What Are We Making?

What are we making? Something from red felt and white beads....

...jingle bells, green felt hats, gold tinsel...

Jingle Bell Elf Ornaments! Kaitlin and I made twenty of these for gifts this year.

Thanksgiving 2008

Once again we traveled to San Diego for Thanksgiving. We did the "Run For The Hungry" in the morning and then enjoyed a delicious buffet in the afternoon.

We were especially happy that "Auntie Roz" joined us on Thursday evening! Roz is a friend who feels like a member of the family.



That evening we headed to the movies as usual. The boys saw the new James Bond. The girls saw "Twilight" which was a big disappointment. Kaitlin and I have read the books and were expecting great things. Oh well. We had a couple of good laughs. Roz was a good sport, not even complaining until I remarked, "Wow this movie stinks..." I only confirmed what she and Kaitlin were thinking.

On Friday morning we went shopping at the local mall. Had to do our part for the economy of course! Afterward we said goodbye to Roz and headed home.

It was a great vacation and the kids hardly even fought.

Kaitlin is a College Graduate!

Congratulations to our precious daughter!

Kaitlin has a degree in Elementary Education. Her future students are very lucky.

After her graduation she took off on a 19-day tour of Europe. Here is her itinerary!

Kaitlin's Dance Class

Click here to watch a short clip of Kaitlin's dance class at ASU. She is the teacher/choreographer in black. Thanks Liz!

V is for Vintage Linen Bag

I made this for Barb's Recycled Linens Challenge. I wanted to further challenge myself to create something with an element of "randomness." So I reached into a bag of vintage lace and just used whatever I pulled out. Not EXACTLY of course...but I tried. I love seeing the creative work of designers who don't seem to mind when things aren't exactly straight or perfectly matching.

The base fabric is embroidered linen (not vintage) and then I appliqued some motifs from a linen upholstery fabric onto it. Then I added the lace, buttons, MOP buckle and doily. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for the challenge, Barb. Sorry I am late!

I'm in The Arizona Republic Today!

Click here for the full article.

Where's Laura K?

The 2007 Christmas concert has come and gone. Can you find me? (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

Here is last year's post.

Q is for Quit

I apologize to my legions of faithful readers for neglecting my alphabet.

I have been spending all of my blogging energy at BPR.

R is for Runway - my favorite television show - Project Runway

S is for Sewing and Singing - my favorite hobbies

T - is for Thanksgiving. We had a blast in San Diego and even did a 5K Run for the Hungry!

U is for Unraveled. I attended Art Unraveled in Phoenix in August. Here are some photos:





V is for ???? I'm stumped.

W is for William - my youngest!




X is for X-rays. James broke his arm in April requiring several surgeries and a long recovery period. (He fell off his skateboard.) A couple of weeks after his final cast was removed in August he decided to play rugby with his friends and broke the same arm again - both bones. No surgery required this time, but another long recovery. He is out of the cast and had a final x-ray yesterday. The doctor says he is looking good and we don't have to go back for another three months. Unless we have another rugby game.

Y is for you. Thanks for reading!

Z is for Zoo. Kaitlin and I had a blast with our friend Roz at the San Diego Zoo.
Kaitlin loves the elephants.

P is for Petting Zoo

Kaitlin has been student-teaching at St. Theresa's School in Phoenix.

For several weeks she has been saying that we HAD to go to the "Fall Festival" which was on Sunday. Of course I was dying to go. What fun! I would get to meet her 7th and 8th-grade students and her "mentor" teacher, Mrs. Drummey.

Daniel came along as well. There was tons of great food and drinks, (a bar even! Catholics sure know how to party!) and a great line-up of live entertainment. There was a cake-walk and rock climbing and the usual fun and games, but I was most enchanted by the petting zoo.





This chicken climbed into everyone's lap!



Honestly, Daniel was a little bit afraid of the goats. "Dan, just put your arm around it - like a DOG!" "Mom, it's NOT a dog...it has HORNS!"



Which one is the teacher?



I couldn't resist the chance to lock these two up in jail. It only cost me four tickets!


More of Kaitlin's students.


We had a great day!

O is for Orphaned Quilt Block

Another item I can't resist is the lone quilt block. Perhaps it was intended for a quilt that never was completed. Perhaps it was left over from a finished quilt - or maybe it was a "practice" block.

These turn up everywhere and I enjoy rescuing them. But what to actually do with them? Mostly they just accumulate like everything else but I have made a few into Christmas ornaments and zipper pouches. It's been so long since I did a tutorial that I thought it would be fun to take step-by-step photos:

N is for Needlepoint

I can't resist a vintage needlepoint canvas. I see one and I imagine the woman who worked on it intending some wonderful purpose. I never spend a lot of money and they are quite plentiful. Sometimes they are like new and other times they have been removed from a chair or bench.

I made a bag out of one canvas and it turned out pretty well. I didn't get a photo though - sorry! I think I will make more now that it's almost fall.

It feels like just yesterday I was complaining about the
heat, and already it is cool and beautiful here in Scottsdale, AZ.

M is for Marigold

A couple of years ago when Kaitlin was working for Anthropologie, she declared that her new favorite color was "marigold." She began wearing this color and decorating her room with it. We've had a lot of fun spotting marigold in fashion and in home decor.

I began to realize that I had some vintage marigold items in my stash as well and I started to add them to a box. Soon the box was full to overflowing. I don't know what I will ever do with this collection, but it is fun to look at!

L is for Lavender Bird Sachets

These are wool and stuffed with lavender. The sewing room smells heavenly!

K is for Ken and Kaitlin

Here is a photo of my darling husband Ken, with Kaitlin on the front porch at Aunt Janice's house in Marietta Ohio a couple of weeks ago. Aren't they adorable?

