I am a Winner!!!

Yesterday while working, I  quickly was looking through my emails and guess what!!!  I received an email from Kristy at Quiet Play.  She's the lady behind this blog hop:

And guess what????

I WON!!!

It made me smile for the rest of the day (actually I'm still smiling!).  That's not always easy when you work in a hospital!  

I won a $20 gift certificate for  Sew Lux Fabrics and Gifts!  I can't wait to go shopping ;)  Thanks Sew Lux for  being a sponsor of  Kristy's PPP blog hop.

Her blog has many post all about  paper piecing.  I actually used her tutorial on paper piecing for one of my first paper piecing projects called The Red Herring. 

Thanks Kristy for my new addiction!  It's so hard to stop at just one project.  Now I'm cruising the web for PP projects and it's all her fault!!!

Also this week: 

This week is the start of my new work schedule at the hospital.  I'm very excited.  First of all, I will have week ends off with my husband.  Other than vacation days, we haven't spent much time together because he travels for work during the week and I have worked week-ends for a long time.  Well, not any more!!!  I have worked 6am to at least 6pm (usually 7 or 8pm) for so long that my body thinks it's normal to be up at 4:30AM.  My new work hours are from 9:30AM to 10:00PM...no longer do I need to be up before the roosters!  This feels strange to me right now but I'm sure my body will get use to a new wake up time real fast.  Well since I have a new work schedule, I decided I need to rearrange my home schedule as well.  I now have Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday off.  I have decided to make Wednesday about home.  I'll clean, do laundry, do errands and try to do my shopping all on this day.  On Thursday,  I'll make it my day to enjoy whatever I want.  Which means SEWING ALL DAY!!!  Sounds pretty awesome to me!  Saturday and Sunday I want to devote to Zdenek.  I am working on some outings for us.  I can't wait.    If he has to do any work on these days then I can devote some time to sewing.  I really don't know how this will be for us but I'm sure it will be awesome.

Since it's Wednesday today; my day of cleaning...I decided I would  incorporate some of that cleaning time to making my sewing studio (really a room but studio sounds much grander!)  much more organized.  I'm starting with my awful sewing stash mess....

Everyday for the next week, I will take a basket of disorganized fabric and turn it into a working stash.  I don't even know what fabrics I have because of my lack of organization.  Here's the beginning of my fabric organized:

Now, I need to purchase some small bins so my fabric isn't lost and disorganized.  I also want to organize by color scheme.  I'll post a pic of my success when it happens!

Thanks for stopping by and happy sewing to all....

I Did It!!!! Finished my Halloween Kitty in time!

I stayed up tonight to finish this!!!  I can enter Quiet Play's Paper Piecing Blog Hop!!!

My finished project.....made in one day!  Doesn't look like much work for one day but trust me...took me several hours.  I love paper piecing.....I just need to do more of it.  Since I'm new to it...I end up using my seam ripper more than I care to.  But practice makes perfect so I'll keep trying.

Sorry about the quality of my pics.  My honey who is on holiday with his family in Europe  has my camera so I'm left with just the camera on my iPad.  Not the best quality but does show off my finished project!

My first try at Paper Piecing a Halloween Kitty

I was trying to beat the deadline for Quiet Play's Paper Piecing Blog Hop....I didn't succeed but that doesn't mean I wasn't successful!  So what if what I thought would take me a couple hours took me several hours and this is what I have to show for my time!

I really thought I picked an easy project!  Well, maybe for someone who has more experience than me.  Maybe simple for someone who can look at the pattern and go from there!  That wouldn't be me.  I didn't even know this might be more advance for my level of experience.  I am really proud of myself for not giving up...even after having a seam ripper in my hands more time than not.  Even though I don't have a finished project, I am proud I tried.  I will work on this project on Wednesday and share my success.  I found this pattern at Artisania, Sonja was gracious to give quilters a free pattern.  Thanks Sonja!

Mini Beach Getaway

A few days away at the beach....

1.  My husband and I played ping-pong.  2. Made time for a bit of sewing while Zdenek was out running along the coast. 3.  Me next to the water (I did actually go swimming!) 4.  A walk along the cliffs  5.  We spent most of our time around the water.  6. Just loved this sign and wished I lived on this street!  7.  Zdenek checking out the new Fiat  8.  I loved seeing all the rocks on the beach; although this one is by itself.  9.  Me: this was the last stop before leaving :)


My husband and I are about to see our families separately this year.  He is from the Czech Republic which speaks a different language!  I go with him every other time so that he doesn't always have to translate for me.  I truly want him to relax and have no worries.  While he sees his family,  I'll visit  mine.  I am about to meet up with my two sons, one sister, two brothers and a bunch of nieces and nephews.  Zdenek comes from a small family so mine can be a bit much when we get together.  It's a lot of fun but it's a bunch of people at one time!  I grew up in it so I'm good with the flow.  I only have five days so I must squeeze  a lot into it.  Mostly, I want to spend time with my sons.  They are all grown up!  I only see them once or twice (if lucky)  a year so I really miss them.  I know it's normal for them to leave the nest but does it have to be so hard!  I don't know how my mom did it! Anyways, I have plans with them to go tubing down the Rainbow River, go to Adventure Island water park or maybe a theme park in Orlando (they can pick), walks along the  beach, and have meals out.  If we all can agree on a movie, we'll go.  This reminds me of a story when they were teenagers and wanted to go see the movie "Enemy at the Gates."  I didn't know much about this movie other than it was a war movie.  Well, my sons told me it was a "Love" story with romance so I would go.  Well, after the movie, we had a serious talk about what makes a love story and what is just plain sex.  I don't remember them asking me to another movie with them after my small and powerful lecture to help them know the difference!

Here are a few more pics....

We ate breakfast on the patio every morning... and see the ocean!

I couldn't get enough of the plant life!  Since I live in the desert, I truly appreciate greenery.  My honey is standing next to a plant that we also have growing on our patio... of course, ours doesn't look this big!

I feel so lucky to have this time with Zdenek.  Our lives really don't allow us much time together.  For years, he has traveled across the United States Monday through Thursday and I have worked 40 hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Starting September third I'm going to be working during the week and we'll have every Saturday and Sunday together.  This is huge for us.  I don't know what effect this will have on my sewing time but truly I rather have more time with my honey!  Hopefully, we'll get more beach time!  (The beach is only six hours away.)

                                                          Sew long for now,  Kim

Beach

Beach, a photo by sewing for real on Flickr.

Cute Apron for Brylie

I had a special little girl, Brylie, in mind when I woke up today.  I have been wanting to make her a nurse's uniform so she could be just like her Grandma Cheryl.  Cheryl is one of the nurses  that I have the pleasure to work with.  She is caring, giving and downright smart.  She demonstrates grace and patience everyday with co-workers and the children in our care.   Anyways, Brylie is the cutest little three-year-old and I hope she enjoys many hours of playing nurse.

I can check this off of my sewing list now!!  Win Win!

                                                                             Sew long for now,   Kim :)

Blog Hop: PPP

Starts today: Really cool tutorial of what to do with a single Paper Piecing Block