Happy Year 2010

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring happy bells, across the snow.

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850~

BULAKLAK

Materials: Glass Pearls, Crystals and Seed Beads

Techniques: Bead Stitching (Beaded Beads) and Russian Snake

Enjoy my first jewelry sets for 2010... with more to come the soonest! I had been in a beading-bug since christmastime and the cold Iowa weather calms me so far with bead stitching. I also have few stitched pieces to share on my next post.

Hope everybody's having a fabulous New Year's Day!

The Liz Logelin Foundation

This is not a craft related thing but I thought it's worth to share as it's for a good cause. I may not be able to update my blog for a while while attending personal matters so I wanna share with you one of the outstanding blogs I have ever encountered.

I became one of the many silent readers of Matt & Madeline's blog since I saw them on Rachel Ray show. Liz (wife of Matt & mom of Maddy) died 27 hours after giving birth to Maddy... The foundation was formed with a main goal:

"where other widows and widowers can offer – and be offered – support and friendship."

If you want to cry, laugh, and be inspired at the same time, check out their blog and Liz Foundation.

Happy reading!

Encrusted Bead Embroidery

I started working on this encrusted beading last night while watching the "Golden Globe Awards". It's my first heavy beaded embroidery for almost 2 decades! yay The cabochon I used was a big button (about 2" dia.) from the jar MIL gave last week. It was caged with glass seed beads, and the 2 holes on top of it were used to attach the gold dragonfly. I wish I could deliver a better photo of this piece. I used various colors of #2 bugle beads, seed beads, fire-polished glass beads and charms. It measures about 2.75" x 4.75", from tip-to-tip. I stabilized it with skirtex as I don't have timtex or buckram. I meant to only use various shades of green beads but as you can see, I went on the other direction. This will be a pendant, or should I say BIG pendant! It's looking good so far and I enjoyed doing it! That's what important, right?

Encrusted Beading

A fellow EGA member from Cedar Rapids, Sally, was so kind to lend me these DVDs of Jan Beaney and Jean LittleJohn who are both great fiber artists. I fell in love with their works when Sally emailed me the link of a class she'll gonna attend this month at Callaway Garden. Oh, I could only wish I'll be able to attend their classes too so I can see their lovely works in person. Maybe in the future HA!

Fiber Artists DVDs

Jan Beaney & Jean LittleJohn

Since DH had to stay at the hotel due to blizzard this morning, I had no choice but to get the mail today. If only I'm not expecting any mails, I won't even attempt to open the door. Anyway, I though it would be nice to take some photos of the snow outside. LOL Here are snapshots from our snowy driveway and icy roads. I chose to take a route on the snow instead of the icy road... as it is much safer to step on. I often tell DH we live in a "white world" during winter!

January 12, 2009

Snow Photos

I hope everybody's having a warm day or night! In Stitches!

Charice Pempengco... Another Filipino Pride!

http://www.charicepempengco.com/

I meant to blog about her last weekend but things gone crazy down here. I have to admit though that I could be the last Filipino who never heard about her till seeing her at Oprah on January 2nd, 2009. I haven't been watching the O show for a long while now so me and DH decided to start our New Year with it. We then saw the commercial that this girl will be Oprah's special guest the following day. After seeing a glimpse of her face on TV, I told DH "This girl looks like a Filipina." Same thing I said to DH the first time I saw Arnel Pineda (current lead vocals of Journey) at Sunday CBS Show last year. Her name wasn't mentioned on the commercial therefore I couldn't google her. So I patiently waited the following day and Voila!... she's from Laguna, Philippines (Laguna is in Southern part of Luzon, about 2 hours from Manila). She's only 16 years old and has been travelling all over the world because of her soulful voice. I spent an hour or so googling her on Monday to keep up-to-date... LOL Click this link for her personal website.

Also, her name rang-a-bell when I heard Oprah announced it. It took me hours to realize that it was Barbara from Malaysia or BJ as we usually call her at NNC, who mentioned it to me before.:) Thanks BJ... I meant to google her name then but got destructed and totally forgot to do it. Anyway, me and DH had to finish the show before heading our way to my birthday party. Once we arrived at Aunt R's house, MIL said right away how they're impressed with Charice... they also watched Oprah. Yay!

