Oh, what a night...

Yup! Last night was the Belleair Stroll and it was a fun couple of hours. I'd like to say a huge thank you to my friends that came to help serve punch and put out the homemade goodies, and brag on me to all the customers old and new. Teresa was a great help writing up sales and telling people what we are all about at P.F.T. Then, my sweet friends Carolyn and Melissa came and Melissa surprised me with our Treasure Island friend, Margie. It was more like a party than work! Carolyn brought her punch bowl for us to use, and Melissa provided the tablecloths....remember, all my stuff is still hidden deep inside the storage unit from our move out of the big house.

And,to put the icing on the cake, a lovely woman named Chris from the St. Pete Times came to interview me at 4PM just before the evening got started. I'll let you know when the article is due to appear in the Times. God just keeps blessing me in ways I never dreamed of to promote this little adventure of mine. Come on back and stay tuned for the next installment of Pink Florida Threads.

Deb

"Houston, we have a problem."

Oh, man....have you ever had things just kinda go wrong at the most inopportune moments? Well, I was all set to tell everyone about the Stroll in the Alley tomorrow, Tuesday Dec. 9th from 6-8PM. Today, I've been attending to last minute details for the refreshments we'll be serving, and buying a few more Christmas lights to hang up when it gets dark tonight.

Then, while I was on the phone with my daughter-in-law asking how baby Nate was doing, I spotted it. The fly in the ointment, the last minute problem, the "man, how am I going to fix that?" moment that life sometimes drops in our laps when we have way too much on our plates. Yup! That extra 2 gallon container of Zephyrhills water I kept in case of a hurricane....just sitting there next to my antique 7 foot china cabinet......had leaked. Not just a wee little bit, but almost all 2 gallons had slipped quietly, slowly out of it's plastic container and slid between the very heavy, flat bottomed cabinet and the hardwood floor of our rental dining room.

Hmmm.....mild panic was almost setting in as my mind raced about how I was going to take care of this one. Well, I have just finished emptying the cabinet, my husband and youngest son should be home soon, and when the oldest son gets here from work, we'll have to lift it up, set it on blocks to dry the underside, and survey the damage to the hardwood flooring. Yeah, and I'm expecting close to 1,000 folks tomorrow evening at the shop. This is EXACTLY what I wanted to do tonight.

No time to cook, so, I guess we'll be having hot dogs for dinner tonight....how about you?

A computer tech, I'm not

Oh, man, have I ever learned my lesson. Eight years ago when I was afraid to even turn a computer on, my husband used to say, "Just try, experiment, nothing bad will happen." So, I eventually sat down and let him teach me the basics. I even started to like doing things on the computer. Now, I'm on the third computer of my very own, with each one getting faster and smarter than the one before it. (Ok, maybe the computers aren't getting any smarter, I am just learning how to use them better.)

Then, I decided to try my hand at a blog. Hmmm, it wasn't so bad to set up, and I felt my confidence growing with each little triumph. So, when I read that I could link my website, http://www.pinkfloridathreads.com/ to the blog, I was ready to plunge in with both feet. After all, "nothing bad will happen." Ha!

I clicked that button that was supposed to do something magical to my 2 internet accomplishments, and then.......horrors! No more blog! Yikes! I could feel the panic rising up inside of me, but I forced myself to remain calm. The information I got from researching the blog's site said it could take up to 48 hours for the "connection" to go through. So, I waited for 2 days with an ever growing knot in my stomach.

Then, tonight, I could take it no longer. I swallowed my pride as I tried to walk nonchalantly into my 19 year old son's bedroom to seek his help. Is there anything more pathetic than a teenager's groans about how inept we adults are at something that comes so naturally to them? He ranted and moaned as he sat down at my beautiful computer and ran his hands over his face as I showed him exactly what I had done and how I had done it. After a few more minutes of his grilling me, he masterfully typed in a few things, and voila, my blog was back. I could hardly believe it.

He made me promise to never, ever, ever do that again. I promise....

Whew, it's great to be back,
Eating humble pie,
Debbie

Ta-ta totes

Alrighty now....for those of you who are uninitiated, here comes a little tutorial on bra purses. Most of the purses I make are constructed with 34C or 36C bras that have substantial padding in the cups. The padding prevents the cups from collapsing and looking, well, tacky.

