March 19th 2010..So many changes have been happening since I did away with the other ,older blogs and am starting this new one! First of all, I now have a fantastically talented partner, Grace Lafflin www.gracelafflin.com who is an artist of many mediums but a superior fiber artist too..and my student Linda S. who literally started getting tutored weeks ago and is already phenominally gifted! We are now selling yarns, soon needles,hooks, and perhaps other "stuff" too, and therefore we have the lovely and super "meaty" sport weight alpaca yarns of Michelle from www.midlakecavaliers.com -So, at the moment Grace and I have been busy with various projects and soon will be posting them to the website, also Linda and I by myself have various sewing projects we are working on...Sorry to be a tease so I will give some hints: crocheting includes spring clothing for all ages, home decor and sewing includes home decor and pet projects! Please fill out the survery form at the page called "feedback" as not only will you get a discount but we do love having our customers and potential customers input, and don't forget to frequesntly recheck our latest "buy yarn and more" page for more items! Thank you and one more thing, I have had great success in teaching a few ladies via webcam: one from NH, another in Arizona, and a third in VA! So, it works!! May you have a blessed day and week!
March 23rd 2010..OK so it is really the 24th, because it is 2:21 a.m, and I still have severe insomnia for those of you who recall me whining about this in the past..anyway I had a new class of "Simple Crochet" tonight at BOCES and these ladies are SUPER good, I mean I will be changing the curriculumn around to accomodate their fantastic skills!! It is so awesome to teach an entire group who are ALL just getting it, right away!! Praise you Lord for continuing to bless me! I have so many ideas and now with Grace on board and soon, Linda who has some niche items she wants to create, would like some more lessoms before she actually is feeling ready, but she is joining up too..so this is just going to get better and better and my fantasy of creating "Marie's Sewcreations"(I bought the domain name over a year ago!!)wil actualy come to fruition...One request please...can I get some more of you to fill out the feeback form? You don't have to fill out EVERY question, I just would love some more of any of your input...Well Ben is coughing and will soon be shouting for me to come to bed, so back soon with new pics...give me a few weeks, I have too many serious issues on the front burners. God bless you and thank you for reading through/looking at this website!
May 2nd 2010..OMG!! Haven't written in forever and of course will have a flood of new items and pics to post and sell, but have been too busy and have neglected my site : (...Also, tried the anti-depressant Cymbalta for back pain and it KICKED me to the curb!! I could not deal with the daytime drowsiness and foggy headed, duhh mistakes on simple matters..So, I am off that now, but back to being the major insomniac and that allows me (on a positive note, 'cuz there is nothing too great about missing out on restorative sleep. Especially with chronic pain issues!) to catch up on my various webpages, and even facebook too..More soon friends!
May 4th 2010..so the doc told me many things but in laymen's terms: L3-L4, bulging with nerve pinching to the right, L4-L5 herniated to the center, hence pain and such in both legs, feet, and back...and more issues, but I turn it and many other pain conditions over to the Lord, who keeps giving me the Grace to persevere and even thrive as lately crocheting, sewing clothes and window treatments...more soon, very tired and I must obey my body's cues to sleep, or it will evade me for the night! God bless all who read this blog!
May 13th 2010..Hi everyone and anyone...I just want to try to keep my blog here updated, and I apologize for no progress pics, like I used to be able to do, but it messed up the page and made it look unprofessional, so you will just have to take my word that we areo doing LOTS of various projects, adding more yarns and supplies to our site for sale, and will keep adding pics/specials /prices, etc as we get them completed...I for one have three custom orders I am crocheting at the moment plus a house full of various window treatments, so I will be so psyched to show off the before and after pics!! (Believe me, I am not bragging, all and any abilities and talents I have comes from the Lord, so the glory goes to Him...And I want to thank Connie and a few other ladies for filling out the feedback page as it does a world of good for us to know what our clients and potential customers want...There will be summer clothes for children and ladies very soon, more supplies as I said, and LOTS of various crocheted jewlery too...MANY people have signed up for tutoring, some with friends and some by themselves and about 1/2 do it via webcam ,and all with great results.... Give it a try, a 1/2 hour or hour sessions to finish a project that has been lying around for a while, or learning a technique that you always wanted to try..and God bless all of you!! Thank you for your time and for browsing!
