I'm still here....barely.

This past year has been extremely difficult for my family for a number of reasons.  We've had illnesses, injuries, and financial woes - much like many others have.  We have managed to stay on top of these difficulties and tried to work through them the best we could.  However, with the financial blow the injuries & surgeries have taken on our life this year, we had to search for an alternative that would get us back on our feet (or so we hope).  This means that my husband has taken a job out of state and we will be moving to Texas.  It has taken me several months to deal with the blow of this as it has been very difficult to think of leaving the love, stability, and comfort I have found here in the Seattle area.  My friends have been the strength that has held me together over the past year and continue to support me through this move.  I am ever so grateful! 

For the next few months I will be in the process of sorting and packing (as well as finishing our remodel) as I prepare our family for the move.  My husband is already in Texas and so it will be up to me but I won't be doing it alone, many friends have offered to help with this task  and I intend to take them up on this offer.  More laughs, more memories to treasure during the future days of missing them.

As far as my stores, they will stay open until we move.  I have one show coming up (I will have to bow out of another I was accepted into) which I will share information for shortly.  So life goes on. 

I'll share more about my future as the months come by and I intend to take some much needed time to revamp my websites and this blog.  Thanks for bearing with me this year - it's nice to be back. 

Twas the night before Thanksgiving....

Oh how our plans change... Our son only had school for one day this week as the parent-teacher conferences are going on (by the way, ours went great - a great brainstorming session too) so I scheduled his time off with many activities....mostly playdates. Unfortunately, today's playdate with his best friend had to be canceled due to illnesses. So we have snapped into action to help his disappointment turn to productivity and we are gung ho today. As you know we are living in a house of constant remodel...as many older homes are... and we are doing much of the work ourselves. Our current project is the laundry room/mud room. This has been going on since September and we are finally reaching a great stopping point. We got the remaining cabinets put in this past weekend and part of the new subfloor. So today I just got the last of the new subfloor installed (we'll do the new floor in the spring) and we are defrosting the freezer before we move that into the room. N is having a great time scraping the ice off the inside and seeing it drop to the bottom with a crash - who knew that would be exciting? Next, we'll move the freezer in, make a pecan pie for tomorrow, return everything to the storage room, clear out the family room to ready it for paint and a new ceiling fan (this weekend's project), and get out our Advent calendar. All of this comes in anticipation of N's birthday party (and Grandma's visit). So we're taking today's change/bummer as feul for action.....moving forward and having fun doing it.

Excitement builds

I'm excited about today.  Why?  Because today is the day I get to set up my display for the Vasa Park Fall Craft show.  It's not that I look forward to lugging heavy boxes to my car, out of my car and then set up the grid walls, tables, etc.  I'm looking forward to getting all that big stuff out of my house.  As we are packing up to move to
Texas, I am finding that I have little room to sort, sift and pack with grid walls, tables, and tons of boxes of product sitting around the area.  I am excited about taking them to a new place and setting them up and selling tons.  Let's put it this way... I am a motivated seller.  I'm excited that for the next few days I will have a bit more space to tackle the areas that need to be packed up quickly.  One such area is my sewing room.  I already packed the fabric but after visiting Texas this past weekend and seeing how small the apartment is, I am needing to repack the fabric to be in "project" boxes.  That way I get out a box, work on a "project" and then return it to the box.  I think this is going to be the only way I can do it for now....especially since there isn't even an area for me to sew in (guess I'll be using the dining room table that won't be in the dining room because the computer will be in that small area).  So I'm off today to move out some boxes, see the other great vendors, set up my area, and enjoy the gorgeous place where the show is set.  Come on by and see me.  The show runs tomorrow (Thursday October 14) and Friday from 10 AM- 7 PM and Saturday October 16 from 10 AM-5 PM at Vasa Park and Resort in Bellevue, Washington.  

Have you missed me?

