Operation Christmas Child

Hey All,
With Christmas season in full swing, I thought I'd put this out into the blogger universe. Here at my office we did a collective gift giving project through "Operation Christmas Child".

Samaritan's Purse, an international relief organization, that provides Christmas gifts to the truly needy threw out the world through Operation Christmas Child. The concept is simple:

1. Select the age and sex of a child in need.
2. Fill a shoe box or any similar size box with age appropriate gifts.
3. Print out the label via the website.
4. Drop the box off at any of the hundreds of collection centers.
5. Shipping is handled by either inserting the required $7 (or more) donation in the box or by payment online that also prints the appropriate label and bar code to track the delivery of your package.

It's incredibly simple and easy. Give it thought. My 10 yr old son and I ran through the dollar store in 15 minutes, picked out the gifts, assembled them in the box, printed the label and it was ready for delivery. Pictured above is yours truly packing her box at work. I chose a sugar man, age 2 - 4.

The gift giving time period ends November 23rd, so please give it some thought.

I would love to hear back from you if you decide to give. Leave a comment and link, if you have a blog, and I will post about it.

Thanks all and God Bless.

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Bogus Government task force and mammograms

I haven't sewn anything in a while. As usual, work, kids and more freelance work is messing with my favorite passion. So this post is a rant, not a review.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued new guidelines for breast cancer screening, pushing the start date back to 50 with intervals of every two years. Sites efficacy... balancing effectiveness vs false alarms.

Well thank you very much, God forbid we get a few false alarms in exchange for early detection.
Sorry, but kiss my annual pelvic exam-pap smear-mammogram screening ass!

Tell that mess to my cousin diagnosed at 29.

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It's My Birthday...and toe cleavage.

It's my Birthday!!!! One more year of a blessed life.

It's been so crazy busy! I don't know who the heck put all this crud on my calendar, but I'm glad they did! New church just opened and after 13 years as nomads, it's nice to have a church home. More freelance work than I can handle, including designing the souvenir program for our church dedication ceremony. That was a beast of a project.

Back to my birthday. I think we should all celebrate our birthdays for the entire month. What's up with this one day thing...it takes time to be properly feted and served. I'm all for special treatment just cause you're you. :) Wonder how that'll go over with hubby.

Now on to things I think are sexy. Toe cleavage.


These were a "Happy Birthday to Me" present. I love the little peak-a-bo thing going on.

I've been sewing, just a wee bit. I'll post as soon as I have pics. Toodles.

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Good Hair

Just a little bit of sewing done, which I will post as soon as I get my camera back. Why you ask? I had just completed Simplicity 2642, which I love. Asked my jewel to take pictures so that I could post about it. Handed the camera to her and in transition...it dropped...on a wood floor...and that's that.

So I've got to send it back to Canon and wait. In the mean time, still squeezing in some sewing, but thought I'd put this one up for y'all.

For all the mother's out there who know the meaning of "good hair" and "snatchin' naps", Chris Rock nailed it. He's got a documentary out on the African American hair industry and you know it's got to be funny. Can't wait to see this one, 'cause me and my daughters have spent a fair amount getting our hair fried, dyed and laid to the side.

I'm not going to get into all the social implications and self-image issues... can save that for another post, but a whole bunch of us out there are addicted to that "Creamy Crack"...me included. I'm dieing to hear Nia Long's explanation on "weave sex".

Good Hair

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Eye-Fi Share Wireless Memory Card

Totally off subject...but has anyone tried the wireless memory card?

Seems like a neat convenience, but wonder if it's worth the money. Looked on Amazon through their customer reviews and it's a love-hate relationship. Seems with the updated software that things are leaning to the positive, but would love to hear from anyone who is using one.

http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Fi-Share-Wireless-Memory-EYE-FI-2GB/dp/B000X27XDC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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The Maxi Dress

Sew happy to be back! I lead a blessed life, but even too much of a good thing can be a strain. Between family and work...and more work, I haven't done anything more than brush the dust off my machine. You know a sistah can get on her broom and fly around a bit if she's not happy. Sewing makes me happy, so this was a good lesson in carving out time for myself. So I confess, after seeing Erica B's post on this dress, I jumped on the bandwagon and made one too. Simplicity 3505. I've made this before, but ignored the other views. Mistake.

First, this was uber easy to sew. I chose a drama-free pattern for my entre back into the sewing world. The fabric is a butter smooth jersey cotton knit from G Street Fabrics. There's some synthetic threads in it, but not sure of the percentage. Just a few notes:

quick


easy


hemmed by serging edge and sewing a blindhem on my machine...God that's my plea for a coverstitch machine


let it hang on Isabelle overnight to allow the weight of the fabric to pull the jersey to it's full length

I forgot to trim the seam on the upper bodice so it shows through...dang it!

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Still Alive!

I'm still here. I haven't seen a sewing machine in weeks. Pray for me 'cause work is kicking my ...!

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