June 30th..This is a bit discouraging as I wrote two other entries recently and I must have forgotten to save as viola...they are gone...Also I need to write to Tania so that she can teach me how to change font, boldness, italics and most importantly to me, the text color. I am not going to write very long, just want to let you all know that my website had taken a very back seat for about 3-4 weeks due to many physical and emotional issues I was dealing with. But here is the awesome part, not only did the Lord make sure I still made money by having odd jobs for me to do from friends at church,etc, and teaching at BOCES-He used the quiet time for introspection and sat with me through the good the bad and the very painful stuff and I came through the other side! As the expression goes: "That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger"!! Amen...So without gettin into my personal stuff, I want all to know out there that God wants to work everything in your life to it's greatest good... And now, I am off to get to sewing several outfits for a beautiful friend (you know, one of those beautiful people who has NO idea how gorgeous she is, how wonderful, intelligent and tender she is, what a selfless giver she is, etc...) Then a few quick outfits for my 8 yr old and myself, then curtain for three rooms in the house and then crocheting the following projects: 5 to 8 king size afghans that utilize all kinds of sampler squares..a few summer tops with short sleeve jackets for myself to hide my jello arms, finishing up a jacket,poncho, bathrobe for my 8 yr old, and a few things for the 19 and 20 year olds, then some crocheted jewelry that I will not only wear and give as gifts but teach a mini course in at BOCES, and several floral placemats, toaster cover, napkin rings, tea cozy,and a bunch of wild flwers done all in tiny filet crochet for my house and for the mini couse in "crocheted placemats". I am sure there are things I am leaving out but you all get the gist..Of course I will be posting progress pics and there are soem things I have purposely left out for those family and friends who read my blog and therefore would have their surprises ruined! Last night, our crochet class only had three (usually 4) in it, but it was fabulous! These ladies are so smart andone of them is a young girl from an Asian country who doesn't speak English but boy, she picks up on everything! First we looked through about 25 patterns varying from baby socks to afghans and decided which ones we would keep for future reference as these ladies seem to be falling in love with crochet, just as I had hoped...All of the patterns I chose were in the "easy to beginner" category with an occasional "average" . We then tackled the basic granny square for nultitasking purposes: 1) 50%+ of patterns do have typos, plus all beginners need to become proficient in reading patterns and knowledgeable in their abbreviations..(plus I always emphasize making a guage swatch) 2)We also made three color changes which was a new concept as well 3) We practiced changing colors in the middle ot the row 4) Some of us were so proficient at the first granny square that they moved onto another style of square 5)We discussed blocking, how usually the best results come from natural fibers however it canbe successful with synthetics as well 6)We learned tthe shell stitch and again made several rows and chged colors in the middle and on the ends 7) We stressed the importance that when working in back and forth (versus rounds) that the foundation row (chain row) one should use a hook that is one t=o two sizes larger than the remainder of the project and what hook size it calls for, so that the work is begun and continues to be even throughout, especially since many of us tend to work tighter in our chain row...Now we only have one week left and we will be covering many new stitches that build off of the basic ones that we have mastered,(ch,sl st, sc,hdc,dc, dtr,tr,tr treble)..working in rounds, reading patterns,troubleshooting,making guage swatches, recalling that each row needs a prescribed amount of chains, using a row or stitch counterso that we can have nice, even edges. And we also worked a project each week so as to reinforce our newly acquired sts: week 1 a pothlder all in sc, week 2 a coaster, and the beginning of a washcloth,week three, the granny squares and week 4 surprise and we will learn at least 5 complex stitches, do a heart bookmark, a rossette pin,learn 4 different trims/edgings (oh yes, week 2 we learned picot) and we will learn how to make bags from plastic bags and fabric strips... Off to go sew and more soon with pics!!
