creative little daisy

I'm doin' the happy dance!!!!

The comforter, two king shams, two euro shams and two reversible throw pillows are F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D!!!!!! Can you feel the excitement? Since I don't have my camera I can't take pictures. I would rather wait until it is on her bed anyway to get a good picture. I am putting it in writing (or typing)  I will never again take on the job of making a king size comforter! Feel free to remind me if for some reason my memory lapses. I am pretty happy with the results even if it did give me a few more gray hairs and a little back strain. Now I can get back to making things I enjoy.

I forgot to post this yesterday. I received a new bolt of craft fuse from pellon. I am very pleased with their customer service.

And since I hate to post without a picture here are a couple of things that caught my eye in one of the decorating magazines I bought yesterday. These are from Creative Home magazine.

These appeal to me because they look super easy to make and would be a great quick change curtain. They are reversible and wouldn't require much fabric. People frequently ask me to make curtains for them and they usually don't want to spend much on fabric. This would be perfect. I cropped it out of the picture but the bottom half of this window has sheer curtain panels.

Isn't this pillow cute? I want to make one. The flowers are buttons. They look like dandelions to me.

Gratitude Friday

  I left my camera at Kelli's house  and have been lost without it! Since I can't post a new picture here is a favorite picture from last summer taken on my front porch. I hang several hummingbird feeders around my house. One on the front porch and a couple in the back. I start putting the sugar water out in late March and year after year the little guys come back. I love watching them! Sometimes the best entertainment is free and provided my God isn't it? We just have to be still long enough to notice. I will start my gratitude list off on that note.

• I am grateful for the wondrous creations of the Lord large and small, simple and complex. From the multitude of stars in the sky to the tiny little hummingbird, from the tiniest snowflake full of detail to the giant redwood trees beauty and wonder are all around us.
• I am grateful for science and medicine. I take several medicines every day and sometimes grumble about it but the truth is I am so grateful that there are medicines out their to treat so many ills that at one time were life threatening.
• I am grateful for teachers. Right now I am especially grateful to those who dedicate their lives to trying to teach high school children. Can you think of a more stressful and I am sure many times thankless job? I am here to say thank you! I know I couldn't do it.
• I am grateful for technology. Yes again this week but different stuff. I am so grateful for my dishwasher, my vacuum cleaner, (although I'd be even MORE grateful for one like this), my hair dryer and my washer and dryer. All things we take for granted but do you want to be without any of them?
• I am grateful for the fact that you were such a good kid Alyssa. You still are but I mean growing up. (Not that you are grown now) You weren't perfect and you gave us some worries but by far you were a very good kid and that is not something to take lightly.
• I am grateful that after nearly 20 years together my sweetie still loves me warts and all!
• And some of the little things that make me happy. 70 degree weather in February! The dollar store. Everything in that place is just $1.00. I can go out with three bags full for $10.00. L-O-V-E it!!!! Decorating magazines. I go through spells where I buy them every time I'm at the grocery store or wal mart and then times when I just cannot for the life of me pay $5.00 for a magazine. But when I do buy one and it has some really great pictures that give me inspiration it makes me so very happy!  Fresh out of the oven yeast rolls make me happy. And last for this week, having this comforter project finished is going to send me over the edge with  happiness!!!

I miss little handprints

Sometimes you get discouraged   
Because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls
But every day I'm growing --
I'll be grown some day
And all those tiny handprints
Will surely fade away
So here's a little handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small

When my children were in kindergarten they brought home this poem with their little handprints in paint at the bottom. I have them both framed and hanging in my kitchen. Today my heart aches for the sweet innocent days when sticky little handprints were on my furniture and walls and I was all my children needed. Being a teenager is so hard and being the parent of a teenager is even harder.

Oh how I miss those little fingerprints!

Light at the end of the tunnel

I got the comforter put together yesterday and today I will have the shams finished. My dilemma is what to do to stabilize the batting. I am going to machine stitch around the edges but what should I do for the portion I can't get to with the sewing machine? I have had a couple of suggestions that I am considering. Tying is one, fabric covered buttons is another. Any suggestions would be appreciated. This is a picture of it on Kelli's bed. I will post another picture with the pillows when it is all complete. I am definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now for a couple of pictures just to make you smile. This little cutie is Kelli's dog Lottie. Yes she is wearing pink panties. I don't know why.  She is such a good natured little dog. I use the term little in regards to her height not her girth. She is a full figured gal! Kelli tries to say she is just big boned and needs a hair cut, but I have tried to lift her and have the hernia to prove it! I love you Lottie!

