Never enough time in the day ...

Well, I'll post a little bit now ... to say all that I want to say, I think I would need several hours to type and organize photos and all that jazz, but I'll start now and try to finish up later!

The biggest news going on over here is the opening of my Etsy Store: Emmagail Creations. I am so excited to start my store, but if you do pop over there, you might notice a small inventory. I am feeling torn about making tons of things to put in it or keeping it low for now and see if I even sell anything! Probably it will stay low because I don't have enough hours in the day to do all I want to do! So far I have had one order - but hey, I'm happy I just got that first one! I also donated an item from the shop to a contest and that was fun to do!

This is a huge step. I've been telling my dh for over three years now that I wanted to do something like this. The timing has never felt right. Not that the timing is any better now, but yet it felt right. And something inside of me and a lot of somethings outside of me said DO IT NOW! So I did. Just like that. Dh came home from work one day and when he asked me how my day was I said something like "It was good. I opened my own store today. Let's hope I sell something." My dh, being the guy he is, pretty much replied "Great! Good luck with it." Ah, just one of the many reasons I love him. I promise if the tables had been turned I would have asked a million questions and would have been slow to warm up to the idea!

Aside from working on that, I am trying to do some crafting all for myself and the kids! Some knitting going on, the start of sewing a dress, oldest has requested a purse made from an old skirt she loves but can't really wear anymore, and I have some ideas to make some end of year teacher gifts. I'd like to say I will have pictures to share this weekend, but really, I thought I'd be sharing pictures last weekend, and you can see how well that idea turned out!

Anyway, hope all is well with everyone else =)

Some reading ...

I know this originally began as a knitting blog, and there is hardly any knitting content in it anymore. But, that's the road life has taken me down. I do still knit. I will show some pictures soon of some in-progress items and some (hopefully) finished. And I am planning a trip to buy some more yarn to make more things.
But for the moment, we'll talk reading since I have recently finished 3 books!
12 Sharp by Janet Evanovich - if you do not like this series, I do not understand why not! LOL! I will still be your friend, but truly I enjoy this series a lot. I haven't read one in a while and I think that made this book even more fun to read! Stephanie just has a habit of getting caught in some sticky situations but she always has very funny, entertaining people with her, well those kinds or really hot men. Either way, these books are enjoyable for me to read.

Embroidered Truths by Monica Ferris - yes, I have been reading a lot of Ferris books lately. They are all mysteries, which I love, and incorporate needlework, which of love, so of course I will try to read them all! LOL! Again, a quick, light read that was very entertaining

Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot - this was for the TBR Challenge I'm participating in. Great read. Another mystery. Very entertaining, quick, easy, fun read that I did enjoy a lot! I will be picking up the next book in this series (and I think there are 2 others out there as well).

Aside from these books that I managed to squeeze in, I am still going on my Read the Bible in 90 Days challenge. I am still a bit ahead, which I am glad for! I am at this point halfway through the Bible and on it's been 42 days. I am halfway through Proverbs and the farthest I have made it before in trying to read the entire Bible is part of Psalms. So I am now farther than I have been before! It is all very interesting reading frankly - the OT is full of lots of wars, punishment, forgiveness, and lots of family trees. I am sure if I was reading out loud it would be great entertainment to hear how I chop up the pronunciation of names. But I am going with it and I am actually enjoying it.

Anyway, I spend most of my reading time in the Bible but take along the light-hearted books when I am out and about to read. It is working very well. But I do have a stack of books waiting to be devoured soon!

Faith like a child ...

I don't normally share personal stories over here, usually I just talk arts and crafts. But I feel like this is a good story to share here. All of this took place on Friday while I was driving to meet up with a relative so the kids could play and her and I could hang out ...

Sometimes my children completely blow me away. Today was one of those days.
We were in the car at 11:00 today when in my area a moment of silence was observed for what happened on Monday.
The radio announcers took the moment of silence and then they said a lovely prayer about healing over what had happened, etc and it was nice.
My four year old asked me if she too could say a prayer.
Now, I had explained to my children that something bad had happened on Tuesday (because we also took a moment of silence then at 1pm our time zone). I told them a lot of people were hurt and sadly some of them even died and we needed to remember them and pray for them. We don't watch much news truly, but it has come up in conversation with others and so they listen even when we don't expect them too because my 4 year old knew more than I thought she did and expressed it in a prayer that left me speechless ...
"Dear God,
Please be with all the people who are sad and hurt and love them extra. And God, please be close to the shooter right now because I think he needs You most of all.
Amen."

