leave a comment telling me about your favorite thing to make lately. These are among my favorites right now.  So, what do you love to make?  Cookies?  Crafty Stuff? Loud noises?  Tell me, I need to know!

Be back soon to tell you all about my fabulous weekend stitching with the gals!