Wonderful, Amazing, Relieving

The title says it all. All of John's scans came back clear. His PET scan did not show any sign of activity at all. The doctors were so pleased and encouraged by his results. It is such a relief, I can't even tell you.

And I know I already said it, but I really wanted to express my gratitude again. You have all been amazing, supportive, and wonderful and I cannot thank you enough!!

Today's the Day

As I mentioned before, today is John's big appointment. He's already at the hospital waiting to get the scans done and he has an appointment with the doctors at 3pm. I'll be going over there with his parents for the doctors, but until then, I'm just waiting anxiously. I'm trying to keep myself busy so I don't have to think about it. I did want to thank all of you that have been amazingly supportive and kind through this whole ordeal. I can't even express how much your words and actions have meant to me! Hopefully I'll be back later with excellent news!

On another note, I was mildly productive yesterday. I finished block 5 for the quilt a long and listed two patchwork scarves on etsy. I even started making some new scarves. These have been really popular this year since the craft fair. I keep getting requests for them and I'm oddly surprised. I guess you can never tell what will be popular!

Block 4 and more kid art

Last night I successfully finished another block, block 4 to be exact. I was a little bit apprehensive about the triangles at first, but let me reassure you that they weren't that bad. If you look too closely, you'll notice that some of the points don't match up exactly, but it's good enough for me.

Since it's cold outside, I've been trying to do a lot of indoor activities with Isaiah. You've seen the salt dough, and I've spared you his many "drawings," but today I bring you the glue-less collage. I'm sure many of you have seen this idea, I found this particular one over at familyfun.com . I think for many of us hoarders collectors, this is the perfect place for all those tiny scraps and things you can't bare to throw away. The actual directions say to use contact paper, but since I didn't have any around, I used a sheet of printable label that is sticky on the back. It seemsed the perfect size for him and I was able to just tape it to the table. Isaiah loved this project. He especially like the buttons and sequins. And of course my heart was melting each time he said "see-kins mama." Oh, so cute.

And I promise I'll get some more sewing done so I can stop showing of all the kid art. But for now, it's all I have!

Catching Up

I'm admittedly out of sorts this week. I've had days of great productivity, followed by some that included a lot of sitting around. Which wouldn't be entirely bad if it weren't the beginning of a week. I think that most of this is due in part to the fact that John has his scans on Thursday. It's definitely weighing heavily on my mind, so I'm just trying not to think about it. I know deep down we'll get good news, but there's always those "what ifs." Ugh, a few more days and it'll be all over.

Anyway, on Sunday I had the house to my self for the entire day. This place was a mess and I spent a good part of it cleaning, sorting, organizing, and finishing laundry. Of course now it looks as though I had never touched the place. But at least I know I cleaned. I also went to see Juno. By myself. Which is a big thing for me. I've never done that before and it took quite a bit of convincing myself to even do it. And I'm glad I did. It was a great movie and I really enjoyed relaxing in our new movie theater down the street!Today I finally started playing catch up for the quilt a long. I did the first block a while ago, probably when Amanda first posted it (and I've since misplaced it). This afternoon (even with Isaiah unexpected short nap grr), I was able to finish the second and third one. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to do a few more.

Hanging Hearts (or the Happy Hands Club)

The salt dough project is finally finished. What was supposed to take one day, ended up taking several, but so is life. Right? I apparently mixed something incorrectly because the dough spent 2 whole days baking and never fully dried. I tried everything from turning the pieces to increasing the temperature.
Isaiah spend the majority of yesterday running to the oven to check if his pieces were done. Finally I caved in and just let him paint them. This morning I sealed them with mod podge and assembled the pieces using ribbon. It's a bit fartsy looking, but it's going to a Grandma for Valentine's and I'm sure she'll love it. Especially since it is the work of this cute little guy (and of course some help from mom.)


And if anyone's interested, I've made some new Valentine door knob hangers, and they are now in my shop(my sad, neglected shop). This one is my favorite. Have a great weekend everyone!

Sign-ups extended

Just popping in real quick to say that I've extended the sign-ups for the swap until Monday. I've had many new people stop by from Sew, Mama, Sew and wanted to thank everyone who visited. This will give all you new visitors a chance to decide if you want to participate and not feel rushed to decide. I'll still send out the partners early next week.


