Rainy Tuesday

This morning my first alarm went off at 7:00.  It was raining outside so that gave me a chance to sleep another hour.  I can usually get some pretty good sleep at that time.  It feels like I am semi-awake all night in my dreams, so I rarely feel like I get a full night's sleep.  That one hour is important.

Sweetheart usually wakes up a little before 7....I hear him up and moving around.  That wakes up the Chihuahua, who gets put on the floor to go do her duty outside.  I'm still snuggling in waiting for the dozies to catch up to me...

Today, it was time to get Young Son's newly purchased used vehicle to the mechanic shop to see what needed to be done to pass inspection.  This included charging the battery of his vehicle to be able to drive it to the shop.  Which took precisely 7 door slams from 7 to 7:45, when I realized the dozies were gone for this day.

7 door slams.  After I made a somewhat dramatic effort to explain to him last Sunday morning how to close a door rather than slamming it.

I stitched the Dragon for my friend today, got caught up in a bunch of real life stuff tonight, not stuffed yet.

Probably going to bed pretty soon.

My hands look so old.

I miss my girls so much.

My mom and dad worked in this building.  

I love it, one of my favorites downtown.

Play Nice!  xxoo

This is me with long hair.

I made that jacket, it had racing pigs on it.  

Another New Beginning!

My daughter's little family made it to Germany safely, they've lived in 3 hotel rooms in a month, finally today their household goods arrived!  They have rented a super cute place, 4 bedrooms, sheep next door, it's life in Germany for them!

I wouldn't dare lie and say that I don't miss the pitter patter of Delightful Delilah's feet when she'd come in to wake me up in the mornings.  I miss that, I miss convos with my Darling Danielle, but soon we'll be skyping and all will be well.  I miss hearing their voices.

Little Miss D fell and had to have five stitches underneath her chin.  Makes a grandma's heart ache being so far away!

We still have their pets, they should be sending for them shortly.

 

That's Margot, Ben's cat (my dog, Karma)

Otis (the big one), Karma, and Rilo

So, about the new beginning.  It's a new/old group on FB.  A bunch of us crafty type folks are reconnecting and it's awesome.  It's called Handmade Creations.  HMC for short.  If you are crafty person, if you've been thinking about opening up an Etsy shop, or just want some honest feedback on what you make, we're a pretty nice buncha folks, if I do say so myself, come join us.

I had the idea a bit ago to try making some of my Critters from muslin.  Actually, they turned out pretty darn cool.  A flying pig is flying in a bar/grill here in town.  Let's see if I can find a couple pics.

This was a WIP pic, that's the Lazy Horsey, done in Muslin, with a cream colored mane.  

That is a squirrel, in case you couldn't tell.

This is a squirrel, done in embossed felt.

This is the Lazy Horsey, completed.

So, I've been somewhat creative, still kinda floundering to find my new "normal."  I have an order to make a Dragon for a sweet young boy that will finally talk with me, after a year of being shy...and a puppy and a kitty for one of my golfer girl's granddaughter.  

I got my hair cut super short, like just about crew cut short.  I like it but I don't think anyone else does.  I don't like having to fuss with my hair and I don't like when the wind blows my hair.  Wanna see how short?  Do ya?  I know you do...

It's grown out a bit by now.  This was taken same day.  

Yeah, that's me.  

There is a lot of mean stuff going on out in this world, do your best to not be a part of that.  In other words:  

Play Nice!  xxoo

"Sticks & Stones

will break your bones, but names will never hurt you"...that is a lie.

He says he doesn't even know what he said, or why he said it, but he had to be thinking it to blurt it out like that.

Play Nice.
xxoo

The Beginning of The End, and the Beginning of a New Beginning.

I have been truly  blessed to have spent the last 365+ days with my Darling Danielle and Delightful Delilah. Being able to spend this year as a Mother (for the last time) and Grandma (for the first time) has been an experience I wouldn't trade for anything.  Every day spent with them, it felt that my mother was there with us, too.

My son-in-law, Benjamin, Danielle's husband, Delilah's daddy, will be home on Thursday.  The next few weeks are a whirlwind of movers and bachelor/bachelorette parties, a wedding, and then the three of them leave on the 15th of March.  To Germany.  I can't drive to Germany.

There are other things going on in my life, of course.  I've been stitching and stuffing, and thinking and pondering, the two kinda go stitch by stitch.  My Young Son is taking a trip, my sweetheart and I have to make a trip to the airport and find a wedding somewhere downtown, in the dark...The Pro-Shop is making progress, thanks to some dedicated members...but, still...

