A Stitch in Time & a Glass of Wine

2011-03-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

I just finished this cute crib-sized top sheet and pillow to match. Wouldn't this be just darling in that new baby's room? Soft "minkee" fabric for the back of the pillow, satin ribbon, and all cotton for the sheet. The sheet is a top sheet, so it's lightweight and easy for baby to kick off if necessary. Let me know if you want a set and what your color choices are!

2011-03-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

Do you need to make your office more "feminine"? Cubical jobs can be so industrial so why not save your CDs in a feminine pocket and put them inside your notebooks (notebook covers to match coming soon!!) With a quilted back side, and a big open window on the front to see the CD, you've got all your bases covered in style! Either purchase 6 already made in the colors of your choice, or order the embroidery pattern to make them yourself. E-mail me for more info!

New Year, new plan

2011-01-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

Wow, long time, huh? My life has been filled with so much "stuff" that I totally forgot that I needed to write it all down. Since my last notes, I got a new puppy! His name is "Joe" and he's pure black lab. He and Starr (my standard poodle) play together really well, and that's a good thing since hopefully this Spring, they will mate and have a litter of Labradoodles. I didn't realize how much I loved labs, especially since our last two labs were the kids' and I just fed them, but Joe's the apple of my eye. His coat is soft, shiny and all black (which makes it hard to see him against our navy blue carpet!) Starr is black with bits of tan, but I think the pups will be all black. I'll keep you posted.

Then my gracious, and oh so wonderful hubby, got me a Bernina 830 - top of the line sewing/embroidery machine for Christmas, Birthday and all the other gift-giving holidays that fall throughout the year, for the next 10 years!! THEN, on top of the dog, and the machine, he's making me a sewing table! I am in the process of rearranging my sewing room to accommodate this behemoth (it's 4x6'!) and find that I'm tossing away things I always thought I'd need, use or could possibly make something out of it. Actually, I'm enjoying the decluttering and think it's "a good thing" to do at least every 5 years. Mine's way overdue.

The family all got together for Christmas, the proceeded to get sick the day after, with colds and congestion, so our New Year's Day festivities have been postponed until this coming Saturday. Actually, I'm glad, since our NYEve party was awesome and we didn't go to bed until 2am!!

Well, enough for now. Posted many, many designs on the ODD website, some are 1/2 off since I'm not doing baby things anymore. Gonna clean it up and make it more, ahem, mature ;-) I promise I won't wait so long to post again.

Where did my summer go!!??

2010-09-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

Good intentions flew out the window... Oh well, Fall's coming and I do love the winter, so it's ok. Today, I took the big leap and transferred my domain to a "big girl shopping cart" program and am now waiting for everything to switch over. I'm digitizing new stuff so it will look cool once up and ready, but, why, do I feel guilty for leaving my old website host? I'm sure people switch all the time, but I actually feel bad for leaving them! And, it's only because this shopping cart is soooo cool, and easy to use, and my old one was a PITA (pain in the a**). Doing all the work myself makes me want to do it the easier way rather than struggling with HTML coding. So... off I go to do more designs. Wish me luck with the new shopping cart :-)

We are what we are....

2010-07-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

I just had a revelation.... As I'm sewing the inner pillows for my new line "Queen's Lane Home" and will be finishing them with cute fabric for a toddler's bed, I realize that these pillows COULD be used for dogs as well! Then I realized that the only reason I'm making them for a toddler is because I have a granddaughter who's 2 - and she's the light of my life.

However, before she came around, I have always had dogs, and now have 2 poodles (a standard beauty named Starr, and a mini named Jacques, who thinks he's a big dog too). I have oodles of fabric, and at one time had the intention of making dog collars and beds (hence the jars of buckles and rings and the extra bedroom that's filled with various depths of foam). The name of this company was Fififoofoo, which I thought was all that and a bag of tricks. It's a lot of friggin' work!!!!!

So, I decided that maybe Fififoofoo will become a subsidiary of Queen's Lane Home. A division of QLH will have dog stuff called "Fifi Foofoo". Whaddaya think?

So, as I'm sewing these pillow innards for my QLH collection, I realize that they could be for dogs as well. And it's all because I've had dogs, and now have a granddaughter. I wonder if I'd had cats and been an old spinster, could these pillows have been for cat beds?

Anyway, I sewed 5 pillow innards and will be doing the outsides tomorrow. Each inside has the QLH logo, embroidered (of course) in white thread on the bottom part of the case, so that there's no doubt where they came from. I wish I had the $ to have labels done. That would have been so cool.

Oh, I received my new business cards for Oregon Digital Design - however when the printer saw the design, he said the foiling part (I wanted the wine in the glass to be foil) was too close in color to the glass and I should reverse it. I hesitated, but trusted him. Now he said he made a mistake and will be reprinting them, no charge, so I'll get what I wanted. Once a designer, always a designer.....

