Happy Tuesday.  

I hope you have had a good week so far.  We had a great weekend at the Rodeo Cookoff, sporting a tad bit of headache and apparently I made lots of friends, got some beads..., but its supposed to be like Vegas - what happens there, stays there...yeah right....

Anyhoo - Chief had a fit on Sunday night and I got lots of sewing done - if I knew how easy that was to free up my time, I would have done that wayyyyy sooner...  just kidding - maybe - sort of...

Well, I am playing catch up and there are some things I have made lately that I wanted to share.  

First or should I say lastly, I made this adorable Cat in the Hat tote.  I got the instructions here, Cat in the Hat Tote Tutorial although I reversed the fabric - I lined the inside with the stripes - (ahem, did you hear that, I LINED something, oh yeah!)  Anyway, I did a boxed tote bottom that lines up PERFECTLY.  I couldn't believe it!!!  Not sure where my little tote headed, but maybe I will hold out for someone's birthday or baby gift, I think.  

Also, the Chief bought me a serger and I made an entire pillow using it - it was great fun, although I just shiver when I think I may have to thread that thing at some time.  I will worry about that later...much later.  I found the cutest Looney Tunes Dallas Cowboys fabric - so it's yet another pillow, I know, but its serged, which is something new.  Give me a break - I'm a pillow making fool  :)

I edited these pictures to rotate to the right, but they didn't and I'm not going to worry about it, so ENJOY the whole up and down image, yeah baby!  Life's too short to sweat the vertical hee hee.

About a year ago I made this rag quilt.  It came out so cute and I'm still holding it - for two reasons.  First, I don't know who to give it to that would appreciate the amount of work that went into it (since everything takes me twice as long).  Second, I nipped stitches when I was "ragging" it and I have to go back and sew some holes shut.  

Front

Back

I really love this blanket.  It's so bright and cheerful - some special little girl deserves it.  Let me know if you know of one.  I thought about at the hospital, but that's anonymous and I really wanted to see their face when they get it.  When the time is right - I'm sure it will find its home.

One thing that I am sure of by now is that I almost, no ALWAYS, seem to have to resew something on a project.  It's my lot in life I guess.

Ok - example time, ding ding - I saw the cutest little stuffed bunny to make for Easter - sort of combined two Pinterest patterns - cut, pinned and sewed.  So excited - out was out and in was in - even added lace for a little flair - I'm feeling cocky now, yeah baby!!!!  Getting ready to stuff when I realized - yes, its true, the ears are sewn on backwards.... see what I mean - EVERY FLIPPEN TIME!!!

(Ok - see I rotated this bunny as well.  I give up.  Tilt your head to the right and enjoy seeing my backward bunny ears!)

By the end of this week, I hope to finish my quilt repair and rip and resew my little bunny.  Then who fricken knows....I'm on a roll... look out  :)

Have a wonderful evening!

Laugh and Love!!!

Ok - It's only been a month and I'm back - wooo whoooo!!!!

It's been a sad month since Mom passed.  Passed what, right?  I hate that phrase, but died just sounds so final and blunt.  Anyway, the good news is my eye finally has stopped twitching.  My task list is almost complete and I get to get sad and then get glad again now.  So, that's life right...it just keeps going...

I'm trying to do things to keep busy - the Chief says Mom told him his job is to distract me, which basically means he's trying to make me craZy, with an excuse.  I asked him if he could feel Mom "swatting" him - you know like Whoopie Goldberg did on Ghost?  I feel certain that she, Mom, not Whoopie, is up there trying to "git that boy".  They gave each other hell and I know he misses her as much as I do.

Ok, deep breath, new subject...

I'm listening to Amy Sedari's audio book entitled:

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence

I have replayed part after part - she makes me laugh so much, with "side bar" notes and self-award winning recipes, with tidbits and humor - I hate that I'm on the last cd.  If you need a little humor - get it, or be cheap like me and check it out at the library for free!!!  

My loves:  Libraries.  I miss holding books, turning pages, feeling the paper, smelling the ink.  I am old school and admit it here and now, I LOVE BOOKS!!  But, and, as I spend an inordinate amount of travel time back and forth to work, the audio book works for the car portion and I haven't opened the IPAD in a week.  I checked out a Stephen King book - The Dome (1,074 page, weighs a flippen ton) and Mary Poppins, that I found while scoping out the children section for my grandson, Adam.  I'm also reading The Human Life of Jesus that I found on a shelf at Mom's.  So lots of reading going on, and it's making me happy, so there!!!

News flashes:
I am down 26 lbs.  Jeff is down 30 so far - we are doing Weight Watcher's and its working.  I really got off track in the last month, but I'm finding my way back.  Can't let him win, right?

