2007 CQforNewbies Christmas Victorian Boot Stocking Swap

Good grief where has the time gone? It has been almost a month since my last post. A lot has occurred since then....well, maybe not a lot but it has been busy.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Tommy took the day off and we cooked. YES!!!! We stayed home for once. I was so happy.
We went north on the 25th. I had to renew my drivers licence. Would you believe it, I accidently let it expire......almost 2 years ago!!!!!! Does that tell you how much driving I do? Of course when it expired, we had just moved to New Orleans and the DMV's down here no longer even existed. We were still living in the hotel. It was definitely one of the least of our worries. Anyway, I had to take the written test. Tommy got me a copy of the book, but did I read it??? NO!!! I've been driving for forever, I know everything I need to know. Yeah. That's why I flunked the stupid thing the first time. Yes I failed the written test...lol. So I actually read the book this time. When I retook the test, I passed. I did discover one thing. I really didn't pay any attention to the DWI stuff because I don't drink, Tommy doesn't drink. I missed both DWI questions on the test. Told the girl grading the test I guess I will have to start drinking so I can learn about them. NOT!!! Whatever. My licence is now renewed til 2011. Of course the picture sucks but that is nothing new....hehehehe
December 1st was my birthday. I'm now 42 years young. Tommy took me to Red Lobster for dinner and bought me three huge bags of jewelry that were on sale at Goodwill. Lots and lots of goodies.
I have been working on making our Christmas gifts this year. They are very simple but say we are thinking of them and love them. Everyone gets a set of 4 quilted coasters and two scented doorhangers. Tommy's aunt and sister, along with my best friend and my nephew all get quilts. I have 5 baby blankets I am appliquing names on. I also made Raf a robe. We actually gave it to him this morning because it finally got cold here in New Orleans. Of course it is warming up again this week but right now it is freaking cold. I will post pictures later.
Tuesday is Zoe's birthday. She will be 2 years old. My baby is growing up...lol. With the exception of having issues, she is a very good puppy. I have to make her some clothes to stay warm.....happy happy joy joy.
If everything goes in MY favor this year, we are staying home for Christmas. The last few years, we have split the time between our families. It is draining, physically and emotionally. This year, we are going to Cracker Barrel for Christmas Eve breakfast (Tommy is off but Raf has to work, both days). We are attempting to make it OUR Christmas tradition. My mom and brother are coming to visit over New Year's. Tommy's brother, Jerry, from Orlando is supposed to come for a couple of days before going to their mom's house. I am so hoping Tommy doesn't give in to his badgering to go home for a couple of days. Although I guess that if their dad comes down from Kansas, we will end up going. Oh, well, who knows. Whatever God has planned for us is what will be.

My winter block for the Season to Season Swap. It is going to embellished by Janet in Colorado. I know it will be just beautiful when she is finished.

For the second year I am hosting the Victorian Boot Swap on the CQforNewbies group. Everyone makes a stocking that looks like a Victorian ladies boot. They then make up four squishies to fill the stocking. After mailing them to me, I will swap them out. No one knows whose boot they will receive. They will not be disappointed though.

This is my finished boot. I really like it.


Since we are a group of newbies, I left it up to the ladies to decide rather or not they wanted to embellish one side or both sides of their boot. Lazy me chose to do only the front. I did though use a fabric for the back that is very sparkly, though it doesn't show up that well in the picture. Tommy actually picked the fabric out and I have a blouse out of it.

This is the needlecase I received from Daphne for our final swap. I love it. I haven't lost a needle (especially those tiny darn beading needles) since I started using it.



This is the back cover. Daphne said she actually likes this side better than the front. I like both sides.

This year I participated in a year long international swap hosted by my dear friend Judyth. We swapped squishies 3 times and the 4 (and final) swap was a needlecase. This is the one I made for my partner, Daphne.






She really liked it.

Spirit of Friendship Christmas Doll Swap at CQI

This is the doll I made for the Spirit of Friendship Christmas Doll Swap over at Crazy Quilting International. This is actually the very first doll I ever made, even before the 2 Comfort Dolls and the one my mom got. I think she turned out rather well. There is a small silver angel attached to the bow on her head. I came up with her shape. The fabric in the middle just looks so Christmassy in person.

Tussie Mussie Swap

A couple of months ago I ran across a post on Pat Winter's Gatherings blog (see sidebar for link), and read about a swap she is hosting in blogland. It is a tussie mussie swap between US cqer's and European cqer's. I decided to sign up. My swap partner is in England.

This is the tussie mussie I made for her. Now I just have to gather some goodies to fill it with and pop it in the mail. I am really happy with the way it turned out. Tommy loves it. I hope my partner does also.

