Just call me superstitious

The last post was my 13th post and well, you know....

So here's a picture of another of my loves, my girl.

My first love

I have to say that embroidery is one of my most favorite things to do. It wasn't the first "crafty" thing that I learned but it's always been my favorite. My grandmother always made these wonderful tea towels, you know, the old Aunt Martha patterns. One day my mom and I went through this huge trunk that my grandmother had left to me and found two whole set of towels that she had made for me. That was when I became interested in embroidery.

I taught my self by looking at the towels that she had made. My first ones were pretty crazy but I got the hang of it quickly. I don't use the same technique as my grandmother any more (she used a diagonal stitch and I use the basic back stitch- I have more control that way) but I like having this in common with her. She passed away 15 years ago but I still think of her whenever I start a project. Hopefully this will be something Maisy will learn and enjoy and someday pass on to her family.

Okay, A quick note about the tank, it's a present (they don't read this so it's okay) and I'm working on another tank to go with it. It's very simplistic but I think, sweet. Hopefully she'll enjoy it.

** One last thing, I am constantly amazed at how well the tea towels my grandmother made have held up. I don't think the woman ever used a knot or anchored a stitch and yet none of them have unraveled.

Clearly I have a problem

Hi, my name is Michelle and I'm a Fabric Addict.

Okay, maybe it's not that bad... yet. But I did purchase all of this fabric this weekend at two different stores! Yes, some of it's for projects but why, why!?! did I purchase 2 3/8 yards of that ugly brown and pink fabric? (I partially hid it underneath all the others because I was a little ashamed and it makes your eyes water if you look at it too long.) I just had to have it. What am I going to use it for ? No clue because it's way too ugly to give as a gift and I sure don't want anything made out it. Maybe it will make a nice accent to something later one. I'll just have to wait and see.

This week should be a busy one. I have to finish 3 presents by this weekend so that I can start on my Amy Butler bag! You may not know this but I am an absolute freak about purses. I have about 50 different ones and I am jonesing for a new one. But since one of my new year's resolutions was to be less of a consumer, I'll have to make it myself. Plus the thrill of purse shopping is gone, now that I know I can make something much cooler and more original on my own the bags at Target don't have the same appeal.

old and new

Old: Arlo's Christmas Present
My first attempt at a Space boy. Since it was for my one year old son, I left off the belt and satin stitched the eyes. I also embroidered 3 matching "pillows" for him to play with. They are all backed with the same fabric as the body of space boy.

How does he like them?
ehh. He sleeps with the space boy but that's more my doing than his but he does like the little pillows. (This was the only picture without a blurry toddler hand.) They fit just right in his little hands and he doesn't get in trouble when he throws them. I'd love to find more things to make for him, there seem to be so few things for boys.

New: Maisy's dress

Okay, first off, please forgive this photo. It was late last night and there was no natural light to be had. Secondly, this dress looks much cuter in person! It's still kind of weird and a little night gown looking but oh, well...

The appliqued hearts turned out pretty well but I wish there were more hearts of different patterns. I had more pink material but only two were flannel. I liked the weight of the flannel hearts and I think that made it easier to sew them on. If I had it to do over again, I would have dyed the dress first and then added more hearts with different patterns in a more random way. At least I can cross this dress off my Project list, I kept feeling bad that I hadn't done anything with this dress for a really long time. So now it's done and there's a sense of accomplishment, even if it's not perfect.

That's one thing I have to give credit to this blogging community, before I would have gotten so discouraged that I hadn't gotten it "just right" the first time. I would have sworn off whatever I had attempted and given up for good. Now I look at everything as practice. Didn't turn out perfect? "Oh, well, pretty good for a first try. Next time will work out better." And I've been right. I've learned how to relax and give myself room. It's been really wonderful to finally just enjoy the process and not worry so much. So thank you Blog Ladies, thanks for inspiring me to create and to be proud of what I've accomplished. I'd forgotten how good that felt.

(okay, that got a little mushy. But I sure do mean it:)

Tid bits...

I did it! I signed up for a swap at Happy Zombie. Now, How do you make a pot holder? Maybe I should have thought of that before.....hmmm..

Other news, my sister-in-law, Erin, is a part of a internet show on Epicurious. It tracks 4 Culinary Institute students through their lives. The show begins on January 29th but you can check out the trailer and auditions now. Her audition video is sweet and also features two of my favorite people, Maisy & Arlo. Check it out if you have a minute.

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me, first swap and first attempt at applique. Instead of embroidering Maisy's dress, I appliqued little hearts made of Hello Kitty fabric and some other pink floral matterial I had laying around. For a first try it looks pretty good and when I finish sewing on the last 3 hearts (9 total) I'll post a pic. It was pretty time consuming and looks a little rough around the edges, not as polished as I would like. But Maisy did give her stamp of approval this morning, she said it was beautiful. So that's good enough for me.

