I'm a Winner! (Thank you Burdastyle.com)

I love craft sites, sewing sites..especially the open source ones. I love the generosity of the EXTREMELY creative people in them who happily share their talents & teach their skills with all of us. They're a constant source of inspiration, fascination & awe.

One of these sites is...

http://www.burdastyle.com/

I've been a member for a few months now...mostly as a lurker. I don't have a lot of online time like I would want to..but what I do, I spend part of it there. It's a lot of fun & chockful of ideas..not to mention..FREE patterns!

They have contests all the time & each one is as interesting as the one before. They have giveaways, too. This Christmas, they had a Singer Curvy sewing machine giveaway. Coincidentally, I was reading about this particular machine the week before, as I was debating on getting a new machine. All you had to do was post a comment..and voila, you're entered.

http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/show/774

So, I did, along with hundreds of other hopefuls. On the 29th of December, I opened my email, cup of tea in hand..to "You wont the Singer Curvy giveaway..." *gasp* Sounded too good to be true..and being the skeptic that I am, I emailed Alden Davis, the marketing/PR diva. And sure 'nuff, I won!! Only then did I allow myself a belated scream!

Thank you to the wonderful crew at Burdastyle for this awesome Christmas prezzie..and thank you, Singer! I can't wait for the machine to get here..and caress it for a while..before actually using it. We have to have "our" time before I put her to work!

2008..the Good, the Bad & the Nauseating

Goodbye to the old gal. In with the new, hopefully fabulous year. Summarizing the rather full, arduous year in a few sentences...

I discovered myself. I found out I'm stronger than I had thought myself to be.

I lost weight, gained a wonderful outlook in life & am now a bit of a fitness freak.

I can be obssessed with food, have a great relationship with it, even, without being self-destructive about it. Cook/bake for others..with love. Often. Baked goodies make wonderful presents.

My short attention span has led to the demise of my creativity. Will rehab this in 09.

Gardening is a pleasure that can be shared with someone else. (I had been a lone-gardener, zealously defending my artwork..ha!) Namely my neighbor, Susan, who has helped me pull more weeds, dug more holes & raked more leaves with the enthusiasm of a cheerleader. Hurray!

My kids are getting as tall as I am.

My love for House & Eureka borders on the addicted side.

I colored my daughter's hair the following (sometimes at the same time): teal, pink, fuschia, purple & blazing red..without batting an eyelash. Let her get the upper part of her ear pierced..told her (with fingers crossed, of course), if she wanted to have her nose, eyebrow or lip done..or heck, get a tattoo, I would take her, but she would have to pay for them (she's a notorious spendthrift!). I AM that cool mom!

I love playing Wii. That being said, I'm horrible at almost all the games apart from golf, bowling, tennis & Wario Ware Smooth Moves.

I still hate winter.

I bought Christmas presents to myself without that feeling of gnawing guilt in my stomach.

I can enjoy a nice bottle of mojito without overdoing it. And become philosophical-but-not-annoyingly-so-you're-hella-funny-Steff-you-should-drink-more..and let my hair down.

I lived through another year with all my limbs intact, my faith in human nature tarnished-but-still-present, only flipping off other motorists less than 20 times (not bad for a WHOLE year) & strengthened my relationship with family & friends.

I can't wait to take 2009 on.

Holy frickin CRAP!

Soooo yeah, ok..this is sooooo typically me (I beat you to it, Dugs)..so I was deleting ONE message from my yahoo mail..and not paying attention (mainly cos a tall glass of milk walked in the door..and I couldn't help ogling)..and­ clicked on "all"­ instead. Ooooh yeah..so it's like, "you're­ deleting 639 messages, dumba**, are you sure?" I only saw that out of the corner of my eye, so I clicked, "duh yes" (ok, so all these " " words aren't verbatim, I knoooow, yahoo's not really that impolite)..s­o anyhoooooo I belatedly realized what I had done. And "Noooooooooo!"­ Kevin (my long-sufferi­ng coworker), screamed, too. He didn't know why..he just thought it was something earth-shatte­ring (it is!). When I told him, he just rolled his eyes..and sashayed back to his desk (bad word). So, good thing you can ask (nicely) yahoo to restore all your precious crap to you..within a 24-hour period..I do occasionally­ read the "help"­ part, Mikey. *glares* So, now I'm just waiting to hear back from them. Keeping my fingers & toes crossed. Now I know some peeps are like, BIG FRICKIN WOOP! :O Normally, yeah, I wouldn't think it's a big, hairy deal..but there's a LOT of important emails I just couldn't lose..and you know what..yeah, you! Chances are, you're probably one of them..so quit rolling your eyes..and calling me infantile, dammit. Yeah, YOU know who YOU are! :P**UPDATE**PS. All is well in Steffi mailLand. :P Yahoo restored them all..and I met a couple of really nice yahoo help people, too..Rhianno­n & Konstantine.­ hahaha I don't really know if that's they're real names..but we're emailing back & forth now. HAHAHA

Why aprons all of a sudden?

I started making aprons..and I love them! I don't know why, but they're soooo addicting. I plan on making more this weekend, too..and more purses. I've been slacking off on sewing..on a month-long hiatus, mainly cos my favorite baby (the Brother XL 6452) has been in the shop..just for a wee tuneup. The fixer-upper guy had been on vacation, so it's been a loooong, long wait. Boohoo. I love my serger, but it's just not the same, as everyone knows.