I kid you not, that is what she said. I got goose bumps. Really. I did. Because it hit me she was right. He did probably need love and kindness right now most of all because I can only think that someone hurting soooooo badly could even think of committing the act he did, let alone acting it out. And two, until that moment I hadn't given that shooter a second thought other than to think I hope he was burning in you know where for what he did. And yet, here is my 4 year old, my 4 year old, who not only remembered to pray for the victims of what happened, but she remembered to pray for the man who did it.
People, I was blown away. Just blown away.
And what happened today I believe is a perfect example of how to have faith like a child. Because in her heart was no hatred. But yet concern and compassion for everyone. Even people I have not thought to give concern and compassion for. And that, my dear friends, is a lesson my 4 year old taught me. A child. An innocent child who is not jaded by so many other things and can say a prayer like that without giving it a second thought. And at the same time giving me goosebumps and making me say a quick prayer in my head, mimicking her words. And here the whole time I thought it was my job to teach them to pray. But really, they are teaching me. In very powerful ways.

So much I want to say ...

Yet, not enough time to pull it all together.
I really do have a lot to post about.
Hopefully this weekend there will be some good posting, some good pictures to share and all that jazz. This has just been an incredibly getting me all out of sorts kind of week and it's throwing off my ability to share here.
Like I said, hopefully this weekend things will calm down enough and I can get back into the swing of things.
OF course, you might have noticed a new little section with a new link in my sidebar - that will be talked about much more soon!

A day of silence ...

I'm making today a day of no posting in memory of those slain at Virginia Tech.

Newest Arrival ...

This is my newest arrival. They have been pre-washed, dried, and ironed. I am itching to get my hands on them and turn them into something incredible.

I don't know what is going on these days, but I am loving fabric. I just want to buy it, and mix it and match and I keep looking at fabrics and I just know exactly what it was meant to be. It is insane. Until now, fabric has been what I buy to finish the pattern. Now it is something that is waiting just for me to take it home, to take care of it, and help it grow and change into something even more wonderful and beautiful than it already is!

Either I'm falling in love with sewing again, or I am going crazy, but probably, it's a little of both LOL!

Home again, home again ...

jiggety-jig-jig!
Thanks to some very kind people tonight, dd and I are home. She is tucked into bed and hopefully half way to sleep!
First of all, my daughter rocks.
Second of all, knitters rock.
And third of all, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee rocks.
That's the short story of the evening ...

The long one is below:
So we walked in not late, but all the seats were already taken.




Which, I did assume would be the case.
Now, when we first walked in, there were two people greeting at the door. One of the ladies my dd started talking to immediately. She was so impressed A was there, with a knitting project in hand to boot. So we bought two copies of Cast Off because we decided we both needed our own (mostly because I wanted her to have her own copy as sort or a remembrance of tonight, but wanted my own to read now lol!). Then we walked back to all the people.
They were sharing projects they were working on. Within minutes of being there, my 7 year old raises her hand and shows everyone the scarf she is making.
This is so silly of me, but I totally teared up. I mean, tears were just there! I
really felt silly, but she just looked so grown up and sounded so grown up. ::sigh::




Then we sat on the floor, which was fine. And she just started chatting away to the woman next to her. Had I thought about it, I would have taken photos and gotten people's names, but I was so caught up and thinking about how my baby has grown up!!
Anyway, they chatted a bit. DD was knitting during most of this chatting.

Then, in a very nice gesture, someone who had been saving seats in the second row, decided maybe her friend wasn't coming and gave dd and I two seats! How very nice! (As I said earlier, knitters rock!). Then of course, my dd started chatting the new person she was sitting next to. Truly, my dd talked to more people tonight than I did.
So then it's time to start and the woman who we spoke with when we first came in was doing the introduction. She wanted to know who came the farthest (someone was there from North Carolina!) and then mentioned she already knew who the youngest person there was. At that, my dd stood up and waved! Yeah, she's not shy LOL!
Then we listened to the very entertaining Yarn Harlot herself speak.

