Welcome Home Soldier!

A while back I mentioned that our school had adopted a soldier, US Marine to be specific. The kids put on a wonderful assembly to send him off, tied a yellow ribbon in front of the school, sent cards and gifts and waited for his return.
Well, today he came to school along with his family and cut down that yellow ribbon. The kids put on another great assembly welcoming him back home. It was extremely touching and I was NOT the only person there that was crying.
Welcome home Matthew!
Here's the ribbon

the stage all set up before the assembly

getting ready

cutting the ribbon

Bitten

I've been bitten by the doll quilt bug. Everyone in blogland has been making gorgeous doll quilts and I have tried to resist, I REALLY HAVE. My pre-cut 2" fabric squares keep calling to me from my craft room and last night I couldn't take it any more.

I have no business starting any new projects but when the doll quilt calls you must answer.

I found this random bit of fun while blog surfing:

Go ahead, try one for yourself

http://www.blyberg.net/card-generator/

Something else that's fun and new if you love embroidery:

http://flickrembroidery.blogspot.com/

Some of the cool flickr girls started an embroidery blog, go check it out!

yippee!!!

The neurologist (aka- my new best friend who by the way is way younger than me which freaked me out a little) said I have migraines and lots of 'em. Apparently, I am having at least 15 migraine days per month. The dizzy spells are actually migraines without a headache as are the vision problems (tunnel and alice in wonderland vision) and even the abdominal problems. Who knew???? He prescribed Topamax and it should make me feel all better in no time. The only thing is that it has this certain side effect:

WEIGHT LOSS

Are you kidding me???? That's a side effect? I almost jumped off the table and kissed him on the lips!

la la la la la la *spin* la la la la la *twirl* la la la la la la la la *dizzy, I'd better stop*

Monday already!

Back to the work week, wah! I like my job but I like being home even more, too bad the home thing doesn't pay.
Gabby started this cute towel a few months ago and lost interest so I decided to finish it for her. She is a real crafty kid, everything comes easy to her and she only needs to be shown one time. I have been amazed by her talent for years now, be it knitting, beading, drawing, crochet, sewing, clay, you name it and she can master it. I hope she will find a way to earn a living by creating things when she grows up. Sammy is the anti-crafter and shuns all things handmade and Julia is more like Gabby and is quite talented with embroidery.
I am seeing the neurologist this afternoon and hopefully will have some answers soon. Naturally, I am feeling pretty good today.
Have a pleasant day...... even if it is Monday!

Friday at last!

Whew! This one took a long time to get here. Speaking of a long time to get here......

Back in December I sent $4.00 to Wrights and they promised to send me a bag-o-scraps in 6-8 weeks. Better late than never. I must say, they were very generous. There is at least 20, 1 yard pieces of assorted trim. I am a tad disappointed with the lack of rick-rack. You all know how I loves me some rick-rack! I got one lonely piece of dark pink chenille and that's it :( I know who could use all the other fancy, lacy trims...... Calamity Kim, that's who! Kim, I'll email you.
There was more excitement in the mailbox:

I was lucky enough to get in on the first official Sublime Stitching Tea Towel Tour http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=152961.0
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sublimestitching/
We are field testing a towel for the fabulous Jenny Hart. We get to do whatever we would like to it and log our comments and pass it on to the next tester. To make it even sweeter.... we get to pick a free pattern!! I would have done this for nothing. I'll post my addition to the towel tomorrow.
On to health related news:
My blood work came back perfect. I am in good health as far as my regular doctor can tell. His best guess is that the neurologist will say that I have some (insert medical term that I can't remember)-migraine. He says that sometimes you can have migraines without the headache. *shrugs* We'll see what the new doctor says on Monday. No worries!

whoa

So, I got dizzy and queasy for no reason on Sunday afternoon and stayed home on Monday because I still felt crappy. On Tuesday I went back to work feeling a little light-headed but doing ok. I dropped the kids at school and proceeded to work. As I approached a busy intersection (with an ambulance zooming through)
I felt myself start to faint!
Oh-my-gosh, it was so scary!! I felt myself fading out and sinking into my seat, thankfully I never blacked out and managed to snap back after a second but DAMN that was frightening! I drove a half a block to work and sat at my desk and shook, called the husband who threatened to kill me if I didn't call the dr. and then got an appointment for this morning. I spent most of my day having exams, blood tests, EKG, and vascular ultrasound....... and I am in perfect health. No stroke, no heart problem, no blood clot, no seizure, no nothing. Of course this is good news but I really want to know what is going on to cause this. My doctor put me on very limited driving(no highway, no driving while woozy). I have an appointment with a good neurologist on Monday and hopefully he will say, "it's only blah,blah,blahitis, take this pill and you'll be fine". So, that's what I've been up to this week. I'll keep you posted.
Before that I had a great day on Saturday while my sister and brother-in-law came to visit. I miss them already!
I did a little sewing tonight:

