Canines and kids in the primary spirit

Chrispy and I made Captain a jacket yesterday. We downloaded the "VOTE" embroidery pattern from http://www.emblibrary.com/. And then added our candidate's name. It's reversible, with red/white polka dots on the other side. We all went out flyering and had a blast.

Busy with some non-sewing stuff

Not posting much because I'm busy with politicking (how do you spell that?). I've never gotten involved with any election in my whole life. This one feels different. It's time for me to show up and do something.

LOST billboard in Ames: FIND 815.COM

When I was in Ames a few weeks ago I saw it! One of only 9 in the entire world.

LOST had a billboard in Ames, Iowa. No kidding.

Funny story, too. My brother's office is right next to the billboard. His wife was so excited that a new airline named Oceanic was going start flying out of Des Moines! Then my brother googled Oceanic Airlines and realized that it wasn't real (silly people don't watch LOST).

Days later, someone spray-painted FIND 815.COM on the billboard. The crack Ames police force was out on the trail, trying to find clues to apprehend the disrespectful vandal who defaced the advertisement.

Ha! Finally, the police reached the billboard company and found out the truth!

Links to two stories below-

http://www.midiowanews.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19176260&BRD=2700&PAG=461&dept_id=554188&rfi=8

http://www.midiowanews.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19182861&BRD=2700&PAG=461&dept_id=554188&rfi=8

Hurry up and wait... and wait

Waiting is not fun. Especially in the frozen north. At Mayo Clinic, my sis has had to go through testing procedure after testing procedure, sometimes with a few days passing between results. After each result, more tests are ordered and the cycle starts all over again. Some of those waiting days were spent back in Ames.

My mom and I were so frazzled we had to DO something. So Mom taught me how to make a quilt from a paper piece pattern. I'm not a quilter, so this was a challenge! In fact, in the list of required fabrics, notions, etc, on the back of the pattern, right there on the list was

"Seam Ripper (sorry!)"

so even the designer knew that this thing would be a special learning opportunity :-).

The good thing is that it kept us both busy and occupied while waiting for the doctors to tell us the next step.

Thanks for the lessons, Mom!!

I'm home now and finished the quilt tonight. I'm giving it to my mother-in-law.

I used the embroidery feature on my Ellure to make the tag.

By the way, we're waiting for more test results again...

4-Star

Is it a 4-star hotel?

A swanky shopping mall?

An executive building?

No. It's the Mayo Clinic. No kidding. It could be mistaken for any of the above.

I'm up in the frozen north (they are telling me this has been "such a mild winter," HA!) at the Mayo Clinic to be with my sister, who was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This place is amazing.

Everyone think positively. We are.

WWAGD?

A friend sent me a link to a fabric shopping bag for sale online. It had a picture of Al Gore and the letters WWAGD at the top. Well, what would Al Gore do? And what would Al Gore do if he could sew? He'd make nifty fabric grocery bags, of course! I made these from a free pattern at The Creative Thimble website. I had to use a little more fabric than they indicated to be able to make the straps from fabric (instead of webbing), because after pre-wash and -dry, my fabrics shrunk quite a bit. Can't wait to try them out at H-E-B. As usual, click to enlarge photos.

We've been good this year, Santa!

7-year old Caille, Granny (my mom) and I felt the Christmas spirit on Saturday. EVERYONE needs a stocking! Not just the kids!!

We made a three-person assembly line and cranked those puppies out in one afternoon.

Cute wallets hold gift cards

Thanks CheyElizabeth for the really cute idea (complete with tutorial) at craftster.org!

Perfect size for gift cards.

Check out the glass buttons (click the photo for larger view). I love them.

This project really was easy. It took less than an hour from start to finish to complete both.

I'll have to get busy and make a lot more tomorrow, because after that I have to put away the sewing stuff to make room for guests.

A happy Christmas through fancy footwear

Stockings, stockings, stockings!

Christopher and Caille came this weekend to help me get the house in a festive spirit, preparing for the family Christmas celebration.

Chris puts lights on the house, assembled the tree, decorated the mantle just so. All three of us decorated the tree. Then Caille and I decided to make stockings from some of my fabric remnants.

Caille did all the edge finishing and a lot of the embroidery. Christopher did the embroidery on his. I love it that my BL Ellure is easy enough for them to use!

On my clothes, up my nose

Another first for me: fur. What a nasty mess! On the floor, on my clothes, up my nose! After cutting, I took each piece outside in the back yard and shook out the loose fur. We're the only ones in our central Texas neighborhood who have a dusting of "snow."

El Fuego hoodie (or is that hoody?)

Flames of fleece. Believe it or not, this is the first thing I've ever made from fleece. I never got into that fad. But I love this jacket I made for Christopher!

More pigs than peeps...

Let me explain something to those of you who may not realize: there are more pigs than people in Iowa. That's right. More pigs than peeps.

I love Mo Rocca and am a native Ames-ite and alumna of Iowa State. I simply must link to Mo's blog entry here, as he seems to have had a quick fling with a certain Iowa porcine named after him. Mo Rocca 180 "Check out my pig!"

I am seriously missing Iowa presidential election year politics.