Tuesday, April 30
Monday, April 29
Shake Your Pom Poms Day 4
Today is Shake Your Pom Poms Day 4 of the Blog Hop.
Be sure to visit these blogs.
Sunday, April 28
Tis the Season for the Earth & blog catch up....
You've probably noticed I haven't posted many sewing projects the last few weeks, only the Pom Pom Blog Hop stuff from April 24. The reason is, it's Earth season. For me it's not day or month it's a season, my busiest time of the year as the Environmental Education Coordinator in our city. Our city is 141,000+ in population... Not everyone is green yet but I am working on it! Lol.
In the last several weeks, I have been hosting event after event, presenting to schools, scouts and church groups and just plain going bananas! The BIG events include the following.
After returning from the Texas Water Conference in Galveston back on the 11th, on April 13th -- I hosted our Texas Trash Off event. We had about 600 volunteers pick up litter all over the city. our city does not have a litter problem BUT if you look hard....you will find some! This was more than double the volunteers as any previous year so on one hand very overwhelmed (big gulp) and on the other hand doing back flips because it was so many residents were interested.
On April 20th, I helped host the Beautification Day at my daughter's school with the PTA and people from our local Kohl's department store. About 25 volunteers helped spread 10 cubic yards of mulch and compost to 62 trees and plant 240 drought tolerant flowers in the landscape to beautify the school campus. Here is Micaela in a wheelbarrow.
April 21st was Micaela's 8th birthday. We had a small celebration with family and will celebrate in May when we have a free weekend with her little friends. Here's a quick family snapshot right before she blew out the candles. We can't believe she is 8 already!
April 22nd was the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day. This marked my 15th year working in Environmental Stewardship, 10 years at BAG Corp in Dallas and 5 years at the City of McKinney. I feel very fortunate to be doing the type of work that makes a difference.
April 25th, I hosted a big Rain Barrel Building Workshop. I love rain barrels, this class is always popular.
Yesterday, April 27th, I hosted our Drug Take Back Event in partnership with our County Sheriff's Department and Police Department. OMG, this was my first time to host this event and it was a HUGE success. We collected more than 600 lbs of medicine and more than 25 large garbage bags of medicine packaging for recycling. We had more than 150 cars in a four our time span, that's a car every 90 seconds. Here I am with the officers that helped me. You can see all of the bags! I am so thankful this stuff is not in the landfill or the watershed.
At this point, I am over the hump. I have a few more big city wide events to go, a few more presentations at schools and that will be IT because the calls from schools and groups will slow down and my focus will change to promoting water conservation during the summer months as our area of North Texas is in a drought.
So there you have it, that's why I haven't sewn much lately. I hope this post didn't bore you to much. Hopefully something I posted in my list above will inspire you to do something to save the earth where you live if you are not doing it already. Thanks again for reading this far.
In the last several weeks, I have been hosting event after event, presenting to schools, scouts and church groups and just plain going bananas! The BIG events include the following.
After returning from the Texas Water Conference in Galveston back on the 11th, on April 13th -- I hosted our Texas Trash Off event. We had about 600 volunteers pick up litter all over the city. our city does not have a litter problem BUT if you look hard....you will find some! This was more than double the volunteers as any previous year so on one hand very overwhelmed (big gulp) and on the other hand doing back flips because it was so many residents were interested.
April 18th I hosted a gardening seminar for 50 residents, teaching residents about drought tolerant and native landscaping. This was really successful.
On April 20th, I helped host the Beautification Day at my daughter's school with the PTA and people from our local Kohl's department store. About 25 volunteers helped spread 10 cubic yards of mulch and compost to 62 trees and plant 240 drought tolerant flowers in the landscape to beautify the school campus. Here is Micaela in a wheelbarrow.
April 21st was Micaela's 8th birthday. We had a small celebration with family and will celebrate in May when we have a free weekend with her little friends. Here's a quick family snapshot right before she blew out the candles. We can't believe she is 8 already!
April 22nd was the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day. This marked my 15th year working in Environmental Stewardship, 10 years at BAG Corp in Dallas and 5 years at the City of McKinney. I feel very fortunate to be doing the type of work that makes a difference.
