Erica's Essential Suchness

Sneak peek!

2011-12-31T14:25:00.001-08:00

My craft room is SO close to being done! Too bad there was no sunlight...

I'm in the mood for yarn...

2011-09-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Again! I thought I'd share something I made last week. Or was it this week? Anyhow, I may have mentioned before that I like to collect old windows. I had jj put little screws on the bottom to hang little things, but I haven't gotten around to making anything cute to hang. However, I did make this mini bunting for the one. I think it looks adorable...really gives it some character, as my mom might say. I love projects that can be completed in a small amount of time. You know me...that's about the only way anything will ever get finished! This one was way-fast, even with the 1/4" binding.

We went to Vancouver, BC, recently and I went to Urban Yarns, a very cute little shop and bought this:

Why is it that I always have the urge to work with yarn when the weather warms up? (Maybe because I'm crazy...) I love when they ask you what you're making. Will I ever be able to give a specific answer to that question? It's not that I don't have specific projects in wait, but I don't know which project this yarn will end up in! :)

I'm actually working on a blanket though. I have a high failure rate on large projects, but I'm really trying on this one. I started off striping with complete randomness, but as I arranged the balls of yarn I found I really liked the progression of similar colors. I'm much happier with the new striping, but I'm not about to redo the old...

This will be for my girl, I think. It's definitely on the girly side. And it's going to have an excellent story behind it..."See this tight part? That's when my mom worked on it during my first week of school!" Yes. My tension created a much tighter tension. So I have a tight, though beautiful, section of stripes that cause the first section of stripes to ruffle a bit. (No, I'm not going to show you.) But you know what? I'm not fixing it! Not only would that not be my style, but it really is a cute story. Now if only I could stop gritting my teeth... :D

I rather like the ends. Maybe I'll do a fringe...

I noticed that all my pictures looked blurry like the top one here. The bottom picture is uploaded directly to Blogger, whereas the other I put on flickr first. This uploaded one is much more crisp. I guess I'll stick to this method. By the way, I fixed all the others.

Up and running!

2011-09-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello! According to Blogger I've been without a computer for more than two months, and that's about what it felt like. At first it was slightly refreshing not having a computer...though in what capacity, I don't know, because I still had my phone. But you know, after a while that tiny screen starts feeling really tiny. So here I am, with a new screen (though different, and not as brilliant as my old one) and a newly-fixed internet connection. (Yup, that 'broke' too.) I must say, it feels really good to look at a large screen and type on a real keyboard. Aaahhhhh...

So I hope you've all been having a better summer that I have. Oh wait! Summer is over now, isn't it? Craziness! I don't really know how I feel about that. I love fall weather, but I'm not ready for the early sunset. Really, really not ready! Are you ready for fall? (Or spring for my opposite-end friends.)

jj was going to mow the lawn, so I gathered the slugs and brought them to safety

I wish I had something wonderful to tell you about. Actually, I might...but you know I don't remember anything. So for now I'll just say "Hi, I'm back!" And I'll talk to you later...

Today is a special day

2011-07-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hello! I haven't been around for a while because June pretty much sucked the life out of me. Oh it was a horrible month! And what better way to send off a month than with a broken laptop screen. Ahh, no better way. So this will probably be a pictureless post.

I have so many things I could share, but let's wait until I can do so with my regular camera and keyboard, shall we? (jj keeps interrupting me with text messages!)

So, you want to know what's special about today? Today's my 12th wedding anniversary! And that means that tomorrow will be the first day of our 13th year! (13 is my lucky number!) I don't really expect anything amazing to happen, it just makes it special.

Want to know something else that's wonderful and unintentionally timed perfectly? Well, I decided to start eating right months ago and I'm officially my pre-pregnancy weight!!!! Woo! (Please note that I said pre-pregnancy, not pre-marriage. I have a bit to go before that happens!)

Of course that means new clothes, as my other pants very literally fall off while I'm walking! :) I can't tell you how wonderful it was to walk into my old favorite store (Eddie Bauer) and fit into whatever I tried on! (not to say that everything looked good, of course! ;D) It feels amazing!

Okay, that's enough for now. Thank you for sharing my joy. Hope you have a lovely day! I'll be back with some sharing as soon as we get my poor computer fixed...

I need to vent!

2011-06-05T05:05:00.000-07:00

I apologize in advance. There will be no fabric talk, no yummy pictures, but I need a shoulder or 100 to cry on. I think anyone with a daughter thinks she's the most beautiful girl in the world, and I'm no exception. My sweet girl loves pink (yay!), she's goofy as can be, and a few months ago her hair finally grew out long enough that I could get her a fabulous haircut. Sounds silly, right? But it truly looks great on her...it's the kind where the back is a little shorter than the front.

I bet you think you know where I'm going with this, because I know when I was a little girl I decided to 'give myself a haircut.' My poor mom must have been sick! But no, there's more... The kids were over at jj's dad's house for a sleep over. They love that, and it makes for an excellent date night for jj and me. So yesterday we went to pick them up and I walked in to see my little girl with bangs! Awkwardly-short, uneven bangs with a curled-under 'bob' hairdo! He took them to get their hair cut! I feel sick, just sick! It'll take a year to grow those back out again, and my baby starts school in September. I don't even know how to cope with this! If she had taken the scissors to her own hair I would be no less sad, but at least it would make sense, but this... (deep breath)

Thank you for listening. I'm trying to get it out of my system and move on, but needless to say, it's going to take some time. :(

Giveaway Alert!

2011-05-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm blogging just to enter a giveaway! :) But you see, Pink Castle Fabrics is giving away 5 half yards of AMH's new loulouthi, and I feel that I, and a lot of you, need that!

So here are the choices.

(Pics taken from the Pink Castle blog. She kindly numbered them for us.)

My picks are 1, 5, 6, 17 and 25. Man, it's hard to choose! I planned to pick the large-scale stuff. Why, you ask? Because I just bought the entire fat quarter bundle from her! Woo! :) And I have a feeling the big prints are really big, so I'll need more! But...I really love #17. And do I need 3 colorways of the same print? Shouldn't I mix it up? It's not fun being indecisive...

Which ones would you pick? Seriously, I'd love to know...

Good luck if you enter! And thank you Jennifer for the heads-up!

Brr!

2011-05-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hello there! You know the other day, Friday maybe, I had the desire to blog. You may know that it takes a lot for me to blog. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm slow, or because I have nothing of worth to say? Anyway, wouldn't you know that Blogger was down for maintenance that day!

Today is a chilly. Chilly and rainy, and my mouse hand is freezing! I'm considering baking some cookies, but this type of day enhances my laziness. Though the warmth of the oven is tempting! ;D

So this is what I've been up to.

You might remember I started out with this...but it felt a little buzy. I rather like the white edges.

As you can see I decided to add the red to my runner. I'm glad I did. Technically, I can call it done as I backed it with a fusible stabilizer. No one will see the back. But I did buy some felt, and I could stitch around the hexagons. We'll see.

At the top you can see the legs of Corry's lovely bird. I couldn't seem to get a straight shot, this was the least crooked,

That's about all I've done this past week. I haven't started the back of the pillow yet, but I have an idea of the layout. I'm want to use the leftover squares. I think I'll do a zipper this time too, as it'll make the pattern easier to accomplish, and I'm all about easy! ;)

I never did tell you about our lovely weekend trip. We love little weekend getaways. It seems we don't do it as often as we used to. The kids had a great time playing on the beaches, even though it was 50 degrees and often there was a slight, cool breeze.

picnic anyone?

Until next time...

I love my stash...es

2011-05-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

Our friend Lemonade is such a happy pillow

Can a girl have too many stashes? Yeah, maybe, but I love my stashes. My beads, my yarn, my scrapbooky goodies, and my fabric...ooo, my fabric, that might be my favorite one. So why am I talking about them? Well because the other day I was in my local craft store. (It's what I'll call a high end craft store, with the same stuff you'll find in a local quilt, bead or scrap store. I love it....maybe too much.) Anyhoo, I needed some interfacing...just interfacing. I purposely avoided the bead and scrapbook section, but alas! Right in front of the cash registers was a trunk show of wonderful beads! So I reluctantly looked...well you know the end of that story! I swear I cannot go to that store without spending more money than I have. Ugh!

It looks unfocused, but if you click to enlarge, it's better.

I don't need any more beads! What I need is to use them! I thought I'd show you some of my favorites, or should I say my favorite color...seafoamy, turquoisy green/blue. Nice decisive label, eh? :D I'm always drawn to this color. It's a sickness.

Speaking of sickness, I've also been acquiring fabric. I bought Denyse Schmidt's Joann line. I know there are those who poo poo Joann. I can't say I like the store, but it is Denyse after all. I did feel a little odd paying $10 a yard though...ugh, typing it affirms how odd I feel about it. That's more than I'd pay online, or maybe even in a quilt store. Yuck! But I love it... ;)

As you can see, it's reminiscent of some of her older stuff...

new, old, old, new

I also bought her Hope Valley line... Yum!

Aaanndd, I bought Patricia Bravo's Bohemian Soul line...

wow, the bottom of this picture is super out of focus

Aaanndd, I bought some scrap packs from Hawthorne Threads. Now don't go buying them all, I want more too! I'm slightly obsessed with them. I've been burned by crappy scraps before, but these are amazing! (says me)

I'm making a pillow out of some of them...

Speaking of pillows...my Lemonade won the Blogger's Pillow Party! Yes, WON! I couldn't believe it. That feels odd too... Let's add another oddity, shall we? jj really likes it. As in, I got more of a reaction out of him from this last-minute pillow than I've gotten from anything I've made before! I think it's the linen...

Lemonade

2011-04-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hello! I can't believe it's been over a month since I blogged. Long story short, I had a crappy March and I've been busy doing nothing. Except for my pillow for the Blogger's Pillow Party. Yes, a late entry! And not the entry I intended. No...this morning, with tears, I realized that the pillow I've been thinking about making for months, and perfect for the Pillow Party, just wasn't going to get done in time. I procrastinated, plain and simple. But hopefully you'll see it later, assuming I ever want to touch it again!

So in comes the lemonade part You know that whole, 'when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?' So that's what I did this afternoon. I already had my solids out, so I went ahead and made another pillow...we'll call her Lemonade.

Of course the light today is absolutely awful! These pictures were actually taken in the brightest part of the afternoon! Again, if I hadn't procrastinated I could have waited for a bright day...

This is the back...The brown part is linen. Wrinkle city!

She will call our family room couch home. It could use some sprucing up. (ick, the lighting in this picture is just awful!)

We'll see if it she hold up with the kids. :)

Hopefully I'll check back soon to share a little trip we took last weekend...

Keeping busy...

2011-03-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

I placed the hst's haphazardly, this won't be the final layout.

Hello! Today has been such a lazy, sluggish kind of day. The kind where being lazy drives you crazy, yet you can't get yourself to do anything about it. Yuck!

I haven't worked on my happy hexagons since last post. I think I'm going to go with the red even though it'll mean reworking the pink a bit. (Uh oh! I was just looking at the picture of it again and one of the yellows stands out quite a bit... I'm going to try to not let it bother me.)

I've been keeping busy with the quilt in the top photo. It's going together really fast, but I need another Kumari Garden charm pack to make it a nice size to cuddle on the couch with. I really love that line, especially Tarika in moss and Kamal in moss and stone...love love! I'll be doing the binding in the moss Tarika. Hmm, it would have made a nice bed quilt...

I was thinking about entering another pillow in this month's Blogger's Pillow Party, but I'm running out of time. I have an idea in mind, though it might be time consuming. I wonder if they're doing one in April...

My boy has been asking about sewing lately so I let him give it a try. He had a blast for the one day, but hasn't asked much since. It'll be interesting to see what comes of it. This is a block he made...

not bad for his first try...I think he'll probably be able to sew circles around me in no time.

I hope you enjoy your weekend! Yay Friday!

Opinions please...

2011-03-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

How I planned it originally

Hello there! I was working along on my happy hex table runner when I realized that my blues weren't very blue-y. Especially when put next to those strong aquas...do you agree?

So I went to the store and bought some new ones and I'll try them out. But I also bought some reds. What do you think? Should I add the reds? I didn't include them originally because I kind-of have a bubblegummy look going on here, although my reds seem soft somehow...they're not deep dark reds. But are they too overwhelming? And do I need more? I have 6 or 7 of all the other colors...

with the reds

And what about the shape? I was going to taper it on the ends like you see in the first picture. But I could also end it kind-of like the aquas (where I stopped working). I think the tapered look is kind of nice, especially for a long cabinet. What are your thoughts?

In the meantime, I'm thinking about these... It was just coincidence that this charm pack ended up on this linen, but they look really good together! So off I go to sew...

Making progress...

2011-03-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

Hello there! How have you been? I haven't been 'busy' really, but... Could it be? Yes! I've been maintaining my 'do something a week' New Year plan! It probably seems silly. I know so many bloggers who finish things left and right. But I have little-to-no focus, and for me to make some progress each week is a big thing! So above you can see the progress on my happy hexagon table runner, for which I must still buy a table. :D (It's something I'm planning for my new craft room.) I have 2 colors left to add. I'm hoping it won't look too green-heavy. I have the normal-ish greens then the aqua. I couldn't omit the aquas as they're my favorite 30's repro color. We'll see... Either way I'm not changing it! :)

So did you see?!? My pillow made it to the top 9 in the Blogger's Pillow Party!!! Thanks so much to all the sweet people who wrote to tell me they liked it. The last week or two have been surreal to say the least. People even added my pillow to their flickr favorites and Pinterest! That's all so new to me! Speaking of which, Kimberly...how do I find your Pinterest page?

I haven't shared purchases in quite a long time, have I? A bit ago I found a really great shop not too far from here...kind of. We go there often enough that I'll get in a few trips a year. They had a lot of variety in their notions, and some excellent colors of wool. I didn't take a picture of what I bought there yet. I also got another fun thing on that trip... I'll definitely have to take some pictures.

In the meantime, here are some other goodies I've amassed. I don't usually buy entire collections, but I'm finding I don't have a lot of neutrals/blenders/whatever those not-so-standoutish prints are called, so a collection buying I did go...

I have Liesl Gibson's City Weekend, Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms (LOVE IT SO MUCH!), and AMH's Innocent Crush.

I bought the Innocent Crush for a particular pattern, but I didn't love this collection like I thought I would. :( But I figured whatever, just go with it and then I saw that it's the same collection as in the pattern photo! :( I can't make the same exact quilt, that would bug me! So I'm searching for a replacement... I bought the City Weekend when I saw Liesl's quilt.

Talk to you soon!

Blogger's Pillow Party

2011-02-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hello again! Remember me...and my pillow? :D Yes, I just showed you this, but you know what, I'm going to enter it into the Blogger's Pillow Party. I don't think I'll win, but it'll be fun! (And there's always a crazy chance.)

I'm supposed to talk about my pillow. What can I say? I was searching in my template/ruler bin and a little picture of a spiderweb block caught my attention on the tag of this triangle ruler thing I'd never used. (I'd tell you what the ruler's called except I can't find it. How do I misplace things so easily?!?) Don't ask me why, but I instantly thought I should make a pillow with it.

