Saturday yoyos and Betty Boop

My kids are watching a marathon of Betty Boop CD videos today and working on our yoyo quilt. I think more watching is happening than sewing. Not all of them sew equally well, but for this type of quilt the 7-year-old's stitches will work just fine. The oldest is smirking because she was supposed to be sewing more than watching TV and knows she just got caught in the last photo.

Can you tell it is Saturday? They went to sleep with wet hair, and now they look like little street urchins, at least their hair does!

Help job wanted from home

Hello I am still looking for a job I can do from home. True, I currently have a job being a florist and will continue to do so as long as needed, but I'm just wondering if there are people out there who need a pattern tester. I can do that. I sew and crochet and tat and do other hand work; if you know of someone who is in need of a pattern tester, please refer me to them and them to me. Thanks!

Valentine from Anna Marie Horner

So a few years back Anna had this limited edition valentine heart garland on her blog. I was the first one to order one. Now, being a person with to many projects, I set it aside to do later. Somehow over those two years the ribbon has managed to leave the package, but the fabric and instructions are still there so I decided today that I needed to pull this out so I can try and finish this or something else might go missing from the package. I don't know if you can read it in the photo, but the postmark is 2007 so better late than never.

A Hair Cut sorta

This isn't much of a hair cut, but since I haven't cut my hair in about 15 years, it is for me. I have trimmed it in that time, but now I have bangs again, so what do you think? I know, too late to change it back now; I'm just curious. I felt like I was starting to look old and I didn't like it. So I went back to the hair cut I had 15 years ago when my husband and I got married. I know, not much different at all. The photo on the left was three months ago, the photo on the right is today.

more oya links...facebook news

• http://alliesinstitches.blogspot.com/search/label/oya
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPpuMHz5C7A
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBmtfyqz61U&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW5RSHVb6uQ&feature=related
• http://cqmagonline.com/vol06iss02/articles/681/index.shtml

And I joined facebook today; interesting, but I'm not sure if I needed one more thing to follow.

#17 of 25 motif tatting challenge

Ok, so I am not doing this very fast; too much on my plate. But I have worked on the challenge and this is the latest piece I am making. The thread is vintage and very small. It will be a nice delicate edging to add to my box of handmade lace.

8 yards 14 inches

My oldest daughter finished her first piece of crocheted lace; it measured 8 yards and 14 inches long and about 1 inch wide. She started this several months ago. I think she did a great job; it tested her patience just as the quilt did, but didn't take as long to finish. The difference between this and the quilt is that the lace is mom's. The rule is, until she buys her own thread and hooks, any lace she makes in the process of learning to crochet belongs to me. Whereas with the quilt I let her keep it. She is already chomping at the bit for the next piece of crochet to make. So I guess after school we will pick her next pattern to make.

42 on explore

42 on explore, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

1. oriental butterfly, 2. butterfly, 3. handmade lace box, 4. lace number 3 pineapple, 5. romanian lace cord tutorial video, 6. sils rug in progress, 7. pin on apron, 8. new skirt,

9. the start of three dresses? or just shirts, 10. Christmas garland, 11. on tree, 12. side by side, 13. hung on tree, 14. front with out buttons but after star, 15. knitting machines, 16. poinsettia / The journey,

17. kid airplane ornament, 18. toile apron made by aunt george, 19. more blooms, 20. butterfly pillow, 21. suzyhomemakers mini quilt is done, 22. This block is made by clare, 23. 1st finished butterfly for curtain, 24. 3rd butterfly on curtain,

25. lt and dk pink tatting, 26. hex granny squares, 27. antique tatting, 28. more antique tatting, 29. front, 30. redwork butterfly signature block, 31. style d, 32. layette set,

33. crazy daisies, 34. flower tutorial, 35. English Paper piecing tutorial, 36. bubble gum pink quilt #1, 37. SRE = silk ribbon embroidery, 38. lazy daisy week 3, 39. temari, 40. back side dove,

41. felt ornament dove, 42. felt snow man done, style:christmas colors

These are all photos that are currenly on explore or have been on it in the past.

