The Light 10/15/2014

The Light…

Thank you for the time and dedication put forth to help us all in the journey, The MS Journey.

We all carry a different type of torch:

A Night Light for those after our time who could be cured and spared the grief of daily life with MS!  We want a healthier world for you...free of the pain and fear we carry.

Lightening Bolt to bring a cure today, for all Autoimmune Diseases, for all those affected.

And a Rainbow of Orange Color to those before us, who weren't given the opportunities that today's technological advancements have afforded our Generation of MS Conquerors!

And finally but most importantly:

 The Sun Rising Light of Mother Nature, shining bright as her role in celebrating the perfect MS CURE PARTY!

Our invitations to attend the MS Cure Party are on the horizon, showcasing the guest(s) of honor:

Family, Friends, MS Community, All Caregivers, and Supporters!

You deserve to be the guest of honor at the event we all look forward to attending.

Stay Well My Friends,

Smile at the good times, and laugh at the MS Monster when it tries to takeover.  Together we ALL Beat The MS Monster! 

Thank you for being Our Community.... we love all of you!

Terri Yonemura

Don't Mess with my "zen" thing

I am going to try and write down my story, of this new path...

Today. Was a 2 seizure day so far. Yet, once they are over I am usually able to go along with my day. Sometimes there is limping or very sore muscles after, but for the most part I can go along and finish my agenda as planned.

We are in the middle of moving severL things around in the house involving re-organizing our master bedroom and switching some of the furniture around in both of the other bedrooms. The exciting part is when complete I will have my own sewing craft room/ guest room and our master bedroom will have a real restful retreat area. Both of these projects are so exciting and I'm anxious to have my sewing area all done to try and inspire me again to quilt!

So as the "zen" appears in our house, I hope it flows into our heart, and soul.

Life changes

This past yr. And half I have went back to work full time in an accounting position, had the unfortunate loss of 5 family members , and now fighting the health care system on what has turned out to be the scariest health event I have had to face so far in my life.

I guess if you take anything away from these lessons it would be of appreciation. Love of family and friends close to your heart, and acceptance. Learning to face uncertain medical times is not something I thought the past few months, would bring, especially on the heels of so much personal loss in our family. Losing my Dad, Brother, Grand Mother, Aunt, and Great Aunt all within a few months of each other taught me that life is a precious gift, that fleets often far before we are ready. Each of these people had a unique purpose on this earth and in our hearts, and their passing brought our family together in a strong bond.

Being recently diagnosed with a benign 7mm partial calcified meningioma brain tumor has really thrown me and my family into turmoil. Then to hear my current symptoms might be originating from even more ailments have us perplexed. And to top off the situation with our current health care restraints, governing a broken HMO insurance plan, it s difficult to not be completely overwhelmed in addition to feeling bad with all the symptoms that are going untreated until a final diagnosis can be determined.

I am trying to be a well informed patient, and am learning that one must stay on top of these doctors to ensure adequate care. The statement " You must be your own advocate", is so very true!

Button/Bow display ribbons and Altered Journals

Journals and more Journals!

Do you take the time to write down your thoughts? I have always encouraged my students to document, write down motivational thoughts or ideas, and to write the stories when they are in our minds of day to day life. I don't know what it is about this "adult onset memory loss" dilemma, but in experiencing it myself... I know it is very frustrating to remember things from years ago... and having trouble remembering an event from days ago!

The value of a journal, sketch book, idea book, recipe, diary or any other form of capturing ideas and even to do lists keeps life sane. What fun to go back and reflect, add in little notes here and there, and see what did or didn't go as planned.

Individual slips of paper that get trashed upon the completion of the list, seem wrong! To throw away a day to day agenda, seems like it didn't matter. So, keep a journal book near, and see what you can capture. It puts a sense of order to life, a sense of purpose for the thoughts and ideas....

Our soccer team parent bought this great ribbon and supplies for each parent. She asked me to sew these little goodies up for her. What a great way to organize buttons, bows, and any sort of collection that needs a great way to display. I love the idea, and will incorporate this idea into my inventory for sale. So if you have a need for a button, bow, or barrette organizer... give me a call.

