A Little Craftiness and a Friday's Find

So this is really a Thursday find, not a Friday Find but I still wanted to show it. I was a few minutes early to work and there was a garage sale right by the office with ridiculously low prices - not very much good stuff though, lots of really old stuff, and not in the good was:) Then I found this probably 2 ft by 2 ft of hand basted crazy quilt with about a yard ofthe gold fabric you can see in the triangle on the right....price was $.75!!! The sweet little old lady having the garage sale said "Hope you can make something beautiful with it" and I sure will!! It's time to fire up the decorative stitching on my machine and go to town:) I might make a few Christmas stockings for the not one, not two, but three vintage Christmas swaps I am in:):)

Here is my red and black swap all ready to send out to my partner in Alaska.. I made a potholder, two pouches - one using Moki's tutorial and another top zippered pouch. The flower pin can be added to the pouch or worn alone, and a tissue holder. Also in the box are some scrapbooking goodies, a black composition book, buttons and cardstock. I hope she likes it all!!!
Miss S and I made this haunted castle from a fun foam kit from Michael's. All the pieces had sticky backs on them so it went together really quickly and easily. I love it!


And lastly, my little corner of homemade pumkins made at various church activities the last couple years. The ones in the basket are made of fabric with a real wood stem, and the one on the books is an orange raffia style pumpkin. I love these guys and I love that I can put them out in September and they can stay out until it's time for the Christmas decorations:)

Happy Sunday so you all!!

Congratulations!

Congrats to Jacki, Rohanknitter, Knitting Mama and LauraJ for scoring some vintage zippers! Please send me your snail mail addresses at raeshadrz at yahoo dot com and I will get them on their way to you! Have a fabulous day!

A Rainbow of Zipper Flavors

I love vintage sewing supplies and these beauties caught my eye at Goodwill yesterday - they were a little pricey - I paid $12.00 for 28 zippers, but I just couldn't resist and with names like coral, lime, cranberry, melon, and lemon, how could I!! I'd like to share my bounty with you so I have 5 of these zippers up for grabs. Leave me a comment if you would like one and if you are one of the 1st five you'll get one:) I may also throw in some other vintage sewing goodies:):)

Pink and Brown loveliness

I participated in Mary Ann's Pink and Brown Swap and my package arrived today from Leslie. OH MY GOSH!! I love it!!

Just look at all these awesome goodies! Alphabet stickers, scrapbook paper, Moda Dea and Feza warn and BAMBOO needles! She read on my blog that I am working on knitting and that was so thoughtful of her - she is a fantastic knitter! A beautiful bundle of ribbons, a patchwork tissue holder and a personalized clipboard! I have been wanting one of these forever and wow...this one is awesome! I've blogged before that I love stuff with my name on it!! Thank you so much Leslie!

Catching Up

Monday when I was off of work, and Miss S was off of school we went to McCall's Pumpkin Patch about an hour outside of town and had a fantastic time! Moki and her kiddos were there too, as well as several other dear friends from church. We had a fabulous day even though it was abuot 50 degrees out! We got nice and muddy and cold pretty much to the bone but enjoyed ourselves none the less:):)

T Man took this shot of me - I love it - very candid and windblown:)


My snuggly Miss S - this is what curly hair does after three hours in damp, cold and windy weather:) I knew I should have worn a hat:):)

Miss S was the only one with proper footwear - her pink thrifted galoshes which I was so excited to find! They've been in her closet for over a year and made their premiere at the pumpkin patch. I was able to just hose the mud off them when we got home. We got to chose out own pumpkins and Miss S picked out this petite little beauty and added it to the pumpkins on our porch when we got home. I made her little matching hat and scarf last winter and I think it's about time to make her a new set as the hat was a little small.

Miss S and C Bug - two precious angels!!

My Beaner

My bestest, dearest, most beautiful friend in the whole world is Tammy...we call each other "beaner" - I'm not sure how we came up with that but it was a nickname we gave each other shortly after we met our senior year of high school...we have been best friends since just about the first day we met and I will always be thankful to a mutual friend, Ryan, for introducing us. Tammy and I have been texting and playing phone tag all week and today we FINALLY got to talk to each other...it it always a thrill to hear her voice and our talks always refresh my soul and long for the day we can live near each other again...Tammy lives in Gig Harbor, WA and we only get to see each other about once a year. It will be a year in November since we've seen each other last and I am starting to go through withdrawals!! I am seriously thinking that Miss S and I should go to WA for spring break this year to spend a week with my Tammy (she is "Tia" to Miss S). This is a really old pic of my beaner...taken just a month or two after Miss S was born...but I couldn't blog about her without showing you all how beautiful she is...I LOVE YOU BEANER!!!

