I am a quilter.

A quilter that hasn't really quilted much since I discovered sewing customs for Disney.

I am also a sewer; an embroiderer; an appliquér; and an all around fabric junkie.

So my question to all you fellow fabric-a-holics... how do you store your small fabric pieces.  And how small is too small?

I have an over the door shoe rack that was supposed to hold all my fabric for applique.  But somehow, it exploded and I probably need two more to hold the small pieces.  Then, there are those pieces that are too large for the shoe holder, but too small for any thing else.

Organizing your fabric stash should be fun!


Nini

The New Year is coming...

The New Year is barreling down on us, ready or not.  This year, while I am ready for a new start on a brand new year, I am not ready.

The only resolution of any consequence is for the whole family to loose weight.  We start our diets on Monday.  Since hubby and I really need to loose some serious pounds, and both kids are starting to get chubby, it is time for a family wide (no pun intended) diet and fitness program.

I think the hardest might be Mr D.  His teacher gives him candy as a treat for good behavior and getting his work done.  He is so NOT going to be happy with that change!

I also want to work a bit on the business.  I would like for it to grow (at least to a point where I have a positive cash flow) but I am not 100% sure I am willing to devote the time to it.  I prefer to take a slower, more leisurely approach to it!  LOL!

I have some organizational issues to deal with in my studio...I need more storage ideas for my fabric stash...and I am going to re-do both kids bedrooms.

I have a trip planned to Missouri to visit family, and would like to take another Disney trip, but that might be on the back burner.

Last year I wanted to try and blog at least once a week.  Looking back over the year I managed to just about meet that goal....

And I did manage to get the studio moved to the basement, as well as get an embroidery machine.

I sold a few items, and sewed a ton of stuff for our Disney trip...

And lastly, I got cheated by someone on an online sale!  That one still burns!  (although the story is not yet over!)

I hope all your dreams for 2010 came true and that you have a lot of things planned for 2011.

Happy New Year!

Nini

In just one short week...

it will be Christmas Eve, and my family will be gathered around for Christmas festivities (including the traditional meal).(sorry Korey, no hot wings this time!)

And then the new year will be upon us before we know it.  Time to start thinking about New Year's Resolutions.  Maybe I should look back to last year and see how many I kept.  (I can't even remember what they were!)


Happy Holidays!

Nini

Anyone for a Disney redo?

The magic of Disney has struck again.

I sent an email off to Disney when we got back, outlining the problems we had with our room.  I really didn't expect any answer, but it helped me to vent off some of the anger.

Yesterday evening, I got a phone call from Fiona at Disney.  We talked for a minute or two and then she started reading a script.  I almost lost interest, until she got to the good part.  Disney wanted to make sure we returned (as if there was ever really any doubt about that!) so they are comping us a room for two nights!  Since there is no expiration or limitations on the offer (only has to be a moderate), and we can use the Military Salute tickets...it looks like we will be going back to Disney in 2011 after all!  I can add two or three more nights to make it worth while to drive down, and hopefully still get the dining added to our trip.

Now my biggest problem is waiting for the school system to publish their calendar for next year.  I would like to take this trip without having to worry about the kids missing too much school.  They normally get a week break in October, so I am thinking that would be a good time (weather wise) to make the trip.

Of course, since Miss B will probably no longer wear the custom dresses, I have to figure out what I will make to wear this trip....



Nini

BRRRR!

Yup!

It is a bit cold here!

I don't mind the cold weather when I can stay in.  In fact, I sleep best when my bedroom is cold. (I started my habit of sleeping with a window slightly open when I was pregnant about 33 years ago!)  Hubby throws on an extra blanket and has learned to deal with it!

Weather dot com has the weather at 15 with the wind chill of 5!

I have to go out in this today....Mr D needs more meds at school.  I have to get there this morning, before it has a chance to 'warm up'!  The wind is supposed to die down this morning...and that dreaded S word is supposed to start sometime this evening!

Everyone always teases me about how early I get my Christmas stuff started.  But, if I had done my normal Christmas things this year, I wouldn't be as far behind as I am!  I have two gifts to return, and rebuy, and a total of 4 more have-to-get gifts, and then of course my kiddies might like for Santa to actually bring them something this year, so I have that to do as well!

Since they are out of school next week, all this HAS to be done this week.  Something tells me it is not going to happen this week!

Funny about the cold last night.  I woke up cold once (which in itself is very unusual!) and thought I was at Disney!


Nini

Presents, Presents, Presents...

Finally!

I have finally finished 4 out of the 18 Christmas presents I aim making.  Took me an hour or two to decide what exactly I wanted to do after I got back from Wally World to get more towels!

See, I ordered some from the same place I order my t shirts.  But somehow I managed to order the wrong ones.  I wanted regular finger tip towels, but I ordered finger tip towels with a grommet in them.  Usually known as golf towels.  The ones I wanted were a dollar a piece cheaper...oh well.  I'm not sure if they will take them back, since it was my own fault and none of theirs.

If I have to keep them, I have NO IDEA what to do with them!  LOL!

The towels are actually turning out a lot cuter than I thought they would, but I'm still not sure that a towel will count as a Christmas gift.  Seems a bit skimpy to me!

So, now off to the mall for some more Christmas shopping...and I really hate malls!

I may have something to wrap in a day or so.


Nini

Decorating the Tree

It never really seems like Christmas to me until we decorate the tree.  When I was growing up, the tree never went up until 7 days before Christmas.  Period!  No exceptions!  EVER!

Even after we went to an artificial tree.  Still only one week before Christmas.  

When I moved out, the first purchase I made for my new apartment was an artificial Christmas Tree and one set of fancy, smanchy, twinkling lights.  (This was back in 1972!)  That year, I put my tree up TWO weeks before Christmas!  After all, I was an adult and could do what I wanted!