Valentine's Day was yesterday.  We agreed to go with homemade cards this year.  I don't have pics of his and my small cards, but I will post them next week, because mine was pretty darn good and his was absolutely hilarious.  I almost peed on myself while reading it.  I did want to give him something tho, so I made what I called a "big" card.  I found it on Pinterest - I love Pinterest.  It's not perfect and it needs a a little more work, and as usual I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. the night before last, making it, but I like it.  So did he, he was wondering where to hang it, which TOTALLY surprises me.  I will post the pics next week.  I would like some feedback.

Jeff's niece and sister brought over a little container of goodies - one was chocolate covered bacon.  Yes I said it.  Chocolate covered bacon!  Whoever thought of that was NOT on Weight Watchers!  It was yummy, shhhhhhh!

My Adam is here this weekend, so I am playing up the Mam Maw for all it's worth.  I see lots of Wii games in our day tomorrow.

Nothing else going on.  It's Friday afternoon and I am headed home.  One and one-half hour trek - here I go...

Ash Wednesday service reminded us that we are beloved children of God.  Isn't that awesome to hear, even though we know it already.  Never hurts to be reminded.  As screwed up as I am, I'm still beloved and so are YOU!!!  Have a great weekend!!!

How to say goodbye and help those left behind

Well,

It's been a really long time since I have posted.  I could blame it on so many things, but really I just got lazy.  We have taken trips and made improvements to the house.  We have made friends and probably a few enemies in all of this time.  But, I think the biggest change is that my mom died on January 9th.  It will be three weeks this Wednesday and I still reach for the phone and try to call her.  It's almost as if she is still just that phone call away.  Then you realize that cornbread, pineapple upside down cake and chapstick can have a profound sadness surrounding them.  I know someday they won't make me cry, but for now...it's so sad its almost numbing.  Here's a photo I found when going through pictures of her - this is how I remember seeing her when I was growing up.  That hair - yikes - all three of us kids have that same hair.  I say thank GOD for flat irons :)

Also, having had to do so much of the process by myself, I have learned a lot that I hope will help others.  I mean it.  There are so many little things we can all do now, that can help our loved ones when the time comes, whether expected or not.  And these don't take much time and are so helpful to others later.

Things to do now:

First, and I say this most ardently, make a call list.  Everyone you would ever want to have called.  When that moment came, I stood there with my eye twitching going through an old phone book of hers with no idea who half the people were.  We missed calling some people, I know because they called me after the funeral when they heard.  I felt so bad....To be honest I was so stressed out, I don't remember who all got called.  Make a call list.  Put it in an envelope in a cabinet with your papers and let someone know its there.  It's a gift that makes the process so much easier for those left behind.  I would even suggest, if there are quite a few, breaking it into sections, so it can be handed to several people to make calls, so that one person isn't stuck trying to do it all themselves.

Secondly, pictures.  This was a nightmare because I had a 1 day deadline to gather approximately 45 pictures for the keepsake video and get them emailed, so they could get it online.  Take the time to save your favorite pictures of yourself and photos of you with those you love to a usb stick or cd.  You can update every once in awhile to keep it current.  Put that stick or cd in the envelope with the call list and file it away.  Just let someone know its there and mark it with big letters so its easy to find.  Note:  They wanted 25 pictures for the keepsake handout at the funeral, but didn't ask and chose their own 25.  As it turned out their choice included 3 of one aunt, 2 of one brother and 4 kids were left out.  MAKE SURE that when you save the 45 - label 25 of them specifically as Keepsake Brochure or Keepsake Handout.  I had a war with the funeral home trying to get them reprinted the day of - and that was a stress I didn't need.  If you have family like mine, you know you can't accidentally eliminate kids or someone gets their feelings hurt.

Third, obituary.  They write it and send to you to proof.  If you just make up a dummy one - it makes it so that no ones name gets misspelled or left out.  But they do write it, so this is one stress that I got to share.

Fourth, music.  They play about 3 songs at a service.  If you have a preference, just write them down.  They had all of the music, so I only had to give them the names.  That was actually painless.

Things to do later:

Fifth, and apparently very important, the flower spray for the casket.  I wasn't asked until the florist didn't have time to order the right flowers.  So tell the funeral home you want them to arrange it but have the florist call you to discuss your choice of flowers.  Our's worked out because she knew I was upset and she found flowers somewhere, and it was lovely, but it was another stress that could have been avoided if I had known to handle early on.

