I'm Baaaaack!!

Once upon a time I had this blog, and then I got all busy and neglected it. I'm back to update all of you, who I'm sure are just dying to find out where I've been -haha.

Remember that article the Kalamazoo Gazette did on me? Well it went up online a while back accidentally, and finally went to print last week. I was under the impression that it was going to be in The Ticket, which is the free entertainment section that comes out on Thursdays. Imagine my surprise when I saw it on THE FRONT PAGE!!! OMG!!

Seriously, how awesome is that?!

The article took up nearly a whole page with beautiful, colorful pictures too! Rumor has it, someone went straight to I Heart Ipanema (one of the local shops I sell at), paper in hand, and bought up my stuff already! The store doesn't even open until Friday! Thanks K-zoo Gazette, you really rocked my socks off this month.

See this sewing machine? It is my new nemesis. It's like a boyfriend thats lost his appeal. He's been around a while and isn't acting how he should, and you have to eventually kick him to the curb. Or send him to the shop and see if they can fix him. Oh if only, there were a boyfriend/husband repair shop....

See that covered up awesomeness in the background? That's my new best bud. She showed up just in time to help me out in a pinch. That one has to be like a girlfriend, seeing as I don't really know how to work her yet, and it's so much more amazing than the 'boyfriend' machine. My stepmom-in-law sent it to me. It's not just any ol machine either... it's an embroidery machine! I never thought I'd own one and I'm beyond excited that I do. I let her sit there for a week because she was intimidating, but I took her out and learned some things last night. I already embroidered!! I think my husband is hiding his things because pretty soon damn near everything in this house is bound to have intials in pretty italic letters.

We've spent a lot of time outside. Walking, swinging, just hanging out. I love spring, but I sure don't get much work done!

See this crazy dog? She's fitting into our family perfectly! I have to keep that curtain up at all times now since she shredded it while freaking out about other people using her sidewalk. She's learning to walk without dragging me down the street and she hasn't eaten my kid's face yet, so I call this one a win-win.

My latest crochet project, a work in progress, for a dear friend of mine. She's having a baby soon, and is decorating his nursery in veggies of all things. She's having a hard time finding veggie items that aren't vintage glass - not really baby friendly - so I had to work some magic. This may be the first time I've loved broccoli! Also, that eggplant is purple, it just won't photograph that way. I've got an ear of corn that really comes out of the husk in the works and a few others done too! I'm so tempted to whip up a bottle of ranch to go with these....

I've got a ton more to say, but that will have to wait. There are Ninja Pants waiting for me to make them! Stay tuned, and thanks for sticking around!!

Near Silent Saturday...

Not much to say, so I'll make this near silent Saturday. This is a quilt I'm working on. I've got 6 quilts in the works! At least 2 will be listed on Etsy soon!

Big news hopefully coming soon too! (Not gonna jinx myself on this house business again!)

100th Post!

This is my 100th blog post! Yay me for sticking with this thing!

Now on to my post that has nothing to do with me making 100 posts since I just found out as I logged in ...

First -- Things I've Learned This Week
* Little owwies bleed bad.
* Canada has a much more interesting transportation than my area of the U.S.
* The fixing of railroad ties is quite interesting.
* Trains without graffiti do unfortunately exist.
* Many people don't agree with my views on graffiti. Oh well. I think it's beautiful.
* I've watched (and analyzed) far too much Mighty Machines Construction Trucks with Little D. Obviously.
* There's not much I dislike more than being "shhhh-ed" by a 4 year old.
* It IS possible to spend hours daydreaming about a house I can't afford based soley on the existence of a catwalk and the potential to have a store IN my house.
* Redbox is a great concept. I think I'm in love. And watching Coraline tomorrow morning.
* Payless doesn't suck this year. Dave and I BOGO-ed the other day. I found realllly cute red shoes. I feel like Dorothy -only less glittery.
* Don't order a 'golden margarita' at Brewsters. They're nasty. That's not what I wanted anyway.
* My sis living in KY sucks. BUT, they do have clearance designer fabrics at Hancocks there.
* My sis living in KY rules. ONLY because she surprised me with a box of these designer fabrics. One so awesome I squealed. For real. Like a little fabric lovin piggy.