My little secret...

I LOVE Nip/Tuck! I have become completely hooked on this show though I don't get to watch it very often - it plays at 11:00 p.m. here and I am usually sound asleep by then. I just programmed my VCR to record it every week and I am so excited to get reacquainted with the characters. I am also asking for Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD for Christmas and I know that Santa (aka myself) already has Season 2 for me:):)
What are your secret shows that you love to watch?? Another one of mine is Big Love. We don't have HBO so hubby downloads it from the internet when he can.

Swaps I Am Hosting

I am hosting two swaps on Swap-Bot and there is still time to sign up for either one...

My Handmade Apron Swap


My Vintage Christmas Swap

AND I think I have finally figured out how to make buttons! I know these two are a little big but that will be my next thing to figure out:):)

The last few pictures for today:)

My third "R" arrived and I continue to be amazed by the creativity of my partners. This beautiful one is from Jen. It is a felted square in blue with the "R" embroidered with variegated thread. This picture of it does not do it justice at all.


I sewed up a little bithday ensemble for my friend's daughter who has her 4th birthday party tomorrow. She loves ballet so the fabric is ballerinas and I made a pillowcase (on the left), pajama pants, matching shirt and a little drawstring bag for them all to go into. I hope she likes it. I couldn't find my wonder under so the patch on the shirt is a little wonky, though I don't think she will mind:)

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures...

I have been so busy with work this last week that I hardly have had time to do anything else! I have a trial next week so I will be busy again...I have a fuor day weekend with Miss S so I am really going to take advantage of that time to finish up a few swaps, clean house, sew, and play with Miss S. Today she and I are going to the aquarium, then out to lunch, then to the Goodwill clearance center. Later today I am going to the "Devil Wears Prada" with my buddy....I am dying to see that movie and it is finally at the dollar theatre. Here's some pics of what we've been up to lately here...

ok - here we go! The coasters I won from this sweetie










Next is the fabric I stamped for Moki's hand stamped fabric swap - these have been mailed to my three partners along with a pouch I made using Moki's tutorial and some personalized notecards I made on my computer for each person.



My fall tags for the Fall Tag Swap I participated in through Paper Crafts Magazine - these have also been mailed. I was REALLY pleased at how these turned out:)











We decorated the house for fall last weekend and Miss S decroated the porch with a bunch of little pumpkins we bought. Here she is showing off her handiwork



















One of the "R" initials I received from Moki's inital swap - I LOVE IT!!!! I took this one to work and hung it up above my computer so I can look at it all day:)















The purple and yellow swap I received - I LOVE the scarf! It is knit in eyelash yarn and wool and it is so cool. I can't wait to wear it when the weather gets a little colder










My hot chocolate and a book swap - YUM! The chocolates were devoured by Miss S pretty much as soon as I put them out:)















My second "R" inital - again, beautiful and perfect! This one I hung above my sewing table.




Lastly, for now:), I made Miss S this Little Mermaid costume for Halloween - she was invited to a Princess Birthday Party last week and wore it to the party. I had not planned on making it so quickly so the back of the top wasn't even finished - I just put a safety pin in it to hold it together and off she went to the party! The hostess said she asked Miss S if I made it, to which Miss S replied "Yes, my mom can make anything":):):)

More Mail Goodness

I arrived home yesterday to a nice little note in my mailbox telling me I had a package waiting at the post office for me...I love when I get these notes:):) After standing in line for 20 minutes, with a lady behind me standing way too close and slurping her starbucks as loud as humanly possible, the post man handed me a package from Portugal....just wait until you see what was inside!! Go HERE!!
Her pictures are so much better than any I take:):) Isn't this amazing! I'm so excited to use everything she sent. AND today my Japanese craft books arrived. I am trying not to look at them too much as I won't have any free time until this weekend - I have a four day weekend with Miss S so I plan on making at least one thing from my new books.

Mail goodies!

Just look at what I got today!!! I was the lucky recepient of one of these packets of hand stamped fabric...thank you Creative Kismet!!!

92 Questions (and answers)

1. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Open.

2. Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?
Yes, I pretty much take any hotel goodies I can get my hands on.

3. Have you ever 'done it' in a hotel room?
Well I have been married for 13 years...

4. Have you ever stolen a street sign before?
I haven’t even tried.

5. Do you like to use post-it notes?
YES…I have about 10 different ones at my desk at work.

6. Do you cut out coupons but then never use them?
I have envelopes full of expired coupons.

7. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees?
Bear.

