RoMa's Heirlooms Now Open!

I opened an online store!  I'm trying out Payvment on Facebook, and apparently what I created was a store on Lish that is accessible through Facebook.  It's nothing fancy because I'm not a photographer or an artist, but it will have to do for now.  I'll see if my brother has time to fiddle with cover art for my FB page and also some good photo ideas.  If you want to see what it looks like, visit RoMa's Heirlooms.  "Ro" is for my mom, Rosa, and "Ma" is for me.  After all, she was my crochet teacher.  I feel it's her legacy and so it must have her name in it too.  I miss her.

I'm having difficulty getting good pictures of my crochet.  What do you personally do?  Were you ever a newbie like me?  How did you learn?  What do you recommend?  Tips are really needed and are greatly appreciated.

There's not much going on this weekend except some more crochet.  I'm not going outside.  It's too hot!  Ah, I love A/C.

Happy crafting!

Rosa Luz Vazquez, 06/30/53-03/05/04

Ingenious!

Firstly I would like to dedicate a moment of silence to all the victims of the 9/11 attacks.  The horror of that day will forever be in our minds, and their sacrifices will forever be in our hearts.

May they rest in peace.

~o~o~o~o~

Sometimes we find something that just gets us really excited.  Yeah, I was happy when I read about this on another blog that I follow and placed an order.  It arrived, and I was wondering where the promised pattern booklet had gone.  So I was ready to contact this place and let them know that they'd dropped the ball somewhere.  A-hem.  I actually had only ordered the hook, not the combo.  Oops!  I'm glad I went to the site first and revisited the ordering page.  Okay.  Nobody dropped the ball.  I made a mistake.  Happy mistake, though!  So what's this mystery tool?  It's aptly and simply called the Sharp Crochet Hook.

In revisiting the site, I checked out their patterns.  Now I'm excited!  Have you ever crocheted a purse and then needed a liner and zipper but, not being a seamstress, you were intimidated?  That's me.  I've only ever used a zipper on my only purse that I tested.  I avoid zippers and linings like the plague!  I purchased a sewing machine just for that liner and zipper for that one time.  lol.  I finally took my first sewing class yesterday.  I learned that using a sewing machine for anything made out of yarn is not fun.  The feed dogs would catch the yarn.  I'm sure there's something I could do to change that.

In the meantime, the Sharp Crochet Hook has come to the rescue.  I don't have to sew zippers onto purses anymore!  Check this pattern out to crochet a purse that has lining and a zipper.  In fact, they also have a pattern with just a zipper and no lining.  The hook does it all!  I have a few purses that I have been wanting to make.  I'll start with the purse first and lastly add a base layer to the zipper in a yarn color that matches the purse and whip stitch it all together.  I hope you love it as much as I do.  I have my hook.  Now I get to make a purse :)

L.A. County Fair

I'm back!  My room is nice and cool, it's so quiet everywhere, and my sister got a new car.  Yay!  It's a 2012 Nissan Versa.  I remembered to take a picture after she left.  Of course.  lol

I've never submitted anything to a fair.  Have you?  I'm too nervous no one will like anything.  I'll try to force myself to do it next year.  I'll go out of my comfort zone and see what I come up with.  There are so many talented people.

It was very, very hot in Pomona yesterday:  105 degrees F.  I have no idea what the humidity was, but it was a lot because it is supposed to rain there today.  I even took a picture of the clouds.  We didn't see much more than the submissions and a parade because it was unbearable!  The asphalt made our feet hot, and then it was just getting crowded.  So we ate at a nice place with air conditioning, chatted for quite a while, and were on our way -- but not before buying fried stuff!  Patricia, from our crafting group, got frog legs.  I got a fried Twinkie and fried PB&J.  Patricia liked hers.  I tasted a bit of each of mine when I was home and then passed it on to my niece.  I really liked them.  I won't make a habit of them, though.

All in all, only one item submitted by Debb and Pat didn't get a ribbon.  The Raggedy Ann and Andy were separated from their matching afghan due to some unknown fair rules.  The dolls got ribbons but the afghan did not.  Does that make sense?  Pat's beautiful bunny got a ribbon as well, and so did Debb's pillow and purses.  Even a friend of theirs that they talked into submitting one item received a ribbon.  Way to go!  There were so many wonderful things to admire.  I wanted to take pictures of everything.  I wanted to buy everything!  I'm now addicted to crafting fairs.  I plan to get details of fairs nearby.  It's a great place for ideas too.

Once I got home, I got a big chunk done of a cocoon I'm testing.  I'll post a picture as soon as the pattern is officially on sale.  It is not my pattern, though.  I'm just the tester.  I'm accumulating quite a few items.  I have been told online selling sites aren't good for selling.  Apparently not many buyers appreciate the time, effort, and money that go into materials.  I hope that the consignment stores I've been recommended work out better.  Now I have to figure out how to prepare for that.  Do I need specialty labels?  What about packaging?  I can't begin to imagine what goes into that.  I feel a trip to those shops is in order to see what it's all about.

How has your weekend turned out?  What's on your hooks?  Any FO's?

TTFN :)

Labor Day -- A Day Off?

It's been a long time since I posted.  Don't be surprised.  I think I've started three diaries over the years and never gotten past the first week.  I really don't have much to say when it's a one-sided conversation, but I'll do my best to add something interesting or fun that I've learned.  Firstly something not fun.  My Aunt Irma passed away May 24th after a long battle with cancer.  She leaves behind a loving husband and two sons.  My older cousin is in his early years of college.  The youngest is in elementary school.  We miss you, Tia...

