Blog Update by Mr S.

Good morning all,
The surgery went as planned with no conplications. Woo Hoo, I was a nervous wreck. Ms S is recovering at the hospital and should be released by Monday at the latest. She is in a bit of pain and trying to get some rest. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.
Look honey I can read instructions!
Mr S

Check out This Blog!

My sister-in-law Becky has started her own blog... you can find her here.  She is the one who made me the beautiful cross-stitch picture for my birthday. I made her a crochet hook roll, so you can see photos of it there.

She is so talented at everything she does... please go check out her blog. I know she would love having a few more followers than just me.. LOL!

I just want to say thank you to all of you for your well wishes for my surgery and recovery. I have met so many awesome people through this blog... you are the best - wish I could meet all of you in person and give you a big hug!

I think I will show Mr. S. how to post on my blog so he can let you all know how the surgery went. Hmm actually, maybe I better go type up instructions, as I know he won't remember!!

Hugs and love to all of my blogging friends.....
Sandy

Another Giveaway... and News

Nope, it's not me with the giveaway this time! It is Pammy Sue over at Scotty's Place.  She is celebrating her 4th Blogiversary and is giving away 5 great packages, so head on over there and enter!

I wanted to share with you all that I will be having surgery this Friday, May 28th, so you may not see me posting for awhile. I am scheduled for a total hysterectomy... I'm a little nervous about it, as I have never had a surgery that required a hospital stay before. If you'd like to say a little prayer for me on Friday I sure would appreciate it!

I sure will miss reading all of your blogs... that is usually how I start my day, with a hot cup of coffee and reading what everyone has been up to. Hopefully I will be back posting in a couple of weeks, maybe sooner if I feel up to it.

Off to do more sewing.. have a good one.

Happy Tuesday

Hope you are having a wonderful day today. Thought I would tell you about a couple of blogs that I like..... and one of them is having a giveaway.

The first one is Crafty Begonia. She does beautiful crochet work, and has recently featured several crochet motifs on her blog with instructions included. I'm definitely going to be trying out Aruba Star and her re-vamped Granny Square.

The other one I like is Indigo Blue.  She is currently giving away a beautiful Granny Square Bag that is just gorgeous. I like her blog because in addition to crochet she also sews. She has instructions for the cutest half apron made out of tea towels that is going on my to-do list also.

I hope you will check both of these blogs out, I think you will really enjoy them.

Happy Tuesday everybody!

Gifts Galore

I finished both of the crochet hook rolls tonight, so they will soon be on their way to the winners! Michele, please send me an e-mail (azbelle3@yahoo.com) with your address so I can mail yours to you. Here they are:

The top one is Linda's and the bottom one is Michele's. I hope you ladies like them!  I am ready to mail Pammy Sue's package to her also.. keep an eye out for the mailman Pammy!

Speaking of gifts, my sister-in-law brought me over my birthday gift today... look at the beautiful cross stitch picture she made for me:

Isn't it cute? She is so talented... she does cross stitch, crochet, scrapbooking, rubber-stamping... you name it, pretty much she does it, and she is so good at all of them. She has made me many things over the years, and I treasure all of them!

That's it for me for today... have a great night everyone.

Winners, We Have Winners

I decided to draw TWO names for the giveaway. Here was the process:

I typed up all the names and put them in a hat (okay, technically it was a small strainer!)  Mr. S. drew the names....

DRUMROLL PLEASE.....

AND THE WINNERS ARE.................

Congratulations to Linda and Michele!!!! I have decided that each of you ladies gets to pick the colors of your crochet roll. You can either have the one I already made (shown in my May 20 post) or you can choose from one of the following:

PINKS

BRIGHTS

BLACK/WHITE

ORANGE/YELLOW

BLUES

Don't worry if you pick the same colors, I can always go get more material. So Linda and Michele, please comment on this post which color you would like and I'll get started on your crochet rolls.

Giveaways are so much fun... I will definitely be doing more of these!

Have a very Happy Monday all!

Birthday Day!

Yep, today is my birthday...... hubby woke me up with a nice hot cup of coffee and a beautiful card. What a great way to start the day!

