My Hurt Hand

Well, my hand has been hurting off and on for about two months now so I finally decided to go in to a specialist. Every morning when I wake up, my hand is numb and tingly and my thumb is very stiff and pops as I bend it back and forth. The doctor said I have "trigger finger" in my right thumb and gave me an injection of cortisone. He said it will hurt for about two days before it starts to get better. He also gave me a splint to wear. I have to go in for a nerve test next week, as he also thinks I have the beginning of carpal tunnel. I'm a little bummed because I have so many thinks I've been working on for my Etsy store and I'm anxious to sew and knit and get some things made and listed. I have a very hard time sitting still. I sure hope the injection does the trick and I hope that next weeks test shows that I don't need surgery yet on my hand. The good thing about getting an injection today and having a sore hand, is that I didn't have to cook dinner - I got to go out to eat - and NO dishes! LOL

A baby blanket for Bruce

My step-kid's mother remarried about two years ago and last Tuesday their mother gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, named Bruce. The kids are so proud of him and I can't blame them, he is adorable. I've decided to knit him a baby blanket. I've never knitted a baby blanket before. A few days ago, I picked out a precious yarn and today I borrowed a book from my mom that is full of patterns for knitted baby blankets. I picked a pattern called "fans and feathers". I started to knit it today and I've worked on it for about 2 hours. I think it's going to be beautiful. I can't wait to finish it and give it to their mother. I think she'll love it! :)

Walter

Walter is a grey little kitty that lives nearby. He comes to see me almost every day and in the summer months, he sleeps under our fig tree. My husband didn't like him hanging out in our backyard at first, but I told him that he guards his precious figs and chases away birds and now he likes him. My dog, Dottie, even likes Walter. Dottie runs around the yard and tries to get Walter to play. Walter never wants to play. He just plops down on his side and rolls around on his back and teases Dottie.

One night, my husband and I had just gotten in bed and I heard a huge crash. I couldn't tell if the noise was inside or outside. So I got out of bed and checked the house - all was fine. The next morning, I let Dottie out in the backyard to go to the potty and there was something in the middle of the yard. It was still dark out, so I couldn't tell what it was. I called my husband to take a look and he said it was my iron bird cage that I use to keep the cats off my catnip. We had stormy weather the night before and all I could think of was, "wow, that was some storm". Well, later that morning after the sun came up, I went outside to put the bird cage back on its stand and was shocked to see Walter's collar attached to one of the iron curly rods. I was horrified and all I could think of was that Walter might be hurt. I called him several times a day for about 3 days... and no Walter. Finally, on the fourth day I called Walter and here he came. Thank goodness he was OK! I put his collar back on and gave him lots of attention. I'm sure his owners were wondering how he got his collar back on. LOL

Walter still visits often and I've found him sleeping up on our picnic table for the last week. Poor Walter! If I didn't already have three pets... and if my husband wouldn't get upset... I'd take him in. He's such a good boy. I love my little Walter! :)

Shopping Spree

Today I went looking around at several different fabric stores for some inspiration on some new bags and some medical scrubs. I hit the jack-pot and found so many nice fabrics that I had a very hard time deciding on which to purchase. I finally decided on enough fabric to make for two "Tori Bags" and one "medical scrub top". I can't believe all I finished today, even with my hours of shopping this morning. I came home, washed up all the fabric, cut out the two bags and the medical scrub top. Then I sewed and finished one bag and almost finished the second. Whew... what a day! I'm really excited about the colors and prints I chose and I can't wait to get them all finished. I will post some pictures to this entry tomorrow. It's late and I'm pooped.... so it's off to bed for me.

~EDITED TO ADD PHOTOS~ Here are the two bags and the medical scrub I made from this particular shopping spree. I love how they turned out and now I need to go on another shopping spree.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Yes, I know I'm a little late to be posting about Mardi Gras because it was this past Tuesday. However, I love Mardi Gras and I was just looking at my dinning room table and thinking about how I need to remove all my decorations tomorrow and start decorating for Valentine's Day. I really don't know what my fascination is with Mardi Gras. I've never attended the big festivities in New Orleans, although I did go to the parades in Galveston one year. I love all the colors, the outlandish masks, the beads and coins, and the parades. And I think it would be a blast to attend one of the balls!

Anyway, this year I went all out and decorated our dinning room table. I made a centerpiece out of Christmas decorations which I found for 75% off after Christmas. I draped the table with a purple tablecloth and scattered beads and coins around the table. My wedding china went perfectly with the table-setting and I placed a mask in the center of each bowl. A gold napkin was stuffed in each goblet.

My menu inclued chicken and sausage gumbo (http://www.recipezaar.com/284631), white rice, and warm French bread. I made a kings cake (http://www.recipezaar.com/90932) for dessert.

I even dressed up Dottie for the special occassion. Although it was just me and my husband for dinner this year, we still enjoyed the food and each other's company.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Mum Fairy

Well, it's a gorgeous day here in Texas and I'm really in the mood to get out in the garden and start planting seeds and flowers. However, it's still a little early for that. So, I decided to list some of my mum fairies on Etsy.

Mom and I first made a set of these fairies about 7-8 years ago while I was a student at the University of Houston. I majored in Hotel and Restaurant management and the fairies were part of my table decorations for my "Foods" class. In that class, the students ran the restaurant on campus and each week, we took turns working different job descriptions within the restaurant. We rotated between host, server, front of the house manager, chef, prep-chef, kitchen manager, etc.. On the night that I was the front of the house manager, I was also in charge of decorating the restaurant with a the theme. The dinner that night was "vegetarian" and I didn't want to decorate with just veggies, so I came up with an "Enchanted Evening" theme and decorated the front of the restaurant and each table with fairies. I even sewed special aprons for my servers. The night was a huge hit and so were the fairies.

The fairies upper body, hands and face are sculptured from clay and her dress is made from artificial mums. She is secured on a long, narrow stick, which is used to place her in your favorite pot plant. Here is my first listing on Etsy for the mum fairy. I named this one "Betsy Blue". http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9470140

I did it!

Well, I finally did it! After lurking around Etsy for almost a year, I finally decided to open my own store. I've been sewing and knitting for years. My grandmother and mother both taught me to knit as a kid. They taught me the basics, but I've recently been teaching myself the more advance techniques to knitting and I'm having a blast. I love going into a yarn shop and searching through the knitting books and then the isles of yarn. I love yarn and I have to touch them all as I look. I also enjoy sewing. My mother taught me to sew and I also took sewing in junior high school. I've been sewing my own clothes since I was in school and I now enjoy sewing for my step-daughter. I've sewn a few of her dresses for special events... it's like sewing for my barbies, but better! LOL

My new store will be full of mosty ladies accessories. I like making knitted scarves, shawls, hats, ponchos, and capelets. I also enjoy sewing bags, totes and purses. Anyone who knows me, knows I love cooking and trying out new recipes. Therefore, it wouldn't be my store if I didn't include something that had to do with cooking... so there will be aprons too. I also enjoy other crafts, so from time to time I will be listing miscellaneous items.

The picture above is of my first listing. It's a knitted drop stitch scarf which I made from two different yarns. You can check out the listing here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8754132