Kitty Heaven

Yesterday was a pretty sad day at the Valenti household... We took Corey (our faithful kitty who loves to lay by the sewing machine while I sew) to the vet in the late afternoon to get looked at b/c he has had poor p.o. intake and increased lethargy for about a week. We figured he had some kidney issues (what his brother Moses passed away from a few years ago), but when the vet palpated his abdomen he found a grapefruit-sized tumor. He only had a week or 2 to live and he soon would have begun to really suffer, so we decided to do the humane thing and have him laid to rest.

The worst part of all of this is that Sydney absolutely adored him,


but I guess the good thing about it happening now is that we don't have to broach the subject of kitty heaven quite yet. We'll miss you Corey!

Brilliant!

Direct from www.fredflare.com.... BRILLIANT!!!

"Are you a brownie edge connoisseur? Well now you can eat them round the clock with this genius brownie pan by Baker’s Edge! 9”x12”x2” durable cast aluminum non-stick pan is a must have for the chocolate lover in you! Not safe for dishwasher use. Yummy!"




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Aussie Love :)

Oh! So much to share - I know I always say this, but I'll *really* try to be brief :)

Last week was tons of fun - Suzi (fantastic friend from Physical Therapy school who now lives in CO - hadn't seen her in 4 years!) and her son, Micah, came to visit and we had a blast playing with the kids and getting caught up. Didn't do a whole heck of a lot around here (bad weather and tricky nap schedules are to blame), but it didn't really matter b/c we were all together :)


We had big plans to do some crafting at night, but by the time we got the kids down and a bowl of ice-cream eaten we usually were too tired. We did start some cute critters from THE CUTE BOOK and I'm hoping to finish them up this week sometime. Of course I didn't have the right embroidery thread colors, so they've been added to today's Walmart list :)

Here's BIRD and SPRITE patiently waiting to be finished...



He's gonna be a cutie!



Before Suz and Micah came I was able to finish up some WIP's (little gifts for friends / babies, and some customer orders) - of course there's still a ton more in the "to-do" basket, but it felt great to get a few things done! Here's a couple of pics:

A smaller version of the Belle Patchwok bag - "Baby Belle" for Adrienne (she has the coolest EBAY user ID: yoyoadrienne !)



And at our last little craft night/fondue fest, I finally finished the necklace and earring set!



A fun skirt for Raina (actually finished yesterday) - she saw the girl patchwork skirts I made a few weeks ago and thought they'd be neat as an adult skirt. (I'm secretly hoping it doesn't fit so I can keep this one for myself!).



As for my Aussie Love of late... check out these fabulous prints that arrived last week!

When I saw the MOLLY BIRDS print on Kristen Doran's site a while ago, I added it to my wish list.. well, I couldn't resist any longer :) Also picked up some of her fun Owl fabric - there's owls of all different sizes to make lots of different things with (softies, etc.).


My other new fav is AUNTY COOKIE from Etsy. I love this fun HOME SWEET HOME print and instantly fell in love with the knitting fabric as well.




There's about a 1/2 yard of this fabric - I think it would be a great wall-hanging for the kitchen!


I'm off to run to the dump and Walmart! Have a great day everyone!

PS: Almost forgot to mention a fun new REVERSIBLE bag pattern that I just added to my site - it's from Grand Revival, and there's several ways to change / customize it. Tanya's fabrics are gorgeous as well!

A quick note

Hi everyone! Just a quick note to let you know why I've been an incongnito mommyito (I've been reading too much Skippyjon Jones!). A dear friend from Physical Therapy school is visiting this week with her adorable son, Micah. It's been 4 years since I've seen her, so we've got some catching up to do! Syd is enjoying having a new buddy around :)

My favorite masked friend :)

Have you guys heard of El Skippito (aka Skippyjon Jones) yet?


If not, you've got to check out his books - even more fun to read than Dr. Seuss! The reading level is for ages 4-8... a bit older than what I should be reading to Syd, but I can' t resist putting on my best Spanish accent and entering the fun little world of this adorable Siamese kitty (who thinks he is a chihuahua). My sister-in-law, Sue, first introduced me to Skippyjon Jones with this book:



After finding a cute little plush version of Skippyjon the other weekend in a local bookstore, I couldn't help but order a couple more of his books from Amazon.com last week.




And....as I can't resist the tempting "free shipping" with orders over $25, I added a couple of fun craft books to the order.

Simple Gifts to Stitch: 30 Elegant and Easy Projects



The Cute Book



The books all arrived today and I have only had a chance to flip through The Cute Book - it's filled with simple patterns to make cute little stuffed critters with felt and embroidery thread. No machine stitching - that means that these are the perfect sofa projects! I'll definitely post pics of my creations - just need to find my stash of felt....

Oh! Before I forget, Stacy sent me the coolest bag pattern today (from BURDA of course!). I love it!! (I just clicked on her blog and it looks like she bought the SIMPLE GIFTS book too!)

Burda's Free Carpet Bag pattern




Have a great 4th everyone!

A little more LOTUS love :)

As most of you know, I'm a *huge* Amy Butler fan, and I can't seem to get enough of her LOTUS line. Every time I pull out her fabric I am in awe of the gorgeousness (is that a word?) of this line - and that many of the prints match her BELLE line! Anyways, it's been cooler here for the past few days and it looks to be another week of the same. That means that I can justify making some new pants for Syd :) Here's some that I made last night for her:




They are basically a baby version of these (from Amy Butler's INSPIRATION page):



And no, I haven't made myself a pair... yet :)