We will be heading over to my parents' house later today for dinner and birthday cake.

I have been busy crafting this weekend but can't show you what I've done as they are surprises to add to Pammy Sue's box! I sure hope she likes them. I bought some more fat quarters as they were on sale, so I will be making more of those crochet hook rolls. If you are entered in my giveaway for one, you will get your choice of which one you want! I will post photos of them all once I'm done.

Hope you are having as good a weekend as I am. Happy Day!

That's How I Roll

I started making these crochet hook rolls today and I can't stop... I've already made two and have plans for a couple more! Here is the first one I made:

I am keeping it for myself, because the sewing on it is crooked in places. I got the pattern from here and followed it exactly. The second time around, I decided that making the ties myself was kind of a pain in the a*# so I decided to use store-bought ribbon I had on hand:

Much better... I whipped this one up in no time (and it looks much better than the first one!) For you sewers out there, this is a fast, easy project that doesn't require lots of material ... I used some fat quarters to make them (don't ya just love the name of that, fat quarters??? I laugh every time I say it!!) Here is a picture of the inside of it:

I am still in the giving mood after my recent giveway... what the heck, I've gotta go to the post office to mail Pammy's package anyway! So if this is something you would like, just leave a comment to this post telling me you want it. The deadline to enter is this Sunday, May 23 (my birthday!!). I'll put all the names in a hat and have Mr. S. draw the winning name.

Good luck!

We Have a Winner!!!

With the correct guess posted at 6:09 p.m., the winner of the giveaway is Pammy Sue from Scotty's Place!! Pammy correctly guessed that those were word verifications that are used when you comment on someone's blog. Way to go Pammy Sue! Send me an e-mail with your address and I will start working on your tote bag.

My blogger has been acting up today and I did not see all the comments before reading Doris Sturm's comment at 8:48 p.m. on my second post today (she guessed correctly too). I thought she was the winner so I wrote a comment to that effect (I just can't see it now ... or Doris' for that matter!!)  In any case, Doris, please send an e-mail to me at azbelle3@yahoo.com with your address and I will send you a little something too!

Thanks for playing everybody. I will do another giveaway when I hit 100 posts  so you've got another chance to win then.

No Winner Yet ... and a New Tote

No one has guessed the correct answer yet. Is my question too hard? Hmm... well, I'll give it one more day and if no correct answer, then I'll give you a hint on Friday.

I finished my sister's tote bag. I think it came out really cute. She is the one that is currently into anything with skulls on it. Here it is:

I am really proud of myself because I even figured out how to line it:

I wasn't sure about the buttons, that's why you don't see them in the first picture. The second picture I just placed them there to see how they would look. I think I've decided to add them. Wish I could have found skull buttons, but no such luck. Oh, and I think I like these handles better too; much stronger than just using the material like I did on the last one.

Keep those guesses coming!

My First Giveaway!!

That's right, I have decided it is high time I did a giveaway. I have been thinking about doing one for awhile, but wasn't sure what I would give away!  The answer became clear after reading all of your comments on last Saturday's post... I will make a tote bag for the lucky winner! There will be some other goodies thrown in there too, but I'll let those be a surprise for the winner! Here is the tote I made last week:

I went to Jo-Ann's yesterday to get more of this material and it was already gone! I picked out some more that is just as bright and colorful though. I think I will make the handles a bit longer; after using it this weekend I discovered these were a bit too short.

Now, about the giveway.... it is really simple. The first person to correctly guess the answer will be the winner... just leave a comment to this post.

Here is the question:

Where did the following words (if you can call them that!) come from?

milacts
foraps
milli
fleste
slingle
vidsize
anipt
nomat
salgude
curisit
remsb
brias

That's it! Now put your thinking caps on and start guessing!

Weekend Update

We had a fabulous time in the big city this past weekend. We got to visit with lots of Mr. S.'s relatives that we had not seen in awhile. I delivered my baby gift baskets and the Moms just loved them... they promised me pictures of the boys in their little initial onesies in a few months... I can't wait!