April 25th, I hosted a big Rain Barrel Building Workshop. I love rain barrels, this class is always popular.
Yesterday, April 27th, I hosted our Drug Take Back Event in partnership with our County Sheriff's Department and Police Department. OMG, this was my first time to host this event and it was a HUGE success. We collected more than 600 lbs of medicine and more than 25 large garbage bags of medicine packaging for recycling. We had more than 150 cars in a four our time span, that's a car every 90 seconds. Here I am with the officers that helped me. You can see all of the bags! I am so thankful this stuff is not in the landfill or the watershed.
So there you have it, that's why I haven't sewn much lately. I hope this post didn't bore you to much. Hopefully something I posted in my list above will inspire you to do something to save the earth where you live if you are not doing it already. Thanks again for reading this far.
Friday, April 26
Shake Your Pom Poms Day 3
Today is Day 3 of the Shake Your Pom Poms Blog Hop.
Be sure to visit these blogs.
Thursday, April 25
Shake Your Pom Poms Day 2
Today is Shake Your Pom Poms Day 2 of the Blog Hop.
Be sure to visit these blogs:
Be sure to visit these blogs:
Tuesday, April 23
Shake your Pom Poms Blog Hop
Welcome to my Blooming Where I am Planted blog and the FIRST day of the Shake Your Pom Poms Blog Hop.
This is my second time to hop with Mdm. Samm and I am excited to be here. Thank you to Thearica from Pig Tales and Quilts and of course Mdm Samm for organizing and cheerleading. Special thanks to Clover for sponsoring!
When the Shake Your Pom Poms Blog Hop was announced I knew I had to sign up because I had been wanting to make a throw pillow with pom pom fringe for my daughter's room for a while and this would make me do it!
I looked up several tutorials and found this one by Living with Punks. I wanted to make a small pillow with two colors, black & hot pink. I didn't want it to be square because most of the throw pillows on my daughter's bed are square. I thought a rectangle would work well.
Well here it is on the bed in her room. I think it looks pretty cute.
Micaela's room has been in transition for the last several months. We are slowly going from a spring pastel color scheme with flowers and butterflies to hot pink and black modern prints. Now that these pillows are made, I feel like we are one step closer to finally finishing this room.
Here is a close up of the pillow.... small but cute.
This small pillow took 6 yards of pom pom fringe. I was surprised the fringe didn't go farther considering I spaced the rows close together. To be honest, after about the 9-10th row I was pretty much on auto pilot. The biggest hassle was switching thread colors for every row. I tried not switching but it looked bad so I unstitched and did it over. Overall I am pleased with how this turned out, my 8 year old loves it and that's all that matters.
I've used pom pom fringe on several other projects, see the next enry for pictures. Be sure to stop by the other blogs to see what they did with their pom poms, thanks for stopping by.
Here are the rest of the blogs to visit:
This is my second time to hop with Mdm. Samm and I am excited to be here. Thank you to Thearica from Pig Tales and Quilts and of course Mdm Samm for organizing and cheerleading. Special thanks to Clover for sponsoring!
When the Shake Your Pom Poms Blog Hop was announced I knew I had to sign up because I had been wanting to make a throw pillow with pom pom fringe for my daughter's room for a while and this would make me do it!
I looked up several tutorials and found this one by Living with Punks. I wanted to make a small pillow with two colors, black & hot pink. I didn't want it to be square because most of the throw pillows on my daughter's bed are square. I thought a rectangle would work well.
Well here it is on the bed in her room. I think it looks pretty cute.
Micaela's room has been in transition for the last several months. We are slowly going from a spring pastel color scheme with flowers and butterflies to hot pink and black modern prints. Now that these pillows are made, I feel like we are one step closer to finally finishing this room.
Here is a close up of the pillow.... small but cute.
I've used pom pom fringe on several other projects, see the next enry for pictures. Be sure to stop by the other blogs to see what they did with their pom poms, thanks for stopping by.
Here are the rest of the blogs to visit:
Other Pom Pom Projects
Pom Pom fringe is kind of a staple in my sewing room decor also. I just realized that all three of my Janome machines have covers with Pom Pom fringe on the bottom edge. That wasn't planned at all, I honestly just realized it. I made these covers as I got the machines so probably 6 to 8 months apart over the last few years. Here is a close up of each one.