July 4 2010..I forgot to contact Tania regarding my apparent need for a reminder on how to change color on the text and font, I wil check it later..Fisrt, let me get this out of the way,I am on day 4 of no sleep,no cat naps,nada...I also walk in my "sleep" amd when sitting on the latrine, I smashed my head good on the radiator...So please say prayers for healing of this pain and subsequent sleeplessness...thank you so much dear friends! And alsways send me any prayer requests you may have as I really love to petition our Father! Above from the far left is a wrap around skirt (and many other items I a making for my sweet and dear friend Minique!),,,Next center top, is a trellis Liion brand nylom cvape measuewing 45: wide by 20"long and i More later...finallufinalluytiredlater
August 3 ...I am having my usual insomnia, but also, I fpund put that I have lupus in addition to the spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease,several herniated discs inneck, lower back, osteophyte pressing on spinal cord in neck and also some buldging thoracic discs, carpal tunnel both hands, pretty significant arthritis in the midback, a dislocated right sacroiliac joint and that is enough ..However, I am so blesed to habv found a wonderful water aerobis instructor and class that I attend at least 3 times per week for about an hour but I prefer 5 times a week...she even does "aqua zumba" which is not only fun, but a great workout and all this keeps the pain level better alomg with pretty stron pain meds and antiinflamatories etc... I can;t take the usual drugs for insomnia, hence I deal with it by working, reading, praying or resting....BUT I digress! I wanted to explain why this webpage had been silent for some time and it will be awakened again...I am doing MANY differnt colors styles, sizes of baby outfits, lots of sewn ladies clothing and girls clothes ,crocheted rugs,puppets,arigumuri,ronchos,capes,sweaters,vests,kitchen items, jewelry,and more..and of course custom orders are always erlcome..Oh yes, I will be doing about 10 afghans that will be quite intricate with fascinating stithing inckding the old, and previously famous "Catherines wheel"!
August 27th 2010...have been going through some heavy duty soul searching along with letting and enabling the Holy Spirit to abide in me and "hiding myself in Christ" lately..but this hasn't stopped me from doing my crochet work,LOTS of sewing while pursing God's plans for me to go back to nursing working with alcoholics and drug addicts in detox, rehab,whereever, and God too is fully capable of showing me where else I should or can work in the meantime...my camera is broke down at the moment but I will diplay pics as I am able..God bless all my blog/internet/e-mail friends and I oray for you all daily!
August 29th..I have been working as much as possible on my friend's stuff, my stuff, stufff for sale, my daughters' items and also belongings for the house, all this in the midst of a lupus flair and my numerous back isues...O But I keep thinking pf this verse and it strengthens me: 2 Corinthisna 6"But in all things new,...we are ministers of God in much patience, in tribulations,in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisionments, in tumults,in labors,in sleeplessness, in fastings,by purity,by knowledge,by longsuffering,by kindness,by the Holy Sprit,by sincere lov e, by the word of truth,by the power of God,by the power of rightepusness on the rifght hand and on the left." MORE SOON WITH PICS!!
August 29th..My dad came over today and we had great conversation and went to the local duck pond where we had some good laughs, fed the ducks and had coffee..It may sound trivial to some, but my dad was torn from me at a young age (9) and I was scarred from that although the reasons for this were valid, nonetheless, it has always been extremely painful...my brother (his and my mother's son) was killed tragically at the age of 15, and my dad carries much pain over that too...but here is the wonderful part, I know that this part of scripture was meant to describe married coupkes; it applies just perfectly to my father and me: "Let no man tear asunder that which God has put together." I was able to say all of this to him, pretty cool! On another note, my lupus is kicking my butt today, I was suppossed to do bible study this morning but my friend was sleeping and we shall do it tomorrow...I took advantage of reading up on lupus, resting and crocheting, of course...ok, nighty night I hope, up at 5 for "The bible in one year" daily bible reading, Daily Bread and my fav, Oswald Chambers divided into days,,,prayer, meditation on the way to water aerobics where lately we do aqua zumba, and I lost 12 pounds..cool! More soon dear friends.. May God bless you!
Sept 19th ..Hi friends! It has been some time since I wrote, and it sure feels like it! I am going through a lot in my personal life, mainly good stuff, but even good stuff can be "heavy" too (and I will "share" when the time comes ;) ) as far as the crochet/sewing world goes, I am doing some cute baby stuff and recently finished some blankets, sweater sets for newborns in church, and have a very special bunch of sweaters that I am doing for my little Sara's soon-to-be sister! Yes, her dad and his wife are having a girl in Jan..also some of my friends are getting some cozy, made with love- ponchos, slippers and dishtowels, and of course, I have special orders from customers, an upcoming "Simple crochet" class that starts on Tues Sept 22nd, a joint creation of dog clothing and some of my other sewn and crocheted stuff for a friend's shop and let's not forget Christmas! Many prayers I send to all of you who read this journal ...more soon!
Oct 7th 2010..Hello dear friends ...I am finishing up a "Simple Crochet" at BOCES and doing several special orders and new crocheted ideas with my friend and talented seamstress Linda, also several clietn orders being finished plus a new sewing venture for another lady, and lastly my family and my home/Christmas gifts, birthday gifts for friends..."Intermediate Crochet" will be starting at BOCES on Oct 19th (if only 2 more people sign up for it, (which I think they will) and a 4 week "Advanced Crochet"will follow that ...again we can always do this via webcam or private tutoring at your place, a third location or at my place for very specific lessons or the same curriculm I do for my classes, also some mini course are offered at BOCES also but we shall see what ends up running and the dates will be posted on the "shows and classes" page..More later, and I continue to lift you in prayer!
