It's a Rainy Day in Hawaii Nei

Woke up this morning to terrible weather and a terrible cold. My son and his girlfriend have been sick for a couple of weeks and finally hubby and I have succumbed. The islands are currently under a flash flood warning with rain expected through next week. This looks like it's going to be a very icky week(s).

For my new readers, please refer to yesterday's post for the rules to enter my giveaway. I will try and post as early as possible each day so that my international readers will have the same opportunity to enter the giveaway. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm going to try my best not to leave anyone out.

I'd like to show you a bookmark that I've been making for my craft fairs and plan to do so again this year. Notice in the photo all of the woven ribbon that is still waiting to be turned into bookmarks. The story of my life, I tell you. If there was an award for the person with the most incomplete projects, surely I would win.

The main part of the bookmark (the flower stem) is made from woven ribbon. I've attached a flower and leaf to each end. Simple, cute, effective.



Here is a look at it in action. I love how the flower and the leaf peek out from both sides of the book.



I hope you all have a truly fabulous day. Good luck in the giveaway, everyone.

Aloha!

Yes, It's Another Giveaway!

That's right, I'm doing another giveaway. The last giveaway was such a success and so much fun that I'd like to do it all over again. If you'd like to see who the lucky winner of my last giveaway is and all of her goodies, scoot on over to Cheryl's Blog. She has a very charming blog filled with many vintage items that I'm sure you will just adore. And lucky you, she even has a shop where you can purchase her little lovelies. So hurry on over!

This giveaway will include a quilted tote. It is 15-inches in width, 13-inches in length with a handle drop of 11-inches. It's a very nice size for carrying around your crafting or quilting supplies. And of course, a few other "surprises" will be included too.



A closeup...



THE RULES (There are many so please read carefully)

This time, the rules will be a little bit different (I like making things difficult, err, I mean fun). To enter, all you will need to do is to make a comment whenever you see a new post, starting from today through April 30. You can increase your chances of winning if you make a comment each time I make a post. YOUR COMMENT HAS TO BE DATED THE SAME AS THAT DAYS BLOG POST AND MADE IN THAT DAYS POST FOR IT TO BE ELIGIBLE. I seldom blog on weekends unless I have something important to say and usually blog anywhere from 3-5 days a week so be sure to check back often. This contest will end on April 30, 2008.

On May 1, 2008 a random date will be chosen, anywhere from April 8 all the way through April 30. For example if April 10 is chosen, all the people who posted on April 10 will be entered into the drawing. From that pool of people, one lucky winner will be chosen.

This contest will be open to everyone. Please, no "anonymous" posts unless that's your real name, okay? LOL If you have a blog, please link back to it when you post. If you don't, please make sure to leave your name (and don't forget to check back on May 1 for the winning name since I won't have any way of contacting you for your mailing address). For example, something like, Shelby T. from Middleton would be ideal as it will help me to distinguish you from Shelby T. from Honolulu. If I end up with three comments from three different Mary's, it could be difficult to determine the actual winner. It would make my life so much easier if you were to comment as Mary S. from Seaside or Mary K. from Seattle or Mary P. from Gainsville. Okay? And please, only one entry per IP address, per household, per day. I hope I have it covered. Any questions, please leave a comment and I will get back to you.

And last but not least, I'd like to give a shout out to the Garden Web Quilting Board gals. My stat count soared by leaps and bounds today. Thank you to Crafteedee for linking to my blog and most of all, I hope you all enjoyed the yo-yo tutorial.

Good Luck to everyone.

Aloha!

Miscellaneous Rambling and a Pinwheel Pin

When weekends roll around, my mind tells me that it's okay to take it easy and do nothing. Well, this past weekend, I accomplished just that. Nothing. I partially cleaned my bedroom. Notice that I said partially. I gave up doing anything productive after a conversation with the Vet as it was a little bit of a downer.