As mentioned in my previous post, weather last weekend was horrible again but thank goodness this week is a lot better. So me and DH decided to continue shopping yesterday... my gift cards are jumping off my purse! LOL We went at the local library afterwards and I got me 3 needlework books that I don't have: a Dover Needlework Series, a bead book and a Mary Gostelow book. While at the libraby, I couldn't remember if I have the latter book or not... all in all, I enjoyed browsing and reading the 3 books yesterday. Our last destination yesterday was the video store, DH bought 3 DVD's, something we could watch on his next day-offs.

Can you tell why I was hiding in my cocoon again? I was busy stitching and finishing some smalls that I had to set aside blogging for days again. I'm finalizing some details for my JCS project as well.

I hope everybody's having a great warm day. Happy stitching ALL!

Storms and Weekend Crafting Plans

Yesterday is by far the warmest weather we had for quite a while now. A lot of snow melted which made the gravel roads in the countryside very muddy!

A new storm is on its way today or tonight so DH decided to spend the next 2 days at the hotel, while I'd rather stay here. Needless to say, as I'll have the house for myself in the next couple of days, I'll be busy stitching, finishing, jewelry making and some sewing. There's still a lot of post-christmas mess to deal with but I wanna set-up my sewing machine and light box kit first.:)

I started another sewing purse or MA last night using Stitches and Spice products. Hopefully I can finish it by Monday.

Have a great day everyone!

Icy Snow

These photos represents what it looks like outside our house. I went out to get the mail around 2PM (unfortunately nothing) so I thought I'll take some shots of the awful icy snow. It's a good thing the plower passed by past 1PM, otherwise the road I had to take would be slippery.

I hate to go out but I had no choice as DH's didn't make it home today. I packed some clothes for him yesterday afternoon, as we agreed that he better stay at the hotel if the roads are bad. He was actually contemplating when he woke up yesterday noontime if we'll check-in at the hotel he works for 2 days. I preferred to stay home as I got a bunch of works to do. He just have one more night to work this week.:) Starting tomorrow, he'll gonna be off then will go deer hunting with his buddies this weekend.

Our icy driveway... the tree on the right is more than 100 years old!

Sleek path to the road...

I'm trying to keep myself warm here. I haven't done any stitching... was busy earlier on some online shopping for DH christmas gifts. Hope everybody's having a great stitching day! Keep warm!

MailArt from Malaysia

MA Exchange (open theme) from Janet of Malaysia

Organized by Wendy at NNC

I'm doing a happy dance here since yesterday! This exchange is one of my another first... it's my first MA Exchange and it came from a wonderful friend and stitcher, Janet from Malaysia.:) Thank you very much Janet, I love it... and thank you so much for the extra goodies. The fabric she included has an antique effect and I can see myself using it on my model pretty soon.:) The butterflies are so cute, you'll see more of them as props on my models while I'm still undecided what to do with them.:) I'm sure they'll be great adornments!

The design she used is just perfect, and I couldn't think of anything better. I love quaker and she stitched the motifs beautifully. It is not simple Janet, it's stunning and you did a great job! I know it is made from the heart, and the tiny hearts you put in the border made me love it even more. Thank you again!

I checked the Iowa State Fair website yesterday with the hope that I'll gonna find the winners being posted. Unfortunately, only few departments were updated and the "Fabrics and Theads" is not one of them. So I browsed at the corndog chomp photos and wanna share this one here. Look at the crowd, I'm glad me and hubby participated in this record setting history event. More than 10,000 Iowans ate corndog at 8:45AM on August 7th, 2008... now, that's history!

2008 Iowa State Fair Corndog Chomp

Grandstand, Fairgrounds

After picking-up the above parcel at the PO yesterday afternoon, we dropped-by at MIL's house to see how the contractor's doing on the clearing works. MIL's building a new "building" (more of a big shed or warehouse) near her house, and the guys who built our new septic tank last Friday were the ones who's doing the clearing works. They already knocked down a lot of big trees when we got there, and the ground is almost ready for the new shed. I can't wait to see all the works done.