I've been crocheting up a storm, mostly baby items I've tested for Shifio.  That pile of stuff is just accumulating!  I've made a few other things for friends and family, and I'm knitting a sweater for myself.  That is taking waaaaay too long.  That's because it keeps being put aside, poor thing.  It's meant to be for the warm weather.  I'll finish it when it's too cold to wear.  A technique I've fallen in love with is the Russian Join.  Less ends to weave in!  Just a few finished projects...

I guess you can say I've been busy.  There are also two swaps I'm in on at Crochetville.  One is for a shawl, and one is for a tea cozy.  I'll post them after they've been received.  I am really having lots of fun!  I do work, by the way ;)

For those in the U.S., Happy Labor Day!  Someone once asked me why we would take a day off on Labor Day.  Isn't it the day TO work?  I don't know.  I take Mondays off anyway.  I think I've been robbed.  lol

Good Girls in Sin City

I'm in Las Vegas!  My best friend and I are joining my sister, Lucia, who is turning 36 on Sunday, November 13th.  Can you believe it's 10:30 and we are already in our room?  lol.  I am having crafter's withdrawal!  I brought my laptop so I can squeeze in some work, but my sister is giving me the evil eye; so I'm keeping away from it.  I'm starting to plan my next project.  I promised a friend to make something for a friend of hers.  This friend's friend is a photographer.  She donates her services photographing little angels that are no longer with us. I could not imagine the parents' pain at such a horrible moment.  They can keep a picture of their baby, dressed in something pretty.  I was asked to make something for tiny babies.  I found some sites with patterns for such occasions.  Let's all pray tonight for those angels, please, and their families.  Also, we must not forget our veterans.  Today is Veteran's Day in the U.S.  We cannot take our freedom for granted.  My brother was in the Navy.  I salute him as I salute all soldiers, past and present.

A Kid at Heart

I remember going to school and wishing I had a Hello Kitty tote or pencil or -- anything!  Growing up as the first of six made it difficult to have toys or extra stuff.  I didn't have hand-me-downs, though; so I knew I was lucky.  Now that I'm an adult, I admit that I have lots of toys.  I love going to the theater to watch animated movies or Harry Potter or just kiddie movies.  

So I was very happy to learn about amigurumi.  There is so much out there, free or not.  I have so many projects queued up that I think I'll be busy for many months.  Then there are all the baby items I want to make.  I don't even have children!  lol.  Which means, of course, that I had to make something for any baby, just because.  

Anyone in Southern California?  Isn't the weather just marvelous?  I throw on a sweater and surround myself with yarn and whatever I need to create whatever feels like being created.  Here are two of my latest finished projects.  Actually, make that three.  The all-in-one suit was a gift for a cousin-in-law's first grandchild; the ruffles afghan (photoshopped pic) was not meant for anyone but has been sold to my sister-in-law's sister; and the Hello Kitty was for a very good high school friend (Go, Class of '91!).  

The gorgeous little girl is my brother's 23-month-old baby, Marie.  She wouldn't let go of the Hello Kitty; so she ended up in the picture.  I hope you like them all.  The best is Marie, of course ;)

A Sorrowful Celebration

Many of us go on and on when something unfair or tragic happens to us or our families, but what about the few that keep their true pains to themselves?  It must take so much courage to not tell everyone that they are facing death and the terror that they're feeling, not to mention the pain.  When my aunt was killed this past March, we had just marked a few hours before the seventh anniversary of my mom's untimely passing.  It usually falls upon me to notify the entire family, and it's always quite an undertaking.  I still discover new family members every time I have to give notice, usually about a loved one's passing.

One person I called I knew since I was a little girl.  She's my aunt, I think.  Unusual that I still don't know if we're cousins or if she's my aunt.  My great-grandparents raised many of their orphaned grandchildren, including my mom.  So the lines were blurred, and they're all now my aunts and uncles.  This particular aunt is not so much older than myself, and I am 38 years old.  She has a son in high school and a son in elementary school.  When I called her to give her the bad news about my mom's little sister's murder, she was sad but also, strangely, detached.  Then she told me that though she wished she could be there for the wake and funeral, she was very sick but would try to go.

She had been sick for years, and I didn't know.  Now that she was about to face chemo, she couldn't hide it anymore.  I caught a glimpse of her at another cousin's baby shower, and she was so thin and frail.  Two weeks ago, yet another cousin posted on the family's Facebook walls that she was planning a surprise family reunion for her.  Our ailing aunt had mentioned she wished she could see the family together again.  You see, the doctors have told them that there's little time left.  She is undergoing chemo yet again.  Hope is always the last to die.  But instead of starting this coming Monday, July 25th, it was moved up to this past Monday, the 18th.

I am glad to have a chance to see her and talk to her again, but I am sad beyond words.  I should be grateful... when my mom died, she'd suffered a burst aneurysm and didn't come out of her coma for 10 days before passing.  It is the only time that we are going to have the opportunity to say to any family personally that we love them before dying.  Since 2004 to now, we have lost at least one family member a year.  In 2008, we lost four.  My maternal grandmother's sister lost her husband and then her 30-year-old daughter within one year of each other.  I hope that my cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews manage to make it a lighthearted gathering.  I hate to stress my aunt or make her more scared than she already must be.

God, what should I say?  What can I ask?  Is there anything I can do to make her forget, at least for a while, that this may be our last gathering with her?  God, take her pain away now, and receive her in your celestial embrace when her time comes.  I humbly pray to You that You grant her and her children and husband a miracle.  I humbly beg this in the name of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.