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is such a commercial holiday. A day to make people feel like they have to spend money on candy and flowers and cards to show their love. You don't have to spend a dime to show your love. I would much rather my sweetie show me his love with deeds than with a box of candy. And  he does that year round. I know he loves me because he takes such good care of me. I see it in his eyes and feel it in his hugs. I hear it in his voice when he calls me from work just to say hi. And yes he too gave me a box of candy and a card  (and the first season of Lost on DVD so I can fill in the blanks since I just started watching this season) but the love he shows me and our children all year long is what makes me so glad he is my valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day to you! Be sure to let all your loved ones know how much you love them. Today and everyday!

I may post a SPT later..... not sure.

When will I learn to say NO?

My Aunt Mary is the best seamstress I have ever known. She can sew anything and is a consummate perfectionist. People have always offered to pay her to make things for them but she never would. Before I started sewing I couldn't understand this. She makes beautiful quilts and lots of people have offered to buy her quilts but she refused. She would always say " I won't sell my children or my husband and I won't sell my quilts". I guess that is her way of saying it is a labor of love and she isn't going to make a job of it. The more I sew the more I understand her. You lose the joy when it becomes a duty. I don't feel that way about the purses I make. I enjoy making them and don't mind making them for other people. But recently I agreed to make a comforter, shams and dust ruffle for someone. A K-I-N-G sized comforter. An over sized king sized comforter. Just how big is that you ask? It is 115" wide. That is BIG. This has not been a labor of love and it is the last one I will ever agree to do. Making a comforter is not difficult in itself. Making a comforter big enough to cover Rhode Island is tough on a tiny little woman. My work area is not big enough to work on this monstrosity efficiently. Thankfully my buddy Kelli has OCD when it comes to cleaning and her garage floor is clean enough to eat on. So I borrowed her garage for working on this project. She took pictures of me pinning on piping. I guess because I looked funny to her. Now that I see the pictures I agree. I don't think it is taught this way in any sewing class. I knew I had my own way of doing things but please!

No wonder my back hurts at the end of the day! I'll be glad when this project is done and I can get back to my manageable little purses.

Gratitude Friday

It is Friday again. Wow this week has gone by fast. Time to reflect on just a few of the things I am grateful for. Some that make me smile, some that make my day easier and some that make my heart feel like it will burst with love.

These colorful buttons and pastel zippers make me smile. I was at a little fabric store yesterday and they had three giant boxes full of buttons for 2 cent each and a box with assorted zippers for 5 cent each. I couldn't pass them up. Now that I have them home I want more so I can display them like this. The colors bring thoughts of spring and Easter bonnets and baskets. And that brings thoughts of daffodils and green grass. That makes me smile too.

Does anyone else watch My Name is Earl? I just love it. It is so silly but has such a powerful message. Do bad things, bad things happen. Do good things, good things happen. That is Earl's take on karma. He is sure that the reason so many bad things have happened to him are because of all the bad he has done. So he makes a list of those bad things and goes about trying to right the wrongs. His adventures make me laugh. I have always tried to live my life by and teach my children that simple premise. Do unto others as you would like them to do to you and your reap what you sew. Or as Earl says "do good things and good things happen". I guess that goes under the category "makes me smile" although the scene last night with the swollen lip and ear made me laugh out loud!

I mention technology every week, but I have to mention it again. Google makes me smile and makes my life easier on a daily basis. Any thing I have a question about, I Google search. Today I was making piping to go on a comforter I am making. I won't be including the making of this ginormous comforter this gratitude Friday listing. But as I was saying, making piping. I knew there was a way to cut continuous bias to make piping or binding but I couldn't remember how. A quick little Google search and there it was. I was able to make 12 yards of piping from a 32 inch square of fabric. Don't you love Google? If you are curious or need to make piping or binding from bias strips here is the link.

My crazy critters make me smile too. They each have such distinct personalities. Gracie the yorkie thinks she is the only one, the queen bee and the only one worthy of attention.  Angel the chihuahua is the senior citizen of the bunch. She's nearly 12 years old and she is nervous but very loving. Maggie Cat acts more like a dog than a cat. She follows me from room to room throughout the day and occasionally wakes me up at 3 am kissing my nose. She has started doing the funniest thing. She hides behind something and crouches down and when Angel walks by she jumps out at her. She doesn't do this to any of the other animals. Just Angel. Why is that? Doesn't she realize Angel is a nervous little old lady? Probably so. That's likely why she does it. Evil kitty! Makes me smile!

