A Good Day For Crafting

This is what it looked like outside at 7am this morning:


Here's what it looked like after J did a little shoveling:


And we are still expecting another 6-8 inches. If it were up to me I wouldn't have shoveled a dang thing, but since we have two neurotic dogs who need a cleared patch of grass, J did it. (Notice the doggy tracks to and from the pee patch in the second pic)

Anyway, it's a perfect day to hole up in my studio and work on....SOMETHING!

Jean and I have started a block of the month challenge (with each other) and I have already finished January's block and have February's cut out so I will finish up February's block and maybe work on piecing a quilt that I have wanted to do for awhile now.

Hope to share pics of what I accomplish later!

always,
K

Dog Days

We have had a busy couple of weeks thanks to this little girl:

This is our new Boston Terrier, Jovi. (Named after Bon Jovi's song Runaway) A friend of mine called me right before Christmas to tell me that she was taking her son to school one morning and as she was loading him into the car, a dog decided to jump into her car and refused to leave. She ended up driving her son to school with the dog riding along. When she got home, she asked around the neighborhood and no one seemed to have lost a dog.

As soon as she told me that it was a Boston Terrier, J and I had the same thought: That dog cannot go to a shelter! My friend kept her for 3 weeks and tried to find her owner with no luck. She called me a few weeks ago and asked if we wanted her.

Now, we didn't want her to go to a shelter...and my friend couldn't keep her as she has a houseful of people and animals as it is, but we had one main problem....this girl:

This is our 10 year old Boston, Blair. Blair is not what you'd call a social dog. In fact, she is the exact opposite of social. She puts up with our two cats, but mostly because they stay out of her way. Her AKC name is Princess Blair of Essex...and she takes the Princess part to heart.

She has about 100 toys (that can be found strewn across the house at any given time) sleeps in the bed, under the covers, and won't allow anyone or anything to come within 5 feet of us without growling and or biting said anyone.

She has really only bitten one person, my nephew, but not for lack of trying. She isn't mean per say (although my sister would disagree) she is just REALLY protective of her humans. In her defense, she did bite my nephew because he was teasing her and got right up in her face when she felt she was protecting me. I still think the trip to the ER was unnecessary, but my sister will disagree. ...loudly.

It deserves mentioning that this was probably 6 years ago that she bit him and my nephew is over it. In fact, he stayed with us for a weekend this past October and he and Blair bonded. When he left on Sunday afternoon, Blair pouted and grieved for a couple of days. We think she thought he was her new "toy" and she kept looking for him in the spare bedroom and laying by the spare bedroom door looking said. But I digress....

We brought Jovi home with much reservations. We just could not not try.

The first night was not fun. Jovi is about 15 months old and just a puppy really. She came in a little skittish and a lot bouncy. She immediately wanted to be friends with Blair. NOT happening.

Both dogs stayed on their leashes and Blair growled and barked and made a general nuisance of herself. As for Jovi, she responded by peeing on the carpet. We were off to a great start...

Day Two started off on leashes again, but after a bit, we took them outside and off leashes. Jovi, who had already bonded with my oldest cat, Sasser, tried to bond with Blair. NOT happening.

Jovi spent a good part of day two on the stairs:

Finally on day three, Blair got the idea that Jovi was not going away anytime soon. (Poor Blair is so not use to sharing her humans!) They started sniffing each other and Blair growled and tried to nip Jovi much less.

On Day Four we took a trip to the vet for shots for both girls and to have Jovi checked for a microchip. (She didn't have one obviously!)

I must take a moment to say I love my Vet. My first job, from the time I was 15 until 18, was working for the local Veterinary Hospital. This was 25 years ago, but one of the vets I worked with then, Terry, is still at the practice. He is the only one I let touch my dogs unless it's an absolute emergency. He is an awesome vet and a good friend....and he never laughs at my neurotic Dog Mommy Emergencies...much.

Anyway, if you have no experience with Bostons, here's the thing...there is a 50/50 chance that they will have an allergic reaction to vaccinations (and dust mites and many other things if you judge by Blair!) So we get the dogs shots, heartworm tests, etc. I wasn't too worried about Blair having an allergic reaction because she just got her Rabies shot...I was more concerned about how Jovi would react...big mistake.

