You Go Girl!

Posie Pincushion Giveaway!

Whew!  I was hoping to get this post done this morning.  I've been overtaken by Monday madness!  My family usually spends summer weekends with extended family at my childhood home on the shores of a refreshing lake.  That means Monday is a recovery day---laundry, home-and-garden TLC, and grocery shopping.  When you add that to toting my girls to summer band, a ballet workshop, and a few friend stops here and there, you have the recipe for a Calgon moment.  Some of you are probably too young to remember the Calgon ads. I was a child when they were big. I'm sure some of you will remember, though.  "Calgon, take me away!!" 

Enough prattle!  I'm giddy for a giveaway.

 

I doodle-stitched some posies and turned them into a pincushion using Heather Bailey's pattern that I also used here.   The last pin cushion I selfishly kept for myself.  This one's for you. I hope you like it.

Here's how the giveaway will work...

Leave a comment.

Next Monday, I will print the comments, cut them apart, put them in a hat, and have one of my lovely assistants (a.k.a. daughters) draw one out. 

Not real original, I know.  But here is the kicker.  Tell a friend about my giveaway (if you think it's worthy??).  Have them mention you in their comment.  If you are credited in the winning comment, I will have something fun for you, too.  Perhaps it will be a set of applique dishtowels like this one?  Or, maybe I will have another pincushion ready to go.  Who knows?

Happy Summer,

Cassie

Moose, and Bison, and Bear...Oh, My!

The June snow has melted. Summer is here!  My family decided to spend the first official weekend of summer vacation in Yellowstone National Park.  We always have a good time in the Park.

The geysers and hot pots are intriguing.

 

The wildflowers always put on a glorious display. 

 

 

The vistas are amazing.

My favorite part of the Park, though, is the wildlife.  I am a complete NUT for seeing animals in their natural environment.  We saw lots and lots of animals this weekend.    Yellowstone has a huge herd of elk and bison. 

 

This time of year there are lots of babies...very cute!  We also spotted some cranes, a few bald eagles, a moose, three coyotes, an owl, a badger, and BEARS!  In four days, we spotted eight black bears.  All of them were close enough to see without the binoculars.  The most exciting bear encounter happened on one of our hikes.  We rounded a corner. A mother bear and two cubs were standing right in the middle of the trail. 

We backed away slowly and gave her plenty of space!  She was kind enough to walk out where we could see her.  Eventually, she took her cubs down an embankment and into the river to play.  Bears are way cool.  I was over the moon, I tell ya. I am thankful it was a mild-mannered black bear  standing in the trail. (I know she looks brown...black bear can be brown, cinnamon, or black.  Go figure!)  We've seen a few Grizzlies on our Yellowstone trips.  I fear this story would be a lot different if we had crossed paths with a Grizzly and her cubs!  

Last, but not least, I had some time to doodle stitch in the car on the way to and from the Park.  I have doodled something for you!  I am giddy with the excitement of my very own giveaway. Stay tuned...

Toodles,

Cassie

Go Figure!

Last time I went somewhere, I spent a combined total of four hours on a plane and eight hours in the car.  During the travel time, I completed these two doodles.

On the China trip, we flew out of Vancouver, Canada.  My Montana town does have a small international airport. I think it must have been a lot more economical to fly out of Vancouver because nobody in their right mind would choose to endure an extra customs stop and a L O N G bus trip on the heels of a marathon plane ride! The combined travel time total was 23 hours on the plane and twenty hours on a bus. I only managed to complete one doodle, even though I had way more time.  Go figure! (This picture is a bit wonky, but close enough!)

I'm not sure what I will do with these.  Any suggestions?

Toodles,

Cassie

Sneak Peek

First, I must apologize to those of you who read my last post before the final edit.  I had three comments before I realized I had published.  YIKES!  I forgot to save it as a draft.  Lucky for me, the post was in decent shape when I left it to rest a while (the post was resting, not me...LOL!).  The post was supposed to get a final read through to tame the rough spots and typos before I published it.  When I discovered my gaffe, I quickly tidied up the post and republished. All is well now.  Let's move on to a more exciting topic...

I've been doing  a lot of waiting lately.  That means doodle stitching!  Here's a peek at what I've been up to.

 

It's the first time I've stitched on linen.  I don't know if this is real linen or faux.  It is a Robert Kaufman that I picked up at Selvedge Studio.  Selvedge is the most fun and funky fabric store in town.  I love it in there.  I think I need to enforce an ONLY-SPEND-CASH rule when I go in.  Since I rarely have more than 15 dollars, it seems like a sensible thing to do.  It is so easy for me stop by for a quick peek, lose my mind, and blow my budget!  It is a dangerous place for me, I tell you, DAN-GER-OUS (but SOOO fun)!

I have a plan for this particular piece of stitching.  I get twitterpated just thinking about it!  If it goes as I hope, I will reveal the project upon it glorious completion...well, at least in my mind it's going to be glorious.  We'll see if I can pull it off!

