MARCH PHOTO A DAY - PART I

Thanks to the March Photo a Day site for all the inspiration. They gave you a list of subjects for each day and all you have to do is snap the picture. Here are my interpretations for the first half of March 2012. I already posted these on my Facebook page but I thought I'd post here as well so they are all together.

March 1st - UP

March 2nd - FRUIT

March 3rd - YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

March 4th - BEDSIDE

March 5th - SMILE

March 6th - 5 PM
Unfortunately, this photo was deleted by mistake. But, believe me, it was my best one!!

March 7th - SOMETHING YOU WORE

March 8th - WINDOW

March 9th - RED

March 10th - LOUD

March 11th - SOMEONE YOU TALKED TO TODAY

March 12th - FORK

March 13th - A SIGN

March 14th - CLOUDS

March 15th - CAR

So, that's my first installment. At the end of March I'll post the second half.
:D
Bye for now

PARTY TIME or THE PARTY'S OVER or just plain LETS SHOWER STEPHANIE

March 10, 2012. Time to shower Stephanie. My sister opened up her New Jersey home to family and friends to host this shower. Thank you! And it turned out to be a fabulous party.

Stephanie posing with her cake

The local bakery did a fantastic job of creating the cake.

The Bride To Be

Lunch

Desserts

Game time...Stephanie dressed up in an array of different things and the guests had to write down how many things they remembered.

Gift opening time

This one was from Stephanie's sister, Tracy; she put her own spin on the sample photo.

This is the pillow I made for Stephanie made out of shirts and sweaters that my father wore all the time. I made Tracy one as well.

For all of you who sent in recipes, here is the book they went into.

And this is the Advice box.

The gift wrap bouquet will be making another appearance at the rehearsal.

Ahhh...My girls and me.

Stephanie and Tracy

The Bride's side of the family (my sister is to the left of Stephanie in the black sweater)

Grant's mom, Donna, Steph and me

Stephanie with her best friend and her Matron of Honor, Rachel (and shower co-host)

The Groom's side of the family

Grant showed up at the end of the party.

Thank you to my sister for opening her home, and Rachel for co-hosting. This is a day I hope Stephanie will always remember.

I THINK THIS IS GONNA TAKE A WHILE

So, What on hearth have I gotten myself into? I have 25 t-shirts in a rainbow of colors cut and stripped into 5" pieces. They FILL a kitchen size trash bag!! But, as you can see, I have a very long way to go.

I will try to update this when (and if) it gets any better.

YES, I REALLY HAD TO SCRAP ABOUT THIS!

Plain Brown Wrapper Alert!

I just had breast reduction surgery on January 19th and it has been such an emotional journey that I had to scrap about it. Yes, I included before and after pictures of myself. No, you can't see them as they are covered. But my "before" is shown in my bra and my "during" is shown wrapped in ace bandages. So, there's you're alert. I've also been keeping a journal about my journey but it's not finished just as my journey is not finished. This layout is very personal and all about ME but I felt I needed to blog about it anyway. So, there you are.

Prior to surgery I was a 36G. Not easy to find that size on the rack. And, when you do they are quite costly. This has been years in the making; dating back to my teenage/high school years. It wasn't until recently that I took my feelings seriously. The result is that I will probably be a "D" but until all of the swelling goes down, I won't be positive.

Then, when I saw that Scrapping the Music's latest challenge song was "I Feel Good", I knew this was the right way to scrap about this.

Here's another plain brown wrapper, just in case...

I Feel Good

BIRTHDAY SURPRISES

This all started when I bought this pattern at Jo-Ann's but didn't know why. I guess I just thought I'd make one sometime. I've started really liking owls. Then, I showed it to my daughter, Tracy and she just loved it and wanted me to make one for her.

So,this is the owl I made for Tracy. I had never made a rag quilt before so it had its learning curves. But I was very happy with how it turned out. One of my friends from work held it up for me so I could get a good picture of it. You can really see how big it is and you can see his feet sticking out at the bottom.

I was hooked! Then I had to make more of these rag quilts. So, I started making birthday gifts for all of the little ones. These next two were for my sister's grandchildren. I loved them as well.

My friend, Doreen, saw my first owl and thought her daughter would love one. She commissioned me to make one for her. We went to Jo-Ann's and picked out all of the fabrics together. I hope her daughter loved the results as much as the two of us did.

And, last, but certainly not least, I made one for my brother's granddaughter. As of this post, she hasn't received it yet as it is sitting in the post office waiting for her mommy to pick up the package. I didn't want to post any of these pictures until the last child received their quilt so it would be a surprise. I hope she and mommy love it. This may be my favorite of all of them. Maybe.
They are all large and fun with cozy batting inside so they'll be warm too. They can also be wall hangings. Now, I am working on my 3rd owl. I am helping my friend with hers. With a much different color scheme, I think it will be very cute. Should be finished soon. The cutting and marking the quilting lines are the hardest part. The sewing together is a breeze.

Thanks for stopping by!

KEEPING BUSY

I've really been busy now that I have all of this "free" time on my hands. I'm trying to get a lot done before I'm out of commission for a little while (the big day is coming up this Thursday!). I've been cleaning out closets and drawers, making Good Will donations, helping a friend with a sewing project, baking for my synagogue's special upcoming event, knitting and scrapping.

I keep finding things to scrap about from our 2011 trip to NYC. This photo is from our gastronomical tour around New york. I think this is the best picture of the two of us from this vacation. We were in DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) where there were trendy restaurants and some shops. It is starting to get very popular. AND, we had the Brooklyn Bridge in the background ; can't get better than that!

This photo is of my sister's two grandchildren. I just love that he's pointing to his cheek and she gave him a kiss. My dad used to do that whenever he wanted a kiss...he'd just tap on his cheek with his finger. Very sentimental to me. I don't know if they told him to do this or he did it on his own, but it's very cute!
I'm sure I'll do more layouts in the next week or so, so stay tuned...

AM I REALLY POSTING ABOUT THIS???

You bet I am! It's may seem strange to blog about a new washer and dryer but you have to understand why.

First of all, my old dryer is old...bought when we first moved to Louisville back in the late 80's. So, we certainly got our money's worth out of it. But, strangely, I'd become attached to it. I knew it and all of its idiosyncrasies, like how many times I had to run it to get my clothes dry and how to clean out its hard to reach lint vent. but, I digress...

OLD

Then there's the washer that really wasn't so old. I still have the sales slip dated 2005. But, I had to keep re-washing clothes. Spots didn't come out and sometimes there were white linty things all over some items. The times that I'd left tissues in pockets don't count. There were plenty of other times.

So, dear hubby insisted on getting a new washer and figured we might as well get a pair. But as we were looking at these appliances I found new developments in the washer world. The latest thing is that they've done away with the agitators...you know, those tall things that spin back and forth in the center of the bin? Then, they've done away with warm rinses. They are all cold now...more energy efficient, you know. The final thing is that the water level is all automatic...you can't set it yourself. The washer decides your water level based on the weight of what's in your washer. Smarty-pants!

NEW

This last thing posed a problem. You see, I felt. That is I knit or crochet things with wool yarn and then I shrink them in a process called felting (I won't get more technical). Felting requires hot water and lots of agitation. So, I had to find a machine that still had the center agitator and a way to change the water level.. YAY, I found it. But, the catch is that within 6 months, my new washer will be obsolete; won't even be available! Phew! I got mine just in time!

So, you see, blogging about my new washer isn't so silly after all! But, strangely, I still miss my old mismatched pair. I won't even get into the gory details on why the pair were delivered one day and the plumber's visit and leaking hose and finally getting the washer hooked a week and a half later...