So glad I stocked up

I am so thankful that I stocked up on solid colors of fabric before we moved out here! We had a Hancock Fabrics where we used to live and they had a big sale about 8 weeks before we moved. I remember going in there and piling up the bolts on the counter of all of these solid fabrics (and other colors) and telling them I would like 2 yards of each. I now have a use for them. Baby bedding! I have a quilt that I would like to make based on the picture below (sorry it is blurry, it is a picture of a picture in a book). I am also going to make the bumper for the crib using the same technique. With a twist. A bumper is basically 2 long pieces for the sides and 2 short pieces for the ends. I will split the long sides in 3 sections and the short sides into 2 sections. I will make it so that one section is the piecing like in the quilt and then the next section will be either a solid color chenille or a solid Minkee fabric and then the next section will be the piecing again, continuing to alternate. Anyone ever use Minkee? Should I use Minkee or Chenille? I have only seen Minkee in the Hancocks of Paducah catalog and on ebay. I might use a bias tape or a ribbon to seperate the sections...undecided on that so far.

These are the colors that I am going to use. The ones taped to the sheet are ones that I would like to order and the solids are from my stash. I still need to get a lime colored solid though. I am going to mix in solids with the prints to break it up a little bit. I am trying to not be over the top girly just because we don't want to know what gender the baby is. They say that bright colors stimulate a baby's eye and brain development more than neutral ones do.

I went on a spree at the thrift shop on base before we left Guam buying wool sweaters and felting them. I have made a bunch of these door hangers out of just 2 of the sweaters I got. This one is for Mom. I did it in just about 24 hours with copious slack time. I used DMC Perle Cotton in an off white or antique white for the embroidery and the blanket stitching on the edges. I used vintage buttons out of my Mason jars. I decided not to make the back too crazy and just put my initials and year on it.

I really miss the thrift shop. There were so many great bargains there. A lot of junk but one time I found a quilting kit that was from Joanne Fabrics. It was a block of the month kit and I got all 12 months and the setting kit for $5. I sold it on ebay for $74 without shipping! It had never been opened. Same deal with garage sales. The garage sale we went to here was nothing but overpriced junk. Seriously, $5 for a baby outfit that is nasty stained?! Guess that they wanted to keep it. My Grampy & I used to go garage saleing. A few summers ago when we were home, we went and I got 2 bags of bias tape and rickrack for $1. 90% of it was still brand new in the package. Loved it!

Can't believe that it is July 1 already!! Hope everyone has a safe weekend. Anyone have a 4 day weekend?

Talked to Dad & J a little while ago...they are ecstatic, they got their pillow in the mail. They might be coming out to visit us! Yay! I would love that. They were thinking about surprising me for my 30th birthday this spring, but it is kind of hard to arrange a surprise like that considering we are so far away. One of J's neices is pregnant as well. Then, I openend up an email from DH's Aunt, congratulating us and she tells us that her oldest daughter (DH's age) is pregnant again! This will be her 3rd baby. What a fertile time for people I know. The count is: 7 pregnant women (including me) that I am related to either directly (blood) or indirectly (marriage). WOW! J says she thinks it is the ozone since it can't be the water.

Peace

Back from Pissyville

Well, it is a good thing that I didn't post yesterday. I was rocking out in the tiny city of Pissyville. Population: Me. It wasn't like that all day...the morning started out well enough. A 6:15 am phone call from my Mom to get the day rolling. She had just received the grandparent pillow and is over the moon with joy. That gave me the warm fuzzies. It was a nice chat for the most part...until I found out that a couple of my cousins have also found themselves in the family way (about 6 weeks behind me), but they are in less than desirable circumstances and situations. In some twisted way, I still managed to find a little bit of jealousy hanging out and ran with it all the way to Pissyville. I prayed alot yesterday to work through this and have come to accept it. I have a great life. So what if my family is like 15,000 miles away and I won't get a baby shower? My life and my family is right here in Saipan. My Mother's nickname for me as a child was Pissy Missy. Coincidence, I think not.

