Saturday Blog Shoppers

Hello everyone! It's Saturday, I'm not babysitting, I'm at home watching the Yankees beat the Indians, and blogging and commenting and reading and posting my SBS sale for the MeMorial Weekend. Big parade here in Freeport, NY, so come on down if you're in the neighborhood.

So my SBS sale is $10 off my newest piece:




This weekend only, this beautiful tablecloth now $50. It is a one-of-a-kind, I cannot make another exactly like it, and it is so pretty and cheerful, I'm sure you can find a nice home for it. Please write SBS in messages to seller and I will refund your paypal $10.

And please see the other Saturday Blog Shoppers on the link to the left! Thank you for reading and commenting and browsing all the wonderful stores and their sales!

CHANGE OF BEDSPREAD

I was doing some house-cleaning today, stripped the bed and put on clean sheets, and decided it was time to pack up my winter comforter and bring out my summer bedspread. I made this 3 years ago, I think, because I wanted something for myself. Everything I made I either gave away as presents, or sold. At the time I was making a lot of gorgeous bedspreads, like this one:



So my mind was on bedspreads. I had this beautiful Lee Jofa print with exotic birds and foliage in really pretty colors:





I tried lots of fabric combinations until finally I took the plunge and used a soft narrow wale corduroy which is so soft it hardly is cordury at all, more like brushed cotton. The weights were totally different. The Lee Jofa is a light-weight linen weave cotton, and the other piece is almost too heavy, but it turned out very well. This was the only fabric I had that matched the jungle theme and the colors, and the heavier weight works well for the border. Here are shots of my bedroom with my summer bedspread. I hope you enjoy.

CREATIVE PROCESS PART II

Another quickie to update you on the progress of my new tablecloth. The table top is done, and now I'm sewing on the lovers toile print for the border:





I started cutting and measuring the lovers toile last night, and hope to complete the piece today! Oh the excitement!

THE CREATIVE PROCESS PART I

I haven't felt creative in a long time, but lately I am coming out of my foggy bottom and have begun sewing again, and I feel more like myself again. I made some purple Laura Ashley toile placemats/napkins:




So, happy with that result, I pulled out more toiles and started playing, trying different colors in different ways, thinking of how much I have of any one fabric and what I could do with them all together. This is the fun part, playing with the fabric, weighing the cloth in my hand, thinking of the cloth itself as well as the colors and patterns, just playing and imagining:







HOURS later, this is the decision I came to. I was always thinking of a tablecloth using the country scenes as placemats and a complimentary fabric for spacers between the mats, with a masculine and feminine top and bottom, at the narrow ends of the table, to signify where the man and woman of the house will sit. I used the blue and yellow country toile with the server, the fiddler, dancers, and picnicers and the other Laura Ashley toile, in yellow, the vine print, in 10"x12" pieces, and use the yellow Laura Ashley lovers toile for the border:





Finally, I could start sewing. You can see how I measure and cut in my other blogs, so I'll just jump to sewing and sewn:






I haven't gotten technical in this description, gone into measurements, etc., but I am using my own table as a guide. My table is approximately 48"x30" and seats six comfortably, two on each side and at the head and bottom of the table. The yellow lovers toile will be the skirt of the tablecloth, with a 10" drape, or hang. This will be a lovely versatile tablecloth which can be used anywhere in the house. In your bedroom, over a cafe table, or on the breakfast table, it will always be bright and cheerful.

I will be posting more pictures as I progress, and of course the BIG announcement when it is complete and listed on etsy!

TREASURY

Just a quickie - Queenofalltrades has included nancysfabricshop in her newest treasury! I am thrilled! This is my piece in her animals collection:



Please go see queen's imaginative treasury, and feel free to leave comments! Thanks again Queen!

Saturday Blog Shoppers

Hi everyone and welcome to Saturday Blog Shoppers, home of excellent etsy shops and great deals on Saturdays! This weekend only you can save 10% off any item in my shop, including my brand new Laura Ashley toile placemats




And be sure to click on the Saturday Blog Shoppers link to see the other fine shops participating this Saturday.

Saturday Blog Shoppers

It's Saturday again, and you know what that means! The Saturday Blog Shoppers are offering deals and sales!!! This Saturday and Sunday enjoy 10% savings on anything in my shop, even on goods already on sale! I still haven't seen the surgery bill, and now I'm going to PT, so those doctor bills aren't going to stop anytime soon. Please write SBS in the notes to buyer, and I will refund your 10% pronto! Thank you for shopping customdesigns4ubynan, and click on the link to the other SBSers!

On Thursday I was feeling strong again and my knee hardly hurt at all, so I went for my first walk in WEEKS around the neighborhood and took pictures of one of my favorite things: blooming plants.
















It's a pretty old neighborhood, and many trees are at least a hundred years old, towering high above the houses with enormous trunks, some as much as 10' diameter. The sewer system was put in during 1930, and when you think about it, that's 80 years ago, and some of the houses have been there longer than that.






















On the way back I passed the Memorial Library, and took these pictures, too. There are other reminders of 9/11 in the neighborhood. It seems like everyone knows someone who lost someone that day.























Finally, home again, home again. I ran into my next-door neighbor and she took this picture of me. All was well, except for the blister, on my right foot, of course!

I'M IN A TREASURY!

Paradise BnR has included my ladybug pillow in a treasury! The treasury is http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=129885. It's a buy and replace treasury, so if you purchase anything from one of the sellers in the treasury, one of your products will replace them. It's a good oppportunity to attract new customers and more sales. So go to it and buy something!

ARTHROSCOPY

As you may or may not know, I fell about a month ago and really seriously did more than just sprain my right knee. My neighbor carried me to his car and took me to emergency. X-rays, full-leg brace and wheelchairs, and everyone said "GO TO THE ORTHOPEDIST!!!" so I finally did. He said "take off that brace, girl!", so I did, and walked around and even went back to my Saturday babysitting gig for one day. When I went back to him - the cutest little doctor man, I think I'm in love - he didn't like the way I was walking, too much limping, should have healed by now - he sent me for an MRI. Next time I saw him he looked at me in amazement. "How did you hurt your knee? When did you hurt your knee??!!" Apparently there was quite a lot wrong in there, some serious, like a torn miniscus and like bone shrapnel pricking in my joints. But I'm not Derek Jeter, and it's not the off-season, so he wasn't going to do the MAJOR surgery of repairing the miniscus, but would do an arthroscopy to remove the prickers that were preventing me from walking, running, dancing with the stars, or playing with my little 4-year-old Saturday babysitting charge. More doctors and hospitals for medical clearance - they didn't like my BP - and finally all was settled. I had the surgery Thursday Apr 29. My wonderful sister, who had come in on the train from Manhattan several times already, spent Wednesday night at my place, and we drove to the hospital Thursday morning early. I remembered to bring my camera, because I knew you would all want the gory details. And here they are!



BEFORE SURGERY


THAT LEG? THE OTHER LEG? NO, THE OTHER LEFT KNEE...






IN THE HOSPITAL POST SURGERY, HAPPILY SEDATED




THEY GAVE ME CRUTCHES, THANK GOODNESS




WITH THE BANDAGE






WITH BANDAIDS, AFTER ICING

My knee is red in the last picture because I had just iced it down - it isn't that color really. It's still really stiff, hurts somewhat (and now I'm out of vicodin!), and I start PT on Tuesday next week. Stitches come out on Friday next, and then I should be done!!!