The best part of the weekend was the concert on Sunday... I got to see the cast of the television show GLEE live and in person. This was the first stop on their tour and it did not disappoint.... the show was AWESOME!!   If you are a Glee fan and they are coming to a city near you, I highly recommend it.

Off to run errands, but I will be posting something later today... stay tuned, big news!

Happy Weekend

I am so excited about this weekend.... we are heading up to the big city as Mr. S.'s niece is graduating from college today. Tonight we will be staying in a really nice hotel downtown as Sunday morning my sister-in-law and I are going to see the cast of Glee live and in person!!! I love that show, and I got her hooked on it, and now we are both Gleeks. This trip is Mr. S.'s birthday present to me... isn't he a sweetie?

I got all of the baby sewing done (whew!) and will be taking the baskets up with me to distribute. Here are the finished products:

They are chock full of baby items that I hope the mommies-to-be will like... things like burp cloths, bibs, washcloths and of course the onesies.

Yesterday I decided to make a little something for me:

I can always use a tote bag, and I loved the bright colors of this material. I plan to make a few more of these for family and friends.

Off to pack and get ready for the trip. Hope everyone has a fun weekend; I'll fill you in on the details of mine on Monday.

Happy Hump Day!

It's Wednesday, AKA Hump Day. Late afternoon post today, as Mr. S. and I went and ran errands, then picked up the new dishwasher this morning... yay! Now all he needs to do is find time to install it. He has been working odd shifts this week, so not sure when he will be able to do it. We have plans this weekend, so that is out for sure. Maybe tomorrow... keep your fingers crossed!

I have been doing more sewing than crocheting, as I need to get all this baby stuff finished by this weekend. I've still got lots more to do, believe it or not! Here are some more things I made:

I just love how the onesies with their initials turned out; still need to sew around the applique. I also decided to add some ribbon to the diaper burp cloth, turned out really cute.  If any of you sew and would like these patterns, let me know, I would be happy to share where I found them.

I like sewing, but I miss my crochet! It's not near as hard on my hands as sewing.. I've got so many needle pricks in my fingers it isn't even funny!

I want to say a big thank you to the ladies who graciously answered my questions from the other day. Sometimes I like to pick the brains of fellow crafters, hope you don't mind.  :)

I'm off to do more sewing - enjoy the rest of your day.

Kitty #3 and Some Questions

Good morning.... hope everyone is happy and well today. I realized yesterday that I have not shared with you a photo of Kitty #3, so here he is:

His name is Pepe, as in Pepe Le Pew. He is a black Persian and has LOTS of fur. Pretty soon he will be going to the groomer for his summer lion cut... he pretty much gets shaved all over, and he seems to love it. We did that last summer for the first time and he was a changed cat... much more friendly! He is really a Daddy's boy, follows Mr. S. all over the house. I think he just tolerates my presence in the house.. LOL 

Now you have seen all of our cats. I will share with you another time photos of our two cockatiels. Mr. S. also has a huge saltwater aquarium. Can you tell we are animal lovers around here??!! We really want a dog but I want a small one and Mr. S. wants a big one, so we will see.

I also have some questions I want to ask today, and I hope you will leave me some comments.  Here they are:

1.  Do you always wash everything that you crochet before you give it to the recipient (assuming of course that it is made with a washable yarn)?

2.  Have you ever crocheted with fabric? If so, can you give me any hints/tips/patterns?

3.  What crochet magazines do you read and/or subscribe to? Are there any you would recommend over others?

Thanks in advance for your help, I really appreciate it.  Now let's get out there and make it a great day!!!

This 'n That

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was a mix of good and bad. The good was taking my parents out to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse.. one of our favorite places to eat (love, love, love the baked sweet potato). While we were there, I ran into a former co-worker I hadn't seen in years, so I got her phone number and we are planning to get together for lunch!