I'll be back later (hopefully) to post about my salt dough project with Isaiah. I would have posted earlier, but there was a bit of a mishap.

Hearts

With Valentine's fast approaching, I definitely have hearts on my mind. In fact, there were several projects complete today with hearts. One of which included me making an absurd amount of salt dough with Isaiah which is still in the oven 5 hrs later. Anyway, while thinking of ideas for this swap, I tried out an idea that I had an my head. The result was this cute door knob hanger. It has a pocket in the front for goodies or Valentine notes. I embroidered the word "love" on linen and quilted around it. On the pocket, an appliqued heart between two stitched hearts. I'm thinking it would be cute for a child's door to slip a little something special in for Valentine's. I had a lot of fun making this and may even make more tonight for my etsy shop. No promises though, I'm a little burnt out from the dough making episode. More on that tomorrow.

January Project--Button Scarf

The first project for Finny and Donk's Sewing Adventure was the Button Scarf. After failing to complete most of the projects from the InStitches along, I'm determined to complete all of these projects (and on time too!). This definitely was a very simple project. Like many others, I was not too into the faux fur that the pattern called for. I thought it was too impractical and "fancy" for my taste. Instead, I found some patchwork I had left over from some other scarves I had sewn and used up some of the surplus of fleece I seem to have from Joann's 50% off sale.
After scrounging around looking for my button hole foot, I decided to just give the old zig zag method a try. The buttonhole turned out alright, but the lines are definitely not straight. Thank goodness the button covers them up!

The scarf will definitely be of use. After having a week of very warm weather (nearing 60 degrees), we are now having a string of 20 degree weather. Ick! Where's spring?

a WIP

This weekend, my new best friend and I have a date together. Why is it that it took me so long to get a walking foot?!?!
And perhaps this WIP will get finished in time for a special little boy's birthday in a few weeks.


Have a great weekend everyone!

Snow and Catching up

Wow. I finally feel like I'm catching up on my life! This weekend was the last of our holiday celebrations. Usually we go up to NY for Christmas, but this year was a little different. Since we didn't all get to celebrate together during the holidays, we decided to have a little party at our house after all the holiday activities were over. My parents came down from Hyde Park, and my sister, cousin and her husband came down from Rochester. In addition, I have three cousins living in the area. It was so nice to have everyone together in our tiny little house. Lots of good food, wine, and laughs, but I'm glad that our holiday season is finally coming to an end. We took the Christmas tree down on Sunday and I'm working on the rest of the decorations today. A pot of soup is simmer on the stove, there's bread ready to make, and snow falling and covering the ground (finally).

Speaking of coming to an end, John finished his last chemo treatment on Tuesday. It feels like such a relief, but at the same time, I still feel anxious because there is some waiting to do. On January 31st he will have a PET/CT scan to see if the cancer is completely gone. By all accounts it should be, but you never know. It feels weird that we won't walk into the hospital again, that John won't be carrying around his chemo, or that he won't have to take the hoards of medicine he does. I am thankful, though. And I'm glad to be starting the New Year with this hope in sight.

At the last treatment, I sat listening to the Creative Mom podcast on my new iPod. I swear this iPod is my new friend. I really, really love it. And the Creative mom podcast. Wonderful. I know some of you probably already listen to it, but it's new to me. Amy has such a soothing voice and a way of speaking that just makes me want to create and relax at the same time. I also wanted to show off my new friend Kimberly. She was made by the talented Ginny, from iSew.Biz and her newest shop The Monkey Travel Club. I was admittedly stalking her new shop, waiting for the perfect monkey, and lo and behold, there was Kimberly. She is sooo cute and is keeping my new iPod nice and safe. I snapped this shot while John was getting his treatment. I wonder if that was legal ;) Thanks Ginny!!

Oh, and don't forget about the Martha Swap! See below for details!