Hi all, I have felt so out of the loop lately with the whole move and transitions happening in our life.  I finally have a few hours alone while the boys are off to see Tron so I decided to use the time to reconnect with my old life rather than continue tackling the mega-box-thon I've been dealing with since September.  We are here in our new apartment thousands of miles away from friends and family buried in boxes -

Son's bedroom when the mover's left

as you can see from the pictures.  It has been difficult assembling a 4 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom apartment but my first goal was getting my son's room together so he could occupy his time there while I tackled the rest of the apartment.   Unfortunately it's slow going.  My original plan was to have all the boxes in the area they were designated for (yes they were color coded with regions in the house - orange for master bedroom, blue for son's bedroom, pink for my studio, green for long term storage, etc) however on moving day we quickly discovered that all the boxes would not fit into the space so that plan was abandoned.  Blue and orange still made it up the2 flights of stairs to the bedrooms - for the most part but all the studio and kitchen items did not make it up the stairs to inhabit the living/dining/kitchen area as that was filled with furniture and boxes quickly.  So I have been slowly and gradually tackling each box in the area determining if we have room to have it in the house or if it needs to go to the garage or eventually to an off-site storage facility (that is if I can find a reasonable one out here - they are pricey compared to WA and CO).  With the holiday rapidly approaching I felt it most important to put up our Christmas decorations or I would completely feel void of the holiday spirit this year and that would not be good for the entire family.  Now that the tree is up I'm really itching to get started on the multiple orders I have pending.

This was early in the day after the first of 3 loads arrived.

Unfortunately the fabric, sewing supplies, etc are scattered all over.  Some boxes made it to the dining room but others are downstairs and I am not able to carry the heavy stuff upstairs - yes I'm having lots of pain in the back and neck with the change (so many stairs are not helping).  So my goal before Christmas is to find my sewing machine and begin the custom orders so I can get them mailed.  Naturally all that has to wait for Christmas shopping to be completed.  I hope family understands receiving gifts late this year - it's been that kind of year.  As for holiday letters and cards, I'm thinking those will go out in the New Year - I hope.  For now, I'm just glad to have a few hours of quiet solitude (and perhaps sewing machine searching) before the crazy boys return and life returns to chaos.  I wish for you all a wonderful holiday season with lots of quiet wonderfuls in the midst of chaotic life.

See you in the New Year! 

Happy Valentine's Day

Now that we are finally moved and together and done dealing with most of the boxes (notice I said most of the boxes) we are taking some time to do more family things.  We have a great San Antonio trip planned for next week that will include Sea World and the Alamo.  We are also trying to get in more date nights.  The move and chaos has put a strain on our marriage so it's been really nice getting to have some date nights (we've lucked out with a great babysitter in our apartment complex too).  So for Valentine's Day I thought I'd share a few of the great places in the area that would be great for your future Austin date night too.  As we venture out, I'll share some more Austin area places.  

Saturday night we went to the restaurant La Traviata.  Such a sweet quaint place with great food.  We've walked by it several times in the past few months and I'm so glad we went.  It's downtown Austin so check it out.  After a fabulous dinner we decided to head to a lounge before going out dancing.  We headed over to the swanky (not sure that's a cool word anymore but it felt swanky to me) W restaurant/bar/lounge which was really cool.  Then off to another club for dancing and meeting up with some co-workers of my husband.  Apparently this particular night was "wig night" for the "bar crawl" crowd so we ended up at Dogwood's bar with a lot of wig bearing people.  Made me wish I had one too.  It's an outdoor/indoor bar which seemed unfathomable to me after living in the Pacific Northwest for so long - guess it's perfect for the 100 degree evenings in the summer. It certainly was fun people watching while doing a little dancing before heading back to the car and home to the babysitter.  Such a lovely evening.   So treat your loved one to a great Valentine's Day and let them know how much you love and appreciate them.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Workin on Wednesday -pink millipede