So, after working incredibly hard to clean up the house yesterday (and it DOES look beautious today still), I spent this morning digitizing, this afternoon playing a game on the computer, and just finished the pillows. Hubby will be coming home shortly, so gotta look like I slaved all day and am exhausted....

OK, where are my bonbons!!????

Long time, no post

2010-07-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

I've been a slacker! I just looked and it's been over a month since my last post. I've been busy with family stuff and just forgot to share with you all that's been happening. My MIL came for a 10 day visit - wasn't bad at all! At 81 she's still rarin' to go whenever we do, so we did lots of running around while she was here. So, I didn't get much sewing or digitizing done and after she left, I tried to make up for lost time and didn't blog.

I have Fibromyalgia and when I have good days, I really take advantage of it, then I crash the next day or two. On the days I crash, I try to read a good book. This last book I read was called "She Always Knew How" by Charlotte Chandler and it was about Mae West. Wow, what a lady (Mae)!! I didn't particularly like the style of writing by Ms. Chandler but it was a fast and interesting read. Her writing style was lots of Mae West quotes put into a story of sorts. I didn't realize it but I bought another book by her about Katherine Hepburn, so we'll see if it's written in the same style.

I ordered a case of flour sack towels - both the embroider/sew on and to resell. I'll go pick them up on the 4th of August and will photograph my designs stitched on them and post. I also have a pattern for an apron that will be posting on my website for purchase. Very easy to stitch up and a great base for embroidering. Add a pocket and you're all set.

On a family/personal note, my granddaughter who just turned 2 is almost potty-trained already!! Mommy got her some training pants and yesterday she said "OFF!" and demanded them to be taken off - then she ran to the bathroom and sat on the pot and peed!!! With my kids, they learned first about #2 in the potty before #1. Alix, my amazingly intelligent granddaughter, is going to do both at the same time and be a big girl. I had some books delivered to her as a reward for pottying in the potty chair and apparently she wants more because she's got this potty thing down pat!

Oh, and on another thought, JoAnn Fabric is having a sale on t-shirts: 3 for $9 and in the ad, I see pink and white shirts, perfect for the Breast Cancer embroidery group. The sizes go up to 2XL so this is a good deal. Also Guterman's thread is 40% off. And, as I read more in their ad, it looks like they're already getting ready for Fall!!! It just turned summer here - let us enjoy it for a while! But, I guess if you're making gifts for the holidays, you need to get started, and in the mood.

Speaking of in the mood, I better get going with my sewing and embroidery here. I'll try not to let a month go by without blogging.

Kathi

Monday, sweet Monday

2010-06-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but my weekends are usually so full of things to do, I really enjoy the beginning of the work week so I can SIT at my computer and design. And this week is no exception. Last Friday, my son's girlfriend helped me get started in organizing my studio. I'm the typical "creative mind" that flits from one project to another and leaves them all half-finished on my work table. This darling lady, emptied that whole space, separated the "stuff" into easy-to-find piles so if I have to get something from that room, I don't have to dig. THEN, bless her heart, she put things in baskets/boxes/totes and said "take one at a time, empty it, file it, put it away, then get another one." - I used to get so overwhelmed at the whole mess that I'd just move piles rather than organize. However, in my zest to get this done, I now have 3 baskets on my work table, all half emptied and I'm getting a little frazzled. So, I'll just take a deep breath, pick a basket and get 'er dun. I love using my new label machine with the tape, and even got creative making big labels from my label printer, so that's making this more like a redecorating job than a "clean up your act" job. I spent most of the day on Saturday working on this project, then on Sunday - Father's Day - had breakfast with my Dad (who's 86 & just had TWO knee replacements and now walks perfectly!) and siblings, then came home. I got my hubby a bottle of nice Sake (his fav) and cleaned the house in preparation for the kids to come over for dinner.

So, as you can see, my weekend was jammed packed and now...... ahhhhh, it's Monday and I can just sit and design..... Ain't it grand..... I love my life. :-)

Creative Juices are a'flowin!

2010-06-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

I've got a lady, who's been visiting my website, test stitched for me and knows my humor and style. She just sent me about 6-7 new ideas about wine sayings and I've done 2 so far and LOVE THEM. I've decided that if you send me a cool, new saying (not a take off of one already posted) I'll digitize it and send to you to stitch out for free! Like paying you $5-$6 for sending me ideas! So, come on, people - send me new ideas. This is the latest one she sent. Very cool.

New Freebie I'm offering!