Nov 7th @5 ish a.m....hello out there, still being plagued with insomnia, the pain is horrific, and the new med (Lyrica) is good but has many side effects...However, it is written that "through Christ I can do all things". so I keep plugging along with an attitude of gratitude (you know because I do have a lot to be grateful for and things can always be worse!)...I have been busy as heck with both sewing and crochet, the sewing includes some ornate doll dresses that I haven't yet photographed and the crocheting includes two ferret sweaters that I haven't yet got pics of , but here are a few of the simple yet funtional and more to come I promise,! I DO pray for all of my "Intermediate crochet" students at BOCES that I am presently teaching and ALL of my internet friends..Also, by writing this out I WILL remember, I want to do a little series here on "how to..."and that will be fun and educational too!
12/5/10 @ 9:45 p.m...Yes, for those of you who know me, this is an incredibly decent hour for me to be 1) awake and 2) productive...I am positively giddy with excitement...that is what the Kord is doing to me!! Ok, so, of late, I have had a smattering of crochet ,alterations, sewing and unfortunately some of my favorite stuff I didn't capture on film for all to see..example, the shell stitched off white hooded scarf that my friend is wearing, and a baby broomstick lace blanket,various slippers,hats,scarves,mittens,baby stuff, (i.e buntings,and sweater sets|) some ladies gloves,doggies sweaters, and well, you get the picture...So...as has been declared before, I vow to make extra efforts to make certain I will take pics and also to reiterate when something is fresh in mind...physically I remain challenged ...my pain began to interrupt my life wehn it was supposed to be under control with meds/positive thinking/prayers/mediation and exercise and that is called "breakthrough pain"..first I tried to handle it, and then I was almost bedridden...yuck! Finaklly I sucked it up and was started on a med for primarily "nerve pain and /or diabetic neuropathy" but no worries, as I do understand these meds serve many purposes...alas,I did try the meds and unfortunately I turned into something like a non-functional noodle-like creature and had to apologize to customers and friends, alike...very unpleasant (and now the computer is acting all weird...sorry) anyway, I did end up getting cortisone injections into my wrists to treat the carpal tunnel bilaterally which helps for close to 3 months..On the insomnia front, I have been doing the sleepwalking once or twice a month, hitting my head on the bathroom radiator once, and other wise uneventful. Ok, so I am going to try and get the next jobs done timely,and show pics as evidence :)...More later friends!! Until then: "Everything is pure to those who hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those their minds who are corrupt and unbelieving because their minds and consciences are corrupted. Such people claim they know God but they deny Him by the way they live." Titus 1 15-16.
12/9/10 I hope you read on the home paget hat it is time to vote via e-mail where we will begin to len either broomstick lace, croknitting or tunisian..all will be covered but we are voting to decide which to start with, that is PRICELESS!
12/21/10 Well, to be honest, I haven't received votes enough yet to cme up with a decision...so after the holidays, like in mid January, the decision will be made then as to which of the "how to..." we will begin with..Also I have some pics to show off, but not tonight..I pray that all my dear clients, and students, family, extended family will be having a blessed and joyous Merry Christmas and Happy new Year!!..Much love and also genuinely I mean this...with the love of Christ I do love you all!
12/29/10..Well friends I am undergoing a 3rd in a series of 3 nerve blocks this morning and will go and get ready for that but must share with you God doing a wonderful miracle for me last week...also please keep praying for my insomnia issue as they remain a HUGE problem disrupting my daily life and the next blog note will be discussing crochet and some "How to..."! God bless you dear ones!
12/30/2010..Our first "How to will be : 4 kinds of edgings and two kinds of ribbings...I will be at this later today or at the very latest during the first week of January..Two ladies are having babies, so I am currently working on: baby sweaters, blankets, hats booties, and then sewing flannel jammies, and receiving blankets, also as another aside, working a large, queen sized broomstick lace bedspread for a client in the south, towels for a lady in the west,playmat and sea-themed quilt for a lady here in Syracuse, several complex blankets with aran and cabling, ripple for another,slippers, socks, jewelry a poncho, a sweater and bathrobe...I finished up some potholders and am doing some hats... So, I recommend going to this site called www.betterfly.com (not easy to find) , but I hope you will find my name as a crochet instructor and put down a few positive comments for me, but also please check into it for yourself...maybe YOU will make some money from your awesome gift! Praise you Jesus for all that you do for me!! God bless you all and OH! Very important, if you have any desire to tithe some $ and prayers too for a minster and his congregation in Pakistan, please contact me via e-mail and I will get into more detail about it...