Good Things Swap

**Sign-ups extended to Monday, January 28th. Please come and join the fun!!**
Ok friends, it looks like the Martha Swap is a go! So here are the details:

Visit this list of "Good Things" on marthastewart.com . You will make a list of at least 5 of your favorites that you would like your partner to make for you. When you receive your swap partners info, included will be their list of Good Things. You will send a total of 4 items to your partner. Three will be your choice from their list which you will make, and One can be any other Martha related item. This means you can choose to make another Martha craft, or buy a Martha item from Michaels, Kmart, etc. Usually these crafts are quick and simple, so hopefully it won't be overly time consuming.

Sign-ups end: Jan 25th
Send out package by: Feb 25th

E-mail the following to seekatieswap@gmail.com

1. Name
2. Address
3. Blog/flickr account
4. List of at least 5 of your favorite Good Things
5. Are you willing to ship internationally?

I participated in a similar swap last year, and you can check out what I received and sent here to get an idea of how this will work. If there are any questions, I will try to answer them in the comments so that everyone can access them. I've made the button to add to your blog if you'd like. I hope it works, I'm not so good at figuring out such things. Let me know if there are any problems! Hope you will all join me!

Caffeine please!

Today has been one of those days that I just cannot seem to shake my fatigue. I'm about to put another pot of coffee on. Although, I'm really wishing someone would magically drive by and drop me off a case of Red Bull. Seriously. It's probably from all the running I've done with Isaiah the past two days (note to self: get in shape!). It's been almost 70 each day, very strange for this time of year here in Maryland. Although, since I've lived here, D.C. does have the weirdest weather. Anyway, we've really been enjoying this odd, warm weather, but it's making me pine for spring. I know soon we'll be back to colder weather, so I want to savor each minute of this nice warmth.

I finally finished another project today. I had been working on this bag ever so slowly. It was difficult or time consuming, I was just trying to sew neatly. I can assure you that sewing neatly is definitely not my thing. I did the little umbrella embroidery during the days I was trying to keep the "sewing" room clean. I had this notion that I would add "parapluie" somewhere but it didn't look to great. That is one of my favorite words in french. Don't ask why, but I think it just rolls off the tongue. It turned out well, cute and simple. Although it does look like it could use a good ironing (would help if I had that Red Bull!).

I also received my book today for Kelli and Finny's next sewalong. I think I placed my order on buy.com two days ago and it's already here. Better yet, I only paid a total of $7.81. If you've never used google checkout, they give you $10 off. That was a great deal! It's a beautiful book and I'm looking forward to sewing the projects. Also, the author is the Craft Lady of Steel from Craft Corner Death Match. That made me laugh, that show was hilarious!

Anyway, I can see all of you enjoyed my eBay post. I know it wasn't the most interesting of posts! I'll spare you anymore talk about that, only to say that I did list a few more things today, including some patterns and children's books.

Cleaning Up

After reading this post over at Pink Chalk Studio, I decided I might as well jump in and try to clean up my sewing area. I've been sewing seriously for about 5 years now and my fabric stash is more like a mountain. Add to that my seemingly good luck at thrifting fabric and joining a fabric co-op, and I'm running out of room. I've spent most of the day getting some things up on eBay and I'm hoping to have some more in the next week as well. I keep finding more and more fabric. I'm beginning to feel like a squirrel that hides their nuts. Anyway, check them out if you'd like. I also listed a past issue of Marie Claire Idees. I may have some more of those laying around here. We'll see. Oh and Kathy also provided a wonderful free template for eBay too.



And have you seen this? I love this idea and I can't wait to see what they come up with! I'd love to do something like this, it seems really fun and inspiring!

Off to a good start..

The before

I think the best way to start a New Year is to start and finish something that you've been meaning to make forever. In my case, it was some new curtains for our bedroom. When we moved into our house almost a year ago, we painted everything, finished the floors, and installed new carpet. Apparently though, we never removed the nasty plastic venetian blinds from the previous owner. Nor had they been cleaned since we moved in, but that's another story. Anyway, I probably saw this tutorial over at Two Straight Lines about a year ago(or even longer) and knew these were exactly what I wanted to make. And let me tell you, these are sooo simple and quick.

The after. Don't mind the mess in my bedroom.Pretend you didn't see that!

The white fabric is from some IKEA curtains that I cut up and the patchwork fabric is made with Kona cotton and DS flea market fancy that I had intended on making a quilt for our bed with. Hopefully I'll get around to doing that this year too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, right? Now I can't stop staring at them. I am in love with them. I just can't figure out why it took me so long to even start these! They totally change the look of our room for the better. Now I think Isaiah needs some curtains for his room, as he currently doesn't have any.