Apparently Blair is allergic to the rabies vaccination when previously she only showed a reaction to her distemper vaccination. Fifteen minutes after we got home, she started drooling...then this happened:

Poor old girl puffed up like a balloon and broke out in hives all over her body. Like I said, I'm use to this, it happens every time she gets her vaccinations. Normally, I just have Terry give her a shot of benadryl with her shots to avoid this, but like I said, I didn't expect it for just the rabies shot.

Well, J is NOT use to this. He's never seen her have an allergic reaction. He flipped out. I swear, if it wasn't so touching how much he loves this dog I would have laughed for a good hour over his reaction. I was working and he was bringing her over to me every 2 minutes. Here is a sample of our conversation:

Him: Does she look worse or is it just me?

Me: Just you

(2 minutes pass)

Him: Are you sure, it looks like she has more hives...or is it just me?

Me: Just you

(2 more minutes)

Him: Seriously, I think her left eye is more swollen than her right? Look. Look. Is it just me?

Me: Just you

(this time he waits 10 minutes)

Him: I think she's getting worse again.

Me: For the love...

Now, keep in mind, I had already given her 25mg of benadryl. I knew she would be fine. After about an hour of this pestering by J, I finally gave in and told him to go ahead and take her back up to see Terry to get a shot of benadryl and some cortizone. Sheesh, good thing we don't have kids, we'd probably have to have a pediatrician on speed dial..or on retainer.

The funny thing about this whole story is that Jovi never had a reaction. Then, a week ago, I'm working again and I hear J say "Hey Kell, you need to look at this" Dang if Jovi's face hadn't started to swell...here we go again! Best we can figure she got bit by a bug or something because one minute she was fine, the next minute - puffy, drooly allergic reaction.

I gave her benadryl, but of course J had to take her to see Terry. I refused to go again. I know Terry was probably laughing his butt off at us. Of course he didn't say anything other than: We need to stop meeting like this.

So, to wrap up this epic post I will fast forward to today. I am happy to report that Blair has almost accepted Jovi into the family and they are even able to both sleep on the couch together without too much bickering. Admitedly this took A LOT of floor work with J and the dogs. Everytime Blair would snap or growl, J would make them both lay down and rub their bellies:

Jovi is the sweetest dog ever. Other than the fact that she has had a few accidents in the house (which is to be expected with Blair bullying her around) and having a "toy issue" (Remember those 100 toys? Well, apparently they are ALL Blair's and she won't share very easily) and one other tiny problem she fits in our little family quite nicely.

The tiny problem? Um..when we got her she was in heat. Of course, since my friend who found her and kept her for 3 weeks has an intact Pitbull, we have a small (and when I say small, I mean HUGE) fear that she is pregnant, but we are taking it day by day.

If you've made it this far and want to hear more about our furbaby family, hop over to my new blog that recounts our insanely crazy life with our 2 Bostons and 2 ancient cats: B is for Boston.

Hoping to have a crafty update soon!

always,

K

Happy New Year!

I have several resolutions this year and one of the big ones is to keep up with my blogging! Between Facebook and Twitter, I've really let my blogging slide, but I enjoy this so I plan to make more time for it.

I am happy to report that my work has allowed me to begin working from home since the beginning of December so I have freed up some precious time and plan to use it wisely!

Now that the holidays are over, it's time to catch up!

My sister, Jean, is really the only person I make homemade gifts for anymore. She truly appreciates the efforts, being a fellow crafty person herself. I made her a couple of things this year.

First was an idea I saw in a magazine (sorry, I can't remember which one and am too lazy to go dig it out, but if anyone wants to know, email me and I'll look for it!) I believe in the magazine they called them towel drapes. I like the name Towel Ties better because the are intended to dress up regular plain towels. The tree pattern is one I got from the magazine, but the snowman and the ornament I designed.