Toodles,

Cassie

Doodled Pin Cushion

These polka dots have been begging me to stitch some little flowers in them.  So I did.  After that, I finally got around to making the pin cushion from the pattern in the Summer 2007 issue of Quilts and Things.  I bought the magazine because it had a little article on Heather Bailey.  The pin cushion pattern is also Heather's.  I don't know Heather, but she has had an influence on me because of her blog.  I'll explain more later in the answers to my tag.  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you...I've been tagged.  My first tag ever. Jenny at Frazzy Dazzles tagged me.  She has some of the cutest hair clips and lot of other fun stuff too.  Check it out.

Here's one more picture of the pin cushion  before I answer the tag questions (Do you like how I put the back of the pin cushion in the front of the picture?  I also forgot to put some pins in it before I took the photo. Blonde moment, I think.)

 

And now for the tag...

Why did you start blogging?

The very first blog I ever clicked to was Hello My Name is Heather.  I had just received my Hancock's of Paducah fabric catalog. I was in love with the Fresh Cut line.  I googled Heather Bailey and ended up at her blog.  Can you think of a better blog to land on for your first time?  I was captivated, but wasn't sure anyone would be interested in what I had to say so I didn't jump right in to my own blog. 

Fast forward a year--I was reading Sandi Henderson's blog. I was certain I was seeing a friend of mine in one of her posts. I was just nosy enough to contact her and see if I was really seeing who I thought I was seeing.  Turns out, her dad is married to a friend of mine from highschool (No, I'm not old enough to be Sandi's mom! Ha,ha!).  Also, my dad and Sandi's dad are summer time golf friends.  I tell you, it's a small world!  Anyway, short story long, I told Sandi I was thinking about a blog and possibly an Etsy store.  She wrote me a very kind email and encouraged me to go for it.  So I did.  The blog is up and going, the Etsy Store is still in the hopper.

How did you come up with you blog name?

You Go, Girl! is a phrase I say a lot to my five daughters to encourage them to be strong, step out, and walk in confidence.  When my small boutique sewing business evolved, You Go Girl! seemed like the prefect name.  Not only was I doing what I encourage my girls to do, but I mostly make items that a girl on the go would use like totes, purses, and wallets.  You Go Girl! seemed like a good fit for the business and the blog.

Do family and friends know about your blog? What do they think?

My blog is still pretty new.  Of course Mr. Handsome and my girls know about.  They like it.  My mom and my sisters know about my blog too. Not a lot of my friends do.  I want to try my wings a bit before I announced to my whole world that I have a blog.

How do you write your posts?

Well, I sit at the computer and type words on the keypad.  The words show up on the monitor and then...Just kidding!  I usually write a post based on something I've been stirring up in my craft room. 

Have you ever had a troll or had to delete an unkind comment?

I've never had a troll. If I did, I would let him live under my deck and teach him how to do my laundry and cook my meals.  Just kidding, again.  No, I've never had a troll or an unkind comment.  However, if I don't control my smartie pants mouth soon, I might have one on this post! :-)

Do you check stats or care how many people read your blog?  If you care, how do you increase traffic?

Wow!  Talk about true confessions...I do check my stats at the end of each day.  I check them mostly because I am curious.  I try not to care how many people read my blog since I write because I like to.  I do love a comment from friendly readers, though.  I treasure them. They make me smile and validate the crazy things I love to do.

I'm not sure what Tag etiquette is.  Is it ok to simply tell someone they're IT?  Maybe Erin at The Vintage Pearl would like to be tagged.  Or perhaps, Marie and her fun blog The Villa Family would like to be IT.  Or maybe you would like to be IT??

Thanks for stopping by,

Cassie

It's a Bird Thing

Maybe it's because I haven't seen a robin yet this year.  Maybe it's because I have a bird thingy going on and I didn't know it.  Whatever the cause, the last several bags I've made seem to have birds on them somewhere.  There's the two bags I posted about here.  And now these three.

Even my doodle stitching has a little birdie in it!

Yep, I must be needing to see my little spring friends. Come home, little robins, come home....

*****NO WAY!!...I took a break while I was writing to go for a refreshing run. Guess what?  I saw Little Robin Red Breast.  He was sitting in a wet snow-covered bush wondering why the heck he came home so soon.  But he's here.  What a great day!!

Thanks for clicking in to my blog.

Later friends,

Cassie

P.S.  Just so you're not confused... Right now, I am, in fact, on vacation with my family like I said I would be.   I wrote this post before I left home (March 21).  On the day it publishes, I should be soaking in the sun surrounded by people I love!!  Ah....

Pins and Needles

Here are the fruits of my first embroidery project.  My whipstitch is a bit wonky, but, oh well!  I spend a lot of time each week waiting for my girls at their various after-school activities.  Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray has changed my outlook on waiting! Suddenly, I don't mind waiting so much.  I can create in the car during piano lessons. I can create at the dance studio while I wait for someone to finish up. I can create anywhere...Woohoo!  Hats off to handwork!  I am a fan.  I'm also glad that my pins and needles have a spanky new place to rest.

Speaking of pins and needles.  We are on pins and needles at this house.  Waiting, waiting, waiting with eager anticipation.  We leave on Monday for a little vacation.  Our first stop is Yuma, AZ.  After a few days there, we will go on to San Diego, CA. I'm looking forward to some sunshine and a hug from my mom and dad.

Thanks for clicking to my blog.  I've written some posts to publish while I am gone. I hope you will come back soon.  Your comments make me giddy!!

Later friends,

Cassie