9. Do you always smile for pictures?
Pretty much always

10. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Rude people

11. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?
Tucked in

12. Do you ever count your steps when you walk?
Just started to now that I have a kindergartner that is working on her numbers

13. Have you ever peed in the woods?
Yes.

14. Do you ever jump up and down to make your privates bounce?
Never.

15. Do you chew your pens and pencils?
Never and if I come across a chewed one in the office I through it out.

16. How many people have you slept with this week?
two...

17. Do you like popcorn from those big tins?
Sometimes if it’s fresh

18. What is your "Song of the week"?
Friends for Life – The Cheetah Girls…again it’s that kindergartner

19. Is it okay for guys to wear pink?
yes

20. Do you still watch cartoons?
Yes but not usually by choice

21. Whats your favorite scary movie?
Children of the Corn and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre

22. Where would you bury treasure if you had some?
In my backyard

23. What do you drink with dinner?
water or crystal light

26. What color is your cell phone?
Silver

28. Were you a boy/girl scout?
I was a girl scout for about 10 years.

29. Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?
I doubt it

30. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?
last Monday – I wrote to my brother in Iraq and to my best friend’s brother in prison

31. Can you change the oil on a car?
I wouldn’t even know where to start.

32. Ever gotten a speeding ticket?
Yes, twice – the first time I was 16 and the second time was when I was 34 so I think that’s a good average once every 18 years

33. Ran out of gas?
Once – on a dark deserted street – scared the CRAP out of me so it’s never happened again.

34. Favorite kind of sandwich?:
One on homemade bread.

35. Best thing to eat for breakfast?
Frosted mini wheats

36. What is your usual bedtime?
between 9 and 10

37. Are you lazy?
Not usually

38. When you were a kid what did you dress up as for halloween?
a gypsy, a dancer, a black cat.

39. Do you read the newspaper?
I read the “Parade” and the supplements every Sunday but I very rarely read the actual paper.

40. How many languages can you speak?
One.

41. Do you have any magazine subscriptions?
Way too many – Real Simple, Paper Crafts, two church magazines, Child, Parenting, Taste of Home, Working Mother, Cookie, Simple Scrapbooks…I’m sure I’m forgetting some.

42. Which are better Legos or Lincoln Logs?
Legos.

43. Are you stubborn?
Absolutely!

44. Who is better...Leno or Letterman?
Letterman

45. Watch an opera live?
Jesus Christ Superstar.

46. Afraid of heights?
No.

48. Dance in the shower?
Nope

49. Dance in the car?
Almost everyday

50. Ever used a gun?
Yes – I went shooting with a friend once and shot a handgun and a rifle – I loved it!

51. Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer?
We had a family picture done about two years ago. I hope to have new ones taken this year by Moki

52. Are musicals cheesy?
Yes and that’s why I love them! They make me so happy!

53. Is christmas stressful?
Yes, but I look forward to it every year.

54. Ever eat a pierogi?
Almost once a week – Schwan’s has the best pierogi!.

55. Favorite type of fruit pie?
Strawberry Rhubarb

56. Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid?
Veterinarian, FBI agent

57. Do you believe in ghosts?
Kind of

59. Take a vitamin daily?
I try

60. Wear slippers?
Sometimes

61. Wear a bath robe?
Almost never.

62. What do you wear to bed?
Pajamas.

63. First concert?
The Beach Boys.

64. Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart?
Target....hands down!

65. Nike or Adidas?
Neither

66. Cheetos Or Fritos?
Both.

67. Peanuts or Sunflower seeds?
Sunflower seeds

68. Ever hear of, "gorp"?
Yes.

69. Ever take dance lessons?
12 years of ballet, jazz, tap, and baton

70. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing?
Information Techonolgy

71. Can you curl your tongue?
yes

73. Have you ever cried because you were so happy?
All the time

74. Own any record albums?
Yes – a whole bunch.

75. Own a record player?
yes – but it’s not hooked up.

76. Regularly brush your teeth?
Yes.

77. Ever been in love?
Yes.

79. What was your last concert you saw?
Ringo Starr and the His All Starr Band

80. Hot tea or cold tea?
hot herbal tea

81. Tea or coffee?
neither

82. Favorite kind of cookie?
Chocolate chip and Pinwheels.

83. Can you swim well?
Pretty well

84. Can you hold your breath w/o manually holding your nose?
Yes.

85. Are you patient?
Not as much as I’d like to be

86. DJ or band, at a wedding?
DJ

87. Ever won a contest?
I won a few Miss Cinderella contests – my mom has my trophies.

88. Ever have plastic surgery?
Yes...and I would love more!!

89. Which are better black or green olives?
Black.

90. Can you knit or crochet?
Barely…I’m learning to knit and I can do a killer single crochet but I’m trying to learn more stitches.