As I was talking to my Mom, my Grampy called her and told her that they got my picture (their announcement) and Mom...who knows what she was thinking...says "Here, talk to Grampy". Now, I am on a landline talking to Mom on a landline. Grampy called her on her cell phone. It is virtually impossible to hold a conversation through a conventional sized phone handset to a midget palm sized cell phone to another person. I can just picture her holding the 2 phones together. I had to keep yelling to her that I couldn't hear anything. I ended up talking to Grampy later and got the, "I thought you said you NEVER wanted kids?!". Yeah, well I also said that I was NEVER getting married either. Ha! Guess I reserved the right to change my mind in plenty of time. Actually what I meant back then is that I NEVER want to have children that are obnoxious, misbehaved monsters with no morals, opinions or sense of responsibility. I can show you several examples in my family starting with the adults.

Mom started radiation. Every day for 20 minutes, weekends off. Until August 20 or something. They are radiating 9 spots. Plus according to her, they found a tiny spot on her liver on the CT scan so they are going to do a follow up in 3 months. God, let that not be cancer as well.

DMIL called me today...crying. I love her! She had just opened their pillow package and could hardly talk. She kept saying, "I'm so happy for you, you guys are going to make great parents". She was too cute. I wish DH would have been here to talk to her, but she will talk to him this weekend.

So, I am just waiting to hear from Dad & J.

Moving on....

This is a quilt that I sewed last year with the intention to send it to DMIL for Christmas. Well, the hand quilting wasn't done in time for it to be sent so I finished it, made the little pillow out of left overs and put it away for her birthday (next week). I was putting dishes away today and thought, "Holey moley...her birthday is next week...I gotta get that thing out of here!" It is the perfect size for one person as a couch quilt. Or a recliner quilt. The pillow is just decoration. I would say it is 5 feet by 4 feet or so. I think that I might make a childs quilt the same size.





The mail people have been good to me lately. Besides bringing me $ for stuff I am selling, I received the 2 books from paperbackswap.com and my latest ebay purchase, a hank of SSS Butterscotch. Nothing planned for the thread yet, I just couldn't pass it up. And it isn't varigated, yay! Oh, BTW, I finished the book "The Shop on Blossom Street" that I showed a couple of posts ago...what a great book!



This is the shawl that I have started to crochet. I call it "Chocolate Covered Cherries". It works up quickly when I actually sit down to work on it. It is out of the mystery yarn supply that Mom sent.




I did spend a little bit of time on Enchanted Alphabet last night. I am going to finish this part of the alphabet before I let myself do my July ornament SAL with the STO-er's.



We have decided that our big vacation this year will be only to Australia. We were going to go to New Zealand as well, but the places where we wanted to stay are already booked up. That's okay, it will be fun and I can't wait!

This weeks shocking shopping in Saipan moment:
We are going to make lasagna tonight or tomorrow so I went to Joeten to pick up some ricotta cheese. I also needed sour cream to have on hand for various cooking projects so I was standing there in front of the chilled stuff and there is a huge section of small sour cream containers next to the big ones. The little ones had a sign below them that said 50% off with arrows pointing up to them. Wanna know why? Because they expired on May 22, 2006!!! Gross gross gross! That is over a month ago and they are trying to sell them. We were warned about this when we got here so we ALWAYS check expiration dates on everything. I don't see how that can be legal, especilly since it is a perishable item. Blech!

Peace

P.S. Kim, we don't have the PnS here...least not that I have noticed. I was just going to make a cardboard template and use either a washable fabirc marker or a silver quilting pencil. Would either of those work for what I am trying to do? I have those in my stash.

Weekend Roundup

Kim is right, I have started a new quilt. Mom sent me a "kit" a few months ago (I think before we left Guam) and I decided that I am going to put it together. Basically it is just all of the fabric cut out. Here is what one of the blocks looks like. All the blocks are the same. I guess I like symmetry. I am thinking of drawing out a leaf shape, like a simple pointed oval and hand quilting it using that shape on the white squares with a little bit darker aqua thread. Is there a "best" hand quilting thread out there? I usually just order a spool of Guttermann from Hancock's of Paducah.