The Janome 300e
My Janome DC5100
The Janome 300e
The Janome 200e
My Janome DC5100
One of the pillows on the day bed in my sewing room has Pom Pom fringe too, notice the small pillow on the left behind the main 'sewing machine' pillow.
Well, that's it for my Pom Pom projects, thanks for stopping by. Make sure and visit the other blogs on the hop today. Have a great day!
Monday, April 22
Happy Earth Day
Happy Earth Day everyone! This marks my 15th year working in Environmental Stewardship, 10 years at BAG Corp in Dallas and 5 years at the City of McKinney. I feel very fortunate to be doing the type of work that makes a difference.
Earth Day Stamps
Celebrate Earth Day 2013 with Stamps from the US Postal Service. You can buy them online here.
I am so glad these are back!
8 is Great
We had a terrific weekend. Our little princess turned 8 yesterday. Here she is one day old in 2005.
And, here she is today! We love you Micaela!
Thursday, April 11
H2O
Big day. Posting from afar.
At Texas Water Conference in Galveston. Proud to be presenting an abstract about one of our water conservation programs w/colleagues from the Cities of Allen & Frisco. Special thanks to Allen for dreaming big & letting Frisco and Mckinney be a part of annual movement that teaches our residents how to conserve WATER!
At Texas Water Conference in Galveston. Proud to be presenting an abstract about one of our water conservation programs w/colleagues from the Cities of Allen & Frisco. Special thanks to Allen for dreaming big & letting Frisco and Mckinney be a part of annual movement that teaches our residents how to conserve WATER!
Friday, April 5
Red Red Red
TGIF, what a long week. This is my last free weekend before I have big city events every Saturday from now til practically Memorial Day.
Yesterday, I co-sponsored a Wellness Lunch & Learn with our HR department for our employees. The speaker was a long time friend of mine who actually mentored me back in the early 90's when I was a college intern. It's so crazy that 20 years later things came full circle for me and we are able to work together on projects. I never would have thought I would still live in the DFW area much less the same city where she is based.
I wanted to make a little thank you gift and this is what I came up with... tada a zipper pouch. Is anyone suprised? I think these zipper bags are my go-to gift now.
My husband made the matching pen on his lathe. He's getting really good at wood turning, I love when I am able to find acrylic or wood in his stash to match fabric in my stash, it makes the gifts more complete.
The lining in the zipper pouch was a polkadot print from SU Candy Cane collection. I am so pleased that the reds all matched. Believe it or not, I am working on some stuff that isn't zippered bags, I just can't show until the recipients receive. Stay tuned for some baby items as soon as these new family members hatch. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
Yesterday, I co-sponsored a Wellness Lunch & Learn with our HR department for our employees. The speaker was a long time friend of mine who actually mentored me back in the early 90's when I was a college intern. It's so crazy that 20 years later things came full circle for me and we are able to work together on projects. I never would have thought I would still live in the DFW area much less the same city where she is based.
I wanted to make a little thank you gift and this is what I came up with... tada a zipper pouch. Is anyone suprised? I think these zipper bags are my go-to gift now.
My husband made the matching pen on his lathe. He's getting really good at wood turning, I love when I am able to find acrylic or wood in his stash to match fabric in my stash, it makes the gifts more complete.
Wednesday, April 3
Weenie Dog Pouches
Last week I got an order for a little herd of weenie dog pouches... nine of them! To be honest, I thought it was a prank but when the payment showed up in my PayPal account, I was quite pleased.
I think these little puppies turned out pretty cute. The buyer wanted them all to be different so I made the top band different colors and added the embroidered name.
I've never made so many pouches out of the same fabric before so this was a first. The buyer was giving them to her girlfriends on a Bachelorette trip. Isn't that fun?
Want one with your name on it? They are available in my Etsy Store. Thanks for stopping by!
I think these little puppies turned out pretty cute. The buyer wanted them all to be different so I made the top band different colors and added the embroidered name.
Want one with your name on it? They are available in my Etsy Store. Thanks for stopping by!
