Crazy Times

Obviously, we in my family aren't parishoners of the Church of England, however while reading all the dismal reporting on Reuters today, i found this and i have to say am quite taken with it:

Quote: The Church of England published two new prayers, comforting people who lost their jobs and those still in work after a round of cuts. "Hear me as I cry out in confusion, help me to think clearly, and calm my soul," says the "Prayer on being made redundant." The "Prayer for those remaining in the workplace" focuses on guilt and increased workload: "In the midst of this uncertainty, help me to keep going: to work to the best of my ability, taking each day at a time."

Although, i have to say that i was more impressed by the kind acts of a priest in TN who reached into the benevolent fund at his parish and handed out $250 per child to some struggling families within his church.

Makes you wonder just when all this economical woe is going to climax. I feel so bad for the people all around us just hanging on for dear life. We've tried paring down our expenses so that we may be of help to friends and family in need if it comes to that, but it seems that this is going to be unlike anything history has ever seen.

Guess we'll just have to see where the road takes us and hang on to our faith for dear life!

Note to self

for a project later:

Large 12x14
Medium 10x10
Small 7x7
Herb 6x12

It's not sewing but....

I did get something crafty accomplished yesterday.

"Something Old and Something New"

The New Tacoma Narrows Bridge and "Sturdy Gertie"

Tacoma, Wa by: me July 2007

In an effort to see my craft table again, i started cleaning and organising the "stuff" on it. I found a scrapbooking project i started last year from when we walked the newly completed Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It was kind of a community building/informative walk the State, the Cities of Gig Harbor and Tacoma, and the construction workers put together. The new bridge was open for pedestrian traffic only and you could walk some or all of the length of it.

I remember hubbie and i were super impressed with our 4.5 y/o daughter because she walked over 1.5 times the length of the 1 mile bridge. Halfway through the return trip to the shuttle area, she was too pooped to boop, and we carried her. It was a gorgeous day though, and how often do you get to walk across such an awesome structure...especially being part of the US Hwy system!?!

So i was able to have everything there and ready to finish the project and C.m. helped me.

I totally loved C.m.'s idea of putting the flat bed truck on this page. At first i have envisioned making a roadway with all the truck stickers arranged together, but once she suggested we should put one on this page, that got us thinking we could put the tag on the back like a package being delievered. And then i thought we could draw a suspension bridge. Wow! It felt great to get the old creative juices flowing again!

Starting Small

This week's inspiration: Cookie Monster's Pillowcase Collection by who else but her Momma.

Feverishly longing to sew pillowcases was not truly on my "list of things to do someday", however once i found the kit for the Halloween case at my favorite local quilt shoppe, Country Carriage Quilts, i knew i'd be hooked. Their charm is undeniable, and they are insanely easy to sew (AKA "leaving one unskilled beginning sewing gal/seamstress-wanna be feeling completely victorious" type of project!)

Next was the St. Valentine's Day case. After the first case, the ideas were flowing like the raging rivers in Western WA after a November rainstorm! :o) I made the St. Val case for C.m. and filled it with a couple holiday books as a gift to her.

Then, who could resist the charm of the doggies and cats on the Happy Birthday case? Not me! To compound matters, i was bound and determined to sew not 1, but 6 of them for the friends my daughter would be inviting to her birthday party in '07. Our tradition is to give storybooks related to the party's theme as guest favors, and with that year's theme being the "Come in your Jammies" birthday party, a pillowcase seemed to fit along with the book. :o) This year, C.m. was very excited counting down the days until Momma would be able to put her birthday pillowcase on as November drew near.

Well...needless to say, i've been planning cases and collecting fabric for a year now and i need to get some of these projects done! Today i've gathered them up and that is the first step towards getting this project underway.

Here is a list of pillowcase projects i hope to finish over the next two weeks (giving myself plenty of time to get sidetracked with working in C.m.'s classroom or having another coffee date or two with my friends):

The St. Valentine's Day cases for hubbie and my bedroom.

The St. Valentine Penny Rug-esque candle mats i'd like to give to C.m.'s teachers &

the Robot/Marble case and the Paperdoll case for C.m.'s room for a little "Celebrate the Every Ordinary Days" surprise someday.

The Easter case for C.m.

The Cat cases for hubbie and me or our guest room.

Then i need to find an appropriate striped material for this Happy 4th case.

What do you think? Should i use red "star" fabric and blue/white stripes, or should i stick with tradition and use blue star fabric and red/white stripes?

And is all goes speedily, maybe i can finish the Thanksgiving cases too?

But why i'm in such a hurry with these is because i'd truely like to be working on this...

The plan is to make the jumper with this polar bear fabric and a complimentary snowflake fabric for the border before C.m. needs a new dress (or before she outgrows a size 6.) :o) One accessory still left to purchase is some large black rick rack for an embellishment around the hem.

Wish me luck! I'm gonna need it! :o)

Help!!

And amongst the other discoveries of tonight, i've found that one of the contractor's crew had used this adorable chair of my daughters as a stepping stool thus leaving a partial boot mark. Raised in a barn comes to mind along with a few other not so family blog friendly sayings, however, what's done is done and now i must solve the problem. Only there's a second problem...nothing comes to mind when i wonder just how i am going to clean this!

The fabric seems quite as rough as burlap, but not certain that was really something people used back in the day for needlepointing bases. Wondering if something as natural as Bio-Kleen's Bac Out would do, or if it's lime extracts and enzymes would harm the fabric. Is Woolite a better option?

If you might have any suggestions, i would be grateful till the end of time!

Thanks so much!

