Tejidos Bukidnon booth at Kahimunan Mindanao Island Fair 2008 (WINNER Best Styled Booth, Furniture Category)

About two weeks ago we joined the trade fair at Cagayan de Oro City organized by the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry). My mom’s company, Tejidos Bukidnon, which specializes in natural, hand-woven floor coverings got invited to join APFTI(Advocate of Philippine Fair Trade, Inc.) last year. One of the organizations’ services (free) is product development and design. And their designer made us do furniture (as a result of assessing our available materials). All though we had around two months to do the prototypes in time for the show, we did all this in a week or so. It had been quite a ride the last two months for all of us, but we made good with our promise to support Fair Trade practices.

And the booth winning was a pleasant bonus and wonderful surprise!

When I was 5 months pregnant, my baby was diagnosed with hydrohephrosis, a common kidney disfunction. From the moment of his birth on June 3, it had been a whirlwind of ultra-sounds, tests and antibiotics. The first week of July, while being scheduled for a test, he got a high fever and was admitted into the hospital, barely a month old. On the same day, my father left for Manila to meet my mother who we had asked to come home early from her work in Alaska (along with my younger brother and sister). They were coming home because my father was not doing well. A week later, we get released from the hospital with no answers to the cause of the hydronephrosis, but minus the fever. In Manila, my father collapses and is brought to the ER, where they do an emergency drain on his fluid-filled lungs.

Husband, son and I flew to Manila a week after. Papa had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last September 2007. The past year had been a whirlwind of chemotherapy, stem cell therapy, my pregnancy, the wedding, births (my sister in December and me in June) and work at the ranch. He even managed to go to Texas last March for the Livestock show. He went thru all treatments like a breeze, never landed in the hospital. Our days were filled much activity. Papa wanted to live, and live he did.

On July 26, I gave him a kiss goodbye and we talked about seeing him back at the ranch. I had to go home to go back to work on all his on-going projects, and to prepare for his return.

On July 28, his and mom’s 29th wedding anniversary, my father, at 76 lost his bout with lung cancer. With much grace.

He had opted for “no heroics”, and till the very end only had oxygen attached to him and nothing else. He ate thru his mouth, made the decision on all his medications, slept sitting down (he couldn’t lie down, for fear of a cough attack), did his business on a commode and not on the bed, had himself shaved and groomed every morning, said his prayers first thing in the morning and night. 24 days in the hospital, filled with visitors from all walks and all times of his life. Big people, small people. All there to say goodbye to this man who had loved them all.  And he entertained them all. All the way to the end, at which he finally laid down and closed his eyes. 

His last words to the priest who gave him his last rites were, “Father, I’ve had the most wonderful life.”

A great man. A gentleman. A wonderful human being. Papa.

And life begins again….

May we continue to love and live the way you did, with much Faith in God and in the same way, be blessed to go with the same Grace.

I will be back soon. So much is going on.  

I didn’t take a close-up but the ♥beads (you can see it on the left-most top corner) were so pretty! It was like oddly shaped tear drops, each one unique. It didn’t stay long like this though, for I couldn’t wait to create my very first Dottee:

The pink beads are from this swap. And the stitch I used to create the curls in her hair (top-most, right corner in photo) is called a Cast-on Stitch. 

Dottee Dolls are artdolls born out of the imagination of an Australian lady artist named Dot, and has spread everywhere (specially on Swap-bot!). I found my first one very first Dottee a joy to make, and there are a lot of Dottee inspiration (and swaps) to keep me wanting to make more:

I am in love with the bee dottee! And I did find out that the lovely maker of the dottees in the photo (except for last one) is my partner in an on-going Owl swap Lucky is me!

1. Cowgirl Dotee Doll, 2. Bee Dotee Doll, 3. Back of Bee Dotee Doll, 4. Dotee Doll from Robin T.

Mermaid dottees are quite popular on Swap-Bot.

1. Dotee Doll For Robin T., 2. Winter Dotee Doll, 3. Mermaid, 4. dottee doll

I am happy some wonderful lady shared something like this, and I shall help her along by sharing Dottee on my blog too. So whether you want to make for yourself, swap or give as a gift, try it out and Make one today!

