This isn't going to be pretty

I was so excited to come here with some happy news after a loooooooooooong absence. You see, I figured it was better to stay away until I had something nice to say... that ain't happening today unfortunately.
A while back I was approached by the editorial assistant at a certain magazine and asked if I would like my bags to be in an article about gingham. After "I came to" I whipped up a few and sent them off awaiting the May issue. I didn't tell many people because it would be kind of braggy and I'm really not like that. I saw the new issue at JoAnn's yesterday and ran to it (imagine slow-mo with music in the background). I could hardly keep my hands from shaking as I found the article.

My bags aren't there.

There must be more at the back of the magazine...the back is still good, I'll settle for anything... There were 5 more gingham products in the back.

Again, my bags aren't there.

So, I am sad. Life is a struggle at best lately and this was something I was really looking forward to. Something actually about ME in a world where nothing is about me ever.
ok, I need to go sew now. I'm sorry to dump my pity party on you.

overheard conversation

15 year old daughter sitting on porch waiting for her ride, her grandmother (my mom) sitting on the porch knitting.

Grandma- "Sam, how long before your ride gets here?"
Sam-"I don't know, they are running a little late"
Grandma-"Do you want to learn to knit?"
Sam- "why????"
Grandma-"Maybe someday when you have a boyfriend you can knit him a nice sweater"
Sam- silent and texting
Grandma-"what are you doing?"
Sam- "Asking Rachael to please hurry because my grandmother is threatening to teach me to knit"

free time?

Ok, so when you lose your job you'd imagine that you'd have all sorts of free time, right? Hmmmm, not happening.
I'm done being sad for now (I think) and I'm not yet panic-stricken. I've been busy with oilcloth, doctor, dentist, etc. David actually loves having me home, there's a nice dinner every night, we aren't scrambling for clean clothes at 5:00 am, and I am just more relaxed. If only that paid as well as my old job.
I can't post without a picture so check out this manly lunch bag

And check out this etsy shop, I don't know what my fascination with nuns is but this stuff is great:
www.nunofakind.etsy.com
If you are on my Christmas list, you may be getting a sister!

huh?

Keep away from beat? I'd better keep the volume down on my radio while I'm sewing, who knows what will happen!

If you have Fray Check, do me a favor and see if it's just my bottle.

fun!

Look what I found at Michael's last night:

Project Runway paper dolls! Julia and I Looooooooooove to watch Project Runway together. I only wish that there were Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia and Michael Korrs dolls too. We are, erm... I mean Julia is going to have a lot of fun with these!

Stay tuned this weekend, I hope to have a new and exciting oilcloth item to announce!

shameless self promotion

Look! I was featured on The daily swank at Vintage Indie:



http://vintageindie.typepad.com/vintage_indie/2008/08/the-daily-swank.html

Yay me!

carry on with whatever you were doing...

who knew?

I didn't!
Maybe this is old news for some of you but did you know that Walmart carries Martha Stewart crafts now??? it's true, look:

Julia wanted this cute little set and I couldn't say no. They also carry a lot of paper craft supplies; stamps, punches. glitter, ribbons, etc.
Awesome! Now I get to hide some crafty purchases in the walmart shopping trip where I buy my paper goods, snack foods and shampoo. Yes!

Good day for mail!

It's 90 degrees
It's 70% humidity.
I have the boot.
But wait...the mailman brought lovely things for me today!
I won a drawing over at casa calamity
http://calamitykim.typepad.com/calamity_kim/ and the prize was a copy of Cloth Paper Scissors featuring Kim herself

(yay Kim!)
In true Kim fashion, she sent me a sweet little package with a nice note, a packet of tea and my very own Calamity Kim Art Doll!!

It says to collect or trade, I'm keeping mine :)

Thanks Kim, you're swell!
Then there's a package from my long lost friends at
http://www.hancocks-paducah.com/index.aspx
I bet they missed me since I've been on a fabric diet! Anyway, they had a pretty good clearance sale going on and I was able to snag charm squares for $3.98 a pack. You've got to love that!


Suddenly everything seems more bearable.

the game

I stopped by The Happy Zombie's blog and she had this fun flickr game going on, so i thought I would waste some time playing this morning.

The Game:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Carol
2. What is your favorite food? Italian
3. What high school did you go to? Derby
4. What is your favorite color? Red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Jimmy Smits
6. Favorite drink? Seltzer
7. Dream vacation? Private Island
8. Favorite dessert? more wine (don't judge me!)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? comfortable
10. What do you love most in life? My family
11. One Word to describe you. Frazzled
12. Your flickr name: cbcyr

For bonus points… put “sign” behind your answer and make another mosaic:

Let me know if you do this, I want to check yours out!

It was 43 years ago today

I bought myself this gorgeous vintage towel a few weeks ago with my upcoming b-day in mind.

I planned on turning it into a calendar tote for myself to carry on my birthday.

well, today is the day

No tote for me!
OK, I know this is a shameless attempt to have my birthday acknowledged but so far 3 people in my house have awoken and not remembered :(

Interesting

I just stopped by Casa Calamity and read about her most interesting Flickr pictures and decided to copy her. It is most interesting that these are my most interesting photos because I never embroider or quilt anymore. *sigh*
1-Deb's birthday quilt

2-again

3-embroidered onesies

4-craft room

5-olive

6-doll quilt

7-stitchette

8- craft room

9-embroidery

10-handmade cards

Your turn...
what are your most interesting flickr photos?

200th Post!!!