I am so craving a landjaeger...A really dry one. If you don't know what a landjaeger is, click here. Dad & J sent us a package of them last year and I took them out of the package and put them in the refrigerator in a brown paper bag...achieving the correct dryness in less than a week! I think that Landjaegers are a northern thing. Probably stemming from the immense amount of German & Swiss ancestry of where we are from. A vodka gimlet sounds pretty good as well. It has been forever since I have had one. DH will have a glass of wine with dinner some nights and he will pass the glass to me so I can "sniff" it. For whatever reason, his Cabernets, Merlots, et al have smelled so delicious to me lately. 6 months ago I wouldn't have drank them if the world went dry. Ahhh, a gimlet and a landjaeger.

This weekend was pretty uneventful. Did the usual stuff, got water, fought the crazies on Saturday buying groceries. I don't know why we go to the grocery store on Saturdays. Joeten always has a "Super Saturday" sale which is basically the same crap on "sale" every Saturday. Not like we go with a special list of "sale priced must-haves". I was really hungry for either Eggs Benedict or a waffle on Sunday so DH & I went to a local restaurant that seems to be a staple in the community. Before we came to Saipan, people on Guam said, "Oh, you have to go to (insert name of restaurant)." Honestly, I would give this place about 2 stars on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best. We have been there 3 times and 2 of the 3 times they didn't refill our water (all DH will drink) until we were getting up to leave. I should have known better on Sunday though when we sat down and the lady asked what we would like to drink. I asked for a decaf coffee. Now, this place has some fancy schmancy espresso machines and seems to pride itself on an extensive coffee menu. Guess what she said? "Oh, I am sorry, we don't have decaf." Alrighty then. I guess I will just have cranberry juice. DH: water. At that point, I looked at the pathetic one page menu (half of said page was coffee drinks with decaf listed), the other half was about 8 breakfast entrees to chose from. No Eggs Benedict (fish benedict *gag*, yes) and no waffles to be found. I almost told DH, "leave $3 on the table for my juice and lets go". But, I decided to give it a chance. I settled on some crazy named blueberry pancakes.
It was not meant to be. Again, the waitress said, "Oh, I am sorry we don't have blueberry pancakes, we do have banana." Strike TWO sister! If I wanted a freaking banana pancake, I would have chopped a banana off my tree and whipped up some pancakes. Blueberries are expensive to buy, therefore I only eat the expensive to buy stuff when we go out to eat. I ended up with plain pancakes. :(

Saturday I made some homemade hamburger buns and DH grilled out some burgers. The buns were good, although a bit giant sized. It was my first time making them so I have some tinkering to do. I would rather make them than buy the ones in the store that have a million preservatives in them and God only knows how many roaches have crawled through the flour bins. I need to make some bread today. Nothing like homemade bread and it is so simple if you have this. I was lucky and DH bought me one for Christmas last year. It really isn't appropriate for whipping a meringue or some whipped cream, but for double batches of cookies and breads...this baby can't be beat! Every foodie needs one.

I finished my scarf. It is actually about 6 feet long. Used one skien of yarn. Now I started a shawl. I thought it would be good for the charity group that I am in...maybe one of the Moms watching her child go through chemo would enjoy it. Plus I get to use this yarn for something.



I want to figure out how to put little pictures in my sidebar of my WIP's and finishes. Anyone...anyone? Is it as simple as uploading to Photobucket, reducing size and copying the tag line into the sidebar code space? I am such a nerd that I made my buttons or blinkies "clickable" the other day. All except the flag. That one I couldn't decide on where to redirect it to.

Oh yeah, we sent the Granparent's Announcement pillows on Tuesday last week so hopefully they will have them by Wednesday or Thursday this week. I am so anxious to hear their reactions. Wheeeee!

Peace!

Yay! Fun Mail!

Ever since moving away from my family 3 years ago, mail has become a very fun time of the day for me. I do miss the home delivery we had in Louisiana and Guam, but at least we still get mail...most of it...the stuff that doesn't fall out of the Continental plane as it goes over the Pacific (I'm not kidding, it happened last year while we lived in Guam).

