Crafty Happenings

Good Morning All!

Have you noticed that the weather has a bit of a chill in it? I sure noticed it this morning during my early walk. The wind was howling over the singers on my MP3 player and leaves were swirling around my feet while acorns cracked beneath my shoes. I do believe fall in on the horizon! I LOVE fall. I have missed it. I am a bit thin blooded these days, so I don't know how much longer the early strolls will last, I may be moving my morning routine to the living room with a nice rousing round of yoga.

Anyway, let's get on to crafty news. I have wanted to change up my straps for some time. The straps are quite honestly the part of the bag I least like to make. So....I cut into the leather hides I bought in Waynesville, NC this summer and made some straps. Of course that meant I needed to make some bags too, right? Just to test them out....


This is a swag bag - I used water resistant canvas (same kind used in the Australian Swags), some little surprise bits of Australian BDU, lined the bag with a soothing lavender linen and made a long leather strap. The strap is not long enough to be a messenger, just a longer shoulder strap. I like this bag - but I don't think I love it. It will either be retired to one of the kids or one of you are welcome to it if you like.

I also upgraded the Molly Purse a bit. Now this one I quite like. The leather straps feel great and I think I prefer the magnetic snap to the button.

The Echino lining is nice and bright with plenty of happy birdies. I put a bit of Velcro on the pocket so you can stick your name tape on it if you like.

The skulls are a bit odd on the closure, but oh, well, I liked the pink with the lining and I wanted the symmetry of the Menagerie Damask pattern.

I think I will be putting this one in my little shop. So if you think it would be nice on your arm go on over and add it to your basket.

I also got some books. I can't wait to begin the new one by Diana Gabaldon. I am going to save it as a treat for after I have finished the commission quilt I am working on.

Speaking of which I need to work on it.

Have a great day and enjoy the beginning of fall!

**Ellie update- she is getting larger and larger and just kinda moves around the house from sunny patch to sunny patch. She looks so content, though. I wonder if I ever had such an expression on my face when my belly was so swollen with the babies within. She likes to roll over on her back so her kitties can be palpated, we do love the little kicks and movement. It shouldn't be much longer now....

On being a Digital Immigrant

Hey there Folks,

I sure hope you are all doing well. We are doing pretty good here at the Casa. We are waiting for Ellie to have her kittens - her area is all set up to do her thing and the kids are so excited. I don't think it will be until next week assuming Ike is the daddy.

There is plenty of other stuff going on too. I have been sewing up a storm and I love my sewing room so much. All the light is amazing. I rarely turn on the lights, I just use the natural sunshine that pours in. Sam plays with his trains and cars or colors in the living room and the house is peaceful. The big workspace is wonderful. Both Sewing machines (the Berninas) have been tot he shop and serviced so they are back to their dreamy selves. Ahh Life is good.

This is where I spent my Saturday morning and it was so nice. I am working on a quilt for Michelle Engel Bencsko out of her new Shade Garden line. I want it finished for her to take to market next month if she wants to, so I am trying to work with a deadline. I think by this afternoon most of the progress will be made.

Ike has become my shadow since his testicles were removed. He is where ever I am. He does not want to be picked up and loved on, he just wants to hang out and be stroked. He keeps me company in the evening while I am cleaning up the kitchen, perches on the edge of the tub while I am in the shower, makes a mad dash for my lap when I sit down for a moment and curls around my head while I am sleeping. I am not real wild about that actually - so I have been trying to keep the doors closed to keep him out, but with the doors closed I don't hear the kiddos as well if the need Stu or I during the night.

Here is my sewing room this morning....I am all ready to layout and piece the panels of the quilt. What a great day I have planned today.

This is a picture of what the quilt will look like when it is all finished. Pretty lovely I think. Oh and that is my phone. I am finally learning how to use it after being insulted by the bagger girl at the commissary on Monday. I was chatting with her on the way out to the van and we were talking about cell phones and I mentioned how much I did not like mine. I think it does too much and I can't figure out all the things it does. She said that Technology is just not natural to "Your Generation". My jaw dropped to my chest I am sure. I am only 33 for heaven's sake! Not 103! As soon as I got home I found the instruction book for my phone and uploaded some music to it, so it is now my MP3 player. So HA! I can be a digital native....I just need a map. Digital Immigrant my foot.