I'm finally back to stitching and been busy doing my models for TGOSM. I have yet some more to stitch and finish but since they're just itty-bitty ones, I'm hoping I can finish everything this weekend. Unfortunately, I can't show any pictures yet, so just keep on coming back to see what the models look like.

And, do you still remember the last fabric stash i blog about last month (I think). Well, here it is, I took a photo of it from the bolt.:) I checked the fabrics on sale again last weekend, and I'm kinda hoping to get a couple more bolts of "Fall / Autumn" theme. The motifs are just so pretty... different color of leaves, various harvest designs, etc. The colors are so wonderful and irrestible!

Bolt of Fabric purchased last month

To everybody who drop by and visit my blog, thank you so much. Don't be shy to leave a comment, be it positive or negative.:) I read them all and gets inspired by them. I'm glad I found this widget where I can see where visitors here are from.

Happy stitching to all!

Happy 4th of July...

... to everybody! How did you celebrate this day?

As for me and hubby, we decided to do some shopping... errr, stashing on my part. Days ago, I've been asking hubby what we'll gonna do today to commemorate the holiday. He always return the question to me, or he'll say whatever I wanna do. So, early this morning, I told him "what if we'll go in Ames?"... that's where our nearest Hobby Lobby is... lol Needless to say, we went in Ames early in the morning, but first, we dropped by at MIL's house to check if she wanna go with us. We tried to call her but no answer, so we assumed she's outside, working in the garden. She's busy mowing and decided to just finish what she's doing instead. We stayed there for a while and chat a little bit before we headed our way to Ames.

Our first destination was Best Buy. I've been thinking of getting a new officejet printer for a long while now and I think Officejet 6310 will be a good choice. Hopefully I can buy one in the next couple of months. I'm currently using hubby's Epson 1280. I was oohh-ing and aahh-ing on the desktops, external drives & some (office) softwares. Those were just some of the stuffs I really wanna get soon. lol We didn't buy anything there but at least we enjoyed browsing the real things... lol

Next, we went at Borders (it's just next to Best Buy). Lots of craft books that I wanna get there but I had to control myself really. lol At the back of my mind I was thinking JoAnne's and Hobby Lobby stashing. I ended up buying "The Encyclopedia of Signs & Symbols". I haven't started reading it yet but I'm sure I will learn a lot from it. Hubby was contemplating on buying some sports magazines but decided not to coz he wanna buy some DVDs.

Finally, we went at Hobby Lobby... actually, me only at first as hubby went straight at the movie store next to it. I like it that way so he won't get bored following me when I browse on stitching stuffs and of course, the clearance isle. I started at the stitching section of course. I got me a lot of threads (of course), a couple packs of Carolina linen from Charles Craft (no store in town has this, not even the LNS in Des Moines), a petite pack of size 28 needle (I haven't tried this needles before), a vintage-look tatting shuttle (which will be use for my models photography) and a set of vintage tool set (needle threader, needlecase, pinkeep, & tape measure). I then browsed the sewing section and I got some lovely trimmings, organza & poly ribbons (my fave was the poly ribbon with little people in red, too bad I only saw 3 rolls as I was hoping I could get 10), floral fabric, tassels and of course buttons... lol who doesn't need lots of them? lol This time, I got a tube of "gold" accented ones. While on my way to the clearance isle (it's at the farthest corner... lol) I had to stp once in a while on other sections... and grabbed some stuffs as well... lol Too many to list so I'll just take a good look at the photos.:)

After the clearance isle, I headed to the jewelry section to get some 4mm ecru pearls for my models. Good thing hubby appeared after grabbing one or only God knows what else I'll gonna put in my basket... lol

My July 4th Hobby Lobby Stash

On our way out, I was thinking that I could have bought the printer and one software that I wanted if I didn't stash in Hobby Lobby. lol But as we got home, I knew I can't live without the stuffs I got today. lol Now I just gotta convince myself to avoid going to any craftstores, specially needlework shops.