This weekend is the Olivenhain Craft Fair. The weather is due to be chilly on Saturday, so will be a great day to "throw on the sweater" and come see what all the artists have to offer. For more info: http://olivenhain.org/


I am running a "come visit Yono's Creations" Blog special. If you have a blog or website and will add a link or mention Yono's Creations, and if you click on the "follow" button ... I will send you a FREE recycled notebook... So then you have NO excuse to jot down those memories, to do lists, recipes, and memories in a permanent little book. To receive your goodies: Follow the Yono's Creations blog, link in your own website or blog, and then email me your address so I can get your notebook to you. You can email me directly: terriy@myctmh.com


Please share with family and friends, I am offering this to the first 20 people who contact me. I look forward to hearing from you. Please leave a comment here, and let me know you would like to participate. I would love to hear from you!


Challenge for the week: create something out of your comfort zone. My challenge this week to my crochet and fiber art class is to create a fabric collage. When they complete their projects I will photograph the final products.... We are making mini wall hangings with our fabric collages, it should be great fun to see what is created!

Have a great day, embrace this holiday/fall season by enjoying the sites and sounds of the season, and remember to share your art!

Soccer, Japanese Erasers, and Christmas Twirl Skirt Set

This little Twirl skirt is off to it's new owner. I am working on all kinds of holiday gift items and will be showcasing at several shows the next few weeks:

If you are looking for a little outing next Saturday, come visit me and many other artists at the Olivenhain Arts and Craft Fair. Saturday, Nov 14 from 9 am till 4pm. ( At the old meeting hall on Rancho Santa Fe and 7th Street). I am hearing great things from many of the artists, and this would be the best place to search for very affordable Hand Made items for holiday shopping.

At this time of year, it is so much fun to attend these shows and see all the talent that is available in our local area! I am in awe at each show of the creativity that goes into each artists works....

So has your home been invaded by the "Japanese Erasers, Craze"? This collection has grown beyond the shadow box on the wall, to taking over adjacent bookshelfs... and the craze is still a huge driving force for the 11 yr. old in our house! The one time I hear no grumbling about going grocery shopping is if we are headed to the Japanese Market, where she is in hopes of adding to her collection. You have to admit, sure beats the "trading card craze" of years past! And the price is right, very inexpensive hobby!

End of soccer season is here for the Black Pearls. We had our pizza party today after the game, and trophy time! Next weekend is the tournament and then we bid this season, farewell... with mixed emotion! Great to have such a wonderful group of girls this season, and we will miss our weekly time at practice and game day on Saturday's.... but, nice to have some down time too, especially those early Saturday am game times!

The weather has been cooler and slightly crisp. Even though we don't experience true "Fall changes" here in Southern CA, we do get to add a scarf and a light weight jacket now and then... I think this year, Thanksgiving is receiving the honor that it should! We all have so much to reflect on during the tough year that is passing, and knowing that as families, we are all paring down some on extravagant expenses. I think these tough times, are bringing back the true meaning of the holiday season! We are all learning to find pleasure in the simpler things of life, and for that I am grateful...... So let's make our "Thanksgiving list" and when times seem overwhelming, maybe we can look at our list, and take a breath...... knowing in the end, it is health and happiness... not all the material things we had all grown so accustomed to in years past, that makes life special.


Happy Holidays!

Pictures From Sunday's Halloween: Mermaid Mercantile

Hand Painted pictures frames accented with very cool retro stamps... did you even know I did some painting work?

This very cool old baby bed frame is housing memory boxes, handmade baby blankets, and recycled record album set crafted into cool collection bowls and journal books... very nifty guy gifts.

Go completely GREEN, with these Cotton double edged napkins. Perfect for sprucing up your table for the Holidays. And at $2.00 ea... what a great buy for a lovely gift!

This wall hanging took hours and hours of piecing work. Each little square was hand cut, and pieced. The entire piece was quilted. and is a very gorgeous light catching piece for a bedroom or bath area.

Check out the new Booth Space, Debi from Out of the Blue helped me work it over... and I think it looked amazing! This venue is a fun place to be for the day... not only as a customer but as a vendor... we all had a great time!

Ahh, the soul of my sewing... Twirl Skirts. This one is All Charlie Brown... and it brings Thanksgiving and the Great Pumpkin on with a bit of retro fun! I hope some little girl gets to twirl around in this one very soon...

