Read this book..

I’ve been reading “For One More Day” by Mitch Albom , and i can’t even begin to tell you how touching this book is. His words are deep and heartfelt. Instead of me going on, pick up a copy for yourself….I actually bought mine at a local Starbucks here in Las Vegas. Its available at Starbucks nationwide, and the nice thing is they donate $1 from the sale of the book to Jumpstart’s literacy efforts.

 

About this book-   http://www.albom.com/books_one_more_day.html

SBQ

This week's SBQ:

How do you secure your thread when you begin a new one? Specifically,
do you or have you ever used a waste knot?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2006/11/to-knot-or-not/


I don't use knots, I think when I first started stitching I used knots but then read that it was a naughty thing to do. As for waste knots, I've never used those either, I can't picture how the first stitch would stay in place after cutting the waste knot off...

Vintage Swaps

I love swapping stuff with other bloggers! The Vintage Christmas swap has finished and I will be sending my parcel soon. My partner is Connie, from the US, and I can't wait to see what she sends me!
The next swap is Vintage Beauty and I haven't signed up as yet. I am a bit worried that I won't be able to find anything. I don't see many old compacts around, a few brush, comb and mirror vanity sets but they are usually in hideous condition and outrageously expensive!
Here are some things that I found on the net that follow the vintage beauty theme. I would love any of these for me!

Helping Others

MADEBYGIRL.COM will donate 2% from the sale of each table to help support either Breast Cancer Research or Lied Animal Shelter in Las Vegas, NV. Its something that i’ve always wanted to do, and i hope that i’ll get to do it in abundance. Thank you to those who will help make this happen.

Current Collection of Designs

These are the current designs i have in my collection. I will be adding more Chippendale style tables and dressing them up with beautiful designs in late December & January.  As of now, you can purchase any of these fine tables through my website. I can make custom tables, but with custom pieces it will take about 8-10 weeks to complete. Also with custom tables, the prices are usually higher and i require a deposit up front. If you are interested in a custom piece, please feel free to email me with specifications.

End Of Year Malaise

It is the end of the school year and it is getting harder and harder to drag my lazy butt out of bed to make the lunches, dress the kids and drive them to school.
It is nearly 8 o'clock and I should be in the shower. Instead I am stuffing around on the computer!
If I can FINALLY get those kids of mine to class I plan on going op shopping in Scarborough. There is a jumble sale on today that is only on once a month. This may be the last of the year.
I leave you with a photo of a kitty that knows how to live. Oh, and a small selection of the MANY handbags I own, I have a thing for pretty bags!

Kelly Stitched!

I sort of forced him but I think he did a good job. The stitches lay the opposite of mine but because he did them I'll leave them as is :) Here's a picture - he stitched the leaf the last 2 rows.

And this is him - look at that face of concentration! I asked him if he wanted to keep the project and finish it since his stitches are so pretty and he sort of tossed it back at me and said I'll stitch Kobe if you want me to stitch. I would love for him to start stitching, I think it would be cool LOL, but I also know that picture generated patterns are hard and what if it turns him off from stitching? He tried it once and was doing well but then he left everything on the train one morning and got upset about putting all that time in for nothing. *sigh* Well I'm off to my stitching!

P.S. - Please excuse the mess in the background, I just moved all the furniture in my room and my dad needs to move the TV cable to the other side of the room and I refuse to make it look nice because it will only delay the process, so until then we do the limbo to get out of the room LOL

On to the next project! Here's an update picture of Sampler Farm, I would have done more of the border ie. the bottom part and the middle of the top border but who would have known that border was so tedious! It goes fast once you get the rhythm of it but it's like blahhhhhhhhhhh while doing it, so maybe next time I'll get it done, right now I'm excited to move onto the project.

I woke up from my nap to catch my mom placing a box from the UPS guy on my bed today. It was an order I placed last week from this site, it was the first time ordering from it but it came pretty quick and if I can't restrain myself from ordering more magents and fobs I'll order from them again! Here are my new Zecca magnets and Zecca fobs. Aren't they beeeeeeauuutiful??? I love them, you can't choose your own but I think these are wonderful! Thanks to my new stitchy friend for enabling me hehe :)


Shown are my Julia's and Sophia's with their new fobs attached - aren't they pretty :) Well I'm going to look for a new small project to start. I want to pick something from my list *but* I think what I want to start isn't on my list so I guess I'll just add it if I do start it LOL. TTYL!

