Bibs

Friday night Geoff informed me that one of his soldiers didn't show up for work because his wife had a baby that morning. Of course the first thing that popped into mind was what can I make them. So after cruising the net for free bib patterns, these are what I came up with. I ended up getting the pattern here. I didn't want them to be plain, and I don't have the digitizing software, or I would have monogrammed our Battalion crest on it. So I settled on the symbol for the Field Artillery, the Crossed Cannons. I had Geoff show me where to find them on the Internet, re sized it , printed it off, cut it out, and traced them on the front piece of the bib with my chalk pencil. The finished product seemed a little small so fro the next 2 I enlarged the pattern a bit.
I was going to just leave them blank, but couldn't. So I pulled out my Sublime Stitching book. This book has a lot of boy patterns to choose from, so I decided on a car and a truck. I just cut it out, and ironed the pattern on. Then started stitching. The good thing about the patterns from this book is you can use them over and over again.
It really didn't take long for all the stitching. As a matter of fact I finished most of the Crossed Cannons while Geoff made me watch Rambo 3 (Yuck). I love hand embroidery. I first picked it when I was in the smocking guild back home. I just think it looks clean, and elegant. Until next time!

Weekend Catch Up!

It has been about a week since my last post I think. Sorry! I have just been super busy. This past Friday my hubby turned 29. I think it is bothering him more than he lets on. The fact that next year he will turn 30 is shocking him. It shocks me that we have been together 10 years now. Since last month I got him a super nice set of golf clubs, there wasn't a thing I could surprise him with. By the way, he hates surprises. So I bought him these two beauties.I told him I got him a surprise and he was expecting a new putter or a nice golf shirt. He was surprised to see two beta fish staring back at him. We are huge animal lovers, dogs in particular. Since we are renting a house where pets are not allowed, I thought fish would be alright. I just have to make sure I don't over feed them (Ashley). Yes I know beta's will kill each other, but there is a divider in between them so they duel without hurting each other.
As you all may know my crafting lately has gone into making BDU aprons for a craft fair, that was yesterday. The ladies in our Battalion worked very hard for about 3 weeks making all kinds of hand made goodies. Here are the pictures of our booth. I have to say we did have the cutest booth there. We made everything from coasters, hand made cards, pot slings, decorative notebooks, and ton of other stuff.
All together we raised $507.00. I think that was pretty good for 3 weeks worth of work. All the money is going to be split up between the different Batteries in the Battalion. I think I sold 8 Aprons, and raised $111.00 out of that $507.00.

I also had business cards sitting out, because I am slowly trying to start a small business of my own. Making Apron, Monogramming, and other home made goodies. If you would like to order a BDU Apron they are $20 for a full sized apron, and $15 for a half with either red or black rick rack. If you would like to place an order, you can email me at creatinglace@gmail.com.
Last, another blackberry bake. Blackberry cobbler, how yummy. I made this for a get together this week. It is so nice not having to pay for fruit. I am currently out, so Geoff and I are going picking today. Have a great Sunday!

The Raffle

Last night Geoff and I were welcomed into the Battalion. About every six weeks or so we have a Hale and Farewell to welcome the new people and say good bye to the people leaving. Well my husbands battery was in charge of planning it, so that meant I was in charge of the raffle basket. Normally all the E7's and above have to donate $20 dollars worth of alcohol for the raffle bucket. Well since this Hale and Farewell was held at the Tacoma Rainier's baseball game, alcohol was out of the question (they won't let you bring it into the stadium). So I decided to get creative. I collected all the money and bought gift cards. I already had some hand knit dish clothes not being used so I donated them. I monogrammed some kitchen towel with our Battalion modo on them, and made some pot hand holder out of red flannel and left over camouflage material. (I got the pattern for the pot hand holders out of In Stitches.) To top it all off I put in a cookie in a jar mix. We only raised about $75 dollars for our FRG, but something is better than nothing.

Luckily after this very stressful week, my hubby had the day off. We spent the day at the golf coarse. He golfed, and I knitted and picked blackberries. It was about 70 degrees and perfect. We even got to see some Navy fighter jets fly by for an air show, and that was really cool. The rest of our weekend will consist of picking more blackberries and vegging out. Until next time!