This is going to be a short post..just to show a couple of the aprons I've made. I can't find the pattern I made the first one from, though...I've already turned my sewing room upside down, inside out. *sad face* I have a feeling it's just sitting somewhere, not the usual place..and smirking.

Without further ado...

Action Shot #1-this is a scrumptious sushi fabric I got 50% off last Thanksgiving at Joann Fabrics, just screamed APRON ME!




Action Shot # 2 (with my daughter doing some weird camera stuff-she loves artsy-fartsy stuff, that I'm clueless about!)



The second one..yummy dessert fabrics..I think I got this at Joann's, too..I can't remember (old age). This was easy..all I did was cut a half-round pattern on the fabric, added a contrasting fabric (cut on the bias) for the hem..this is my favorite!




And lastly...a summery confection. With the weather soooo almost like arctic winter around here, I was just dying to make something that reminded me of cooking out (BBQ'ing), laying around in the hammock..and all the summery goodness!



Enjoy your week, everyone! Have a lovely weekend, too!

xx
Steff

That better not be pee falling...

So yeah..it snowed today..barel­y an inch, really. I was still excited, though..the first snow always does that to me..then by the time it's knee-deep, it's like..Dangit­! When's summer getting here already??? Dragged my tired azz to bed about 4ish, after a night of drunken debauchery..­ok, not really (unless one counts mooning your bestfriend as something salacious :P) & frantic OCD-cleaning­ after..anyho­o, that stupid alarm went off too soon (5:30..yeah,­ I'm an idiot)..and since I strategicall­y placed it on top of the tv, 15 ft away, I couldn't roll over & shut the bleeping thing off..had to get up..and all it took was 4 measly steps to wake me up (cursed with some insane hyperactivit­y). *yawn* Looked out & whoo..snowin­g! I dragged the protesting dog out, and stood there with my mouth open..trying­ to catch flakes..bela­tedly realizing..w­hat if!?!?!? :O Like I do every year. Still some childhood traditions are just soooo dang hard to break..and you stick your tongue out, throwing all caution to the wind..think,­ "pure mountain spring water".­ Works like a charm everytime. My tongue didn't get burned or anything..an­d the flakes really did taste like water. Yey me! The doggie was looking up at me like, "What a crazy woman. Now go fetch my food!" Sooo, I grudgingly went back in..called my friend, Mark (who was out at the bacchanalia with me), "Heeeee­y, guess what? It's snowing..loo­k out the window."­ I think he called me a few bad words & hung up on me. Thank God for speed dial.."­Hey, Shauntay..ha­ve you been out yet?" I don't know, it was all incoherent babble..and I think I heard a guy's voice, too! :O What the hell did I miss last night??? *sigh* I thought it would be a futile thing to keep doing..sprea­ding the joys of snow. So I went in..got my camera out..and took a couple of pics..I was hoping for some critters would come out & start playing in the snow..but pesky things were probably lazy, too. Unfortunatel­y, it didn't snow as much..so there's still some icky winter ground all over..but, this is the midwest..ano­ther couple of weeks..and we'll get some nice, white Christmas.

Shot of my small Japanese garden area...

And the pond area...

Random Me-ness

1) i love plants. i've a schefflera arboricola i named "cleo"­ & a rubber plant who's named "spike"­

2) i HATE peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.

3) i think jet li is the most graceful man-ever

4) i promised someone i would be fluent in swedish by year's end (fat chance!)

5) i'm often impulsive-ju­mp-in-with-b­oth-feet kinda person

6) i love to cook (and eat! ) 7) my breast size is...... gotcha! (not that anyone actually reads this drivel anyways)

8) i'm would date Duff or Guy Fieri in a heartbeat!

9) i LOOOOVE Oreo Mcflurry's-t­he only thing mc'd'ks has going for them

10) i eat apples with lemon juice & salt

11) i still talk to 3 of my ex boyfriends at least once a week (in a VERY platonic way)..one of them named his daughter after me (cos he wants her to have my sweet personality.­.hahaha) 12) i hate my hair..it's wild, untamed & drives me nuts everyday!

13) I'M COMING OUT NOW!!!! i love watching UFC (ultimate fighting championship­s)..i'm addicted to it..i've been to 2 fights..and hope to see more in the future. randy couture is still my guy. though BJ Penn, GSP and forrest griffin kick ass, too! this is the non-cerebral­ly stimulating part of me.

14) i can't carry a tune, even if it were in my purse.

15) i absolutely LOVE shoes, i have waaaaaay too many that would probably never be used, poor things.

16) i walk barefoot around the house unless it's winter.

I could think of more to make it an even 20...but I can hear a fly buzzing around..and it's driving me crazy! So I may (more than likely, not) update this later.

That Inner Voice

So I wondered if people read to themselves out loud? Unless asked to, I usually don't. I was horrified to found myself reading in a Sarah Palin voice, all HER interviews & comments. :O I never realized I did that. And not only that..having­ come across a Paris Hilton dumbopinion,­ I cringed to "hear"­ myself reading it in a Paris Hilton voice! What an awful thing to learn about oneself! Have I always done this? Why, all of a sudden, am I just realizing this? This is worse than inner monologue (where I actually only hear my own voice)..this­ is like freaky multiple personality scary. What next..Ben & Jerry voices urging me to, "Go ahead, eat the whole pint!" NO, I didn't do it..the chubby hippies made me..I heard it echoing through the spoon. Possession is looming around the corner. :(

PS. Ian (a British friend) sez I sound like Sarah Palin!! :O I do not!! haha