I bought some images from The Vintage Workshop and printed them on some muslin that I ironed to freezer paper. As far as I can tell it didn't even ruin the printer! Don'tcha just love cha-cha ball trim??

fun with scraps

We are in the midst of a big Nor'Easter here in CT. It's the most winter we've had all winter. I'm having a quiet day of cleaning and laundry and of course a little crafting. Everytime I clean up my sewing table I get the itch to sew something. Today the itch turned into lavender sachets.

Kid news:
Sammy's team won their championship basketball game last night. It was an awesome game, my heart was still pounding at midnight. Yay girls! #1!
Strike news:
Sorry I forgot to, In case anyone was wondering, there will be no strike. They settled on Sunday. Yay Bumble!

are you my mother?

This cute little felt piggy on the right came to live with us yesterday.

He is the creation of the very talented Laurie of http://oldschoolacres.typepad.com/ . This lady really knows her way around wool felt, let me tell you! The pig was quickly named Wilbur and went to stay by Julia's bed with Ms. Pig E. Bank, a rubber band ball, a book and some dust. He will be happy here. Thanks Laurie.
It's a busy craft week around here. Basketball ends tomorrow (Yay Lady Tigers!) and softball doesn't start up for a few weeks, so there is more time to sit at the sewing machine. I'll be posting some more pictures by the weekend......I hope.
Happy hump day!

today's challenge

I imposed a little challenge on myself today. I call it- "how many things can you make for a kitchen with one fat quarter as your theme?"
Well, so far I have 4! 1- the oven mitt from this morning.
2- A cute trimmed tea towel

3- A pot holder that really isn't that wonky looking in person

4- A bag keeper

Whew, That felt good! I still have a few squares of this print left, who knows, maybe I'll think of something else.

Off to a good start!

One oven mitt complete before breakfast!

My quilts are going to be put on hold for a while as we wait to hear about my husband's looming strike. So, instead I thought oven mitts would be a fun way to use up batting leftovers and all of my fun kitchen-y fabrics.
Time to do some laundry and perhaps hit the sewing machine again.
Have a happy Saturday!

I'm still here....

I haven't made a single thing in weeks.
*sigh*
I feel a little cranky when I am not able to make things. There just hasn't been any time.
But how can you stay cranky when you get to work and find this?



The boss is a fun guy. He gets in early and does something nice just about everyday. He puts on coffee, or stops for bagels, puts Andrea Bocelli on really LOUD, sometimes puts candy on the our desks, etc. It's a surprise every time. Yesterday was the welcome sign in the snow with a twisted little path going through the courtyard that everyone actually followed. Quite amazing for such unique and creative people!

I think I may be able to spend a few hours with my sewing machine this weekend.... keep your fingers crossed.
Have a nice day!

sorting it out

How do you sort your fabric scraps? I've been reading about this in blogland (I can't remember who or where) and thought this would be a good topic. I have had no sewing time in the past 2 weeks but I felt the need to visit with my fabric on some level tonight. It scares the family if I pet the fabric so I opted for a little organization instead. Usually I keep all of my fabric scraps sorted by main color in plastic zipper bags near my machine. This worked ok but I felt like I could organize these scraps a bit more to please the micromanager in me. I read in someone's blog (it was 5:00 am, I can't remember who) that they would cut them into squares. Great idea!



I have 2-inch, 3-inch, and 4-inch squares cut and stored (by color) in my craft room tool drawers. The bigger squares are stored in a shoe box (yes, by color) and all other strip scraps are back in the plastic bags (you guessed it, by color) and ready for a log cabin block. I still have 6 more bags to go but I feel very satisfied with my progress.

You know what else I love? These giant ziploc bags, that's what! I am using them for all of my lesser loved fabrics and holiday prints that don't need to take up shelf space.

Uneventful week

It's been a slow craft week. This has been on the hoop since Sunday!

My eyes have been so tired at night that I can't even embroider and I'm nodding off during American Idol by 9:00. The weekend looks like it will be a non-crafty one; Sammy's team is playing in the State Championship tomorrow and possibly Sunday. Yay her, but too bad for me and my crafty itch. Hopefully my next post will be a little less dull. Until then, I leave you with a little calendar fun.

Happy old stuff day and have a good weekend!