Have a great day folks!

Tia

Some more bags in the shop

Well for some dumb reason I can't upload pictures. Bummer. Oh well, you can take a peek in my SHOP if you want to see the newest bags I put in there. I think I might be just about ready to take a VERY VERY VERY few bag orders....I will be sending out a big fat email any day now and the slots will be available in my Etsy.com shop. This is your fist warning....HAhahahahHA. Soon my darlings, soon!

Wee Etsy.com stocking

Good Morning Everyone!

I just wanted to drop by and let you know that I have done a quick stocking of my Etsy.com shop. There are 2 items there now and I may put in a couple others when I get them finished.

This is a little date night clutch - I actually use one inside my larger "Tia Tote" and I really like how it looks inside the bag and keeps my cell phone and wallet handy.

This Stu tote is also in the shop now and all ready to go home with you! As I was unpacking all my fabric this combination really jumped out at me. I love the warm colors, it really looks like a sunset at the close of an emotional day. It has the velcro patches so you can personalize it to your hearts content. It is a big bag. So be aware of that.

Anyway if you have any questions just let me know!

Cheers!,

Tia

Family Visit

Hi Everyone!

How was your weekend? I hope it was great! Mine sure was busy. My family came to visit and we sure had a great time. The only one missing was my older sister and her family. Other than that it sure was wonderful to have everyone together under one roof and sitting at one table for a couple meals.
We went to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in the heart of Kansas City on Sunday and had a great time wondering around and petting critters.

We got to bottle feed some baby goats.

Emma had a birthday party. She is getting so tall and self reliant. Hard to believe she is already 8. How the time has flown. Do you ever think to yourself how perfectly your children are made for you, and you for them? I think about this so often. God gave her to us to nurture and love. He gave her a bit of a hearing handicap, but he gave me super-sonar hearing to make up for it. I love watching my children. All 3 have so many gifts of the spirit and it is such a blessing to watch them learn to use theirs.

Here is a little shot of us all together in front of "Famous Dave's" I think we ate here twice while my family was visiting. I do like their ribs. I should have angled my hip behind Laura....the way I am standing makes me look wide....couldn't possibly be the second corn muffin I had;o)

This is a little shot of one of the stretches of road I really like around here. I think the corn field looks so clean and American. It is so surprisingly "NOT flat" around here. We are just loving it!

Ok I am off to cut some fabric for another quilt and see when I can get my Berninas back from the shop. I think both were fairly damaged in the move, but that is what claims and insurance is for, right?

Oh one more thing- I am hearing from many ladies from the American Widow Project. Thank you so much for writing me, I am not taking any orders yet. I am just not yet ready. Soon, but not quite yet.

Happy Birthday, my Love.

Yesterday was a big day at the Curtis household. My mate had his birthday and we are now full players in the 21rst century! I got him an Ipod. A proper one instead of our junky Telefunkin one from the Outback. Sadly it will need to be exchanged as there is some sort of software malfunction. Oh well, I gave it a go. We had a pleasant dinner and a really wonderful cake. HE wanted an Apple Cake and I used a recipe from my FT Hood Sunday School Teacher (Wanda Lewis). It was Awesome. Very simple and straightforward. Both the taste and recipe. I will share it below.

The other big thing was Ike (our black fluffy cat) was castrated yesterday. He was feeling very insecure and found a nice warm place to rest and purr his brains out last night while I was reading the kids their bedtime story. This is odd for him as he normally just hangs out around the boarders of our family. Not that he doesn't like us, he just had rather supervise our activities instead of participate. Ellie (the gray lady cat) is always right in the midst of everything, she is just the sweetest thing. But his surgery went well and he seems quite recovered this morning. He is supposed to be taking it easy. Oh, for those of you with access to your Post Vet office they de-sex critters for almost nothing. It is $20 for a male and $40 for a female. That is a fraction of what it costs at the off post vets (civilians). We did have to wait a bit for one of the vets to return from Afghanistan but that is fine. Ike really was not that much trouble with nuts, but In the future he may be, right? At least that is what I hear from other owners of big male cats.


