And Away I Go...

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw Portrait by John Singer Sargent from 120 Portrait Paintings
by Dover Books

Okay, this is it! I'm finishing up the last minute details on the book before I head out to Denver for my trip to National Jewish tomorrow. I'll be doing the bulk of the writing in my down time, then when I get back it's pack up the supplies for the step by step shoot in August and prep for my appearances at the CHA Show!

A huge thank you to everyone who left such warm and wonderful messages on my post yesterday. I can't tell you how much it means to me to be so loved. Truly. I know the most amazing people.

My aunt Shane Marie Devine is a gifted vocalist and musician and she's been playing music for as long as I can recall. Her husband, Charles Forbes, is a world renowned cellist. Together they recently recorded a lovely duet of Pierce Pettis' St. Paul's Song after performing it at the baby shower for my cousin Ethan and his wife Alexis. They're baby Peregrine was born not long after. I've posted the YouTube video below the links, so check it out! I come from a long line of performers and fine artists on both sides, it was pretty cool to grow up surrounded by so much creativity.

My dear friend Andrew Thornton lost his good friend Amelia Geocos several years ago in a tragic accident. He's auctioning off a stunning piece of jewelry for her memorial scholarship fund. Please go bid!

And now...without further ado, please open wide for this week's hearty serving of TastyLinks from The Crafty Bloggers. We've got glue guns and we're not afraid to use them!

The Crochet Dude
Drew is giving away two copies of the new book "Crochet Prayer Shawls" that features ones of his designs! Just leave a comment on his blog to enter!

The Artful Crafter
Yikes! Eileen learns she can’t doodle.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Read a book recommendation (and not just because I am included!) Craft Corps by Vickie Howell.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi shares the results of her needle felting experiment.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Turn your 'worst' traits into positives, Madge shares how in this post about The Tao of Success.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy has her fourth earrings kit and tutorial up, and it has a lovely vintage feel to it.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Over at Craftside there are a bunch of hats from the new book 1,000 Fabulous Knit Hats with a tutorial on how to make recycled sweater giant curly pom poms, a tutorial on how to make a calligraphy award certificate, and a charming twig doll.

Cathie Filian
Cathie shares a template and design ideas for creating snapuit themed baby shower invitations.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi uses a stencil to silk screen this faux necklace t-shirt.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen is excited to announce 4 new videos uploaded. Stop by and check them out, and share them with your friends!

About Family Crafts
Have even more fun doing painting projects with kids by whipping up one or more batches of paint using free recipes.

Need Good Wishes!

It's a Pile Up in the Nesting Box!

As you know, because I've been whining about it for a while now, my plate seriously overfloweth at the moment. I just finished the core projects for the new book, am working furiously on instructions and variation projects and I have to have it all completed by the end of the day tomorrow. I also have to whip up a teen craft project and finish a large scale project for an upcoming blog hop...by the end of the day tomorrow. And I need to have everything together for my appearances at CHA and the plans for the step outs for the photo shoot in August...by the end of the day tomorrow.

This is my new mantra.

I will have it all completed...by the end of the day tomorrow.

On Sunday, I fly to Denver with my lovely mother. She's coming with me while I get poked, prodded and tested for nine days at National Jewish Hospital. Am I excited about this? Well...yes of course I'm excited to be going to the world's best lung center! I'm not so excited about the litany of tests I will be having as well as having to stop taking the medicines that make it possible for me to sorta breathe every day. I am filled with a potent mix of excitement and dread. For those of you who have not gotten the memo, I have suffered with chronic unresponsive severe asthma since I got pregnant with my daughter thirteen years ago. The normal asthma protocol does not work for me and we've exhausted local medical options, so I'm going to a hospital that specializes in 'difficult asthmatics.' I'm an overachiever, what can I say? It's a serious condition, people die from asthma every day. I don't choose to give it power over me. I will get my breath back. Take that, asthma.

There is another thing going on I keep eluding to here. It's a big, horrible, messy thing. It's a situation where I should, by all logical counts, be celebrating a wonderful new opportunity that is tailored made for my unique skills and instead it's turned into a huge mess. I have tried to approach things diplomatically, but so far that's not working out. The whole thing is so absurd that we're all scratching our heads in disbelief. That is when I'm not crying or cursing or feeling like running away and joining the circus.

Soooooo...I've been stressed out. My entire family is stressed out. Everything is up in the air and it's been terrifically unsettling. The only upside is this big messy thing is so overwhelming, it's kept me from thinking too hard about the medical testing! Any prayers, well wishes, good thoughts or happy little clouds you might have to spare would be welcome.

I will be posting my weekly links tomorrow and a Teen Craft project while I'm away. If I have time, I'll try to pop in and say hey, howdy hey, but I don't know if that will be possible. So please chat amongst yourselves until I'm back in the blog saddle again.

Love
Madge