Ok ok I may go on all day. I swear, I start every post with nothing to say and then write a flippin novel.

Anyway.

I might have to start making quilts! The response to them has been amazing! Thank you to everyone who commented, tweeted, emailed, convoed, Facebooked, Myspaced, etc.! I even got the downlow on some friends that haven't told anyone else they are expecting yet, except ME, so they can get on the list for a quilt. *evil grin* I know and YOU don't. Ha.

People pretty much know by now that when I get a project idea working, I will make a few, and then I'm done. I might make the item again sometime, I might never make it again. Slowly my friends are learning that you gotta get in when the gettins good. There's no waiting here! I wish I was able to make everything I create custom, but man, some days I just don't feel like it! When that happens I start enjoying my creations less and that's not why I work for myself. I work for myself doing what I do so I can make what I want when I want. And start working at noon. And wear flip flops to work. Or pjs if I so choose. And flat out skip work some days to go to the beach. That's right Mom, I DID find a job that I can do all that. Even after all those years of you telling me to grip reality and real jobs don't work that way. You're right a lot Mom, I find great happiness in getting my chance. Love you :)

I spent a nice chunk of this week/weekend sewing. I got a really cool patchwork-y tote bag made that I still need to photograph, and 6 new Itty Bitty Snap Pouches! I'm itching to make some pinafores with some of my new awesome fabric too. I had linings for a bunch already cut out, but I did something crazy and cleaned and now I can't find them. So pouch crazy I went...

One more day of my 4 day vacation. I'm hoping to finish an AWESOME Slapdash Clutch. I had lots and lots of requests for longer clutches but I have a hell of a time finding longer frames at a reasonable price. I wandered the mall with big Dave the other day and found a great one -- on clearance -- and as soon as I find exactly the right fabric it will be awesome. I am saving it from it's gaudy destiny as a leopard print sequin clutch. No surprise here that it was on clearance.

I shouldn't admit that I also bought leggings at the gaudy clothes store I found the clutch at. Yes, leggings. Wtf Delainie. I swore I would not welcome this trend back and now look at me! Then I tried them on and thought "hey, these are actually cute!" and tried on a bunch of other crap from my closet to see what they go with. I need an intervention. Or a really cute hoodie dress from American Apparel.

In the Words of David -- Ta La!

Here it is! Finally, a better picture of a great bag! Gini's Bonnaroo Bag! I love love love it! She's lucky I like her so much, I realllly want to keep this one! It's got such a bright, springy feel to it. Yesterday I was almost convinced that it might actually be warming up here. It was 50 degrees at midnight! That's like summertime! Today it's back down to 2o-something and it just started snowing. I shut the curtains. I'm pretending that this is not really happening.

I'm so tired today. Ever have a friend go through something, that you've sort of been through yourself, but it's the sort of situation where you can't just show up and give her a hug and tell her everythings going to be ok? A dear friend of mine had her baby last night! I'm not exactly sure what her weeks were, but I think she was around 26 weeks. Baby Ayden weighs 2 lbs 8oz! That's so so so very early though. I remember having preterm labor at 21 weeks and spending the next 12 wks desperately trying to keep David in. Why are these boys so impatient? I don't know what hospital she's at, what room #, nothing. I just can't stop thinking about the 2 of them today and I hope they are ok.

When I went home after having David, no longer pregnant and not able to bring him home with me, I felt so empty. I also felt like a failure after 10+ weeks of bedrest and meds and I still couldn't stop myself from going into labor. I was completely engrossed in thoughts of my baby and what I would do without him if he weren't ok. It was dreadful. The happiest experience of my life was plagued with fear and sadness. I spend hours and hours in the NICU holding my tiny baby to my chest, petting his still furry little back, and telling him all about his new family that he'd meet as soon as I could get him outta there. I remember my heart feeling like it's stopping right then and there every time his alarms went off. Just typing this it's like I can hear those alarms all over again.

