Catching up with myself!

Well, I continue to learn and create with my papercrafting...days are flying by this year, busy with activities and daily life in general with the girls!

I have done a few more cards! I had started to put them up one at a time until I realized there were way too many since last I posted and didn't want to bore you, so here is a collage of cards I have made :)  I was doing a Christmas in July challenge at the Flying Unicorn Scrapbook Store forum, in case you were wondering about the Christmas cards!

I haven't done very much work on quilts this past month, but I have done some patchwork baskets and about 5 hairbands for Aisling and the girls friends. I think all their friends will expect a headband whenever they come over for playdates now...maybe I shouldn't have started doing that! Here is a collage of the baskets I have done for thank you gifts and birthday gifts for teachers and friends and kids friends!

On this scrapbooking site I participate in now, they are doing a flower swap...in June I produced 48 flowers to swap, yikes! But I do get 48 flowers back...that is very exciting!! Here is a collage of most of mine, though I did miss out on photos of a few!

I have also worked on a few more page layouts... This is an 8 x 8 inch layout of a favorite W.B. Yeats poem, Stolen Child... made as a thank you gift for a friend...

This next layout is my favorite so far, made for another challenge...

I am having fun learning as I go!

I also did one more vintage tag with my favorite dress form stamp!

I have been having lots of card and tag making sessions with the girls friends, here are the girls and a friend sporting some tags they made...

Being here in Ireland, we miss out on the 4th of July, so in honor of the day I worked on this layout of Aine in 2008 at an Oregon 4th of July parade!

I have plans to do a few quilt blocks this month and work on a bit more of my big Rouenneries quilt...and some hand piecing and quilting...but nothing big and beautiful to show. I don't think I will ever give up my quilting, knitting (still working on those socks....slowly, I promise!) and now crocheting too, but right now I am loving my new hobby!  

Dave is in the States for work but will visit my brother in Baltimore...I may have done a little (LOT!!) of shopping for some big and small items...Dave is bringing an extra suitcase for me, bless him! I also have some orders coming here to show in the future as well, lol! Looking forward to our holiday in Cornwall with friend Katy and family, there will be some sewing, and shopping as well as other fun things I am sure!

Hopefully it won't be so long between posts next time!

Just limping along at the moment…

Here is my current position at home after a surgery last week to help lessen the pain of a damaged tendon in my left ankle… Six weeks off this foot and a lot of hopping then I hope to do physio and strengthen this foot so I can do a little more walking for exercise again! Before I used to walk the girls to school, but never did any more than that as it was quite painful to walk on! Here’s hoping the hopping does some good! I want to be able to enjoy walking for as long as my MS lets me (and lets hope that is many many years to come!).

Since I can’t do a whole heck of a lot of physical stuff (I do dishes, washing and directing of kids and husbands!) I have managed to be productive on the knitting end…and finished a quilting project…

Some ballerina legwarmers have been knit…

A hat has been knit for a friend who is going through chemo treatments in the States…

 

 

 

 

 

And some baby onesies have been made for my dear friend Barbara’s new little girl Molly!

I hope to start posting lots more cards and creative projects in the future because I have purchased this lovely thing, which can cut out vinyl for wall lettering and tshirt transfer projects, paper, and even fabric now… I have seen many peoples creative projects with it all over Blogland and was totally inspired. It is coming over from the States and I can’t wait to start creating with it…maybe some vinyl wall quotes to put up first, or some cute tshirts for kids birthday presents…or some birthday cards…

My main priority for February is to make a quilt for that friend who is going through chemo…a blue and green quilt… I have gotten squares from many friends here and from Kate in England, so between my own and my generous friends I hope to get a good start on this quilt this week! I wish there was more I could do, but I feel like this is something I can physically do to help comfort such a faraway friend!

No Excuse...

Except just a busy life. The  MS has been fairly minor symptoms, and even my worse symptoms I have had since February didn't compare to what got me diagnosed back in the hospital. I consider myself lucky. I have to learn to pace myself and I do get tired more easily if I push myself, but in the scheme of things I am grateful. I am still swimming but have struggled with my eating and am disappointed in myself because of that, I will be realistic and won't try to lose weight over the holiday, but just keep maintaining...The new year and my 40th birthday approaching in  March I hope will spur me on to get fit again, it has been years now since I was slim and trim and I miss it!

Why haven't I posted in the last few months? The busy social lives of my kids, lack of energy when they are in bed... I have gotten quite a few projects moved forward and one very important one conceived and finished and loved since my last post...

My most special project I did was when I learned that my aunt's partner Ann lost her son in Afghanistan October 3. I felt the need to make a comfort quilt for her in memory of her son Aaron but wanted one I could reasonably finish before she and my aunt arrived for a two week visit in November. I remembered a heart block I had done using 1 inch blocks and translated the 1 inch blocks into 5 inch blocks, asked her favorite colors, and came up with this:



I did a meander pattern for the quilting and quilted in words that my aunt sent me that described Aaron along with the meandering. I think she liked the surprise of finding the words about her son in the quilt.

