The Aurora Borealis

Stephanie wanted a black Minkee cover with the outline of Alaska, some moose tracks, and thread colors that might go with an aurora borealis theme. Hopefully this will do the trick!


I am getting ready to put it out in today's mail. I hope you enjoy it!

Mmmmmmm....Minkee!

Cheryl has had me busy working on these soft and scrumptious Minkee fitteds and they are finally ready for pics...which I know she has been DYING for!! :D

Citrus gelato Minkee/Minkee with purple and orange side snaps.

Light pink dot Minkee/natural OBcV with purple and pink side snaps.

Snow Leopard Minkee/Chocolate Minkee with orange and chocolate side snaps.

Aqua gelato Minkee/Minkee with lime and ocean side snaps.

Hot pink dot Minkee/natural OBcV with light pink and hot pink side snaps.

Yellow dot Minkee/black Minkee with yellow and black side snaps.

Chocolate Minkee/Minkee with hot pink and chocolate side snaps.

I am just getting the external doublers finished up and will hopefully have these on their way to you Wednesday along with the snow baby tee (to feed your OCD need for tees to match your longies...hahahahaha!). I will edit this and put up a pic of the tee tomorrow.

*Edited to add the snow baby pic. I hope you like her!

Little Peanut

Hi Mary, I hope you are having a great vacation! Your dipe is finished and headed out in today's mail. I emailed you about shipping to your mom's, but didn't hear back and went ahead and sent it to your addy because I didn't think it would make it to your mom's before you left. Sorry for it's late start!

Blog Action Day 2008 - Poverty

Today is Blog Action Day 2008 and the topic selected was Poverty.

When the word 'poverty' is mentioned, many people might imagine hungry children in a third world country such as Africa or India or Haiti. Poverty can have a different meaning for each individual. For me, the term poverty implies needing assistance because you cannot meet the basic needs of life which are love, food, shelter and clothing. I mention love because I believe it is the most important.

The members of St Mary's Catholic Church here in Moscow provide this food bank (out of love) to meet the needs of those who cannot quite provide enough food to feed their families. In preparing for this post today (I had only two days to prepare), I have done a bit of research, but one thing stuck out to me in our small little town where we don't often see signs of poverty, "One out of eight children in Idaho go to bed hungry every night" To me that number was a shock. This is Idaho in the good old US of A. There should be NO poverty here. We are the wealthiest nation in the world! How is it then, that a child could be hungry or homeless?

Then I look at the statistics worldwide. It is staggering, really. Here are a few for you:

Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
Because obviously weapons are more important than educating children that war really solves nothing.

2.2 billion children in the world, 1 billion live in poverty (that is every second child).
EVERY. SECOND. CHILD!

1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity.
Imagine a life without electricity. Just imagine it.

In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%
Because we want all this stuff so that we can be happy. Never mind that the average amount spent for a month of cable service for entertainment would feed, clothe and educate a child for 6 months and really make a difference in that child's life. We would just DIE without the latest 'reality' show on the tv...their reality show is that, According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” Kinda makes who is getting booted off the island a little less significant.

The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.
Just WOW!

You can view these stats and more at http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats.

Weeping Willows Grand Re-opening!

So, I joined a congo. Not sure what possessed me to go ahead and join one other than that I know it will help keep me motivated (I have never really been a 'joiner' haha). Weeping Willows seems like a good congo. I think the website could use a fresher, cleaner appearance, but the other WAHMs seem pretty nice and I think most of them have some nice items to offer.

Tomorrow at Noon is the re-opening and to celebrate the event, I am offering a FFS embroidered Minkee/Minkee cover. Some of the other stores have FFS items as well, so drop by and check it out!

A few of the pocket/covers I am offering are pictured below.

Go Blue!

A little UM team spirit on it's way to you Mel! They will go out tomorrow as planned. :)

Fuzzi Bunz.

More Pirate Booty

Well, I finally got my machine back. It was only gone for a day, but it felt much longer! hahaha

Desiree, I have your 3d pocket diaper ready to go out in tomorrows mail. I haven't done a NB/SM size in so long, and it looks so adorable and teeny tiny! Thanks for being patient while I had my machine looked at. :)

Mel, I am planning to start your FB's on Monday and have them back out to you on Tuesday. If I get some time this weekend I will get a jump on them, but plan on Tuesday. :)

Thanks!