I laughed so much tonight. It was great and wonderful!! Of course during all of this, my dd was a bit lost during most of and mentioned that it must be too funny for her to laugh. Although at one point there was a spot where yarn was called kittens and my dd indeed got that and thought it was the funniest thing she ever heard in her entire life!
So the talking ended, questions were asked. My dd asks a question (of course!) and wanted to know what was the favorite project Miss Stephanie (that's what dd calls her now) ever did. I totally appreciated the fact that Miss Stephanie told her to ask her mommy what harlot meant and how she really wasn't sure what the favorite was. A looks to me, waiting for me to tell her, meanwhile the rest of us are laughing at this ... thankfully Miss Stephanie says harlot means you like lots and lots of things and it's hard to pick just one. (thank you for that explanation as I was totally tongue tied and know she would have asked again on the car ride home LOL!)
Then it was book signing time.

Again, thanks to the very kind people around us (I seriously can not say enough thanks!) dd was allowed to be first in line. So she showed Miss Stephanie her scarf and got a book signed to her. She is so proud of having that book.

Tonight was worth it just to see how excited my dd was, to see how encouraged she was, to see how wonderfully kind everyone was (not that I had any doubts prior to this evening) and on the way home she told me, that she had a great time and will always remember tonight as a special time with me. Awww!!! My heart melted right there.
Now she is also determined to start a mother/daughter knitting club. She things more kids should knit and spend that time with their moms just like what we do.
Seriously, I could cry out of happiness. How truly lucky am I to be her mom? So lucky. Too lucky.
So tonight was indeed a very grand night for a variety of reasons. And I will say it again ...
First, my dd rocks.
Second, knitters rock.
And third, Stephanie Peral-McPhee rocks!

Getting ready ...

to head on over to a Borders near me to see Yarn Harlot (aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) speak.
Should be fun ... I'm taking a dishcloth, which I've yet to start!, my 7 year old, the scarf she is knitting and my camera! =)

My craft room!

I gladly present to you, my office! I am in love with this room. I was able, between yesterday and today, to get it in pretty decent shape! I doubt it will look this clean until we have a party or something like that here! LOL!



The door to the office!




The corner ... (you can see the hinges to the door on the left edge there).




My ribbon holder ... dh made it for me. I have to say, I do love it. Mostly because he made it and I think that is sweet. There is also under cabinet lighting there that he put in for me =)



moving down the counter ...




close-up of the fabric stash ... they should all be ironed and refolded, but well, I'm a bit lazy!




Embroidery corner!
The machine fits perfectly in this space and the thread for it hangs right behind it!




The other sewing machine. Not nearly as great of a spot, but a workable spot. Some more thread hanging on the wall (again, dh did that for me). And you can't see the cabinets above this counter, but he also put under-cabinet lighting on these as well. It really made a huge difference in the room truthfully. It was on the dark side before he did it all.




Another corner. The little tv is actually sitting in a corner designed for a computer, but I like my little tv there. I watch a lot of hgtv down there, but I also watch mtv and other shows I wouldn't watch with the kids around LOL!
Also, the cabinets/lights show up in this picture that I was talking about before ...




The other wall .... I think the picture makes it look cluttered, but when I am in the room, it doesn't feel cluttered to me. There is the one window in the room. It does let in some light, but not much as it's a window well.
That's the only bummer about being in the basement - lack of sunlight, but I am so excited to have my own space and get it all organized, that I'm not complaining just yet lol!




Secret knitting hide-out! LOL!
This is just a small sample of knitting yarns ... mostly the yarn is stuff I have projects in progress on. Most of my yarn is in 3 containers in the laundry room. But I did want some of it to be a bit more easy access, so hence this idea.

Aargh!

This is what you get when your dd tells you 5 minutes before bedtime "oh yeah, tomorrow, at awana it's pirate night so I need to look like a pirate and it's supposed to be a homemade costume. So the next day we woke and spent the morning making the costume ...

The white and blue were t-shirts donated by daddy for the costume. With a pair of scissors and a tiny bit of sewing we had a shirt and a vest. The yellow was just extra fabric laying around. The pants, hat, and bird we owned. We made the patch from construction paper. The bird is on her shoulder with the help of a bit of wire!