So I went about digging through my bins looking for some fabrics. I did my best to join them haphazardly (I tend to be rather obsessive with that sort of thing). No two fabrics are the same on one side, but the back has the same fabrics as the front. Clear as mud? I knew I wanted a button in the center (that's my favorite part). I'd thought about doing some stitching between the sections and what not, but it's busy enough as is. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. :)

Right now it's sitting on my white couch where it's very happy. But I made it with my new craft room in mind. I plan to have a nice white, cozy chair in there and this guy will be so happy on it, don't you think?

Thanks for listening to me stretch for something to say about my little pillow! :D Wish me luck!!!

Ready for Friday!

2011-02-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

Yes! I'm already ready for Friday. That's what happens after a disappointing weekend. It's sad, because there were elements that could have made it great, like buying a new stove and refrigerator. I won't go into the details, so let's go right to my finish...

I wish I could say I was super happy with my new pillow. It was so much better in my head. :) But it'll look nice and bright against the white couch, and I promise myself to try not to focus on the sewing and such. Which button do you like better? Did you notice they were different? My favorite is the blue. I was going to do a white button on one side, but I can't find my white fabric!!! Needless to say (yet again) I can't wait to get my stuff out of bins! After 20 minutes I gave up looking for it. I'm lucky I found my super long needle to attach them!

So that's a finish! Is it my first this year? I think so... That's pretty darn good, for me. (Well, I did make this little handle cover thing for this plastic basket that digs into my hand. But I'm not showing you that until I do a better job on it. I rushed and it shows. And I only finished one of them.)

My hexagon papers should be arriving somewhat soon. I'm excited to get started on that again. Please, oh please, don't let this motivation disappear before they get here! :D

Hope you had a better weekend! :)

Do you know what's good about today?

2011-02-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

adding to my collection of 30's squares

It means tomorrow is Friday! :D Don't get me wrong, today hasn't been a bad day or anything, but my motivation left me a good hour into it. Now I'm ready for the weekend. I just hope we do something fun...I want to drive to and then walk somewhere! (Not said with excitement, but with determination...)

So I believe I mentioned that I've been (what I would call) productive lately. Well yesterday I read about a Project-a-Day challenge of sorts and decided I'd join! I want to stop thinking and start doing! My only real goal/resolution this year was to do something each week. It could be the tiniest thing, just so I could say something was done or worked on. Taking this challenge seemed to fit right in, only in boot-camp style, taking my 'something a week' idea and making it 'something a day.' So far I've kept up...yes, I do realize it's only the 3rd, and that I haven't actually done anything yet today, but still! :) Though for me blogging could totally count. For whatever reason it takes me forever to do...

So anyway, this is what I worked on yesterday. Some petals for another petal pillow like I made for Chris. I just loved hers so much, I must have one too! 0:)

I didn't bother taking a picture of the previous day's project because it's disappointing.

I'm half-way with my strippy project. I just need to buy something to complete it, which I'll be doing this weekend.

Also, last week(?) I started making some hexagons while I waited for my boy after school. I'm very excited about this project...I'm making it in anticipation for the completion of my craft room...which is nowhere in sight. :D I was going at such a great pace until I ran out of the papers!!! But I ordered some and they're on their way. There's no way I'm making my own! (lazy)

So, you see, though various things are trying to thwart me, I'm getting things done. And (knock on wood) I plan to complete all three of these projects soon. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to...beside my intense laziness. Wish me luck! :)

Hope to chat with you soon!

EDIT: The fabric for the hexagons is a mix of 30's repros I've been collecting over the years...so there's no specific collection. (They're rather addicting! :D)

Scrappy goodness

2011-01-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

Hello again! Unlike many weeks past, I'm happy to say I have something crafty to show you! Yes, I've been sewing! Almost every day for the last week or so. I know that probably doesn't sound like much, but for me it's close to a record.

You know, barely a weekend goes by that I don't desire to sew. But right now, while my craft room is basically in bins, I can't bring myself to do it. First there's the deciding what I want to do (there are so many things after all). Then there's the finding of fabric...quite the task having to search through multiple bins. So I don't do anything. Then the other weekend I remembered I had some BOMs from a while ago (2007) that I never finished. So I picked one out, and it was so much fun! No, I don't love the fabric they used, but it was just nice to sew!

One night I was looking through my rulers and found one with pattern suggestions. One really struck me and so through the bins I went. It was difficult, but I pulled through. :D

Above are more strips waiting to be assembled. I like to think you'll see a finished product from me soon as I'm sticking with a cushion cover. It'd make a lovely quilt, but let's be serious... :)

On another colorful note, we're painting our living room red! I'm so happy with it, and jj seems to be too. We still need to order a new mantle shelf, as the other (ugly) one fell off. I promise I didn't do it on purpose! ;D

ugh! the wood stove is uneven and so ugly. but let's not go there...it kept us warm in a power outage.

Today is my girl's 5th birthday, and she's celebrating with chickenpox. So today's a lazy day at home (ha ha...every day is a lazy day at home!) But she has a new play kitchen to keep her busy. :) It even has a little washer! I she had to have it!

I hope your week is going well!

Happy New Year! Update!

2011-01-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

01/07 I WON! I won this giveaway! Can you believe it? I'm very excited.
I do hope you've been doing well. I thoroughly enjoyed my holiday, and having my boy at home. But we're back to normal now, and I'm slowly coming around to it. :)

Anyway, I hadn't planned on a post today...I don't have anything of worth to share. I do intend to collect myself this week, and maybe I'll have something to show.

So the reason for this post is because I stumbled upon this giveaway, which you may be interested in.

You can win a copy of this new magazine. I'm anxious to see what its like. It's a very pretty cover, don't you think? And the header for that blog is fantastic. Hmm...I should make a new one for myself for the new year...we'll see about that!

Have a great week!

Hello! Hello!

2010-12-15T14:07:00.000-08:00

Did I show you these yet? I don't think so. I adore them!

Hello again. As usual, it's been a while. And also as usual, I've been thinking of posting now and again, but just didn't get around to doing it. Too busy being lazy, I suppose.

a new wreath I bought. Love the sequins!

I'd like to say that with Christmas coming up I've been jolly happy, but I've been feeling rather humbug lately. Between unauthorized charges on my credit card, jj throwing out his back, the kids fighting and the mantel falling off our fireplace (yes, you heard me right!) I just feel overloaded! I think there's something else that happened, but it escapes me. But I'm trying my best to leave all those things behind and move on happily. What better way to do that than to show you my treasures!

This is my unfinished felt matryoshka. It's so much fun working on her. I'm making a set of three for Christmas. Needless to say they won't get finished. I'm having a hard time deciding how to decorate them...there are so many possibilities! I'll just need to make more! ;)

And here's my latest obsession...buttons! I can't seem to get enough of them! I need to get out my large milk jar for the pink ones...I have more than shown here. Love pink! :D

This is a little busy, but the colors made me happy, so I left it.

And here are my precious glittery buttons. I just love them. I have a few more packs on the way. I found them on sale...yay!

ooo...aah

This is a faux penny rug I made a few years ago. I call it Santa and his sheep. The sheep were supposed to be reindeer with little branch-like antlers, but I preferred the sheep idea. :)

I'll leave you with a picture of my beloved white cabinet. I have an assortment of trees on it. Once again, pardon the paint samples. We'll see if jj gets to that wall before christmas... :)

Tomorrow's the day!

2010-11-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

Yay! Tomorrow is the annual CKC! My parents will be arriving tonight and then Thursday my mom and I will be immersing ourselves in all things scrapbooky! :) It's our one true girls getaway...which is funny, because the focus is scrapbooking, something we do for our families. I always get all sentimental during these breaks. I'm such a sap!

Anyway, this year we left a night open so we could watch a scary movie, something our husbands don't love as much as we do.* I so hope the 'on demand' thing at the hotel has one. That would really stink if it didn't!

My camera is working off and on, so I was able to take a pic of the most excellent gift Kala sent me. Does she know me or what!? It's a crochet hook holder! Isn't the spider adorable?

I love her little hands, and the spines on her legs! (My favorite spider, the garden spider, has very spiny legs.) What a wonderful, thoughtful person Kala is! :)

So anyway (I find myself saying 'anyway' a lot. Maybe because I go off on tangents???) Anyway, (lol) I remembered that I didn't show you all of the pumpkins. I know Halloween is way past, but you didn't see jj's pumpkin, which is adorable. It's the one in the front. Sorry about the blurry pic. I'm shaky, and I don't have a tripod... :)

I also want to show you a recent purchase. This only cost $18!!! It's going on my mantle...once I get it cleared off. I just love old windows. It's a pretty big guy too (~30 x 40"). I've also picked out a paint color for that wall (I think). I'm going with something dark-ish to try to detract attention from the hideous hearth/mantle. Hopefully I'll be able to share soon! :)

I hope you have a great weekend!

* Recently the kids stayed with jj's dad and we decided to go to IKEA (it was the most wonderful IKEA trip I've had in a while. jj even bought me stuff!) And then we decided to get cozy on the couch and watch a non family movie. Well, there wasn't much to chose from, and we didn't want to waste time going to the dvd store. So we chose Splice. Well yuck. I don't recommend it. It was a little sick and I didn't care for the actors. jj is considering it a horror movie, and re-asserting how much he hates them. But it really wasn't horror. It was more like a sick sci-fi.

Could it really be?

2010-11-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

Could I actually be blogging? I was determined to make a Happy Halloween post, and here it is, a day late. But so be it! I'm making it anyway!

please excuse the paint test strips. I've decided against both of the colors...

Do you know what I realized this Halloween? It's my second favorite holiday to decorate for, Christmas being the first. I use tons of candles. I love them. I want to grow my decoration collection so that one year I'll have a completely transformed, spooky home. That would be awesome. But strangely/sadly enough, my family room is complete decoration unfriendly. I'm going to have to change that somehow... (Of course, for me, it's almost like a throw-away room as far as that goes. I've released it to the family, as it should be.) Now the living room...that's momma's room. ;)

I did a bit o' Halloween-y crafting. How adorable is this box?

I spent a small fortune at my local craft store. You know what gets me? The displays. Sometimes I look at stuff and think, 'what the heck would I do with this?' Well, the displays show me, and therefore, I buy...

Last night the kids were so very excited to trick or treat, but then we found out that our town decided to make the 30th Halloween! This town is disappointing me more and more over time. So we went to the neighboring town and had the best time we've had in years! Yet another affirmation that we'd like to move there someday. Unfortunately, I'm the type that get's attached to my home. How could I ever leave here, my first home? The home that my kids are growing up in... The home where so many of our memories were made... I wonder if that has anything to do with my childhood, where we were moving every few years? I wouldn't trade that for the world, but I don't think I could do it anymore. Not to say that I don't have the moving itch every now and again...but honestly it's a desire to leave this state, go back east, raise my kids there. But I think we're here for good. *sigh* I almost can't fathom that my kids are going to live in the same place for their entire childhood. It kind of upsets me. Funny...

You know, I received a wonderful gift from a friend and I wanted to show you, but my camera's acting up...as in, it might be 'broken!' :( Hopefully I can get that taken care of soon. I NEED my camera...it's essential!

Okay, so I didn't think I'd get on here and 'talk' your ear off with random junk. :D But it is nice to say hello. Am I back to blogging though? That remains to be seen...

Happy Halloween :)

Oh, by the way...I started a new book last night. It's very promising. One of the reviews said it was like Bram Stoker meets Clive Cussler, meets Michael Crichton. *swoon* (B.S. and M.C. are two of my absolute favorites of all time!!!) And my third favorite author, James Rollins, said he loved it. *swoon*

Is it September already...

2010-09-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

the columbia river

Where has this year gone? More importantly, where has the summer gone, and what was I doing when it passed me by? This has been a crazy-weather-year so far for my tiny part of the world. We had an unusually warm, dry winter, and cold, rainy summer. I don't know that I'm complaining, except that the light is dwindling fast, and I feel like it just got here! I'm just not ready...

How has your summer or winter been so far? I have to say this summer started with great promise...such great promise, and then I literally lost a good month of it, so I tried to salvage what I could of August. We went on a lovely trip to eastern WA. I really like going over there for a change of scenery, especially because it's so close! We had such a wonderful time there. I kid you not, the kids didn't even fight once!

mill pond

We stayed in downtown Spokane, so we did a lot of walking (I love walking). We tried some cute little restaurants that we wouldn't have found had we been in the car. We toured a dam, went in a cave, did a little hiking. We even went to this little park thing where they have some carnival rides and I talked the kids into riding the scrambler with me...fun fun! My boy even tried the tilt-a-whirl. I just love those little rides.

Perhaps you've noticed a lack of pictures... I didn't take any! jj got some, but I just didn't want to lug my camera around. I really need a little point-and-shoot I can carry around in my purse (in a cute little case!). jj said he'd buy one for me...I'll have to nag him! ;D

this was like a huge dandelion, but it was so sturdy we couldn't blow the seeds off

I've been doing some crochet, but no pictures. I'll have to take some and post again...hopefully in a timely fashion. Until then, enjoy your last bits of summer/winter!

Busy, busy, busy! Or not...

2010-08-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well hello there! It's been a while, hasn't it? Oh my...more than a month! Well, I think I've been busy???
Although I'm certain my busy is other people's lazy! :D Yes, quite certain!

funny twisty stump

July 6th was jj's and my 11th anniversary. (Is that proper grammar? I doubt it...) We didn't do anything special...we rarely do. But he told me he was super happy to have me...super. I love that man!

My parents came up for a stay at that same time. (Their 41st anniversary was on the 5th, we went to IKEA. lol) It was quite the visit. My dad (and jj) put in 2 new windows. One a replacement, and another a brand new window in my craft room! Very exciting! I wish that had motivated me to start working on the rest of it...but it hasn't.

During their stay I had another visitor!

Isn't he adorable? How can you not love a moth?! He's so fuzzy!

We recently took a trip up to Mt. Baker. Sadly the viewpoint was closed due to avalanches. It was a nice trip all the same. I got very sentimental about the days before the kids, when jj and I would camp up there. Those were fun times...times I hope to recreate with the kids soon.

I've also been crocheting quite a bit. I've been working on more hexagons. I think I'll make a cushion cover with some of them. I made this one recently, and it looks so lonely...

But anyway, I've been playing with other shapes too... It's so much fun!

clockwise from top left african flower, beata's flower, Harmony Guide flower

I also made a bunting! I've been wanting to make one for some time now. I don't think I've seen a picture of one that I haven't liked! My camera's battery died, hence the absent picture...

And of course, I've been shopping. I supported my local economy recently, to my detriment. :) I do like to shop locally, but the fact is, it's expensive! My favored local shop is in Bellevue. It's in a hideous old building, but all the same, I imagine it costs a lot to be right downtown. I don't like paying for that...

I've also been plant shopping...I can't help myself! I'm not much of a spanish lavender gal...but this one was so sweet. And it's a nice contrast with my english lavenders. And the hydrangea I already had...

Lastly I'll show you my buttons... I don't remember how I came upon them in Etsy, but I did. I bought two bags, and it was so much fun going through them that I bought another two! I think I'm addicted!

Hopefully I'll post again soon. And hopefully I'll have something of interest to show you! :)

Have you ever wanted something so much...

2010-06-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's my second post of the day! Weird, eh? But I really, really needed to show you this. I don't know where I was on the internet, but I caught a glimpse of this fabric...

(Alexander Henry Secret Garden)

I just LOVE it! And I needed some... But it's from 2008 (how did I miss it?) and I searched and searched (with multiple search engines even...just in case!) and the only place I found it was on ebay. Want to know how much I paid for one yard?

ahem...