Yesterday I got some fun mail! I got my ebay wins, BOAF "A Very Fine Sampler" and Six Strand Sweets hanks in Organic Blueberry. I also got a few skiens of DMC metallics from a very nice stitcher on 123 as well as a baby stitching book that I want to stitch the pillow that says "Baby" from. And a couple of books from Paperbackswap.com . I love that book trading website. It is a pain at times because if something is mailed to me via Media Mail, it can take up to 8 weeks to get here and is kind of a hassle until you learn the system. I have received so many books from there all for the price of postage. If anyone reads this and wants to sign up, please use me as a reference... mhighfill@gmail.com . Once you post 9 books to swap, you instantly get 3 credits and I also get a credit. Love it!

Isn't this just a rough life? This is the baby, Bella. She likes to help me sew but it makes her sleepy after a while. Maybe it has something to do with the Pink Floyd I just downloaded that is playing. Nothing like "Comfortably Numb" to make you relax a little. I really wanted to get "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", that was the whole reason for logging onto the site today. Brought back memories of Dad & J and DH & I playing darts in Dad & J's bar downstairs last year. It was cute how they sang it to each other. Man, I miss them.



Okay, had to open up the Grateful Dead folder...got enough here to last the rest of the day. Back to sewing and singing along. If I hear "Shakedown Street" I will surely have to get up and dance like a true Deadhead. :)

Peace.

Lots of pictures

Yeah, I really haven't felt like blogging much lately. Haven't felt like doing much of anything honestly. It is so freaking hot here, all I want to do is lay in front of the fan with a glass of ice water.

Had my OB appointment Tuesday. There are 2 things that I have to say on this subject:

1. I miss home.
2. If the 9 am appointment is not the first appointment in the morning, then you can be sure that I will have the first appointment next time so that we don't sit there and wait for over an hour to talk to the doctor for 10 minutes.

He tried to hear the heartbeat with a doppler, but said that it is a tad bit too early...better around 14 weeks he said. I lost just over 1 kg, but that is okay. I get to go back in 4 weeks, yippee. He said that it was okay to fly to New Zealand later this year for our vacation.

On to other news, here are some pictures of things that I have finished:

Scarf crocheted with size H hook using unknown acrylic yarn Mom sent to me

Scarf started last night using Red Heart acrylic yarn Mom sent to me in color "Ocean", using size I hook. The color variation is so pretty in this one.

STO "Christmas in July" exchange:

4 My Boys design, turned into an envelope or a pocket for kleenex packs (looks strange because I have stuff inside of it).

Scissor fob is from HIH "Winter Fobs" stitched up in 1 day!

Crocheted dishcloth using Peaches & Creme color "Sea Mist" using size G hook (I think)

Update on Enchanted Alphabet

New start, "Twinkle, Twinkle" on PTP fabric

A sneak peek at a coming attraction:

The scarves are for a new group that I joined, CraftingForACause. It is a yahoo group that helps the UC Davis infusion center (pediatric) and the Pine Ridge Reservation. I wanted to find some way to donate my time and some use for the yarn that Mom has been sending me.

They take all kinds of donations as they are opening up a small store (they are non profit) and they also have craft bazaars that they participate in. There is also another charity they work with...the name escapes me but basically it is sending crafting supplies to young adults with developmental disabilities.

This weeks shocking shopping in Saipan moment:

We were at Joeten in Susupe and I saw bing cherries, a small package mind you, and I thought, "Mmmm...cherries. So they aren't Rainier, they would still be good." That is until I looked at the price...$11.99 per pound! Guess I won't be eating those anytime soon. We took a road trip out west last summer on our way to LA to drop off the car before flying to Guam. We were in Washington and found Rainier cherries for $2.50 per pound. I had to send Dad a postcard about it because he goes to the 320 store and buys them for $8-10 per pound when they are in season and just gorges himself silly on them. Hard to believe that was just one year ago.

I am so sick of our power going out. It went out 3 times yesterday, sometime after midnight...coming back on at 3 am, out again just before 1 pm, on again around 3 pm and then around 6 pm until about 7:30 pm. Grrr...it really gets old. We have a generator, but would rather use it for typhoons or long term power outages.