Hi there friends,
Welcome to my 200th post. Grab a cup of coffee, call in sick to work and prepare to read 200 amazing and rare facts about ME!
Kidding!
I would like to take a few minutes of your time to say thank you. Thanks for stopping by and for leaving me comments even when you know that I almost never respond. In my perfect world, we would all walk in each other's kitchen doors and grab a cup of coffee sit down and chat for hours...you know, like those 1950's housewives. Alas, that is not how it is. I have 10 minutes to publish a half-assed post, you have 2 minutes to read it and comment and we all move on. I love to read each comment that is left, (except from that spammer guy named Adam) thank you for taking the time, it makes me so happy :)

How about a little half-assed giveaway contest?



Cute bag, why is it half-assed?



Because I never plan things out and I don't draft patterns.



Because I sewed one part of the handle fabric insideout (but it doesn't really matter much)



Because I said I would give a lunch bag away but I am up to my arm pits in oilcloth orders, it's the last thing I want to do for fun right now.

Because I love to give failed prototypes away.

Because this is already made and that's easy!
So, if you like this dishtowel grocery bag-style tote (that's what I was shooting for people!), leave me a comment and I will draw names on Saturday morning.
Thanks for reading!

Open Letter to My Neighbor

Dear kooky neighbor,
You've got to know that you're house is falling apart, right? I mean, do you just not care? You're cement porch is crumbling, You're roof was so bad, the roofers felt bad just slapping on a sixth layer of shingles. Roofers don't really feel bad about much...no offense to roofers but they typically do the job and leave without saying much, I heard these guys arguing with you and saw them shaking their heads. Your chimney is about to blow off the house.

You have birds living under your siding, in your AC, in the eaves. You have squirrels living in your attic!
You make a nice living. You don't pay a mortgage. You received an inheritance. Why do you want to live in this eyesore, fire trap?
Sincerely,
Carol who prays the tree between us doesn't ever come down.

Open letter to all of the idiots that can't merge on I-95

So, you all thought it would be a good idea to have a little fun with me on the highway the other day? Pretending like you never merged onto the highway before, what a hoot!
Balding guy in the pick up truck- you were really great with the hand gestures and yelling, after you nearly killed us both by dropping your speed to 10 MPH after you got in front of me.
Polite older woman in the sedan- have faith and just trust that you indeed can do it. You just accelerate and merge, not crawl and stop. You confused the hell out of everyone around us. Sheesh!
Middle-aged mom in the minivan- Perhaps the kids were on your last nerve, so I will cut you some slack. For the love of all things good, please don’t hesitate when merging. Be assertive and go! You had plenty of time and I was waving you in for crying out loud!
Young, scary thug boy- where on earth do you have to be in such a hurry that warrants you to cut me off and weave in and out of cars. You are a moron and I hope all your tires are flat.
Who was it that sent you all to annoy me? C’mon, you can tell me…I’ve calmed down considerably now and I won’t be mad.
Elderly couple in the middle lane along side of me- I’m terribly sorry if you heard me screaming obscenities, I am PMS’ing something awful and I really couldn’t help it.
Sincerely,
Road Raged Carol

moo

Just a quick hello before I run out the door for a marathon weekend of endless softball and birthday parties. I would also like you know the level of my insanity. My house is in shambles, mountains of laundry to do, I don't have a gift for the party at noon BUT I did take 5 minutes to manufacture this tiny moo card case (you know... those cute little cards you buy on flickr?). There's a mom that will be at the party that is interested in some of my crafty stuff and asked me to bring a few cards, I didn't have an appropriate moo case but I had an idea for my tiny scraps of oilcloth-
ta da!


It needs tweaking but that's for a day when I have 10 minutes.
Have a great day!
xo
Carol

Oh Sandy!

Hi everyone,
I interrupt your busy weekend to tell you about a cool website I stumbled onto.
Everyone, this is Sandy

http://iwantsandy.com/home
Sandy is my 'free' personal email assistant. She kind of works like that girl at your dentist's office- the one that calls and reminds you of your appointment, except Sandy is far less bitchy than that girl and she reminds me via email not the phone.
Sometimes I need more than a calendar and this is where Sandy comes in. Say if I need to remember to call to make an orthodontist appointment on Monday...I know I will forget by Monday morning at work but if I send Sandy a simple email, she will remind me at the exact time I want. My old way was to leave myself a voicemail message but that kind of creeps me out to hear myself talking to myself.
Silly or useful? You tell me.

Science is so for girls!

A little blog brag for my middle daughter:
She won third place in the science fair!



Gabby was horrified to learn this because you see, she had a strategy... do a good enough report and board to get an A but not good enough to get an award. This means she will go on to compete with other schools and Gabby pretty much likes to go through her life blending in being un-noticed. I am very proud, of course!
Hey, while you are here, check out this chicken cutlet from tonight's dinner:

It was purely accidental that it turned out heart shaped!
I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day.

Breaking News!

Michael Miller makes fabric rickrack!
Michael Miller makes fabric rickrack!
Michael Miller makes fabric rickrack!

Don't even tell me that you knew about this!

weekend recap

whew!
Business is booming, I am nearing my 100th sale on my etsy shop!
I am starting an oilcloth lunchbag revolution...I hope my lower back holds up. I am having a lot of trouble keeping up with the demand, just as I get 6 bags in the shop they all sell and I have requests for 3 more. I need more hours in the day and one more day in the week that no one in my family knows about.
I ventured away from lunch bags for a bit today because I don't want to start to resent them...they should all be made with love you know...

But I couldn't stay away all together:

Look at these two boys:

Whenever they find this laundry basket on it's side they race to get inside it. (we call it the kitty cabana) That's Leo inside of it, he usually never gets there first being the chubby one. Gilbert is the one on the top, he's too cool for everything. I'll let you in on what a dork I am...I imagine that if Gilbert could speak, he would sound just like Tim on "Project Runway", so I will often speak for Gilbert in Tim's voice when I think he has something to say.
I've said too much. Must be the oilcloth fumes getting to me.