Something more important than cloth diapers

Many of you know that my husband and I hope to adopt a sibling group of three orphans from Ethiopia. At this point we don't know if it is going to be a possibility for the 3 children we have fallen in love with. Our agency and the children's orphanage are having difficulties with a few things. The financial aspect is also a huge one for us.

That aside, my family and I still have a huge burden on our hearts for the children who go to bed each night knowing they are alone in the world and hoping against hope for someone to love them. No child should have these lonely fears. Some of these children also have another struggle in their young lives, being born with or acquiring HIV. In our country, HIV is a manageable disease and children and adults can receive medications to enable them to live long and healthy lives. In countries like Ethiopia, a child with HIV has little hope for life at all.

The AHOPE Bracelets pictured above are designed to honor the children of AHOPE and raise funds for their care. For a $10.00 donation you can wear a stainless steel AHOPE bracelet that features the AHOPE logo, the first name of a child at AHOPE, and the Amharic word for HOPE. We pray that each bracelet will serve as a reminder of a special child and raise awareness of the plight of HIV orphans around the world. By wearing an AHOPE Bracelet, you join our efforts in caring for these children!

If you would like to order a bracelet for yourself or as a gift, please email Marissa and she can let you know how to proceed. Shipping and handling is $2.50 for up to three bracelets in one package. As my own special way to contribute, I will offer a 15% discount on anything in my store (or congo) to the mommas (or daddy's) who order a bracelet and send me their picture wearing it!

Stalking...errrrrrr...following feature

The sidebar of my blog has a new Blogger feature where you can follow the blog. I don't know how it works, but go try it out and see!

The sewing room

With my embroidery machine out of commission over the weekend, I decided to tackle my sewing room relocation. My son recently graduated and left for an extended visit with my dad and brothers in Hong Kong. His sister immediately took over his old bedroom and made it her own...complete with over 200 posters of the Jonas Brothers and Joe Jonas in particular. She is juuuuust a tad obsessed.

With her vacated bedroom I began dreaming of all the SPACE I could have if I moved my sewing room into it...not to mention an abundance of natural light with two windows...one to the south and another to the west. So I went ahead and bit the bullet and moved in! I was chatting with my friend Holly from Momufactured and we were swapping sewing room photos (hers is bigger than mine...and has more stuff!!), but here are a few pics of mine!

I finally have a closet big enough to hold most of my fabric!! Yay! Fleece, Minkee, flannel, and dyed obv up on top, five 14 yard coils of obv hanging on the right with bags of washed obv, obi, and obf behind, my bags of fabric scraps hanging in the center (cause everyone knows I can't part with my fabric scraps!), drawers stuffed full of fabrics and notions, 3 extra sewing machines stored to the left along with all my unfinished quilt tops (which I swear I will get done this winter...no really!).

In my strive for space, and because I couldn't imagine selling this loft bed at a loss when my middle son decided he didn't want it anymore, I turned it into a work center and it does beautifully in the role. Both my Bernina 'baby's' are set up here, my personal laptop, my embroidery machine laptop, threads, stabilizers, snaps...all within easy reach. My UFO's (unfinished objects) are in the laundry basket below, as are a few of my patterns. The left side is my pitifully small cutting area and below that is shipping stuff, trash, and more drawers of notions.

This shelf unit was my Nana's for the longest time and I repainted it a few years ago and it became storage for my other UNfavored serger (it isn't a Bernina and therefore is relegated to the corner!) when not in use, books, PUL, and more fabric yardage and I - Spy quilt charms...yeah I will get around to them as well! My makeshift lightbox is sitting on the chair there to the left...with the remnants of the soap I was taking pictures of today to list at Etsy.
And no, that isn't a real baby sleeping up there with the serger as it's pillow! It is my daughters old Berenger Reborn doll and has become my favorite model for tiny things I sew. :)

All in all, I LOVE the space I have now. I think the room is 14 x 12, so a full 40 or so square feet bigger than what I had previously! I don't love the carpet though and will need to get it cleaned asap. My daughter still holds the record for most gum and candy per square foot according to our carpet cleaning guy! Oh...and ignore my daughters porcelain doll collection up there. She now thinks they are 'creepy' and can't be bothered to move them to her (overstuffed) digs. :P

When and if my oldest son returns from HK, he gets the tiny ex-sewing room! hahaha Good thing he is a minimalist. All his stuff, including his clothing, fits into ONE box!