Well, maybe he did do a bit of damage with those reproductive organs of his...we will see soon. Ellie was supposed to have her uterus removed as well yesterday, but I just couldn't be a part of cat abortion. I know I know, I am a terrible cat owner. But I remember one of my favorite memories was our dog having puppies. She may just be getting fat, right? You will have to let me know if you want a free fluffy kitten ;o)



Ok, I need to go fold clothes and vacuum so my mom can see what a brilliant house keeper she raised. Do you all freak out a bit before your mom comes to visit? I do. I love her to bits and I want to impress her with my domestic skills!

Oh stand by! here is the Recipe for the Apple Cake. It is very nice and moist with a fantastic Caramel Sauce for the Icing. Sometimes I put cinnamon in, but this time I didn't since It was for my man. Oh and you can add a cup of nuts (walnuts) and it really makes it wonderful, but once again it was for my husband and he wanted a "JUST APPLE CAKE" so here you go the "JUST APPLE CAKE" the way I made it Yesterday.....

• 1 cup room temperature butter
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3.5 cups peeled and chopped granny smith apples

Butter and flour a tube or bunt cake pan. Mix the butter, oil and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add eggs one at a time. In another bowl I mix the flour, salt and soda, then I add it to the butter and egg mixture. When that is all mixed up I add the Vanilla and the chopped apples.

Bake in a 350 F oven for 1 hour (it said to bake for 1.5 hours, but my oven cooks too quickly so you may need to play with this part a bit. Good luck!)

Caramel Sauce for the icing

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1 cup Brown Sugar

cook all this on the stove top and let it boil for a couple minutes. Make sure you stir it! Don't scorch it! Then pour it onto the top of the still warm cake and it will rock your world. I love it. I burned the heck out of my tongue tasting it, so watch out for that too. The sauce is very runny at first so make sure the plate your cake is turned out on will be big enough for some overflow. Enjoy it friends!

Off to clean a bit!

XO,

Tia

Our Labor Day weekend So far

How is your Labor Day Weekend going so far? I sure hope well. Ours is pretty good. I have made some good progress on my sewing room. I am almost ready to start a bit of work in it! Yay! Not quite ready for bags but soon, very soon.

Here is Ellie doing her thing. I still need to finish the teacher quilts and send them back to Alice Springs. It won't take much time at all as soon as I get going on them (I just got my stuff Thursday, why am I making myself feel like I haven't been doing anything?)

I hung my lovely doll quilts. Well, I hung the one low one from Rhubarb Patch and my husband took over and did the rest. Very handy man I have. He also took all those boxes down to the basement later.

I was hoping the pretty basket would camouflage the ugly scrap bin a bit better, but oh well...it will be a working studio, not a fancy one for just looking.

We also went to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival today. Oh it was great. What a fantastic venue. When my husband told me where it was I thought it was going to be in the middle of the speedway thing (Part of me thought that the race cars would be zipping around the outside and all the thespians would be in the grassy part in the middle pretending the cars weren't invented yet. Yeah, dumb I know.) but it was a ways behind the speedway and it was just a lovely venue. I have never been to a Renaissance Festival in the US. I have heard of them and I have been to a couple things similar in Europe, but this was my first go in the US. The people who dress up sure take it seriously, that is for sure. We had a great time and the kiddos had an utter blast!

This is Sam and the king. Seems like there were lots of Kings and Queens, but I guess this was the main dude. He was in charge of the joust at any rate.

Here are my fellas and Emma is browsing over on the side of the shot.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Our stuff from Oz has arrived

The eagle has landed! Well at least a bunch of junk has arrived. Do you ever feel like that? When all your stuff gets to wherever you are and you were so excited to get it, but when it arrives you kinda wish you still didn't have anything? Well, I really don't feel like that, but I think my husband does. I know the kids are thrilled to have their bikes and dolls and cars and transformers and books and all the little things that make them thrive. My children (on their way to Disney World with their Grandparents) told my mom and dad that Stu and I had thrown all their toys and clothing away in Australia. Oh my mom was HOT. How could I do that? What was I thinking? I had no clue what she was talking about, but this afternoon Emma said that she thought we had thrown everything away. So there, Mom, I didn't throw everything away! Really I didn't! You can see for yourself next week when you come by to visit. Our dwelling is now bursting at the seams with Stuff.