Here are some of the folks I love so much my heart could burst! I am so thankful for each of them!

And one of me smiling a great big goofy smile so you can smile too! Hey! I didn't say laugh. Like you never took a goofy picture. Karma, remember?

Have a great Friday!!!

Oh by the way, how do you like the new look of my blog? I am not so sure myself. I can't find the happy medium between too dark and drab and too bright.

Bad Hair Day

We all have a bad hair day once in a while.

Mountain Climbing

If you're here to read some crafty happenings you are at the wrong place. Nothing crafty to post about today. I had grand plans. I even started to do something creative. I took the fabric off the shelf and laid it out on the table. That is about as far as got. Oh yea, I opened the Japanese craft book to the page of the project I was going to work on. It is still open to that page on the kitchen counter. It wasn't a wasted day though. I set out on an adventure. I went mountain climbing. I didn't make it to the top, or in this case the bottom. The mountain I tackled was Mt. Dirty Laundry. But folks I put a serious dent in that big ugly mountain. Now it is barely a foot hill. I also did some other cleaning chores that had been neglected too long. With this month's SPT theme I didn't want to take any chances on me having a brief lapse of my sanity and taking pictures of a dirty shower or a pile of laundry the size of a Volkswagen. There are some secrets a girl needs to keep. I may post a picture of my skinny legs. Legs that despite the fact they are mere bones with a layer of skin stretched across still have cellulite. How does that happen? How is that fair? I may post a picture of my splotchy skin with out make up. I may even post pictures of my frightful feet. But I am not posting a picture of the dirty shower or piles of laundry or.... I shutter to think... my closets! I am just neurotic that way.  And I know I'm not alone. You know who you are. I'm not the only one who speed cleans if someone calls to say they are coming over. Why do we worry about such. I am sure the majority of people have had a messy house at one time or another but we are mortified at anyone seeing it. So today I did a little cleaning. You still can't come over. But my husband does have clean underwear.

Oh I almost forgot. Australia makes 10. 10 post cards that is. The last one arrived today all the way from the land down under.

It is from Jenny the Design Diva. It is really nice. She drew a cute dog holding an Australian flag. There are Chinese symbols that I can't read but I imagine say something like Happy New Year and one I recognize that says Autum. It also has a map of Australia and a fortune. On the other side she wrote a very sweet little note. I was very touched that she had taken the time to visit my blog and the note reflected that. This swap has been so much fun. I have exchanged greetings for a Happy 2006 with some very talented women from all over the world. And I have 10 very pretty post cards. Each of them different and each of them an expression of creativity.

I'm So Excited!! (It doesn't take much)

Two posts in one day? Yes, I have more to say or to show that is. I am excited about two things. The first one I did last night. I have wanted to put some sort of label in my purses. I ordered some on eBay a while back but wasn't happy with them so I never used them. Then I saw this post at liquid paper. (scroll down to tag it) And the other day I remembered it. Here are my labels. They still need a little work. Now my purses will have a little label inside that says Daisy Bags. I put the first one in a purse today. I folded it in half so the daisy shows on one side and the name on the other and put it in the side seam of the lining. Inconspicuous but there. The second thing I am excited about is sewing with a double needle. Look closely. There are two needles at work here. Kelli's sister in law Bonnie told me about sewing with a double needle awhile back. Not for this application. For the hem on shirts. I am not brave enough to try to make clothes yet so I didn't give is much thought at the time. Then one day I had one of those aha moments. I bet I could use that double needle when sewing the ribbons down on my ribbon purses. Nothing I like better than getting my work done in half the time. I can sew down two rows of ribbon at a time. Thanks Bonnie!!! I said I was excited about two things. That wasn't true, because sitting here I just thought of two more. Sorry. Just two more then I'll stop with the rambling. I am excited about a swap Toni and I are going to do. I am bubbling with excitement!!! I love everything about it. I love sewing things, giving things, and surprises. Especially pretty surprises. This swap will have all those things! The last thing I'll blab about is going wireless. My beloved friend Kelli. The technically gifted Kelli. The sweet smiling Kelli you may have read about or seen in a previous post gave me what I need to have the internet on my laptop. Until now I had only been using it with my embroidery machine. Now I can blog in bed if I want. I can blog on the couch. I can blog on the porch. Heck I can blog in the bathroom if I want to. Don't worry I wont be doing that! I don't even read in there. Too much info huh? Sorry. I got carried away with all the excitement! Thank you Kelli! It has been a good day.