$21. The shipping was $6, so a total of $27 for one yard... I felt sick...but I had to have it, I just did! I wanted more, but I just couldn't justify it...

Have you ever paid a ridiculous amount of money for something you just had to have?

Hello, hello!

2010-06-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, how long has it been? I honestly can't remember...maybe it hasn't been that long? Hmm, 15 days. That's pretty long! You know, so many things have been going on here, I barely know where to start! There are some things I can't tell you quite yet, they'll come later. (don't get excited, it's nothing that great!)

My parents are coming for a visit on Saturday. I'm not ready...I had plans to do some stuff, but I'm not finished and today I'm not feeling well at all. I haven't been drinking enough water (or anything really) and it's caught up with me. Honestly, it's common for me, I'm just not a drinker... Usually I get chapped lips and hands, then the headache comes on. But this one hit hard... I feel pretty dizzy when I stand up, so no work getting done. And sadly, though the house is 'clean' the kids are running around and I'm not able to pick up in their wake as I usually do, so things are going to go downhill fast! ;)

Last time I posted I told you I might be doing something special the weekend after...well, I did. jj came home one night and handed me an envelope filled with cash and a hotel reservation in a nearby city so I could get a break. It was so darn sweet of him, and I really did need a break, but it's so hard for me to leave my sweet family, no matter how much I need it. What I really want is a nice weekend (a mini-road trip would be optimal) with a happy family. No fussing, no rudeness, no fighting, no defiance... *sigh* Just one weekend...is that too much to ask? Apparently it is... :(

(View from corner balcony. This is the direction in which we walked... :D)

Anyway, the room he got me was perfect! It was on the 5th floor (the top) on the corner. It had 2 small balconies and a bigger one on the corner...but no chairs! What good is a balcony if you can't sit out on it? But it didn't really matter...I spent a lot of time walking around, crocheting, I even watched a grown-up movie on Saturday morning! It was The Fourth Kind (careful, there's a trailer). I rented it because a) I love horror and such, and b) I love Milla Jovovich. However, I found it incredibly disturbing...incredibly. (it's PG-13. I don't actually know what it's like to have a 13yo...but I so wouldn't let them watch it. Maybe 18) I wanted to go home after that. But luckily I went to lunch at CPK (love that place) with my family and then my boy came and stayed with me for the second night. We had a wonderful time. He needed a break too, and I don't get to see him that often because of school...

Now of course, I had a wonderful time because I able to have 'quality time' with him. We walked to the book store, spent too much money, went to CPK (again) for dinner and sat at the 'bar' to watch the pizzas being made, did some more walking, bought some expensive but yummy cupcakes... It was just so wonderful to have one-on-one time with him. He, however, had a great time playing with the patio doors... They opened up, but they could also tilt in on the top to let air in. He must have opened, closed, and tilted those doors every 5 minutes...seriously! We also watched too much annoying orange.

(this is what I bought for myself at the book store. I know, why a stuffed frog? well, he makes me happy, and it's so fun to annoy jj with him)

So that was my blissful weekend. When jj and my girl came to pick me up they were so happy to see me. It's great to be missed...

Hope I didn't bore you with that. I have another, more fun post to make, but it doesn't relate to this, so I'll just do a separate one! :)

Bits and pieces...

2010-06-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Hello there! It's been a while, hasn't it? It takes so long for me to formulate a post, I'm not sure why... but that's why I don't do it so often. I've thought about making them smaller...you know, more frequent but small. But I gab, don't I? :D

Perhaps you remember I told you how much I adore Percy Wiseman, my rhododendron friend? Well here he is in all his glory... I just love him! And I love that he has a name with which I sound like I'm talking about a person! :D

You know, I sat here thinking about what I've worked on that I could share, and it seems like I've done quite a bit compared to usual. But then, it's been a while since I've shared, so maybe I've not been that productive after all! Speaking of sharing, I haven't shared many purchases lately. What? Did you think I hadn't been buying anything...you silly thing! ;D

I've been having fun crocheting these hexagons while waiting for my boy at school. (I am SO going to miss that time when summer break begins!) I'm doing the 'traditional hexagon 1' in the Harmony Crochet Guide. LOVE that book! Love, love, love! I think they're turning out rather nicely!

And today I made a curtain for my front door with this fabric and it's dotty aqua coordinate. It looks nice, but I didn't get a good pic...

Today while I was pinning (yes, I was actually pinning!) with a mouthful of pins I remembered that I recently won a lovely pin cushion from Ellen during her Sew Mama Sew giveaway. I think she'd be sad if I didn't use it, and so I did. That really is handy, isn't it? I've always just used my mouth...

I can't believe this year is more than half over. It's truly passed by without me noticing. What have I even been doing for the last 6 months? Maybe I've been smelling too many fabric fumes! :D

I hope you're having a great week! So glad tomorrow's thursday... I might have a nice weekend, I'll tell you about it next post if I do!

Sappy Saturday #6

2010-05-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today's song is one of my favorites (aren't they all). 'Pretty Ballerina' and I had a rocky beginning. I heard it first as a teenager and I couldn't believe my ears. I thought it was the most ridiculous song I'd ever heard. But it stuck in my head (plus my tastes expanded)... So I decided to find out more about it. This was pre-internet days (for me at least...when did this all start?) and this song rarely makes it to the radio. It wasn't until after I bought Left Banke's CD for another song, 'Walk Away Renee,' that I found it. And it's been love ever since. :) How can you not love a song with the word obliged in it?!?

Enjoy!

Sappy Saturday #5

2010-05-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm not a reliable Sappy Saturday poster. Does anyone really care? I'd probably run out of songs too quickly if I was! :)

Anyway, today's wonderful sappy song is 'I Go Crazy' by Paul Davis. For whatever reason, this song, as well as 'Cool Night,' remind me of when I was a little girl living in Lake Placid, NY. I suppose they were probably still relatively popular on the radio...it was the early 80's after all.

Enjoy!

And the winner is....

2010-05-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

Did I say I would pick a winner yesterday? I think I did. Well, yesterday ended up being a busier day than I'd planned. Yes, I was busy...shopping. :D I bought some more plants. I just love plant shopping, but then I like most types of frivolous shopping.

(my very favorite rhododendron, Percy Wiseman. I love you Percy...)

I've bought quite a few fun plants this past month. I'm usually more of a shrub buyer, but lately I've been doing the perennial and annual thing. After all, you can (unfortunately) have too many shrubs. Not that I do (yet...). But I need to pace myself. I might need to save some space just in case I see something fabulous years from now...

(a new rhododendron. Okay, so I've bought a few of those too...)

I'm super happy to announce my winner! I truly would have been excited for any one of you (I love you all)...but it turns out my winner is special. This was her first giveaway entry ever! How awesome is that?!? Not only that, but she was the first to comment. Kala, its you! :D (The random number thingy actually caught me off guard. I suppose the first and last numbers of my limit were the last I expected to see.)

So Kala, please e-mail me with your address and I'll send those lovelies right away! Oh I hope you love them! :)

Just popping in...

2010-05-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

(field during the tulip festival)

Yes, I'm still around! :) First, don't forget to sign up for the giveaway. I plan to select a winner by the end of the week! :)(I love this combination...going to be getting some of these for sure!)

I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day. We went on a mini trip complete with ferry ride. I love how the seagulls ride along with the boat, playing in the air currents. Nope, no pics.
I can't say I've been up to much lately. I finished crocheting that crazy parallelogram. It'll be very interesting to try to make a pillow out of... I'm now looking for something else to start. Mind you, I'm not having a hard time finding something I want to do...rather I'm having a hard time deciding which of the many things I want to do should come first! Inspiration can be a pain sometimes, can't it?

GIVEAWAY DAY!

2010-04-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

(some snapdragons I bought this morning)

Ahhh... I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to post in the past week or two. I had such a super-excellent day 2 fridays ago. I wanted to post so bad. But alas, I promised my next post would be the giveaway. And as a professional procrastinator, it took me a really long time to prepare. :)

Let's share a bit before we get down to the good stuff...

This is what I've been working on lately...
I love it and it's tons of fun to work on. It's going to be a pillow, but here's the thing. It works up as a parallelogram. They didn't mention this in the pattern (I'm using my Harmony Guide). I would have appreciated this being mentioned so I could, I don't know...decrease one side while increasing the other maybe? I think that might've worked. But by the time I realized it was happening, it was too late. I wasn't about to undo the whole thing! No way! I'm going to try to stretch it into a square. Maybe sew it to some fabric. We'll see...wish me luck!

I never shared the pillow cover I made for my most-excellent swap partner, Chris.

(front)(back)

I also have some pretty big plans for our yard this summer. Big big! (wish me luck on that too!) In that spirit I bought these adorable mushrooms! Aren't they sweet?Yesterday jj and I bought some railroad ties (man, they were heavy!) to keep people from driving on our yard and the next door neighbors'. They've actually ruined part of the other people's yard.
Speaking of neighbors, they're renters, and they are porch people. That's nice that they're renting a nice house with a nice porch... except my kitchen window (I love having a window over my sink) looks right at their porch. (Our homes are perpendicular to each other. We face the lake, they face the road...) They also like to have people over, hang out on the porch and talk loudly...after midnight. If I can hear them with the windows closed just think what it'll be like in the summer with the windows open! I hate this area for not having A/C. And I hate not having enough money to install one. *sigh*

Let's get on to the good stuff, shall we?

To 'celebrate' my 113th post I'm giving away 113 - 5" squares of my favorite, happy fabrics! I would love to win this, but then again, I'm me...

(this photo is of a stack I'm selling on Etsy, but I believe your stack has everything shown)

To enter, please leave a comment telling me about your summer plans. Do you have any? If my summer is your winter, how was your summer? Did you do anything special? :)

I'll contact the winner via e-mail, so please make sure you either leave it or have your blogger thing allow people to e-mail you. Or, if you have a non-blogger blog and your e-mail is on that, that's fine too. :) (Got to love how I complicate things. You all know the drill!)

Uh-oh!

2010-03-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

Do you know what this is? My 113th post! I promised a giveaway but I haven't prepared the prize! I'll do that, and then the next post will be the giveaway post!

Anyway, can you guess where we went this weekend?
Ah yes, IKEA! One of my most favorite places. I just love it. It's almost an unhealthy love... All I have to do is step out of the car and smell the parking garage and I'm instantly happy. The smell of the store, the taste of the meatballs and lingonberry juice, the most wonderful furniture... just sitting there, begging me to buy it. *sigh*

If only my family felt the same. It depends on the mood of the kids. Saturday wasn't their day. It was awful! We left empty handed. We didn't even eat there! (That's a first.) But you know what? We went back for dinner! :D It's not as crazy as it sounds. (Well, maybe a little.) But we weren't sure if the thing we wanted to buy would fit/look right in the space we were trying to fill. It would have looked awful! Whew, so glad we made sure. Although I guess it would've meant 2 trips either way...So anyway, this is what we got:
I just love it! We actually bought it to put a fish tank on, but after I built it I thought, "this is too pretty to put a fish tank on." After that I was very wishy-washy on the fish thing. I want fish, but do I need more work? No...I really don't. So I'm going to fore-go the fish for now. It's for the best.

I also bought an Expedit bookshelf for my craft room with my birthday money. Yay! But I won't be building it until most of the construction is finished. Have I mentioned how impatient I am on these sort of things?

I was at Target the other day and I noticed that Liberty of London has various collections throughout the store. Sadly I didn't know it, and most things have sold out. I did see this tray though. Should I keep it? It's cute, and it seems to be a decent size for serving cupcakes and such. But do I need another tray??? We'll see.
Also for my birthday I bought some roses and daffodils. The daffodils were 3 bunches for $5! Wow! And I had a coupon for $5 for a dozen roses. Can't beat that!
And finally, one of my favorite spring flowers, the Chaenomeles, or flowering quince. It gets little fruits too. So pretty...

Well hello there...

2010-03-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, hasn't it? I can't really say why, but I just haven't been going on the computer much. I wouldn't really say Ive been busy doing other things. What have I been doing???

Wednesday (St. Patrick's Day) was my birthday. I'm no longer a lovely pairing of 3's. *sigh*

Anyway, I never told you I joined Heleen and Corry's Spring Swap! For the most part I've sworn off swaps, but I love those gals so much, so I decided to give it a go. And boy am I glad I did!

At first I was rather nervous. You see my partner Chris isn't just anybody. Oh no! Well, I think she thinks she is, but don't be fooled! She makes amazing patterns. One of which I saw in a quilting magazine and instantly fell in love with. So much so, that I remembered (me? remembering?) to go back the next month and buy the next issue for the second part of the pattern! So needless to say, me and my mediocre sewing skills were feeling a little inadequate. But you know what, I feel very much inspired and I really love what I made her (which is on its way now, so I can't show you more than a peek).

(peek)

But the heck with all that inspiration crap, look what she made/gave me!

Here's the outside of the bundle...
I was so excited to open it and see this... Love the dots! Love the color!
My heart skipped a beat when I saw this little corner peeking out...
These beautiful fat quarters were hiding inside...

And finally, THE most beautiful pillow cover! Aren't I lucky? Are you jealous? ;D

(Why didn't I press that before I took the picture! I'm too lazy to go re-do it.)

And it's big (not getting up to measure) so I could also use it as a wall hanging. Not sure what I'll do yet. For now it's on my dining room chair where I sat to sew her gift. Inspiration, you know.

Speaking of inspiration, look what else she gave me...
One of her patterns! As soon as I saw it I had an idea for fabrics. So I'm hoping you might see me working on this soonish. Hey, stop laughing!

Sappy Saturday #4

2010-03-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Today's most excellent song is 'You Are The Woman' by Firefall. How can you not love this song? It's perky, it's happy...it makes me want to go on a road trip. *sigh*

I'm listening to it now and my boy is in the other room singing along. Why don't you join us...

Enjoy!

534

2010-02-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Day after Valentine's Day. Did you do anything special?

The past 3 weeks have been a little off for me. I've neglected my normal routine, including taking the pictures off of my camera. Every time I put my pictures on the computer I make a quick guess about how many there will be. So this time I figured there would be a lot...maybe 250 or so. Nope, 534! I think that's a record for me.(I do love moss)

So to catch up...on January 25th my baby girl turned 4. She doesn't seem 4 at all, but she understands that she's 4. Honestly, she's way behind where my boy was at her age, but I'm sure, at times, she plays us. She pretends she doesn't understand things we tell her, so she won't have to do them.
We finally bought her a new, fun, big-girl bed. I think she'll be excited. She loves girly things...YAY! :) I'm very excited to make over her room. I wish I could do it in one fell swoop, but I suppose that's unrealistic. I'll take pictures and hopefully share what I do over time.

(I love those thorns)

Spring has shown its face, and boy does it excite me! Oh yes it does! I haven't made my first trip to the nursery (it's still getting cold at night) but I'm itching to do it. Yesterday jj bought the kids and me some seeds, and trays to start them. Fun, fun, fun! :) We bought some snapdragons, primroses (a different variety than the one I've got pictured) lupine, foxgloves (the bees love them) and some sunflowers (my boy is very excited about those!). All of these plant pictures are a couple of weeks old, so the flowers have fully bloomed. I need to get out there and take some pics. The dark pink ones are especially lovely...
What else? Oh yes, Valentine's day! I had quite a bit of fun helping my boy with his class valentines. I was shopping for digi-scrapbooking 'supplies' and I came upon a little mailbox template. I thought it might be a fun thing to do. Of course I was up late the night before, finishing the crazy things. The teacher requested them a day before the party, and I'd forgot I read that...