Project list part 1

When I started thinking about this, I got a little overwhelmed. So I'm going to do this in stages so I don't freak out.

1. Embroider firetruck, fireman and Dalmatian to go with the Firefighter Space boy.
I made a set kind of like this for Arlo except it was a robot, rocket ship and flying saucers. He likes to carry them around when his big sister lets him have them.

2. 2nd Roller Derby bag for Amy. The first one was an embroidered project and then Lori directed me to this awesome fabric and a 2nd one needs to be made. This is also going to be a lot larger than my normal tote bag that I make, so Amy can carry all her gear to practice.

3. Something for me! The matching black and white fabrics are going to be for a reversible Amy Butler bag. I won't tell you which because that would ruin the fun!

4. The solid blue and pink flower patterned fabrics are for a Wee Wonderfuls bear. Maisy really want me to make her something so I hope she likes it.

5. The black and bright flower fabrics are for another Wee Wonderful pattern, this time a Kitty. I can just see the black cat with the colorful dress and a little flower or bow by her ear. I don't know who it's for, I can just see the finished product so clearly that I need to make it. (weird, I know)

6. The last 2 fabrics, you can't see very well but they are this funky , space/ marble material that I thought would be perfect for some more space boys. I want Arlo to have a whole fleet each with a different ethnicity.

7. Not pictured but an embroidery project for Amy's girlfriend. I ran out of time before Christmas and never got her present done. I won't say what it is but I'll sure post a picture once it's finished.

8. Also not pictured, embroidering a dress for Maisy. I have no idea what to put on it, she has very strong opinions and I hate to spend time on something she won't like. I'll give her some options and see what she picks.....

Okay, that's enough for now. I'm glad that the project for myself made the first cut. I need a new purse so I'd better start working on it!

And Last but Not Least, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!!!!!!!!

Whew!

3 projects finished this week. Remind me next time to start a little earlier! For our friend's birthday I made this Bat Bag. He just turned 4 and is a complete nut for all things Halloween. It's very cute. (The boy, not the bag) Not to say I'm not happy with the bag, just not terribly excited. I turned out well and I'm going to make 2 more for my kids to Trick or Treat with. Let's just hope I don't forget where I put them come October.

I also made him a Halloween themed Spaceboy from Wee Wonderfuls. I love how he turned out. You can't tell very well but the belt is a cut out felt bat. I originally was going to put BOO but the bat was less time consuming and looks better.

This little guy was for my friend's son to celebrate their finalized adoption. His bedroom is fireman themed so when I found this adorable fabric I couldn't resist.

So a now I have a couple of questions, How the heck do you turn these small corners? Every time I wind up with pointy toed spacemen and it kind of bothers me. Is there a trick I don't know about or will it just take more time and practice?

Also can you tell which photos were taken by the professional photographer and which one was taken by me? :)

I have to say Matt was a big help on Saturday and was kind enough to take pictures of whatever I put in front of him. Thanks again, babe!

The project list is coming this week, it's just taking a little more time than I thought. I want to add pictures of the materials I'm thinking about using since my powers of description are not so hot. And so people can give their advice or suggestions.

Ta da!

• So, finally a picture!

In all modesty I have to say that I love this bag. I made it this Christmas for my sister-in-law, who is currently a student at the Culinary Institute in New York. If you can't tell, her major is Pastry and Baking. (By the way, she's wonderful at it. She comes from a family of cooks and makes the most wonderful things when she's home from school. My favorite being the Doughnut muffins.)

If I had this to do over again, I would have put the interfacing on before I embroidered the bag. It puckered more than I thought it would. But I still love it. I like the simplicity of just using the two colors. And the embroidery designs by Jenny Hart at Sublime Stitching are some of my favorites.

Okay, no list today. I'm pretty impressed I got the picture up. (thanks, Matt) But now that I've got this picture thing down, watch out!

Oops.

Yesterday in all my excitement I completely forgot to say who tagged me... I was the Lovely Lori. Check out her site, she's the one who got me started.

Okay, Earlier I was really excited that I might have some links to past projects but alas, no luck. I tried linking to the pictures directly on Matt's website but oh, well.
(I did successfully link to Lori's website. So I'm not completely inept. Just a little.)

Project wise, I am almost done with two Space boy Dolls from Hillary. (see did it again!)
Both are themed to reflect the little men that they are for. The first one, a firefighter, is for an adoption party on Saturday. My friend Molly and her husband are celebrating their new family. (honestly, you can't say new since Molly's raised her son since he came from the hospital and now he's over a year old) I can't think of 3 people who love and deserve each other more. I'm really glad that I get to be a part of the celebration.