Here is a photo of the label I but on the back.


I have also been working on a pair of socks for a certain friend who has already received 2 similar pairs (I am afraid to change the pattern since they fit her well!) This is her second pair of birthday socks, though these ones will be late, I am aiming for Christmas!



This final project is one I finished piecing years ago it seems now, and pick up from time to time. I am doing freehand baptist fans on it and like the way it is looking. Not too much longer for this one, I hope!


I have finally put up my quilting frame again and have my ocean wave quilt on it. I will show some photos of that one soon, as well as the start of machine quilting on a simple quilt I did for our guest room... I really  hope to get back into a rhythm of posting more often again.

For all my fellow Americans, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I plan on roasting a chicken and making a mini Thanksgiving for the girls and me tomorrow while DH is away on travel for work. A boy in Aine's class has an American dad and he has generously offered me a can of imported jellied cranberry sauce for the meal since I didn't get some for this year, woo hoo!!

More soon...or sooner than this time anyway!!

Still Here...Just Busy!!

Making a stable of ponies!!!

September is always a crazy month for birthdays here...the last two weekends have seen the girls at 2 parties each weekend. Nuts!! Moms and dads are asking for less expensive presents as Ireland like everywhere else is in recession and presents can get crazy expensive, both girls have received some amazing things for presents, way above and beyond the call. This year I decided to spend time and not money on many of the gifts, speared off by one mom's search for a unicorn stuffed animal for her daughter.

I started off with a complicated pattern which I mangled, ripped and threw across the room, it wasn't pretty! Then I remembered lovely Tone Finnanger (aka Tilda) had a lovely horse pattern in her book, Sew Pretty Homestyle. Here is the first of the horse/unicorns with the Tilda pattern behind it...I changed it to a unicorn, and made it stand up (sort of!) what a lovely simple design!!


I forgot to take photos of all the softies, but I made one gecko, two ponies and two unicorns for all the girlies (one party was for twins in case you noticed 5 softies made for 4 parties...lol). Kids seem to love them, the girls made cards for them, so frugal gifts and cards, made with love by me and the girls together, rather than just buying cards and presents. I know there will be times when I am frazzled and just don't have the time and will buy cards and pressies, but I think I will try to keep up the handmade presents for a while.

The girls school, activities and playdate/parties, always keep this mom on the move (my Mondays are a nightmare, lol, with 2 ballet classes and a fiddle class, extra friends to remember to bring, and lots of killing time in 20 minute increments (not efficient for getting much done!) My crafting (except for party gifts!) has suffered for it. I really have nothing else to show for the moment...just a bit of knitting on my felted bag here and there, and a bit of hand sewing on my drunkard path blocks...

I do still work one day a week now at our local quilt shop. While cutting out fabrics for kits last week I had to take some yummy repros home with me...aren't these nice?


I am still swimming three kilometers a week, and still slowly making better food choices...hopefully this will continue. For all those friends that still keep reading my blog, despite the sporadic postings, thank you! I am so behind answering emails, but promise to get caught up again soon.

Edited to add: I survived Aisling's first day of school, she is liking it so far. Here are pics of the girls on the first day of school!

The Trip was "Wicked"!

I had an amazing time on my whirlwind trip to Sweden and London!

On the way over to Sweden I met up with my friend Celine, a fellow quilter. She fed me a very yummy lunch and let me play with her very cute kids! I also went bearing a few gifts, some batiks for Celine, a few little baby vests/onesies for her little girl and a little sheep stuffie for her little boy. Thanks Celine for the lovely afternoon!


Barbara and her DH were great hosts. Barbara and I did lots of shopping at craft/quilt
and knitting shops! Look at my loot :)


I love the wooden spools with the ribbons, I bought them just to look at, lol, but can put the ribbon to use eventually too, with cards or sewing... I found some gorgeous Japanese taupe fabrics and clever zippers by the yard with different cute zipper pulls. Barbara swears by zippers sold this way, you can make them whatever length you need and are much less daunting than the standard zippers to work with. I did that zipper pencil case in the picture in about 10 minutes, so easy! The little plastic bird is part of a set of clothespins I bought for my laundry line! They will make me smile each time I hang out the laundry...


Look at this gorgeous Swedish yarn I bought to make some fingerless gloves from a pattern the shop did...here are my yarns and her is the photo of the gloves...Barbara will help me translate the Swedish instructions, lol!

Barbara decided I needed to learn how to do some lace knitting, so I have succumbed, and bought a beautiful skein of Swedish/Estonian yarn to make the Japanese Feather and Fan shawl. You can see the yarn there in the pic above but it is hard to see...I should have taken a photo before I prepped it for knitting. In the pic is also some cute linen/cotton material with deer and Viking runes to remind me of Sweden, more ribbons and other cute stuff I got, including my standard tea towel I always bring home!

Barbara's husband let me borrow his car and I got to drive around Sweden with Barbara, looking at a beautiful old village called Sigtuna and a lovely bigger town called Uppsala. We also went into Stockholm for the day. Here are a few photos of the sights we saw...