Mouse had another test done on Thursday. The test results show that his kidney function is better but it still shows that he's in kidney failure. In order to slow this down, the Vet recommended changing his food which should result in a little less stress on the kidneys. We are hoping that by doing this, we will slow down the kidney failure. He will continue to get his fluids, but for now, it will be limited to twice a month since he seems to be doing a lot better. That is such a relief because the constant transporting of him to the Vet was wearing thin on both him and me. In jest, the Vet mentioned that he sees that Mouse is getting better because he's gaining weight. Believe me, Mouse does not need to gain any more weight. According to the Vet's assistant, Mouse is the biggest cat that they've seen. He's the biggest cat that I've ever seen too.

I also did some long-needed grocery shopping. Thank goodness my husband doesn't mind going with me. I dislike grocery shopping with a passion. I try to do the major shopping once a month with just a quick run for the essentials in between.

If you are local, you can relate to buying rice in 20 pound bags (islanders eat a lot of rice). As I was transferring the rice to my rice container, I dropped a little onto the floor. I felt a few grains cling to the bottom of my foot. In an effort to rid my foot of the rice, I rubbed it about 3-4 times back and forth on top of my other foot. Somehow I couldn't dislodge the grains from under my foot. When I looked down, the upper portion of my foot had several deep gashes and was oozing blood.

Let me take you back to a little earlier...As I was unloading groceries, one of the bags that was sitting on the floor fell sideways and a bottle broke. The breakage was contained to the plastic bag, or so I thought. What I didn't realize is that one piece of glass found it's way outside of the bag. And wouldn't you know it, I stepped on it without knowing. I'd show you a picture of my foot, but I know you don't want to see my ugly Luau feet(a.k.a. wide feet from going barefoot as a kid). Suffice to say, I'm in a little bit of pain but nothing that needs stitching, thank goodness. I have since found another piece of glass in my kitchen even after sweeping it twice. Either I'm a lousy sweeper or those are some sneaky little pieces of glass. I'm probably a lousy sweeper. LOL

On another note...For at least a couple of years, I have been wanting to make pinwheel pins. I know that I mentioned that I would try and stay away from pin making for a while but I couldn't help myself. I finally decided to try my hand at it (anything to get away from sewing those pincushions...LOL). Well, I must say that it turned out pretty cute and it's everything that I was hoping for. The pattern that I used to create this pinwheel can be found here
This gal has a site dedicated to paper crafting and rubber stamping. I hope you give her a visit as she does wonderful things with paper and is sure to inspire you.



The pinwheel is made by fusing 2 contrasting fabrics together with Heat 'n Bond Ultrahold prior to cutting out the shapes. I frequently use fused fabric in my projects as it keeps fraying to a minimum. It also adds body to an otherwise floppy piece of fabric. I hope you give it a try. It was fun to do and it brought back memories of how much I loved pinwheels as a child.

Well, I'm sorry that I've been so long winded. I will close by wishing you a fabulously creative day!


Aloha!

European Tour

On September 17, 2007, my husband and I took an 18-day trip to Europe. We visited Rome, Florence, Venice, Lucerne, Paris and London. I thought that I would post a few pictures of our travels in Europe. Rowena, I know I promised these a long time ago. Sorry it took so long. Maybe one day I will do an actual trip report, but for now this is the best I can do. We took thousands of photos so what you will see just barely scratches the surface. What fond memories I have as I look at these pictures...

First stop, Rome. Man, all I could say was, "can it get any more crowded than this?" I heard that the city would be overrun with tourist, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine just how crowded it would be. You needed to pay attention to where you were walking in order not to bump into anyone.

(Just a side note...Since it takes almost a full day to travel from Hawaii to Italy, we were very exhausted upon arrival. When I'm really exhausted, I dream. Each night, in my dreams, all I could see is the constant barrage of people coming toward me and my attempts to avoid them. I dreamt that constantly throughout my stay in Rome. I woke up tired every morning. LOL)

We arrived in Rome about 8:30am, dropped off our luggage at the hotel and immediately went on a walking tour. A very busy city with fast moving cars and Vespas constantly racing by. Those people have nerves of steel to be able to drive in those conditions. And forget about traffic lanes. They make 5 lanes out of a 3lane highway. So amazing to see.

We ate our first meal at lunch in this cute little restaurant off of a side street behind our hotel. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of this restaurant but the food was very good and it was our first taste of an authentic Roman meal. We were tired and full so we literally "rolled" back to our hotel to unpack.