To be completely truthful,  I can't quite pinpoint how I feel.  I'm ready for them to start their next chapter, far, far away, and I know I'm gonna miss them like crazy.  There's another aspect, too.  Since Sweetheart and I have been together, we've had 2 kids.  Now, one is going far, far away, and one is clinging to the nest with all his might.  Sweetheart is a bachelor.  He has never been married, no kids of his own.  We live in the house that his parents had built in 1973.  I want to broaden his horizons...I want to decide on a Sunday night that we are leaving to go see the Grand Canyon on Tuesday.  I want to be free to go have some fun!  I'm still 18 in my head, even though my body disagrees.

Thanks for reading my rambling post...trying to get all the thoughts in my head in one place is not an easy feat.  Trust me, there's more.

Delilah's Converse

My friend, Dammit Janet,

a polka dot horse

and a muslin pig. 

With Wings.

Y'all, Play Nice!  xxoo

Trying Something...

The other day an idea popped into my head, like they do now and then.  I've been making my Critters out of felt, my idea was to create a line of Critters made from Muslin Fabric.  I love the natural look of Muslin.  I still wanted to hand-stitch them, too.

I had the idea on a Tuesday, had to work my 2nd job on Wednesday, and finish a sold felt Critter on Thursday, then spent the evening with D, so I didn't get to start on this idea until Friday evening.  I traced out the pattern pieces, and began cutting them out.

As I starteed cutting, I thought, "these should have some seam allowance."  I don't use those on the felt, but soon figured out that they would be needed with the thinner material.

The front...you can see where the seam burst there on the front leg...need that seam allowance.

See how the back leg is shorter?  Seam allowance would fix this, I think, and this wing I didn't stuff, 

wanted to see how "natural" would look...I wasn't happy with this flatness, same goes for the ears.

Back end look, poor little gimpy thing.

Here is the "good" side.  This side I cut out with a bit of allowance for the seam, 

and stuffed the wing a little bit.  

I was glad to have tried this, and really learned a lot.  I'll use batting in the ears and wings next time, for a less "stuffed" look.  The seam allowance is really so important.  

So, what do you think of the stitching on the outside look of this?  What do you think of the monochromatic look?  I'm curious to see how it would look with a contrasting thread color.  

For now, I'm going to cut out another one, with a small seam allowance on all the pieces, I may do some colorful stitches on this one, just to see how it looks.  

Part of the creative process is in the feedback, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to share!  

xxoo

Cindy

The little/big things

This evening Delightful Delilah ran into my bedroom  "nakey' as she normally does this time of the evening.

The wind has been blowing for days now.  60 degrees today, -5 tomorrow .

 Dang.

xxoo

Something Clever About 2014...

Hmmm, I've been sitting here this morning, reading all my friends' status updates about the new year, and what they are going to do differently.  It glows my heart to read that so many are going to strive to be more positive, good and kind this year.

The way this old planet is spinning, things that are happening here, it's easy to get wrapped up in all the fear mongering of the media, and the lies we're told on a daily basis.

I believe that being kind is an energy that radiates out from you.  For every kind thing you do or say, that energy gets a little stronger and a little stronger, and it moves out over the people in your close surroundings.  They get some of yours, theirs gets a little stronger, then they, too are activating it in others...like a big wave of niceness.

Like those videos we share, how doing one nice thing for one person, they do something nice for someone, and it just grows and grows...

One of my friends said that her mantra for 2014 is going to be "Attitude is Everything," and that's so true.  You set the tone for the day the moment you open your eyes in the morning.  You can decide right then and there that this is going to be a good day.  Doesn't mean that you'll be walking on rose petals, but it sure does help the day go by a bit smoother.

Don't start your day by dreading and worrying about things that may or may not happen.  Yeah, you may not like all the people you encounter, and some of them may really frustrate you, but you already know this is a possibility, one that you can't control.  You can, however, choose how you will react to it.  Decide that whatever they do, you will simply get a chuckle out of it.  Out shopping one day, we were making our way to a check-out line.  A lady saw us coming and hurried to get in front of us, elbows out.  We looked at each other and laughed, stopped and let her be "first," and let it go.

Does another driver need to switch lanes, if it's possible, why not let them?    Is it worth being upset over one second later to wherever you are going?

Go read over some of your status updates...are you sending a positive message, or negative?

Just some of my thoughts this morning.  I'm positive this is going to be a Happy New Year, every day.

xxoo