A Great Weekend

We are in love....with Durango!! We had so much fun during our long weekend. We did have a little adventure though. We were eating lunch on the patio at the Old Tymer's Cafe on Main street and I heard a man yelling "fire - call 911" I asked the waitress if the hotel across the street was doing a show and she said no, then I saw a guy climbing out the top window and smoke billowing out. Then we heard the fire engines. It turns out the top two floors of the El Rancho Hotel (now apartments) were on fire. The firemen had to resuce 6 people that were still in the building and the paper said it was the largest business fire in Durango in 31 years. It was quite amazing to watch - which we did for almost an hour with several hundred other people. How scary. No one was injured other than some slight smoke inhalation.

Now on to the good stuff! I found a charming quilt shop that was all the better because there was a basket of toys for Miss S and a reading nook for Hubby with lots of guy magazines. He was content to let me shop while he read Car and Driver. Bravo to the quilt shop for thinking of the guys that get dragged along. I'm sporting the bag Moki made me for my birthday. I love it and have used every since she gave it to me:)















Here's a picture of Miss S on the porch of our cabin. We stayed at the Durango KOA East and were very impressed. Our cabin was perfect, and we were really close to the bathrooms. The campground showed movies nightly and we got to see "Eight Below" and go swimming. We mostly just relaxed and enjoyed being away from home. Now back to the grindstone tomorrow. I was planning on taking the day off but I have too much trial prep that I was feeling nervous about taking the whole day off. I plan on going in about 11:00 am and just working a half-day. Then I start a 5 hour trial on Thursday morning. YUCK!! Trials are so stressful but are really quite exciting. I love to watch the attorneys react to each other.

Swap Goodness

I have been a busy little beaver getting all my remaining July swaps out in the mail. I forgot to take pictures of Paper Goods swap package which is heading to Chile andmy July Fabric swap package which is heading to Oregon, but I did remember to take a pic of my Handbag swap package which is on its was to France. Here is a picture of the inside of the bag. I printed the label on my printer using twill tape. It turned out so cool! I love the font - it's a very old fashioned typerwriter style font. The picture of the outside is down at the bottom of this post.

I also received TONS of fabulous mail this week - my Polka Dot Swap package arrived from Karla (I will have to post all the links later as I forgot to bring them with me to work)

My Sweet Pea Swap #3 arrived from Marina - those are Beatles 45s in the middle!!! Miss S keeps trying to take off with the candy!

Here are my WYSIWYG prizes that I won...

And here is the outside of my Handbag - I think it turned out great.

Here's hoping I have another fabulous mail week next week! We are heading to Durango for the weekend after I get off work so I will be sans computer for THREE days....I have a full bag of new knitting projects to take with me:) Have a fabulous weekend!

WIP Pile

My first two, very blurry mini moopy dolls - they turned out to look more like Plankton from Spongebob Square Pants - I followed the pattern but the legs and ears are much too pointy and long:) They may be in for a little plastic surgery in the next week or so.


Here's a shot of several of my WIP piles - on the bench are half constructed bags, the cabinet itself still needs to be organized how I want it, and the pile on the left of the table is a quilt in progress, tissue holders in progress, felt plate dividers (I don't know what you call those things but they are circles of felt you put between your plates in the cupboard) and at least one pattern waiting to be cut out. I am so easily distracted by the "next project" that this pile in languishing a little bit. I hope to have all the piles completed in the next week or so.

I am happy to announce that my Sweet Pea Swap #3 arrived yesterday! I WAS SO EXCITED! I also received my WYSIWYG package that I won from Mary Ann. It is too dark to take pictures but I promise to do so tomorrow and post them. The awesome mail was definitely a pick me up for the stressful day I had at work yesterday.

So...til tomorrow! I'm off to was TNG and cuddle with Miss S.

Happy Sunday

I have been wanting to post just about everyday this week but just have not done it. In my 9-5 life I am a paralegal and I have a big trial coming up next week so I have been absolutely slammed at work. It makes for one very tired and lazt Raesha when I finally get home in the evenings. However, I did find time for a fabulous night of bunco at Moki's house on Wednesday night. I spent Saturday relaxing, sewing, and catching up on some chores. Miss S went to Chuck E. Cheese with the neghbors so hubby and I went out for a ride together on his new BMW motorcycle. I started 5 bags - I'll post the link to the tutorial when I get them all done cause as of right now I can't remember where I go it:)

Miss S and I visited a fairly new quilt shop in Rio Rancho yesterday called Quilt Bugs - they have been open just about two years and yesterday was my first opportunity to stop there. OH MY GOSH!! The employees are SO kind and their fabric is fabulous. I picked up all the fabric there for the July Fabric Swap I am doing through Swap-bot. I'm hoping to find a class or two to do there this fall. I was so impressed at how nice they were to both me AND Miss S. I am always a little uncomfortable taking a child into a quilting store, but they had a great little play corner and they even gave her a baggie of 12 assorted 4in squares of fabric when I was checking out. What a contrast to the quilt store we visited in Corrales last week - I don't think any employee even said hi to us there and I felt like they wre giving me and Miss S the evil eye the whole time we were in there. Quilt Bugs is definitely the shop to visit as I LOVE kind people and they are dripping with it there!!

