Sewing and cross stitch are NOT the same thing!

Just wanted to clarify this, in case you were wondering. Cross stitch skills do not necessarily guarantee sewing skills! (And no, contrary to the phone call I just received, you cannot hire me to cross stitch for you!).

Last weekend the fearless craft ladies were at it again! Fueled by fabulous paninis from Jozelle's wonderful panini press, we tackled a new purse project. This tote looked so cute, and deceptively simple, on the pattern cover. Even with a lot of chatting, and with Jozelle's expert guidance, we should be able to whip out these totes in a couple hours.

We weren't trying to set any speed records, and we sure did more chatting than sewing, but these were a bit involved. Friday night spilled over into Saturday morning, and more food was required! We spent alot of time on the "cutting table", poring over the incomplete instructions, looking for lost pieces, and snacking for creative fuel.

Finally, the ruffle was made, the handles were completed, 3 outside pockets were added, everything that didn't move was fused for more body, and it was time for the big reveal. It turns out, when you put a lining in a purse, you have to construct it inside out, and then pull the whole thing out through a hole left just for this purpose! Who knew?! 

As we struggled to pull all those bulky layers inside out, Jozelle mused that we were finally "birthing our purses". It took some heavy breathing, a small "episiotomy" to make a larger opening, and one giant effort to complete the much-awaited purse birth! WHEW!!!

It's funny...but it sure gives me a feeling of accomplishment to complete a new project like this! My sewing machine (my old Kenmore from high school) doesn't get much action these days, but it still works.

Of course, I'd never attempt a project like this without my talented friends, Jozelle (left), and Glenna (right). I spent some time on Pinterest last night dreaming about our next craft project together. I don't think it's going to involve sewing...maybe a nice Halloween bunting (banner). 

Meanwhile, here's my bag! It's hanging out on my kitchen counter, ready for show and tell. I still need to buy a button for the closure, so I'm letting it rest before it goes into service. Meanwhile, Vera Bradley...you have nothing to fear! I appreciate your beautiful bags even more!

The Real Housewives of Habitat for Humanity!

...AND ME!

Last weekend I did something I've always wanted to do...I volunteered on a local "Woman-Build House" with Habitat for Humanity. Habitat builds lots of local houses every year with tons of awesome volunteers, but this house is very special. The REAL WOMEN of WICHITA are building it!

I joined a group of gals from my church to drive to the home site, where we found a bunch of charming already completed Habitat houses, and two homes under construction. We got a two-fer, because we got to work on them both!

After a short orientation and prayer, we spent our afternoon doing exterior siding! I was expecting a paint brush or something else that's hard to mess up. (Actually, I love to paint!) But they trusted us with the wood siding and POWER TOOLS!  No, they wouldn't allow us to use a nail gun (wise decision, I'm sure), so we spent a lot of time hammering! But we did use power saws to cut the boards, after we carefully measured. It was strangely satisfying to see those beautifully cut pieces slide ride in around the windows.

Did I mention that when you do siding, you have to begin at the bottom? Above are my friends Becky and Saundra getting a start on the lower siding.

Just in case you're concerned about quality control, there were volunteer "coaches" that helped us find a job, and taught us how to do it..and bailed us out if we were having trouble.

Our last 30 minutes on the site were like Double Jeopardy or the lightning round! They rounded up all of the volunteers, and we invaded the interior of the second home and sanded drywall.  OH MY! The place was a total fog of white dust from the generous volunteer mudding!!! The respirator things we used over our mouth and noses gave me claustrophobia (really!), so I braved it without. Thank goodness it was a cool day and the interior of the house wasn't super warm. 

Afterwards, our church ladies gathered for a group photo with the star volunteer, Jose (upper right). He's the new home owner and he's putting in hundreds of volunteer hours on his future home. He is a concrete worker by day, so he got special permission to pour his own driveway and porch...a real custom job! Can you tell we're still shaking off the white dust from our sanding adventures? That's me in the middle in the pink t-shirt.

I finished the day with a long shower and took my dusty clothes outside to shake before laundering. I was super hungry for a late dinner, even though we had an afternoon break with Dairy Queen supplying free blizzards. There are a zillion things to do on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, but this was truly an adventure to remember!

Back to school. or not?

Yea, my kids may be grown, but I still like to brag on them! Watching your adult kids do cool things is definitely a well deserved reward!