Now, part of this I attribute to my mate. He decided to try something new with the movers. They were to not only unload the truck but also unpack the boxes and hump out their cardboard and paper. So I had big men unpacking all my fabric and kitchen and everything, so now all the beds are covered with crap and I can barely get around the kitchen due to all the dishes, pots and pans and glasses being strewn all over the place. My house looks like a total dump. I know it will get all straightened out, but for now I cringe as I go through the house. I know what I will be doing for my Labor Day weekend! What will you be doing for yours? Whatever you are doing be safe and creative!


xo,
Tia

PS, Sam is the only one still ill. So I think the flu has worked it's way through the Curtis Clan. Oh and Ike (the black cat) is totally freaked out he has wedged his body under one of the radiators. I kinda feel like joining him. Maybe everything will be tidy when we emerge. What do you think?

Touch of the Flu

Good Morning All.


An Influenza virus is working it's way through our family at the moment so we are a pretty pitiful lot. But our immune system is growing more and more powerful each day, right? At least that is what I keep telling myself.

I am pretty sure we all caught it from Miss Emma. Thanks for that, darling. But despite feeling like poo I took all 3 kiddos to the dentist yesterday. It was the BEST DENTIST experience I have ever had. Now those that know me know what an odd statement that is coming from my mouth (it is similar to me declaring my intention to graft some dead mans foot to my forehead). I liken most dentists to terrorists trying to torture information out of me. I HATE going to the dentist for myself and I really really hate taking the kids to the dentist. Why? Well my children have very poor teeth (and I have had many many horrendous experiences under the care of teeth repair, one even involved an Honduran gate guard at Soto Cano trying his hand at filling cavities. Needless to say it went very poorly and it is a story for another day). And because of the poor teeth all the hygienists and dentists feel the need to accuse me of neglect, and not feeding my children a balanced diet and giving them too much soda, and candy. My jaw always drops open and I try to defend myself as to how horribly untrue that is and I attempt to give them the miserable medical history all my children have had....but I am normally shut down with this one simple statement "I see the results of your neglect and poor diet in their mouths, Ms Curtis" OHHHHH how that slices deep into my viscera. I never buy candy and I am so anti-juice I refuse to entertain it unless we are at deaths door and are desperate for Vitamin C (then only pure OJ) don't even get me started on sodas...I used to flush PEG tube (feeding tubes in the hospital) blockages with the stuff when they would get clogged up.


I did not sleep a bit the night before the appointment as I was gearing up for my acceptance speech for being the "Most Crappy Mother on the Planet" Award. But it was all for naught! No my children still have a plethora of cavities and will need vast and expensive treatments, but DR Kittle (30 years of Army service) was the most informed dentist I have encountered. His wife is a quilter and a nurse, woman after my own heart. The office has massage chairs and all his hygienists and receptionists are the sweetest bunch of ladies (one had Sam by the hand taking him on a tour of the office and tools to acclimate him to the environment. Another was helping Emma try on all the dress up rings and necklaces from the treasure chest. Ethan was lying back with sunglasses on watching a movie on the ceiling.)


But he gave me evidence that I was NOT a horrible Mother! Their poor teeth is the result of fevers and ear infections and lots of antibiotics as young infants. Wow...who knew? Besides me....it sure sounds nice coming from someone else. And his approach to the treatment plan was so professional and straight foreword that I happily sat down and scheduled all their appointments for the next year, as well as my own!


So now that that load is off my chest I am slowly working away on this quilt. It is going to take forever. But here is some GREAT news!!!!! Our Australia shipment is coming tomorrow! My table is all cleared off waiting for my lovely Berninas and the shelves are dusted and ready to encase my lovely horde of fabric. Oh happy happy day!


Have a wonderful day!