With all the stash I got from HL, I decided not to drop by at JoAnn's and the oriental store nearby. It looked like hubby couldn't believe I said no when he asked if we had to drop by there.

Btw, we had to drop by at Hy-vee to get some salads (spring salad & potato salad) and a honeydew for MIL coz she got us a couple bags of "Tequila & Lime" flavored chicken wings (me & hubby both love those... lol) from Sam's club yesterday. And hubby insisted on getting a couple of Big Macs, Cheeseburgers & Sundae. I didn't realized that I was that hungry till I saw the sundae. lol

Well folks, that's what we did today. How about you?

Busy Weekend and Stashing

First of, my thoughts and prayers to those affected by floods in Missouri. I've been watching the news (as always) and yesterday, the water from a levee from Mississippi River went staright to the town of Winfield, MO where a dear friend and her family lives. Monique, I hope you and your family are all safe.

Caron Threads Wildflowers, MH beads and Magazine Holder

from Stitch n Frame Needlework Shop

We've been busy for the most part of Friday and Saturday... in fact, we just got home from Des Moines today.

The yard sale at the hotel/casino where hubby works was supposed to be Friday. We wanted to be one of the early birds so we headed our way there right after we got some $$$ from the bank. Though the sale starts at 7AM, only the native american tribe member were allowed to shop from 7AM to 9AM, then anybody can by 10AM. Anyways, we got there on time only to be advised by the person-in-charge that they cancelled the sale, moved to Saturday, due to bad weather... they thought it will rain. Actually it did rain later in the afternoon. Instead of going home right away, we decided to go at Menards instead. I got me a 3-shelves bookshelf, while hubby got a bunch of pipes, elbows, fittings etc. We still didn't go empty handed ha!... lol Up to now, I still have the Menards gift cards I recieved last Christmas. *wink* Part of my Christmas gift lists were storage cabinets, floor lamp and bookshelves. Instead of buying those, SIL just gave me gift cards.around November, I bought 2 bookshelves then hubby got me another 2, and they're all for my needlework books... lol We got them pretty cheap then, less than $20 each, while the storage cabinet was only $39. By December, after sharing our Christmas gift list, the prices shoot up that's why SIL decided to just give me gift cards. She also got me some sterilite drawers, I now use those for my threads... I started re-organizing my stash in the attic since last "Fall" untfortunately, I'm not done yet till now. Just the books alone took almost the entire season... lol btw, I didn't work in the attic the entire winter. Hopefully, I can finish the work I started there this summer. I am so inspired when I do my stitching in the attic... lol Everywhere I look, I see my stash all around the walls. And I get to sew anytime I want coz hubby doesn't hear the noise even when he's asleep downstairs.

Needless to say, we went back at the yard sale this morning. MIL asked us to buy 4 banquet table for her, and I was planning to get one for myself... who knows, I could use it at a craft show in the future... (me dreaming again... lol) We got there early but more were early... lol All the banquet tables were already sold.:( hayyy... I think there were 135 on sale. There's a lot of TV's (mostly analogs, $20), I saw a couple of flatscreen (looks like 50"), both sold for just about $100.:( There were a lot of stuffs, too many to mention. Anyways, since they're seriously wanna get rid of stuffs that they won't need, the pricing is soooo low. Guess what I got??? A mannequin (half-body) and a couple of jewelry display cases. I didn't even spend $20 on all 3 items, what a steal... The cashier asked me if I have a shop, she's so curious why I bought those stuffs... lol I knew there was a mannequin as hubby told me early last week but we don't know how many. I was kinda hoping the bottom part or stand is included but they're only selling the top part. The jewelry display cases were about 7 pieces, mostly revolving. I got one revolving and one box/still-type. I was thinking of getting them all but hubby reminded me to just get what I really want, coz I don't have enough space in my craft area anymore. I'm still very very happy with what I got though. Hubby didn't get anything as most of the good stuffs were already marked sold.:(

