a pin of love

I made this cute little felty heart pin last night while watching tv. At first I didn't have a reason to make it, just wanted something I could finish in one sitting and keep my hands moving. As I was stitching it I decided my MeMaw might really appreciate it right now.

Not because valentine's is near, not because she's living alone again after living with us for 2 months, but because our family is going through a rough time right now. A few weeks ago we found out my great-uncle Ray has cancer all over his back. Ray is one of MeMaw's younger brothers (by 4 or 5 years I think) and she helped raise him when they were little. She told me it's almost like losing one of her own children since she had such a vital role in forming who he has become.

I personally don't know my uncle Ray very well. The few memories I have of him are playing duck hunt at his house while the old folks visited, playing with Max (my great grandmommy's wiener dog that he got when she died), and just knowing he lives near Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. All are good memories nonetheless. My parents are visiting him today with my uncle and MeMaw. According to my mom, it's a matter of days.

So back to the point of my post. I sent the pin along with my mom to give to MeMaw this morning. Kinda like sending a hug, but made of felt with hand stitching and a loving message instead. I hope it makes her smile a bit on this hard day.

I'm comforted with the fact that my uncle will be in God's hands soon. I can tell MeMaw is comforted by this too. She's a strong Christian woman and knows everything is in God's hands. Such a beautiful hope to have in times like this.

So, if any of you have a spare moment could you please lift my family in prayer this weekend? Pray for Uncle Ray's wife, kids and grandkids too. There have been a lot of health issues there so it's a very hard time for them right now. God can do amazing things and He will bring my family through this!

thanks so much everyone!

post 50...really?!

So I'm awful at posting when I say I'm going to. I'd like to say I'll get better, but we'll see, heh.

As I said in my last post, I have pictures of the nap mat I made for a little girl named Abigail. She's the little sister of one of my best friends, his family adopted her from China about 2 years ago and she's precious. Her mom contacted me and wanted me to make her a cute girly nap mat for her at pre-school. I already had a pattern for a cute roll up mat so I agreed.

Then finals, Christmas, mania, sickness, New Orleans and life in general got in the way and it took me forever to get back to the project. I got my focus back after returning from New Orleans and quickly found everything for the mat.

I found this cute pink fabric at Hobby Lobby with brown, blue, green, orange, and hot pink flowers all over it. The blanket is made of a matching light pink minkie fabric. I got her name monogrammed on some hot pink fabric and sewed it on the outside of the mat too.

I used this tutorial as a guide for measurements. I ended up using 3 layers of batting instead of foam so the whole thing could just be washed. I also used webbing for the strap instead of elastic.

Her mom sent me pictures of Abigail's reaction when she got the mat and I love it! Moments like that are why I love sewing for people so much. I also made a scarf out of some of the leftover minkie fleece and gave to her. Of course I forgot to get pictures of that.

So can you believe this is my 50th post?! I feel like I haven't posted enough to be at 50 but I am. Not sure how many people read this though. I know some of you see these posted on facebook, but how many of you actually read this on blogger? Leave a comment for me and let me know! Also let me know if there's anything I make or write about that you particularly like. I would like to make a bunch of things and start selling them (pre-made as opposed to only custom orders like I've been doing) but I'm not sure what would sell best, or what yall want.

Ok, hope to hear from everyone! :)

a good night

I didn't do a thing craft related today (aside from packing yarn to bring home for weekend knitting).

Instead, I spent most of the afternoon with David. Came home to Austin and saw MeMaw before my parents were going to take her home. She hasn't been home in two months and I know she was ready to be there. Quick trip to Hobby Lobby for ribbon which was then used to fix some pants for a little girl I know (oops I guess I did sew today). Grocery store with David. We came home and he made steak and a burger for me, and Texas toast. I made some homemade waffle fries which were yummy. We watched Igor and Max Payne. Both excellent movies.

It was a great night. It's typically what we end up doing for Valentine's Day actually. David cooks me dinner and we go to or rent a movie and just spend time together at home, no gifts (unless I can't help myself and make him something), and he buys me a rose. I like that we can show our love without being told to do so by a Holiday. I still like Valentine's Day. The world is very pink and red and love is focused on for a while. If only we could all focus on love the rest of the year....Christ's love.

I have pictures of the nap mat I made and some of the little girl's reaction. Can't wait to show yall tomorrow. It will also be my 50th post. crazy!

done!

...but too sleepy to post pictures.

oh and the pics i took of the nap mat aren't that great anyways, ah well. I gave it to casey (it's for his little 3 yr old sis) and it will go to the recipient by morning!

and now i'm off to sleep a bit. I start my spring class in a little over 7 hours!

i'm almost over it...i think

Being in this sick funk has really stunted my crafting lately. I have several things that need to get sewn and I haven't even taken my sewing machine out of it's case for three weeks!

to sew:
- drawstring backpack for my little cousin Kenneth
- remaining portion of Em & Han's Christmas gifts
- stuffies for Miriah's friends
- nap mat for custom order

The nap mat is actually cut out and on the table and is my number one priority. If I can finish that up tomorrow that would be lovely. The christmas gifts will be fast too, they're also cut out. Ha, the little backpack is cutout too! Ok so I'm better than I thought, just need to put all the cut out pieces together with some thread.

Since I've been home fron New Orleans I've been spending a lot of time on the couch in my parent's sunroom. I usually pull the piano bench up to the couch and use it as a table for al the stuff I accuulate while just sitting.