After kids came along, we had a new wrinkle in our plans.  Often, we were not at home for Christmas.  We were in the army and only had one vacation a year.  So, we usually spent the Christmas break at both parent's house.  One in Missouri and one in Georgia.

Being gone for a month really put a cramp in the whole tree thing.  If I put it up before we left, I had to take it down when we got back.  Not much fun!

Then when my oldest daughter was born exactly three weeks before Christmas, a whole new wrinkle was put into the mix.  She wanted her birthday and Christmas to be completely separated, so no Christmas decorations were allowed to go up until after her birthday.  (a rule that she broke this year , by the way!  Her tree was up before Thanksgiving this year!)

This year, since we were going to Disney right after Thanksgiving for 10 days, putting a tree up in a timely manner was again put in jeopardy!  See, I like real trees.  All the good real trees are gone shortly after Thanksgiving, so we had a very, very limited choice.  We have very tall ceilings, so it has to be a tall tree to not look strange. And, of course, we have to put the tree in an awkward space, so it can't be too full (even though I LOVE full trees!)

We were relatively lucky this year.  We got a smaller tree than we wanted, but the tallest one we could find.  Since it wasn't as tall as normal, it was about 25 dollars cheaper than we had budgeted.

Then came the light issues.  I am positive, that last year when we un-decorated the tree, that the lights were all put back on the fancy light holder thingys.  But, when we got them out, they were all thrown in the box, with the fancy light holder thingys, in a tangled, jumble mess.

It took two of us over an hour to untangle the lights...only to discover that over half the lights did not work!  So, wonderful hubby went on the search for lights.  Now, lights are very important to me.  Ever since Germany, I only want white lights on my tree, and they have to be twinkling, not blinking!

See, blinking means a whole section of the string goes out at the same time...leaving a whole section of the tree dark.  While twinkling means each bulb is independent in the flashing.  No dark spaces in the tree.

Store #1 only had white in blinking.  He bought me 3 boxes of these lights.  He meant well.  But after they were on the tree, he agreed they were not doing it!  So off he went to store #2.  They had the same type of lights as store #1, unless you wanted to buy a set of 500 feet or more.  So, off to store #3.  This time he found what we needed and got me two more boxes.

So, we managed to put those two boxes on the tree last night.  The tree now has ENOUGH lights, but they are not very artfully arranged. In fact, I really dislike...very strongly...the way the lights look.  I wanted to take them down and redo them last night, but my back and neck had other ideas, so I hoped that they would look better in the morning and went to bed.

No, no Christmas Elves came in the middle of the night to decorate my tree.It was still waiting for me to finish when I got up.  But my resolve to redo the lights was gone.  Not that they looked any better, just I really did not have the time to do it!

So, this morning, I have been putting some ornaments on the tree.  With the help of a three year old.  Let's just say that the number of breakable ornaments is quite a bit less than there was this time yesterday!

I think it is time for a break from tree decorating for a while!!


Nini

Christmas is a comin'....

And the goose isn't the only thing getting fat!

Sorry, I couldn't resist that one!

I have exactly 2 gift bought for the kids that still live in my house....and 2 gifts (out of 20) for those people that do NOT live in my house!  We normally already have the tree up and the house decorated.  I have not made a single teacher/doctor/therapist gift (I have 18 to make this year...that is what public school will do to you!)

But Christmas is still coming at an alarming speed!  It doesn't seem to care that I am not ready.  It seems to think that I am as far ahead of the game as I normally am.  I used to have all my gifts bought by mid October.  By the beginning of October I had so many lists made it was pathetic.  I had a list of what foods I needed to purchase (and what week they were to be bought...the non perishables were bought during the summer!); I had lists of where the decorations were to go, what day each item was done, what time each item was put on the stove for Christmas dinner....well, you get the idea!

This year....nothing!


I now have only one week to get 18 gifts made.  I'm thinking a Christmasy kitchen towel embroidered by my machine.  Quick, easy, and is definitely doable in a week...if I get around to finding the towels....


I guess I need to get off the computer and get to work!


Nini

Good to be home

....well, almost home!

Disney was fun, but we are almost to Macon.  That means about 2 more hours and we will be home.  We had a very magical trip, but decided next time we would take a break.  We will only do two park days in a row with a park-free day before we do two more park days.

That was a lot of walking around!

While I love Coronado Springs Resort, we were left disappointed in it this time.  We had requested a ground floor room close to the parking lot and we ended up with a room as far away from the parking lot as possible, and on the second floor.  Then, for 4 days we had no hot water to speak of, no water pressure and the only sidewalk to the parking lot was blocked off due to some emergency construction on the water lines.  It is really hard to believe that they kept that building open with those conditions!

Of course, we did get an autographed picture of Mickey and Minnie for our troubles....

It will be great to sleep in my own bed tonight, and the kids are actually looking forward to going to school tomorrow.  Now it is time to plan my Christmas shopping, cleaning, decorating, birthday shopping (no, I haven't forgotten about your birthday, just haven't bought anything yet!), unpacking, laundry, and I'm sure a million other things I have forgotten about!  LOL!

Less than 3 weeks until Christmas and I haven't even started!  (I work best under pressure!)

Nini

Disney part two

Still at Disney...still having a blast!  Tonight is Steamboat Willie dress night!  I can hardly wait!  It was my favorite dress as I was doing all that sewing, and I have been looking forward to this night since we started planning.  Not for the food...but for the dress!

I've also gotten a few ideas for more things to make to sell.  I'm thinking a grand re-opening of my Etsy shop in January.  Lots of ideas and lots of designs floating around in my head.

Nini