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.

Adventurers of All Kinds

M had a work-required costume party. Theme: adventurers of all kinds. Someone must have turned off his imagination. He was going to go as a pirate “because everyone else at work is a pirate.”

He showed me what he had gotten at the costume store down the street. Yes, there are lots of costume stores in Las Vegas. (Let’s not speculate about the reasons for this.) No way was my hubby going in THAT pirate costume. Eeesh. It was, shall we say, lame.

I made it my mission while I was in LV to find a better costume for the hubster. I did some research and found Williams Costume Company at 1226 South 3rd St downtown. Pull up in the parking lot and you are greeted by the enormous mural depicting a group of showgirls from the 1950s. I guess one of these beauties is the owner of the store.

As it says at LonelyPlanet.com, “Williams has supplied the Strip's starlets with DIY costuming raw goods since 1957. Check out the headshots in the dressing rooms, then pick up some rhinestones, sequins, feathers - you go girl! The staff are friendly and costume rentals are available.”

Nancy (she must be in her 80s but still wearing showgirl stage makeup) gave me a personal tour, helping me find a more suitable guise for my man. We settled on a crusader’s garb, consisting of a tunic, robe and crown. The costume didn’t include pants, so I said to Nancy “Does he just wear his own black pants with this?”

“Honey, I don’t care if he wears pants or not. This is Vegas,” she says.

Bah-dump-bump ( I could practically hear the drum after the punch line). Me, the straight man to Nancy’s funny. I had to hold on to the clothing rack to keep from falling down. I felt my face get warm, blushing. I’m not a prude. She just caught me off guard.

I had a more imaginative idea for a costume.

You know the head gear for a novice nun? Like that worn by Maria in “The Sound of Music?”

M could wear all his own clothes and hold one of his fat nasty cigars, wearing the novice nun hat. He could be a missionary… an adventurer for God. I guess I was the only one who thought that was funny.

Even Nancy didn't think it was funny. I explained my great idea and she just looked at me with those eye-shadowed eyes, deadpan.

M didn't like the "adventurer for God" idea, either. He refused to be that imaginative.

My husband, the crusader.

Heave Ho!

Had to return that lame pirate costume to the other place, though. When we got there, we were not allowed in. Criss Angel was inside filming a segment for his show. I think it’s called MindFreak? It was annoying. We stood outside for about an hour while his crew kept saying “Five more minutes and he’ll be done, dude.” Once they finally opened the doors, he was nowhere to be seen… must have run to the back with his entourage. So much for our almost B-list celebrity encounter.

Flour Sack Towels - Embellished

The Central Texas Chapter of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is doing a service project. We are raising money by making gift baskets and auctioning them off. One basket's theme is "the kitchen." So... This weekend was spent getting to know the embroidery features of my BabyLock Ellure... by embroidering 15 flour sack kitchen towels.

They're kind of cute rolled in bowed bundle of three.

I also finished up Chrispy's shirt that matches little brother Connor's. Everything is the same, including the CP initials on the pocket.

Today I started on Chrispy's "flamin' hot" fleece hoody.

So much to do before Christmas!