Can I get a minute?

It was time to update my blog. I made a few fun changes and added a new banner. This week was about cleaning house, making decisions and letting go of things that don't work for me anymore.
I mentioned once that I stopped decorating and designing when I became debilitated by an "injury" to my foot. Well, I have had some breakthroughs and some let-downs in trying to treat the pain. I felt as though I was getting my life back a little after a successful cortisone injection, then it wore off and I had to seek out another doctor, as the doctor I was so happy with left this area for Dallas. I followed up with another doctor, another injection, but no pain relief. I just finished four weeks of physical therapy (third time around now) and minimal pain relief using iontofreesis (totally spelled that phonetically) which pulls an applied steroid deep into the tissue using a negative ionic charge. Upon my followup with the doctor and my 6th set of Xrays to evaluate the results of P.T., my doctor suggested I should get some over-the-counter gel inserts from WalMart and come back in 5 weeks. Had I only thought of that, I could have saved myself around $1800.00 and eight hours in the doctor/P.T. office. Dr. Scholl's, here I come!
That wasn't working for me.. I decided not to reschedule another appointment.
So I am back to wearing a Ten's unit and I do find some relief.. but this can't be the best I can expect! Wanted: Doctor that will listen, think outside the box, doesn't mind treating a Type 1 Diabetic and can spend more than 5.5 minutes per visit considering alternative medicines and techniques to treat pain. Anyone?? Anyone??

And what is it you do?

I get asked that question often, but mostly as a "polite conversation starter". And when forced to answer "what do you do?" I find I never have a really good answer. (I get distracted thinking about how to explain it QUICKLY..Don't you love this cloth belt and leopard buckle?)
I try to explain that to be good at what I do (be a creative consultant slash computer geek-squad for a pattern designer), I must shop, browse, surf the web, read blogs, tear pages from magazines and create like a mad woman now and then.. But I've usually lost the interest of the person questioning me by this time.
I have actually quit telling people that I work unless I think they REALLY care, or have an imagination, or at least ten minutes to kill. Because describing it just sounds like having a tea party with friends and makes some people really mad.
I have been fortunate to find a place to work in which creativity is essential, desirable, in-demand and most appreciated and ENCOURAGED. I have mentioned in the past that I have enjoyed working in a fine group of women that comprise Jackie Clark's design team. Jackie just finished publishing two new patterns which you can find on her website http://www.jackieclarkdesigns.com/ or by following the link in the title of this post and clicking "Patterns and Books". My favorite of all her patterns is one of the new ones, Midnight Breeze. I LOVE to look at it and think about what fabric I would use. Right now the team is setting up Jackie's booth for Fall market - Can't wait!
When I first began working with this wonderful team, Jackie was beginning a project book, since starting with her last year at this time, she has published two project books, two patterns, gone to Spring Market to firm up a new fabric line and is about to finish another pattern before Fall Market.
(I made a few scarves, a couple of necklaces, a scrapbook and some dinner reservations last year, but that's about it). Watching this process, being involved in it, having your opinion shape into decisions that you can watch become a reality.. and see a response to it all - EXCITING, I tell you!
So if you've never seen what Jackie does (or can't figure out what I do) visit her website. I just help with whatever is on the agenda, help with orders and computer geek stuff.. But I love watching the progression of Jackie's ideas, seeing them come to fruition over the course of several months hard work. I love hearing the response the public is having to Jackie's work.. and knowing I was part of that process. This is an exciting time for her, I am so happy to be able to participate.

Come see the Babies!

Several months ago, I announced that Jackson and Priscilla, my sister's sugar gliders had their babies. We have had the wonderful opportunity to babysit and be part of the excitement of taming and training the new babies. Barney and Petrie are their names (this week), both males, both sweet and snuggly and precious.
The parents were very young when my sister got them, but there is such a difference in the level of trust and comfort with these little babies. The adults are not comfortable being held in your hand without something to hide under (little scrap of fabric or towel). But the babies will come to you and walk onto your hand freely.
They are bigger each time I see them, they change in many ways and are amazing to me.
My nieces put them in the pockets of their shorts and walk around with the babies while they sleep snuggled in a pocket full of lint and gum wrappers. Cute, cute, cute!

Purse update..

