Happy Mother's Day!

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I hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day! I actually spent part of it with my mom, well, after our inspection today. I'm glad everything went well, and no stress now! I think I'll go to sleep cause I'm tired from all the happenings of the weekend!

FGSA Opening Day

Today was a really nice day. It was Opening day for the Fremont Girls Softball Association, and it was a lot of fun.
Vicky Galindo was there to throw the opening pitch. It was awesome, she was on the last Olympics team for softball. She also is on a pro team. The girls were very excited to have her there.
Alex got to catch the first pitch, and she was so nervous. And she got to shake her hand, and I think Vicky actually signed her ball.

We did pretty good, we got a couple of jobs out there for our embroidery. So it was a great day for us out there too.

Happy Friday

Hope that you all are going to have a great weekend this weekend! This weekend ended up being a real busy one for us. Tomorrow is Opening Day for the Fremont Girls Softball Association. And Phil helps to coach a team in the 18 & Under division. We moved up from the 14 & Unders.

We're going to have some of our embroidery out there, mainly to show people what we're up to, and to get some new business. We did a few things to sell out there, but we mainly want to send out info to people.

And Sadie Brown is going to sing the National Anthem tomorrow. I've never heard her sing the National Anthem before, so I'm really looking forward to it too.

Phil's never been in one of the team photos before either, so he'll be in this year's one. I'm so excited for him because he really puts in a lot of work for the girls, and he's really excited to go this year.

We're also cleaning up the yard and the house. One of our hot water pipes has been leaking, and the landlady is coming over Sunday to check it out. If it's not one thing it's another. But I'm glad that it's finally going to get fixed!

So, everyone have a great weekend! I'll check in with you all this weekend.

CCCSWA Logo

Here's my newest logo, the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority. Ashley called today to have me do these. :) I'm glad it was an easy logo to draw up!

The Evolution of an Embroidered Image

I've been working on the logo for the company my sister-in-law works for in Tracy.

All I had to work with was the image that we took a photo from off one of their trucks. It looks really cool, but since it was hand done, the L's were different sizes. And geeky me needs to have that all the same size, cause I just do. LOL

So, this was the first attempt I made at embroidering the logo using just the photo. I really didn't like the way the end "L" came out, and I didn't like the "inc"



So, I of course had to redraw the logo using AutoCAD. Yes, geek that I am. :) And after a couple of artwork changes to account for the stitching, I came up with this:
This is the computer generated stitching version. I had a font that looked really good to me on my computer, so I just used that.

And this is how it turned out on the shirt. Much better. :) The shirt was still a bit damp when I took the photo, cause I was so excited to see the final embroidery. It's the most stitches that I've done so far in an embroidered piece. The next one I'm doing will be more, definitely.

now onto working on that plus the softball stuff for this weekend.

Jordana's first ATC

So today I spent the day with Phil's niece Jordana. We spent a little while doing Webkinz, and I had to get a couple of embroidery things done today. So while we were in my sewing/craft room she was looking at all of my tools. And she really loved my tools. LOL She thought everything in the room was so cool.


She has always liked my ATC books, so after awhile I gave her some paper to draw on. And she started cutting out ATC's. Here is her first ATC.

The inspiration for this one was Phil coming home from work and falling asleep on the couch. As soon as he did that, she said, "I think I need to do something with construction." Then she started cutting these really cute caution cones. :)

I thought it was very creative of her, and I hope that she will keep going with it and create more things. :)

Happy Star Wars Day!

Ok, how can I not post about this day. On twitter I kept seeing "Star Wars Day" on the sidebar. So of course being the Star Wars geek that I am, I had to totally check it out.

Why is it called Star Wars day? Cause of this one pun...."May the fourth be with you."

OMG, when I read that I couldn't stop cracking up. Phil just groaned. He puts up with a lot of my Star Wars craziness. LOL

So, hope you all have a Happy Star Wars day today!

Wedding Infinity Embroidery

This is my second sample of the wedding embroidery. Since the lettering is so small, they ok'd the use of regular embroidery thread for the letttering. The metallic is too delicate for all of those tight stitches.

I think it looks really cool.

Changin' up the blog

I've been playing with my blog a bit, going to do more with colors and a new banner. So please bear with me while I play a little bit.

So I think I like the peachy background. White is sometimes too stark for me. I think I like the colors of the blog at the moment.

Embroidery infinity artwork

I'm working on a design for my friend Kay's friends. It's an infinity design with the couple's names on it and their wedding date. I didn't find an infinity symbol that I liked, so I drew one up really quick.