Friday, March 29
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
I've taken Micaela to lots of shows and plays but this was our first time to go to Dallas Music Hall which is the largest venue in the metroplex. I had hesitated because it's about an hours drive each way but now that she's older she can totally handle it and loves it. I think it's time for us to be regulars and get season tickets to all the shows. Hope you have a great Easter weekend, ours is off to a great start!
Thursday, March 28
Dr. Seuss "Cat in the Hat" Zipper Pouch
One of my friends asked me to come up with something for her daughter's Dr. Seuss loving teacher. I had some Dr. Seuss fabric from a baby project a couple of years ago so I used it to make a zipper pouch.
Here is what I came up with.
I used a black & white pin stripe for the top flap and black zipper.
The inside lining is white and black polkadots.
I think it turned out pretty cute. This is available in my Etsy store. Hope you are having a great day!
Here is what I came up with.
I used a black & white pin stripe for the top flap and black zipper.
The inside lining is white and black polkadots.
Jiu Jitsu Suits
Commissioned embroidery. Every now and then I get requests to do embroidery on random items. These are Mother & Sons' Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu suits that I embroidered names on.
At first I thought these would be a piece of cake, but looks are deceiving, these jackets weigh more than any 2 winter coats I own--- had to stand on my head and embroider these puppies upside down to make it work. Nonetheless, I think they look cool and I hope to get more requests like this. Grateful to have referrals like this.
At first I thought these would be a piece of cake, but looks are deceiving, these jackets weigh more than any 2 winter coats I own--- had to stand on my head and embroider these puppies upside down to make it work. Nonetheless, I think they look cool and I hope to get more requests like this. Grateful to have referrals like this.
Wednesday, March 27
Midas is back!
News Flash!
Our "Elf on the Shelf" MIDAS is back on special assignment from Santa for the Spring. Micaela has been asking about him for weeks so she wrote Santa and asked for him to come back. (((We can't believe SHE still BELIEVES but we're going to have fun with it while we can))).
It seems that the elves raided my fabric shelves and stitched up an Easter Egg Suit for him and they stuck Easter egg clings all over the living room television... Imagine that!!!
Our "Elf on the Shelf" MIDAS is back on special assignment from Santa for the Spring. Micaela has been asking about him for weeks so she wrote Santa and asked for him to come back. (((We can't believe SHE still BELIEVES but we're going to have fun with it while we can))).
Springy Owl Zipper Bag
Hi there--
Hope you are having a great day. Does it feel like spring where you are? We were doing great with nice warm weather then all of the sudden over the weekend we were back in the 30's-- Crazy Texas Weather.
I just made this little owl zipper bag for my Aunt Bettye who had a birthday last week. She turned 85 years old! Her birthday is the first day of Spring. She has collected owl stuff since I was a little girl and she is my favorite Aunt on my Dad's side of the family. I thought this little zipper bag would be fun for her to carry her glasses and stuff in.
This fabric is from JoAnn. I matched the owl pattern at the zipper opening of the bag. I always like to do that if possible-- hate decapitating things with zipper seam...lol
I lined the inside of the bag with a fun bright pink polka dot. The charm is from my friend Ruthie-- love it! This is going in the mail today and I look forward to her receiving it.
Hope the rest of your week is wonderful, thanks for stopping by!
Hope you are having a great day. Does it feel like spring where you are? We were doing great with nice warm weather then all of the sudden over the weekend we were back in the 30's-- Crazy Texas Weather.
I just made this little owl zipper bag for my Aunt Bettye who had a birthday last week. She turned 85 years old! Her birthday is the first day of Spring. She has collected owl stuff since I was a little girl and she is my favorite Aunt on my Dad's side of the family. I thought this little zipper bag would be fun for her to carry her glasses and stuff in.
Hope the rest of your week is wonderful, thanks for stopping by!
Texas Citrus
Please allow me to ramble a tad bit. Last week I got a care package from my parents, they sent a great big heavy box full of oranges and grapefruits from their trees in the backyard. Have I ever mentioned that my home town, Mission is the Citrus capital of Texas! Yes, indeed!
