Sunday Sundry

It's been awhile since I took the time to sit down and browse through all the wonderfulness that is Flickr.  I found so many things that inspired me today that I thought I would share some. 

Rick Cheadle Art and Designs wowed me with this wall mural painted on paneling: 

I think I love it most of all because I rent a house that has the tacky 70's paneling and I dream of doing something like this to it.  Alas, my landlord is cool...but not that cool.

I love these adorable pincushions from mamacjt:

And this sweet wall hanging was also made by mamacjt:

I am amazed by this life-sized quilted Pink Panther shared by King Kong 911:

Big B always inspires me with her sweet embroidery work.  I already bought both her "Merry Christmas" set and the "Gingerbread" set from her etsy shop!

And last, but definately not least is this wonderful softy created by Kell Ingram from the Melly & Me pattern "Magoo".

I absolutely adore Melly & Me patterns and vow to one day attempt one.  I'm afraid that my limited sewing skills wouldn't do it justice.  Magoo is my favorite, but the mushroom backpack runs a close second!

So you can see my mind is mostly on sewing right now.  My sister's and I are headed to Lancaster on Monday to shop for fabric and donuts.  We cannot go to Lancaster without going to Shady Maple Farm Market for their awesome donuts!

Always,

K

We Will Never Forget

Three days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 I wrote this poem. Every year, I post it and I still light a candle.

Tonight I Lit A Candle

Tonight I lit a candle, for the souls of those that died

I left the candle burning bright, to celebrate their lives.
We lost some treasured loved ones, their faces near and dear
We never had to know them to miss their presence here.

Tonight I lit a candle, for the souls of those we lost
To let them know we love them, are sorry they paid the cost.
We won’t forget your bravery, in the face of trying times
We vow to hold your memory close engraved upon our minds.

Tonight I lit a candle, for the souls of those we mourn
For it took your needless passing, for unity to form
Our nation vows its vengeance; your deaths were not in vain
Our flag still flies, our bells ring loud, freedom will still reign.

Tonight I lit a candle, for the souls for whom we pray,
Remembering your sacrifice with each and every day.
God Bless your souls and those of all the ones you left behind
And I pray that one day all will rest in any peace that they can find.

Tonight please light a candle, and add your prayers to mine
Let our silent blessings shout beyond the boundaries of this time.
Do not forget in months to come of how we feel today
Let September 11, 2001 become an Unsung Heroes day.

KAH 9-14-2001 (In memory of the many victims of the terrorist attack on the United States 9-11-2001)
(This is my original work, please do not duplicate it unless credit is given. Thank You.)

Pretty Painted Jars

A quick and simple idea I saw on another blog a few weeks ago inspired me to try these painted jars. 

What I love about them is that instead of the mess of painting the outside, you just pour some paint on the inside and shake, shake, shake it (with the lid on, of course!) to spread the paint around.  After shaking, I added a little more paint and then kinda of turned the jars to cover the places I missed.

I will warn you that the jars take several days to completely dry, at least mine did. They probably would have dried quicker if I had set them outside, but I didn't.

I'm not sure what I will do with them yet, but the blogger I borrowed the idea from added vinyl letters to the outside to label the jars and it was adorable!  (If you are that blogger or know that blogger, please let me know and I will definately give you credit for inspiring me and link up your blog!)

I'm linking this post to the Power of Paint Party over at Domestically Speaking.  I love all the inspiration found there!

Please check back soon, I've just finished my first Halloween decoration and I can't wait to share it with you!  Here's a peek to tease you a bit:

Always,
K

P.S. I'm still collecting donations for my walk to raise money for Alzheimer's research.  Click on the donation graphic on the side bar if you can spare a dollar or two.  It will take you to my fundraising page and you will be able to dedicate your donation to a loved one if you'd like.  Your donation is made directly to the Alzheimer's Association when you use a credit card.  I do not see your card, your name or any of your personal information!

Framed Door

My sister, Jean, told me about the way cool frame that Blue Cricket Design used as a wreath on her front door and we both decided we needed one!

Jean, being a much more motivated craftster than me, finished hers a lot quicker than I did.  Here is a peek at hers, but you must go check out her before shot at Quilted Cupcake because I would have never seen such cuteness in this frame as it was before.

While you are there, take some time to check out her other crafty goodness.  She hosts a free podcast on quilting, sewing, knitting and general craftiness that rocks! (And I'm not just saying that because she mentions me often!)

Anyway, the frame for my door came from the local Good Will.  Here is the before:

  Not as bad as Jean's before, but when I went to pull it apart and found it was all foam core and it still had the original price tag of $29.99, I knew someone got ripped off.  Luckily, it wasn't me, I only paid $2!