J is For Jar

This is what the empty jars look like. They are in three sizes.


The little ones are great for buttons, the mediums are filled with trims and millinery flowers and fruit and the big ones are also filled with flowers and lavender potpourri. I probably have a total of 30 jars. I know... it's a problem. I went back to the store twice for more jars after the first trip.

Anyone want to meet Heather and I at IKEA?

I is for IKEA

We have an IKEA store not too far away - perhaps a 40-minute drive, but convenient to my daughter in Tempe. Somehow, I just never get there. In fact, it is my sister-in-law, Heather who usually gets me to go by offering to meet me there.

I'm not really into cooking or kitchen stuff, and I am trying to clear out the accessories from my house - not add to them. Furthermore, IKEA is just so large and overwhelming that it seems to take forever just to get through it. Even if I wanted one thing and knew exactly where it was, it would take 30 minutes to get to it, place it in the cart and check out. SO... I am not a big IKEA fan.

But this all changed several weeks ago.

Heather called on a whim to meet me there - I was already at Kaitlin's so it worked out perfectly - although I might have dressed a little bettter! We wove in and out admiring one thing after another. My cart remained empty while she seemed to locate all sorts of things needed for her daughter, Alex. A desk! A chair! A lamp! A drawer! Heather quickly made her selections....

Breezing along through the kitchen stuff my eye caught a display of jars...

Now most people would use them for pasta or sugar or cookie cutters, or whatever else people use in their kitchens. I of course thought "Buttons."

My buttons ARE in jars, but it is rather a mishmash of antique mall finds and jelly jars - nothing consistent. Suddenly I had an image of a line-up of perfectly matched jars filled with color-coordinated buttons. I HAD to have them.

There were several sizes and I added them to my cart. I was thrilled and couldn't wait to get home to begin sorting and organizing things into my new Jars... Hey, Jars starts with J, right? More to come....

H is for Heat!

Here in Arizona we are accustomed to the summer heat, but this year has been worse than usual. In fact we have now had 27 days of over-110-degree weather already this year. If we hit 110 today we will tie a record. Since the last day of the year to ever hit 110 has been September 15th, we still have plenty of time.

Of course, nine months of the year the weather is perfection. The sun is always shining and the sky is always clear and blue!

Update: Broke the record today - August 29, 2007 with the 29th day of over 110 degrees so far this year.

G is for Grandma Moe

This is my grandma, Ruth Moe. I discovered this photo of her at my mom's house earlier this summer. I love it because this is probably from the early 70's which would have been when I was a girl. This is how I remember her. Aside from the obvious fun of the styling, which cracks me up, I love the stern expression on her face. She was never really stern but had to put on this attitude for her students (and grandkids) sometimes.

Her hair turned silvery-white as she aged and by the time my children were born she had long hair worn in a french twist. Her face also softened quite a bit.

She was a schoolteacher for many many years. All of her students loved her and everyone wanted "Mrs. Moe" for the fourth grade. She taught at Peters Elementary in Plantation Florida and we lived nearby. All of the kids in the neighborhood knew her and were impressed to learn that Mrs. Moe was my grandmother.

After her retirement she devoted herself to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was the quintessential grandmother. She quilted, baked cookies and was a pillar of her church. She also started taking piano lessons. It was something she had "always wanted to do." Her piano teacher was one of her former students - now grown, married and a father.

She also did French Hand Sewing - by hand, of course! She made a beautiful christening gown, Christmas stockings and dresses for her granddaughters and great-granddaughters.

Grandma Moe always encouraged my creativity. When I was about in fifth grade I was sick with the mumps and my mom sent me to her house to recover. While there I discovered her stack of craft magazines and sent her out shopping for supplies. "I need FINIALS and pipe cleaners and paint and jingle bells and felt and don't forget the glue..." She was happy (at least she SEEMED happy...) to do this. I had so much fun creating that I never wanted to leave.

Later on she gave me my first sewing machine for Christmas. She also gave me my first guitar. The guitar didn't work out....

In 1976, just in time for the Bicentennial, she helped me with my first quilt. The pattern was called "Aunt Sukey's Choice." I put it in a frame at her house and she and her friends and my mom and even my great-grandmother helped to quilt it. I still have that quilt. It is pretty cute!

Grandma Moe always encouraged me in anything I ever tried to do. She made me feel important and talented and powerful. She is gone now, but I hold her in my heart. Someday I hope to be the kind of grandmother that she was to me.

F is For Felt Flower Pins

I ordered a sample pack of wool felt from a seller on eBay and I've been having some fun with it. I used these bright colors for flower pins. What do you think? I am determined to find a way to use ALL of the colors. I'll keep you posted...

E is for Exhausted and Excedrin

It's been one of those days. School starts next week which means we have a lot of running around to do. Today was registration at the high school for James. I was just finishing filling out the "health card" when I remembered that he was supposed to have a shot before he was allowed to register. He is 15.

There was no way I was getting in to the pediatrician. They could schedule us for October! I knew from experience that our usual "Urgent Care" provider does not do vaccinations. I knew of another clinic a little further away and we had had a good experience there several months ago. We headed there only to learn that they didn't do vaccinations either. I asked if they could recommend another place, they did, and we headed there. No luck. However, the woman at the desk was very helpful. She discovered that the shots were available for free at Scottsdale Osborne Hospital on Saturday. But we needed to register TODAY. She made a couple of more calls and discovered a Walk-in Clinic only about 30 more minutes further away that had the vaccine.

We drove there only to walk in to a completely full waiting room. Literally two seats were left. I knew it would be a long wait. Good thing I had a book :) After about an hour and a half we got the shot. The nurse said: "This is about the 500th one I've done this week." No kidding?

By now it was long past the scheduled time for our registration. We hurried to school and finished just under the gun.

Now, where's the Excedrin?