I also wanted to revisit the idea of hosting the Martha Good Things swap. I don't really have any projects or commitments right now, so I'm itching for something to do. I'll explain it here, and if you're interested, please leave me a comment. If there's enough interest, I'll post the sign up details this week. Basically, it would go something like this:

Head over to the Martha Stewart site and look at the list of "Good Things." If you're familiar with Martha, you know what they are. If not, then they are Martha's signature which either tends to be either tips for decorating, gardening, etc, or quick fun projects. Since this is a crafty blog, this swap would focus on the "Craft Good Things." To sign up, you would send me a list of at least 5 of your favorite good things that you would like have made for you. Your partner would get your list and vice versa. You would choose 3 things to make from their list. I think 3 is pretty doable since these projects are usually small and quick. In total, I'd ideally like to have 4 things sent. 3 from your partner's list, and the 4th item of your choice. It could be a bought Martha item (from Michael's, Kmart, etc.) or it could be a good thing made that you like. I hope this is clear, but if you have any questions, please let me know and I'll try to reply to them. Again, this isn't a sign-up, it's just to see how many people would be interested. We're probably looking at sign-ups ending next week and send out due either end of January or Feb. Hope there is some interest in this! I'd love to host this!!

Finally back to blogging

Isaiah's Christmas Picture

Ohmigoodness, it's very hard to get back to blogging after an extended break. There's so much to be said, to show, but so difficult to put the right words together. I hope you all had a lovely holiday. We had a very peaceful, fun Christmas with family and a very excited almost 2 year old. I really underestimated how much he would enjoy Christmas. We only gave him a few things for Christmas, and after he opened them, John and I were both wishing we had more for him. It was great to open presents at our own house and to see Isaiah creeping down the stairs to see what Santa brought. John and I shared the sentiment that we now understood that Christmas was possibly more exciting as a parent. Very hard to believe! I received several lovely gifts from John, including a brand new bike, which I very much look forward to riding and getting in shape(finally). John's whole family chipped in and bought us a beautiful new grill. We were definitely spoiled this year! I ended up making about 95% of my gifts this year. Of course, I forgot to take pictures, so I'll spare the boring details.

New Years Eve was a little hectic around here. John ended up running a fever and having to go to the hospital for several days for antibiotics and observation. We were all joking that John had good timing because his parents finally took a little vacation for the first time since the whole ordeal, and then he ends up in the hospital. I guess someone was missing the attention. wink wink. Anyway, it turned out that he was fine, but his blood counts were really low and they needed to keep him for antibiotics and observation to ensure he didn't get a bacterial or viral infection. Luckily my sister was here visiting to help me out around the house and with Isaiah. That was definitely a lifesaver. John was annoyed he had to stay for a few days. He's not the type of person to enjoy sitting around doing nothing. He's home now and next week he'll start his last round of chemo. whoohooo for that!

Anyway, I've been busy trying to get my house put back together. Our dining room, which doubles as my sewing room, actually stayed completely clean for an entire week. No fabric scraps, threads, scissors. Nothing. Then I got the itch to sew again, and well, it's a mess. Perhaps the New Year will bring me luck in organization. I doubt that though.

It's good to be back. I've certainly missed my bloggy pals. Hopefully soon there will be something crafty to show!

The Best News Ever, seriously.

I was waiting to post because I was hoping dearly that I'd have good news to share. And guess what? I do!!! I do. I do. I do. I am so thrilled. I don't know every detail, but I do know that the tumor appears to be gone. Can you believe it?? Apparently, the CT scan showed that there was just some scar tissue left that is about the size of a thumb. John will still received the next 2 rounds of chemo and then will have a PET scan at the end of January. If there's anything suspicious, they'll biopsy it, but hopefully there won't be any. Talk about the best Christmas present ever. I was so relieved I just started crying. It was like the stress just melted off. So thank you for all your good vibes. I think they worked.

Oh, and completely unrelated, but I'm eating the best yogurt ever. Fage Greek yogurt with honey. hmm. And I went thrift shopping today and found a perfectly good comforter for Isaiah's bed from Pottery Barn. Yeah, I'm having a good day.

