Monday, August 06, 2007

When It Rains, It Pours!

I've been a bad blogger and a bad blog reader. I've been thinking about blogging but life around the Trail Mix house has been just a wee bit nuts for the past few days for several reasons.

In no particular order...

1. My tooth. BORING, I know, but it still hurts. I have another appointment tomorrow morning with the evil dentist's replacement. After a phone call with my mother's neighbour who used to work in a dental office, the verdict is most likely going to be root canal.

2. My dog Dolby got sick on Saturday. We were at a picnic when suddenly he became very quiet and docile. He was drooling (he never does that). After a brief exam, it became evident that his throat was tender. He was chewing up sticks like crazy earlier in the day and I'm pretty sure he had a piece lodged in his poor throat. When we got home we took him to the Emergency Vet Clinic and without doing some pretty invasive tests nothing was determined. The vet didn't think he was in distress and we chose to take him home, get some sleep, and see how he was in the morning. He's on the road to recovery. He's practically himself now. I think whatever it was that lodged in his throat unlodged itself leaving his throat tender. It was a scare though.

3. Most importantly, my father-in-law is in the hospital. He has a very serious heart condition and has had this condition for a very long time. He had some troubles a week ago and his been in the hospital ever since. We've been travelling an hour each way to see him almost every day. Everyone is hoping that he can go home tomorrow. We'll see.

When I've had a moment here and there I've been a little crafty, but it's hard to concentrate on anything for long when you have a tooth ache.

I had hoped to sew buttons on hang tags for my Etsy sales but after sewing buttons on a couple of tags I realized what a waste of time that was. I got the glue out and ended up just glueing the buttons on. What a time saver!! For what they are, I think the glue is just fine.



And then there's the wallets. I've been working on these for most of the day today. Here are my first FIVE attempts!!!



I really do like the cherries fabric with the red polka dots but I was starting to get very sick of it by attempt number six.

I got brave. I knew I was close. I broke out some Kaffe Fassett fabric and held my breath.

The front:



The back (not as wonky as it looks in real life, trust me):



And the inside:



I'm pretty happy (FINALLY!!!!) with the last one. What a journey it was to get there. I KNOW it looks like nothing, and for most of you it would have been easy, but boy did I ever struggle before making something that I was satisified with.

16 comments:

lera said...

I love the wallet (cherry fabric?!?!? are you kidding me?) and tags. Did you make bias tape for the wallet?

Sorry about your tooth, dog, and FIL. I hope good things start coming your way soon. I think the nice-looking wallet is the first of many good things for you! I can just feel it.

(good luck at the evil dentist's replacement.)

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're finally going to the dentist! Your poor Dolby. I'm glad he is better. My best to your father-in-law.

I'm extremely proud of you for sticking with the walleting until you got the result you wanted. And it is very pretty indeed :)

Anonymous said...

#1 - I'm sorry. Be brave. I can offer no dental advice because I am not brave.

#2 - I'm so sorry. Poor puppy.

#3 - Really sorry. Hope that he gets to go home soon and is on the road to recovery.

Wallet's look great. Looks like you've come up with a great produce.

Lastly, go with the glue!

Anonymous said...

Oooops -- #4 - Produce??? I meant product! LOL, proofreading is so underrated.

Sarah and Jack said...

Oh Karyn. That travelling to the hospital and the worry really gets to you, doesn't it? I hope he gets to go home soon.

Anonymous said...

My you've had a lot to deal with recently.

1) when is the evil dentist back in town so you can get this over with? you have me scared of the dentist now! lol!

2) i am so glad Dolby is doing better.

3) and most importantly, get well wishes on the way to your FIL. for his health, and your sanity. those long trips can really wear a gal out.

and way to go on those wallets. they look great.

Mom2fur said...

Just bloghopped over here. I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. I've had about 8 root canals in my lifetime. The latest ones actually went pretty smoothly. I hope you don't need one, but if you do...you'll be out of pain in no time. Toothaches are awful!
Poor Dolby, but I'm glad he's on the mend.
I sure hope your fil has come home by now, and is feeling much better!

Funky Finds said...

i hope your FIL and pooch are ok. i need one of those wallets...mine is falling apart! great work.

Anonymous said...

Hope your tooth will be better soon, same for your dog and FIl (how's kitty, btw?)--sending well & happy thoughts to all creatures great and small at Trail Mix House :o) LOVE the wallets--great design, good for you for keeping at it. They are wonderful, so are those button tags--very fun! ((HUGS))

Katie Jean said...

geez... I hope things starting better for you soon!

The wallets are looking great. I've been trying out a few things around here too.

Maybe one day I'll get to the dentist!

Chara Michele said...

Sorry to hear about your tooth still aching, your dog getting sick, and your FIL in the hospital. It sounds like a rough week... Glad to hear Dolby is getting better! And I hope your FIL gets out of the hospital soon!

The wallet looks wonderful! I think I would have given up quite awhile ago when it didn't work out the first couple times...

Mary Sarah said...

I'm sorry you've had so much to deal with. I hope you can get your tooth fixed soon and feel better. Poor doggy. That is scary to deal with. I hope your FIL is doing much better soon too! As for the wallets, they're great! And no, I don't think I would have stuck with them as long as you have to make them work out so well. Great Job!!!

jessica said...

The wallets are so great! Wow! Sorry about all the other not so great things in your life right now. Here's hoping that things will look up soon!

Mrs.Kwitty said...

Aw--now that is a bad week Karyn, so sorry :-(

Sounds like the tooth will be fine after the root canal (I've had 2, they aren't THAT bad!) and you will feel soooo much better afterwards.

Glad your pooch is on the mend--it is scary when they have something wrong with them--because they can't talk and tell you what's wrong. Sounds like the scare is over, yeah!

Sorry about your Father-in-law...it's so hard when the people we love fall ill. And the travelling and doing the hospital thing is very stressful. I'm sending up prayers this morning for him and your family for comfort and peace and healing.

Your wallet looks great--I love all the compartments. Very complicated design and good for you for having the patience to see it to it's final design!
Smiles, Karen

rohanknitter said...

Life can get so crazy!
I hope your fil, dog and tooth all do better very soon. It must be very hard with the fil and the going back and forth. I hope he's home or soon will be.
If it's any comfort, my at-the-time 11 yo son had to have 2 root canals. (due to falling and breaking his front teeth) We went to an endodontist and it really wasn't bad AT ALL. And this was a TOTALLY dentist-phobic kid. Hang in there.

Anonymous said...

Wow - it looks great! And how nervous, using the valuable KF fabric, but it was totally worth it!

Not sure about your toothy thing. If you can, I say go to an endodontist. My regular dentist took 3 hours to do a root canal. An endodontist takes about 30 minutes. Even, if you need to have a root canal done over because the first dentist didn't do it right. Ask me how I know. Anyhow, if I ever need another one, I'm skipping past my dentist and going straight to the endodontist!