The second one, a Halloween space boy, is for one of Maisy's friends. He's 4 and a complete freak for all things Halloween. I had a blast picking out fabric for it, especially since it was all 70% off. I had to make myself put down many, many bolts of fabric and remind myself that while it was a wonderful deal- it's still January! I still have to make a bat tote bag before the party on Sunday, so here's hoping I can stay awake.

I keep thinking that maybe I should post my project list here. I need to keep tabs on what projects to work on because I have a bad habit of forgetting and moving on to something brand new. I'll have to wait and see... Don't want to be too embarassed when nothing gets done.

Tagged, I'm it.

I'm kind of glad that I was tagged today. I was really starting to worry about what to write, along with the "oh, no, it's only my 4 th post and I have nothing left to say?!?". I had myself kind of worked up.

So 6 weird things about myself, that's easy.....

1. I HATE cooked fruit. Cannot stand it. And yes folks, that means pie, cobblers and even raisins in cinnamon rolls. I know, weird. I keep trying to eat it, to see if maybe I've grown out of it but no luck. I still hate pie and any cooked fruit.

2. To continue on with the food topic- I also hate pudding and jello. My own Mother once called me a freak because of this. I think she was just frustrated because I couldn't be bribed. Anytime she'd tell me I couldn't have dessert unless I ate my veggies, I'd say okay and leave the table with out eating anything because she always had jello or pudding for dessert.

3. I watch the Mummy and the Mummy Returns almost every time they are on TV. I don't know why, I just like them plus Brendan Frasier is really handsome. Matt thinks I'm a complete weirdo for it but oh,well. It's better than the creepy cold case murder shows he likes to watch. (And just so you know, I do not care for the Scorpion King. I do have standards.)

4. I hate having to wear socks and regular shoes. It's either bare feet or flip flops for me. My mother in law says you can tell when it's almost spring because I'm wearing flip flops. I wear them well in to winter and way before spring is actually here. Whenever asked why, I say it's because my feet feel claustrophobic in regular shoes.

5. I love Gin and Tonic with 3 limes. (Not too weird but most people hate Gin.) Also I am completely unable to pour a decent Gin and Tonic. It's never as good as The Replay's.

6. Okay, this one's kind of embarrassing but oh,well... I like romance novels. A lot. I don't like the old bodice ripping ones but love the ones about a spunky gal who can take care of herself but needs to meet the right guy to let her hair down and start enjoying life. (see, it's a problem.) Mostly I like them because they're brain candy. Nothing too serious or thought provoking just trashy fun.

Alright, I don't know enough people to tag any one so if you're reading this consider yourself tagged.

Here come some resolutions....

Normally I don't believe in New Year Resolutions. I prefer to make my resolutions on my birthday, but this year I'll make an exception. I need a list of things to focus on. It's so easy to accept the status quo from yourself. To be okay with the fact that you got the basics done: Kids, still alive. Marriage, still there. Work, showed up today. Bills, still need to be payed. The day to day can be so overwhelming that we forget to look forward to focus on what we can accomplish. So here's my attempt at digging myself out:

• I will become a healthier person (and lose some weight in the process)
• I will be a better example to my children- Exercise more, eat better, watch less TV, be more creative
• Remove all Hydrogenated Oils and corn syrup fillers from our food at home. (Ever since I've started reading labels, I am completely grossed out by what is in our food!)
• Become less of a consumer. I don't need all of the pretty things at Target, I don't I tell you!
• Get the TV out of our house or at least get rid of the cable. (I may have a fighting chance at this once KU Basket Ball season is over)
• Post more often and figure out how to add pictures and links.

I had more but I think those 6 are good for now. There's also the given, the one I work towards every day- Being a Better Mother.

Whew! That's a lot to focus on for the next year, I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Wish me luck!

Too Late for the New Year?

My poor, poor neglected Blog. I do love it, just a little intimidated by the whole thing. I am in constant awe of all the magnificent craft blogs I check out daily. I wonder... can I be as witty? Inspiring? Will anyone ever read this?

I finally realized it doesn't matter. To borrow from other fantastic blog ladies, I have to ENJOY and BE. I'm going to enjoy the process, and be creative and proud of what I create. I am also GRATEFUL. Grateful to Lori for turning me on to the craft blog community, grateful for my children and my family without them my life would be soo empty, grateful to finally have my own space to create new things that I hadn't thought I was capable of and I'm grateful for friends, new and old, they put the shine back on life.

Wow, when I thought about this earlier I had no idea what my word for the year would be and now I know. It's GRATEFUL. I think that it's a wonderful way to start the year... being grateful for all that I have. I don't think I've ever looked at a year quite this way before. Wish me luck!

I think I'll save my resolutions for tomorrow, no point in going over board.