(love that bee! girls' in the foreground, boys in the back)

Sorry for the crappy picture. I'd forgotten to take them, so it was a rush. I wasn't about to do all that work and not have a picture! My boy helped in the selection of papers. (I should let him play around with photoshop...) And he helped cut them out.

(24 little mailboxes, ready to go)

I'm sharing this picture because it's funny... My kids lost all of the shutes and ladders bits, so my boy used glue sticks for pawns (mine was upside-down you see). And even though I bought a box of dice, they seem to have disappeared, so we used a coaster. We flopped it in the air. One side meant 3 spaces, the other 4. I don't know how he came up with 3 and 4...
This poor tree...I don't know why anyone would top a tree. Now he's all sad and spindly. I'd love to plant anew...but it would take so much time to get to a decent size. Anyway, on one foggy morning I thought he looked rather wonderful and creepy...See my sad bird feeders and torches? You know, I'm a woman of great intentions. But not one of action. I have great plans for my yard, and jj promises this is the year we'll do something about it. We'll see. We're aiming for planting a little evergreen spot in the back yard, and a small veggie garden. Oh, and we want to get rid of the mole...hopefully eliminating his food source will deter him...I don't want to harm him.

Sappy Saturday #3

2010-02-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hello, it's me. I've thought about posting for a long, long time. :D That's actually true, but it's also a play on today's very lovely Sappy Saturday song, Hello It's Me by Todd Rundgren. It's one of my very favorites. (How many times am I going to say that, I wonder?!)

I'm listening to it now. There's just something wonderful about it for me...though the 'Shake Your Booty' in the background is a little distracting. I got my kids those music playing cards for Valentine's Day. You know you can completely personalize them if you order them online from Hallmark. I put their pictures in them, and chose the songs. Shake Your Booty is one of the most danced-to songs in this house, and it's perfect for my girl, who does indeed like to shake her booty. Sadly her card is starting to give out from all the action...

I do hope to make a regular post soon. I have things to tell, but I've been rather out of sorts lately... It's been a while, hasn't it?

Have a lovely Valentine's weekend! Go buy something pink! ;)

Sappy Saturday #2

2010-02-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

Well hello! It's been a bit, hasn't it? We went on a mini road trip last weekend to Spokane (hence no weekend posts). Nothing special, but we do enjoy the drive! Ahh, the view was gorgeous coming back. Nope, no pictures.

So todays lovely Sappy Saturday song is 'If' by Bread. Ahh Bread... Wasn't David Gates a sappy love song genius? *sigh*

We'll be seeing more of Bread on our lovely Saturday visits...

Enjoy!

By the way, did you know that I've linked the picture so that you can go hear a snippet of the song at Amazon? Do it!

Sunday Stash #5

2010-01-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

Sunday Stash officially starts up again today, though there's no word over at 1/4 of an inch. Hopefully all is well with Tamara.

So today I'm going to show you one of the most recent fabric purchases I've made... I got these yummy pieces from the lovely Stephanie over at Materialgal. I just adore her store!

Here are some fats... oooo, aahhh(edited 1/26...I'd had the picture upside-down! :D)

More fats, some woodsy ones that didn't want their picture taken with the springy ones. Not that they're snobs, mind you...
And I bought some yardage of these guys. A FQ just wasn't enough for these...
Did you notice anything about these pictures? The sun... yes, we had some! :)

Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Sappy Saturday

2010-01-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

So for a while I've been contemplating doing something much like Sunday Stash--only it's just me, sharing some of my favorite sappy love songs, just for fun. So this is the first official Sappy Saturday. I know you're all excited. ;D

Today's song is one I've been listening to a lot recently. I really like it, but boy oh boy, the lyrics are embarrassingly bad!
Any thoughts?

8 x 5 = 40 Right?

2010-01-20T13:17:00.000-08:00

(specimen no.1)

Hello, hello! :) Such a fine sunny day it is here in ericaland. We've had a warm few days, it's 57 right now! This happened last year, if I remember correctly, and then we had a freeze and it ruined a lot of the spring blooms. Speaking of which, my daffodils are coming up. My tulips would be too...if the squirrels hadn't eaten them all. They make these 'cage' things to put your bulbs in...but they're expensive and small. I'd need a ton. So daffodils it is. *sigh*

Today I'm amusing myself with a little time-lapse project. Last night I noticed the daffodils on my table were starting to come out of their 'shells.' Then this morning I looked over and they'd fully bloomed. So I thought, what if I took pics of one that's not at all out, and one that's almost out, each hour. Then we could see how fast they bloomed. Fun, fun... I'll share that with you another time.

(specimen no.2)

So on to the math. Yesterday I opened up my Soiree layer cakes and started planning my quilt. (I'm making a twin for my girl's bed... She'll end up with a lot of quilts I'd want for my own bed, because a twin is easier and less expensive than a king.) I separated each of the colors out.

Then I figured how many squares I'd need for each row, column, etc. I figured 8 x 10 given that I have 80 squares. Up they went on my (too-small) design wall. That's when I decided I should do the top half of the quilt with one cake, sew it up, then work on the bottom (to conserve room, plus I won't have too many of the same prints together...duh). So I put them all up, and I had 4 extra! I counted, recounted. I even questioned my multiplication skills... Yes, there are 42 squares in each layer cake...42! So now I'm wondering what the 2 extra were. Why did I have 4 left over when separating the 2 cakes and not 2? I've even looked for duplicates a couple of times and haven't seen any. Maybe that'll be a fun game once the quilt is together...see where momma messed up...

(these two pieces aren't going together like that... I just picked two finished segments for the picture)

I may have mentioned before, that over the few years that we've lived in this house, we've noticed that the previous owners may have been slightly obsessed with blue... The exterior paint is blue. The roof is blue. The one flowering plant that was in the yard was blue. Except for the family room, which is green, the carpets are all blue. The curtains that were left were blue...again, except for the f.r.'s which are green. We've peeled away paneling (ick) and found blue paint. Some of the interior paint has chipped to reveal blue paint. And this is the latest installment...the wallpaper in our bedroom (which I hate) concealed what? Blue paint! It's a different shade of blue than usual...

I thought this was amusing as well...this is what happens when jj plays with my girl's toys... I pinched his cheeks and told him what a cute little boy he was...

I've been a lucky girl!

2010-01-14T15:19:00.000-08:00

(My 'baby' [she's almost 4] learned to use the mouse on Monday! She hasn't showed much interest in older-people things...so this was such a surprise. Earlier that day she was sitting in my lap while I did the mouse work on this little person game. You can see where she wiped her mouth on her sweater... Do you love my mouse pad? It's a Marti Mitchell catalog)

Today I got a most wonderful surprise! I won at True Up for my 2009 favorites! Not only did I win, but my gift certificate is for Hawthorne Threads! YAY! I'm so excited! Oh, no way! I just saw that the post was made on the 13th! That's my lucky number! Yay 13!

But that's not the only thing I've won recently... I also won some One In Every Color selvedge pincushions over at Terri's Sew Fantastic blog!
And I also won the Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun digi-kit at Vera Li m Designs! How lucky have I been?
I was also the very last person to sign up for OPAM 2010. I saw the button over at Heleen's wonderful blog. I decided...why not? Maybe it'll help me be more productive? Don't laugh! I actually have made something this month! *gasp!* It's a little corduroy heart... The center heart is a little askew. Now, if I had made it more askew, it would have been fine. But I didn't do it on purpose. :( And I'm not going to do it over. It'll just have to be lovingly flawed...

I've decided to try my hand at the whole Project 365 thing. It's where you take 1 picture a day. I heard about it a few years ago and thought it sounded like a great idea...but I didn't follow through. But this year I have so far...mostly. (I didn't decide to give it a go until a few days into the year.) It should definitely be interesting. I've decided to do 2 pics a day. One for each of my kids. (Hmm...I should do one for each of us.) Anyway, I think I'll do digi-pages...hoping it'll be easier to do. There are a decent amount of 7-pic templates out there (wish there were more).

What else is there to say? Too much, I'm sure. We had a bit of a bright day this past weekend, and I was able to take pictures of some fabric (my favorite). I'll share those another time. For now I'll show you something I've worked on recently. It's just missing its borders which have some applique...hence why they're not finished yet! :) Sorry the pic isn't too great. Some of it's cut off so you don't see the ugly-ness of the house. My boy held it up for me..he's getting so big!
On a slightly less happy note, on Sunday we were having such a blah day that jj actually suggested a trip to IKEA to find a new ottoman for his man-chair. I just love going there, and we all love to eat there! Anyway, on the way we were treated to some road-rage. Some guy decided he'd play games... first he sped up so we couldn't get out of the off ramp, then he tried to run us into the shoulder. Then he slammed on his breaks right in front of us...numerous times. We're talking a screeching-tires slam...he must not have ABS. (And let me tell you, Bertha [my mini-van] is a heavy beast! Given her undersized breaks, it's not easy to stop her). He even cut off other cars multiple times to come back to us and do the break slamming thing. Nice eh?

I had to do my best to calm jj down... he was ready to hurt the people. I admit, my finger flew up during one of the break slammings...My kids were in the car! If I'd been driving I'd have sped off...he was in a huge truck, I doubt he could've caught Bertha...she's got some juice. ;)

My 2009 Favorites...

2010-01-08T22:57:00.000-08:00

Hello again! 2 posts in one day...crazy, I know. So don't forget to check out the previous one...not that it's anything special.

So True Up is doing this thing where you list your favorites of 2009. I thought that sounded like lots of fun, plus you can win prizes...woo-hoo!

So here are mine:

Favorite Quilting Weight Cotton Collection: This is a hard one...there are so many wonderful ones, and frankly, I'm surprised to see what was released in 2009. There are some that I thought were, but apparently weren't. So I am going to pick Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane. Mostly because it's new and therefore fresh in my head. Oh, and it's gorgeous... Amy Butler would come in second, I suppose...

Favorite Overall Designer: Ooo, again hard. But I'm going to say Heather again. If I could say Alexander Henry I would...though I think the ones I really love are too old or too new.

Favorite Floral Print: Totally Amy Butler's Water Bouquet from the Love collection. I needed that as soon as I saw it!!! Jennifer Pagianelli's Elizabeth Rose in ivory is a very, very close second...

Favorite Holiday Fabric or Collection: Wasn't the Funky Christmas line from Michael Miller released this year? I liked that!

Favorite Fabric Shop: Materialgal on Etsy. Stephanie is really sweet and she has a killer fabric selection!

Favorite Under the Radar/Sleeper Collection: Well it certainly wasn't under my radar, but I sure had a hard time finding Rosalie Quinlan's Grandmother's Flower Garden online...

Favorite Print from Japan: Has to be Heather Ross' Far, Far Away. I do so love the princess and the pea... And I had a thing for unicorns when I was a girl. Have you ever worked with double gauze? I just love the feel of it.

Favorite Trend (Colors): I saw a lot of Red and Turquoise going on. And I was okay with that... Saw a lot of pink too. You can never have too much pink.*

Favorite Trend (Motifs): The matryoshka. I love them, and I've seen a whole lot of then this year...

Favorite Juvenile Print for girls: My first instinct is to say Heather Ross again... but I don't want to repeat too much. So we'll say Wendy Slotbloom's Frolic. Now that could be for a young boy too. So let's go even more girly and say Leanika by Dena Designs. Oh yes, that's the one! (Of course these don't have to be for children. I just happen to have an excuse for my love of all things girly...) I didn't really see anything I loved for boys. And of course my boy(6) is at an in-between stage. He's still my baby, but he's getting into older things now *sob*

Favorite Handprinted Fabric: It's a toss between Saffron Craig's Owls Nesting and Kristen Doran's Matryoshka print. Oh but wait, I actually bought this adorable matryoshka bunny print from Areathriftyone. (I'll have to show you that later...I made it up and it's rather cute.)

Favorite Organic Print: Betz White's Picnic Floral canvas...but I'll never own any. That's just too darn expensive for me...

Favorite New Designer: Now I'm going to say Rosalie Quinlan...because everyone's talking about her being new. But what about the Flower Sugar line? Why is everyone saying the GFG is her first line? I don't know...

Okay, so I'm going to wrap it up there. I provided links for things that are a little less mainstream. Hope you enjoyed my little list. Wish I'd had some eye candy to go along with it...

* That made me think of something. When I was in the hospital having my daughter, a gal came by to visit. She had given me a blue blanket with cute little puppies on it and wanted to make sure I was okay with it being blue. I said yes, it was cute and I have no problem with other colors. And then she said, 'yeah, and you can only have so much pink.' I'm not exaggerating...I was taken aback by that. I might even have made a face. What in the world was she saying? You can never have too much pink!

I'd really love to see you tonight...

2010-01-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

I believe I've mentioned before how much I love sappy 70's love songs. Just now I was dancing around the house singing England Dan & JF Coley's song. I do love England Dan. And so now I'm in a decent mood, despite things going on that could get me down...

Speaking of that song, the first sentence of the refrain says "I'm not talking 'bout moving in" but when we listen to it it sounds like "I'm not talking 'bout the linens," and jj has decided he likes the linens lyric better. :)

I started a post yesterday about some lovely fabric I bought a while ago, but the lighting is just so bad... So I'll show you some stuff I got in the mail recently, for which I'm not concerned about the lighting...

Today I got this lovely Layer cake. I'm not too big on those (I hate to spend the extra money to have them cut it for me) but I really like a lot of this line...and I wanted big pieces. How lovely is this quilt going to be? Just simple squares in such a lovely fabric line (opens a pdf).
Wow, I don't know how, but I ended up on Netflix and I think I've been there for 15 minutes or so...oops! :)

Yesterday (I believe) I got 4 packs of 4" squares of the Momo Wonderland(pdf) collection. I liked the floral fabric when I first saw it way back when, but thought nothing of it, until recently when I saw a quilt made up with it, and decided I needed it. Boy it was hard to find what I wanted! I also have 2 jelly rolls coming in, with which I shall surround the squares...

And these are 10" squares I cut from some fabric I've had for a while. This line was the original inspiration for my brown and pink log cabin for which I'm still collecting... I can't find a link for the whole collection. And you can't see that that main fabric has pink stripes, but it does...
So that's it for now, I guess. I may have had more to say, but some delicious strawberry shortcake has distracted me...

Hey! It's my 100th post!

2010-01-05T16:34:00.000-08:00

(a lovely lichen)

100. Who knew? Not me! Perhaps I'll do a little something special on my 113th post. *hint hint* 13 is my lucky number...

So I hope you enjoyed the holiday festivities. I meant to come on and wish you a Happy New Year, but it didn't happen. So Happy 5th day of the new year! :)

I don't have an awful lot to talk about today. As usual my head isn't feeling very organized, and I feel a little ho-hum. I'd meant to make a cute scrapbook layout about my new year's resolutions. One of them is actually to scrapbook in a more timely fashion, so as not to forget the stories behind my pictures. I'm off to a great start, aren't I? :)

(ducks on the log)

Jackie showed off her wonderful new camera today. I'm jealous. Not to say that I don't love my camera...I do. But I would like something more. But the next up from mine is $750 (body only) at amazon. That's a little pricey for me...and honestly, the one I really want is $1,500 (body only). Yikes! And of course I'd want a fancy new lens for it. So. if I'm going to save, I might as well save big, right? Have I mentioned I'm horrible at saving? Horrible...(ducks on the edge of the ice)

Do you have anything you'd like to/are saving for? I honestly feel if it weren't for internet shopping I might be able to save. Maybe... But if I know the money's in the account, it's so hard not to spend it. And say I take it out in cash or put it in savings...I still know it's there, and I can just reimburse the checking account after the purchase. Oh, it's so very difficult. It would also be easier if I'd stop wanting things... :)

(I don't know who this little guy is! I don't even remember seeing him this summer. He certainly doesn't look like a weed. It'll be very interesting to see what he becomes in the spring.)