Lady doing what she does best:

Peace

I am so sick of blogger not putting photos in after I have uploaded them so I used my Photobucket account...sorry if they are huge but I have just spent 30 minutes resizing them and it still is wonky. I will work on it later. :)

10086 Sunset Boulevard

That is a house that I would love to have seen. Or at least the set. I was flipping through the channels and found "Sunset Boulevard" on AMC or something. Of course I had to watch it for the eleventyith time! So, there I sat, finishing the stitching for the backside of my scissor fob for the STO "Christmas in July" exchange, watching Norma Desmond make the complete transition to insanity. Strange thing is that I can totally see Gloria Swanson turn into this woman in real life. I believe that it did win an Academy Award but it didn't work to revive Ms. Swanson's career.


Stitching
I will assemble the fob tomorrow and post a picture. I used the HIH "Winter Fobs" chart and did the Christmas Tree one. I decided that the double Leviathan stitch is my new favorite specialty stitch. Replacing the Colonial knot. Our exchanges are a central exchange, meaning that we all mail to the same person every time and she mails out the items to everyone that participated. Works great! We never have anyone that is disappointed by not receiving anything. I think that I am going to make my "Bless Us" finish into a small envelope with a button on the back for stitching stuff and put the fob in it along with a dishcloth I am going to crochet. Thankfully the due date isn't until July 22, but I would like to get it all mailed out by next weekend. So, look for pics tomorrow.

Enchanted Alphabet: I will post an update tomorrow. I haven't been meeting my goal of one letter a day :( I got very discouraged when I had to frog a large portion of the "E" and restitch it. But, I plan on putting some serious time into it tonight.

Food:
Anyone else out there just love Paula Deen on the Food Network? I swear she doesn't have blood in her veins, she has butter instead. I love her accent! I was watching a little bit yesterday and DH (who never really paid much attention to her...he's an Alton Brown & Bobby Flay guy) actually watched her with me. And guess who I caught watching her this morning...DH! I was talking to Stels on the phone and he was watching her cook a cow, I swear that is how big the steak was. So tonight, we are having some kind of grilled dijon chicken breasts with Cornucopia salad and baked potato with Ring Tum Ditty (sounds funky but looks deeelish). Find the recipe here for the Baked Potato with Ring Tum Ditty. We are using less bacon and cheese and no butter. The picture looks kinda like vomit, but it looked really good on TV. Can you believe that Oscar Mayer thick cut bacon is over $10 here!?!? I wouldn't have if I hadn't seen it for myself. Come on 2008!

So, I am feeling parched and need a dose of sweet tea...I will catch up with y'all later.

Peace

Post with no specific title...

While perusing the online sites this AM (God, I love me some internets) I came across a few new fantastic designs and accessories:

Warm Water Wash by Raise the Roof Designs

Halloween Elf Fairy by Mirabilia (kit)

And these fantastic little scissors, Louis XVI from The French Needle

The Village of Hawk Run Hollow from Carriage House Samplings

The Village of Hawk Run Hollow is a companion piece to "Houses of Hawk Run Hollow" which I can happily say is tucked away in my stash binders. Hoping to someday (sooner rather than later) be brought to life by my needle and thread.

I love the verse of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow...

"When I am dead and in my grave, and all my bones are rotten, remember me when this you see lest I should be forgotten. Remember me as you pass by, as you are now so once was I, as I am now so must you be, prepare for death and follow me."

Charming, isn't it?

*******

I really wish that they were showing "An Inconvenient Truth" around here. Gah, now I guess we will just have to wait until it comes out on DVD. I have read some pretty great reviews about it and I do hope that it opens people's eyes a little bit. Want to know more? Go here. I was suprised this morning when I read Trent's blog that he had been to see it and found it interesting.

*******

Angelo, we thought it was nice meeting you last night. Thanks for your smart ass comments :) Imagine my suprise, meeting a fellow blogger on this tiny little piece of rock. Oh, by the way...I really don't eat bologna, it was the only lunchmeat I could remember the price of. We did buy a fresh Tuna about 2 months ago...DH cut it into steaks and grilled it. Barf barf barf (the pregnancy hormones talking). And, being treehuggers, we don't run our aircon. Well, okay, sometimes I do only in the bedroom when I am having a lazy movie Saturday. Seriously, we only use something like 500kWh per month. Thanks again for the tips on where to find Old Man by the Sea.

*******

Okay, I am off to read for a while. Thinking of starting "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown next (he wrote "The DaVinci Code") once I am done with my current Monica Ferris book. She is such easy reading, I think I need something a little more brain bending.