What to wear.  Okay, I found something beautiful for mom, but it helps if you can leave an idea of what you want.  I got lucky.  But everyone has their own ideas and you could come out looking differently than you imagine. You also have to send the jewelry.  I sent three rings, so they could choose, and they put them all three on.  She would have loved the bling, so I left it, just be prepared that if you send it, they will use it!

We took bells and angels that she collected and put them on a table by the door and asked everyone to take one home for a little token to remember mom by.  Everyone was ringing the bells as they walked out.  It made me smile.

We had to go back after the graveside service to handle paperwork and then they gave me all of these flowers to take home.  I ended up with 7 arrangements and 2 plants.  My house smelled cloyingly sweet and made me sad.  I would love to have had everyone take one with them.  Ask them beforehand when they will allow you to take them.  Better to share.

So to sum up,

1.  Make a call list
2.  Save your pictures
3.  Write out names and spelling for obituary.
4.  Music - write down your prefrences
5.  Order flower spray for casket through funeral home first day
6.  Outfit, if you care
7.  Ask them about flowers to take home, beforehand

There were other things; family that couldn't see family at the same time because of disagreements, so scheduling a viewing earlier helped.  Finding pallbearers ahead of time would have helped but no one wanted to and in the end everyone had to.  Seeing people you didn't recognize and not sure how to approach, trying to be friendly and efficient and strong.  Thank you cards afterwards.  My eye hasn't stopped twitching.  Its a process, don't panic, surprisingly in the end, it all gets done.

But, please, please, please for the sake of those left behind, get an envelope minimally, put in the call list and the photos and put it where they can find it.  I'm working on mine right now.  The Chief wants a margarita machine at his and they said you can do it if you want to, so see, anything is possible.

Lastly, go tell the ones that are still here how much you love them.  Even the ones that piss you off or drive you crazy.  Because eventually you lose the option to make the choice.

I'm tired and I'm done and now I can just be sad.

God bless us all.  We need it!

Sew Be nice!!!

Hi there.  Yes, me, back like a blast from the past.  We got good news, bad news and just normal stuff going on, so I’m not going to bore you.  Lord knows it bores me.

I have made a few things.  Not nearly enough for what I need to do.  I have posted them below.  At least I try and keep up with what I’ve done.

I made these cookies for Christmas.  Got them off Pinterest.  I'm in love with Pinterest...

A baby blanket I made as a gift.  I saw on someone's blog about rolling the back fabric to the front for a border and I loved it.  So easy.  But I will say, as I keep learning everything the hard way... A pattern (not random) will show if you don't sew straight.  Note triangles get smaller and/or bigger on two sides.  I did fix it when I saw it.  One day I will know all of this before I start.  It came out cute anyway and I made a taggy blanket to go with it.

We leave for a 7 day cruise on February 19, so I’m pretty sure I won’t get much done in the meantime, so hey, no surprise there.

Update on Mom and Rocky – surprisingly enough they both have lung cancer.  The Chief says Rocky must be sneaking out the doggie door at night for a drag – and Mom, well – it hasn’t slowed down her smoking any – they cured her twice already.  Sorry, me being cynical...

So – I’m going to sew – love them while I can – and try and remember that all the time we have is all the time we get with each other.  So be nice!  I’m trying…

Taggie? Tuckered and Tomorrow

Well its been a really long while since I've been online and so much has happened lately, to be honest, I haven't even thought about sewing or making anything.  Sorry for being gone so long, I feel like I have missed so much. 

Well, I finally reached an "I need a tension buster" point in my world and I picked up some unfinished things and finished them.  I made three new burp rags, same as I made before and I saw the cutest thing online that I had to try.  A taggie blanket.  Have you heard of it?  I hadn't.  I did ok for a first attempt, but whoever suggested that you leave the corner open was INSANE.  If you EVER leave an opening to flip - do it on the side - trying to tuck in the edges and form a point and pin and sew while holding the taggies straight was enough to bust my bubble!  I took a few pictures for you to see, I folded it over so you can see both sides.  It was actually fairly easy, although it is not perfect by any means.  Notice or hopefully you don't notice that I tried to hide that uncooperative corner mentioned above! Still it was fun...

I have a few other things I want to make - an envelope pillow cover and a sausage pillowcase and I think I remember how to do those things, so hopefully that will go quick and smooth.  The Chief asked me yesterday if I wanted to get a real machine (this when I was throwing a fit about the corner not sewing together right) and I had to calm down long enough to tell him it wasn't the operation, it was the operator!  I hate telling him that.

Anyway, we moved Mom to a senior apartment the next street over from us.  There is a lot of adjustment for her and for us.  I think she and the country dog have cried a lot lately.  It's for the best, but wow its hard. 