Jewelry Display Cabinets and Mannequin

After dropping off my stuffs, we headed to MIL's house to tell her about the sad news. Before leaving our home, hubby told me that if MIL wanna go in Ames, we'll all go today. Unfortunately, MIL wasn't home, must be in an auction. lol It seems like hubby's in the mood to go somewhere, he asked me if I wanna go in AMes or Des Moines. Since he's the one driving I told him he can choose. Needless to say, we went in Des Moines and our first destination was the local needlework shop there.:) Stitch n' Frame along Douglas Ave, beside Merle Hay Mall. I have a lot of pending designs to stitch so I decided not to buy any pattern though Blackbird Designs, Sweetheart Tree, and lots of my fave designers, caught my attention. I couldn't resist though, not to browse the Caron Threads. I ended up buying 3 wildflowers hand-dyed, plus a couple of MH beads and some magazine holder. - something that I always buy when I go there. I use them for my JCS Ornaments Special Issue, SANQ & and my latest Piecework magazines, oh and oop Fine Lines too. They come handy when I wanna carry my mags from attic to the living room and vice-versa.

By the time we left the needlework shop, it's already noontime so we decided to have lunch at Merle Hay. We look around a little bit afterwards plus the fact that hubby couldn't resist not to browse on the "cards" (baseball, football, etc.). I teased him that probably he new there's a "card show" going on there that's why he chose to go in Des Moines... lol he said he didn't know that and he just got lucky. But for some reason, he didn't get or buy any.

I thought we're on our way home after Merle Hay Mall but hubby brought me at the biggest oriental store in Iowa (I think... lol), The Double Dragon or famous to asians here as DD. And of course, it's my favorite grocery store everrr... lol I get to buy most if not all, of the food or ingredients I can't get in our town. I got a lotttttt... lol Actually, whenever we go in Des Moines, at all cost, we always drop by there. But since hubby used different roads earlier, I didn't realize we're on our way at DD. Some of the stuffs I got today are:

• 6 pieces-ripe mangoes (was contemplating on getting some green ones but they're kinda pricy)
• 2 packs-preserved duck & salted eggs (as you can see in the photo, in Philippines we call these burung itlog)
• 4 pcs-eggplants (japanese kind)
• a sack of bok-choy (more than 12 stalks)
• 2 packs-shanghai/eggroll wrapper
• soft tofu
• a bunch of taro (or "gabi" which I put in my sinigang or tamarind soup)
• 4 pcs-ampalaya (I also saw some patola and okra but they don't look fresh so I didn't get any)
• 2 bottles-datu puti vinegar
• 1 bottle-fish sauce or "alamang" in my native language
• 6 pcs-fish, "galunggong (GG) and hasa-hasa"
• 4 packs-Knorr sinigang mix (for my tamarind soup)

I forgot what else I got... lol Anyways, once I got home, I immediately cook rice and half of the GG... "paksiw" topped with eggplant and bok-choy.... yum yum yum. Therefore you know what I'll gonna have for supper guys... lol My dessert will be ripe mango.:)

Preserved & Salted Eggs and Ripe Mangoes

I didn't do any stitching since yesterday but hoping to so some tonight! Btw, I forgot to mention, on our way home from DD, hubby was telling me that I'll gonna be in "heaven" again for the next few days, or probably weeks. lol I always tell him that whenever I able to cook and eat Filipino food, I'm in heaven... silly hubby had to remind me. lol

That's all for now everybody!

Unpredictable Weather...

I always say this to hubby lately. lol It is soooo hot today, not that I am complaining, and now at past 7PM, I hear a lot of thunder. I hope it won't rain too much tonight.

Today was kinda a go-out day for me and hubby. Before he went to bed this morning, he said we'll gonna go at the post office then get groceries. He doesn't wanna go anywhere tomorrow coz we're planning to go on a big yard sale this Friday at the hotel casino where he works. I don't think they had this kind of sale in the past. The hotel was expanded recently, the size now is almost 3x the old one. They improved a lot of amenities, more restaurants, and lots of new rooms of course. They had to change all the furnitures at the old rooms as well. Per hubby, the stock room is full of stuffs so they'll gonna get rid of old stuffs... old but looks like new... lol

Anyways, we went at the post office past noon earlier and a package is on the way in Australia already, for TGOSM. We got a lot of groceries today compare to other weeks, and I also got a bunch of scrap carpet that were packed as car carpet. I'm thinking of using them on smalls but I won't reveal my idea yet. I bought 12 pieces of 12"x18" various kind, colors and thickness.