Handmade suit and a Flintlock

So I got off work a little early today (due to lack of business; I hope this changes soon or I am going to be out a job). Anyway, I went to my kids' school early to pick them up and figured I would just work on some crochet in the car while I waited. To my surprise about 5 minutes after I got there out came my daughter's class.

The 5th graders are learning about the revolutionary war this year and are even putting on a school play about it; my oldest is playing Martha Washington. So one of their lessons was hands- on, so to speak.

The suit Mr. Cornell is wearing, a revolutionary- type suit, is all hand stitched. How cool is that and all his weapons and other stuff are handmade, too. He demonstrated to the class how to load and fire a flintlock (no ball, of course, just black power and wad). He showed them how the ram rod works and how to bite the bullet. Those sayings have almost no meaning any more, but the kids learned the original meanings and from where they came. He also explained that the gun weighs about 10 pounds and that it is roughly 5 feet 4 inches tall, about the height of some of the children in class. When this type of gun was originally in use, the average man was about the same height as the gun. This surprised the children because they couldn't believe that they are the height of an adult who lived 200 years ago.

There are a few more photos from this in my flickr photos.

Black Red White...Apple core...life

So I haven't posted much lately because my back has been out and I haven't been doing many, if any, projects because it hurt to sit. All I have been doing is using a heat pad and working, which keeps re-throwing my back out. It will be OK; this happens often and I am used to it, but it sure is annoying. Today I left work early because it was slow and a non-floral holiday so there was no reason for three of us to be there. On the way home I got a call from my older sister telling me my stepfather had a stroke and a brain aneurysm on Sunday and that they might have to operate. If they can't fix it, then he will more than likely die in less than three months. If that happens, my children will very much miss their Grandpa Smith. I have to say my back is nothing compared to that bit of news. So, if you have a small prayer you can spare, say one for my step- dad. I am here trying to clear my thoughts, and so I started on this, something I've wanted to do for at least 20 years, a black, red and white apple core quilt (my three favorite colors).

I am not Annemarie

Dec 31 2008
Just to clear something up, I am not Annamarie; she is a very nice person who likes to read my blog. She has posted me as a blog she likes to read, and this has caused a little confusion. Because she doesn't have a blog of her own, people seem to be getting us confused. I just wanted to clarify this because it seems to have been happening for about 1 or 2 months now.

Jan 19 2009
Since this is still happening I will bring this post to the top every time I get called Annamarie. Maybe it will stop soon, because it keeps confusing people.

February 7 2009
It happened again today so I will just bring this to the top of the posts again.

Pj's for two

My oldest two daughters have out grown all their PJ's, and the youngest has received them all. So I needed to make two sets of PJ's, but I am trying not to spend too much money on things like this. This is a sort-of-late Christmas present to them. So I went to my fabric stash and found I owned one piece of flannel; shocking since I don't buy flannel. Then I remembered it was a gift about five years ago, just happened to have monkeys wearing Christmas hats and red and silver snowflakes, fitting for a late Christmas present.

I could either make one outfit with pants and a shirt or I could make two sets by just using the flannel for the pants and asking the girls to find comfortable cotton shirts they already owned and put a pocket on them so it would match. I figured the second was the best solution, so Sunday morning I got up at my normal time (between four and five a.m.) and set to work on this project. By church at nine a.m. I had one completely made and the second all cut out and ready to go when I got home.

I only had one pattern for PJ's, and my oldest two daughters had both out grown it, so much of the time was spent re-drafting the pattern to fit them. I think they came out pretty well without having to go to the store for any of it. I purposely made them extra long (they are cuffed it's hard to tell in photo) and a little loose in the waist so they could wear them a few years by dropping the cuff later.

Don't think the youngest was left out she was happy to have all the left over scraps so she could sew her dolls some clothes, so they all got something they wanted.

Oya on facebook

Ok, I am going to show my age; I have heard about face book but don't really know what it is. But I was given this link to an oya page on it, so I am posting it for all those Oya fans out there to look at.

