We will miss you Dad

With a heavy heart, I'm sad to tell you all that my Dad passed away November 17th. He bravely battled Myelofibrosis but the chemo treatments he received this year weren't enough to prolong his life and his blood disease led to acute leukemia.

What hurts the most is that we were never told how much time he had left. We'd like to think that his oncologist was being very optimistic by always leaving it vague when my Dad asked him. I truly expected my Dad to walk out of the hospital with me when I flew down last week.

We all take comfort in the fact that he is now home in heaven and having a grand reunion with all our other loved ones. I told my little boy that Mommy and Grandma were coming home soon and he wondered who would take care of Grandpa. When I told him that Grandpa was not going to get better, he broke down and cried. When he asked his Dad the next morning if Grandpa was now in heaven, he was very happy for his Grandpa as he knows God restores ones soul and takes away all the hurt and pain. He knows my Dad is watching out for them and for the past couple of days, attributes any luck and success to his Grandpa helping him out.

I will miss you very much, Dad. We love you and may you rest in peace.

SLOWWWWWWWW

No pictures. No new posts.

Uploading pictures on blogger is a S L O W process. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes. The other day I tried for an entire afternoon!

And I've got so much eye candy to share too...Ok, gotta go back and experiment on some other things...

Craftroom Progress?

My craft room has been under construction and nearly finished. I hired a closet company to do this with hopes that the results would be the same as we had when we lived in Seattle. Not sure if it's this particular franchise, economy or location (or both) but I don't think I'd hire them again for the following reasons:

Obviously the workers were not told to clean as you go.

Uummm - huge mistake so they thought I wasn't going to see this extra hole to nowhere.

It's a good thing these units weren't going in a carpeted room! Ok - I'll give them that...we were in the middle of a rain storm.

They only brought 1 filthy, padded blanket to protect my floors. I had to supply those paint tarps, which does nothing to keep the floors from being scratched.

Despite the general untidiness the workers left behind (and 57 nails/screws scattered all over my driveway), I'm going to make the most of it. Here is the almost final result (still missing the countertops):

See my previous post for the "before" photo.
My camera memory card is full so didn't get to take photos of the rest of the room and also my daughter's completed room. I also just got a flu shot so my arm feels like I slammed it shut on a door. Oww......

Another Pillow

Here's the next one - the yarn colors and fabric look better together in real life.

Cramming to get all these done as I'm getting my craftsroom overhauled next Tuesday! Yep, what you see

here

will hopefully become an organized haven for lots of future creativity. Stay tuned......

Crocheted Flower Pillow

Crocheted and sewn beauty!

Didn't get a picture of the back but it's covered with Paula Young/Michael Miller fabric. Pillow case is tissue-cover style where you just insert the pillow form through the opening. No zipper, no slip stitching or buttons! Easy to do, perfect for a beginner like me!

Now working on the other 3 pillows that will go on my daughter's bed.

"Sewing Projects"

I'm learning how to sew. But the process is very sllllooooow. My machine does not like me yet so I started out by just taking the cover off of her and letting her get used to her new surroundings.

The first "sewing" project is this memo board I've been wanting to complete. It took 2 friends to help me get it finished. The big buttons are actually customizable brads, by way of the fun I-Top doodad. These brads are the 28mm size - the largest; and I used real fabric to cover them (Paula Young fabric). After covering 12 brads, we all decided that you really don't need that awkward tool - just use your thumbs to push the 2 parts together. Of course, it took $18 to figure that out! (double click photo for more detailed look).


The 2nd "sewing" project was inspired by my need to use up yarn. My wonderful sister-in-law (Hi Holly!) gave me a bunch of beautiful yarns and this particular skein was going to be a crocheted hat but by the time I finished it, it was too tight to wear! I unravelled it and decided to cover this straw wreath instead. The felt flowers were handmade - great way to use up extra felt and the dried flowers were from Michael's.


Now I actually did sew after these projects. But my camera ran out of batteries so couldn't take a picture. Will get those on the blog this weekend. Hint: crochet + pillows, as inspired by this talented blogger.

Lots of time

Ahhhh....school for my children started last week.

I hear absolutely nothing. Just peace and quiet and the occasional honking of Canada geese flying by.



Now that I have all day to myself, am left contemplating as to what am I supposed to accomplish first?

I could do something about this room:


or I can just sit out on our gorgeous balcony, enjoy the view and have another cup of coffee.