So the New Year has renewed my desire for accomplishing something other than dealing with boxes and I'm ready to get back at it with Workin on Wednesday.  This week I am trying to trudge through my custom order list that piled on with the move.  Today I'm finishing up the custom order for a little girl who loves pink and purple and was caught between my millipede lap pad and my bunny lap pad.  They chose a pink millipede with pink and purple fidget legs.  It's 1 1/2 pounds for light weight for her lap or around her neck.   I will be working on better pictures this afternoon but here he is: 

Halloween costumes

In honor of Halloween week, I thought I would do my best to post a different costume (previously made) every day. These are from Halloweens Past although they may be for Halloween Future if needed cuz they are sitting in Costume boxes just waiting for that day. To start off, I designed this costume many years ago (gosh over 10 years ago) when we were making the adult costume party circuit. The challenge every year was to top the previous year and each year got more difficult to come up with ideas that hadn't been used. We were pirates, Scots (with kilts - those I didn't make - although I did make a kilt for my brother for Christmas one year - I'll have to find a pic of that), and dead people "Janis Joplin" and I forget who Stephen was. So as a couple costume we really wanted to do Morticia and Gomez so that was my goal. Unfortunately we couldn't find a striped suit to fit Stephen but this worked. Yes, I am trying to be sultry like Morticia - unfortunately it looks like I'm half asleep. This dress also happened to be the inspiration for my Morticia dress/top for the Addams Family challenge of Etsyrain. Although my dress is long and slinky and tight - just like Morticia, this little girl one is easy to move in and can be layered under for more warmth. Check back all this week for costumes I have made in previous years. You'll have to wait for next week to see the harpy my son will be....(not quite finished yet :))

Motivation

So I find that many of my friends are feeling the same as me this new year....overwhelmed with disorder. Motivated by another friend who has made a dramatic impact on resolving this (check it out for yourself here) I am attempting to get my sewing/crafting area under control. The problem with this is that my sewing/crafting area is a temporary space....a small bedroom...the guest room...out of season closet....space. As all of our family and friends live out of the state our guest room is a necessity. However so it my crafting/sewing. So I am making every effort to remove all the Christmas boxes, extra junk, and organizing my things. I am hoping to make it transferable so that it may move with me to another room when guests arrive and the bed needs to become reestablished. So far, I have only removed the Christmas boxes and pulled out the fabric boxes. With any luck I will have sorting completed soon so that I may again find my sewing machine and begin sewing. With any luck the motivation I have found from all around me will help.

Plans change...

I originally had planned to share all the Homemade/Handmade gifts we made or purchased for family this year. However, as our snow storm delayed our holiday, many have not received their gifts yet. Bummer! I don't want to ruin their surprise, so that will have to be a New Year's topic.

Our dig out is nearly complete. We finally received mail today after over a week without. Stephen did walk down to our post office during the storm and request mail but only received a partial day worth - no packages, no cards, no bills (I guess that is okay), just mainly junk. Today we only received one days worth of stuff. I wonder when we will get the back log of Christmas cards, bills, and magazines. I suppose at some point we will finally get the outstanding packages from our family across the country. Not today. We hope to have our second "Christmas" on New Years but who knows if it will all arrive by then.

Amazing how a storm like this is par for the course in most parts of the country. When we lived in Wisconsin I would have driven to work and worked a full day (no leaving early) in these conditions and worse. I would never have abandoned my car due to the conditions. Yes, people here do. We went out yesterday to run some much needed errands (mainly to stock up for the next storms coming this week) and found the roads littered with many abandoned vehicles. It seems those should be picked up soon before the snow plow carries them away. Speaking of snowplows, I doubt any of the local snowplow drivers have ever seen a lot of snow. They just don't know how to clear it properly. We have dug out our driveway countless of times in the past week only to have it piled up (we're talking 3 feet deep and all the way to the street) again by the snowplow (who only can drive 50 mph - in a residential area -with the blade only slightly lowered and move the same pile over and over - no removal here). I guess I should be thankful we have seen him the 4 times we have. Others haven't yet. So yeah for the rain to help that snowplow out so he doesn't have to know how to do his job.