Season to Season Swap -- Fall

This is my fall block. This is the second one I made cause I kinda did more than half on the first one....hehe....gotta little carried away.

This is my block after Marlene worked on it. According to Gerry it is winging it's way back to me right this minute. I can't wait to see it.

Season to Season -- Fall

This is the block I worked on for this swap. It belongs to Marlene. The first picture is the block half worked by her. I loved the colors and the texture of her fabrics.

The second picture is my work on her block.

It doesn't show up very well but that is my first button trail. I think it turned out really good.

This is a tree with fall colored leaves and a swing. It turned out better than I expected. If you look closely at the right hand side you can see that I actually put a swing on the lowest branch. The picture is a little too dark for it to show up very well.

I used fall colored beads to spell out fall.


I really enjoyed working on Marlene's block. I hope she likes it as much as I do.

After a month and a half, I return to the blogging world with a lighter, freer spirit and soul. The past month I have dealt with an injury to my right hand and wrist, a sinus infection that makes my teeth hurt, depression, a week of vacation that included Tommy flying to Virginia and then 3 days with my in laws (and we took Raf with us for those days), and an over all serious lack of motivation to get out of bed, at any time during the day. I did complete several projects, I am happy to say, and I am rather pleased with the results.

First, though, my lighter, freer spirit and soul…..Monday, November 12, 2007, at 4:30 in the morning, in the bathroom of my home, I realized that for the first time in my lifetime, I was at peace with my dad. He always belittled me and everything in my life. I was told I was fat, ugly, and no man would ever want me. When you hear this from your father from the time you are a young teenager til you are over 30, you tend to believe it is true. I know I did. My dad died February 22, 1997. The last time I talked to him, we had an argument, which was pretty typical. All this time I have not been able to let go of the anger I felt for him and the way he treated me; the way I saw myself and truly believed the world saw me. Even after I got married to a man who loves and adores me, I wasn’t able to let it go. I couldn’t understand why someone like Tommy would love and want someone like me. For so long, every thought about myself has been colored by the way one person saw me. Then, suddenly, Monday morning I realized that his birthday is the 14th of November. And for the first time in years, there was no anger, no feeling of self worthlessness……..there was just …………..peace….overwhelming peace. Granted my sinuses and tooth were still painful but I felt better than I had felt in longer than I can remember. I had to wake Tommy up to tell him cause I couldn’t call my mom and wake her up. I called her at 7:30 and told her. Made her cry at work, shame on me. She told me her prayer for me had finally been answered. This feeling is wonderful, so freeing, so……peaceful.

I know this is probably not the place to talk about it, but this is like a catharsis for me. For so long, whenever I talked about my dad, there was so much anger and hurt……and now there’s not. I do feel overwhelming grief. Grief that he will never the fine young man his son turned into; grief that he will never know that his prediction for me becoming a teacher came true; and especially grief for him never having the opportunity to meet the man that loves me just as I am, for who and what I am, no excuses asked or given, just me. And to be totally and brutally honest, my creative ability came from him. The man could draw so beautifully. He also had the gift of being able to look at a piece of wood and see what was hiding inside, and then bringing to fruition. He loved when my brother’s friends would come over and see the huge big mouth bass mounted on the wall over the roll top desk and ask where he caught it. He would just smile and tell them to look closer, and when they did, they would discover it was carved wood. He was so talented like that. He had patience when he was working on a piece that he rarely showed to any of his family.

Anyway, this feeling is still so very new and so very wonderful.

I do have pictures to share but will do them in separate postings. Why?? Cause I want to…..lol.

Raf turns 38---again

Tommy, Christian, Sabrina (headless), and Anne
Sabrina, Gustave, Shane, and Anne

Tommy, Christian, and Sabrina
Louis
Anne and Zoe

Tommy, Zoe, Christian, Raf (white shirt on floor), Gustave, Sabrina, Louis, Shane, and Anne

Happy Birthday Rafal!!!!!!!

Mama!!! I'm seepin'!!!!!

MY DOLLS FOR PAT WINTER'S COMFORT DOLL PROJECT

These are my very first dolls.

I hope everyone's Labor Day weekend was as wonderful as mine. My mom and brother came into town Friday night and left this afternoon. They stayed at Le Pavillon Hotel( http://www.lepavillon.com/ ) whereTommy works.
My mom loved every minute of it. I spent Friday and Saturday nights with her as Jeremy, my brother, was in Abita Springs with his best friend. Tommy was working both nights so we also got to spend time with him. It was fun sitting on the roof, after it closed, and watch my mom's reaction to the city's skyline.

