Perigee Haiku

My own poor attempt
to preserve the perigee
lost in translation

Bragging On My Dad

This is not my project. It's my Dad's. I'm so impressed and blown away by this talent that I have to share with you!

It's not that I'm surprised that such artistic talent could come from him. Not at all. He's talented in SOOOOO many ways; he's a singer, he's a writer, he's a guitar player, he's a jokester, and he can DO anything. But this particular talent has been hidden for many, many years....like from before I was born!

Apparently he got into leather working as a "young lad" and worked a couple purses, some belts, and maybe a wallet or two. I'm not sure what made him put it away....

So, now he's retired and something provoked him to take up his old hobby again. He made a wallet for my brother. He brought it to show me and I was floored. I oooooh'd and ahhhh'd and was so impressed! (he said oooooh'ing and ahhhhh'ing were a must, but it's not like it wouldn't just come naturally)

Then, he set to work on a purse for my sister. This piece of leather for the purse had been sitting in his basement for about 30 years! He worked it baby....oh yes he did! take a look:

Look at all that lacing! Look at all the detail in the flowers and leaves and the hummingbird!

These are not stamps, folks! He carves out these images. That's talent!

He even added her kids' names to the side panels (the letters are stamps, I think).

So, there you have it! Some amazing crafty art from my Dad. Any oooooh'ing and ahhhhh'ing you might have will be passed on to him :-)

Japan's Earthquake Relief

My bloggy friend, The Crafty Cripple, has a wonderful idea and incentive for coming together and donating to Japan's earthquake relief fund. Please visit her blog and consider donating if you haven't already done so.

Fibers on Friday: Who's Crazy?

That would be me.

Welcome to Fibers on Friday! this is a party dedicated to knitting and crochet and other fiber loving endeavors (like quilting)!

The quilt is finished. It's beautiful. It's loved! It's painstakingly fussed with by a certain little girl to ensure it's just perfect each morning.

But....it gave me a run for my money when I got to the binding. The lady at the quilt shop convinced me I should leave 1/4" of extra fabric around the edge to give a little "bite" to the binding. She likened it to a stuffed crust pizza :-) I agreed....but I did not consider how much the width of my binding would affect this endeavor. So, I kept the width at 2" as called for in my book. Well, this was just too narrow to reach around, grab the extra fabric, and nicely be sewn to the back of the quilt. I fought and fought with it (with my husband's assistance even!) until he finally said,

"Hon, can I ask you to just stop? We'll pull all these stitches out tonight and fix it tomorrow."

I concurred.

So we sat on the couch that night, both armed with seam rippers and an episode of Big Love, and ripped out the whole binding.

The next day, I removed the excess fabric and did it right. It's perfect now!

I'm crazy

Remember my Shalom sweater? Well, I love it, I do. But, I would love it better if it closed more completely in the front (my tummy is not one I'd like hanging out the front of a sweater....and I haven't entered the world of Spanx....yet). So.......I ripped half of it out. Yup. I did. And I plan on knitting it again without the waist shaping and maybe even adding 4 stitches to each side and see how that helps.

A Cute Little Wallet

This little pattern for a cute wallet was displayed at my quilt shop. I thought it was so cute and the ladies assured me it was a fun, easy pattern. Sure enough! It's adorable! Such a nice little means of using fabric scraps. The pattern is by Valori Wells.

I have a couple business cards for people I know (and love!) and they, until now, have been stored in a spare pocket of my wallet, but this little dandy is perfect for my cards.



What? You want to know more about these cards? Oh....well, the top one is for my friend Steph. Her business is selling Thirty One Gifts. Check her out.....super cute bags, wallets, and totes.

And the other one is for my cousin Amy and her husband, Jason. I've told you about them. They are hoping to build their family through open adoption. Need to know more? Visit their site and keep them in mind....

It's All About the Green

I made a card today! Do you believe it? I have had two days of working on my quilt. Really, two craft FILLED days....no other pressing issues to deal with. The quilt gave me a run for my money, but more on that on Friday. So, today when I finally finished it, I wanted to step away from the sewing machine and into my paper crafting world.

My girls are part of a Daisy Girl Scout Troop. They have secret pen pals they are responsible for writing once a month. Actual writing! With pen and paper! I'm thrilled about this. So, this provided the perfect incentive for me to make some "stationary" for them....and it's festive!!

In order to jump right into the mojo, I need inspiration and a path. I have a couple go-to places for that, and today it happened to be Card Patterns via my friend, Elise, at Mamacow Creations. Here's the sketch:

And here's my take:

Supplies:

Cardstock: PTI
Buttons: PTI
Patterned paper: Wild Asparagus
Copics
Stickles

Meatless Monday! Crafting Fail Turned Delicious Dinner!

For St. Patty's Day decorations this year, I was all excited to make the split pea decor balls or topiaries that have been all over the net. Like here. I think it's just the cutest idea and I love the look. I bought all the supplies and set out making split pea decor balls.

It was a disaster!!

I honestly don't know how so many people completed that project so successfully because I, for one, am STILL vacuuming up split peas!

But, I was not discouraged. I knew I could put the left over peas to good use in a nice split pea soup for St. Patty's Day. I made this last night and we were all very impressed! Of the canned Campbell's soups, I'd have to say split pea is my favorite, but it's loaded with salt and well, ham. But, oh, the yummy smokey flavor! How can we achieve that in a meatless soup sans ham hocks!?

The answer: Chipotle Chili Powder!

The flavor and smokiness of this soup was divine. The recipe calls for it to be made in a pressure cooker, but I don't have one. So, I made it in the crock pot and pureed it in a blender. This picture is not very appetizing, I admit. I forgot to take one while it was hot and pretty in my bowl...so here are the drab left overs...I assure you, they're still yummy! I found this recipe here.

We then moved on to homemade Shamrock Shakes!!

Top O' the Marnin' to ya!