After a great week at Barbara's, I headed for the weekend to stay with Katy. As always, I had a great relaxing time, crafting, computering and watching movies...there may have been a little bacardi sipping of an evening as well... I managed to finish up a lot of my crafting projects I had been working on at Barbara's. Here are some  photos of the Dear Jane blocks I left for Katy.


This is the progress I made on a felted bag I am knitting.


We went to see Wicked on the Saturday night before I headed home again. FANTASTIC!!! I loved the music and the story was great. We had the standby/understudy doing the role and she was amazing, so good! Can only imagine how great the star must be if the understudy is so excellent. Here is Miss Katy posing in front of the theater :).


I started my injections yesterday for the MS, so far no issues, yay! I was sad the day before I started, as I don't take any medicine at all barely pop pills unless I have a very bad cold/flu and now I will always be on medication, end of an era...but so far things are going fine.

I have gotten great packages in the mail from Paula and from Vicki, and a gorgeous handmade needle book from a friend here in Ireland, but they deserve another post, so hope to do that tomorrow!

If you made it to the end of this post, you have great stamina, and thanks for visiting!

Catching Up!

It is a day late for Easter and it is only a top, but heck, I am working at a slower pace these days, trying to enjoy my crafts and not guilting myself if I don't finish thing by a self-assigned deadline!  It is very naive/imperfect/primitive and drawn by hand from motifs I have liked from other quilts and folk art... I like it, but how should I quilt it?


And look, Katy's socks are finally done!! We did a little swap and she finished 2 cross stitch samplers for me before I got her socks done. Here is a package I got from her that shows the latest cute sampler she sent me, another part of the inspiration for my quilt! She also added some cool cut-outs in pretty papers for me to use in card making, so nice!

I also did a few quick baby onesies for a friend who we visited last week...forgot to take a photo of the onesies before I packed them up in their cute little gift basket...

When I got out of hospital I was surfing blogs as I always do, and came across a link to The Vintage Pearl. She hand stamps these lovely necklaces, and Dave got this for me as a mother's day pressie. Isn't it lovely?


I also finally finished the quilting on my cousins quilt, it is designed for a specific room to match the colors in there and fit an area behind her sofa. I did a Missouri Star for her since she lives in St. Louis, the blue border is great, has the words family, friendship, love...very appropriate... and I even quilted some shamrocks into it, lol! The colors are based on a Navajo blanket she had in her room. Hope you like it Col!!


LOSER UPDATE: I am up to 181.2, which means I am still down 10 lbs despite my side track with my hospital stay and MS diagnosis. I hope you fellow losers can be patient with me, as I still plan on really joining back in the next few weeks, but am not quite  ready yet.

I am going on a trip next week to visit Barbara and Katy, I can't wait!! A week without the girls with crafting, shopping, sightseeing in Stockholm and a show (Wicked!) in London's West End. A bit of mommy recharging time, just what the doctor ordered. And the doc told me to wait till returning from the trip to start my injections...something I am not looking forward to, but will use it as a line in the sand for starting my healthier eating regime, trying to cut out as much processed food as I can, i.e. junk food, my favorite stuff!!

And just because I don't have enough photos in this post, here are several more of the girls.  Mommy did a bit of bunny crafting with the girls and our little neighbor one day, I find these masks slightly disturbing, but the girls had a great time making me make lots of stuff for them, lol!

Here is the one decent photo I got of the girls doing their easter egg hunt Easter morning.

And finally, my big girl Aine learned how to swim and ride her bike last week, all within days of each other...here is the biker girl!

Getting Lots Done!!

So much so that I am actually posting a new entry in less than a week!!!

I managed to get a treeful of birdie ornaments done in time to give to the ladies at our last patchwork group before the Christmas break. I like the way they turned out and kept a few for my own tree.


I also had a knitathon last night, got on a roll till 2am finishing up bath scrubbies as teacher gifts... Tried to go all Martha Stewart on the presentation... I liked em! I gave the teachers some soap I got in Oregon this summer as well...hope they like them!



I also finished 3 little elves I got as a kit when I visited Sweden 2 years ago. It is nice to clear out some of my boxes and get the few kits I have had for a while made and being used!! I think they are cute, might keep them and the soft trees out after Christmas, lol!!


Big excitement for me this week was receiving my angel from Kris in the Netherlands. Barbara hosted an angel doll swap and look what landed on my doorstep: this gorgeous angel with its windmill trim and wooden shoes. Not only that she spoiled me with chocolate, tea, some yummy fabrics , and a nice needle case with quilting needles.


And before I go....don't tell Cathi, but here is what "Dave" got her at the local lady who sells fabric (it is a pretty decent quilt shop for running out of her garage, despite crazy prices!!) How amazing he picked out just exactly the right poison green and cheddar orange civil war repros for her and all the little goodies she wanted to try that could fit in a stocking!! He also got her a new filofax there, she is forever trying to get herself organized!