Our daughter Sarah and husband Jeff moved to Chicago this summer for his new job. (When you return to grad school and get a new degree, it's always great to find employment when you finish.) Unfortunately, his new job put Sarah on the job market...again...4th time in 4 years! She filled out a kazillion of those online forms for teaching jobs, and finally resorted to hand-delivering resumes to nearby schools, just hoping for an interview.

She was thrilled when she got the call from Lane Tech College Prep, a nearby public high school, and even more excited when she got the job! It's a HUGE school (over 4200 students) in a beautiful, historic building. The architecture of the school is "Gothic factory" style, and it's enormous! Sarah was excited when she first visited the campus, because it reminded her of Wichita North, her own alma mater. North High is so old, it's on the historic register! Below is a pic of the historic tower entrance at good ol' North High (also my alma mater!).

I've had so much fun researching this interesting school, right in the heart of Chicago. Lane Tech begin over 100 years ago, and has evolved through the years to meet changing student needs. The building is an art teacher's dream with over 65 giant historic murals dating from the Chicago World's Fair during the Depression 1933-34 and WPA projects. Remember studying Works Progress Administration (WPA) in your own high school history class? I'll give extra credit points for those of you who can define "WPA".

I'm wondering if school lunches would taste better when you're eating in a giant cafeteria, surrounded by beautiful works of art? Maybe....

Sarah began school yesterday, and arrived at 6:30 AM (just to be ready) in her "first day of school" outfit.  When you were a student as a kid, did it ever occur to you that your teacher could be nervous? She had an exciting day meeting all of her AP Art History and Art Appreciation students. Then, a totally new experience awaited her AFTER school. They had a "practice" picket, for the anticipated teacher's strike next week. OOPS - looks like school may have a very early "fall break" this year!

Finally...thanks for your patience...I'm cruising around the massive Lane Tech website this morning, looking for photos of the school, when I find the image above! It's Sarah's cupcake painting (on the right) on the home page for the Lane Tech art department. How cool - she's taught there for one day and she's on the website!

Here's to all of my teacher pals (and I have A LOT of them) and my daughter, Sarah...wishing you Happy Back to School!

Spooky Part 3, OR so long, summer!

If we're shipping Part 3 of the Very Scary Mystery Sampler, I guess the summer must be almost over! When we agreed to the project, shipping 3 parts in 3 months didn't seems that demanding. But, thanks to your awesome response, it's been a BIG job!

Below are the boxes fresh from the printer...actually printerS (plural). We use one printer to do the black/white stuff on the left, and we selected a couple new colors of the pretty parchment paper. Another local printer does the color cover work for us, in the box on the right.

Those boxes may not look intimidating, but it was a BUSY weekend getting them collated, assembled and sacked into the beautiful bins you see in the pic below...and that wasn't everything. In order to beat monotony, we set up tables in our family room and watched some movies. 

Has anyone seen the Hatfields and McCoy's mini-series on the History channel? That's one of the things we watched while we were sacking. WOW...it's a wonder anyone lived to tell the story with all those gun-toting guys. Who knew the whole thing started over a pig?! Kevin Costner starred in the series, and even though he was really grizzly and a hillbilly to boot, he made the sacking go a little smoother and put a smile on my face.

Alan put Part 3 into big boxes and the always friendly UPS guy had to use his dolly for this shipment. We ran out of sacks (oops) and had to finish shipping on the following 2 days. Yes...it's a genuine needlework emergency when you run out of 6" x 9" sacks. Thank goodness for overnight shipping!

If you're waiting for Part 3 to complete your Very Scary Sampler, or just waiting to see Part 3 before you begin, just hang on a little longer!  It's COMING!!!

Henry's Dog-Gone Party

We've been keeping our adorable grand-dog, Henry, for the past 17 months (not that we're counting). During this time, Henry has become a big part of our family and needlework biz. He comes to work with us every day in the L*K office...

after he reads the morning paper with Alan...

He cheers on our favorite teams...

and he hangs out with our friends!

But, alas, it's time for Henry to return to KC and take up residence in our daughter Ali's new loft. Henry has made alot of friends during his stay in Wichita, so we invited a bunch of his "people friends" to our house for a Dog-Gone Party! I had a good time making this little invite on my computer. In case you can't read the fine print, is says to "COME on over, SIT a bit, STAY and chat, and get a TREAT". So after the invites were mailed, I needed to make  some dog-themed treats!

My creative guru friend Glenna came over to help me decorate sugar cookies. I baked the cutout cookies in dog-friendly shapes...bones, dog houses, fire hydrants and pawprints. We found a cute photo on Etsy of some doggy cookies we used as a guide, and we got to work. Glenna did the hard part...mixed up all the colored frostings, put it in pastry bags and bottles, and reminded me how to frost cookies. Lots of messy fingers and laughs later, we had some dog-gone beautiful cookies!