Peace

Hoffman's Freebies

Get them quick...who knows when they will be pulled.

Hoffman's SOS Freebies

I like the LHN Summer House, Crescent Colours Liberty Ewe, and Country Cottage Needleworks Bloom.

Okay, off to finish my morning rounds. If you haven't had a chance to take a look at Summer's blog lately, I highly recommend it. She doesn't leave posts up long, but she has some truly gorgeous finishing that she has done lately not to mention the pretty tassels that she makes. Check it out.

I might update later...if you are lucky :)

Peace

Angel thoughts and Ebay

So, I have been thinking more about the angel for my Mom. I think that I will do "In The Arms of An Angel" (on the right) . I already have this chart, the threads and the fabric. All I will need to order is the beads and the braid. And I know that if I order them from Joanne at 123stitch, they will get here lickety split.

If I do that one for her, I probably won't feel like doing it again right away for myself so I have decided that I would like to do "Mother's Bliss" (on the left) for me. Looks fairly simple and I really think that I can get this one done.

As each day progresses, I think of more projects that I would like to start. I have been thinking more about Christmas presents for our parents also. I was thinking that I would just order them something online and have it shipped directly to them. I may still do that! It just seems impersonal. Oh well, I guess that is how it may have to be this year since we are so far away.



Ebay Update:

• I still have not heard from the person that won 2 of my auctions last week...I emailed the bidder again and asked what method of payment they were going to use and to let me know if they have already mailed their payment. Guess we will see.

• I am so excited that I won some "hanks" of Six Strand Sweets. I know, I don't like overdyed threads but Six Strand Sweets are an exception. Plus, I love to give them to other people in exchanges. I got 3 hanks (25 yards per hank) of "Organic Blueberry" (like GAST "Coneflower"). I think that this is the color that I am going to do my "Lord's Prayer" in by My Big Toe Designs. Probably on a white or ecru evenweave. I can't believe that I only am paying 10 cents a yard for this thread!!! And I love the fact that it is solid so that I can stitch in Continental style to my little heart's content. Now to find more time to stitch...which in actuality shouldn't be a problem since I don't work. I had purchased "Lord's Prayer" with the thought that I would stitch it for my Granny since she is the most appreciative recipient of my stitching next to my Aunt J. Guess we will see how ambitious I am.

• I have listed some more shirts. We buy these shirts at the factory stores. If you see one that you like, email me at mhighfill@gmail.com and I can see if we have it in a size that you need. I like to do this for a little extra money (and believe me I am not getting rich here). They have tons of stuff at these stores...Abercrombie, American Eagle Outfitters, Field Gear (Marshall Field's house brand), Hollister, Liz Lange Maternity... The Field Gear sweatshirts are fantastic! And they are a real bargain. They are thick like the Champion sweatshirts and sell in the stores for $28.50 (some of them had the MF store tag on it)...we can get them for a fraction of that price! My ebay listings are here.

Well, I need to go punch down my bread dough and get it rising again and then into the oven. Tonight DH & I are going to some function that he has to do for work. I just want to go out for some KFC!!! :)

Edit: I couldn't help but take advantage of showing off a cute kitty pic...as I was walking out to the kitchen, I saw the girls snoozing on the bed. They must've had a marathon grooming session together and got tired. Here they are...Killer Lily is on the left and Isabella is on the right. In all their glory:

Peace

Twinkle twinkle

So, I have decided on a "theme" for the baby's decorations & bedding. Now mind you, the nursery will be in the guest bedroom that will also have a full size bed in it. I will just turn the bed against the wall to make more room as the rooms are kinda small.

Here is the inspiration for the nursery decor, I think that it is kinda gender neutral...maybe a teensy bit girly but cute nonetheless. It is called Twinkle Twinkle and it is by Pickle Barrel Designs.






I think that I am going to stitch it on this fabric that Kim sent me in an exchange. I don't know the name of the color but it is by Picture this Plus and the background is sky blue with some purples and pinks mottled in it...soo much prettier in person than what I can describe here. Do I just rinse this fabric and then iron it before using it? Is it colorfast? I really like to wash / rinse my finished projects and then iron them on the backside to make the stitching stand up more but I don't want the dyes to bleed into the stitching.