2010-06-15T16:42:00.001-07:00

If you purchase $40 worth of designs from me, I'll give you a free Wine Woozie. Here's where you can go check them out http://woozie.com/words_woozie.shtml and they're pretty cool. Just put in the checkout cart comments section "Wine Words Woozie" and I'll get one out to you right away. I have a limited number of them so let me choose one for you. Also, check out the new Woozie Bling at http://garrison-grafixx.com/Patterns-accessories.html Pretty cool! On sale for a limited time so buy quickly!

Concert was AWESOME!!

2010-06-15T12:19:00.001-07:00

The CSN concert on Friday was perfect! Old songs, some new ones, everyone knew the words to the old ones so we sang too. Stills sounded a little, I can't explain it, kinda like either he lost his voice, or it was just giving out on him - anyway, Nash & Crosby carried him with the lyrics, but Steven can still strum the guitar like the pro he is. AWESOME! Weather held out and, well, can't say enough good about it.

Saturday went to visit with my Dad and his younger brother and my cousin. The whole family went and we had a good time reminiscing. My cousin is moving out to the GNW (Great North West) and his family will be following shortly. Good to have our family closer.

Sunday did some BarBQing, and I cleaned - nice day too. But, I realized that I hadn't fixed my website so hurried to do that. A nice visitor told me I had some broken links, so gave her a few free designs for helping me fix the site. See, if you see something that I need to fix, and you let me know, you get a few goodies from me. LOVE to do that because it's so missed from today's customer service.

Today it's pouring rain! Big, no HUGE, drops of rain coming down like it used to when I lived in Florida. Good time to grab a book and read or watch some Home Improvement shows on TV. I should be digitizing, but..... well, a girl needs a day off, don't ya think? I'll probably get busy this afternoon with one or two more designs. Oh, did you see the one I offered 1/2 off today? - A Perfect Man, it's called, and it's on the winethemes page. Kinda cute, if I do say so myself. Gonna post the new hiding letter on the website before I go relax. Look for it - it's the "Jokerman Capital letter C" and it's somewhere on the website. Have fun!

Finally Friday!!

2010-06-11T14:15:00.001-07:00

Can't get into the rhythm today - I'm going to go see Crosby, Stills & Nash tonight and am soooo excited! I used to play all their songs on my guitar and thought I was so cool! My darling hubby got us front row CENTER seats! I'll be able to count nose hairs!!!!! OK, enough bragging - back to digitizing. I'm doing girly things today - makeup brushes, lipstick, etc. because I had a request for that stuff. Gotta support the customers. Well..... will write more later if I can think of something to talk about.

Taking it easy on a Thursday

2010-06-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Had a slow day today, so I'm going to take advantage of it and pick up the granddaughter from day care early. She's lots of fun to have around, although she's definitely into the "TWOs" (not so terrible, but definitely knows what she wants and when she wants it). It's been raining on and off today, so will drive to get her, stopping at the P.O. first.... Then, maybe we'll have a banana & hotdog to eat ;-) Great for Gramma's wasteline!!!! OK, gotta run... Oh, here's her counting (almost) to ten! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IDmilL5250

Stitch Pink - design 2

2010-06-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

Mary, at Stitching for Pink asked me to redo their latest embroidery design into something that could be used as an iron-on transfer, or, if desired, a ready-made t-shirt. Their design looks like this (click here) - my design looks like this (click here). And, I did one of my own - here->. Visit Stitching for Pink for more designs.

Today's Best!

2010-06-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

My calendar of wine sayings won "Today's Best" at Zazzle!!! I'll be working on more designs, but this is really a shock to me. You can see it at http://www.zazzle.com/wine_calendar_12_months_of_humorous_sayings-158775737706295232 and maybe, if you want, can purchase it! Wow! Just amazing.

Wine-ing a bit today

2010-06-08T13:41:00.001-07:00

Latest design - teehee!! Working on more - I like simple sayings with wine themes!

A Stitch in Time - rev. 1 :-)

2010-06-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

It has been said that I write well. It has also been said that I have a good sense of humor. Hopefully this blog will bring out the best in both. I'm a graphic designer, er, embroidery digitizer by trade. The "er" was added since I've just recently changed professions and am having a hard time using this new title. My designs are more adult oriented rather than the cutesy baby embroidery things that a lot of designers have (maybe that sells better?) but I can't wrap myself around "cute". I like wine - therefore that is my main subject. Sometimes a little edgy, but different none-the-less. And, in order to promote my designs I formed a Yahoo! group called KathisKreations - catchy, huh? I needed a name quickly and my advertising person suggested and I ran with it. If I had my druthers now, I'd have called it "A Stitch in Time" like this blog...... oh well. If you want to see what the latest designs are on the webpage, go to http://garrison-grafixx.com/Embroidery.html - I update once a week with the latest designs. Well, it's time to get designing. I'll see you soon.