I have the sweetest daughter!

During the summer, we went to this store called ArtMart in St. Louis. It was WAY cool!  I bought a BUNCH of stuff but the coolest thing was what the man gave me (besides iPod know how!) as a freebie for just buying stuff there.  He gave me four little packets of modeling clay. Nothing eye catching; just a black and white bag.  I gave one to Eden and I kept the other three for Amal, Ali and I.  Hey, I'm a kid at heart!

So, back in Oman, Amal got to cleaning up her room and making it even more of a TEEN room.  During this time; she made a bunch of little things with this clay.  She REALLY enjoyed it and she kept talking about it.  Finally, or at some point; she called me upstairs to her room to present me with these items:

A card... the front...

the inside...

the back and 'label'...

My new little man, Alejandro...

a close up with my new man... isn't he cute!  He is holding a Colombian empanada (meat pie)...

here is the whole loot: card, Alejandro, a peach pie, a plate of chocolate chip cookies, a Hershey kiss and a quarter to show scale...

the packet...

Blogger has yet again changed it's 'way' to do things so it took me hours to get this pictorial story up. I have too much to do for this! However, I wanna share just how cool my daughter is!  The colors are the colors in the Colombian flag.  The hat and poncho or DRUANA as we call it there he has.  Also, again, the little meat pie which WE LOVE!  My Dad makes the BEST in the world!  This clay can be painted. It just dries pretty quickly.  If you find it; pick it up for the kids for a fun filled afternoon!

Thank you Amu!!  I LOVE them!

Toys Ali and I have been making!

Little Angels!

Ali picked out all the fabric; the design; copied the pattern; cut out the pattern; cut up my fabric (eek!); organized it all for Mami (Spanish way of saying Mommy) to sew together!

This Angel is for my Mom.

Now, the wings gave me a bit of a hard time. I still need to figure out how to sew them all the way through and tightly! Did you notice how I shortened the legs for the other two and not the Red and White one? My friend Pam likes the longer ones better. She likes the dangly-ness of it!

Thanks for stopping by and.........ALI GREAT JOB MY SWEET LITTLE MAN!!

Pillows, pillow and more pillows!

I am so proud of myself!

I took my first 10 spiderweb blocks that did not match up with the next 17 blocks and took apart two sections of four to make two pillows for my new sofas! There are two left so let's see what I do with those!

All made from scraps.

Hmmm....do I like it here or...

here! Ooh, I like it here!

I made the pillow inserts and this is a picture of the backing fabric. I made it an envelope back.

I'm always happy when I can use my cool tools!

Stipple quilting it, yes indeed!

And now there are TWO!!

Here is my third one. Many years ago, my friend Jill and I did some quilting together. We both made this Watercolor Heart block. It was a lot of fun! I finally did something with mine!

There she is all alone! Lovely!!

A HUGE mistake....C O R R E C T E D!!

Remember this?

I DID IT WRONG!!

Here is the unpicked, cussed at, more material purchased for the lining, more unpicking, more cussing at; in other words: THE CORRECTED ONE!

The side panels should have been in the middle. Now the pockets lay right inside. Duh!

My gorgeous model son Ali.

Yes, those are cat hairs, UKI'S to be exact. I was testing the strength of the straps and put her in it. Little cow shed on me! These are the inside pockets. I know, I was too lazy to change the thread. I sort of like how it is so Bohemian looking. Yes, I like that. I made a pocket for my iPhone, iPod, a lipstick and a pen. The previous one was too long and I did fancy Bernina stitches and it was a b i t c h to pick out, lemme tell ya!

Here is the other pocket with the zipper in it. This was a joke. I couldn't find anyone to help me and You Tube confused the hell out of me as did my reference books. So, the first one was red and when I cut off both ends without securing them and went to zip it shut, it just kept going! Oops!? I was determined to get a zipper in and the only one I had on hand was this lime green one. I put in my label and voila!

This bag was hard for me. It is a very cool bag and I have learned a lot. I still need to learn how to put in a simple zipper and before, I did not think that I would make another one but I have decided that I will and fix up the instructions. My friend will be teaching this bag and she has made lots of changes for the better, I think. Oh, besides the zipper, the straps were the most difficult part. That just sucked!

Hey, thanks for stopping by...

A trip to the ER; Results and a finished project!

My knee snapped on Wednesday night at the annual ABA International Food Fair. I waited for a few hours so that the kids could have some fun. I was stuck sitting in front of the American booth. I made really pretty red, white and blue swirled cupcakes and they had little mini American flags on them. I forgot to take a picture. Darn! They were a hit and were gone very quickly!

I ended up in the ER and had X-rays and nothing wrong with my bones. Thank God.

I took it VERY easy Thursday and Friday and Saturday. Last night I went to see an Ortho. I need a second opinion. My leg feels better and the doc told me to take the pain meds (even though I don't need to) for the swelling and inflamation. He wants to see me in 10 days. I need to lose weight and then he grabbed my husband once he got the X-rays from Wednesday night and told him I have ARTHRITIS!!!!!!!!!!

It's a good thing that I am already doing South Beach.

