First crafty completion of the year

This is a market bag I made for Angela using Michigan State fabric.  It folds up neatly to be stashed away.  Pretty easy to put together.  The most time consuming part was the bias tape.

I started this on my old White Jean Machine and finished it on my new Brother CP7500 which I got mainly for the quilting features.  What I can say is that so far I LOVE THIS MACHINE!!  It is easy to wind the bobbins, thread the machine and sew.  I love the 1/4" piecing setting, no more fiddling with the seam allowance.  Now to really learn machine quilting.  It came with a walking foot and the free motion quilting foot as well as the quilting guide for straight lines.  I was blown away with how easily I got started, but there's still a lot to learn.  It's quiet, fast and user friendly.

Brother CP7500

Not the best picture in the world, but here it is.  It also came with an extension table for quilting and a hard cover.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!! I realize that I actually avoided sewing because of the old machine and now I am thinking of all of the projects I want to do this year.

While looking for a biscotti recipe I read a post about Connecting Threads.com and popped over to see what it was all about.  Well it's about some really great fabric for not a lot of money.  I have been looking for a quilt kit to work on for quite a while. Something I didn't have to look at putting the fabric together for, something I could just pick up and do.  And boy was I pleasantly surprised when I bought not one, not two, but three kits for under $70 (including the backing fabric).  One kit I purchased is called Scrappy Diamonds and cost all of $29.46 for the top, binding and backing!  If you don't believe me, look for yourself.  They have a Kit Builder option where you can trade out the fabrics to get an idea of how it will look. 

I was a little skeptical about the fabric until it arrived.  Now I am completely sold on this company.  Trust me, give them a look, you will love the way this fabric feels when you get some and you will really love the prices. I will definitely be going back to them for future projects.

In closing, I'm still learning to live without Jay.  I can see that at some point I'll get to a "new normal", but I'm still having my moments.  Crafting (reading blogs, looking at projects, going through my stash, and actually working on things) is helping me to make it through.

Here's to what I hope is a peaceful, crafty new year for myself and everyone out there in craft land.

Getting the inspiration back

It's been three months now.  Only three months, but it seems like an eternity.  I've mostly been working and coming home and going to grief support and trying to just keep moving forward.

I've had some fairly good days and then I've had some really bad ones.  Extremely bad ones.  But I just keep moving forward.  I feel like a shark, constantly  moving because if I stop it will all crash down on me.

So in the interest of moving forward I think crafting is going to help me get through things.  I've already crocheted a few dishcloths.  I washed the fabric for an overdue baby quilt and now I need to cut out the pieces and start the applique.  I don't think the wolves cross stitch is going to make the Christmas list, but I could prove myself wrong.

Work has kept me occupied.  Thank God for my friends there.  They have given me so much support.  I am so grateful for them.

So with the goal of crafting to occupy my mind and keep my hands busy, here is a photo of the fabric for the baby quilt.

I'm not sure how they are going to work with the pattern I've chosen, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Updates later.

How do you go on when everything is turned upside down?

I'm not going to kid around.  I have been absolutely miserable since Jay passed.  I've had little to no appetite for the most part.  My doctor has me on an anti-depressant and Xanax for anxiety.  It's helped some with the crying, but I still break down.  Everyone at work has been wonderful.  They all thought I came back too soon, but financially I didn't have a choice and as it turns out emotionally it was probably the best thing for me because while he's always on my mind, keeping busy helps to keep the hurt away.  I will be starting a grief support group in a couple of weeks.  Luckily my managers are all for it and are working with my schedule to make sure I can attend.

I promised a friend a baby quilt and they are due soon.  So far I've only washed the fabric.  I've yet to press it or cut one piece of it.  I've got to get moving on that.  I think she'll understand when the baby gets there before the quilt.  I'm finding it hard to concentrate on things I used to have fun with.  The games on Facebook that we both enjoyed are now just a colossal waste of time to me.  I haven't farmed, built a city or anything like that since he was in the hospital.  Don't think I ever will again.  I learned the hard way that things can change at the drop of a hat and sitting in front of this computer plowing a made up farm just doesn't cut it any more.  Sorry to all of my Facebook friends who relied on me to gift them things they needed, I just don't have it in me any more.

The colors of the quilt I'm going to be working on are blue and brown (the colors the mothers chose)  I am doing a Hawaiian quilt as one of the mothers was born in Hawaii.  However, I'm using prints instead of solids so I'm hoping all turns out well.  It will definitely be an experience as Hawaiian quilting involves a lot of applique.

I did finish the blanket for Ashley's baby, but I didn't get a picture of it.  At least I don't think I did.  If I find it on the camera, I'll publish it, but it was a basket weave crochet pattern with a through the back loop single crochet border.  I found the pattern online.

I've also got to get back to work on the wolves cross stitch I started as it is intended to be a Christmas present.  It was something we decided on together for his sister and brother-in-law and I have to get it done.

But for now I'm going to go back to scrubbing my kitchen floor.  I'm doing it on my hands and knees with a brush and it looks like new.  More of that keeping busy thing I'm trying to do.  Prayers are helping too.

Happy Mother's Day

 To my mother Dennie.  Love you very much.

Duchess Dean Jones - May 1991 to June 15, 2010

Born in May 1991, Duchess Dean Jones was a gift from my sister Lory. She was seven weeks old when I brought her home and she had me wrapped around her little paw immediately. My mother never liked cats but between Duchess and Sam (my sister's cat) she was won over. The "Dutch Kitty" as she called her made it her job to keep an eye on her after her surgery.