There are a few crochet patterns there posted such as this, this and this, oh and this one too and here and here and lastly.

In the news

So there is this newspaper in the UK called the Guardian I don't know much (actually I don't know anything about this paper other than it is in the UK) I actually have heard from my spouse that their point of view is quiet different than mine and I probably wouldn't agree with most of what they post but who can go wrong with Christmas crafts. They wanted to have my embroidered ornament as one of the features in their Christmas newspaper insert and I let them. They modified it by adding their own pictures and changing a few words but it is still my tutorial in the paper( no money for it always happens that way). So how does a girl that lives in Utah get in a UK newspaper I guess my blog and flickr have to do with that an an email I answered saying yes followed by many more asking and answering questions.

Vavo and Nono

As most of you know, I am a florist. What you may not know is that I have a lot of florist relatives, ie: my aunt, a few cousins, a sister, and last but not least, both of my grand- parents. My Vova and Nono owned two different flower shops, and I grew up in those shops as well as all the other people I mentioned. It was just a family business, and we all helped out. The part that was great was that when one shop closed, they joined forces in the other and became a very strong team at work and at home. They had this great team at home and at work and always seemed to love their work. I can't always say that is true for me when I have been a florist over the years, but I still love arranging flowers and that is the gift I will have forever from them, a couple who always loved each other. I miss my Nono very much; he died while I was in collage.

My Vova is still alive, but I don't get to see her as much as I would like. She is still an amazing woman and a great role model to her entire family.
The last photo is my Vavo and one of my cousins at a floral convention. I love the way she sticks an anthirium in her hair; she loves anthirium and has always placed them in her hair like that, especially around Christmas time. The two pictures above it are my grandparents, also at floral conventions. The top two pictures are from flower shows and floral exhibits that my grandparents did.

Baby Bonnets in store Today

New items in my etsy store today.
I have also tried to add paypal to my etsy store;
not sure if I did it right, hope it all goes well.
(I am hoping this makes it easier for customers and faster for me to ship to customers without the wait of the check clearing and the shipping of the check)

Yellow striped bonnet with antique hex back piece made from antique afghan.

Green striped bonnet with antique hex back piece made from antique afghan.

Purple on purple striped bonnet with antique hex back piece made from antique afghan.

Red striped bonnet with antique hex back piece made from antique afghan.

variegated bonnet .

A Look at Christmas

I looked at this tree a lot while over Christmas vacation and all of it's kissing balls lovingly made by my grandmother for all her family and friends. All the work that goes into making these for a woman of 94 years on oxygen -- wow, lots of love! This isn't even 1/3 of what she made; I took the photo after Christmas when everyone had already grabbed their new one.

This was kind of a unique Christmas for my family. We did go to California although, from a blog point of view, my readers would never have known it because I had the blog on auto publish. Meaning I typed up some things for the holidays well in advance and on the corresponding day they published.

But as for my trip, it was fairly smooth other than we had some major things happen that tilted the family, ie: two deaths three days before Christmas, and a cousin paralyzed also three days before Christmas. None of these events happened together, but all on the same day. My cousin is a young mother; long story short, her little girl needs her mommy to walk and help pay the bills. My cousin is a nurse in a prison and got hurt while trying to rescue another nurse (who just happened to be pregnant, meaning more weight than a normal person, and my cousin is petite). During a prison riot she was in a golf cart trying to pull the other woman into it to get to safety, and she, my cousin, got pulled out and hit the ground got hurt. Now she is in a lot of pain and can't walk; any prayers for her would be greatly appreciated.

While at my Vavo's home we sat by the phone for any news; I spent a lot of time looking at these items since they are in that room. This may sound strange, but I am glad it was Christmas; it just put an entirely different spin on things. The family was already gathering to be together, so we all got to strengthen each other and had the time to do it, too.

The pictures in this post are from my Vavo's parlor in her home, the home I grew up in and will always think of as home and comfort. The cherubs are up all year. Peace be with you.