By the time we're done getting out groceries, it was past 2PM already so we decided to buy some BK burgers... lol that was our lunch.

In the last few days, me and hubby are competing on a handheld game... BOGGLE... where he always play first then I'll play the same game. We then compare our score, at up to 5 games. I beat him in the first 2 games today so he decided to quit... lol he feels that it's not his lucky day. He only composed 79 words on the first game, while I got 114... lol and on the second game, he got 27 while I got 29. Needless to say, I didn't able to practice web easy yet, hopefully can do it later after dinner. lol

While writing this post, am busy cooking chicken adobo and arozcaldo, both filipino food - yummy. We usually eat lunch in town (particularly at my fave Chinese Restaurant - Chef King) on thursdays but since we're not going anywhere tomorrow, I thought I'll treat myself with some of my fave dishes.

Well guys, I gotta cook some rice so I better log out... lol I hope everybody's safe tonight!

Iowa 2008 Flood...

has finally subside and the clean-up begins. Out of 99 counties in Iowa, 83 are disaster areas... billions and billion worth of damages. Aside from residents whose houses fully submerged in water, one of the main concern here now are farmers whose fields are still flooded. Kinda late to re-plant I think but it seems like some are considering it. Iowa is the main producer of corn in the US and as the news said, there might be a little shortage of corn coming up.

The soil is very saturated still... Some veggies in my garden didn't make it but I don't wanna re-plant anymore. Good thing my eggplant, tomatoes and green beans are all alive though... lol

Comments:

BJ (of Malaysia), thanks for dropping by... I always try to leave a comment on your blog whenever I visit but couldn't do it... lol Love all the recent projects you completed.

Monique, thanks so much for all your help! You're such a great help and I'll be forever thankful I found you in this worldwide-web.

To everybody who drop by, thanks so much!

The Journey - Revelation Album...

The Journey (Arnel Pineda in center)

... is finally out in the market. The 3-disc album comes with 2 cd's & a live concert DVD, exclusive at Walmart. First CD consists of 11 new songs while the second are re-recorded songs, i.e. open arms, faithfully, etc. Over 100,000 copies sold in the debut week coz it's soooooooo good. CONGRATS JOURNEY!!! Check out journey website for more info.

After knowing that they'll gonna release Revelation album this month, I told hubby we have to add this one in our collection. For all of you fellow Journey fans who don't know yet, the new lead vocals is Arnel Pineda (center in photo), a 41 yo, father of 3, from Philippines. He was discovered by Neal Schon (guitars) singing "Faithfully" at YouTube. Upon seeing Arnel's video performance, and hearing his voice of course, they immediately contacted Arnel and asked him to audition here in US. Needless to say, they're all impressed with his voice, as what hubby said "It's the closest voice to Steve Perry's (orig Journey lead vocals) compare to other previous vocalists." I've been teasing hubby if he wants to watch their concert with me in the Philippines, in case they'll gonna tour there... lol

We had a great weather this weekend so me and hubby spent more time outside. We grilled burgers and chicken on Friday after getting some groceries, went to some yard sales, and he mowed the lawn on Friday too. I didn't get much on the sale but I bought a jar of old buttons... lol yes more buttons. I segregated them right away on Friday and picked my faves, all the simple plastic ones were returned at the jar.:) The 6 pieces infront are my favorites, too bad the details don't show very well in the photo. DH got an old wooden box with handcurving works on top. It was beautifully finish, and would look even neater if I'll put lining on the inside, which I suggested to DH. Now I need to squeeze that work in my schdule.:)

Buttons, buttons and more buttons

Another Killing Tornado... More Floods

Few days ago, I finally saw a tornado on the ground up close... not that I want and wanted to see one. It landed in the field, in our town area, and thank goodness nobody got hurt. Me and DH watched it moved away so fast...

