Student of the Month

Today my son received a student of the month award. The character attributes for this month are friendship and loyalty. Each class picks two students who best demonstrated those attributes. His dad and I were very pleased and proud. He was too. Afterwards, the students got to take their family members to the multipurpose room for cookies and milk or coffee. Very nice.

This is a picture of my son and husband enjoying their cookies. The funny thing is Nick wore a t-shirt from his old school instead of from this school. Oh well. At least the principal of this school was the principal of the old school and a lot of the teachers from that school also moved to this new one.

My Favorite Dentist

I got to go to the dentist today. Just a check-up, though I will be back Friday for a crown prep. When the hygienist was doing her work I could tell the probe stuck a bit on of the teeth. I thought it was on an existing crown -- yikes! -- but it turned out to be the tooth with the big, ugly amalgam filling in front of it. The filling is at least 25 years old and while I don't enjoy dental work, I am vain enough to be glad to see that one be replaced with something natural looking.
This dentist is further away than I like driving when there are a lot of dentists between him and our home, but I am so happy with him and the work he has done. My teeth feel better and look better (ah, vanity) and I know my mouth is healthier since I started going there. He doesn't try to sell you extra services. Everyone at his office is so nice.
I used to be a nervous wreck when I went to the dentist and would start getting nervous about a week ahead of time. No more. God bless Dr. B.

Buttons and Blocks

Buttons and Blocks
Originally uploaded by joanieponytail57

These are the ATC's I made for the Thread Embellished ATC swap on swap-bot. The woven blocks were what I had in mind when I signed up. As I was doing the weaving I noticed a small spot on the background on one of the ATC's so I added the buttons to cover it up. I think they add a nice element.

Roses W/ Thread ATC's

Roses W/ Thread ATC's
Originally uploaded by joanieponytail57

When I signed up for the Thread Embellished ATC swap on swap-bot I had in mind to do the woven blocks. Before I started it I saw these roses in an embroidery book from the library. My first thoughts were 1) those are couched with thread and 2) I have that yarn. So, I had to make them. Of course, the thread used to couch the yarn really isn't much of an embellishment so I added the swirls so these would qualifiy. These are just a bonus for the swap since I still sent the woven ones.

Alphabet Inchies J-R

Alphabet Inchies J-R
Originally uploaded by joanieponytail57

Today I sent out these inchies for a swap-bot swap. For this swap I needed to make nine inchies, one each for the letters J-R.
J is jewels on a foil background saved from an envelope lining.
K is a pieced-paper kite with a drawn tail.
L is card stock leaves with embroidered stems.
M is the moon over a mountain. Card stock and colored pencil.
N is a necklace.
O is oranges in a bowl. Colored pencil.
P is a poem. Actual poem. My mom taught is to me when I was little.
Q is for quilt. This is the pinwheel pattern.
R is for rose. The rose itself is made with nail polish.

Quote Zine

Quote Zine
Originally uploaded by joanieponytail57

This is the very first zine I have made. I have been seeing them on the net and thought they looked interesting, but it wasn't until I saw the Quote Zine swap on Swap-bot that I was ready to give it a try. There are other ways of doing this but I thought I would use the method referenced in the swap description, which involves laying out the images on one side of a single sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper, making copies and folding and making one small cut in the middle.

The zine is hand-lettered and the images are all my own. After I printed them I hand-colored them with colored pencil.

My mom asked for one yesterday so I sent hers out today.

I Let Them Cut Me Open. . .

so that I could wish my dear daughter a Happy Birthday today. "I let them cut me open" is the phrase I use to try to make her feel guilty about all I have done for her. She laughs because I first told her how happy I was when they said I would be having a C-section.

Regardless of how she came to be here, I thank God that she is my daughter. Proof that God is good.

First Post - Original Title, Sign of Things to Come

I promised I would do this today, so even though I have been up most of the night with a sick boy, to the doctor and running around to three pharmacies, I am keeping this promise. Too easy to make another excuse and I want to do this.

The name of the blog comes from one of my grandma's nicknames for me. It was the nickname of a friend of hers when they were little. She liked the name enough to have it stick in her head for 30+ years until I was born. I hope it will stick in your head, too.

The image at the top of this post is of a hot pad I made using No. 10 crochet cotton. I just wanted to have something fun to look at on my very first post.