In the afternoon, we went off on another walking tour. We saw many interesting places on this walk. We took this picture at the Piaza del Campidoglio on top of Capitoline Hill. It is now used as a government building. What a spectacular view of the city.



The Forum was amazing. It was hard to imagine how these structures could still be standing in this day and age. It takes your breath away.



This is our group walking uphill to find the end of the really long line to get into the Vatican. It was pretty harrowing considering how close we were to the traffic and how fast the cars were speeding by. You could almost touch some of them as they passed.



Resting our tootsies in the Vatican. Boy, is this place huge.




These are the women on our tour. The backdrop was a breathtaking view of the city of Florence.



The Ponte Vecchio, overlooking the Arno, was so beautiful. The colors of the buildings were soft muted tones of peach. If you love gold, this is the place to shop. Shop after shop of nothing but jewelry. You gotta see it to believe it.



It was very crowded in Florence too. The main street was filled with wall to wall people.



I don't know the name of this restaurant, but everyone who visits Venice takes a picture of it. You have to catch it before it gets too dark so that you can see all of the details. I dragged hubby over there specifically to get this picture.



The Rialto Market had the most fabulous seafood. Here at home, flies would be swarming around it if you left it out in the open like that. Not over there. In fact, we don't remember seeing any bugs at all throughout our tour.



Of course, we had to play tourist and take a gondola ride. It was really memorable. We were serenaded by a gentleman with a fabulous operatic voice. I was having problems with light sensitivity so it really was uncomfortable on my eyes with the light bouncing off of the water. Hense, those ugly sun glasses.



We travelled throughout Europe by train. Here we are leaving Italy on our way to Lucerne. The train rides were nice and comfortable. I doubt I would ever take a bus tour after riding the trains. Rowena, it was on this train ride that I waved to you. When I saw the Como stop, I knew you were nearby.



We arrived to beautiful weather in Lucerne. This is the beautiful view outside of our hotel room. The Hotel des Balances overlooked the riverfront. It truly is a very elegant hotel. The rooms were beautiful and those feather beds were divine. It soothed our tired bodies after long days of walking.



On our last night in Lucerne, we had dinner at the Old Swiss House. It doesn't look like anything special from the outside, but on the inside it is very elegant and full of old world charm. It's a beautiful fine dining restaurant but a little on the pricey side. The service was especially good.



A view from inside the restaurant...



It was recommended that we have the Weinersnitzel. Actually, it's exactly like Tonkatsu w/o the katsu sauce or veal cutlet w/o the brown gravy. I still don't know what all the hype is about. It was tasty, but very plain.



The lobster bisque was very velvety and delicious.



This is what it looked like when we arrived in Paris...storming. Do you see the Arc de Triomphe in the background? It's almost barely recognizable in the rain. Too bad, this was the only time we had the opportunity to get a glimpse of it. Luckily, it cleared up for the remainder of our stay.



We stayed at the Hotel Brebant. It was central to all the major attractions. The hotel was small and not very modern. Evidently this is not the usual hotel that the tour uses. The World Cup was being played during our stay, so most of the hotels were booked way ahead of time. Luckily they were able to secure this hotel.



Here I am inside the Louvre. Can you see me standing near that giant painting? I look as big as an ant in this picture.



This is one of the many beautiful ceilings in the Palace of Versailles.



We rented headsets in order to take tours on our own time. It was much easier this way. It was so crowded and noisy in there that it would have been virtually impossible to hear our guide.



The beautiful fountain in the gardens at Versailles.



We arrived in London to rain. Here we are with our rain gear heading out for a ride on the double decker bus to the Tower of London. Thankfully only a few drizzles remained after the first day.



Visiting the Tower of London. It was interesting walking the spiral stone staircases and seeing all of the old weaponry. I kept thinking Rapunzel had to be around there somewhere.



Getting cheeky with Sir Winston Churchhill. LOL



The Sherlock Holmes Pub was a short walk from our hotel. Being really tired one evening, we opted for a fast dinner before turning in. I had fried shrimp and chips and hubby had the steak and ale pie. He had that at two different pubs while in London and he really loved it.





