Wow It's Been a While........but I'm still here

So I haven't posted in almost a month.  God has really been moving in my life and I was ordained as a Minister and Missionary a month ago and have given two sermons to date.  It's not easy being called to minister and serve the needs of people who are searching for something to change their situation but I know that God is able.  I ask that you remember me and the call that is on my life in your prayers that I will serve God so that he is satisfied with my service.

I posted last month about the knit fabric I ordered from Fabric Mart and I kept looking for a pattern but couldn't find anything to suit my vision that would be figure flattering and acceptable for church.  What I did was take an old knit sleeveless dress and layed it on my fabric and cut it out with a 1 1/2 seam allowance. I did a bias trim on the neckline and used a zig zag stitch to get a smooth seam.  I didn't do that for the arm holes but think that I will go back and do that later but I'm so very pleased with the results.  I'm looking for more fabric and will make several more......this is looking like a TNT (Tried and True) pattern.  I have to remember to show a step by step instruction on how easy this is to make.  It took less than 40 minutes from cutting it out to pressing my seams.  You could easily add to your wardrobe in a Saturday afternoon.

this is the old dress that inspired me to go for what was a good fit and let the material's graphics bring the interest

the finished dress 

my finishing on the neckline and the armholes 

For those wondering about progress of my Winterberry Rhapsody Wrap I haven't had a chance to make progress due to helping my cousin who had to have her 4th hand surgery in a 9 month period. God is still good and she's recouperating nicely.

 Well, I will be ending this post for the time being but there is a lot of great things happening for me and my family and I can't wait to share some projects that are currently in the works.  Until next time Stay blessed and stay creative.

Plans and Progress

Ok so I've been working on and finally completed the Azzu's Lace Shawl found on Ravelry.com but since this was my first lace shawl and I'm questioning the blocking and think that this still needs to be properly blocked here are some pics what do you think? This is Yarn Pirates Smokerings and I love this yarn so much like the way it knit up and feels against my skin.  It's always fun to try out and explore new things in my creative learning process so knitting my way down this new road to lace means that I need blocking mats and the lace wires so my projects can be a fulfilling experience for me.

Here's my current project I'm calling it Winterberry Rhapsody because I'm using this lovely Cherry Tree Hill Silk blend yarn in Winterberry and I love it well I love all of my yarns but I'm drawn to jewel tones that are rich in color.  The pattern is actually called Amelia's Lace Wrap and this is quite the daunty task for me ask I've never in my 9+ years of knitting knitted anything that has so many rows and this pattern has 367 rows.  Now that I've started it I'm so in love with how the pattern is developing that I can't wait to get to the end.  I'm very thankful that I'm always excited even if I don't get the pattern it's just wonderful to enjoy the process even if you make a mistake hey, I'm human and not exempt from error.  So without further ado here's my yarn and my project so far.

Don't you just love the rich colors of this yarn I know I do and the excitement grows everytime the rich purple and magenta come around my fingers onto the needles.  In this pic I'm on row 64 and I'm currently on row 73 or 74.

Now I decided that I wanted a knit dress so I went to Fabric Mart.com and this is what I got and I'm so excited to get this project planned out and so far I can't find a pattern that suites the vision I have for my dress but here's the material.  What do you think?

Well I know what I will be searching for this week or attempting to draft myself.  Until next time I pray everyone is having a great day and keep me and my family in your prayers.

Knitting Lace......Azzu's Shawl

I'm posting this project to keep me accountable to actually finishing this and not becoming discouraged by the task at hand.  I was looking for a pattern to knit from this lovely yarn purchased a few years ago.

As you can see this is Yarn Pirates yarn in Smoke Ring it's 460.yards of Bamboo, Merino,Nylon goodness.  So I chose this Pattern from Ravelry.com and although I've done a few lace items it's never been this involved.  Thank goodness for me that this pattern came with written instructions instead of a Chart (I just don't do well but that's one of the items on my list to overcome for 2013).  I'm currently on Row 30 and this is what it looks like so far.

Well I need to end this now so that I can resume my knitting I will update you all to my progress in the next few days.  Until have a great day!!!!

A Little bit of Everything

Back to share a little bit of everything that has been going in with me since my last post. Personally I want to share that my oldest daughter Carmen is doing better but still with the stomach pain. The GI doctor thinks that at some point she may still have to her gallbladder removed but they are doing everything they can to hold that at bay. My youngest is fighting off an infection that has her lymph nodes swollen but they added another antibiotic to the mix and in the past 48 hours she is doing better. So I thank God for that.

When I first started blogging I never included a lot of personal information other that what I was making or had just acquired but as you grow and evolve I see that all of what I am I want to share with you. So you will hear me talk about my religious or lets just say I will share my faith with you. No sermons just my thankfulness for all that my Savior is doing in my life.

My pastor and his wife celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary and I made this card for them.