91. Best room for a fireplace?
Living room or bedroom

92. Do you want to get married?
Hopefully never again as I am happily married now

A Quickie...

post, that is...get your mind out of the gutter!!!
Finally finished and mailed are my intitals for Moki's Initial Swap - I have also received two of the initials so far from people that had me. They are AWESOME! On my list is taking pictures of them, taking a picture of my Purple and Yellow swap that I received and a picture of fabulous goodies my best friend sent me from her recent trip to Hawaii. AND I have to post all my finds for Apron Thrift Girl's $99 Thrift Challenge....lots of pictures to take and no light:(

EXCITEMENT!!

The Japanese craft books I ordered have officially shipped!!! I am doing the happy dance and can hardly wait for them to arrive!!!! I had yesterday off work and did all my errands, and spent a lovely afternoon volunteering in Miss S's classroom - I am in charge of the Fall party so if any of you have great ideas for Fall crafts or goodies for kindergartners, please share! We stuffed ourselves silly at Outback for dinner and now today I am looking forward to a nice quiet Saturday. I plan on cleaning the garage a little (I actually enjoy that:)), cleaning, crafting, and maybe starting something from one of my newest purchases - Sublime Stitching. I also perfected the 10-minute pillowcase yesterday after deciphering some very vague instructions...I just may try my hand at my first tutorial!! My Red & Aqua swap and my Purple & Yellow swap are boxed and going to the post office..yeah!!

A Day of Firsts

Today was our first ever family trip the to state fair...Miss S's first pony ride....her first kiss from a pygmy goat...face painting....caramel apples and breakfast burritos...we had a fabulous time!! Hubby pulled out the camera pretty much as soon as walked in the gates and I had forgotten to put the memory card in the camera so no photos from the fair this year. Oh well!! After the fair we stopped at the Talin Market in Albuquerque which is about the coolest market we have - it has an aisle for every different type of cuisine. We especially love the Asian stuff - Hubby bought some fresh kim chi (sp?)(I can't stand the stuff) and Miss S and I picked out a bunch of different exotic candies to try. A new little boutique attached to Talin had opened since the last time I was there and man oh man - Hello Kitty heaven!! I am so excited we finally have a quasi Hello Kitty store in town. I bought several little notebooks and have plans to return without Hubby in tow:) I'm looking forward to the rest of my lazy Sunday!

The Hostess with the Mostest

I am hosting my first swap in probably over 6 years and I am thrilled!! I love Halloween so I decided to host a Halloween ATC swap over at Papercrafts Mag - take a peek and join us!
I found this cutie at Goodwill yesterday and he just may be making an appearance on my ATCs :)

Here's pics of my mail goodies this week:

My novelty fabric swap from head full of pixies


My cup of tea and an atc swap from kristin and trisha

My what is an atc swap from barbara


My prize from WW from mary ann

My awesome tshirt in honor of my brother.

I am so glad tomorrow is Friday! Hubby has the weekend off for the first time in literally years so we plan on taking it easy and cleaning the house and then on Sunday going to the New Mexico State Fair. I'll be busy finishing up my next round of swaps to mail out and I have a huge pile of books to mail to Ian in Iraq.

The Best Mail Day Ever

Seems to me I must start using this title more! I came home to a full to the brim mailbox with absolutely no bills , only two pieces of junk mail and TONS of goodies! I received my Novelty Fabric Swap, my Cup of Tea and an ATC swap from both partners and my What is an ATC? swap from two of my three partners, a postcard from Finland, and a cute note from Hubby's Grandma Sue in South San Francisco along with a pledge for Miss S's school walk-a-thon. AND my package from Maryann for her WYSIWYG Wednesday prize that I scored - she also included an ATC! I wish every day was like this! You will not believe all the fabric and goodies I got - I always chose to blog at night so the light is horrible for taking pictures. I leave all my goodies out on my desk until I can take pictures of them and then I put them away:) Hubby said today that my desk is starting to look like "crap" again:):) as it is piling up with stuff I need to take pictures of. He is right!!