The other gift I made her was a small wallhanging. It's wonky and the border is crooked, but it is my first time doing free motion quilting all by myself. I've practiced and I've had Jean help me before, but I really wanted to take the leap and do it myself. The results were what you expect for the first try, but I knew Jean would understand what it meant! I am no longer afraid to do it!

Jean made me some very cute things, including my very own sock monkey girl. I will post pictures of her on my next post, but if you want to see her earlier, hop on over to Jean's blog at Quilted Cupcake, she posted a pic a few days ago. She also made me some cute things for my home office and knitted me my very own pair of socks. I will post pics of those next time as well. They are AWESOME!

I really wanted to go crazy decorating this year. I planned on it. I meant to...but since I got the word on a Tuesday early in December that I could start working from home and then started just two days later, I have been concentrating on making that adjustment a success and never got around to actually doing much in the way of decorating.

J however knows how much I enjoy Christmas and did all of the decorating himself. The house looked awesome, even if I didn't get to pull out all of the stuff I wanted. He was most proud of decorating the ceiling fan in my home office. Don't ask me why....he's a guy. But I promised him I would share a pic of that. It did turn out kind of cool. I wouldn't dare tell him that the decorations dimmed the light in the room so much that I had to bring in a desk light...

Festive, eh? Next year, I'll make the time. I'm just saying...

Anyway, I planned to spend the New Year's weekend crafting all day everyday. Then I decided that December 30th would be the perfect day to have a root canal. Not the best idea, I can assure you. I spent some wonderful hours with Dr. House's favorite pain medication before I could function without pain again. Happily, by yesterday I was able to put the pain meds away and go shopping.

Jean and I hadn't been to the thrift stores in awhile, so we hit a couple of our favorites along with a trip to Hancock Fabrics to add to our fabric and notion stashes. Since they had Christmas fabric 75% off, I am now in the mood to sew for Christmas....two weeks late.

We got a couple of good vintage sheets at the thrift stores and I came home and immediately threw them in the wash so I could begin a new project with them today. I totally didn't do any sewing today. But I did pull some fabric to coordinate with the sheets so I'm ready when I do sit down to sew. I am the first to admit that I am HORRIBLE with color. Jean can close her eyes and match colors...it takes me an hour and I still think I missed the mark. But this is what I came up with (the sheets I'm trying to match are on the bottom of each pile):

That's it for now, but I do want to mention that I will be a guest reviewer on Jean's latest podcast (due to be released today or tomorrow) so if you want to give a listen, the link is on her blog. It's a really good podcast and she mentions me a lot...so I love it!

Happy New Year Blogland. I'll be back soon, promise!

always,

K

Breathe!

Wow, it's been awhile since I've had time to post. I spent the last few weeks getting ready for the craft show and trying to get as much done as possible. Last weekend was the show and I had a great time with my sisters. I didn't sell as much as I had hoped for, but I did make my table fee back as well as a few extra dollars. I also got a few special orders that will bring in a few more dollars.


Here's a picture of our table:

So this weekend I decided to take it easy. I did work on some of the special orders, but I'm really itching to start a new project for ME. I know I should be working on Christmas presents, but I feel like I've spent so much time working on this craft fair, I haven't had a chance to be creative for me.

Next Friday J and I will begin decorating for Christmas. Last year was not a Merry Christmas because my Mom passed away on Dec. 21st. I honestly don't even remember much of last Christmas. This year, in honor of my Mom, we are doing Christmas up right! My Mom loved Christmas and her house was always full of Christmasy stuff. My motto this year is "Go Big or Go Home" when it comes to Christmas. I will share pics of some of my decorations after we are done.

Until then....

always,

K

Fall & Winter Projects

Not a lot to say today, I'm kind of bummed that my vacation is over and I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I'll make this short and sweet!

I've been in the mood to craft for Halloween and Christmas this week, as you will see from my latest creations!