The Make It Mine Magazine Purse contest ended June 18th, and they have announced the winners. This little rag purse did not make the cut, sadly. To see the three winners, click to this link.. http://cs.makeitminemag.com/mimcs/blogs/makeitmine/2008/06/25/make-it-mine-s-make-it-a-purse-challenge-winners-are.aspx
I cannot tell you though, how much fun it was to use the small scraps of fabric in all the delightful colors and patterns and sizes.. I loved sitting and watching TV and "snipping and ripping" as Jackie would say.. Tying the strips together, knitting them up..
The texture of the fabric and the knots was a wonderful feeling to knit with.
I loved the results and encourage anyone who knits to try using fabric as a new medium. The tactile ripping, tying, knitting and the stretch and give of the fabric, the color combinations is a delightful experience. I get comments all the time about this little purse and love to tell the questioning person about where the fabrics came from. Thanks for listening to this ramble!

As if..

Lately I find myself crafting more, blogging less. These are gift bags I decorated with leftover scrapping supplies. Each gift was a piece of jewelry for the ladies I work with at Jackie Clark Designs. I can't stop making things, and they are often the recipients of my craft experiments or my shopping spree's from the week between our meetings.
This little charm is a scaled down copy of the front cover of Jackie's project book "A Mother's Love". It was a gift for Beverly, who is part of Jackie's design team and who is the proud mother of the cover model, Courtney. Courtney's son (Bev's first grandchild) is the beautiful baby model on this cover. When I made the charm bracelet for Jackie, I thought it would be a sweet keep sake for Bev or for Courtney to have a charm as well.
For Jackie, I found this darling little sewing machine and added a sterling and turquoise heart charm from an old necklace I had. I LOVE to remake things. The tags are scrapping supplies that were left over from other projects. I made some earrings for Claudia, but the photo didn't turn out so great.
When I am not making messes, I am resting on the couch and watching television, dreaming of the things I want to do next, avoiding house work and hoping no one notices. The dogs always notice and are delighted that I am lying prone for a snuggle.
This is the chaos of moving my craft room again, sorting clothes for the garage sale we had last month and evidence that I shouldn't ever step foot into another thrift store again. It boggles the mind that I have time to lie on the couch which is hidden behind this bohemoth mountain of clothing and fabric. AS IF.. No, I don't have time, but I do try to make the time, isn't that right, Ladies?

KS My Stitch: More May Photos

Stephanie's knitted purse, made from recycled fabric, buttons, & handles from another purse. Stephanie has entered her purse into a contest. If you go to http://www.makeitminemag.com/ under community click on "Challenge Gallery" you will see Steph's purse. We all wish you a lot of luck! I think you have a winner.

KS My Stitch: More May Photos

Last month I went to the KS My Stitch crochet guild.. empty handed, sort of. I did not complete the crochet assignment. Surprise. I have found that I don't follow directions well. I don't like to count my stitches, patterns are hard. I'm just not good at it and heaven forbid I should do something that is difficult and challenging.

So I took my knitted purse and Tamara was sweet to include it on their blog. She is learning to post and take and upload pictures.. it's been fun to see everyone's projects.

The meetings are fun, but truly, I am not a crochet artist. I'm a lazy knitter.

So here it is, by begging for votes for this contest I entered. If you follow the link above that Tamara so sweetly included in her post, you can register to vote. My little red and green knitted purse is there waiting for some of your love.

Look, this ugly mugly picture of me is just evidence that I need something good and exciting in my life!!

Thanks!

Sentimental Fool

It's summer, life is crazy as usual, but now with my gang in tow. Things have been turned upside down in our household since the last semester of school. Lauren, our teen found herself fighting a drug addiction and subsequently failing school. We had a rough start, but our family was fortunate because Lauren desired to go to drug treatment. She has had clean drug tests, met all the assignments and tasks that treatment and DCCCA have outlined for her. We stumble a lot, we have moments that feel like our family has come undone. But when we remember what we are supposed to be doing, loving each other, learning, talking, trying, accepting and being responsible - we seem to be able to pull ourselves out of the tailspin quickly. I have had the most unbelievable support system of family and friends. Wise women who have raised their children well and have gone through this before me, advising me, praying for me and loving me even when I don't feel very lovable. This album was created for a gift that I sent to my mother-in-law in Florida for her 70th birthday last month. I scanned it into my computer and used smilebox to make my own home-version I can visit when ever I want to. I thought it might be hard to make a happy album about my family when sometimes it doesn't seem very happy here, or the occupants of my home seem miserable. But it was easy. I still see the people I love, the people I want to help, to protect, to know, to grow with and share with. I still see my home as a loving place, a safe place, a place of love. I just see that it is also a place that shelters a teen and a tween and parents that need to be able to adapt to those needs. Perilous, yes, scary and sometimes very painful.. but so worthwhile when they smile. Thank you Lauren, for being who you are, every moment. Thank you Jim, for holding my hand, thank you Justin for being a brother, a son and a fine young man.

How Exciting!