When I woke up yesterday morning around 5AM, the first thing I saw in the news was a mandatory evacuation at another town in Iowa. The flood is expanding really quick that the authorities had to go door to door to warn the residents and help them move out. It's just so heartbreaking seeing a lot of people losing what they worked for and their precious belongings. A mother of 2 toddlers was interviewed yesterday, saying that she didn't able to carry much aside from few clothings and her kids. Call me dramatic but my heart melts upon seeing her and I cried with her while she's sharing her story.

This morning news was no different. A tornado landed again in Iowa, killing 4 boy scouts (ages 13 to 14) and injuring 40 people. The group was on a drill, camping when the tornado reach the ranch about 6:30PM yesterday. My thoughts and prayers to all the victims and their families.

It rained all night again which means more flooding...

SIL and Katie will go at a big flea market in MO today, I think this afternoon. There must be a real good sale there that they'll gonna drive that far. I hope the weather will cooperate today. I tried to check out my garden early this morning but the area is still swampy so I had to back out. But it looks like my veggies are growing, which is a good thing of course...:)

On the stitching side, I stitched a pocket yesterday and hoping to finish it today. I'm also working on a couple of projects that needs to be in the "mail" by next week. I forgot to mention in my previous post that I already mailed out my MA exchanges for Margaret and Wendy of Malaysia. I will share the photos once they confirm they recieve the items. My next exchange is not until late this year, it's a 3-pc handmade items. My partner is Ulla and she's from Sweden. I'm done with them but I'm not planning to send them early just in case I'l change my mind on what to give her.:) I finished more biscornus and sewing accessories for TCN last week... and still working on the website.

That's all for now folks... have a great day and BE SAFE!

Killing Tornado and Damaging Strong Winds in Iowa

Twelve days ago, Parkesburg, Iowa was hit by the highest frequency (EF5) tornado and killed 8 persons, not to mention a lot got hurt.:( The entire town was almost wipe out as over 200 houses were totally lost and over 400 houses were damaged. Establishments in town were gone too, i.e. schools, church, banks, etc.:( My thoughts and prayers to all the victims.

Few days later, more tornadoes hit other towns but thank goodness they're only EF2 and didn't do much damages as in Parkersburg.

This last 2 weeks, mother nature is taking its course badly. It's been raining like hell which caused flooding in a lot of counties of Iowa.

Thank goodness DH was off this last 2 days, as the other night and last night, we had to stay awake all night due to damaging strong winds, that can lead to tornadoes. The storm the other night caused some damages to a lot of farmers in our surrounding towns. After spending few hours clearing our lawn, lots of tree branches everywhere, some shingles from our roof flew off, me and DH surveyed the neighborhood to see how much damage the storm did. We've seen some fences and barns flew in the fields.:( We then headed to MIL's house to check her out. Both our lawns were pretty much the same, lots of scattered limbs on the ground. We could only hope that thunderstorms will stop but it seems like there's a lot more ahead of us.

To everybody who drop by my blog and left comments, thank you so much! I will post more photos of my completed works soon. Happy stitching to all!

Happy Easter To All

Hope everybody's having a great Easter Sunday!

Easter, or Holy Week as we call it, is a big deal back home as majority of the population are Catholic. The offices usually close on Wednesday and resumes the following Monday. Though I lived in Manila since college till I left for US, I never missed our Holy Week celebration in Pampanga, my hometown. Yes, the sceneries below are done every year by devotees. It may sound weird but this celebration attracts city people and/or tourists. I am not a religious person but I do respect other people's beliefs... ALWAYS.

Random Facts... And More Stash

Hobby Lobby Stash: Beads, Jewelry Findings, and a Wooden Box
Fabrics, Aleene's Tacky Spray, and a Mini-Folder Maker

I should have shared this post yesterday but got a little sick "during" my stashing at Hobby Lobby. I think it's caused both by excitement and bad weather. The last time I did stashing in Ames was after christmas, to spend the gift cards me and MIL recieved as gifts, so I'm sure you can imagine how much I need to go back in there... lol