In addition to the mail service and package deliveries we hope to arrive this week, we are hoping for garbage pick up. December is always a high recycling time for us with birthday boxes in addition to Christmas boxes (both the delivery and the toy variety) but when you factor in a week without pick up and some new furniture (big boxes) we are loaded down with recycling. I can only hope the storms coming this week don't make it difficult for pick up. They are needed here at our house. The boxes will be swimming down the hill looking for the collectors if they don't arrive soon.

So as we anxiously await the New Year and all that it has in store for us, we wish you a very prosperous and happy 2009!

Exhausted!

So I have resigned myself to this move and now want it to be over with.  I am exhausted, tired, beat, whipped, overwhelmed, and over it.  This last week my husband and I got tons done - we got a storage POD parked in our front lawn to make it possible to see where we have and haven't packed, sold some of the furniture we don't have room for there, sold hubby's truck, we got all the library, art studio, and storage room packed up and even managed to throw our little guy an early birthday party with his friends (he'll turn 8 right after we arrive in our new apartment and new state).  We had several days of wonderful weather so we also got the roof cleaned off, gutters cleaned and some yard work done.  I guess the rest will be up to me so let's hope the weather holds.  I'm just ready to be done with this.  Another huge reason I'm ready to get settled again is that I have been getting tons of emails about custom work that I am having to postpone until I arrive in the South.  I just hope they will all wait a month or so.  I would love to crank out some custom work right now - the creativity would aid my mind but it's won't happen since my sewing machine and all my fabric is packed, sealed tight and awaiting transportation.  Won't be much longer - the end of this month and we're headed to warm land - (boo hiss & zzzzzzzs ).

Tell About Tuesday - In Memory

Several weeks ago my Aunt passed away. She was a remarkable woman and touched so many lives. This week I am traveling back to where she lived for her memorial. I feel compelled to take this week to tell you about this amazing woman.

Joyce was born out in the middle of nowhere (as we liked to call it growing up) on a farm that was homesteaded by my Great Grandfather. She was the only girl with her older brother being my father. Much to my grandmother's dismay, Joyce preferred doing things outside and with her brother and father. She didn't like learning what typical girls in her era were supposed to be learning. She didn't want to cook, clean, or make the home; she wanted to be out riding the horses, slopping around in the fields, and generally being a "tom boy". She went to school in a one room school house with mostly her cousins. She and my father loved to tell stories about how they went to school with the horse and buggy and my Aunt would tease my dad about making her walk there while he rode. We'd laugh with them about it being "uphill in snow - both ways". After high school she went to college to be a dietitian. She worked in the local hospital as a dietitian before continuing on at Kansas State University.

After graduating with her degree in Physical Education she began teaching. She taught for 30 years at the same school - which is unheard of now. She was a pioneer in women's sports. She coached so many teams to the State Championships and has many awards for all she did in promoting Girls sports.

She never had any children of her own but always treated my siblings and me as her own. She was such a kind, compassionate, helping person - always willing to help someone out. She was always there to help us too. We spent most summers with her traveling with our family around the country by vehicle - camping everywhere. Truely great memories - especially how we made her drive over the high bridges because our father's driving scared us. As we got older, we often spent more individual time with her. One year when I was in my teens, I rode the Greyhound bus (something that in current times would never happen) across states to stay with her for part of the summer. It was quite the experience and I can tell you I was so relieved to see her smiling face standing in the "interesting" bus depot. When we graduated from High School we spent summers with her working different jobs so that we could pay for college. Those were some great summers! I also lived with her through graduate school and again a few years ago when my husband and I were rebuilding our careers after a move. She was always there to help us get ahead in life.

I could go on and on about the many ways she has touched so many people from her teaching, coaching, involvement in Girl's sports organizations, founding and involvement in her church, involvement in many Christian organizations, and helping others in countless ways. Her legacy, her stories, her generosity, her compassion will remain with me and many others forever.

The power of soy...