No Work Was Actually Accomplished in the Posting of This Blog Entry

Best laid plans thwarted again! Tonight while digging through the piles that are building up downstairs, namely the laundry, i came across some of my embroidered girly goods. Since i am easily sidetracked (haven't i learned anything from the Flylady?), this meant that soon i was going through all my piles and boxes in the house looking for more linens and such to iron, wash, usw. Soon i had stumbled upon my awesome score of "mostly all things sweet and embroidered" miscellani for $5 at the local SA! (Items found in said bag i shall denote with a $5 next to them.)


What kind of creature, pray tell, could have brought this all down??

T'was:

My adorable new-to-me pink pleated gingham apron with X-stitch-esque embroidery on it. When i found it the other day, it screamed "Buy me! I'm perfect for collecting chicken booty in," to me. "Nevermind that cool chicken wire basket you already use to collect eggs." Aprons! I wish they didn't speak English--it'd be so much easier to ignore them that way. :o)

Seriously though, who wouldn't get sidetracked by all these adorable things:

pillowcases! This one is a store bought case with hand embroidery by Dawn Stewart (i only know this as she signed the inside of the case with a permenant marker.) Wherever you may be Mrs. Stewart, i thank you for taking the time to make such a sweet and charming pillowcase! ($5)

a handmade pillowcase with crocheted embellishments and beautiful embroidery. ($5)

two bedroom linens with sweet lassies stitched on them (both in the $5 bag)

the Christmas table linens from our family in Germany

the linen napkins made in Ceska-Solvakia found in the $5 bag

the placemats that commerate our first family trip; i purchased these in SF's Chinatown. A napkin with the similar applique tucks in nicely to the flowers on the lower left side of the 'mat.

The hand-hemmed and embroidered napkins (with a matching tablecloth that is MIA--i feel another resolution coming on!) that i purchased at a thrift store for the first birthday celebration i gave my hubbie after we were married. He just loves sailboats!

my Halloween kitchen towel by Patience Brewster (my daughter tells me that she likes this best of all the Halloween dec's because she imagines that this is our cat's X-ray.) :o)

the handmade Rooster handtowel that commerated our exciting, allbeit brief, period of rooster husbandry. (R.I.P. my Bella Bruno--i know you made a family a loving table decoration for an evening.) :) Purchased at an art guild's fair over the Winter '08.

The guest towel i found the $5 bag. The appliqued and embroidered towel Nona's kindergarten teacher's mom made (i picked it up at her estate sale.)

The Christmas Towels: the one i made this year, l, and the one i found at an antique store.

my beloved handmade chicken placemats i purchased at a local craft fair

After all of this hunting and ironing of course led to me actually attempting to find unfinished projects in the bowels of my crap...er...uh...craft room, which has yet to be rearranged since the big window replacing project of '08 when everything that was being organised into piles got schmooshed up into one corner. Boy, do i need to make a resolution or what?!

In Love with Needlework

I've become this *HUGE* fan of all things resale. Thanks to my new favourite website, Oodles and Oodles, i am learning lots about vintage treasures. Resale shopping is quite possibly becoming an addiction, as now i can think of 5 places off the top of my head that i can go for a quick gift for anyone: man, woman, child and whatever items purchased would be completely more charming than some of the junk we are importing and selling now.

Yesterday was a great day in that a dear friend and i were able to meet up and have coffee and a lovely breakfast sans our six year olds AND if that wasn't enough, we still had time left over to dabble in the fine art of Chit Chatty Treasure Hunting. :o) We made some great finds and thankfully with my WW meeting in the same area, i was able to revisit today after much consideration of these items.

Namely my finds were needlework. I love needlework! My mom cultivated my talent for needlework from an early age--it all began with a few pieces of yarn and an old cloth diaper that i am quite certain was worn by yours truly at some point in my babyhood and "Wah-lah" (okay, i beg your pardon you'll excuse my French) i had a stitched my heart's crush onto the fabric. Yes, i am sure that someday when my child is older, my mom will show her the beloved diaper that i stitched Rick Springfield's name into. I've been dabbling in cross stitch and now knitting and crocheting ever since and it was just this past summer when my WW leader and friend shared her linen collection with me. I tell you...this lady has got one mean collection! Handiwork i haven't seen on extravagant pieces from overseas or from anyone who works for Martha Stewart! :o) Handiwork that makes the embroidered item from a Husqvarna look sub par! :O)

Since then, i have vowed to try to own a little slice of handmade samplers. This summer, i found a great sampler of the ABC's together with a handmade design of a bag of Goldmedal flour and various cooking utensils (i'll have to pull that out of storage and display it again, now that we aren't moving just yet. I'll take a picture when i do.) It was my first find. Since i've collected a few handmade towels and pillowcases and hankies.

I was completely taken with these samplers...

I mean really, who could resist these fabulous bananas???


And aren't the peas are absolutely adorable?!?

I just love all the veggies...

but in particular it was the corn that made me catch my breath.

Yesterday's finds were enough to complete my "Made by someone other than me" collection. I've decided that i really need to try my hand at some embroidery, because although the pieces i've found are charming, what i love the most is displaying something i or my daughter or someone in my family has crafted.

Although, of course, i realise that there will be things that i will simply just not be able to do now or possibly ever (especially if i am to be blessed with having more children.) :o) So i had to get this too:

Soon it will be Spring here and the Daffodil Festival will commence! Maybe it's this doily i find charming now because it inspires my daydreaming of someday when we find our dream home south of here where the Daffodil parade will run right through our neighborhood. Hey, maybe my daughter might be a Daffodil Princess or Queen someday. Then it would be even more special. Never the less, because of this picture:

My Lil' Cookie Monster at 4 months discovering her first daffodil.

any daffodils will hold a special place in my heart always. I tell you, they are a sure fire way to get a baby to stop squirming during a nappy change!

I also couldn't help picking up this little guy for my hubbie for St. Valentine's Day...

Gosh, can you believe it is almost St. Valentine's Day?