The wine bag collection found a new place to hang on this cool vintage bench.


The weekend was exhausting as usual. The ladies were all amazing, and we will all be back next month. Look for details soon. The dates of the next Mermaid Mercantile in Solana Beach are: Nov 28 and Nov 29.... the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving.... the BIGGEST shopping weekend of the month. Remember, give handmade. Supporting a local Mom who works from her studio/kitchen table is putting the money back into your local community! All of the artists work many long hours producing these hand made pieces, then setting up at local venues..... each sale is treasured and very needed for her to stay in business. Support handmade....Please share.

Wine Bag Party

Fall is here, if you don't count those 80 sometimes near 90 degrees days that pop in now and then... Halloween is just around the corner. I love Fall, I love the change and the crisp air. In the next round of Kids College we are going to be learning some weaving and I can't wait to pull out the great oranges, browns, and other great Fall colors. Nothing beats pulling on my favorite shorts, a T-shirt and topping it with a light weight sweat shirt or button down shirt... yes, I know fancy right? But, ahh... that is almost as good as comfort food to me!


On the crafting scene lately it has been wine bags, scads and scads of wine bags! I think I am starting to dream "techno colored" wine bags. These bags for me are a means of mixing recycled fabrics that I search out from garage sales, outlet stores, and friends give me from discards... and of course my own closet... and yes... don't fret I wash and properly clean before starting each project... my favorite are old JEANS! I love taking old jeans and using the legs for the inside lining of the wine bags, they make WONDERFUL linings! The outside of the wine bags are an inspiration from my Granny Fryer's patchwork style of quilting using fabrics that I purchase from travels, from coupons ( I am an AVID coupon fabric shopper) and again from garage sales, and friends sharing with me the discards... all of these treasures are then sewn up "quilt style" into my own designed wine bags...

Best part of the wine bags, they are the "IN VOGUE" of the "GO GREEN SCENE"... what better way to keep your wine nice and chilled, give it to family or friends in a completely hand crafted bag that can be used over and over in all natural COTTON fibers! and when soiled just machine wash ( delicate please!) air dry....and use over, and over, and over... how GREEN is that!

Telling off on myself... after a few years of full time sewing... I recently was making up several twirl skirt sets ( photos will be up soon) that I will be selling this weekend at the Mermaid Mercantile... and all of a sudden while using the ruffler foot my machine started going completely haywire! I had just recently purchased new materials including some threads.... and couldn't imagine what in the world was going wrong... I cleaned everything out... digging out the mess out of the inside of the machine... and started over... Within a few minutes, again a complete uproar of thread above and inside my machine occurred... I was going insane! So I spent the better part of the day doing this over and over... deciding my wonderful Bernina sewing machine was now sick and going to have to go see the Bernina Sewing Machine Doctor. Bright and early the next morning, I pack my sick machine up, drive it over to the doctor, and within 2 seconds they say... ahhh that's your problem your running Polly/Cotton 50/50 Blend Thread instead of 100% Polly or 100% Cotton Thread.... I said your kidding me? No I'm not.... But, yes... they were right... with my "decrepid" eyes I had recently purchased a blend thread not realizing it...as I couldn't read the fine print... UGHH!!! So, I have to say where is the petition to the sewing thread manufacturers to put the details on the thread in large print???? :)

So back up and running, I am turning out wine bags, twirl skirts, even working on a mermaid doll... yes, I said a Mermaid Doll... any help in this catagory would be GREATLY appreciated! I am trying a "rag style" simple, cloth doll... and not sure yet on the proper size.... still in the "development" phase. Also working on some holiday napkin and place settings, and even a quilt.

I attended the Wine for Art auction last night for Soroptimist International of Oceanside/Carlsbad held at the Art Museum in Oceanside. The event was to raise funds for local art scholarships to be given within our community, and I was very proud to be a part of this organization of hard working women. The current display in the museum is from :
Fabric of Survival: The Art of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz was absolutely heart tugging from an artists perspective as well as a part of history that we should never let be forgotten. What an amazing story put into fabric. It is only here until the 25th ( later this week) so, if possible please go see this wonderful collection.

So, for now... get crafting, try something new! And remember to smile!