After some much needed scrubbing, painting, sanding and staining, here it is on my door. 

I used a Martha Stewart paint sample from home depot for the paint and the bow is a strip of white  scrap fabric.  
The thing is, it's kind of bigger than I pictured it (no pun intended) but I'm hoping to replace it with a fall wreath next month, so it's staying as is. (I still have hopes of duplicating the Piccadilly Peddler's fabric wreath in fall colors, but it's slow going!)

I am working on a new project today that I hope to share in the next couple of days.  Hopefully it turns out as good as I'm imagning it in my head!
Always,
K

Time For A Quickie

My sister said I needed to post because I hadn't had an update in awhile.  Nevermind that we have spent the last two weeks running to the vet's office for both dogs...8 times total and I won't even add up the $$ spent!

So here is a quick project I did. 

I bought this tray at my local thrift for $1 and decided to give it a makeover. 

It started as a small bread tray:

And ended up as a catch-all tray:

I think I'm going to use it to sit on my work desk to hold post-its, staples, etc.  I haven't sealed it yet, I'm not sure if I'm going to.  I may just use it as is and replace the paper when needed so that it is constantly different. (In other words, I'm too lazy to seal it!)

That's it for now, hope you're happy now, Jan!  Love you!

Always,

K

Sew What?

It's been a few weeks since I've updated, I know.  I reinjured my shoulder and needed to take some down time from my crafting.  I spent most of my down time reading and relaxing, but I was itching to do something crafty this past weekend.

I haven't been sewing much since it got warm enough out to spray paint and I was having a hard time getting motivated to start again.  Luckily, I have two crafty sisters, a crafty niece and an adorable great nephew who convinced me it was time to get back to sewing!  I was conflicted if I should go due to my shoulder problems, but who could say no when this little guy is going to be there?

I spent most of the day Saturday with the girls (and the little guy) and had such a wonderful time! 

I was originally going to work on a Halloween themed wreath inspired by the one I saw on Piccadilly Peddlers but I was totally sidetracked by the projects that my two sisters were working on. 

Jan took the time to teach us a quick way to make fabric post cards.  She even precut all of the pieces for us so that we could just assemble and sew them.  Love her (and the awesome banana bread she made) so much! 

I ended up making the cat postcard that day and came home and made the other two on Sunday.  I'm not really thrilled by the two I made on Sunday, but I'm still getting the hang of it!

Then, Jean showed us how to make a wonky star block by following the tutorial found on The Silly Bodilly blog.  (Jean did NOT precut for us, but I love her anyway!) We all made patriotic patterned blocks to donate to one of our fellow quilters in our guild.  She is assembling quilts for her husband and his fellow soldiers serving overseas.  The one I made at Jan's house turned out pretty good for my first time...not too wonky though!

The Halloween themed one I made at home the next day did not fare so well, but was much more wonky!  Me thinks I tried too hard for the wonkiness:

It was great to get back into sewing and I can't wait to get together with the girls (and boy) again.  I always learn something new! We were all very excited that Steph has taken the leap into sewing with us. If she lets me, I'll share the adorable skirt she made with the help of Jan a couple of weeks ago in a later post.

Hope everyone else had as productive a weekend as I did!

Always,

Kelly

P.S. A huge thanks to Lynette who made my first donation for the 2010 Memory Walk.  If you are able to contribute, please click on the link on the side bar!

We Interrupt This Blog For a Special Announcement

I will be updating soon with some recent craftiness, but first, I wanted to make my yearly plea.

On October 30th I will, once again, be walking in the Memory Walk to help raise money for the Alzheimer's Association.  As I have shared in the past, my mom, Lucy, lost her battle against Alzheimer's on 12/21/2008.  I started this blog as a tribute to her and to the creativeness that I inherited from her.

Before she passed, I promised her that I would do my part to help find a cure for Alzheimer's.  When she was first diagnosed, she was literally devastated.  She wanted to give up.  Whenever she was having a bad day, I would tell her that there is hope.  I told her that every day, new advances are being made and there may be a cure right around the corner.

Sadly, it was not found in her lifetime.  But I have not given up the fight.  There are still millions of people suffering from Alzheimer's.

I am not someone who likes to ask for things from others.  I am the one who always buys the candy bars, or orders the pizzas, or the wrapping paper or whatever is asked of me to support my friends' children.  I don't have children, I don't have purse parties or jewelry parties and ask my friends to buy something (not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's not me.) Once a year, I ask this.  For my Mom...and all of those that have lost the fight, but especially for those still fighting.

Please visit my fundraising page Lucy's Daughter and give.  Even if you give a dollar, it is $1 more towards finding a cure.