I then cut a break in the infinity so their names could be put in the infinity symbol. Kay's idea by the way.


Then I digitized it with my Palette software, then added their names and the date with the Palette software.

I don't like how the ends of the infinity symbol look, so I'm going to adjust it a little bit and try it out on the machine with regular thread, then with the metallic. I hope that it will come out well.

Free Comic Book Day

Today is Free Comic Book Day. How cool is that? Even better, watching a video of Hugh Jackman! LOL



And if you haven't seen Wolverine, go out and see it! Alex and I saw it, and it is awesome! I love Gambit, he's always been one of my favorite X-men. And it's cool seeing Cyclops when he was younger.

Ooops.

While playing with my blog today, I accidentally deleted my links. Oops! So I'm trying to figure out what I had there, what I wanted new there. So, if you had a link there, and it's gone, it's not cause I don't like your site, it's cause I can't remember what I put there. LOL

Yes, old age is setting in. :)

I do have a new link, my cousin Tina is going to blog. And since I have her link, I posted it. Again, so I won't forget to do it later. ;) She's Tina the Trend Guru. When she posts her first post I'll definitely let you all know.

You must check out Kay's blog today. OMG, she took her green Domo to JoAnn's with her and took some photos. It is too cute!! I didn't even think to do that. I'm going to make my pink one and take photos too. The travelling domos. ;)

Strawberry tart time

It's Strawberry tart time at Nation's Giant Hamburgers. So of course we had to go get one at our local Nation's. It's a local chain that I'm finding is only in the East Bay Area (and Tracy). There are none on the Peninsula. So when I started working in Newark, oh so many years ago, I got my first taste of Nations. OMG, it is so good. Strawberry Pie time is second only to Apricot Pie time (which is only in the month of March).
I had to take a picture of their new tart container. LOL Before they would wrap the tart in waxed paper for the ride home. This was always really messy when you'd unwrap it leaving the strawberry sauce on the paper and not on the strawberries. And of course, for me, this is the "Eat just the strawberries in the tart and leave the crust behind" kind of pie.

It is just so yummy now in my tummy. The strawberries were really sweet, and they are piled high one on top of the other. As Rachel Ray would say...Yum-O!

If you go to get one, you have to go early. And I suggest that if you see them in the pie case, order them with your meal even if it is to go. Last year Phil said that he'd order it after we ate cause there were 11 of them in the case. By the time we finished they were all gone. He has never heard the end of it from me. ;)

Right Away Redy Mix Logo

We've been putting the Right Away Redy Mix logo on hats for Phil and his co-workers. And they like it so much a few of them have been requesting t-shirts. So here is a sample of the t-shirt.
I like how they turned out. I think I could embroider their name on the other side if they want. Or even underneath the logo if they let me know ahead of time. I wonder what they'll think of next. :)

Happy Tuesday

I'm done with the teensitting. I really love being with Alex and Parker, I did miss being at home. I was so worried about getting Alex to school or up for school that I kept waking up. I was cracking up that I would be so worried about not getting Alex where she needed to be in the morning.

So, when I got home I took a nap, it was a long 3 hour nap. Guess I really needed it. I had no idea how long I had been sleeping till Phil came home. LOL I didn't get anything done that I wanted to get done today, but I did watch Dancing with the Stars on the internet from last night's show. Spent time with the kitties, and just recharged.

It's good to recharge. Going to get to sleep early tonight so I can start back up on all my projects.

I was really disappointed to hear that my cousin isn't on the radio in Hawaii anymore. From the looks of it, they changed the morning show, so 2 of the DJ's (one was my cuz) aren't on anymore. I'm sad because listening to him through the internet was just like being able to hang out with him every morning. Sigh. Will have to keep up with him on facebook and twitter now.

On to new and better things for us all!

Spending the day with Alex

I have been spending the day with Alex. Since I'm teensitting (she's not a baby anymore so I don't want to use Babysitting), we've been watching movies. Phil made us dinner, and we've been just hanging out.

Parker their dog (ok, I like calling him my dog) has been hanging around with us too. He's such a good dog. I'll take photos tomorrow.

VA hospital

I went to the VA Hospital with my dad last week, and I just loved watching the flags in front, so of course I took a picture. :) I just love our flag, I think it's beautiful!

This past Friday, Jackie stopped by with her granddaughter Bella. We're figuring that we haven't seen Bella since she turned 2, she's now almost 4! OOOPS. They live quite a distance from us, so we don't always get to see her when she visits.

