CraftAholics Anonymous Gift Exchange

Yes, there is a support group, er blog, for all  of us craft junkies. You can find the crafters version of "Bill" here:
http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/ . Linda is a great blogger and crafter and Host of a wonderful gift exchange for crafters. I don't know how she has the time or organization to put it together But Boy Am I Glad She Did!

I had soo much fun meeting my exchange partner, Nancy, and making a gift for her. AND THE BEST PART: I got one in return.. made just for me! You can meet Nancy here : Flatrock Cabin: Let the Gift-Making Begin!.    
   This is the wonderful gift she made me:   I call it My green ripple bag and have put it use already.

 How it all got started: About a month ago I signed up for the gift exchange with Linda and she hooked us up. Then I got this email from Nancy telling me about herself :   " I collect snowmen and cats.  I decorate in the country or colonial style and my favorite color is red.  Hope to hear from you soon.  Nancy"

I wasn't too sure about the colonial style but while I was trying to figure it out, I got this picture in my head:  

I like to make bags (great minds must think alike, lol) and I decided a bag with this on it would be cool. A few emails later I knew more about Nancy and colonial but couldn't get the bag out of my head ( Nancy works in a preschool and I think bags are always great to carry supplies back and forth in). So I ventured forth without a pattern.  And this is how it went:

Sky option one

sky option two

  Picking the fabrics for my picture was the funnest and hardest part.  But I think I'll save the why and whereall of that for another blog. 

Once I had my picture done, I had to make a bag of it:

kept my seams on the outside so i could attach my frame to them

insides together

three pcs: front, back and 1 loong one for the bottom and sides. This is the corner tucks at the bottom edges.

my 3 pc bag put together

And frame it :   

I had to add a few cool touches like a hidden pocket in the house and some practical like the double pocket on the back and the side snaps. and some both like the adjustable handles made out of bow ties!

My hidden pocket ( there's also one in the door!)

this is a double pocket with a snap..practical but cute

snaps in the sides to make gussets.. for less stuff days

I added a lining and a tie inside to hold in all the goodies.

And mailed it off to it's new home. Hope Nancy loves it as much as I love hers!

Finished! Can you see the bow tie handles. I love these.. cute and fun.

101_2302

101_2302, a photo by ethyl7 on Flickr.

giving thanks

Most days me and THE MAN (upstairs) are on the outs. But on Thanksgiving we are like most families and we put our differences aside for the day. Today I will talk and He will listen. It will go something like this:

Our Father in heaven

Thank You for all I have and help me remember that what I have not is not important.

Thank You for my husband who is still my sweetheart and who works hard to take care of his family.

Thank You that he is the best dad ever.

Thank You for my wonderful daughters and my adorable grandson. Please be with and watch over my oldest while she is so far from me serving our country. Thank You for bringing her out of war safely but she is still too far for me to hold. Please hug her for me.

Thank You for my grandson and be with him while he tries to make sense of the changes in his life. Thank You for giving me a year with him. Thank You for his father who finally stepped up and for his step-mother who loves him so much and will help to keep him in touch with his mother and his me-maw who are so far from him. Please give them the patience and the guidance needed to help our little one.

Thank You for my college student. She is still my angel even if she grew up and moved out, the one most like me. Thank You that even if she is like me, she is not following in my footsteps. Please keep her safe and motivated. (And thank You that she chose such a nice, small college and for helping us pay for it)

Thank you for my teenager. She is a wonderful, smart and talented girl who works hard in school and sports and doesn't look for trouble. Thank you that we do not fight much and help me to give her the freedom a teenager needs to grow while still giving her the guidance and structure she needs to keep her safe.

Thank You for my mom who is still my mom when I need a mom and a friend the rest of the time, for my sister who went from my youthful enemy to my best friend, for bringing her a man to love her and remind her that all guys are not jerks, for my brother and his wife and children, for the rest of my family and friends who are the best any could ask for. There is not a one who would not do all they could to help a friend or a neighbor. You put Your best work here by me. Thank You.

Amen

These are my blessings and nothing else matters. 

There is more I truly am grateful for but that usually runs like this (Though I struggle to juggle the bills, I thank you that somehow they all get paid. I thank you that my husband has a job he likes and pray one day they realize he gives them more work than they give him pay.. etc) So I just skip all that because today is not about the qualifiers, the things we are glad we have but wish we had better. 

Today is the day to just rest in what we have, to be happy and enjoy our blessings and remember not what we don't have but that there are many who don't have the love and the family and the full tables we have today. Today is a day to thank God and not to ask God for more

The long way home

It was Parents' Weekend @ my daughter's college. The quickest route involves the Interstate Highway System. I hate the interstate. Lucky for me parent #2 couldn't make it (he is always about the quickest way to get there). So Grandma (my mom) took his place. I got my meandering genes from her. We stuck to the two-lane roads on the way up and only took one detour as we needed to be there at a certain time.
Detour One:

 

Very nice place but not a winery yet, just a wine bar. While at the college I played my first Trivia Game and our group came in 4th, not bad. Shopped the thrift and antique stores with my daughter. Enjoyed a play and a comic. The only picture I got was of the Campus grounds. She is camera shy.   It makes me wish I was going there, very pretty campus. 

On Sunday we headed home with the first detour only minutes away.. a fashion show and wine tasting. Already our aganda was scrapped in favor of winging it. The wine-tasting led us to "The Wooden Nickel".

 

A little more driving (Mom refained from tasting every wine so I could) led us to Greenville. We had to circle many blocks there, we kept seeing stuff we had to get a better look at. 

This litttle shop in the old jail was a gem. 

 

A little ways down the road and we had to stop here for more wine and some dinner.

   Later we passed my store but they were closed so it was on home. A two hour drive took eight but it was  a day of fun and laughter for mother and daughter