Elemental Stitches

Sunday Scribblings

Yes I know this is late but here it is anyway...

Change...

I am actually afraid of change. I like to have a set plan and I like everything to go as I plan it. I know this doesn't happen though. I have many things that I would like to change. I don't really like to do New Years Resolutions but I do like to make a plan for the next year. Mostly what I would like to accomplish during the coming year. This coming year is going to be full of change and as much as I fear it, I am very excited too.

This year I would like to loose 20 more pounds and become more active. I want my muscles to feel like a 24 year old, not a 44 year old.

I want to transfer to a 4 year university. I will find out where I am accepted sometime in the Spring.

I want to get my home more streamlined. Less stuff. More space for what I love, less clutter.

I want to get Pumpkin potty trained. We are actually working on that now. She has been wearing big girl underwear for most of the day. I am trying to get her to pee in the potty but no luck so far.

I want us all to eat more healthy and I want to take care of and pamper myself more.

I want to get my finances in order and pay off some of my debts.

I want to get more adult time to myself. I am so involved in Pumpkin that I forget what being an adult in my 20s is all about.

I want to start taking more pictures and maybe start a food blog (I am thinking about it).
That's all I can think of so far.

Labels: Personal, Sunday Scribbling

Tutorial Carnival 2

I thought that my Original Tutorial List was getting too long so I am starting Page 2.

Dec 25, 2006

Wristlet Tutorial by Your Only Bored When
Elf Shoe by Allsorts
Monogramming by Craft Apple
Fabric Flower by Heather Bailey
Kiddley.com is always updating their Tutorials

Jan 16th, 2007

Wall Garland by Your Only Bored When
Drawstring Bag by Happy Things

Jan 18th, 2007

Huge List of Clothing Tutorials from Craftster.org

April 1st, 2007

Pet Collar by Penny Sanford
Zakka Pouch by Black Dog Designs
Tube Skirt by Miss Twiss
Fabric Box by All Buttoned Up
Box Bag By DragoKnit
Front Zipper Pouch by Thimble

April 13th, 2007

Feltland's Animal patterns

Labels: Sewing, Tutorials, Websites

Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year! Love you all!

Labels: Holidays, Personal

Unexpectadly Blessed This Year

First I want to thank everyone for reading my blog. I really appreciate all of the comments that I get. Each one fills my heart. This year was a difficult year for my family. Money was tighter then It has ever been, but I have been blessed with many unexpected gifts.

I had a tenant move out of the complex I manage and she was moving across country unexpectedly. Well she couldn't take most of her things so she gave away everything in her apartment. Since I am the manager I get first pickings. I scored an awesome solid wood end table and a small solid wood dresser. Both are very antique-y with their old drawer pulls and hinges.

I got a BEAUTIFUL!!!!! handmade quilt. OH MY !!!!! This is the most beautiful quilt. I LOVE it. It is very romantic Victorian with roses, cream, and antique green. Beautiful roses and a curvy edge. I will take some pics of it as soon as I can. I am going to be using it to design my bedroom.

The best present is that my maintenance guy for my apartment used to be a commercial photographer. Not only did he fix my camera (its in testing phase to make sure its fixed) but her offered to help me with my skills. Said he would show me all sorts of stuff! That is the greatest gift I could have gotten.

Pumpkin got some toys from friends and a great blanket made by a good friend of mine. A new jacket and some other clothes. She got a tricycle from the woman who moved.

Cowboy got the least amount of stuff. I really want to do something nice for him for Yule. I am not sure what I can do but I need to think of something. Any ideas? I appreciate him so much and I want him to know how much I love him.

Labels: Holidays, Personal

Sunday Scribblings- Anticipation

When I think of anticipation I think of the physical effects of anticipating an event. My heart begins to race, my senses heighten, my stomach tightens, and if the anticipating lasts longer then a few day then usually I cannot sleep. Anticipating something is part of the joy in life. It is a hope that is soon to come true and who doesn't want to see their hopes come true? I love the waiting a bit less then the receiving but it wouldn't be the same event if I didn't get to feel excited by it.

Things I am anticipating
1. Moving to UC Santa Cruz next fall. If I get in (crossing fingers)
2. Finishing my AA in June.
3. Watching my 2 year old daughter blow out the candles for the first time.
4. Watching her eat the cake.
5. I can wait until my sweetie finally finds what he wants to do as a career, without his father trying to stop him.
6. Am I a bad person for anticipating the death of a person. Even an abusive person? I am sad that I feel this way but... there is no excuses I guess. I just hate the man. For more info see my rant.
7. Oh course I cant wait for Christmas!
8. I started the Cure on Apartment Therapy and I cant wait to finish! Buy the book! Its fantastic!
9. I started selling my extra books on Amazon.com and I already had one sell! I am hoping to thin out my collection this way and make some money on the side.
10. I cant wait to see my baby get bigger.... but at the same time I want her to stay this young forever.

On a side note I do enjoy baking and today I baked 4 dozen gingersnaps and made enough chocolate ganache for over 100 truffles and I finished 4 dozen of them already! I cant wait to start baking tomorrow! I still have chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, and sugar cookies to make, fudge, peppermint bark, and brownies to make too! So much to do! So much Fun!

Labels: Holidays, Personal, Sunday Scribbling, Websites

Fabric Finding

Isn't this a beautiful combination? It is destined to become a purse. I picked up the black at white at JoAnne's last week. I absolutely love black, white and red. Strange, because I don't like any of these colors by themselves.

I am not sure what kind of purse I will be making but I am fashioning a pattern in my head that reminds my of Audrey Hepburn. Simple, stylish, classic, but fun.