And since I'm having such a wonderful day, there will be 5 winners today. Yes, FIVE. One will received a stuffed flat rate box, and the other 4 will receive envelopes. Drumroll please....



Winner of the Box goes to:
Mika

The runners up:
Alisa
FinnyKnits
Jess
Ashley Ann

Ladies, please send me your address to katiebhandbags@gmail.com


That concludes our 12 days of Christmas Giveaway (remember we're pretending, right). Thanks for playing along everyone! If I'm not back before Christmas you all have a wonderful, Merry Christmas!

Tired, Winner, Giveaway #7

Oh man am I tired. I think that all the sewing, trips to the post office, and chasing around a very demanding almost 2 yd old is catching up with me. Oh, and perhaps the going to bed way past my bedtime thing too. I just may fit in a nap this afternoon.



I was loving all the new visitors to my site yesterday thanks to Sew, Mama, Sew. I received several comments and e-mails about the dop kit. I did want to mention that I'm using the pattern for the patchwork bag from the Amy Butler's InStitches book. I just adjusted the size and omitted the handles. I really love this pattern and I think it makes for a very well finished bag. If you have this book, and would like to make it, I'd suggest installing the zipper like you would for a normal zippered pouch. I hope that makes sense.



Anyway, while I was packing things up to be mailed today, I realized I have way too much fabric. Plus, I just recently joined a fabric co-op and I'll be getting a lot more fabric soon. I know I already gave away fabric on Day 1, but I know that you guys won't be complaining if I giveaway some more. I have no pictures, as I don't know what I'll be adding, but I can tell you that it won't be crap. The winner will receive a flat rate box stuffed with various fabrics. And believe me, I'm good at stuffing. Leave a comment, tomorrow I'll announce the winner.



I loved reading your comments yesterday. I really wish all of you could have an IKEA by you, and I was happy to hear those that have them near by find it just as irresistible as I do! The winner of the IKEA goodies goes to:

Lynn of Craftsew please e-mail me your address to katiebhandbags@gmail.com





And if this post wasn't all over the place already, I did want to give a little update on John. Tomorrow he has his first CT scan since he started the chemo. I'm not sure exactly what they're looking for, or expecting to see, but of course, I'm hoping for more than positive results. He's been feeling well and I feel so blessed for that. Thank you so much for all your thoughts, and prayers and e-mails. I really do appreciate each and every one of them. Friday he'll start round #5 out of 6. I can't wait to breathe a big sigh of relief when this is all over!

IKEA and Giveaway #6

After we hit the post office this morning, Isaiah and I headed up the road to IKEA. I cannot tell you how great it is to have one so close. I love all their cute, affordable items. For weeks I've been searching for boxes to mail the little house ornaments in. I seriously underestimated how difficult it would be to find such a thing. I've checked so many stores out, it's starting to become exhausting. I thought maybe IKEA would have something, since they always have some interesting things. Imagine my surprise when I found out that all the IKEA holiday items were 75% off. Yippie! I did find some cute boxes, but now I'm thinking that they're going to be too big. Anyway, I picked up a bunch of things and probably could have gotten a lot more had I not had a restless child with me. I bought everything in this picture, plus two rolls of wrapping paper (.25 each!), 3 more sets of the boxes, and two hand puppets for less than $20. Unbelievable!




Today's giveaway will be these three items. A set of white ornaments, felt ornaments (which have a black& white gingham on the back), and some very cute gift tags.



Yesterday's winner is:

Felicia please e-mail me your address to katiebhandbags@gmail.com


And did you see? My holiday meme is on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog today. How cool!

Little houses part deux and Giveaway #5

The ornaments are finally done. Each of these little guys started their lives as cardboard mailers that I picked up from the thrift store. I cut out each house using this template from Martha (who else?), glued them together, painted, glittered, the works. A couple of them I painted over a million times because the color wasn't just right. Sometimes I really hate that about myself. I start over analyzing, and then deciding if I like it or not. Pheeeww, it was quite the process. Now that they're done, I couldn't be happier. They really came out well. Each is a little different from the next, and I really hope my partners like them. And I hope no one is allergic to glitter, because there's a lot of it.