First up is not something I made this week or even this year. I made this Halloween plaque a few years ago but it's probably my favorite Halloween decoration:

Next is a Halloween flour sack towel I made:

I also made a cute little stuffed pumpkin:

Even thought this isn't specifically a Halloween decoration, it is fall-ish. I love this memory board I made by recovering an old corkboard with some pretty owl corduroy fabric:

While hanging out with my sister, I came up with the idea to make some fabric candy. These are time consuming, but so fun and so cute once done. I plan to fill up a huge candy jar I have with little fabric candies. If I get motivated, I may make different colored candies for different holidays, but don't count on it:

The second picture shows the candy displayed in a small candy dish I picked up at a thrift store for a dollar:

Lastly I made two Christmas decorations. Both snowman, both not as cute as they were in my head, but they will still hang on my tree this year:

Overall, I didn't get as much accomplished project-wise as I had hoped while I was on vacation, but I'm glad I got some little things done!

Have a great week!

always,

K

My Staycation

This week is the first real vacation I've had in two years. I've had time off here and there, but it always seemed to end up where I was committed to do one thing or another that made it not very vacation-y.

This year I was committed to making my vacation a real vacation. We had plans to go to the beach for part of the week and I made plans to spend at least one day with my sister. Then we checked the forcast. Rainy and cold at the beach. Why would we pay to stay at the beach in the rain? Well, we decided not to. We decided to have a stay-cation and stay at home and relax and do some things around here.

Jeff and I went out to dinner for the first time in forever on Monday. I forgot how much I love to go to dinner with my honey. We had a great time and great food and even ordered dessert, which we never do. The food coma afterwards was totally worth it!

On Tuesday, I convinced Jean to take the day off of work and we spent the day in Lancaster, PA. Can I just say WOW! Jean has been trying to get me to go to Lancaster for months now. It's only an hour and a half away...and we took the back roads so it was a gorgeous drive through farmlands.

We had two goals for Lancaster: Fabric and Doughnuts. If you think those two things don't go together, you don't know me at all...

Honestly, I think I spent every bit of money I would have spent on our vacation at the beach on fabric. Seriously. I bought almost 50 pieces of fabric. 50. I outdid myself. But the prices and selection were phenomenal. Did I mention we only went to 5 stores? There were at least 5 more we wanted to go to, but they close down the stores at 5pm there and we ran out of time.

Here are some pics of fabric I got:

These are my favorites:

I also bought lots of notions...and doughnuts. Did I mention the doughnuts? There is a grocery store there called Shady Maple Farm Market that is awesome. If I lived close to there and that was my grocery store, I'd spend $300 a week on groceries. (Right now, we go to the grocery store once a month and spend a max of $200).

Anyway, this place is HUGE. Think Sam's Club with only food. I got tired (and lost) just going from one end to the other. They have these doughnuts that are so good (and so cheap!) that I had to buy a dozen. I was going to freeze the extras as a weekend treat in the coming weeks. Jeff is not a sweets person...my total opposite in every way, this boy. I brought the doughnuts home and told him of my plan to freeze them. He wanted to try one after I raved about them. He ate 3. THAT in itself tells you how good these doughnuts are.

Okay, okay, I'll move on from the doughnuts now, I promise.

Since I haven't posted in awhile, I wanted to share some little things I've been working on. Nothing spectacular, but bits and pieces of stuff:

First is a cute, girly applique bib. Love this Robert Kaufman fabric.


Next is a new piece I started for a Christmas wallhanging using freezer paper applique.

Then some of my baby pin cushions displayed in a thrifted cabinet. Love this cabinet I got for $2.

This is a sample bookmark I made for our upcoming craft show. I thought these would be a quick sew...not so much. I'm using chipboard inside to keep them stiff and it's a pain to sew around once it's inserted.
And lastly, this is a prototype for some Christmas ornaments I'm making for the show. Jean says I need to make the yo-yo smaller or the heart bigger. I didn't think so until I saw this picture. You're right, Jean!

So that's it for now. I'm heading to Jean's house on Friday to play with some of my new material so hopefully I will have more to share on Saturday or Sunday.

always,
K

Wait for it....

Big update coming tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. Just spent the day in Lancaster, PA with my sister and bought a TON of fabric. Lots of ideas and projects swirling around in my head...now to DO them!

always,
K