Since Wednesday morning; I have been working on my bag that I took a class of in Dubai. I finished it. Here she is. Very difficult and I did it on my own.

It has some pockets inside. I screwed up one zipper and only had a lime green one in the house so it is in there! I have a pocket for my iPhone, iPod, a pen and lipstick. The other pocket with the zip has a big pocket where I can put long papers and then the zip for money. Will I make it again? I don't know.....

A Gift for Shirly...

A really cool friend is leaving Oman. She is in my Book Club and is such an interesting and kind person. She hosted our last meeting and I just had to give her something! Handmade that is!! So, I made this and am so proud of it. She loved it and came over yesterday for a lovely visit and is USING it! That is one of the best feelings EVER!

The is the front of the cover. I put a label on it and I think next time I will put it inside the flap instead of outside. I really like it when I quilt them. This is a simple stipple. I'm getting better at this but still am perfecting it!

Here it is opened up. I love the fabrics! I have since learned that the grosgrain ribbon that I use for the bookmarks are not so good in that they slip. I think that I will continue to make homemade bookmarks as that feedback is better!

Here is my homemade label. I sewed around it as with time it will wear and fray. I still have to figure this one out too!

This is the 'personal' note on the back of the label.

Overall, I am really pleased with this. I'm spending more time on them than I should but am happy at their turn out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ali made his first toy!

I can't believe it is 11:22pm! Where has my day gone! It has been a busy day for me. For starters, Ali was so impressed with the Chatty Crafters yesterday that he was dying to make a toy for himself. He used the fabrics and felt that Isra and Sharon gave him. As we speak, he is sleeping with both my newly made RAZZIE and his yet to be named Monkey. He has cut out two more softies for us to work on tomorrow! It was really hard to work with the fleece. Ali also took the pictures that he is not showing his Chandler Bing smile in! Any Friends fans? Then you know what I mean!

Here is Ali with his creation today. He really did do most of it. Mom here had to help out a bit but I am really proud of him as he is of himself!

Here is the backside. I made a yo-yo from scratch and just eyeballed it! I have a handy yo-yo maker but who the heck knows where it is!

Here is a backside view.

And a front side view!

Here is RAZZIE with her new little friend! Ali has not named her yet....

1000th Post Giveaway! My first!

Hello All,

I am fast approaching my 1000th post and have been avoiding my own blog for fear of racking up the hits. I am thinking that I must be the one that has looked most at my blog. Could that be normal? Who knows!

Anyway, hard at work making my giveaway. I have made a bookcover. I used linen, a first ever, and some scraps from my French Braid quilt that I have FINISHED! I am actually still putting on the binding so will post later.

It's not terribly exciting but it means something to me so whomever comments on my blog is eligible to win and I hope you like it and are able to use it. It is the size of a slightly larger standard paperback.

I just bought three new books in Dubai this weekend and it fits them.

So, it's official, leave me a comment and on my 1000th post, I will randomly choose a winner! I am so excited!

Until later....

Magazine Coaster

Isn't this cool?  Now I know what to do with my guilty pleasure 'magazines' that I buy occasionally.  I made this coaster from this tutorial.  It was fun and I only used five strips instead of the six in the tut.  It was a little cumbersome but I like this kind of stuff!  I know!  Now, for the MOST exciting part, notice who is in the middle????????  

The coolest Photo Cube ever!!

Cool, I found a way to still upload after I have uploaded already. I understand!! Ok. Here is a really cool CD case Photo Cube. This is a view with my Mom's (yep, still not done) Paperbag album. You can jump on over to Julie and have a look, literally at how she did it.
A bit of a profile for you! It went together pretty well. I spent many hours yesterday on it. I had to enlarge the base and inadvertently did it twice! Bummer. I used K&Co. Ancestry designer papers I bought this past summer. I used gold metallic cardstock from a local store here. I used some of me & my BIG ideas ICONS sticker bling. The punch on my kids at the zoo is Mary Engelbreit's Rose punch. Mary is from St. Louis too and she closed her store at the St. Louis Galleria. Why Mary, Why??? The flower is a Prima Calypso Tin one. My first one and I cut it!! The brad is from Making Memories. The frames are Sizzix ones. Ok. Now I feel legit!!
Well, here I go again, uploading backwards! Here is the finished cube. I have another one, stay tuned! It is up above. This is Peaches. So serene and pretty.
This is a picture of my two kids. We live in the Middle East and don't get too much rain. I have to say that after Gonu (hurricane in June 2007), my kids will always remember rain! Anyhow, we were at the Cleveland Zoo and it started raining and my two kids and my adorable Snoopy looking niece were trying to catch the raindrops with their mouths. It was Ali's idea, that is why the photo is centered on him. As quick as he said it, I got the camera ready and look how it came out! I love this picture. Especially Sofia and her Snoopy-ish-ness!!
This blog has gotten lots of comments on here and at my email addy on Uki. She is the hit of my efforts! My beautiful and fun girl!
This is the front of the cube and my favorite picture of the kids. It was on Christmas day and Amal was giving Ali a hug in thanks. They fight so much so that is why I love this!