The blues are also going to become a purse. I am going to use the same pattern as the brown purse I messed up. The only differences are the D rings I will be using for the straps and the pin that will go on the flap. By the way, the solid colored fabric is 100% linen and it is not that dark. It is much lighter in person.

The pin is beautiful in person. The colors match the fabric beautifully and the shape brings out the flower shapes in the fabric.

This 100% wool sweater was a terrific Goodwill find. And I got it for 1/2 off! It is already partially felted. I need to finish felting it then it is going to become hot pads and pot handle covers. I knew this was for me. I was searching through all these 100% wool sweaters that were just huge, but ugly colors. Then I came across this one. $5 is not what I would normally pay for less then a yard of fabric, but then I noticed that it was 1/2 off white tags day and my sweater had a white tag! Oh it was meant to be!

Labels: Sewing

Recently Finished Projects

Finally I have the pictures which I will be sharing with you over the next several days. Here is what I have been working on lately. I absolutely love the tote! It looks even better in person. I am going to have everything on etsy so please check it out. The little bags are really cute too. I love the fabric on them.

The Blue and Brown leaf bag is my own pattern (so are the small paisley bags). Its a medium sized clutch. Cute isn't it. I was pleased with how it came out.

The brown bag is my new favorite pattern. My sister bought this really cute little purse and I created my own pattern from it. It is different from her purse but I love how it came out. I made the pattern my own. I have made 3 more purses from this patten which I don't have pics of but you will see them soon. I am soooooo mad at myself about this particular purse. I screwed it up majorly. It is made of embroidered moleskin and I had a brain fart and ironed the flap to close it. Here is what happened. I cant believe I did that. Anyone have any ideas on how to fix it? It is right on the top of the bag where the flap folds. I haven't figured anything out yet An applique is my only option, I think and that will be difficult. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Labels: Crafts, Sewing

Holiday Hospital Visit

I would like to express my sorrow that James Kim did not make it back to his family. I am thinking of them often and I sent my well wishes for them. I think of my little family and I am so happy that we are all safe at home tonight. Especially since we took pumpkin to the ER last night to get stitches in her forehead. My poor little baby was playing with a frisky puppy and it bumped into her and she fell into an unfinished concrete step. She looks like she was in a car accident. She has two, well... holes in her forehead that the doctor stitched closed. Plus a long scratch down her nose to her lip and several cuts around her right eye and cheek. I could not believe how much blood there was. It was awful and it wouldn't stop bleeding. All of you with boys are thinking that this is nothing aren't you? Well it was our first major injury. Hopefully there will not be anymore.

I should be getting my pics tomorrow. Hopefully I will have much stuff in the shop for Christmas gifts (sorry for the shameless self promotion but, I have a lot of great creations I want to share with the world... okay okay, my hubby thinks I spend too much money on crafting so I need to support my habit).

Labels: Personal, Sewing

Since I quit my job

Since I quit my job I have had some extra sewing time on my hands. I made a new pattern for a purse which has turned out 3 great purses! I also made another adorable tote and I have fabric ready for several more purses. One of the purses I made I am keeping. It matches my red and cream wallet that I made a few weeks ago.

I also made some zipper coin pouches and make up bags. They look okay. I will be giving the fist several I make away until I feel that they are good enough to sell in my store. I am pretty picky about what is good enough to go to my store.

I took a bunch of pictures today. I probably wont get them up for a couple of days but they are worth it. I will also be adding a bunch of items to my etsy store, just in time for Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas... I am so jealous of all of you bloggers with snow! I cannot wait until I move to another place that has snow every year. Not much but something! Something that sticks! It probably wont snow here again this year. It has been below freezing but the combo of wet weather and freezing temps doesnt happen very much around the desert.

Actually Cowboy and I have been talking over the last year about where we will eventually want to settle down. We have both decided that this town is NOT where we want to stay. What we are looking for is a smaller town, open minded, with character, friendly people, on the West Coast, it must have all 4 seasons, it must be green (I have lived in a desert my whole life), good schools, safe, beautiful. Does this sound like your town? I am looking at Northern Ca, Oregon, and Washington. I have been to WA and I loved it. I stayed in Bremerton when my boyfriend, at the time, was stationed at the Naval Base there. Everyone was so friendly. I hated So California when I came back. I never realized how rude people are here. I am not saying that everyone is rude here, just that it was very different in WA.

I will bring you picks of what I am working on soon!

Check out the Tutorial list. I have updated it a bit.

Labels: Personal, Sewing

I Did It!!!

I haven't really complained much about my job on this blog due to the fact that people have gotten fired because for writing about work on their blogs, but now...I QUIT!

Spontaneity...

About 2 months ago I asked for 4 days off at work. Not 4 days in a row... 4 days during the next month. Suddenly I check my schedule and I was given the whole month off... I begged and pleaded to get my hours back because there was some mistake. I got about 15 hours back combined. Since then, I was taken out of my department, without asking me. They cut my hours per week in half. And they started scheduling me on times and days that made it difficult for me to get to work. I asked every manager in the store and the store manager to fix this but everyone seemed to think there wasn't a problem. Well I was having trouble keeping food in the house so Yes there was a problem!

This morning, I Quit. I have been completely stressed out about this for months and this last weekend I could hardly sleep. Last nights post sealed the deal. It was unhealthy for me to continue working in that environment. I didn't need that stress. I have applied for another job that I will probably get and I am not worried. Cowboy is working and things have been getting better. I have been living with a sporadic paycheck from my work for months so we have found other ways of making ends meet.

I am so relieved. I am afraid that the main manager is going to call me later. But I plan on being honest with him. I can be a brutally honest person sometimes. That is also something I gained with Motherhood. I am no longer afraid to speak my mind and stand up for myself and my family.

Labels: Personal