I finished and mailed off my Sweetpea Swap #3 package on Friday. It was PACKED with goodies - so much so I had to take two pictures to picture it all. And it cost $19 to mail!!!! I was partnered with Greenbean baby's sister, Marina, and I hope she enjoys everything! Hmmm I can't get my photots to load - I will post the pictures after Hubby gets home from work and tells me what I am doing wrong:)

Happy Sunday everyone!

I love being a crafter

Hubby playing tug of war with Bree the boxer and Miss S. It was hotter than heck this weekend. Miss S and I tried to go to the park but only lasted about 20 minutes. She found a frisbee at the park and brought it home to play frisbee with daddy. They moved on to tug of war after dad accidently threw the frisbee into the neghbor's yard.


My weekend was filled with lots of craft and sewing projects. I love that I can create so many wonderful things and I owe the women in my family for that...to my great grandma Emma and my granny Esther - a thank you for introducing me to crochet, and to my momma Marsha - a thank you for introducing me to sewing, embroidery and crafting. So many other talented crafters have also touched my life and I am thankful for the knowledge they have imparted to me in passing along their love for the creative arts. I started this scarf on Saturday and finished it on Sunday. The yarn was homespun bought in a thrift shop package of about 5 different yarns and I used the pattern on the wrapper. It was so quick and easy and turned out great. This is the first time I have knit since I was about 12 so I definitely was going for easy. I have decided that this year will be the year of handmade gifts for Christmas and birthdays so the scarf will go into the gift box. Right now it's still on my desk and it thrills my heart a little bit every time I look at it.

A New Look!

I wasn't really happy with the polka dot template I had been using so I've decided to try this one out for a while - or at least until I learn how to completely customize my blog. I like the combination of colors and the cute little star. Stars have been one of my favorites dating back to my high school days when my nickname was "ringo" (as in ringo starr:)) I've even thought about getting a star as my next tattoo. I stayed up WAY too late last night scrapbooking and chatting with Moki, Niki and Heather. Had a great time and completed the bones of about 10 pages - I like to do my journaling and embellishing in another sitting and hope to be working on that a little bit today. Miss S and I have plans not to leave the house today and get caught up on my homemaking duties. We may cruise the neghborhood for garage sales as I have $7.00 burning a hole in my pocket. So...happy Saturday to you all!

Goodies!

My tea swap package arrived! I was so excited as this was the first package I have received for the current round of swaps I am participating in. Thanks Elizabeth!








I found this lovelie today at Goodwill - it's probably circa 1970's. It's kind of hard to tell but the design on the pockets is a roadrunner - the New Mexico state bird. I've always been fascinated with roadrunners - they really are unique little birds who prefer to run rather than fly. We see them occassionally by the house. I just noticed the nice farmer tan I've got going on my arms:)!

I am SO glad tomorrow is Friday. For once we have nothing planned for the weekend and I'm looking forward to relaxing and working on my wristlet for the wristlet swap I am working on. I'm going to add more links and buttons to my blog so you can see all the great people I have been discovering the last few weeks. And I seriously need to clean my house. I have not put Miss S's laundry away in at least a month - I'm not kidding - and it's been on my bedroom floor in a basket all nicely folded and waiting to be put away. I HATE putting laundry away - I'd much rather leave it out folded so I can just wear it again. When I'm rich I will pay someone to do my laundry and the dishes - my two least favorite chores.

Monday Tradeables

1. Hold It!!! How to sew bags, totes, duffels, pouches and more!



2. Easy to Make Costumes - "It's Halloween, there's a Christmas pageant. There's a school play or a dress up birthday party. Don't fret....because your child can have a super duper costume in a snap."



3. Stitch Something Special - More than 40 things to make from scraps. Full size patterns and directions for: purses to wear, shoulder bags, stuffed toys, pillows, picushions, placemats, playtime quilt and more.

These are this week's tradeables...please get these out of my house:)!!!!