Here is an update on my WIP, Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace. Doing it in regular DMC. My goal is to stitch one letter per day so it is going well. I am doing it on an ivory linen...28 or 32 ct, I can't remember...I keep telling myself to measure it but then I forget. (edit: it is 32 ct)
I was thinking today about doing a MLI angel for my Mom for her 50th birthday in February...anyone have any suggestions? I am going to start "In the Arms of an Angel" next after Enchanted Alphabet for me and then I will go to Mother's Tree. (since I don't have fabric for MT yet and I do for ITAOAA) I thought about doing "Angel of Healing" but the face on her looks so morbid. So then I thought of "Angel of Hope" since "Hope" is a big hot word for breast cancer awareness but personally, she is kinda ugly. Mom's not feeling so hot. She has to have more surgery to remove the little bit of tissue left on her rib cage and then go through radiation every day for 20 minutes a day for 6 weeks. Poor thing has been through alot with this already. I wish that MLI would design an angel for breast cancer awareness...I can just imagine how gorgeous she would be with her pinks and creams...maybe holding a trailing pink ribbon that seems to be caught on the wind so that it is in the shape of the pink ribbon symbol (loosely). Anyone know how I can get in contact with her to tell her my ideas? I looked on the tiag.com website but didn't see any specific email address for her.

Peace!

5 Things & stuff

I am tired and about to go to bed, but thought I would get out a quick post. Today I mailed off a TON of stuff! Lots of ebay winnings and other stuff I sold (Kim your package is on it's happy little way). Plus about 6 books for paperbakswap.com and my Dad's Father's Day present (a bottle of Saipan honey since he is a honey freak) and some American Eagle Outfitters tank tops for Mom.

I am a little disappointed in one of my ebay sales. There is one person that won 2 of the shirts I had up and hasn't contacted me or made payment. I have already sent an invoice so I sent a message through ebay today. As I was thinking about it today, I checked said bidders feedback :( This person has about 4 negatives or neutrals out of less than 60 for never responding or paying. Makes me mad. Shame on them for being irresponsible.

I worked on Enchanted Alphabet today and will post a WIP pic for you tomorrow. My goal is to stitch one letter a day and I am doing well so far! I started to re-read the Monica Ferris series, starting with Crewel World. A lady from paperbackswap.com sent me 4 in the series and I had only requested one so I felt pretty blessed! I have read probably 4 or so in the series but I decided that I want to read them in order so that I can see more of the character development with each book. I am a nerd, I know. :)

I saw this on Jo's blog so I thought I would do it and I will tag Kim and Jenn (I was starting to wonder about you, Jenn...going to go read your post next)

5 Things:

5 things in my fridge

Baby Carrots
Eggs
Butter (the real deal here)
Milk from New Zealand that doesn't have to be refrigerated until you open it!
Home made bread

5 items in my closet

Rollerblades that I haven't used in 6 years
Shoes
Purses
Winter Clothes being stored
Head board & foot board to the antique guest bed (it is getting too rickety to use so we thought we would store it there...isn't that where everyone stores theirs?)

5 items in my purse (handbag)

Rosary (and I am not Catholic)
Wallet
Gum
Listing of birthdays & anniversaries in monthly order (not that I pay attention to it)
Glasses case

5 items in my car

Lots of canvas shopping bags for groceries. (we are treehuggers afterall!)
A lug nut remover that is shaped like an X
An emergency kit (don't really know what is in it)
DH's Oakley bag for his broken shades
I am sure that on my side (read: passenger) that there is a used kleenex or errant piece of paper in the door pocket...otherwise our car is clean.

Well, that is all I have to say about that so I am going to bed.

Peace!

Attention: people of Saipan

Since we have only just moved here a couple of months ago, I have some questions. And I know that people from the CNMI look at this blog, I can see it in my tracker on the right. So please, if you are reading this and from the CNMI, take a minute to answer my questions if you can. Thanks so much!

