Envelope Project

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Scrumptious!!

Last week my good friend, Donna, from DonnasLavenderNest, met me for lunch.  It was supposed to be a birthday celebration for her, but I'm the one who ended up with all the goodies!  Thank you so much, Donna!
Donna went to Houston Quilt Market and picked up the brochure for me since I wasn't able to make it.  She also gifted me a Clover mini iron that she won. 
 
And, then she gave me these scrump-dilly-icious fabrics.  They are from the "Scrumptious" line by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.  Donna has these lovely fabrics and so many more wonderful pretties in her store.  You can find them here and here.  Go order some beautiful fabric now.  You definitely deserve a treat!!

And that, my friends, is one great way to start a holiday weekend!  Thank you so much, Donna for all of your generosity and friendship.  You know how to make a girl giddy with joy!!  I'm so thankful for our friendship.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Looking for the Happy

And what makes me happy???  Fabric, of course.  And as much as I'd like to purchase all of the pretty lovelies I see, I know that I have way too much stuff!!  And I want to start making a dent in reducing the amount of "stuff" that I have.  So what do I do . . . I make more stuff!!  What???!!  Yes, I seem to come up with all kinds of crazy ideas during the days and sometimes I make those ideas come to fruition.

I had the day off on Friday and I woke up, looked at my bag of quilted scraps, looked at the wall of zippers and immediately thought of pencil cases.  I love, love how these little bags turned out.  Plus I used up a lot of zippers (in fact, I ran out of 9" zippers and had to switch to making small wristlets with 7" zippers) and a lot of quilted fabric that I just couldn't bring myself to throw away.

 Pencil cases
 
Pencil cases and small wristlets
 
Another yoga bag completed this weekend
 
A weekender tote finished this morning
 
A large and small yoga bag completed this weekend
 
Collection of small yoga bags
 

Collection of large yoga bags
 
It seems that people are liking my yoga bags (I mean, what's not to like?!) and I have sold quite a few of them.  Hopefully, I will get a store out there soon so more people can discover these absolutely beautiful and totally functional bags.
 
I also like these "etc" bags that were made with large pieces of quilted fabric scraps
 
And to satisfy my newfound love of drawing and paint and markers and the written word, I discovered these envelopes in the trash at work and promptly rescued them.  Here is my first attempt that is going out into the world.
 

Outside of envelope
 
Inside of envelope
 
And the other day I discovered the "Orphaned Postcard Project" and immediately signed up.  I picked the postcards that I wanted.  They arrived early last week; I wrote a note on each one and sent them back.  How fun!
 
And, lest you think I'm not quilting, here's my latest quilt top ready for the longarm:
It's a disappearing 9 patch 
 
And that, my friends, is my happy!  It's been a great weekend complete with cooler weather and a nice 4 mile run yesterday morning.  I hope each of you is finding your HAPPY!



Friday, November 22, 2013

Lost Loves

 
Co-doggie
04/1998 - 07/2013
 
 
Mama
5/1929 - 10/2013
 
I lost two beautiful souls this year.  In July my sweet, sweet dog who gave me so much joy  throughout the past fifteen years said goodbye and left me with a big empty in my life.  I miss him beyond words.  I love you, Co-doggie!
 
And then last month my sweet Mama went gently into that good night.  She spent the better part of October in the hospital, but her sense of humor never left her.  She wanted to go home and so we made that happen.  She was surrounded by family and love.  She gave us so much love and wisdom.  I told her that the best gift she gave me was my siblings.  I told her that I didn't want her to leave us.  I told her that there were things I didn't know yet, but I didn't know the questions to ask.  She told me I would be fine and I believed her.
 
She fought for a year and a half and in the end her body belied her spirit and it was time. 
 
Sometimes, like now, I realize I will never hear her sweet voice again.  That phone number stored under "Mom" will never be dialed again and when I want to know the history of the quilts we discovered after she died, I will never hear her voice tell me about her Mama sewing them.  
 
There's so much sadness in my heart; sometimes I don't think that I can bear it.  But, then I remember that I am my Mama's girl and I will go on.  I will pay tribute to her by being the best possible person I can be.  She taught me those lessons.  As did my Dad.  They are reunited now.  The empty is still in my heart, but I can still hear her laughter.  I will remember all of the good.  I love you, Mama!