Jan 30,'11...I had a week long (or actually 10 bout with my lupus that is termed as a "flare up" and boy, did that ever knock me down and out! I am just getting back to all that is important, and use this belssing of a time when I was completely down and out and beddridden as an opporuntiy to reassess my priorities, so reading back on what I have written all of that needs to take place immediately or thereabouts and more...So, again I lift all of you up in prayer and appreciate prayers that you send my way..With love-Marie Oh, and attatched are works in progress and works completed:
Feb 3 2011...dear precious friends , I haven't written in a while and this one is going to be a short entry (although I will be starting my "How to.." series and blogging more as a result within the next month... I had a severe setback or flare up with both my pain and the lupus at the same time, and I tried "mind over matter" to no acvail...so lots of prayers carried me though it, and now my husband is giving me dirty looks so more soon! BTW,. I am working the following : broomstick lace queen size afghan, 4 baby sweater sets, a diaper bag, several heart potholders with three strands of yarn held together, a short poncho, 4 pairs of mitten combo gloves,several dishcloths and regular potholders using primarily fpdc and bpdc,2 baby bunting one shell stitch and one of granny squares,2-3 prs of socks that are quite ornate,a ripple afghan ,a few pairs of slippers and some more, but I forget and I am plenty "OCD"...Much love!!
Feb 18,'11....so the last time I was hoping that THIS time I'd have a "How to began, but not quite ready...I am working on some of the same items above, and about 5 new ones but I feel an urge to pray for all of you who read this blog, and just let you know how much I appreciate and am truly grateful for you....some of you are my regular customers and some of you are my students, and thens ome others are just new and curious...I am asking the Lord to please give each of you a blessing this week that you very much need and perhaps you are praying for also, and the reason mainly, I suppose is that I feel so strongly about this rather than even talking crochet, is I believe that there are many out there that are on the "verge" of believing but as of yet, maybe you haven't "seen" enough evidence to truly "grab on" ...I pray also for you all to have a personal and saving relationshuip with Jesus Christ ..Ok, done, next post will be crochet and "How to..."!!! Thank you precious ones!!
Feb26,'11...the first of two how to's are "Making a keepsake for a grieving family" And "turning an old sweater into a purse"...For #1- you need either several garments of the beloved, deceased, that you cut into 8" or 12" squares (depending on how many pieces you have), the sewing those toggether as a lapghan, with a centerpiece sewn into the lapghan preferably by hand that you use a larger embroider hoop for and some floss, and cross stitch or neatly satin stitch a heart and the person's name into that spot...Aim for a lapghan that measures about 42"x 55", and if not, or if the family doesn't want this then the same idea but a wall hangign or a pice tha hangs over, displayed a chair in the dining room or whereever the family wants to display this keepsake! The 2nd project, you can get a used sweater that is at least 70% wool, shrink it in hot water washes and dry on hot, then the sweater will be "felted" and you can cut out the pieces that you's like for the purse and simply sew them together, add snaps, velcro,buttons or a zipper, and then either buy commercially made straps, or make your own! NOW if the recycled sweater happens to be maily acrylic, there can be no felting, just turn the sweater insdie out, pin and sew closed (either by hand or machine) the neck and the sleeves at the point of the cap of the sleeve,when ready, reinforce stitch the areas of the neck and sleeves that they pull into a nice, closed off purse..The strap idea will work just perfect here as well, as will the closure with the materials listed above!!!......
March 30,'11...please give me a few more days to catch up on my work and then I wil be sharing some awesome "how to's " here, I just have had one thing after another with my health and everyone has a breaking point, and mine was reached...Blessings to all!
November 23 2011...OK I VOW from hereon in to write in my blog, significantly at a minimum of once per week, preferably two times per week!! I wan to apologize for not having stayed on top of my game and for letting this blog stop! The very next writing wioll ahve a "how to sections" as I had promised before..Now I need to go to bed...Adios dear ones, see you in a few days!!
Nov 25th......presently I am spending 1/2 of my time with sewing, crocheting and croknitting projects for family and friends and the other 50% of the time, I am working on projects for the craft show coming up on Dec 17th.. I will take pics tomorrow!!