View of the city from the London Eye. Standing high above the city in a clear bubble made me a little bit uneasy but I tried not to think about it too much. I am uneasy at such heights.



Knock, knock, is the Queen home? Outside Buckingham Palace.



Well, this tour was very enjoyable but at the same time very exhausting. It took me several weeks to recuperate after returning home. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I think about Europe often and hope to return sometime soon.

Aloha!

A.K.A. The Jewelry Bag Lady

When I first started doing craft shows, the first and only product that I sold were travel jewelry totes. I purposely made them in Hawaiian print only. At the time, anything that could be slapped with a Hawaiian print were selling like hotcakes. Up until the early 1990's, Hawaiian prints were limited to mostly clothing items. Before long, anything and everything you could have imagined began appearing in these prints. The trend is still holding strong and today you can find Hawaiian print non-clothing items everywhere you go.
Before long, I became known as "The Jewelry Bag Lady". Until this day, people still refer to me that way even though I now produce a very small number of jewelry totes a year. It just goes to show you how a name can stick with you. I can't say that I mind it because I know that it makes me easily recognized in conversation.
This year, I plan to offer my jewelry tote with a patchwork theme (the tote on the left). It will be the same tote but with a fresh concept. Sometimes all it takes to bring back the excitement in a product is a small twist to the old one. I'm excited about it and I hope that people will be too.



Another craft fair project that I am still working on are my tufted pincushions. It seems that I have lost interest in these little cuties and am having to force myself to work on them. I keep reminding myself that the only way to eat an elephant (not that I ever will...lol) is one bite at a time. That seems to be the only way that I can psych myself into completing this project. One small stitch here, one small stitch there, yadda yadda yadda. Here's the progress on my little elephant(s).



I hope you have a great day.

Aloha!

Difficulty with the hired help...

What is wrong with the hired help these days anyway? It seems that my "helper" was more interested in taking flight rather than picking a winner. Geesh! But I guess if I worked for peanuts and birdseed and was kept behind bars most of my life I probably wouldn't be too cooperative either. After numerous attempts to pick a winner, we finally have one. Because Chirpy is too fast and I'm too slow, I don't have an actual picture of him holding the winning entry. Believe me, I tried my best to get the snapshot and failed. Next time I think I'll use the cat, at least he can't fly!







Anyway, without further ado, Cheryl of Periwinkle Vintage is our winner. Cheryl, I'll be contacting you shortly. Thank you to everyone who entered. This was a lot of fun and I plan to do more giveaway's in the future.




I managed to complete a couple of t-shirt reconstruction projects over the weekend.

My first is a summer beach tote. The body of the tote was knit in garter stitch using size 13 knitting needles. The yarn used throughout this tote was made from 3/4-inch strips of t-shirt. The Knifty Knitter was used to create the daisies and five-inch pieces of green t-shirt yarn was used for the grass fringe. I also gave it a braided handle (I used 12 strands per handle) for a little variety in texture. I think I'll call this handbag, Daisies in My Green Beans, err, I mean, Daisies On The Green. (I can't help but see green beans every time I look at this tote!)




The body of my next bag is made from a couple of t-shirts (I doubled it up for added strength). I will call this one, Blazing Poppies in the Midnight Sky. I used my sewing machine to applique most of the pieces onto the face of the tote. The handles of this bag are made from the bottom hems of two t-shirts (folded over twice for added strength).




Here is a close-up of the flowers...



I hope you try your hand at working with old t-shirts. It's a fabulous way to recycle and most of all, create something fun from your throwaways.

Have a creative day!

Aloha!

Distracted Again!

It doesn't take very much to distract me. I'm sure that this has been quite obvious to you if you have had the chance to read through my blog. I know I'm guilty of jumping from one project to another, seldom looking back at the incomplete projects that trail behind me.




Well, today I will admit to being distracted once again. All current projects have been pushed aside. It seems that t-shirt yarn has passionately captured my interest once again. My head is bursting with new project ideas and I can't wait to get started.

Have an enjoyable weekend.

Aloha!