Imagine. Create. Inspire.

So today started as many of my days off do: cleaned house and did the laundry. Then with every surface in my home squeaky clean, I retreated to my office with my cup of coffee and a contented sigh. I decided to dive into some projects that have been "in process" for awhile and much to my satisfaction, accomplished much.

I found myself either finishing projects or getting as much done as I could before I had to take another run to the store and get more of something.:) So, I came down to this project: Alien #16, mine. Admittedly, I had lost momentum on this when I misplaced the perfect button that I had set aside. Though I had resigned myself to using something else, it wasn't the same. And then, a few days ago, the original button showed up under my couch. I have no idea how it got there, but was quite ecstatic to find it. And so, with the button in hand, I went ahead and finished the last one.:) Introducing: THE ALIENS.

And....the button, the losing of which caused me so much angst.....

So now you see how, with the glitter around the outside edge, that button was the perfect button because it was just too galaxyish.:)

At certain points in all our lives, we're struck with a fancy that is likely nothing short of ludicrous. My life is no different and such a fancy struck not that long ago. Shortly before this fancy struck, I had given the rapidly approaching Christmas little thought. I knew I would likely be assigned the name of a family member, given suggestions as to what to do, and would take care of it before I flew out for the family Christmas. No big deal.

And so....it was just a few weeks before Christmas that "the fancy" struck. I had recently seen the cutest line of patterns. Most are stuffed animals and other "critters" that are adorable, however the one that stood out to me was the "that's so ridiculous and weird, it's cute" stuffed alien. Recognizing that I have siblings who enjoy fantasy and sci-fi, I'm sure that this fancy struck many memories and "the alien" was almost instantly endeared to my heart.

The Fancy began: it started with taking the pattern home, with the intention to make one for my younger brothers.....but wait, if I make one for them, my older brother will want one.....and if I make one for him, my oldest brother will want one....and if I make one for him, his wife will want one.....and if I make one for them, their kids will want one.... This thought process continued and it was as this point that maybe my thought should have been "Too bad. Life's not fair." Instead, I went through all members of the family (which is not small) and before I knew it, The Fancy (taking the form of 16 aliens) had been conceived. The birthing process took a little longer.

The first task was pulling together the fabrics for each individual alien. I knew that some assembly line processes would work later on, but when putting the colors together, I found myself working on just one at a time. This was one of the most enjoyable steps in the process. It didn't matter if the greens didn't match exactly, or if I put stripes with polka dots because they were aliens after all! With each fabric I chose, a little character was added and each developed a personality. And just like the little child who dumps the box of crayons in order to find exactly the right color, I quickly had quite a bit of my fabric stash on the office floor. For all of you (I know you're out there) who believe that my home is always clean and tidy, this picture is for you.:)


The next stage was cutting them out and fusing the applique. This was much easier to assembly line and went fairly quickly. Unfortunately, this was also the stage at which reading the directions IN FULL would have saved me quite a bit of time. I found later that instead of cutting out all the alien limbs (legs, arms, and antennae) the instructions said to trace them and then sew them. It was at this point that a few other creative minds stepped in and suggested that instead of following the directions, why not use embroidery software to digitize the limbs, which would allow me to use my embroidery module to sew them out. Oh so much easier!!!


So with all the limbs sewn and turned, I turned my attention to stitching down the applique and stitching in the details. This was a slightly more tedious process, but one color at a time, it got done. In the directions, details were hand stitched. I briefly considered this, but when reality set it, I realized that time was not on my side for such a plan. So instead, I dug up some heavier cotton thread and stitched the details with a triple straight stitch. Worked like a charm and was much more time efficient!


Next was putting all those bits and pieces together. It took some doing to get everything placed right, lest I have an alien whose leg was coming out its side, but it got easier the more I did. I would give each alien a button belt buckle, sew the pieces together, stuff him/her, and sew them shut. Viola! An alien was born! I did run out of ploy-fil at one point had to stop to pick up some more. It's been so long since I used poly-fil, I have to admit I didn't even know it came in a bag that large!


Thus, The Fancy was birthed and resulted in 16 adorable alien babies, each unique with a quirky personality. It was quite literally days before Christmas when the last ones were born, but it did get done. I added a tag, some ribbon, and some wrapping paper, and the alien invasion stealthily crept beneath the Christmas tree. While they greeted some rather perplexed persons when opened, they were a hit overall; indeed, it was hard to get anyone to share long enough for others to see what some of the other aliens looked like. There was a great deal of satisfaction in watching my youngest niece carry hers around for the rest of my visit and in finding out that several of the new alien parents had taken theirs to bed with them. And so, my harebrained fancy resulted in much joy and many smiles, which made all the (at times tedious) work entirely worth it.

I am someone who tends to be very goal-oriented and as such tend to have a hard time living in the moment and enjoying the things that are in the "now." Often times my mind moves on the the next phase, the next thing, the next challenge, even before the current one is over. While this is not always a bad thing and has served me well at certain times in my life, I come to a juncture where I've had to work on training myself to remember that "now" only happens once and that I'll only have one "today" no matter what tomorrow does or doesn't contain.

In light of that mindset, I try to be more aware of the little joys in life, the things that make me smile or laugh "just because." This afternoon I experienced one such unexpected little joy. I came home this afternoon after some errands with a friend to a box at my front door. Now let's face it, I like to receive any kind of mail that's not junk mail or bills, but I was especially looking forward to this one as I knew it contained some music I had requested from my brother. However, upon opening the box the first thing my eye fell on was this note written in very familiar handwriting.


Now in my family, anywhere where "warm," "fuzzy," and "food" appear together, there's some serious chocolate nearby.:) I was not disappointed.


Admittedly, I don't totally understand the mashed potatoes. I'm sure there's a story behind them; there usually is behind these kinds of things.:) Regardless, this was a warm and fuzzy moment for me without even tasting anything! Thanks guys - you're awesome!