A Pleasant Monday

For a Monday, today has been quite delightful. Work was nice, I enjoyed a quick trip to the fabric store at lunch, dinner was quick and easy as Hubby requested ham sandwiches and now I am enjoying a few peaceful minutes at home along. Hubby is at hockey and Miss S is next door playing with the neighbors. I hope this calm, peaceful feeling continues with me throughout the rest of the week.

I found out yesterday that a friend had her baby boy recently and her shower is on the 21st. As I have been so enamored with my sewing machine lately I decided to make her a little quilt (featured above). I'm very pleased with how it turned out - instead of a straight stich for quilting in the ditch, I zig-zagged in the ditch in a darker blue thread. Best of all - every fabric I used is from my stash!

A neighbor is cutting their grass and I am enjoying the scent - one of my favorites! The Gap sold a perfume several years ago called "Grass" which smelled just like freshly mown clover. If you ever come across some let me know!!

Pictures Galore

I made Miss S a pair of pants last night using this awesome tutorial posted at Wardrobe Refashion '06. I lengthened them to 20 inches so they turned out more like culottes. I used a purple print I had in my stash and they turned out some cute!! I finished them in less than half an hour and Miss S wore them proudly to school today.

So - here's a shot of me with my curly hair - I have been flat ironing it straight for a while now, but this is my natural curl. I can't decide which style I like better. It has been incredibly humid in Albuquerque lately and we all know what that brings - frizz - so wearing it curly has been so much easier.

One of the projects I completed on the long weekend - my grandpa gave me his old sewing table and the chair had a really old, hideous, brown fabric on it.

I recovered it with a piece of this awesome floral fabric I found at Saver's a few weeks ago. I think the piece is about 4 yards and I snagged it for $1.99. The rest will become bags and maybe a skirt for me.

I boxed up all my goodies for the tea party swap I am participating in. These goodies are on their way to Natalie in Seattle, WA. I've sent off three swap boxes now and have yet top receive anything. I rush home everyday to check the mail and have been very disappointed. I have an extremely difficult time being patient. The next swap I will be working on is a fabric swap.

I love RINGO

The concert was FABULOUS!!!! The rain let up for most of the night and luckily we only had a few sprinkles during the concert. This was the first big ticket concert I had been to in a LONG time and it was so worth it! The band played for a full two hours, with each member of the All Starr Band playing a few songs each, interspersed with Ringo singing about 10 songs. Hubby laughed at me when I told him I wrote out the play list - that is a little tradition I have when I go to concerts. I like to be able to go back later and remember what the band played - I also always have good intentions of making a CD featuring the exact play list. I have seen other people writing down songs so I know I'm not the only weirdo doing this!

Check out Ringo's official site here for more pics and info on the current All Starr Band. Did I mention I also saw Ringo and the All Starr Band in 1989? That was their very first tour and it was in a huge stadium with thousands and thousands of people in Vancouver, BC. The Sandia Casino Amphitheater holds only about two thousand, I would guess, and it was such a cool place to see Ringo. Very intimate. I had a perfect seat, right on the aisle, in the middle and only about 100 yards away from the stage. A quick recap - two hours of AWESOME music, $100 of FABULOUS souvenirs, peace, love and Beatles t-shirts EVERYWHERE - equals one HAPPY Raesha.

I wanted to sleep in today but we ended up getting up by about 7:15 this morning. Miss S requested Scooby Do waffles for breakfast and then she went to preschool for a few hours. While she was there Hubby and I went and saw Superman Returns today with some friends - I would highly recommend it as it was very entertaining. It made me sad to think of Christopher Reeve and his days as Superman. We have a full day planned tomorrow, too. I have to finish three sewing projects in the morning and then we are having friends over for the afternoon. We are changing up the tradition a little and going out for dinner. Then back home for some fireworks in the driveway.

Not only is is thundering - it is POURING now! I leave in 15 minutes and I have changed into jeans and a sweatshirt and I am taking my husband's uber chic Target rain poncho. After working at Target for 15 years he has amassed quite a collection of Target gear:)

A girl and her Dog

Miss S had me take this picture this morning and she lay on the floor and cuddled with our boxer, Bree. We adopted Bree from some friends a little over a year ago and she had become a treasured member of our family. We have two other four legged friends - Gammy and Yuki, the pugs.

There is nothing like a big, sloppy, wet dog kiss:) And yes, I do kiss my dogs on the lips.

I leave for Ringo Starr in about 2 hours and I just heard thunder - I hope we don't get rained out as the concert is outside. If it does, I'll just go shopping!! Have a great night and I will post all about the concert in the morning.