She greeted me at the door when I came home from work, if I was late she let me know it. She loved to play and she loved to watch the birds that perched in the trees outside the bedroom window. She even tried talking to them and made pretty good chirping sounds for a cat...lol

While Sam was with us she let him do all the talking, unless tuna was involved then she became very vocal. When Sam left us she decided she had better speak up and we had many, many conversations throughout the years. Although she was a cat, she seemed more human than a lot of humans I knew.

Although she hated car trips (I imagine she thought she was going to the dreaded vet) she rode shotgun on the move to Michigan. She became quite comfortable at the Motel 6 (pet friendly) and it was probably because all the rooms we stayed in looked exactly the same. Once she got to the farm she had a whole new group of animals to watch. Geese, sheep, dogs, baby chicks...she watched them all. To my amazement the cat who ran and hid until she decided she liked someone quickly showed her trust to my husband. Obviously she knew a good guy when she saw him.

Even more amazing was the relationship she developed with Mist the Border Collie. None of my friends would believe she shared a home with a dog, let alone went nose to nose with her without pitching a fit and baring claws, but she did. I attributed it to mellowing a lot in her old age.

Unfortunately, that old age caught up with her. She lost the hearing in her right ear shortly after her 18th birthday but she adapted well. Later on she started showing other signs of her age and in the past week it all started going rapidly downhill. I spent as much time with her as I could holding her and talking to her. She left us this morning at 7:20am while I held her. She was 19 years old but she was and always will be my green eyed, pink nosed kitty girl.

There are a lot of stories and memories and I will treasure them forever. She was there during the good and the bad. She kept me sane. She was a joy every second that she was alive and I'm going to miss her for the rest of my life.

Be well my kitty girl and say hi to Sam for me.

Here's to a creative and happy 2009

This past year has been a doozy. I haven't gotten as much crafting done as I would have liked, but I got some in.

Lots of personal changes including getting married. (Now there's one I never thought I would do...I'm still a little shell-shocked, but very happy) This year will bring a move to a new city and home. Where? I'm not sure yet.

On the creative front, I'm planning to continue with knitting, but also get back into the quilting and cross stitch. I've got an itch to be creative after what seems like a long "down" time. I've been knitting but I haven't felt ideas spark like they have been lately in a long time. I guess I'm in a better space mentally now and I know from my past that my crafting makes me happy so I'm going to craft.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2009. Things may be tough, but I'm confident we can all make it through. I look forward to continue reading different blogs for inspiration and helpful tips. I just hope I'm able to contribute more on my end than I did this year.

Here's to 2009!!

Dragonflies are cool

I've added a dragonfly to my title picture. Just for a bit of background - I was terrified of dragonflies for a long, long, time.

Here's the story. My mother married and we moved to Los Angeles, specifically, Northridge, California. At the time we moved into a brand new family apartment complex. My future high school was right across the street (Granada Hills High School - Go Highlanders!). There was a shopping complex a few blocks away that you got to by walking on an unpaved road. Later on they built a Treasury (think 70's Target) and paved it, but for a good while it was unpaved and had the usual weeds and things growing on it. During the summer those weeds were home to a lot of dragonflys. One day we were heading up to the hamburger stand to get a shake and I swear every time I tried to cross a certain part, the dragonflies would swarm.

Now mind you, I have NEVER been a bug lover. And to see these things coming at me with four wings (had never seen one before we got to Los Angeles) and seemingly only to "attack" me led me to fear and hate them for a lifetime. That is, until now.

Now, they are my friends. I have come to accept the dragonflies and have made peace with them. The biggest factor is that they eat mosquitoes. Which is great because mosquitoes love to eat me. And when they do, they leave huge, itchy, red, hot bumps that cause me no end of misery. Anything that rids my area of mosquitoes is a friend of mine.

Then they are just very cool. I've been doing some research and have found out they are very cool. But one thing that I really thought was cool was this:


Meaning of dragonfly symbol?

Answer

Dragonfly symbolism crosses and combines with that of the butterfly and change. The dragonfly symbolizes going past self-created illusions that limit our growing and changing. Dragonflies are a symbol of the sense of self that comes with maturity.


They are fantastic flyers, darting like light, twisting, turning, changing direction, even going backwards as the need arises. They are inhabitants of two realms - starting with water, and moving to the air with maturity, but staying close to water. Some people who have the dragonfly as their totem have had emotional and passionate early years, but as they get older they achieve balance with mental clarity and control. They gain an expression of the emotional and mental together.


Dragonflies are old and adaptive insects, and are most powerful in the summer under the effects of warmth and sunlight. Their colors are a result of reflecting and refracting the power of light. As a result, they are associated with color magic, illusion in causing others only to see what you wish, and other mysticism.

The are often represented in Japanese paintings, representing new light and joy. To some Native Americans they are the souls of the dead. Faerie stories say that they used to be real dragons.

Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and can reflect the light in powerful ways if we choose to do so. "Let there be light" is the divine prompting to use the creative imagination as a force within your life. They help you to see through your illusions and allow your own light to shine in a new vision.


This just represents everything I've gone through. I feel like I'm finally beginning to know myself and what I want after a life time of not knowing. My time of the year is always the summer, I just seem to grown then. Love the snow (looking at it) and the change of the seasons, but summer is my time. I feel like I'm finally moving into a good space and I am adopting the dragonfly as my symbol.