We are not big fans of soy. Stephen is allergic to it and my body can't handle any extra estrogen so soy is not in our house -except for a little soy sauce on occasion. Well recently soy has entered our house. I am a drop off point for swag items for our craft fair coming up in May and various members of EtsyRain have brought items to include in our swag bags that will be given out to the first shoppers at the show (with others going to media and to give aways). The items received are so beautiful and very diverse. Enter Soy....soy candles that is. One of the swags is a bag of soy tea candles in a really sweet fragrance. I had no idea how fragrant they can be. I am not a perfume person, not really into lots of fragrance but I do like an occasional burning candle or incense (flashback to a former life). These candles are securely wrapped in several layers of plastic yet I can smell their fragrance beckoning every time I enter my sewing room. I have thought that I should move them to a larger room so that the aroma isn't as overwhelming while I sew but that hasn't happened and probably won't. Who knew that soy candles would be so powerful! I still won't introduce any new soy into our life but for this temporary soy encounter - it sure has been fragrant.

Halloween quickly approaches

Wow, I can't believe we are nearing Halloween.  Just a short time after that we'll (I'll) be all packed up and moving to a new place, a new state, a new chaos.  As we approach Halloween I am saddened though.  Every year I pride myself on taking the costume desires of my son and creating them for him.  This year he opted for a store purchased costume rather than me making one. I'm sad.  While it is a cool costume (and befits him greatly) I am sad that I didn't have the time to create this for him.  Each year has been so special with him drawing out his design, discussions about how we can make it, shopping for the fabric, designing it and sewing it.  This year all that fun has slipped away.  Yes we had fun searching all the Halloween shops for something that fit his idea but it just wasn't the same.  As you can see from the pictures surrounding, each year has been a challenge.  This year not so.  Unfortunately my challenge right now is packing, planning an early birthday celebration (here with his friends as his birthday will be shortly after we move), finishing our remodel, and packing.  Not the creative bliss I was hoping for as Halloween approaches but there's always next year.  Happy Costume making!

Next up....

Now that Halloween is over, it is time to focus on a birthday party. Yes, a birthday party. Most people would be thinking it's time to focus on the holidays. Well in our house that comes after the focus on the birthday. My son's birthday is 12 days before Christmas so that means a birthday before holiday. The first year was easy as it was just our immediate family. The 2nd and 3rd year was easy as it was just my son and his best friend (and his family). As he has developed more friendships (and been attending many more parties)he wants to invite more people. We have limited this to the number our house can handle. Having a small house that is understandable. We have offered to move it to one of those specialty places with the inflatable stuff but he wants to have it at home because his home is very special to him. Each year I design a special cake for his theme. One year he had an excavator cake, the following year it was a construction scene with dump trucks and excavators, the next year was a pirate ship, and last year was a castle. This year could do me in....we'll see. So now that Halloween is over, it is time to start brainstorming ideas to match his theme (more on that later). Thank goodness for the internet and such wonderful people who document their ideas. I still have my work cut out for me.

MIA but new stuff :)

Wow, I have been MIA for quite awhile.  The move and settling has really taken over every aspect of our life. 

It's a bit big for my model but he loved it too.

sweatshirt and weights

However, I have been doing custom orders all along for my Therapeutic Threads store.  Most recently I was asked to make a "cool-looking" weighted hoodie for a pre-teenage boy.  I loved this idea.  So many of the weighted vests looked exactly like a weighted vest or a typical denim or fleece vest with weights sewn in.  I make 2 types of those but they don't really cut into the fashion industry with much "cool" style.  So I tackled this like I do most of my custom orders....get to know the kiddo.  I needed his measurements to ensure proper fit but also needed to know what he likes.  Then I started working on this.
Originally I made several sweatshirts and put a liner in them for the weights - those worked just fine but they didn't have the teenage look I was going for.  My husband saw my frustration and asked why I was "trying to reinvent the wheel - just adapt a premade hoodie."  He had a great point.  While I made some lovely sweatshirt hoodie vests, I could have just found a hoodie the kiddo would like and start there.  So I did that.  Found a cool looking sweatshirt and created a weighted liner inside.  The inside liner vest is adjustable on the sides and the front to adapt to the needs of the child.  It has 8 pockets around the waist and 2 higher up on the back/shoulders.  Perfect for adding the weight needed.  2 or 3 weights of 4 oz fit great in each pocket providing an opportunity for changing as the child needs change.  The sweatshirt zips up in front and no one has any idea it is a weighted vest.  Remove the weights and it washes just as any other hoodie washes.  Have a sweatshirt your child absolutely loves?  Send it to me and I'll add the weighted interior or allow me to find and create a sweatshirt to work for your child. 