When the big night came, I crowded the table with everything doggy I could find. We had a couple giant bowls of puppy chow, which I personally find absolutely irresistible. Hmm...maybe I should go grab a handful of the leftovers right now?! I served it in NEW doggie bowls from the dollar store, which were really cute and cheap! I also baked some really yummy gingerbread bones, which looked a lot like real doggie treats.

We also ate a lot of tiny hot dogs, I mean Pigs in a Blanket! 

Henry had a fabulous time partying with his friends....the very young (Ellie was clever enough to keep her chips out of Henry's reach)....

and the slightly older crowd.

In the end, it all comes down to FAMILY, doesn't it? Here is my favorite pic of 4 generations of our family. From left, me, daughter Ali, my Mom, and Henry with his tuxedo tie in the middle. Henry, you're "movin' on up", but there's always a home for you here in Ta Town!

Bring on the Belles!

It's been one of THOSE weeks! A zillion things on my calendar, I'm running to and fro, and somehow fitting urgent work in the oddly timed spaces in between!

And still, it's been a great, productive week! At L*K, we're busy readying for next week's BIG holiday product release. The piles of inventory are getting larger and I'll be setting up our little assembly line to pack orders later this afternoon. Can you spot the upcoming products? That's a tower of Boxers in the back, chartpaks in the middle and embellishment packs for Tiny Tidings XVII and Santa '12 in front.

I'm definitely not taking any pics of the new products cluttering our family room and kitchen. Assembly happens and it's not always pretty! There's a lot of back and forth between the house and the office. 

Yesterday I visited the printer to do a final press check on the 6 Snow Belles. Here's a pic of the happy printer showing the whole press sheet. I'm fortunate to have the same pressman on most of my jobs, and he says I'm the only one who takes his picture! Look closely and you can see all 6 Snow Belles, and their matching bookmarks running across the top of the press sheet. Today the Belles are chillin' out in the bindery, getting cut (ouch) and folded (oh!) and stacked into boxes. I'm expecting a late afternoon delivery!

Here's a closeup of the Belle's border and logo. I added a lacy border top and bottom on all the Snow Belle designs, just so you can tell the guys from the gals at a glance!

Have a great weekend, everyone! I think we've got a bit of SNOW in our weekend plans!

Lizzie to the rescue!!!

In our July 20 post we talked about the mysterious "missing" freebies in the recently released Part 2 of the Very Scary Mystery Sampler. DON"T panic!  We solved our own little "mystery" and fixed the situation before it got to shops and all of you!

Way back in 1996 when I began Lizzie*Kate (and named it after our daughters), we kept the kids busy with L*K assembly. I remember that very first summer, recruiting the neighborhood kids to sack charts and donating money to their little clubhouse fund. Then they got older, and L*K grew, and...hmmmm....we're still sacking those charts! Sarah "Lizzie" and Ali"Kate" grew up and moved away - darn! The pic above shows the girls in our old back room - hard to believe that every chart had it's own big box back then...and all we had was chartpaks (no Snippets, Flip-its, Quick-its and all that)!

So when I realized we had a bonafide "cross stitch emergency" on our hands last week, I called Sarah "Lizzie" to rescue us. The giant boxes of charts were arriving at Norden in Chicago, and conveniently, Sarah and husband Jeff moved to the windy city 3 weeks ago!

Sarah made the 45 minute drive to Schaumburg to pick up the charts and freebies (I shipped them as soon as I realized the omission) and took them home to reassemble. Her normally semi-social cat Penny took a real interest in this new activity. She usually restricts her artistic endeavors to walking through Sarah's still-wet old paints. 

Many hours and lots of driving time later...mission accomplished! Here's a pic of Sarah and Katy Fong at Norden, smiling after we averted disaster. Check out the bins of corrected charts and beautiful carrot linen behind them. It's hard to remember, but many years ago Sarah and Katy were some of the "kids" running around Needlework Market, trying to help in their parent's booths.

Here's a cute pic I took at my LNS, Heart's Desire in Wichita. I told Debbie she could display the finished model, if she was able to securely hide the unreleased portions. She concocted this little display on her checkout counter, posting brown paper over the mystery parts with the ominous message..."To the person who dares to peek...you have been warned!"  Debbie hasn't caught anyone peeking under the brown paper...yet. Today she should receive Part 2 in the mail...time to unveil a little more!