Anyway - I'll end with a shot of my own patriotic angel...Miss S - I think this was taken when she was about 2 1/2 - isn't she precious. I thought this was appropriate as we remember the 5th anniversary of 9/11 today.

Excitement!!

I am thrilled to announce that I received my first letter from my baby brother, Ian, who is in Iraq. He was also able to visit my blog and leave a few comments - he is very limited with his military connection as to what sites he can visit so I'm glad mine is one of them. He reports they are doing well - other than almost being sucked out of the airplane on the flight from Kuwait to Iraq!!!! In rememberance of 9/11 and in honor of Ian I will be wearing my newest purchase to work today - a pink t-shirt that says "Proud Sister of a Soldier"....I'll take a picture tonight after work.

Japanese Crafting

I placed my first order for Japanese crafting books last night....I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL I GET THEM!!!!

Here's what I ordered:

ISBN 457910921X - a CUTE stuffed animal book

ISBN 457911020X - Machine Made Patchworks - love the ideas in here!


ISBN 407246385X - to help with the myriad of baby gifts I am always in need of:)
ISBN 457911082X - Machine Made Patchworks 2 - I loved the first one so much I thought I'd give the second one a try too.

BUT in all my excitement I completely forgot to order the book I REALLY wanted - one of the ones Moki let me borrow:
ISBN 4529040186 - this is the book I got the pattern for the red/black potholder from. It is first on my list for my next order:)


I placed my order through yesasia and got all 4 books for $73.00 with free shipping - I didn't think that was too bad:) I also have three other crafting books coming from Amazon.com:):)

My Weekend, Part 2

And here is part two of how I spent my long weekend...crafting until my fingers hurt and I couldn't see staight! Not pictured are three bags that are done except the top stitching and three more red/black potholders.

Drum roll please....introducing the quilted wall hanging I made for one of my dearest friend's 40th birthday..never mind that her birthday was in JULY!! I gave it to her in a bag I made along with some other little goodies. The pic is sideways - it is three hearts in shades of pink and rose.

Next - I whipped up some ATC's just to have on hand. I made several extras so if you want to trade an ATC with me just let me know! This one is called "Circle of Friendship"

And I finished my ATC's for the Text ATC swap I participated in with Swap-bot.

A red/black potholder from a Japanese crafting book Moki let me borrow that I am going to have to buy cause I want to make everything in it:) , a little tote bag made out of a dark green felted sweater, with a little flower accent and a winter hat for Miss S - my first attempt at knitting a hat - I basically just made a long rectangle, sewed it up and gathered the top - it turned out very cute though. I tried to get her to model it but she refused. I also made her a skirt this weekend that she refused to model. Fickle child:) I cast on a matching scarf for the hat and the hat and scarf will be Christmas presents for her.

Lastly, another teddy bear made from suiting - I have not put a face on him yet....and a crochet hook holder and two knitting needle holders that will all go into the Christmas box.

I can't tell you how good it felt to make progress on all these - they were all WIPs that needed my love and attention. With four days off I had enough time to get housework done and still have plenty of time for crafting and not feel guilty. I have several more projects that I rounded up all the supplies for over the weekend so that will be my task for this next weekend. Can you convince my boss that I need another four day weekend???

My Weekend, Part 1

This Labor Day weekend has been awesome! The best part was the my office was closed on Friday too so I had a 4 day weekend. I really needed that. I have spent a ton of time crafting and working on Christmas presents - I have added at least 5 things to my Christmas box - I have a bunch of pictures that I will post in a separate post of my crafting.
Friday night Hubby and I went out to Red Robin for dinner while my friend watched Miss S. This was our first date night in a long time! Then Sunday night Hubby and I went to an Albuquerque Isotopes game with our friends. I had won 4 tickets to one of our corporate clients' private suites...wow!! The suite was amazing. We had our own private balcony too! The Isotopes won and there was a fireworks show after the game.
Today we got up early and went to the Albuquerque Zoo to see the baby hippo - he was adorable!!! After the zoo we went to the Route 66 Diner for lunch...DELICIOUS!!! Then home to clean and rearrange Miss S's room, craft some more, and just relax!!! I'm so tempted to call in to work tomorrow:):)

Friday Finds

I have always been fascinated with Alcatraz...not sure where that came from...but ever since I can remember I have wanted to visit there and read everything I can about that notorious prison. I found this book today at a garage sale for 25 cents...imagine my surprise when I started reading it and found that it was inscribed by the author!! A real life, Alcatraz inmate. SOOO cool! Anyway, the book looks to be great.