Spread the Love, Baby!!

The other day I went to Etsy and caught up on its blog entries and I found this.  It's a project whereby creative people send in Valentine's Day cards that will be delivered with the CityMeals-on-Wheels lunch to the elderly in New York.   I think it's a fabulous idea and I immediately had to go make some of these:

These are my versions of fabric Valentine's day cards.  The back (or in some cases, the front) has a writeable space for a Valentine's day message.  I will be adding some pink or red ribbons so they can hang from a door knob or elsewhere.  They were fun and easy to make and I plan on making a few more.  I have lots of ribbon and buttons and beads that I can add to these.  And I think the scrap rosettes look nice.  I hope I get enough made that I can also give some to The Texas Children's Hospital here in Houston.  Feel free to make some of your own (fabric or paper) valentines and either contribute to the CityMeals-on-Wheels program or one of your local charities.  I think it's a good thing.

I also sat down over the weekend and made another scrap quilt.  I had all these larger pieces laying out on the table and I decided to sew them together instead of putting them away.  The pieced top is nothing special, but I think once I get it on the longarm and quilt it, it will make a great lap quilt for those nights curled up on the couch watching television or reading.  I plan on giving this one away if it turns out like I think it will.  Fingers crossed.

Okay, it's time to go and make some more lovely valentines . . . 'er, wait a minute . . . I think I have to go to work first . . . hmm . . . that's a bummer!! 

And We're Off . . .

Yes, 2012 is off with a bang.  First up, remember these (from Donna)?  I'm referring to the dishcloths.  Well, they came in handy when this happened . . .

Yes, the dishwasher crapped out and we had to resort to the old fashioned way of cleaning our dishes.  Yikes, that brought back some memories!!  Not to worry, after much trouble and aggravation, we finally got this puppy installed.  (and by "we", I mean B-guy - bless his heart!)

Then there was this fiasco . . .

A little fender bender . . . ha!  The cost to fix this mess could feed a small African country.

A few days later this happened . . .

This is looking across the street from the front door.  Unfortunately because of my crazy busy season at work, I was unable to get a rental car after the accident and definitely unable to get one after the flood.  I'm still without a car and the wreck happened a week ago.

But, all is not gloom and doom in the month of January.  On Sunday, this happened . . .

 My family and I at the Houston Marathon Expo on Saturday picking up our packets.

And on Sunday proudly wearing our medals.  We all ran the Half Marathon except for my brother in the middle with the big medal - he ran the Full Marathon.

It was an awesome weekend because on Saturday we trekked downtown and watched the elite athletes vie for our 3 coveted 2012 Olympic marathon spots.  These awesome (and very, very fast runners) ran within feet of us.  At the end of the day, we saw Meb, Ryan and Abdi place 1st, 2nd and 3rd for the men. 

And Shalane, Desiree and Kara place 1st, 2nd and 3rd for the women.  It was probably a once in a lifetime deal as what are the chances that Houston will host the men's and women's Olympic trials again?  I was totally in awe.





Shalane Flanagan in the white socks streaking by on her way to 1st place victory. At this point, she had approximately 1/4 mile to go.  It's unbelievable how fast these runners run after 26 miles.  Yikes!  I'm so happy and proud of all of them.  Good luck!!

And so January has basically been a sew-free zone what with all the hoopla happening.  That does not make me happy.  But, if I can survive until Thursday (the date the auditors have to sign off on our year end audit), then maybe, (cross your fingers) just maybe, my sewing machine will be humming again this weekend.  So far, this is the only creating I've done (besides my daily drawings).

 This is my niece's college graduation quilt that my SIL asked me to quilt for her.



Hopefully January will calm down and February will be the month that I get to jump start my new year of creative happenings.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see . . . 

New Beginnings or The Same?

2011 wasn't so bad so I'm not sure that 2012 needs to represent new beginnings. I'll be happy with a year filled with more sewing and crafting goodness. This is what the end of 2011 looked like for me.



I love these little zines from Linda at Tortagialla

 She included a couple of her postcards along with the zines

 which inspired me to create my own little journal

 in which I'll be inserting some of my drawn pictures.

 voilà - here's my version which is now ready to start adding other ephemera and journaling.

 There were more aprons

 More gadgets (there was also some fabric purchases and as soon as the package arrives, I'll post some pics of the beginning of the 2012 stash!!  Okay, hopefully, I'll get my butt in gear and use it as I do have plans for it, but life gets in the way sometimes . . . )

and the coup de grâce - I snagged a couple of mannequins from a store whose last day was Dec 29.  Bad for them . . . good for me.  These little guys were US $9 each. 

Today I've loaded a large queen sized quilt on the longarm and I'll be quilting that puppy up as soon as inspiration hits me over the head.  My SIL has asked me to quilt it as she made it as a college graduation gift for her daughter.  I'm sure I'll get inspired right after I take my nap!!  Priorities, you know. 

So, I have one more day off and then it's back to my real job and the stress begins again . . . can't wait.  Happy New Year!!