And then there's Rocky - black dog.  He is sick - has been up coughing for three days now.  Vet gave him an antibiotic.  I feel like there wasn't enough of me to go around before (well there's more than enough if you want to talk bulk, but that's not the direction I'm headed here) and now I'm up all night with my baby for the third night.  I kinda look like a zombie from a horror movie.  A big one.  People stopped making eye contact with me yesterday - maybe it was my hair hee hee.  Chief is offering me mucho moola if I agree to dye it back blonde.  Big baby.  I'm doing it of course.  Too tired to rebel...I know you know what I mean.

Please say a prayer, for Mom, for Rocky and for Me.  And let me know if you need prayer, I can add you to my list.  I'm going to have to start writing it down soon.  But always room for more!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week.  The blessing is that tomorrow we get to try and do it all again if we are lucky!  Thank you Lord for tomorrow!!! 

Baby Gifts and Big Ideas

OK, guilty as charged.  I get these "big ideas" in my head where I think I can just whip up some cute little things for a gift.  Sure I can, I think to myself, it will just take me a couple of hours.  Yeah, well, the last baby blanket took weeks.  No, seriously.  It sat on my kitchen table half sewn forever.  It was that darn silk binding.  The Chief threatened to "lose" that blanket along with my machine if I didn't just sit down and sew.  I did.  Last night.  Until after midnight.  I resewed some.  I pulled some stitches.  I fussed, cussed and was nonplussed.  I wrapped that baby up with a bow along with a pillow I made previously and some burp rags.  FINALLY!

I just handed it to the lucky recipient and told him to tell his wife that it was at least good enough for their puppies.  Although, to be honest, I let my "babies" Angus and Rocky use all of our blankets, so it isn't as wrong as it sounds.  I am glad to be rid of it, but actually rather disheartened about it.  It was not as neat as the first one - and my skills are lacking big time.  I guess YouTube was a great beginning, but perhaps now I should proceed with a few real lessons?  I like the feeling of creating something from nothing.  I like handing someone something that was made with effort and care.  I don't like knowing if someone handed it to me, I would see the stitching and go "hmmmmm"... I guess we are all our own worse critics, right?

As far as new projects, I desperately need to sew a table runner and we need curtains on a window in the dining room.  I could always use some pillows in the living room.  I saw one with a deer head applique that was really cute.  I need to practice more, guess I should practice on things to keep until the lines are straighter and the stitches are consistent.  OK, its a plan. 

Oh, I did see a damnit doll idea that I love.  I know, one project at a time.  Could have used the damnit doll last night while sewing that blanket, though.  See that should be my first priority - sew some, get frustrated, beat the crap out of the damnit doll, sew some, go have a drink, sew some, have more to drink, turn out the lights go to bed and start again tomorrow....I love to sew, yeah right, I love to sew, sure, sure, I love to sew, wah wah wah............. :(

Full Bib Reversible Apron - oh yes, I did it!!!!!!

Hi there.  It’s a new week, thank goodness!  

I got brave and used a full apron I had on hand as a pattern (or tried to) and I finally used my bee fabric. After some trial and error – I figured out how to make the pocket with a border, sew on straps and make the entire full apron reversible.  I will note at this point that the graphics didn’t transfer as I had hoped.  Every kind of transfer paper that I found had a white background.  I could not find clear paper for the transfer anywhere, which meant cutting out as much as I could and leaving some white.  So, I’m not happy with that part, and if you look really close the strap/apron edge on the right has a tad of white showing – so I didn’t sew exactly straight (big surprise there).  I am making myself a note at this point, NO MORE FABRIC WITH LINES ACROSS.  It’s like a neon sign saying look at me, I can’t sew straight.  L  Also, I did not put a pocket on the other side, I mean enough was enough after all that fuss on the reverse.  If they need a pocket, they can just turn that baby around, right?

(Yes, I realize this needs some major ironing - which it got later, but I was so excited that I finally figured it out - I had to take the picture immediately).

Ultimately, I made a fully reversible apron that was created from scratch with my own two hands and I am absolutely proud of the effort and the final product.  Wonky is as wonky does I guess.  I can live with that.

Next project is a table runner that I am putting together; it’s square and does not hang off the ends of the table and I don’t care if it’s supposed to.  I like it better like this.  Ooo Wee – do you hear that – I’m getting all “sewing combative” in blogland.

Also, I have a really old “family” mirror of the Chief's that needs some work and I’m going to putty, sand, paint and distress.  That should prove interesting.  The Chief was terrified when he saw I bought a putty knife and some primer.  Hee hee, I love that.  I am sooo doing this just to prove I can.  

It’s going to be a great week, I refuse to believe anything else but…

Happy sewing.