Not that I want to lessen my chances, but there are some giveaways going on that you might be interested in. Rita is having one, you get an entry with a purchase in Jackie's new store, and Shelly's having one featuring one of my very favorite Etsy shops. I don't think I've missed any...

Have a nice day! :)

Just popping in...

2009-12-25T14:44:00.000-08:00

To wish you a...
Oh, and to print off a recipe! ;)

I can't believe it!

2009-12-21T11:21:00.000-08:00

Could it actually be the winter solstice? Could it really be? It went by so fast! And it hardly felt all that dark the last few days. What's happening to me? Could I actually be having a happy winter here? Could I? *faint* :D(funny layered fog)

Yes, as you may have guessed winter here in the soggy NW is not my friend. You could almost say I hate it. Ooo, and especially when I heard that my beloved Baltimore is having snow.

(the 'family' tree)

Speaking of Baltimore, we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner/lunch last night. It was wonderful. I must have been in some crazy-happy mood, which only served to enhance the experience. You see, that place holds a lot of nostalgia for me. When jj and I lived in Baltimore, we'd go to the CPK in the inner harbour maybe once a week, or maybe it was every other week, alternating with Matsuri. It was so wonderful...the atmosphere, the food, the view of the water. All in all I have a great love for the time we spent there. True, we obviously felt the need to leave. Why, oh why, did we do that??? Couldn't we have just stuck it out another year, maybe two. I would have graduated from college, maybe we could have moved out of the hood... But we didn't. We moved here, and except maybe the first and maybe even second year we've been here, I've regretted it. And now I'm stuck. It's horrible to be stuck. It really is...

(My sweet santa tree topper)

But today I'm thankful. Thankful that I've been able to keep my spirits up through the usually dreadful end of fall.

(some favorite snowman ornaments)

So how are you doing today? Do you celebrate a December holiday such as christmas? Are you ready for it? We aren't. Not totally. Hmm, thought I'd already mentioned what we were getting for the kids..but I can't find it. So let me do that now!

(the slightly-gaudy, but more adult tree)

For my boy, the great lover of trains, we got a real model train set. He has lots of the thomas wooden stuff, but he's been yearning for the real thing. We were able to get the Lionel Harry Potter train on sale, so we got him a level crossing with lights and sounds and a platform station with lights as well! I'm excited. You know, I'd love to have a small christmas train layout for the family. Maybe I'll look into that. Wouldn't it be fun? A little snowy village, all lit up. I'd really like a z scale train...they're adorable! But who has $400 to spend on a tiny engine? Not me...

Now for my girl we were going to buy a big girl bed. But we ran out of money... I don't know how that happened. jj is the budgeter of money, and he says he's positive. And I do know that money is easily whittled away...but gone?!? Hopefully we'll be able to afford that soon...maybe for her birthday in January! This is the one we're getting. what do you think of it? I did buy her a cute sheet set and one of those mosquito net things at IKEA. Very excited about that. This dresser might be nice too. Of course I'll make up all sorts of girly quilts over time. Ooo...it'll be the room of my dreams...and hopefully she'll share my taste as she grows up! :)
As for jj, I don't think he's ever read my blog, but just in case, I won't say... Wonder what he'll get me?

As I mentioned before, my parents will be here tonight. I'm not at all ready for that. I need to tidy up a bit, plan some meals...geez, I still don't know what I'm doing for christmas dinner. I subscribe to Food Network magazine and they have some of the most delicious sounding recipes! I'll have to pour through this and last month's issue for ideas.

I suppose I should go get busy on that tidying before the day passes me by. Hope you're having a wonderful day! :)

A happy parcel and a festive project...

2009-12-20T19:37:00.000-08:00

(The frozen lake)

(The foggy lake)

Why hello everyone! I thought for sure I would have posted before now, but you know me... Actually, my parents are coming for a rather long visit tomorrow, so I may not post until after the holiday. We'll see...

I thought today I might share a very wonderful purchase I made not too long ago. I buy a lot of craft supplies, but not so many pre-made crafts, because I always feel like I could make the things myself. But sometimes there are special things, that I couldn't reproduce, and it's so wonderful to buy something someone else has made...especially when it's from the lovely Corry and Heleen.

They have an Etsy shop called dutchsisters. I recommend taking a peek...but don't buy anything I want to buy. ;) They make the cutest things, and their skill is great.

This was the package from Heleen... those are little rolls of fabric!
And here's what was inside...Isn't she adorable!?!Look that that face! Can you see the hand stitching around the wings?

And here's the package from Corry... I love that ribbon...and that card! I swear the US is seriously missing out on some sweet stuff...
And here's her most wonderful heart! She even took pictures while making it on her blog...how fun is that?
Here's the back...
I have great plans for these two things... Needless to say receiving this package was the highlight of that week...

Now on to something I've made. Not half as cute as those things, but so be it... It's a set of christmas-y napkins. They're half circles that you fold into tree shapes! Now, once again, the pattern was off. I don't understand what it is with me and patterns. Why are the ones I pick always screwed up?!? See the trunk? It's not centered! But I'd already cut them all out... jj suggests we say the trees are in a blizzard, and that's why they're leaning. :)

I cropped the picture funny like this so you could see the little wicker stool I usually take pics on... It's from IKEA. Love that store!
So have you thought about the new year yet? Making any resolutions? I thought of a great one...but I forget what it was. 0:)

Sunday Stash #4

2009-12-13T12:01:00.001-08:00

Today's bit o' stash is brought to you by a forgotten purchase. Sometimes I just love forgetting what I've bought! It's so much fun to rediscover it!

The other day I was looking through my fat qtrs for a project and I came upon this fabric...
I thought I just bought this while at a little sewing thing at a local quilt shop...but all the fat qtrs in that particular set of shelves are older. And so the search began. Turns out I'd never emptied the bag of stuff I'd brought to work on that day...and that's where my new fabric was!

So here's what I got. Mostly 1/4 yards with a few fat quarters.

This particular shop has a red wagon filled with scraps, and they have baggies you can stuff for $3.Look at all the space I had left! I could've fit more in there!
All in all I showed great restraint that day. I didn't have a lot of money to spend, and I didn't go over my budget. Yay me!

Go visit the Sunday Stash page to see other fun stashes! (Button to the right)

My Thanksgiving trip

2009-12-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

Oh I know...today (well, actually, yesterday) I was going to share something special with you. But I just realized that the pictures were still on my camera...and I'm too lazy to go get it! So I'll share my Thanksgiving trip instead. But first, let me just say that I did, indeed, work on something on Tuesday...in fact I finished it! But that picture is also on my camera, so you'll see it later. And hopefully I'll have a special something else completed by then!

So here we go. Hopefully it's not too boring. Usually we drive down to my parents in two long days, but this time we decided to extend the trip and make it more relaxing. And indeed, it was nice to make some fun stops. But we've found that the kids get cranky during car trips...and because the time in the car is a little shorter, they do less sleeping. Not so much fun.

The first day was pure driving...down to Medford, OR.

The second day we were on to California.

(Mt. Shasta. I do love a snow-topped volcano)(Shasta's little friend)

We went to see the Lake Shasta dam as well. We love to see dams. I believe this dam is the biggest dam in the US (???) by the amount of concrete it took to make. Or no, the second, the grand coulee being #1. Or is Coulee just the biggest span? I don't know...
This is the sunset at the dam. Nice...

The next day we went down to Fairfield , CA. The home of Jelly Belly jelly beans. (I'm eating some right now...) I didn't get any pictures there...

The next day we were off to Santa Barbara to see jj's sister and brother. That was such a nice drive. We went through San Francisco, and the part just north is so beautiful! I want to go there again to take pictures. It's kind-of marshy and there were all sorts of lovely birds.(I really loved the haze)

Of course we saw the Golden Gate bridge. And San Quentin and Alcatraz too. Those places give me the creeps in an exciting sort of way...like horror movies. The city itself is very nice as well. We're considering a stay there some time.

And I thought Seattle had some crazy-steep streets! Pictures couldn't capture the angles well enough, but I thought this hill was fun. We also went on Lombard. That name makes me think of Baltimore... *sigh*
We had a really lovely visit with jj's siblings. Santa Barbara is very nice. We would even consider a move there...if we were considering a move to CA. Which we're not.

Anders was excited to see the beach...
Then we went to my parents, celebrated Thanksgiving, etc.

On the way out we went through Tehachapi as usual. It's a windy place and they obviously take advantage of that... (you might have to click to enlarge)

The cows thought I was crazy...We hit some rain on the way which gave a lovely double rainbow...
The view behind...
That night we stayed in Redding, CA. The next day, for some reason, we got to looking around even though we had to get going. We saw signs for the 'world-famous sundial bridge.' It was nice, but world famous? I think not!It was in a very nice part of town...the whole area reminded me of Pennsylvania for some reason. Right next door was a museum and they had a Lego sculpture exhibit. Again, no pictures. Sorry. But really it's better to see in person... And honestly, though very nice, any one of us could make them with a little imagination (and a lot of money).

I did think this was neat though... A glass floor, and a tree complete with roots.

And to wrap up our trip, Oregon gave us the lovely sunset at the top of the post.

Are you asleep yet? :)

So lucky!

2009-12-08T10:41:00.001-08:00

That's how I've been feeling these days... It might have something to do with the season. I've almost always gotten a warm, fuzzy feeling during Christmas time. True, I could find lots of things to complain about (can't we all). But when I look around me, and take it all in, I see I'm really a very, very lucky girl. And it makes me so happy!

Now jj is quite the opposite! He tends to be a bah-humbug sort of guy. His glass isn't half empty, it's completely empty and has started to mold... (aww, poor jj, not here to defend himself. But let me tell you, I'm right...) Apparently he doesn't get warm and fuzzy... But I try my best to sway him, and sometimes he comes half around!

Hmm, well then... shall we talk about the weather? Yes, let's!
It has been chilly here. I might need to start wearing a jacket if it doesn't let up!
Ooo, the weather channel has a warmer forecast than the local news did last night...by about 10 degrees! Next week should be a balmy ~43 degrees!
Right now it's 26. That's cold for here! But you know what? The sun is out! That's also odd for here. We've had a lovely string of cold, sunny days! I can deal. :)
Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, I'm going to share, with you, something I got in the mail. Something oh-so-wonderful that I purchased from some oh-so-wonderful people!

Now I'm off to work on something.... hey, stop laughing, I really am! I think...

Sunday Stash #3...on Monday.

2009-12-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm a day late. I think I was really busy Sunday, but honestly, I can't even remember. In fact, for a second I thought today was Thursday and panicked because I thought I'd forgotten to do something I'd planned to do on Thursday. Then later in the afternoon I thought it was Tuesday...last Tuesday. I asked jj if he'd gotten the project done yesterday that he'd hoped to...that was last Monday! I think I need a rest...

But first, let's look at some vintage sheet squares I bought on Etsy. Oh how I love Etsy!

Aren't the colors bright and wonderful?Here are my favorites from the bunch...

Got to run...

2009-12-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

(The beautiful misty fog in San Francisco)

I've been wanting to post for a bit now, but just haven't found the time to sit and chat. Today I just couldn't resist telling you how excited I am about the christmas gift I'm giving my mom! I fear she (and no one else) might get as excited as I am, but I can't focus on that now. I'll just hope that my idea is as good as I think it is! ;) I'm afraid I can't tell you what I've bought or exactly what I'm doing because my mom reads this blog...but I'll show you after the day!

And though I'd love to sit here and chat about all my latest acquisitions and my recent trip, I feel I must do a bit of tidying up around here so that jj will stay in a good mood when he gets home. (I assume he's happy. When I asked him how his day was going he actually texted the word 'good' to me. I did a double take...) Anyway, his good moods are fragile, and I did spend a bit of money today, so I thought the least I could do was make the house nice (er) for him to come home to...

Talk to you soon...

A nice visit...

2009-11-19T16:52:00.000-08:00

(See the big ring around the moon? That's no photoshop effect. It really looked like that! I can't believe my camera picked it up! Cool, eh?)

Oh my, I'm downloading my camera right now and I had 119 pictures on there!

Today was my first parent/teacher conference of the year. It was rather pleasant. My boy's teacher is very sweet, and all seems well. So that made for a nice afternoon. Here's hoping it's a nice night. jj has to work overnight again...

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving. We'll be going down to California to visit with my parents. It won't be a long visit because of jj's need to be at work, but hopefully it'll be nice. We have a few stops planned along the way which should break the monotony for the kids. They really aren't car people like JJ and I are... And it's supposed to snow on the passes so we might be taking jj's truck. It doesn't have the space or the DVD player that Bertha has. It also doesn't have the nav... oh well. I'd rather feel safe than have luxuries. And I'm an excellent map reader...if we need one.

One of the stops that we've planned is a visit to the Jelly Belly factory! I'm really excited about that one. I love the sweet little Jelly Belly guy, but what I really love is factories! They absolutely amaze me! It blows my mind to think how someone made machines that do what they do...how on earth? *sigh* That should be a ton of fun!

We'll also be visiting jj's sister at her home for the first time. That'll be nice as well! Hmm, speaking of which, I'll be seeing my brother...I haven't seen him for more than a year! Yay!

So I know I have a bunch to share, but I'm going to try to do it in pieces. That's really hard for me you know...the whole organization of what to share and when. Oh I really do have so much to share!

First let's address the convention. Guess what? I forgot to bring my camera! I know...how could I? But honestly, though great fun was had by all, the products weren't that exciting this year... I wanted pretty paper, I wanted bling... I didn't see much paper at all. How can that be? It all depends on the stores that decide to have booths. There just weren't a lot of paper-loving booths. Mini-books/albums were scarce too...another of my favorites. I did get a few sets of acrylic stamps though. I haven't done stamping in forever...hopefully I'll be doing more now that I blew all that money on them! And I got some stickles too. Those are absolutely essential...(Hmm...do I like greenish blues?)

(Some lovely brads)

So we're going to skip the convention for now and move right on to fabric. Due to the lack of products at the convention I had money left over! Of course I blew a ton of it on supplies to make stuff for Etsy. I don't know why I do that. I don't have enough motivation or discipline to get anything accomplished. I have great ideas/supplies for christmas items...but they should already be done and posted by now! *sigh*

These (except for the Japanese one, which is 1/2) are all 1-yard pieces...not my typical cut. Usually I like 1/2 yard at best. But aren't they divine? Look at those dots, and that stripe. I had to have them!(Alexander Henry Juicy Stripe, AH Coriander, Kokka Nordic Flora, AH Light Bright)

I decided it would be nice of me to share the names of the fabrics I show (if I know them) so that if you like them, you might find them too! And when you do, I'm sure you'll do something much nicer with them than I will, and I'll be jealous... :)

Here are some fat quarters I got in mid-October. I just haven't gotten around to showing you. I have a few purchases in that category. Aren't they yummy?(mmm...)