So it was a real treat to have her over to our house. She was kind of shy when she came in, but warmed up pretty quickly. I found some toys I had lying around the house for her to play with, and was really glad that I still had the sleeping bags for the Webkinz laying around.

This is Bella and her Daddy, Vic. She loves her dad. :)

And here we are taking a cheezy smile photo. LOL She told her grandma that she wasn't shy anymore. LOL She and I were having a ton of fun together.

Trunk Mat

So today I've finally finished Christoph's Trunk mat for his Porsche. It looks really simple, but it was a lot more labor intensive than I thought it would be. First of all our hoop only does 5x7 sized embroidery. Anything else has to be split and pieced together.

Well, that's easier said than done. It was really easy on a piece of cloth that I could hoop because you know where the hoop is going to go, where when you do hoopless embroidery, it's a bit more of a challenge. Since you can't actually see where the hoop is going, it's a bit tougher on the layout.

I did finally figure it out by a bit of trial and error, and it came out looking ok. :) This logo is Christoph's own design, it's pretty cool. And it's probably the only large logo that I'll be doing. LOL

It was good practice for me.

Green Domo

Here's the first non-brown Domo that I've made. It's really cute. I like the lime green color. Of course it's not for me. I'm sending it to my friend Kay for her birthday. I hope she will like it, he's so cute! I will have to make another one when I have the time. I've got a pink one all cut out, that one is going to be for me! :)

Craig Ferguson's Opening song 4/20

Craig Ferguson is one of my favorites, I don't know why he's on SO late cause he's so funny! I like him way better than Conan. :) Anyway, here's a clip of his opening bit a couple of days ago. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw it the other night.

If you don't watch him, OMG, you need to start!! :)

Embroidered Jackets

This is my second job of Nylon Jackets. These ones were a bit of a challenge for me because I've never done jackets that had a mesh lining in them. And I had a lot of trouble hooping it with the large hoop (cause for some reason that is the one that babylock puts in with their machines). The mesh is sewn into the interior of the jacket. And since the top part is actually a flap, you can't hoop just the flap part without taking the whole jacket apart and resewing it. Not something I wanted to do.

We actually saw that on one of Phil's embroidered jacket, they just embroidered the mesh as well. Ok, that solved one problem. Hooping was an issue because of the construction of the jacket, we couldn't hoop it tight enough without capturing one of the seams.

Solution: Purchase the medium size hoop.



We would have needed to purchase it anyway, and it will save us on stabilizer on lots of projects in the long run. Now no hooping problems at all. YAY!

Cake Fight!

Ashley didn't know that when Sadie turned 21 we started a new tradition of a cake fight. LOL When Sadie turned 21 they had a huge cake fight at her party, so they all decided that with the cake leftover they could continue the tradition.


Jackie kept telling Alex that he needed to start the cake fight. And Alex then asked, "Will I be in (with the family) if I throw the cake?" LOL She said yes, and the cake started to fly! Well, of course Jackie told Ashley that she needed to grab a handful of the cake and smush it on Alex, and of course Alex retaliated.

We felt kinda bad cause we didn't realize when this happened that Ashley would have to get ready to go out with her mom for drinks at the bar. And it would take Ashley an hour to just put on her make-up. LOL

It was funny, Alex kept saying, "I'm in!!!" after he threw the cake. LOL OMG, it was too funny.

Ashley Turned 21!

Ashley turned 21 yesterday, and she threw a party to celebrate. I took a bunch of photos, but haven't finished downsizing them for the web yet. These are my faves

Philip, Alex, Ashley, and Phil. Phil is always complaining that I take too many photos, but I told him tonight that when he's old he's going to really appreciate the fact that I took so many photos of them. LOL
Me with Ashley and Jackie (Phil's sister). Jackie and I became friends when I started working at Avocet way too many years ago. Ashley was about 4 when I met her for the first time. I still can't believe she's all grown up sometimes.
Ashley with her bff Heather. They've been through a lot together. I'm so glad that they're both there for each other.
Jackie with Aunty Ann. She's Phil's dad's sister. We all love her so much and should really spend more time with her. Can you imagine, she walks 2 miles every day even in the rain. She could outwalk me, I tell ya!
I don't get to take many pics with Ashley, and we were cracking up cause I had to stand on the stoop to be as tall as her. LOL

Techical difficulties....

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OMG, somedays don't you just feel like that?