New Site Design !!!!

Please take a look at the new site design, surf through the pages….tell me what you think. Still needs a few minor touches, and the new table designs will be added in early February.

NEW DESIGNS coming Mid December !!

Check out my site again in Dec, for some cool new table top designs. Till then have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I Hope everyone can recognize today and every other day….. the good things in their lives.

A Late Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a late Happy Thanksgiving, I spent mine with my family and surprisingly did not eat a lot, just one serving! I did have to go out afterwards for McD's since my cousin's truly ate ALL of the leftovers (if you can imagine!)

I'm back to work tomorrow and Saturday but then I have a week off again. I've been stitching all day on Sampler Farm. I almost bought more stash but thought it over, although one chart jumped in my head that I feel I need to have so I may go back to the internet sales and get my chart.

Well I want to get some sleep so I can wake up early tomorrow to wash my hair. I can't wait until my vacation again, I want to sew my quilt blocks and stitch of course :-)

Here are some pictures before I leave...

I bought this at Bed, Bath, and Beyond last night. I love it! Just wish it would collapse because now I need to find someplace to store it while it's not in use. The desk part goes down and when I'm on my laptop that's where I put it, I guess it's better for me to use it that way, it's easy on the wrists and back. But right now it's being used to hold my chart and remote control and nintendo ds on the side. I really like it and I can also use it to eat!

Here's Sampler Farm. I'm going to try stitch the top and bottom border this time before I move on to my small project. To tell you the truth I didn't think this would be this small but I think it's because of the fabric count that it is.
TTFN!

My Christmas Tree Is Up!

I finally managed to take some photos of my new PINK Christmas tree! The hubby was most annoyed when he saw it. I think he went silent for at least half an hour (bliss!)
The decorations are a bit all over the place as the kids helped but keeping to a limited colour scheme makes it not too disastrous!
I have also added more baubles to the chandeliers and changed my center piece a little.
I am attracted to these little Christmas house candle holders. I really want a Villeroy & Boch Gingerbread house but I will have to wait until the sales for one of those!
The flamingos in the photo with the houses were bought last week from a second hand furniture store - $5 for the pair! I also got the Royal Doulton "Baby Roses" trio from the same store, also for $5!

Appearing in Las Vegas HOME & DESIGN Magazine

My tables will be in the upcoming issue of HOME and DESIGN Magazine in Las Vegas! On newsstands in Late Dec thru Mid Feb 2007.

Jen says … Hello!

This is a brand new blog that I set up so I could tell you about my designs, my inspirations, and what I’d like to do with my life.  I have a lot of interests but my new thing is creating these unique tables that you can see on my MadeByGirl web site.  In any case, I will be pulling in some posts from various blogs so if you have articles that you’d like to contribute, please let me know!

Another Ebay Buying Frenzy!

Well, I have been at it again lol!
Both my kids love toys that are mostly found on ebay. My son loves King Kong and Godzilla and my daughter loves Snow White. I found this doll complete with seven dwarfs and jewels. (All photos are from the auctions.)




I found another "Mother in The Kitchen" for my collection, this one is the scouring pad holder with bonus salt shaker. I also bought a book about these from the US.
The two prints are from the same seller. Don't you love the one of the 1950's family at Christmas?
I bought these gorgeous cupcake cards from an ebay artist named Natasha Burns which are printed on canvas. I am going to frame a couple of them. I also got these rose decals to shabby up some of my things.

My Conversation Piece

When I took my hand piecing quilting class the instructor told us "There are no mistakes, just conversation pieces." I solve most of my problems in the shower for some reason (LOL) so this morning while in the shower I figured out a way to "fix" what I did wrong and so my conversation begins.



I said I wouldn't rip anything out and I didn't. Instead I backstitched where the heart was suppose to be and I think it looks ok enough for me.