Today's giveaway will be one of these house ornaments. Not one of the exact ones shown, but one that is still needing a little love (or another coat of glitter) and waiting for it's metal hanger. Leave a comment on this post, and the winner will be named tomorrow.

And the winner of the pillow from yesterday's giveaway is :

Here are your random numbers:11
Timestamp: 2007-12-17 19:00:56 UTC

Katie please e-mail me your address to katiebhandbags@gmail.com

A meme, winner and Giveaway #4

Today I have an empty house, thanks to John. I was admittedly complaining the other day about how I feel that I have no time to myself. Thankfully, he offered to take Isaiah up to his parents for the day, leaving me free to sew, craft, clean, and veg out all by myself. I spent some time writing some Christmas cards and now I'm completely in the Christmas spirit. Now only if it would stop raining and start snowing!! Anyway, I saw this meme on the Sew, Mama, Sew Blog and I thought it would be fun. So here we go:

Gifts

Do you have a favorite gift that you love to give?
I love handmade gifts. Usually cookies for neighbors, ornaments for friends, and larger sewn items for those closest to me.

If you’re making gifts this year, what are you making? Most of the men are getting these dop kits.

My MIL is getting this bag.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do for the rest. I guess I better decide soon!

Do you have any good stories about handcrafted gifts you’ve given or received? Last year my niece received her first American Girl doll for Christmas, so I decided to make her a dress for the doll. I spent a lot of time on it and it turned out beautifully. When she opened it, she just adored it. Then nana told her I had made it, and she lit up. She wanted to put it on her doll right away and didn't care about opening the rest of her presents. She walked around for awhile telling everyone I had made it for her. The warmth in my heart of overwhelming!

Do you have any great gift compilation ideas (a grouping of gifts just perfect for certain recipients?) I have to agree with Artsy Momma. I loved themed gifts and when things coordinate well. For instance, a diaper bag for a new mom filled with diapers, wipes, lotions for baby and mom.

Name one thing on your personal wish list. I would love a piece of her artwork (maybe if I had more money!!) or this book, which probably be helpful for all those last minute gifts.

Do you make and sell things that would make fantastic gifts? I have a quaint little shop over on etsy. I'm working on some more dop kits today, so hopefully I'll have them listed soon!

Traditions

What is your favorite family holiday tradition?After returning from church on Christmas eve, my family always makes sandwiches and watches A Christmas Story. We then each open one present, and usually fall asleep around the tree.

Have you started any new traditions with your family that you didn’t practice growing up?Not yet. This is our first Christmas in our own house together. This will also be the first Christmas Isaiah is actually excited about. He sort of has an understanding of Santa and is really loving all the holiday happenings.

What do you love most about the holiday season? I just love the happiness and cheerfulness of people. The willingness of people to help others. I wish we could all be like this more often, but I do appreciate the spirit that Christmas brings to people. Oh, and I love baking cookies.

What do you like least about the holiday season? The stress. Too many people shopping, crowded malls. Long lines. Thankfully I took the handmade pledge so I'm trying to avoid all that.

Anyone close to your heart that you’ll be missing this year? I'll be missing my own family this Christmas. John and I have routinely spending Christmas with my parents and sisters in NY since we were dating. This year we have to be here because of John's treatment. I do feel sad that I won't be in NY for Christmas. I love doing all the Christmas-y things with my sister. In a way though, John's illness has allowed us to slow down, enjoy and appreciate what we have. We get to spend Christmas together in our own house, and that's pretty special.

What is your favorite holiday food? um, cookies? When else is it alright to bake dozens of cookies and sneak a few from each batch?

Do you have a great recipe to share? Right now I'm loving this cookie recipe I posted a few days back. Hmmm.

Oh, you wanted to know who was the winner of yesterday's giveaway?? That was a long post. Tricky me. So, the winner of the doll quilt is:

Katherine Please send me your address to katiebhandbags@gmail.com

And today's giveaway is this pillow I showed not too long ago. I embroidered the middle design on linen and framed it with the gorgeous AB print. You have to click on the link to see it, because apparently I've deleted the pic from my computer. Leave a comment and the winner will be picked tomorrow!