As you can see, I've been knitting my red beret that I'm very excited about wearing soon. That foot in the background is David lying on the floor playing some xBox. Some of the other pics I took of him playing looked rather creepy on the tv. It's a game about zombies and abandoned buildings after a nuclear fallout...appropriately named Fallout, ha. I've also been reading blogs like crazy. I get in these moods where I'd rather read about everyone else than post about myself. The one you see on the screen is a wedding blog I've gotten hooked on (shhh, don't tell!)

Another random thing I tend to do when I'm stuck at home for long periods of time is cut my hair. Sometimes this is good and other times...not so much. Luckily, my hair ended up pretty good this time. I thought I had fixed my hair last time I gave it a trim but I was still having problems. This time I spent more time on it (and not at 3am!) and it turned out much better.

(not the greatest pic, i know)

Does anyone else out there cut their own hair? I've been doing it myself for nearly 4 years now and I love it. I couldn't afford to pay someone else to do it anyway.

Hope to have some finished products to post about soon :)

*hackcoughwheeze*

strep...check!
bronchitis...check!
ear infection...check!

I have it all. Ah well, I feel better just knowing what's wrong. Pray I'm fit as a fiddle by tuesday when classes start up again!

To cheer myself up from this cough induced funk I've been in I made a trip to Michael's. I love the dollar section they have there. Such cute little things! I came out with some fun packaging for my best friend's Christmas presents (we've all been out of town/the country so we're doing our Christmas on monday), a spiral for my project notes, and some pretty red yarn that will soon be a red beret. I don't have any red accessories of my own so I'm excited about this one.

Now off to watch some wedding shows and maybe knit a bit :)

back in Texas!

As I stated before, I thought my bout with strep was over...hmm. My dr suggested that I could've had a cold/virus at the same time as the strep which is why it seemed the antibiotics weren't working. I never felt 100% and near the end of my New Orleans trip I came down with what I'm pretty sure is bronchitis. Luckily it wasn't till the last day, and I had my good friend nyquil to knock me out on the 9 hour drive home :) Now I'm finally over the awful cough but I can't hear out my right ear. It's either majorly congested or I have an ear infection. Ah well. Just want to be better by the time classes start on the 20th.
Other than being sick it was a wonderful trip. I love how God reveals to me how personally He knows who I am and the gifts I have to offer. Example: I spent a few hours one day repairing a mattress that had ripped. I got to sit upstairs alone, listening to thrice, and sewing 1/4 of a mattress seam back together. I felt God's deep personal love for me in those hours.

I think we're going back in May to help the mission get ready for summer VBS groups. I can't wait to go back and visit with fellow brothers and sisters!
What would a trip be without a knitting project? I finally started my MeMaw's Christmas beret. I was worried about it at first but once I finished it last night it came out quite lovely. I gave it to her this morning so she could wear to church and she loved it :)

some finished gifts...finally!

I think I'm finally over my bout with strep. The Dr ended up testing me for mono too which luckily turned out negative, woo! In my sickened funk I never got the urge to update much.

On New Year's Eve my church does a big worship celebration/lock-in for the youth. David and I have been leading worship for the past four years and this one was the best yet! Everything went so well. The speaker was great, I think around 65 kids made decisions of salvation or rededication. After the midnight countdown I went bowling with our guitarist, drummer, and their girls. David opted for laser tag with his cousin. We all ended up back at His house around 3am where we crashed while watching the food network or something like that. It was a wonderful wasy to ring in 2009!

And now, I'm in the middle of doing laundry and packing up for a small college mission trip to New Orleans. we're leaving at 5:30am tomorrow and will be back on the 8th. Pray for safe travel and that God can use us while we're there.

Obviously I won't be updating while there, my macbook will actually be in the shop getting a new bottom shell. It'll be pretty shiny and white again by the time I get home! I'll leave yall with some pics till next time!

I used to make little sculptures out of sculpey clay all the time back in high school and the first year or so of college. My dad loves them and I've made him quite a few little piggies over the years. I decided to get out my box of clay and make him another one for Christmas this year. I was stumped for a while on what to have the piggy doing and I finally decided on it holding a little snowman. My dad also likes snowmen a lot. I finished it in the wee hours on Christmas morning. When he opened it in the morning he loved it!

My mom's gift I actually finished quite a while back. I just never posted pics because I think she tends to read this from time to time. Couldn't give away any of my surprises! I made her a cabled neck warmer out of a cashmere blend. It's super soft and cozy and just right for keeping your neck warm without all the bulk of a sweater under your jacket.

My roommate is a craftster as well so I wanted ot make her something fun and useful. I found htis image online somewhere and love it. It's a craft ninja! She loves knitting so a ninja weilding knitting needles and scissors is perfect. I ended up buying a little box with a frame on the lid at michaels, painted it black with bright green on the inside and put the embroidery in the frame. This was also a late night project so I forgot to get a picture of it in the box. I'll get one when we're both back home from all our Christmas break escapades. Here's what I got when it was still on the hoop.

I got David a few little things. He's obsessed with James Bond...obsessed! He can name any movie on tv within 2 seconds of it being on, in any scene. It's a bit ridiculous, but it's fun. I got him the first three Bond books Ian Flemming wrote back in the 50s. Since it's a series I now have birthday and anniversary gifts possibly lined up too :) I also knit him a hat to replace one I amde him last year that he lost somewhere. I haven't taken pictures yet but hope to this week. His final gift was a little resistor I knit for him. He got really into making pedals for his electric guitar and was doing a lot of soldering and resisitor fiddling. This was my favorite part and he thought it was awesome. I'm so lucky to have a guy who thinks my knit toys are great.

aren't they cute?!