This post could get complicated, but the simplest version.. Once upon a time I decorated the home of a wonderful gentleman here in Wichita.. it was my first REAL job that wasn't for family or friends, but a REAL client. As my health would have it, he was my last REAL client. After completing his home, I had to retire from decorating.
But LOOK! His home was featured in Wichita Magazine! http://www.wichitacitymag.com/Wichita/May-2008/Where-a-Blue-Blooded-Scotsman-Calls-Home/

This is what the room looked like when I took the job. He called it a Mary Kay house.
This is during the interum while we waited for the curtains I designed to be sewn. My mother was my assistant and my friend Lori did the faux painting on the columns. Together, Lori and I silver-leafed the ceiling over this beautiful contemporary dining set he purchased. Altogether, we re-purposed, refurnished, re-painted, re-accessorized and updated every room in his home, except the kitchen. The baby grand piano shown in the before picture is now in a study and surrounded by Tony's art.

How exciting. My only real job, and I made it into a magazine (local.. but, I'll take it!). Awesome, fun!

Missing in action..

I've been busy. Crazy. Then busy, then crazy-busy. My computer was ill and did not like the internet for about two weeks. I was forced to read blogs at other people's homes, on strange computers. Then, hubby lent our camera to his brother and I nearly had to be committed. No computer, no camera, no life. I did get creative and made lots of jewelry and trinkets and did lots of knitting and some sewing. This purse is one of the knitting-sewing combo's I worked on last week. It is made by tying together 2" by 10-16" scraps of fabric and then knitting them into a rectangle. I sewed a lining and gussetts for the sides and then added bamboo handles I took off a Goodwill purse I bought just for the handles. One of the many things that I had on my mind during my computer and photography black out was a contest I considered entering. The magazine "Make It Mine" is having a contest which challenges you to make a purse from unusual items. There is a small prize, but mostly I just wanted to see what would happen if I tried it. So, if you go to http://www.makeitminemag.com/ and under "Community" click on "Challenge Gallery", my little purse should be showing up there as a contestant. The last time I entered a contest like this I was in 4th grade and it was a Bake-Off. I won a blue ribbon for the cookies I made.. but this is a whole other kind of ball park. Wish me some luck!

Babies!

The babies are visiting. Some time ago I started calling them Sugar Babies instead of Sugar Gliders..
Elvis is in the building.. and so is Jackson, and Priscilla and Tipsy - Momma needs shoe money! This is my baby, Justin, 8 snuggling with Jackson, the sweet and gentle and fun-loving sugar glider. Guess who's a daddy? Jackson! Priscilla has two little peanut sized squirming babies in her pouch! You can see them practically doing back flips in there when she holds on to the side of her cage. I have no idea when we will see a baby, but could be a few more weeks. My sister had surgery and is doing well, but needed someone to take care some of her babies until she is strong enough to multi-task through life with children, work, pets, pets, pets and housework again. So I am getting lots of time to get to know all the babies one on one.
This is Elvis. We are getting to be pals. He isn't grumpy or sassy like in the past. He is mellowing out. We snuggled on the couch and watched a movie the other day. Last night I let him spend some time in a little toy tent that he is perched on in this picture. He was being adventurous and sneaked out the top and climbed under the blanket on the ottoman and "hid" from me.
This is the little tent and his dish cloth that he sleeps on. The tear on his ear is from Jackson when Priscilla came to live with them. Jackson won the fight and Elvis and Priscilla are a couple.
This is Tipsy. She has had a long stay this time. Eleven days this visit. Here for the entire meltdown I had over the last two weeks or so over my daughter and some "teenage-life-sucks-I-hate-you-I'm-running-away-crap" that moms must go through as part of some secret "life-as-Mom-initiation-torture-session" that can only be slightly less painful than dental surgery sans anesthetic. I have been accepted into the society and recognized as a worthy party member. This photo is from my week long love affair I was having with reality TV and my sofa. Tipsy loves when I am depressed because I loaf and she snuggles. I think this was day three of my establishing my sofa empire, no care for personal hygene, no consideration for wardrobe (note the American "Pride" Tshirt- I'm pretty sure I had NO pride). Tipsy cared not. I cared even less.
Today, I was however dressed, accessorized, lip gloss flawlessly applied and on time for work for Dad - day two. One can only hide for so long and I can only be homely for so long before I snap out of it. I do have a certain admiration for women who can truly not give a hoot - permanently.. but I am far too vain. I do have to finally roll my face in the make-up trough and put on some high heels or I just can't take it.
The discord in our family has been healed for the time being and was properly celebrated by my daughter and I spending the evening shoe shopping. Glory be and thank heavens for a good Payless BOGO sale. Shopping heals many things..priceless.