I got them from a lovely Etsy Shop called Cotton Thread Fabrics. [Okay, you know you have a fabric problem when you go to a site just to get a link, and you get sidetracked for 5 minutes before you realize what you were there for! :) ]

I hope you all have a lovely week...Thanksgiving or not! Do you have any special plans?

(Because of JJ's work I'm going to be bringing my laptop with me on the trip...but I wouldn't count on a post. Heck, if I can't do it when I'm here at home, do we really expect me to do it on the road? I think not...)

She's alive!

2009-11-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, here I am. I've nothing to share really...oh okay, I have lots to share. But I haven't quite recovered from my crazy week (or 12 days). I just couldn't not post on my most favorite of days. Not only is it my beloved Friday (I love you friday!), but it's also the 13th...my lucky number! Such a fine day it is.

I do hope you've all had a very fine day! I hope to post something mildly fun soon! Now I'm off to order pizza... :)

P.S. to my US friends. Have you tried ordering online with domino's? It's rather nifty...

Sunday Stash #2

2009-11-01T11:59:00.001-08:00

I feel like I might have shared this with you before...but either way, I think it's worth showing again. The dots are Michael Miller and the floral Heather Bailey. For some reason I thought I'd bought a few more fabrics to go with this little bundle...but apparently not. :( That's a shame...

I still haven't shared some of my most recent purchases with you. I must do that sometime soon! :)

Just a quickie...

2009-11-01T04:09:00.000-08:00

(This is the tiniest woodpercker I've ever seen. Funny, just the other day I showed you the flicker, the biggest woodpecker I've ever seen.)

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween, whether you celebrated it or not. Though, is it really something celebrated? What would we be celebrating? Seems like the wrong word for it???

My boy was a clone thing, you know the white-clad guys, from star wars, and my girl was a rider of a(n) unicorn. Meaning, the unicorn has four feet, two of which were actually hers, and the rest she held up with reins. It was funny...we took them costume shopping and as soon as my girl saw the 'horsey' she saw nothing else in that store! Her mind was set. (it is pink, after all...) But we really had to shove my boy into a decision. He's so...thoughtful, as in, he thinks a lot. Man, they were expensive costumes. I'll tell you...$30 for hers and $40 for his. We got 30% off, but still... Please let them fit next year! Actually, we technically could have squeezed them into last year's costumes. They still play with them, but playing is one thing, going out into public is another...

So some of you may see the time...no, I'm not an early riser. My nose was bothering me and I got up at 2am. It's totally going to screw up my day. I'll go back to bed in a minute, but I mustn't take a nap this afternoon. That'll only screw up the next night of sleep.

Alright, this was supposed to be a quickie, and now that I've rambled, I don't even remember what I came here to say. It was something I felt couldn't wait until Sunday Stash...

Oh, I know! I was going to tell you about the super-naughty purchase I just made! Well, technically it is November now, and I technically get 'paid' today. But in reality jj may or may not have the money, and he may or may not have deposited it yet. You know...

But oh, oh, oh I couldn't resist! I just couldn't! Check it out... I'm so very excited about it! Actually, if I remember correctly, I'd been wanting some of that line...

Whew, that's a long link...OH geez loweez! Do you know what I just did (but you won't see because I fixed it)... I copied and pasted a web address right here on the post instead of linking it to a word. Wow, maybe I need to go back to bed! :) lol

I just went to get my camera to see if I have any pics to add...but when I got up I realized that I've been sitting here for 2 hours straight...literally. Cross-legged, of course. I can't stand having my feet on the floor! There, a nice tid-bit about e to complete your day! :)My not-so-attractive, leaning tower o' bird food. I showed this because you can see the fog, foliage and geese/ducks.)Once again. sorry about the clarity of the pics. (Hmm, you know, I don't even know if I zoomed these, I was in such a rush to take the pic before he flew away.) Anyway, when we got this camera we knew nothing about what the 'number' meant, you know D40 vs D90. So when we saw the price tags it was like, I'm sure this is just fine. Heck, it's a nice camera either way...it really is. I love my camera. But now I realize it's the clarity, the megapixels per inch or what have you. And I sure do wish I had the 90. (Or the D3x, which is a mere $8,000. Imagine what you could do with that...)

9 days ?!?

2009-10-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

(My friend, the flicker, comes to tweet at me and eat the suet. Bad picture...but I can't get too close or he'll fly away. Hmm, actually, I guess that's a girl, she doesn't have a ruby cheek...)

Could there really only be 9 days until the convention? What about the weight I meant to lose? What about getting my glasses fixed? I'd wanted a new outfit!

I'm... not... even... in... paper mode... yet!!!!!!

Ahhh, calming breath... Yes, the time is creeping up on me and I'm in no way prepared. In fact, I've been, very literally, day-dreaming the last few days away... And no, I wasn't dreaming of paper.

But (was it last week?) I was very productive. Very productive indeed!

First let's talk about kits... That mini table runner I made a bit ago was a (mostly)pre-cut kit and pattern made up by a shop. They had me attach 2" strips round a 4" square. That leaves me with a 7" unfinished block...you with me? Then they had me trim it down to 5 1/8"! 5 1/8! You can't, without some kind of quilting ruler I've not heard of, neatly and evenly trim 7" down to 5 1/8" without either winging it, or having one side with an extra 1/8". Why have me waste almost 2" of fabric??? Why the extra 1/8? Okay, so I do that. Then they want you to cut them wonky...
But wait, 2 1/2" off of 5 1/8" only leaves 2 5/8. That's not wonky enough! In fact, it's just enough to make it look like the person sewing it wasn't very good at matching up seams!
It certainly doesn't look like their pictures...For a moment there I thought maybe one of the numbers was just wrong, but no, when I went to attach their pre-cut, correctly (to their directions) measured triangles, they fit! Amazing...

Then we come to our second kit. Another pre-cut one. I do love convenience...but what's this? Not enough of some, too many of others, and all sorts of inaccurate cutting! I had to use some squares that were a good 1/8" off, because otherwise I wouldn't have enough to complete the thing!(The top are rectangles, not squares. The bottom are extras.)

I say please...if you're going to offer a kit, make sure you cut correctly, and have someone check your pattern!

I did get two more little somethings finished all the same... The doomed by poor cutting, mini table topper...
And a cheery little halloween pillow cover, for which I have an improperly sized cushion. But I think it looks nice anyway...OOO! I just realized that I haven't received my convention tickets in the mail yet! I'd better check on that! :(

Sunday Stash #1

2009-10-25T15:26:00.000-07:00

Number 1...how exciting! I saw a few Sunday Stash posts over at Red Pepper Quilts and thought it was a neat idea. Then I noticed she had a button on her sidebar which led me to 1/4 of an inch. I love to share my stash, so I've decided to join in the fun!

Now as I've mentioned multiple times now, my stash is in bins, and so to get anything I have to dig (usually to the bottom) to find things. But in doing so I've found some really cute stuff! I'm a very lucky lady...

Here is a little fat quarter pack that I barely remember buying...What a smart shop to put together such an irresistible little bundle of goodness...

Go on over to Tam's blog...there's a list of the other Sunday Stashes, and check out some of her blocks! Nice!

Just a quickie...

2009-10-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

I needed to let you know (not just because I can get another entry, but because the shop is so darn awesome), that There's a giveaway at the Sweet Tidings blog, and you can win something from Holland Fabric House. I think you'll all love, love, love that shop. But please...don't buy too much. Save some for me! :)

I'll be back tomorrow with my first ever Sunday Stash! (If I can remember, that is...)

18 days...

2009-10-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

(it was foggy yesterday... couldn't even see the lake.)

In 18 short days, I will be at the Creating Keepsakes Conventio n!* I can't believe it's so close! This year Bean, my mom, is going with me. Ooo, it'll be horribly fun with a buddy!

Last year jj surprised me with a hotel room for the duration of the event. We only live ~30 minutes away, but he wanted me to have a proper break.** I assumed he'd be up for that this year, but somehow he 'forgot' that he did that for me, and 'forgot' all the spending money he gave me as well. How convenient... So this year I 'earned' some of it. I did little things for his business, and I forget what else...maybe that was it??? Let's see if he'll remember telling me (only 2 months ago) that he was going to match whatever I saved. Saving money is not my thing...at all.

I find it hard to have so many interests. I don't have that much time for my own things, so I find actively engaging in all crafts at once almost impossible. (I do hope that when my craft room is finished it'll be easier to have multiple things going on at once. A table for each craft...that should work.) Right now I'm in full-on fabric mode. Although I must say I've been crocheting while waiting for my boy at school. Oh, and I bought some bead stuff...but that was Bean's fault! 0:)

So anyway, I'm going to be in full-on scrapbook/card-making mode here soon. I do so love to make cards. I love rubber stamps (haven't done that in forever!), sparkly glitters, bling, patterned papers....Oh boy, do I love patterned paper! Although half the time I wish the paper was fabric instead. (Have you noticed that a lot of the paper patterns are indeed becoming fabrics?)

I will certainly share my convention purchases! Maybe I'll even tell you what classes we're taking at some point. Share the fun, I say!

So yesterday I almost completed yet another small something! But when I went to quilt it, my top thread wasn't coming out nicely, and sometimes it broke. I thought at first that something was wrong with my machine, but I'm thinking maybe it's just the tension. You see, I use Aurifil almost exclusively, for both piecing and quilting and almost never have to adjust my tension. But I put a thicker Superior King Tut*** thread in this time, so maybe I have to. Wish me luck on that! I'll share when I have it all finished...hopefully tomorrow.

Oh yes, I finished my Attic24 bag as well! No more granny undies! I haven't affixed the handles, but I think I like it better as a 'basket.' Hmm, maybe it'll be a handled basket though??? We'll see...I didn't have the directions with me when I did this last scalloped row, so I played with it a little. It's a *sl st, sc, 2dc, 2tc, a quadruple crochet, 2tc, 2dc, 1sc* repeat. Yes, I wrapped the yarn 3 times to make a quadruple. Why not, right? I mean, you could go on and on... for all I know this is commonplace, but I've not seen or done it before. Unfortunately, though lovely, this yarn de-plied (is that a word?) a lot, making it a little difficult.
I'm glad that at least some of you don't mind my rambling on because it's happening again!

I saw a post about some lovely summer flowers over at Vanessa's blog (I love her blog!) I am going to miss the summer color, but my sweet little plants haven't given up on me yet! I took these pics yesterday...

Look at my miniature roses! New buds, after a few frosts even!

(Love the dew on these)

Primroses have got to be one of the hardiest plants...This is the third bloom for those snapdragons! I'm definitely doing more annuals next year! Annuals and veggies!
I love the color on the trees. This is no Vermont, that's for sure, but I'll take what I can get!

(This is so much brighter in person...)

And finally some cabbage roses. Literally! This is the bottom cut of a baby bok choy (left) and nappa cabbage. Cute, eh?
Hope you're having a most wonderful week!

* Don't be fooled, it's not in Seattle, it's in Bellevue. Seattle is a more marketable name, I suppose.
**Isn't he sweet? Honestly, he's an incredible gift giver. He hates getting gifts, but the ones he gets for me are so thoughtful, in a tear-jerking way. I'm so very lucky and spoiled...rotten.
*** It's way happier and brighter in person.

Such a Happy Girl...

2009-10-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

(The lake at sunset)

For some reason, this afternoon, I am indeed a happy girl! Maybe it's caffeine. I get uber hyper when I have caffeine--and oftentimes, when hyper, I get happy.

I'm currently browsing my favorite digital scrapbooking stores. Like many other things, I'm rather addicted to buying, and rarely using, digi-scrapping kits. I'm just not a productive sort of gal, I'm afraid. I see some of these excellent bloggers who are constantly creating (and actually finishing) so many wonderful things. Why can't I? Maybe when the craft room of my dreams is complete, I will. Okay, who are we kidding...

But alas, I did complete something this weekend. Yes, it's a 7" x 24" something, but I chose it because sometimes a gal needs to feel that sense of accomplishment before she starts feeling completely disappointed in herself, you know? I was rummaging through my stash (which is in bins due to the construction) to find pieces to add to the yummy collection of fabrics I bought from Beata. She is so inspiring, and her blog is so lovely... Anyway, I found a little kit I'd bought during a shop hop 2 years ago. Here it is, my mini table runner...

Love that green, and the pink, and the yellow...okay, all of it!

Let's see, what else have I been up to?

I bought a new iron this weekend. I happened to have a Macy's gift card that I couldn't seem to spend. I wasn't going to buy clothes, and the kitchen gadgets just weren't appealing to me, so I got something I really needed...for free! :)Goodbye old iron. Sorry I didn't follow your cleaning directions and burnt polyester rick-rack all over you...

I also bought a new board cover as the old one was so stained and stiff. Didn't take a pic...too ugly and gross. But I have to ask, where are all the cute covers? I want a pink or red floral cover...give me some roses, or at least some color! I actually considered the naked covers where the undies disappear with heat...briefly (pun). But although it would be a laugh, do I really want to see that? NO! (I forget which quilt shop sells them...hence no link)We also went to Shipwreck beads. I thought I'd make some halloween beaded goodies to sell at Etsy, but I'll never finish them in time... But I'll still make them and either hold on to them for next year, or hope some goth-loving person is shopping! :) Anyhoo, the street leading there is lined with lovely trees...it's so horribly peaceful there, as it's in a business complex. We always go for a little walk... The area is called Hawk's Prairie. And indeed, we've spotted hawks.(pic from a moving car, hence the blur. I didn't realize I had my camera until after we left, which really stinks because I used my phone to take pics of the kids in the leaves.)

Hmm...I also did some sanding. I bought this table for a mere $40 and I'm going to paint it either white or a nice minty/seafoam green. Such fun!
My boy's school had a box-tops contest. The class with the most gets a pizza party or something like that. I've been saving all summer so our contribution was 187 box-tops and 45 labels. Not bad.
Okay...from this post forward I am going to try to be more organized. All my posts seem to be huge and miscellaneous. Wish me luck!

An off sort of day...

2009-10-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

It's not that there haven't been some stellar moments in my day. Cathy blogged about me! I've never been blogged about! :) But I'm just out of sorts again. I think it's yet another form of procrastination. I am the master of such... I really need to tidy up a bit in my craft room as verizon is coming to fix my internet. And I also want to get the majority of the cutting done for Saturday. That'll save my wrist a bit, not to mention time.

Tomorrow should be an odd day. My boy has a birthday party to go to, and then the whole verizon thing. I'm hoping it won't be yet another 'off' day, causing me not to want to go on Saturday. That happens you know...

This little guy has been sitting on our patio all day...I don't think he's well at all. :( That is one of my least favorite parts of fall (though I do love it so...). I hate to say goodbye to all my spider and insect friends (and some of the birds too). Although it makes spring all the more wonderful, because they all come back again...
Goodbye sweet friend...
Geez loweez! Let's perk this post up a bit, shall we?

How about a suggestive pumpkin? Hmm...Or how about this jar of sauce I opened and labeled in September... This past weekend we, a) bought a reddish pumpkin (first one in pic) and harvested my boy's garden o' pumpions. We 'harvested' 8 (and they're perfect except for that one) with more on the way!