Citrus growing is one of the major industries in my hometown, we even have a huge festival every January to celebrate the harvest. Obviously, I can buy fruit at the grocery store or even the Farmer's Market, but it just isn't the same. This is the Rio Ruby variety, I am in heaven! I love citrus, especially when its from my parents own trees. Thanks for reading this far...lol.
Conoce Otros Blogs Link Party
Thought it would be fun to participate in a Conoce Otros Blogs Linky Party to get to meet other bloggers in Spanish so here it goes. I am fluent in Spanish but I am really rusty at writing.
Nos Vemos!
Thursday, March 21
Swap from Australia
Back in January I signed up for the Sweet Pouch Swap by Ros at Sew Delicious in Australia.
I sent a swap to Austria and today I finally got mine from Australia. We were all worried that my swap was lost between here and there but it turns out that it has been sitting at the post office here in McKinney since February 23. Somehow I never got the notice that I had a package, it had been sitting there for almost a month!
I went by today to pick it up and look at what I got! Not one but two zipper pouches! Louisa sent one for me and one for Micaela. Isn't that super sweet.
And, she sent a bunch of candy and chocolate. I had to test one immediately...lol
Thank you so much Louisa, I love everything and it was very thoughtful of you to send Micaela a pouch too!
I sent a swap to Austria and today I finally got mine from Australia. We were all worried that my swap was lost between here and there but it turns out that it has been sitting at the post office here in McKinney since February 23. Somehow I never got the notice that I had a package, it had been sitting there for almost a month!
I went by today to pick it up and look at what I got! Not one but two zipper pouches! Louisa sent one for me and one for Micaela. Isn't that super sweet.
Thank you so much Louisa, I love everything and it was very thoughtful of you to send Micaela a pouch too!
Tuesday, March 19
Daffodils Mt.Pleasant, Texas
On the way home over the weekend, we took a detour through Mt. Pleasant, Texas to stop at the Kridler Farm to look at more daffodils.
Yes, I am nuts about daffodils and since the blooming season is short I have to see as many as I can while I can. LOL
Here are the three of us standing in the middle of Keith's "side yard". Isn't this amazing? So beautiful, lucious and green!
Keith Kridler is someone I met through the Texas Daffodil Society a few years ago. He is an authority in the US on Daffodils and a Texas Master Gardener. I had him speak at my Daffodil seminar for the city back in January.
He has more than 1000 varieties and about a million bulbs in the ground!
It's a total of 20 acres and we only saw the front. AMAZING!!!
Hope you are having a great week!
Hope you are having a great week!
Monday, March 18
Gifts for Friends...
Wow, what a busy week we have had. Our daughter has been off for Spring Break and poor thing we have been shuffling her between us while we had a crazy week! At the last minute, we decided take a last minute trip to visit our dear friends in Arkansas a few hours away. I have a rule about never going to anyone's house empty handed, here are a few things we made our friends for hosting us.
Our friends have a daughter six months younger than our Micaela, we say the girls are God Sisters since the parents (our friends) are our daughter's God Parents. Micaela helped me pick out some fabric to make the daughter a few things. First we made a purple plush blanket embroidered with her name and an appliqued an M. Micaela picked out the cupcake fabric.
The second item was a matching little zipper case. I used the same cupcake fabric and a swirly purple fabric for the top.
We made the parents an Easter hanging kitchen towel and some matching coasters. Sorry these are such poor pictures, I literally took these before we left their house. The coasters match perfectly IRL but look quite bright in these pictures I took with my phone.
Our friends have a daughter six months younger than our Micaela, we say the girls are God Sisters since the parents (our friends) are our daughter's God Parents. Micaela helped me pick out some fabric to make the daughter a few things. First we made a purple plush blanket embroidered with her name and an appliqued an M. Micaela picked out the cupcake fabric.
We made the parents an Easter hanging kitchen towel and some matching coasters. Sorry these are such poor pictures, I literally took these before we left their house. The coasters match perfectly IRL but look quite bright in these pictures I took with my phone.
Troy made the Dad, our compadre- a couple of pens on his lathe. The first one was wood and made from Olivewood from the Holy Land.
The second pen was acyrlic and dark green-- his school colors.
We had a wonderful time in Arkansas and we look forward to having them visit us soon.
Hope you had a great weekend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)