Anyway, here's how my stashing activities went by: DH had to sleep for a few hours before we left, at noontime. We had lunch first at my fave Chinese Restaurant in Ames then headed our way to the Quilting Connection to purchase a cutting/mat board for MIL as part of her birthday gifts, which we celebrated yesterday (she was 73rd last thursday). I didn't buy anything for me there as I was saving my money at the clearance items at JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby... lol (ME <--- bargain grabber, most of the time). Whenever me and DH go to Hobby Lobby (HL), we usually part ways once we step out of the car as next to HL is a video store - that's where DH spend his time. After an hour at HL, my head started to feel heavy - good thing it's not the dizzy kind of thing. I still managed to finish scouring the clearance section though - and got a bunch of beads and jewelry findings, plus few yardages of fabrics (the red one has alphabet in it, perfect for my sampler pockets/purses), spray glue (this is the first time I'll gonna use it), a wooden box (will finish it as a tea or candle box with cross stitch on top of it of course), and a Mini-Folder Maker (perfect for making tags as well). I was almost ready to check-out when DH appeared behind my back... he got some movies and books for the birthday celebrants (MIL this month and Katie next month). Once we put our stuffs at the car, DH asked me if I still want to go at JoAnn's and at the Oriental Store. I decided to just go home so I could lay down and rest. I didn't realize that my headache will escalade as I didn't took any medication in the evening... but had Daytime NyQuil this morning and by noontime, I felt a lot better already.

Poor DH had to go in town this morning by himself to get some groceries and more meds for me. With that being said, I didn't do any stitching and finishing yesterday and today. However, I made 5 bracelets for MIL and me this afternoon.

Beaded bracelets for MIL (top 3) & me (bottom 2)

Now for the Random Facts: A very dear friend, Deborah, tagged me with this 7 Random Facts... I will leave comments on your blog to let you know that you've been tagged.

The Rules:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the Rules on your blog.

3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.

4. Tag 7 people and link them.

5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Seven Random Facts About Me:

1. I never had short hair since 1st grade. Most of the time, I keep it butt length and just have it trim once a year... every spring here in US (or summertime in the Philippines).

2. I get skin allergies when I take alcoholic drinks. My skin gets itchy and turns red from face to toe. It usually takes a couple of days before things get back to normal.

3. I love to sleep with flannel PJ's, particularly hubby's old ones (bottom only, old shirts on top... lol).

4. Math has always been my favorite subject... It played a major role why I took engineering degree.

5. I am a risk-taker... that's one of the reason why I'm not living in my homeland. Also, when my college buddies organized a mountain hiking on one semestral break, (being afraid of heights) I joined the group just to experience what's the risk involved. It was a fun experienced though every step was nerve-rocking.

6. I am a very ticklish person. We have a saying back home that once you get married, you won't be ticklish anymore but it never works for me.

7. From this year onwards, I want to accomplish or do something I haven't done before.

I tag the following: Nik , BarbaraJ , Katrina , Faizon , Emily , Monique and Lillie

Hugs to everybody!

The Beginning Of My Stitching Journey

I started crafting on 2002 particularly jewelry making, digital scrapbooking & photo dvd montage, but only got hooked to cross stitching the following year. The hobby that started as something just to simply pass the boredom became an addiction and now I can't let a day pass without stitching.

My interests on stitching designs evolved in the past few years from religious images, characters, nature scenes, animals, traditional & historical samplers, quakers, primitive, etc. However, I never finished my first cross stitch small till June 2006 and they are so addictive that I now keep on experimenting out-of-the-frame needlework finishings.

Whenever time permits, I will share my recent finishes that I hope we could all enjoy in this virtual world. So please do stop by often and drop a line or 2 should you have any query related to my works... or just because... as this blog will serve as my crafting and stitching journal!

A NEW DAY

This is the beginning of a new day.

I have been given this day to use as I will.

I can waste it or use it.

I can make it a day long to be remembered for its joy,

its beauty and its achievements,

or it can be filled with pettiness.

What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes - this day will be gone forever,

but I shall hold something which I have traded for it.

It may be no more than a memory, but if it is a worthy one

I shall not regret the price.

I want it to be gain not loss, good not evil, SUCCESS not FAILURE.

~ Author UNKNOWN ~