The most important thing anyone said to me after I was home and alone without my baby, was my mom, reminding me that she had been there as well with my twin sister and I. We were at different hospitals and I didn't come home for 6 weeks! My sis waited another 2 wks after that. It was comforting to know that someone else understood my heartache. It's a tough time becoming a mom to a preemie, but God won't give you more than you can handle. It was a true test of strength. That strong sense of protection that came over me as soon as he was born was overwhelming. I'm so very lucky to be watching my now 4 yr old thriving today. I need to change the subject before I short circuit my laptop with my tears.

I got some new fabrics yesterday! I found a fabulous Alexander Henry print at my local fabric store. I didn't even know they carried A. Henry! I only bought a 1/2 yd. since I've been spending insane amounts of money on fabric lately, I seriously need to chill. Next time I go, I am bringing $10 and no debit card. I'm tryin to save some money to go to Ohio in April and see my best friend. That's not going to happen if I don't tear myself away from the fabric store! I started making all my Slapdash items with scraps and now it has snowballed into an almost major investment. So I've got 6 wallets to sew tonight along with my very own Bonnaroo bag (YAYY!)!

Blogger... are you listening? When I type a space, put a damn space. Don't make me edit my post 800 times to still have it be wrong. It's just a space...

Toot Toot!

Just in a toot-my-own-horn mood this weekend!
So this weekend sure went differently than planned! I thought I'd be hibernating and whining about having nothing to do again. Maybe crocheting till I feel like I have arthritis like last weekend. Instead I got to see Michelle and Bonnie and all the kidlets (missed you Liz!) and see a bunch of Dave's friends I hadn't seen in a while, made 4 online sales, a couple offline sales, been featured in 4 treasuries (that I know of), and featured on the front page of SearchHandmade! The treasury I linked to is all Kalamazoo artists so that's extra cool. Unfortunately the link is only good for a few days, but hey when it expires maybe someone else will feature me! Here's hoping! I'm up to 105 Etsy sales to 8 countries and 30 states! I've always loved selling my wares locally, but it's an exciting feeling to ship a pair of pants to Sweden, or Australia, or Germany, or whereever else. I just knew my Ninja Pants would be a big hit, I'm not the only one with claustrophobic ankles!! :) Now that I mention it, I really should go make some pants...

Recycled Sweater Stockings!

Christmas Christmas Christmas. Feels like it's taking forever to get here! I can't find our stockings anywhere this year! So in an effort to end the boredom of being stuck in the house all day and solve the missing stocking problem, I whipped up a whole bunch of them from some old sweaters. Recycled sweater stockings are pretty fantastic if I may say so myself! I haven't decided which one I want yet since I'm partial to that cabled gray one, but since it was Erin's sweater I figured she should get that one. See, I finally am getting into the giving and generous Christmas spirit! :) These were SO easy! I suggest hand sewing if you make them yourself. The machine tugged the fabric too much making it all weird shaped and I had to re-do some and block the rest.

My Christmas tree is officially up! Dave and I lugged everything upstairs on Tuesday before he went to sleep for the day. Yes 3rd shift is still a horrible, awful, evil shift. As I tried to hang the first decoration of the season, I noticed how dusty my dining room light was. With the first touch to clean it, it came crashing down! It shattered all around David and I and amazingly he didn't get a scratch. Someone is surely looking out for that little boy. I got jabbed in the thigh and considered going in for stitches. But by the time I was done cleaning up the huge mess of broken glass (that not only fell onto the table, but also into the toys and decorations) I wasn't bleeding too bad anymore and decided a nap was more in order. I've got a bunch of little cuts and my leg still hurts a bit, but I'm still shocked that David didn't get hurt. He was really good about staying on the couch for 2 hours while I cleaned up that massive mess too!

I've done a bit of an Etsy overhaul lately. New banner and avatar (that I made myself this time!) and some brand new and updated listings. Here's a little taste:




Oh yeah, it's legwarmer season! I've been making them non-stop! I hate the cold, but I love the legwarmers!