Supplies Used
Card stock cut to 6in x 8 1/2in
Versa Mark Ink Pad
Ribbon approximately 14in long for strip and bow
ATG adhesive
Martha Stewarts Glitter Dust
Vellum for inside of card

I finally completed the tam I was working on for a lady at my church. I do have to say that it is larger than what I normally make but the person is growing locs and wanted it to be big so they definitely have it. Hope they like it.

Lastly today I want to share the basket I put together for our office for our Health Fair next Saturday. It is a Family 4 Movie Pass with goodies hope the family really loves this.

On the hair front I took my Kinky twist out and after browsing Youtube and reading up on protective sytles I decided to put in a weave so this is what I had been rocking for the past 3 weeks.

Well on Thursday night I took the weave out and put in a cherry rinse as my permanent color was looking really bad. Before I posted this entry I did two strand twist and will do a twist out for church tomorrow. I will take pictures and post to my blog later next week.

There are always ideas in the works and I have a few just want to get the sewing part of my craft room together and get my sewing on. I hope that you will have a great weekend and a wonderful week. Just know that no matter what you're going through you have a refuge in prayer and meditation. If you live positive and speak positive it will come back to you.

Sickness....loss of time and The Drawer Challenge

I have been ill for the past month it started with my sinuses and not the average irritation but misery to the point of my ears running and clogging up, no voice and vision impairment. So after working on it with OTC drugs and home remedies that normally offer relief I went to my Doctor P and she gave me some scripts and this lovely script in particular was just waiting to reek havoc in my world. I was given Augmentin 875mg and not ever having any problems with reactions to meds before took with food as directed and drank plenty of water but they failed to mention that I needed to add a daily dose of yogurt to the mix. Needless to say my stomach stayed upset for the the whole 10 days and I OTC remedied the symptoms but to no avail. Finished the meds and then it happened overnight my abdomen swelled to 3 times it's normal size and I couldn't move, hard to breath, and there was no sleep in sight as laying down was not an option at all.

Needless to say I have improved some but still having severe pain in my back. Lesson learned and won't be taking that anymore. Now on to some fiber-related production.

I am currently working on another cowl the Ashford Cowl from the Challenge Drawer in Malabrigo's Silky Merino in Nocturnal I've only made it to the first pattern row so I'm on row 3 but will make strides today and have pics to show in the next post. I am thinking that something from my Challenge drawer needs to come out for my Mom's BD gift unless I decide to do something else it will likely be the ColorShift Lace scarf from the post a few weeks ago. I'm finding that the urge to complete my journey to having projects done before Christmas this year has me leaning to Cowls, Scaves and Hats but I do have a few Sweaters in my Raverly Queue that will get made this year most definitely one will be the Lace Cardi that I made for myself as my Mom really wants one and also a new pattern found on Ravelry yesterday here I have to put them out here to you the public as a way of holding myself accountable to complete projects and reinforce my resolve to stay on top of things.

Update on the Soul-ology Project I wrote the definition for myself of what this means to me and I may have to move or delete some pages as they may not help me to really dig into who I am as a person although I may hold my memories fondly. Will get back with you on the progress during my next post. Until stay Creative.

The Challenge Continues along with other Projects

I'm back yet another week with more progress. First, I have to say that it has been a very stressful week with updates with programs at work and all the stress of working in a Doctor's office but as always I'm doing it with a smile and a feeling of being blessed.

I have been lurking in the scrapbooking world for nearly a year now and want so much to really get the groove of being a good scrapper. So I heard and read about the Soulology Project. It is a scrapbook about you that makes you reflect on yourself and I decided that this is where I would start. Here's the first few pages of my book. This is my graduation from high school back in '85 yes my 25 year reunion is in July that's so hard to believe that all those many years have passed by.

This is me and my BFF my lovely Grandmother who passed away in 2000.





Next is the cover of my Scrapbook that tells it all. I'm a happy sing song type of person who loves to be happy even when life throws me lemons and curves. Look forward to having more pages done in the next week but with the work schedule changes and other things in my life I hope to have some new pages to share with you in the next week.






Here's the next Beret that I'm doing it's knit up from Naturally Caron.com Country yarn in Black. Now I have to say that this skein of yarn is very thready and has been knotted back together so the integrity of the yarn is not the best but it looks so good knitted up. This pattern is inspired by ColorShift from Scarves a Knitters Dozen. My oldest Daughter wanted this so bad so in using up the yarn in Challenge drawer to grant her wish.












The next project from the Challenge Drawer is ZigZag Cowl found on Ravelry and is being knitted up from KnitPicks Andean Silk in colorway Cinnamon. This pattern is a nice one and for the first time I did a Picot edging as the pattern calls for. I was intimidated at first because I have never tried it before. It turned out just fine until..............




This is when the ability to laugh at yourself comes into play and I realized that I was knitting the pattern the wrong way. This came from thinking I had it in the bag and now I'm jumping into the Frog Pond yet again. Will frog down to the first knit row after the Picot edging and start the pattern again.




So stay tuned for the next chapter in the Stash busting Challenge.