I'm now going to take a nap since I work tonight, but first I'm going to check the mailbox for stash, I ordered some fabric for my next project. I've packed Sampler Farm for tonight and guess I will stitch the outline of the room later on. Room 1 of Dollhouse is done!

P.S. I have a crush on Julian McMahon - I think he's cute and luv the way he talks LOL

Grrrr!!!!!!

See anything wrong with this picture???

Well if not I'll tell you. I was staring at that window thinking what is that thing that I stitched in the middle suppose to be? I look at the chart and picture and realize that I stitched something in the wrong color!!! The symbol in the chart resembles another symbol which happens to be the symbol of the window and I never realized that it was 2 different colors! In order to fix it I'd have to rip out the entire window and I'm just not doing it, nope, nuh-uh, no sirree! I'm thinking what can I do to fix it. Should I take one strand of the right color and stitch over the stitches already done? Should I just leave it alone? It's suppose to be a heart, which makes sense. *sigh*

Well I'm not stitching anymore, I have work tomorrow (Monday night) and what I was suppose to do today (Sunday) I didn't do since I was stitching so I need rest, I figure out what I'm going to do with this problem later on but I know that I'm definitely not ripping out any stitches!

Dream Office

I would love my own office with a great big lock on the door! I would have a huge closet for all my ebay stock and an arts and crafts corner for my painting and other things.
I saw this divine desk and chair on the Pottery Barn website. I especially love that chair!
On the subject of Pottery Barn I just adore this vintage style kitchen play set. If my daughter had this I am sure I would play with it more than her!

Well not much has been going on for me, Kelly had 3 teeth pulled out on Thursday so I've been pretty much watching over him since then. He's ok now, it was funny when he got out on Thursday, he doesn't drink so I've never seen him drunk but on Thursday after taking his pain medication he was sort of silly and it was fun to see LOL.

Had my quilting class today, because of the trains I was 20 minutes late, but I had fun there too. I love the sewing machines they have at the stores, I went to see them at the sewing machine store and like I've said they are expensive, but they are so nice that I may give it a second thought.

I have some pictures of my latest blocks. One is just a block from a bigger block that I didn't get a chance to finish yet. And I FINALLY was able to start Dollhouse *yea* although I started with one of the beds and omg it's sooooo much stitching in one small space that I feel like I'm never going to finish *but* I'm near finish with the bed so soon I'll go back to Sampler Farm and believe it or not I'm looking forward to a change :)

I must go now, Kelly and I are going over to my cousin's house so he can see the UFC fight tonight. I get to sit down and watch him watch the fight since it doesn't really interest me. Wish my quilt piecing was more portable so I can take it but instead I'm going to take maybe Dollhouse or something smaller but I doubt it I just amped myself up to stitch on Dollhouse without even knowing it LOL. TTFN

This is my pinwheel, I need to make another one and then piece it all together to make a bigger block.

I don't know why the fabric looks so neon-ish but it's really not this bright.

This is the bed from Dollhouse that I'm talking about. Just maybe 6 more stitches on the quilt and the bed posts and it's done. After that it should pick up.

SBQ

Today's SBQ is:

Do you stitch Christmas ornaments? If so, how many do you stitch each
year and for whom? If not, why not?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blondelibrarian.net/stitching/archives/2006/11/tis-the-season/

I've tried to stitch ornaments in the past but never got pass the point of actually making them into ornaments, plus I don't have the space for a tree so I can't hang them once they're actually done. Maybe one year I'll actually have a tree and will be able to make some to hang.

My Former Kitchen

The last place we lived in was a lot different to this one. We rented it off my parents and it was a 1970's hole. The good thing is that they let me paint it in which ever colours I liked which led to a very Bollywood looking house!
It was a great learning experience for me. Although bright colours are very attractive they are also very hard to live with. Another point is that if you are a collector like me you can't see your collections very well as the walls are fighting for dominance!
I hated the kitchen, it was so fug and useless to cook in. The stove was utter crap. Therefore it became more of a room to display all of my kitchenalia! Here are some photos of it.