But, the padding also makes the two cups sewn together take on the shape of a small basketball. Hmmmmmm.....that can be a problem when trying to use the basketball, oops, the purse because the contents fall out when the purse rolls on it's side. So, after struggling with a prototype for 2 months, I developed a technique to insert a base on the bottom of the cups that enables the purse to stand up and not roll over when placed on the countertop.

Well, I got bored(who me? never!) making the purses with the base, so, one day I choose an A-cup bra from my enormous tub-o-bras and sewed the two cups together. Ha! Cute as all getout! And, the Ta-ta tote was born. Of course an A-cup purse is much smaller than the regular bra purses, but they are just the right size to hold a lipstick, credit card and your keys. Perfect for a night out on the town. And, you can have one in every color to match every outfit. These two Ta-ta totes are the latest ones hot off the sewing machine. Hope you like 'em as much as I do.

Hot sewin' Mama,

Debbie

Aren't these cute?

There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to sew and produce an overflow of goodies to stock the shop, so, I called on some of my very talented friends to help me. These adorable little containers are made by my friend, Teresa, who not only sews like a whiz, but creates the prettiest things in paper.

We're calling these little gems gift card holders, and they have a bit of velcro which holds the flap in place after inserting the gift card inside. It's almost like a little purse....and you know how much I love purses! They've become so popular that Teresa has to keep resupplying the tree.

Thanks,Teresa. I believe you're a hit! Now, aren't they a lot cuter than using a plain old envelope for your gift card?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Doesn't everyone have a feather tree? Well, Pink Florida Threads does, and it has pink feather lights on it. How fun is that? And, of course, I had to make a P.F.T. style tree skirt for the tree. Batik hibiscus flowers on a background of rick-rack tropical colored fabric sounds just right to me. Tomorrow, we'll put a few more lights around the outside of the door and window. Come in and see the whimsy.

Signing off,

Santa's Florida elf

It's in the genes

I don't know about you, but for me, having my kids and grandkids over for the holidays is what makes the day. Don't get me wrong, I loooove planning the menu, cooking up new and exciting foods, and decorating the house and table "just so". But, living in our rental this year with 75% of our things in storage has cramped my style a bit. So, I scaled everything down and we still had a wonderful day. And, once again, I was reminded that life is all about our loved ones, not the "things" we possess.

This year, Jarrad and Dawn spent Thanksgiving in the hospital. Since the hospital is only 5 minutes from us, Jarrad was able to come to our house just long enough to eat with us but then he was anxious to get back to Dawn and baby Nate. Julie, Cameron and the "kiddles" came over late in the day and hung out and we ate all over again. Jeremy's girlfriend even came over and met our boisterous clan for the first time.(Hope we didn't scare her off!) I love all the chatter and giggling as we each try to get in as much sharing time as possible before everyone has to go back home.

While Julie and her family were here from Sanford this week, she and Sydney, our 7 yr. old granddaughter, came to visit me at the shop on Tuesday. As crazy as I am about sewing and anything fiber related, my daughter Julie never seemed to catch that fever, at least not to the degree that I caught it. Well, I guess it skipped a generation because little Miss Sydney is even more entranced than I was at her age by fabrics, their textures, and all the dazzling colors God has blessed us with in our world. Julie knew it was just too much for her to fondle all the materials in my "stash" and not have something to claim for herself.

So, I opened the cabinet doors and we started designing a bag for Sydney to use to carry her American Girl doll. Well, it was hilarious to watch her try and narrow down all the possibilites. She just wanted it all! Hmmmm, wonder where she gets that from?!? Ok, Ok, I'm not going there. Pretty soon, not only did she place an order for a tote for the doll, but, an adorable little purse would be nice, too, wouldn't it? By now, I believe Julie thought the child would like to sleep in the shop that night, but she managed to get her in the car and drive back to their campsite at Ft. De Soto.

Fast forward 48 hours to turkey day afternoon, and Sydney says something to the effect, "Grammy, I thought you would have my purse done." Ha! We've been busy having a baby, cooking a small feast, cleaning out the dust bunnies, and collapsing in a tired happy heap on the couch. Julie and I just giggled.....guess what I'll be sewing today? I can't stand to disappoint Sydney. Hope you enjoy the picture of Sydney oogling all the fabrics. I think the picture says it all.

Have a great weekend,
Debbie