She was also able to see my work in person, rather than just online. She fell in love with one of the dolls I made, so of course she went home with her new mom. I was actually kinda surprised she liked this particular one, with the wild mess of blue hair. But she did. She also got a couple of smaller pouches I made a while back. She is definitely one of my biggest supporters. I love her dearly.




This is my brother Jeremy. He is 22 years old.
He is such a wonderful young man. I am very proud to call him my brother. My mom is going to send me some pictures of his tats and I have his permission to share them with ya'll. He designed most of them himself.

Today is the 2nd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Several people have asked how New Orleans is different today than it was when we moved here four weeks after the storm. Or even how it is different from before the storm. In a lot of ways, it is different but in some it's still the same.

Before the storm, people walked the French Quarter, especially on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights til all hours. They do that now.

You can still walk down the street with an open beer/drink in your hand (in the FQ).

The calliope music from the Steamship Natchez can still be heard.

The streetcars are still running. Different schedule now, not as often, but still running.

People still sit on the stoop and say hi to passersby.

Traffic is still bad, especially when most people don't know where in the blue blazes they want to go.

The sweet smell of fresh pralines still wafts out the doors of Southern Candy.

Street performers still entertain in front of Cafe Du Monde.

Cafe Du Monde is no longer open 24 hours a day.

Four weeks after the storm, armed national guards and state troopers could be found on every street corner and walking down the streets from 4 pm til 8 am.

Now you find armed thugs and murderers at all the street corners and walking the streets along with the streetwalkers.

Common courtesy and politeness is rare where it used to flourish.

Mine Mine Mine is heard more often than there's plenty for everyone.

English, Cajun, and French are minority languages compared to Spanish and oriental.

Schools are begging for the teachers that they fired immediately after the storm to come back and teach.

It's really kinda funny. Except when we go out of town or to the dr. or to the major grocery store, my world consists of the French Quarter. If you look just at "my world", it is the same friendly, neighborly, helpful place as ever. The people say hi and wave (locals). Parking sucks, but thats beside the point. It's once you step outside the Quarter that rudeness sets in.

What I've Been Working On Lately

Our Fall Swap block is due to Gerry by early September. I posted a picture of the one I made for the swap. Unfortunately, as I was embellishing my half, I forgot to stop.....ooops.....and completed the entire block. I rather like it.


















Of course my 2007 is a little crooked, but what the hey, it's my block. Anyway, I had to make another block for the swap. Tommy kept telling me, "Stop!!! Don't finish it!!". I told him I atleast had to do a couple of the seams. This time, I used the leaves from my dear friend Judyth in the center of the block. I used the fall colors to bead the tips of each leaf point and the center vein. This should help hold the leaves more securely. Tomorrow they are off in the mail to Gerry.


















I have also been making some ATC's. These are my first ones but I have ideas for several more. I still have to finish the backs of them, but am saving that til I have several to do.





















I have also made 3 dolls for Pat Winter's Comfort Doll collection; a doll for the Spirit of Friendship Christmas doll swap on CQI; one for myself; and a wallhanging that swam around in my head before I got up the nerve to try it. It will take a while to finish, but that's ok, I'm enjoying the creative proccess of making it. Once I get new batteries for my digital camera I will share pics.

I am going to try to get several more ATC's made today, tomorrow, and Friday. My mom and brother are coming down Saturday and will be here til Monday. They both have a three day weekend for Labor Day. Tommy got them awesome rates at Le Pavillon. That will be fun. I can go spend time there with my family, and my husband while he is working. Of course most of their time will be spent here at our apartment. Jeremy, my brother, is going to spend some time with his best friend, Thomas, who lives in Abita Springs, on the north shore. It's only about 30 minutes from us.

I'm really looking forward to it. I don't get to see my family that much, even though they only live 5 hours from here. We see my inlaws, 6 hours, from here more because we can actually stay with them. At my mom's house, Zoe is on the snack menu for Lady, Mom's german shepard, and Flip, Jeremy's pit bull. So we have to stay in a hotel when we visit them. Lately, we haven't been able to afford that, so I am glad they are coming here.

Sunday is the parade for Southern Decadence, and it lines up right in front of our house. What is Southern Decadence? Gay Mardi Gras.

I got this a while back and have been very remiss about putting it on my blog and sending a very big and sincere thank you to my good friend, JO. She sent me this back on August 8th. We were going through alot here at home and I just never got around to putting it up. I do apologize, Jo.

Seeing as how EVERYONE else has been awarded this one, I will say if you haven't gotten it, consider yourself nominated.

My Season To Season Swap Fall Block

For some reason I could not get my picture uploaded to the group so I put it on here for all to see. The colors are brighter in person than in the pic. The leaves are more copper in color.