The bad was we discovered that our dishwasher is leaking, and when Mr. S. got back there, here is what he found:

Mold... yuck!! I am highly allergic to it, so Mr. S. had to get it out of there. Plus found out that the cabinets on either side are damaged from the water too. Mr. S. decided it would cost nearly as much as a new dishwasher to fix the old one, so we ordered a new one from Sears that should be in this week. I'm actually kind of happy about that part, as my old one was quite noisy and did not always clean the dishes that well! Mr. S. is going to fix the cabinets himself, or at least try to... otherwise, we might be looking at a kitchen re-do that we did not plan on doing.

I did not get much crafting done other than the sewing I showed you on Saturday. I will make some more of those baby items this week, as those babies could arrive any day now. I did not get my Dad's lapghan finished, but decided it would make a great Father's Day gift, so that gives me some more time!

I did purchase a new crafting table at Wally World to replace the rickety old card table I was using for my sewing machine. This is a great table because it folds up and has a carrying handle, so we can use it when we go camping:

Did you spy Miss Mollie Elizabeth on the back of the couch??

Speaking of crafting, I did find two new sites that I wanted to share with you. The first one is this one, called Freebies for Crafters.  There are tons of things on here; a good majority of it is for sewers, but they also have stuff for crochet and knitting too.

I'm sure most of you have heard of The Crochet Dude, Drew Emborsky. What I didn't know is that he had this blog with free patterns. I am adding his fabric bowl to my to-do list. I have always wanted to crochet with fabric strips, and this looks pretty easy.

I best go and clean up my messy house... have a very happy Monday all.

All Better .... and Some Sewing

Things have greatly improved around the Sunflowerz household... yay! I am feeling much better and am back to my usual self. I decided to re-tackle some sewing...... I think I did better this time around. I made some assorted baby items for the girls I just made the blankets for. 

I will be putting all of the items together in a basket along with another cute little blanket I found at a craft fair - the lady only wanted $5 for this handmade blanket:

Isn't it adorable? Wish you could feel it, it is sooooooo soft. The price was too good to pass up.

I found the instructions/patterns for all of these on various blogs... the internet is a wonderful thing! For the onesie,  I just cut out some of the trucks from the material and attached them using some of that iron-on sticky stuff. I just need to finish hand-sewing around the edges of the appliques. Note to self: next time pick material with a larger print so you can do this part on the sewing machine!!

I must run, have to go to a Pampered Chef party this afternoon, then we are taking my Mom out for dinner.  Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms out there.... hope your families spoil you rotten on your special day. 

Aaargh!!

Yep, it's one of those days today. You don't often hear that from me, usually my days go along pretty smoothly, but today is just not my day.

I just googled the word "Aaaargh" and "images" and things actually came up, including the clip art above... can you believe that? It is unreal what you can find on the Internet!

I went to pick up my new glasses today. I was so excited, because I really have not been seeing well with this prescription and looked forward to my new pair. But of course they messed them up.... the prism was all wrong. So it will be probably at least another week before I get them.  Aaargh.

I have the worst vision in the world by the way... in fact, this time when I got my eyes checked, the doctor told me that most people with my prescription usually have had eye surgery by now. I have not, so guess I should consider myself fortunate in that regard.

Plus I am dealing with family drama. Don't want to get into all the sordid details here... suffice it to say that sometimes I feel like my family puts the "fun" in "dysfunctional."  Can't I please just move to a deserted island somewhere and not have to deal with all this? Pleeeeeeease????

Okay, enough whining for one day. Maybe I'll go crochet for awhile, that usually does the trick. Hope your day is going better than mine!

Cute Little Project

I've been spending some time perusing other blogs (one of my favorite things to do!) and I came across this site.  She has so many neat, creative projects on here you won't believe it.

Once I saw her April 26th post I knew I just HAD to make that project, and here it is:

I am so into pincushions lately, and this took no time at all to make. I simply made two matching center circles, put them wrong sides together and stuffed them with fiberfill and then crocheted it closed. I then added the shell border all around. Easy peasy! She suggested other uses for this as well, such as maybe adding something sweet-smelling to it and making it a sachet, or maybe making several and turning it into a mobile for a baby's room.

I spied several other things on there that I would like to try, like the cupcake liner flowers and the crochet wool basket, among other things. Go browse around and sew what you can find!