It’s for Crochet Along’s Small Crochet theme, and was inspired by this post at the site. The one on the left is the Spiral Scrubbie. I cannot for the life of me remember the URL of the other pattern and I didn’t get to bookmark it since it was a PDF and I saved it. I will post if I can find it again.

Tawashis are used as dish scrubbies And I did try using it as such (I made another one for that purpose hehe) but I did not quite feel its cleansing power. But making them is quick and easy and they are eye candy, so my tawashi endeavors are far from over.  

Tawashis crocheted with left-over acrylic yarn

And then there’s Flickr I would love to try out the photo in the middle using this pattern. And for more dischcloths (and crochet) inspirations, you can drop by Laura Lynn’s (thekidneybean) blog.

1. fishy tawashi, 2. tawashi flower, 3. woven tawashi, 4. Pink Flower Tawashi, 5. tawashi duster, 6. Tawashi, 7. Tawashi, 8. Tawashi – Leaf, 9. Tawashi – Ball, 10. kuma tawashi, 11. DSCN4111, 12. pink flower tawashi, 13. Bunny Tawashi14. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

The curtains did get done in time, and the kitchen. And the guests enjoyed their stay. My back ached for a week after their visit. Then it was Holy Week and friends and family were all together here. I caught up on a lot of sleep. My WIPs are still WIPs and I have finished other projects instead. Hubby moved all my stuff to the other room since my craft materials were slowly taking over ours hehe. Now I have to work there and can only bring in a little project to the bed when I rest.

And the most wonderful thing happened! All my swap mail reached the ranch! When I joined Swap-Bot I was a bit apprehensive that maybe the packages won’t reach me since there is something quite unreliable about the Philippine Post and mountain deliveries. But they all got here! And I squealed with delight at every parcel. And my hubby finally believed that crafty swaps really existed.

Matchbox Full of Buttons received from InceyWincey. There are wonderful buttons inside ofcourse! 

And even way better, my packages reached their destinations too!

Baby still kicking like crazy

Started embroidery work on the amigurumi doll.  It has to be done as I go along otherwise it would be difficult to embroider once the shape tapers off.

Today we started work on the curtains again. Lucky for me, my fashion designer cousin had just quit his job to work on his thesis, and has come over to stay for a month. There was a lot of cutting, and formulating of pleats. We should be able to finish this before the guests get here .

Almost finished crocheted chucks prototype. (The knitting needles are from the project beside it :-D and has nothing to do with this project).

Finished working on the embroidery thread that was all tangled up and organizing it into cute little thread cards for Crafty Odds and Ends Swap on Swap-bot. I love making the little card holders! So fun. I ♥ tiny things.

And ofcourse we went to mass today. Tomorrow is the beginning of another week.

Thank you to Michelle of the Embroidered Buttons Swap for letting me join in!

Embroidery pattern taken from one of my mom’s old books that was lying around. 

I was up all night last night finishing one set of curtains for one of the rooms. Only to find out this morning that i needed more than 2 panels per window. Argh. They are pretty though but the canvas is quite heavy to work with. And tonight I am suppose to be working on some more since it has to be hung by the morning of the 13th. I am not panicking (yet): 17 guests, 3 days. Working in a ranch can be quite hectic .

Baby is moving well and good and I am short on breath most of the time. I am having a hard time bending and my back hurts like crazy. When I wake up in the mornings I feel like I have been beaten up! Just 8 more weeks. I think. It has been quite hard keeping the gender of the baby from everyone else! Hubby and I decided to surprise everyone instead.

It is land-prep time in the farms now so hubby has been busy, and I am suppose to be very busy too with my councilwoman duties and work in the ranch. But the more I am itching to do some craft challenges! Just small, doable ones. Like ones I can work on right now . It’s a Friday night and instead of working on the curtains, I decided to reward myself and be online tonight, and joining something like the Embroidered Buttons Swap hosted by greetingarts :-D. Check out all the pretty buttons here! 

I sewed 60 little bags for our wedding favors, hand-carved the stamps used on the fabric and the labels. It was filled with bread sticks and a little container of strawberry jam made by my grandmother.

I sewed the flower girls’ headbands (and mine), and my after-wedding dress. And a dear friend made us this cake:

We recieved help from so many wonderful people who loved us. His family, my grandparents, the ranch crew and our dearest friends helped us out with food, decorating and just being there. We feel very blessed to have such support. And forever greatful.

And today we found out we are expecting a boy.