^Yes, that is a trash can!

The day after we had a most excellent drive, we went to buy our pumpkin, hay, and corn stalks at a place on the same route. The first day we were driving leisurely, so we pulled over to let not-so-leisurely drivers pass. We stopped by a line of feeding cows and every single one of them looked at us. It was the cutest thing. Sadly, the second day, when I had my camera, there weren't half as many, and they didn't all look. But you get the idea...
Funny, as I was cropping that pic I saw the reflection in the mirror. I'd forgotten we took jj's truck. You can see the tops of the corn stalks we bought too...Hope you have a wonderful Friday!

Opinions please...and Part 3

2009-10-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hello there! How's your day been? I've actually had a rather happy day so far. The sun was shining for a while, the lake was calm and peaceful, all was well...

I finished one of the blocks for that Double Dutch quilt. I'm so slow...

I think the solid is going to work out fine, but I'd really like your opinion... First the facts: 1) using the solid would save me $45, and 2) there'd be no directional fabric to deal with. Do you think it works? Honestly... I did the yellow first, because I think that'd be the most bland of the blocks.I posted this picture earlier today, but there's more to it... I actually trimmed these squares! That's a first for me. Usually I just leave them wonky and fudge the seams... I have to say it was much nicer this way, although my back is suffering a bit...So I told you I'd share the rest of my delicious fabric and some flowers today, and so I shall...

And yes, I pressed them for you!

I really think I need lots of this. Unfortunately that particular shop was out of the yardage. It be nice for some new curtains in my bedroom. I like the ones I have currently, but I could change them as I please.I think that top fabric would be nice for some laundry room curtains, don't you think?And here is some adorable matryoshka fabric. They're about 5" tall. Nice, eh?
Here are some close up. I love the little aprons, and the tied kerchiefs... I especially like the kerchief on the red one...This spring, on our way to school, I saw a lady planting this big ol' garden. And now she's selling her plants and veggies! I got 13 dahlia stems for only $1! Sadly, they're not lasting very long, but maybe that's the nature of the dahlia. When I grew them last year I didn't cut any for some reason, so I wouldn't know...
I thought this was funny. The other day I was getting out of the car and I saw this... I don't know if it was an accident, or if my girl thought the pumpkin was hurt...

Just a quickie...

2009-10-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

(What's that? Could I be sewing?)

I just had to tell you that I signed up for a quilting 'thing' (it's the movie night...and check out that incredible quilt while you're at it. wow!) I kind-of can't believe I did it. But I thought because it's so soon (this Saturday) that if there are any openings, it was meant to be... I guess it was!

I really hate to leave my little family for that long...I really, really do. But momma needs a break sometimes, and I come home so very happy to see them. It's good for us all. And just think what I can get accomplished with such time! Ooo... just think!

So wish me luck that I don't have a change of heart by the time Saturday rolls around, and that I'm feeling in tip-top health. I have to say I feel much less tired today. :)

Now I've got to go buy some new comfy jammies! I technically spent every last cent I own until the 15th...but we know me! 0:)

I may do another post this afternoon...we'll see. It takes me so darn long to complete one silly little post. Such a scatterbrain, I am!

Part 2: fabric

2009-10-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

This morning my alarm went off and I had no intention of waking up to it! Then maybe an hour later a smell came into the room... At that point very little air was coming into my nose and the little that did, smelled just awful. That's what finally got me up. I asked jj later what it was and he said spaghetti. Funny, it didn't smell like that at all. I'd thought it was some disgusting sausage pro....oh! It was meatballs! He buys them frozen to put in whenever I make spaghetti! Funny that I just came to that realization here. I'll leave it that way though....

When I walked past the kitchen Opal said "come in and get your breakfast momma." So I mentioned that no one had made me any toast. jj's working on that presently... :)

This morning has been foggy. A little bit of a disappointment because I wanted to have another lovely ride today. In fact, I wanted to go up to the skagit valley area. Saturday really is best for a day trip such as that, but we missed it. :(

Speaking of disappointment...I was looking forward to football and crochet today, only to learn that they're not playing the Ravens game here. >:(

I just spent 53 minutes on the phone to try to get my internet fixed! They're coming on Friday...yay?

Get on with the fabric you say? Okay...

A bit ago I showed you this wonderful bit o' fabric...
I purchased it from the lovely Jackie. When I saw this stash for a project she was planning, I was so jealous. So when I found she was going to sell some I jumped at the chance!

So the other day I walk into QuiltworksNW to find these:I believe I mentioned before that I wanted to make the Double Dutch quilt in the Feb '09 APQ. (Take a look at her patterns. A good 90% of them make my heart sing! And her colors...sometimes I get bored because a lot of fabric designers keep using the same colors and same patterns throughout multiple collections, but I've not tired of hers.)

I usually don't like to do things exactly as the pattern, but in this case I really did. I'd looked online to find these fabrics, but I couldn't find one store that had them all. So yes, I paid a bit more per yard, and a whopping 9.5% sales tax, but I'll consider it the fee for convenience! :)

You see the fabric is broken down into 4 wide stripes. The flower, grid, big dot, and small dot. Yet another convenience...The pattern calls for the light dotty stripe fabric for the white spaces. If I did that it'd be another $90. So I'm going to try a solid white first. That'd only be $45...big difference!

I also got a bit of 'just for fun' fabrics... you know, the ones I have no immediate plan for...oooo... ahhh... mmm...

You know what? I have more! But I actually think I'm going to press them for you first! That's a first. But the wrinkles really take away from these particular pieces...

Next post... more fabric and flowers!

My week, part 1

2009-10-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

My parents left today, and life went back to normal...almost. We all have colds. :(

We went for a most excellent drive today. We saw lots of adorable cows and the weather was perfect! Perfect for gardening really, but as I was spending most of my morning sleeping on the couch, I didn't do any of that...

So let's talk about my shopping adventures this past week, shall we? I have much to share this time around, so I think I'll have to split it between posts to keep things orderly. Not that I got a ton of stuff...I just have actual plans for some of it, and therefore I can't just put it in a huge stack and say here it is. I also did some sewing, you'll be happy to know! :)

So here's my bead store bag. I love to show jj a bag like this and make him guess how much the contents cost. He used to be easily shocked, but he's getting ever wiser and not guessing as low.Let's peak at its contents...Remember I told you about the ICE Resin? Well I also got these little bezels for it... oooo, I'm so excited! The possibilities are endless!I also got this vintage glass glitter... (See that shirt? That's my favorite shirt ever, and it shows. It's got paint, holes...it looks well loved. And yes, I do wear it in public!)

I wanted to wait until my craft room was ready, to play with the resin (keep it away from the kids and cat). But I think that might be too long for me... We've decided to completely strip the room...walls, floor, ceiling. That should take some time, if for no other reason than we have to somehow/somewhere move all my stuff out. :)

Next post...fabric!

I went shopping...

2009-09-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

My parents are visiting for the week so I haven't been keeping up on the computer. I must say I miss it, but it's so nice to have company.

My dad is one of those people who just can't stand to relax. So he's been doing all sorts of odd jobs for us. Presently, he's out in the yard, completely manicuring it. I feel bad that he's here working, but honestly, I think he loves it. You can see how horribly bored he gets just hanging around all day. And frankly, jj doesn't like home improvement projects, so it's wonderful for him to have the help...

My mom (I call her bean) is my show and tell buddy. I show her all my latest finds, and we talk about crafts. I got her into beading, stamping and a little into scrapbooking (more that I introduced her to the wide world of scrapbooking products to be loved and purchased...), and I'm now trying to tempt her with fabric projects. She's reluctant...I think she loves the fabric, but her machine is old and hard to work with, and I'm sure time is a factor.

Speaking of products, my mom needed some beads, and wondered if I'd take her to the bead store. I obliged... (I know you're not surprised by that.) :) Let's give props to jj as he gave me some money to spend. Yay jj!

I took her to Fusion Beads first, as it's my favorite bead store. We have Shipwreck, which is great for your basic supplies, but Fusion has all sorts of oddities and focal pieces. The gals who work there are just awesome too! Every time I go in there I come out with a new project because they have so many inspiring examples. In fact, I wanted my mom to see all the amazing stuff, but as I haven't done any beading recently, I was sure I wouldn't buy much...maybe a strand or two. $70 later I have some seriously fun stuff to work with...I got some ICE resin. I'm so excited to use it...so excited! So very, very excited!!

And then after Fusion we went to Beads & Beyond, which just happens to share space with Quiltworks NW. How convenient... ;) I didn't even look at the beads because the fabric was so very yummy. It's a little more expensive to buy there than online, and I do love receiving packages in the mail, but there's something wonderful about going to the shop. One, you can see the fabric in all it's glory. Two, you get to chat with the employees and customers. Today I chatted with a lady who had the most beautiful scarf on...just gorgeous! She even told me where to find the pattern. So hopefully, someday, you'll be seeing that scarf, and I'll be wearing it. And the gal cutting the fabric was so patient and fun to talk to. I just love friendly people...

Don't worry, I'll share my purchases in another post. I love to share you know...

Finally, no post would be complete without a picture or two...

jj bought me some flowers...that just makes my day, you know... Love my tiny little vases too. The one on the left is a milk bottle which held some super-yummy chocolate milk from a local farm. You pay a deposit and then bring the bottle back to get the deposit back. But that's too cute not to keep!And this adorable little frog(?) is in the bathroom. Originally the tub had sliding doors. Hideous sliding doors... My dad took them off for us on one of his visits. Underneath one of the door holder thingies was this little wallpaper piece.
How cute is that? I'm keeping him!

Avoiding the nap...

2009-09-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

My body wanted to take a nap this afternoon, but I hate the way I feel afterward. So I decided to blog instead. Aren't you lucky! :) (I need an eye-rolling smiley)

I've started on my new bag...
Needless to say, the gauge is much, much smaller... I'm using a 3.5mm hook. I have a snazzy new aluminum Susan Bates hook now! My old plastic one was also SB, but as you know, it's awfully breakable. Thanks for the heads-up Debbie!I love the way the yarn curls after you've unraveled it...I find myself holding too tight (because of the smaller hook?) and so I've been experiencing 'wrist discomfort.' (yes, I'm laughing at that)

Yesterday, while waiting at the school for my boy, I showed my girl a Hello Kitty backpack someone had on. She said "I wish it was mine." One thing led to another and she decided she wanted to go to Target and get a backpack. I told her we could go look (we happened to be going for cat food anyway) and she said, "No, we buy!"

So when my boy gets into the car, she excitedly tells him that she'll be getting a backpack. We start driving away and she says, "Momma, I think we'll skip Mabs' food." (Mable is the cat) And then I go to turn down our street and she screams "NO, the backpack!" I explain to her that we'd go after daddy came home... I think she might have had her heart set on a backpack... :)

So here it is...We decided on the Strawberry Shortcake because it was smaller for her little body. Brings back childhood memories!

I also got these...
I try my best not to even look in the dollar area because it's always a bunch of crap, but this is such cute crap. I'm sure I'll find something I need them to hold...

I met yet another crazy-big spider friend yesterday. I try so hard not to scare them away...but I really want you to see the size...
She wasn't too horribly shy. She stopped halfway and let me get pretty close...I always think of a bunch of things to chat about throughout the day, but I can never remember them by the time I sit down. (Heck, I forgot about half of this stuff until I went to upload the pics!) I'll just leave you with this...

Aha!

2009-09-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

This morning I finally decided to spend my $50 amazon gift card. I've had it for months. I know... how can one live with a delicious gift card burning a hole in the desk and not use it? Well...with all the books out there that I'd like to have, $50 really isn't that much. Yes, they sell other things...but as you can see, I have a hard enough time contending with my bookly desires, I couldn't possibly add other goodies into the mix.

So I decided to buy two of the harmony crochet guides. I skipped the edgings. I think it'd be nice, but I can wait on that. I haven't rented them, but I don't think I can go wrong. I also got this for my boy, and this for my girl. (I love Mo Willems and Miffy*!) Geez, how generous am I? :)

While I was there I thought I'd look at the reviews for that Crochet School book. I didn't find one that mentioned the cover pattern being missing. So it got me to thinking... After checking the page numbers I've found that this particular copy is missing pages 43 and 44! Hmm...what could be on those? My coveted pattern perhaps? Did a person of lesser morals covet it as well?

Remember that whole 'I'm going to finish the big granny square blanket, and I won't start any other projects before that, and oh, just this one little purse because it'll go so quickly' thing? Well, I started something else this morning. 0:) Barely started really. I decided to knit a lovely blanket! Problem is, it's been a year (or so...) since I last knitted, and you'd think I'd never done it before. It was awful! I was all thumbs, I couldn't control my beloved addi turbos to save my life. It was a mess... But I'll still give it a go. Practice makes perfect eh? (And hopefully makes one remember quickly...I've got lonely socks that need a neighbor!)

I did learn something from it though...perhaps it's good to have multiple projects going at once. A little crochet, a little knitting, a little sewing, a little beading...just so I don't forget and feel like I'm starting all over each time. You know?

So let's get down to business, shall we? Who's been giving my spiders steroids?
I've never seen garden spiders get so darn big! The picture doesn't really capture the size very well, but my finger is on the top of the leaf and she's on the bottom...I just love spiders... *happy sigh*

Here's one with some food... looks like a bee maybe?
For reference, this is a normal leaf...One day I went out and saw this crazy curled leaf... (I'd say peek-a-boo, but that's her butt...)I can confidently say 'her' because the other day I saw this!
BABIES! Isn't that so sweet? Tiny little babies...

A garden spider had babies by our front door as well, but they literally look like a sprinkle of pepper stuck in a web...until they move.

How was your weekend?

*That's the first time I've seen the Miffy wikipedia entry...I love that they have a statue! Love, love, love!

Best laid plans...

2009-09-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday kind-of sucked...so I had every intention of making this a better day, starting with a trip to the craft store right after we dropped my boy off for school. Fun, fun! ( I need to buy a smaller gauge crochet hook for that bag.)

I woke up before my alarm, realizing I didn't set it early enough for my boy to get a shower. I didn't want him to sleep on his clean hair because today was picture day. So I get up, and it's 30 minutes past when I usually get up! Apparently I never set an alarm at all...

I decided it was no big deal, I'd just skip my own shower. So we're running around, getting clean, then I realize his shirt (for the pic) was in the bottom of the hamper! Okay, it didn't smell bad, so I sprayed it with starch for a nice fresh scent, and we were good again...

Then I woke up my girl. She seemed cheerful enough--then she walked into the hallway and yakked all over the place! She felt obliged to walk the length of the hall while doing so, thus making a greater mess for me.

Not the day I had planned, to say the least... We camped out on the couch all day, she slept, I watched CSI. I couldn't work on the bag, but I did fiddle with this...The pattern is in this book...
See that awesome green lovliness on the cover? That's why I rented the book. I want to make that. But guess what? Not in the book... Carzy, huh? I think I'll try the Harmony guides or something. It's easy enough to figure out the pattern, but I don't know how to start after the foundation chain and all... Hmm, maybe I do??? Oh either way, I think I'll check out that other book. I love checking craft books out of the library, because then you can decide which ones you really want to buy...

Also, remember that lovely Cascade 220 pile? I think I'm going to make a stripey felted tote... I think. Maybe some other pattern? Squares? We'll see!

Also, thank you for the lovely comments lately. I so love comments! :)

Make sure you listen carefully...