Question 1:

How do we get to the Old Man by the Sea? Last weekend we went the way that we thought, up past Kingfisher Golf course and at the end of the road it curved right (DH said that the road continued into the people's yard ahead of us, but I don't think so) so we followed the curve and went down a long, rutted, washed out road. We ended up at what we think was Talofofo Beach. The picture below is from that beach (I have tons more but I am irritated with Blogger). Directions to Old Man by the Sea would be very appreciated!



Question 2:

If the bills in Legislation do not pass in regards to providing financial relief to the CNMI govermnment, how much are they likely to raise our energy rates? I was half listening to the news last week and I thought I heard them say that they may raise our power rates to 66 cents per kWh! Can this be true? I realize that we aren't sitting on any oil wells or a mound of coal but if they were to raise it that much, can you imagine what the crime rate will go to, not to mention the cost of groceries (which by the way is insane...seriously...a package of Oscar Mayer sliced Bologna for $6.50 at Joeten)? We figured out that we pay approximately 15 cents per kWh currently which is alot more than the 4 cents per kWh that we paid in Louisiana 1 year ago.

Question 3:

Do the gas prices here ever come down? We arrived on island at the beginning of April. Gas (regular) was $3.04/gal. Here we are at the beginning of June and it is $3.45/gal. I realize that the price of oil is somewhere around $72/barrel but man alive... Good thing this island is small.

Question 4:

Anyone know where I can buy a container of cat treats? Like Pounce or Deli Slices? We look at every store we go to and have gone to the pet store on Middle Road with no luck. Oh, and while we are on the subject of pets...where do they sell Eukanuba food?

Well, I think that is all of my questions for now. We really like living in Saipan even though it costs an arm and a leg. I guess it is a tradeoff for the natural beauty here. That and the everyday sunshine. Anyone who has ever considered coming to Saipan, I would highly recommend it! Hopefully it doesn't end up like Guam in about 20 years.

Off to stitch~

Peace!

They're finished but it is still too early!

I finally finished sewing the Grandparent's announcement pillows today. The trickiest part was fumbling around with the 3 inches of edge that needs to be closed up once they are stuffed. Anyone got any tips for making the stuffing more uniform? Mine is a bit lumpy ( I like a very full pillow ) so I just kinda mush it around on my lap with my palms for a while, but then it gets a little compressed. I sewed the bias tape edging on by hand since I have yet to master that on the machine. I even put the zipper foot on for the first time to try it out but the pillow wouldn't cooperate.


So, now they are done. My next appointment with the OB is June 20 and I am hoping that we can hear a heartbeat. I know that they won't do an Ultrasound then, so I am hoping for a doppler to hear the heartbeat. I will be 11 weeks along and if they do hear the heartbeat, the risk of miscarriage drops to 3%. At least that is what I read on a website. My risk of miscarriage is 29% due to my age...geesh...almost a 1 in 3 chance. :( So, that is why we are waiting to tell the parents. I want to be closer to 12 weeks. I figure that once we have the appointment, then I can send them that week and they will get them the following week. I am also thinking about taking a picture of me in a plain t-shirt and having my BF's DH doctor it so that the t-shirt reads "Due January 2007", then printing that out (on regular paper) and enclosing it with the pillow. I would print out an extra one so that I could send it to my grandparents as well since we really haven't thought of a creative way to tell them they will be great-grandparents again. I think that it would be different if this was their first great grandchild, but sadly my cousin that is 5 years older than me beat me by 14 years to the punch. Hard to believe that my Granny was 32 when she was a grandma and 52 when she was a great grandma.

Here is my current (most pressing WIP), Enchanted Alphabet by Lavender & Lace. I intend on making the child's hair more of a brown color than the blond that the model was stitched with. But, I have a long way to go before I get to the child! (I will have to try again later to upload this picture, blogger is a bugger)



Kim- Mother's Tree is by Lavender & Lace as well, I really like the heirloom quality of this design. I plan on stitching it like the model shown but may use a lighter fabric. Here is a picture of what the model looks like. Many stitchers suggest putting the chart, threads and a note on the back of the frame as well as having extra fabric at the bottom tucked up so that it can be added to in future generations. I may do that as well. I do admit though that charting out the names was a true PIA the first time I tried it, but this last time, I just kind of "winged" it and I think that it will be fine as long as I take my time.




Peace!