inside the vest - 10 pockets for weights

This weighted hoodie is off for its new home today but contact me for one of your own (and watch for some coming to my store later this summer).

Workin on Wednesday - carpool lane crochet

As we have moved to a new community, new school, new state, we are discovering a lot of things we miss about our old community.  I could begin to list them all but won't at this point.  The one major thing we are missing right now is our son's school.  There are so many reasons why we are missing his school (academics being part of it) but one major change for me is the afternoon pick up.  At his old school, parents were encouraged to park, come into the school, mingle with other parents, discuss difficulties and successes, talk about up coming community events, pick up fliers for community activities, meet and greet your child and their friends, and sometimes get a chance to talk briefly with the teacher.  At this school, parents are told (at least we were & it appears it's schoolwide) that they are to stay in their cars and drive through and pick up the kids - like a conveyor belt or drive-through restaurant.  Very different and quite isolating to a new family.  I also must arrive about 10-15 minutes early or I have to sit in my car out on a busy highway waiting for all the cars to pull forward so it can be my turn in the parking lot drive-up lane - yikes!  So as we've been adjusting to it, I've been fidgeting in the car waiting for my turn in line to pull up and summon my kid.  I didn't do that for more than one day.  Boring.  So now I bring along my crochet bag.  I didn't have a lot of yarn out of boxes since we are still in move-in mode but I did have a couple skeins so I went to work making something to brighten my day.  I expect as the school year goes on, I'll be sharing several "carpool lane crochet" items.  These are fun sunny doilies or washcloths.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet as my son does not want to use them in his shower. :)  Happy Wednesday!

Just when I thought...

Just when I thought I would have tons of time to devote to cleaning and sorting the house, making tons of fun new things, and meeting all my mom friends for coffee, life changes things up. Isn't that always the case? Just when you have great plans made, something always comes up or happens.

Well here's what happened....

pretty huh? What is it?...you say. Looks messy. Yes it looks messy....in fact a real disaster! A few days before school started, my whole sewing room crumbled. This started with my shelving system with all my tons of fabric (guess I didn't factor the weight properly) completely collapsed. That would have been enough for me but instead it not only collapsed, it started a domino effect. The shelves fell down, the fabric flew out, the hanging racks and tables got pushed over, and so on and so forth. Loud and scary to say the least. Luckily my sewing machine wasn't touched - of course it had so many fabric projects on top it would have been cushioned. Now let me clarify this whole thing by saying that my sewing room was not terribly neat and tidy before. It has become the drop off point for all boxes containing items that needed to go to the thrift store, toys that needed to be sold, and outgrown clothes that needed to be handed off to those they will fit. Yes, my sewing room/guest room/drop off room/office/storage room/kids craft room/game & puzzle storage room was in need of a clean up - but not this intense! Everything fell in that room but gave me incentive to make some changes.

So I am taking this time to thoroughly go through everything...sorting fabric (who really needs purple striped velour anyway), rearranging, reallocating, removing, and starting anew. I've decided I don't need 10 years worth of Martha Stewart Living magazines anymore - I've moved those all over this country - time for them to move on. I've also decided that I don't need all the craft supplies I have accumulated - I'm not going to be a jewelry maker or a scrapbooker or a cardmaker or a soapmaker. Time for all those supplies to go. This process is taking forever it seems but it will be so worth it for my family and for my businesses. Just wait until you see it next.