2009-09-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

...because you may never hear these words spoken by me again. I'm going to undo my bag. Yes, I'm going to unravel all those stripes (ughhh) and start over again. I'm feeling a little ill right now...

Look at it...I think it's hard to see, but it's like a big basket, only it doesn't hold shape...
Ugh...it looks awful when stretched! Like saggy granny undies...

So then I took in the sides a bitStill not right. Oh, it's just awful! Awful...

In the original pattern she used a much smaller hook (why in the world did I use the size I did?) so her rounds didn't get so horribly big. But mine did. It would have been too wide for handles to work...I think. So then I thought I'd do a few decreases...but then it just started resembling a ball. It's just awful...

So I think I'll start with an oval perhaps, instead of a circle... what do you think? (Lucy's looks so great. But I wonder what it looks like when in use.) I'm going to try to re-use as much yarn as I can. What a waste of time and yarn... but I really want this bag. *sigh*

And to top off this wonderful day, my son is home sick from school. And you know what? My kids just don't get along...they just don't. It's nothing but screaming, complaining, pure craziness. And in between that my girl asks for food..like every 15 minutes. It's enough to drive a lady mad!

Maybe jj, in all his sunshiney splendor, will come home and salvage this day. Yes, I'm joking...

The birds, obsessions, and dishpan hands...

2009-09-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

Apparently a flock of birds decided to take a rest in the trees behind our house. There have got to be hundreds of them...well, I'm not a very good judge of numbers, but it's a mass of Alfred Hitchcock proportions...

This morning I decided to curl up with one of my favorite things...a magazine. But not just any magazine, a Country Living magazine. I love them! I love to look at pictures of beautiful rooms, decorated just the way I'd like mine to be...someday. Here's a stack of favorites. I even have an LL Bean catalog in there because they sell quilts, and I do so love to see a room with a quilt on the bed...
And that got me to thinking...the things I love the most tend to be what jj hates the most. Mostly because he hates spending money and I spend every cent I'm given on things. Things, things, and more things...

So what are some of my other obsessions? Let's take a peek at my stash, shall we?

Beads...I have a few....no, this isn't nearly all of them. 0:)Yarn...mmm. Actually, of all of my stashes, this is my smallest because I find it rather useful to have a project in mind when buying, whereas fabric needs no pre-determined purpose. That being said, I do love Cascade 220, and these do not have a purpose...
Nor does this one. But it's so soft (alpaca) and I felt the need to have it... Luckily I have a book of one-skein wonders.
Now here's the motherlode. Fabric. I have a 'bit' of that too. Let's take a look at my very favorite cabinet (which I hope to have more of after my craft room is no longer under construction.)
(Please forgive the ugly lighting. My room doesn't have a window in it yet. Just one small part of the aforementioned construction...)

Let's open it up, shall we?
Yes, the middle shelf has been repeated. It's funny, in this picture everything looks so pale. That top shelf is 30's, anything but pale... 2nd shelf is shabby-style florals and backgrounds. The rest are just fabrics I was rather fond of...

I have other cabinets that are the same make as this one, but they were 7.5+ feet tall, and our ceilings are only 7 (one of my least favorite things about this house) so they had to be altered to fit in, and now the doors don't work, etc...

Speaking of which, have you seen my hands? I have dishpan hands. See the dry skin, so bad that it's wrinkling up my fingers?
(Remember Madge?) I used to have this adorable pair of pink, cuffed rubber gloves, but jj used them in a way I didn't approve and I just haven't replaced them yet.

So, as you've probably guessed, we don't have a dishwasher. I know...how can a house not have a dishwasher? And the sad part is, the kitchen is laid out such that we'd have to redo a lot to fit one in...

There is a cute story behind this though. This area is rather expensive and jj doesn't have some awesome, high-paying job, so we never thought we'd be able to afford a house here. But one afternoon jj came home from work with a printout and on it, a house with potential. It was in a town we had really liked, but thought was too far away.* It was ugly, but right by a lake, and it had a yard! So we went to look at it, loved the lake and all the space, and miraculously, we were approved for the loan!**

The night after we made the offer we were hanging out, so happy, and I asked, "Did you see the dishwasher. Was it old?" jj thinks for a bit, "No, I don't remember it." Yup... but in the end we we felt so lucky to even have a home, we decided it didn't matter...

* something to know about this area...the roads are whacky. The same road may occur 4 or 5 times without connecting. So if you're going to my town via 124th, you can't just get on 124th and head east, because it will end. And yet, in a few miles, in the middle of nowhere it starts up again. And also, if you're on a road, and it has a curve, guess what? The name changes! It's absurd... So our town isn't half as far as it would seem...

** Yes, we're prime examples of people who should never have been approved for a loan, hence the recession. But we were responsible, cut spending, and did what we could to make sure we could handle the payments. we also didn't go making any more loans, etc. We thanked our lucky stars for the break, and we weren't about to push it... ;)

Oh happy day!

2009-09-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

How could I not be happy? Look at what my dear, sweet, wonderful, did I mention sweet jj got for me yesterday...She's the cutest HK I've ever seen, and she's mine!!! Cute things just plain make me happy...

Actually, the whole day was pretty decent. We went to Rainforest cafe and met jj's dad. I sat next to my girl and she was so good and sweet. There was a guy dressed as a frog and she kept looking for him, but every time he got close she wouldn't look or move. :) There was also a balloon-animal maker. Well, he made a lot more than animals, but I don't really know what else to call him...

I've been such a busy bee today. I vacuumed the whole house, straightened up, did some laundry, etc... I really feel like I should be sewing or something to keep up this productivity streak, but alas, here I am...

I feel I must mention a giveaway over at Terri's blog. She's celebrating 1,000 sales in her Etsy shop over the last 6 months. Can you believe that? Wow! I've toyed with the idea of listing some things there, but as with everything else I put it off. So lazy, I am!

Hope your weekend was wonderful. I'm not ready for Monday, are you?

Parking wars...

2009-09-11T07:59:00.001-07:00

This year my son goes to school all day, and that means there are a lot more people who pick up their kids. The first day I thought I'd get there 15 minutes early and be one of the first in line. Wrong! I was way at the back. So the next day I go 20, again, way at the back. Another day 25. Still, there was one lady there. I was like, just how long does this lady wait? Then it was on, I was going to be first in line! So I've been packing up my crochet and sitting in line for 30 minutes! Yes, I'm laughing at myself. It's rather ridiculous, but it gives me something to do, a little challenge to spice up my day. It's sad, isn't it?

Last night we went to the park before dinner. It's always nice to go to the park with jj because then I don't have to please 2 kids at once!

This is the most fun swing imaginable! The three of us (not jj, he's too big!) get on it and spin and swing. Too fun!Then we went to a favorite spot...Pickle Time. When I told my daughter we'd be going she squealed and said, "I want rootbeer and stickers!" The lady who (I believe) owns it always puts stickers on their hands.I just heard something in the garage. I've been hearing lots of somethings lately. jj says it's probably just the wood reacting to temperature and such, but I don't think so. Why so much now, and not before? We've had rat (eeewwww) problems in the past. I'm suspicious...

Anyway, I thought I'd give you a pumpkin update. They're not babies anymore! I hope they don't ripen too fast! I want them for October/November.
And some late gladioluses (gladioli?) have bloomed. So lovely...
And a rose...Speaking of gladioli, My son and I read a book that was teaching something about, I can't remember, plants maybe. Anyhow, she wrote cactuses. Now my handy-dandy, most beloved dictionary says that's okay, but I've never heard that before. It's always been cacti, and that's how I like it. I just looked up gladiolus. The plural is either gladiolus or gladioluses.

Wow, I can ramble, can't I? Especially when talking about my friend, the dictionary...

Now to the good stuff! Look at what I got in the mail today!Wonderful, isn't it? I thought I'd take it out in the sun because whites seem to turn out a little blue in the house. It's a mixture of new and vintage fabrics! She was actually giving them as a giveaway, and oh how I wanted to win (of course, I didn't). So when I found out she was selling a select few I bought that puppy as fast as I could!

And Beata's business card is adorable! I thought about scanning it, but it's her own image (of her incredible matryoshka dolls) and I didn't feel right about that...

Bittersweet...

2009-09-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

I was reading the latest post on my most favorite blog Attic 24 and she has some most wonderful news! But it also made me a little sad...

It's almost exactly one year ago that I had a miscarriage. I don't feel too sorry for myself, I know now it's a pretty common thing. But the fact is, no matter how inconvenient the circumstances may be, the love you feel when you're pregnant is instant. Id' already bought the fabric for a quilt... We even went and bought a minivan (the very last thing I ever wanted) because they were having the end of the design year 'sale.' (There was no real sale. $1,000 off a $40,000 car is peanuts)

Now I have a pimped-out mini van and an unfinished baby quilt...

But no big deal, right? All's well with life. We're all happy *knocking on wood*

So after I post some happy things, I'm going to sit my butt on the couch, watch some TV with my sweet little girl, crochet, and chill. Of course I also have a load of beads to clean from the floor, and paint to wash off little hands...

Here's a happy jelly lid...cute isn't it?And a bit ago I bought some kitty crayons. Look at this sweet packaging...Hope you have a wonderful day!

Bits and pieces...

2009-09-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to post for a few days now, but the timing has to be just right... the kids playing quietly, me in a good mood, and the most difficult of all, I've got to have something to talk about. When I said this blog is about my mundane life, I wasn't joking! But it's been almost a week, so I do have a few things to share now...

The first days of school always bring a dump-load of emotions my way. So after dropping my baby, I mean son, off one particularly lonely morning, I took my daughter to the grocery store for a few things, and we came home with this happy pink doughnut...It ended up being a rather cozy, quiet morning for us girls (and our naughty treats!)

My son was the first 'patient' of the year in the school nurse's office. He skinned both his knees. I think I may have forgotten to take a picture to scrapbook. :( (Certainly wouldn't be the first time I've done that!) Otherwise it was a rather uneventful first week.

JJ had the day off Monday...
It was rainy and cool. Rain one minute, sun the next, then the wind...So then it's not really my fault, but more the weather's, that I broke my promise. You know, that promise to myself that I would keep working on that granny square blanket before I started on something else. Did we not know this would happen?

First came the buying of yarn...that was a while ago, so I still thought I was doing well. But on Monday, I cracked! So here's the beginning of a lovely bag, which I'll tell more about when it's done...
Incidentally, my crochet hook broke yesterday. I primarily use one of those jelly-color plastic ones. Yes, they're cheap, but the hook on the metal ones seems to be ever so slightly wider than the rest of the 'stem' and I have such a time trying to get the hook back through my loop. Whereas the circumference of the plastic is consistent throughout... I even tried an 'ergonomic' Clover hook, and not only was the hook the same as the other metal ones, but I found my thumb hurting! Funny, eh? Uh oh! I just went to the Clover website to get that link and I saw these... I've not seen them in the store, but I might need them...

We also went to a reptile 'zoo.' It was lots of fun...I held 2 snakes. It's not much of a secret, but I'd love to have a snake!

So adorable...She had beautiful eyes...JJ went to the grocery store and brought back these... I feel loved.
And then to end the lovely day, the sun came out for a beautiful sunset. But, as usual, it was fleeting, and I stopped to look a little too long and therefore missed a perfect picture. But this will have to do... See the shadows? Those are from big trees behind our house...
So here it is, Wednesday already! We went to the craft store for a $2 crochet hook, and walked out with it and $40 worth of unecessities, we painted a bit, spilled beads all over the floor...the usual.

How was your weekend?

My dear sweet friend, Thursday...

2009-09-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

(The cold weather has also brought out my old friend, the cup of milky chai. Mmm...)

You know why I like Thursday so very much? Because the next day is Friday. It's almost as if tonight there will be a great weight lifted off my shoulders. Who cares if tomorrow is a bad day, because it will be Friday, and if I can just get through that one day all will be well...

(Teensy flowers from my yard in an oh-so-cute milky yellow vase)

I've been feeling horribly out of sorts as of late. I can only hope it has something to do with the start of school. But I do find lately that I feel out of sorts more than I feel normal. That just won't do...

What prompted me to post this morning (okay, it's 1:30...I guess it's not morning anymore, is it?) is my daughter. She wanted a yogurt, and I watched her run (in her tiny, bouncy little way) out to the fridge, grab onto the handle and swing, feet up, to the side of the fridge...like a little girly Tarzan. It was adorable. True, there's the whole, 'I can't afford a new fridge so stop hanging off the handle' feeling, but I let it go this time... She's just so happy, for whatever reason.

So let's look at what makes me happy this week.

Could it be some new fabrics? Of course! The matryoshka print is double gauze. I love it! I need some more of that style of fabric...Need, I tell you!

Perhaps you noticed that I merged some pictures this time. It only makes sense, I think...

This fabric has 4 'scenes," my favorite being the bedroom. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a bed with patchwork on it...nothing.
And last, but so not least is this little gem! I have no idea what I'll do with it, but it's so happy. It had to be mine! (sorry about the shadow...but at least we had sun, right?)
As I'm looking lovingly at the pictures I've uploaded, I think about how I could've pressed them so my pictures wouldn't have wrinkles down the middle. But that brings us to another subject... I need a new iron! Yup, I've abused this one far too long, and now it has polyester rick-rack burned to the bottom which it has chosen to share with my lovely white fabrics as I press them.

Anyone have any mid to low priced favorites? Costco has this guy online and a Rowenta in store for about the same price...

I hope you all have a wonderful, happy Friday!

Chess, anyone?

2009-08-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the 31st! You know what that means, right?

First, let me bore you with my weekend adventures...

Last weekend we went to Wenatchee, WA where the apples are. It was nice, but both the kids were in moods and it took its toll on the happiness of the trip.

We visited Rocky Reach Dam. I love dams...they're just so impressive! We were lucky enough to see some fish in the fish ladder! (I have to admit though...salmon creep me out! *shivers*)It really was a beautiful place. Lots of flowers, cool breeze...And then they have a museum inside, and you get to see this...a row of turbines. JJ, being the structural engineer/geek that he is, was very impressed with their super-strong crane/lift thingies. That says 250 tons.

They have a little turbine cross-section poster...Let's take a closer look at this, shall we?Workers can go down there! Can you imagine? Where do I sign up? :)

My son got a kick out of this...

And so now for the giveaway! Our friends at Random.org have selected the very fine number 7 for our happy prize winner. And that's Cathy! (Who happens to have a lovely blog...go check it out!) Please e-mail me (link is in my profile) your snail-mail info so I can get these goodies out to you! :)

No one guessed exactly what I was making...but ikkinlala came so very close with her guess of a game board. It is a game board, but more specifically...
a chess board!

You see, I was in the game shop with my chess-obsessed son and we saw this cool hexagon chess. Well, it was $40...and, being the crazy lady I am, I thought...I could make that! And so I did. Does it look beautiful? Not in the least! Do we own the correct number of bishops (Hex chess takes 3 bishops and only 6 pawns)? No, but 2 of the leftover pawns don't mind wearing scarves...
So it works. Now if he ever makes some chess-loving friends, and they want to come over and play, we're going to shell out that $40! ;)

Can you believe this?

2009-08-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Kellie at Don't Look Now is actually giving this quilt away! Check out her patterns as well. I totally need Pretty in Pink! *sigh* So gorgeous!

So run over there and enter to win...or you could not enter to win and thereby increase my chances of winning... ;)