The Louisiana Squirrel Refuge

I'm calling our backyard the Louisiana Squirrel Refuge now. LOL We've been feeding the squirrels for a few months now, and one is really getting comfortable with us.

She even eats out of my hand now. It took a little while for her to get comfortable with us. She now will look into the sliding glass door to the kitchen to see if we're coming out to feed her peanuts. We buy the unshelled ones from the feed store for her. One time I actually saw her staring in from the Orange tree cause I wasn't paying attention to the fence. LOL

And I swear, if she could have knocked on the door today, she would have.

It's fun to watch them, and I know we're helping them out. A few of the squirrels that have come in are really skinny and malnourished. One was losing some of its fur in places. But I've noticed since we've been feeding them, their fur has been growing back.

Hence the squirrel refuge. LOL

Irritated

Is anyone else feeling a bit irritated today? I just am feeling a bit irritable today, not sure why. I'm avoiding the phone today cause I don't want to snip at anyone unprovoked.

Do you ever just feel grumpy?

Happy Monday!

Sorry it's been a few days since my last post. With the Easter Holiday things were a bit crazy for a few days. Saturday was the Ohlone Flea Market, so I spent 2 days trying to get things together for that. We didn't do as well as we normally do, I think people were away for the holiday weekend. Have to remember that next year. ;)

And yesterday we had Phil's family over for Easter. We usually spend the holidays with my family, so it was a different experience for me and my dad. :)

I've been taking photos of the kittens. They were hanging out in our yard for awhile, I haven't been able to find them at all yesterday and today. Hopefully they are ok. The mom and dad cats haven't been around much either. So hopefully they found someplace safe to be since we had a couple of kids and a dog running around our backyard yesterday.

This light grey kitty is so cute. I was calling them grey and greyer yesterday cause one is darker than this one. LOL Phil started calling them Grey and Little Grey (from Grey's Anatomy). But finally I started calling this one Al cause it protects his food when he eats like Phil's nephew. LOL
Here's a pic of all of them on the window. I was cracking up because I've always wondered how they get pictures of kittens all lined up. I really thought it was staged. But they really do sit all lined up together.

And I love this orange kitty. we're pretty much calling her orange kitty. LOL Ashley wants it if we can ever catch it. Not sure Alex's family will like it much when she moves in with them.

Anyway, that was my weekend. Hope you all had a Happy Easter yesterday. I'm still recouping. Think I'll take some aspirin, and grab a cup of tea.

Loaded Mashed potatoes

Phil made loaded mashed potatoes yesterday. What is that you may ask? Well, after Phil mashes the potatoes, he will sometimes bake them in the oven covered with cheese and bacon bits.

He'll actually fry bacon, cut it up into pieces, then put 8 small pads of butter onto the top of the mashed potatoes. He'll put the butter on top, then sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on the top with the bacon bits.

he bakes it in the oven on a low temp (because the potatoes are still hot).

OMG, they are SO good! He doesn't like the onions or sour cream, so I put those on top afterwards. It's really easy and so yummy!

Patches and kittens

So, my new thing is making patches. I have been designing patches for the company Phil works for, and for the Softball team he helps to coach. We're going with the purple outlined patch cause it's a girl's team, and girls should wear purple. LOL I'm so glad their new colors are purple and grey!! It's getting easier to digitize. My first try on the Rockets logo took about 2 hours, the second try is now 20 minutes! It's another logo I drew from scratch. I think it turned out pretty cute.
And here's a new photo of the mom cat with her kittens. I just LOVE watching them in the daytime. And they're always climbing on her. I have noticed that the light grey one is the more timid one of the bunch. And the darker grey one is the little instigator. LOL They're so cute when they're jumping all over each other and playing.

Karl as Bones

Can you tell, I cannot wait till next month. The new Star Trek movie comes out!! YAY! And of course if it wasn't a Star Trek Movie, I'd still have to see it cause Karl is in it.

Heroes

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OMG, I just LOVE this. :)

Kittens!

Today we were in the yard, and these adorable kittens came out to play. I wish we could keep them, but we can't. So we have to find either new homes for them or for someone to take them in to care for them till they're adopted. I really wish I could foster them, but Velcro doesn't like any other cats. And I don't want them to get attacked by her.

So I'll keep checking around to see if anyone can take them in. Cause they're awfully cute. :)

CD stand

We've been using these wine boxes for different things around the house, and Phil thought it would be a great idea to make them into CD stands. Mainly because I have way too many CD's around the house.

I think they look really great. And I could stain them or paint them if I want, but I think I'll just leave it like that for awhile. They are just too cool!