Summer projects

I've been doing some little sewing projects this summer. Some were to use up fabric scraps and some were to practice for bigger projects I've got in mind.

These are coffee bands. I still need to sew the buttons on, but otherwise they are ready for a trip to Starbucks. I like to keep these on hand to give away as little gifties, but I also LOVE them. They are fun and cute to take to get a coffee. Um, no thank you. I don't need a paper band!

Here is my project that helped me with getting more precise with piecing squares. I have a larger quilt in mind that I already have the fabric for but wanted to wet my feet with something smaller. I'm a sucker for cherry fabric and needed placemats anyway. I liked how they turned out, but decided I hate stitch in the ditch. It is impossible to make it go in the ditch the entire time!!! I've found a different way to follow the squares that I'll do next time that won't be so aggrevating.

This isn't sewing, but a project I've been trying to perfect over the summer. I made my own sourdough starter that I've been turning into bread. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the right consistency in the bread and I've been eating WAY too much of the attempts. The flavor is great, it is just so heavy. I even added more yeast to the dough. Needless to say I'm moving on from sourdough starter and bread.

I've got more to finish and I hope to be done with all of my half started projects by the end of the year. It feels good to get some of my shelves cleaned out!

End of the year fun

Well, the end of the school year is tomorrow. One more field trip is scheduled for Amanda to the ice skating rink and she's not that happy about it. She's nervous about ice skating in front of her friends. Last week I went with the 4th graders to Malikoff Diggins to learn about the town of Humbug and the mining that went on there. I was in charge of the candle dipping. There was a certain technique involved. Don't dip it too long or the wax will remelt off the wick, walk around the tree for the wax to set before your next dip, and try not to get smoked out by the fire! We had 45 kids go through in different groups and they all got some great candles! I think this will be a project for summer. It was pretty fun! I was also in charge of the Drug Store tour. What a cool place! They had all original bottles of old remedies, scales, living quarters, pill rollers, and household items. No wonder the life expectancy wasn't that great back then. "Oh here. Take this bottle of Creosote to help with your ailment." The comment on paper I was to read was that they either found out that the drugs didn't do anything, worked too well, were toxic, or are now illegal. Ahh, the good old days!

Here is my pretty girl, begrudgingly dressed up in the period dress I made her. She loved it last year at the Bernhardt museum in 3rd grade. What happened when she went to 4th grade? All of a sudden she's opinionated, is embarrassed by her mother, and rolls her eyes and has fits when she is upset about something. Sigh...She wanted to wear jeans and I told her over my dead body. I made that dress for her to wear and by George she was going to wear it. I'm sure you can hear the words coming out of my mouth, "Do you know how lucky you are that you have a Mom that can sew you a costume? I worked very hard on that dress and made one for me too so we would be authentic. You are WEARING THE DRESS!" Then all day I reminded her that she was one of maybe 3 girls that were actually dressed period correct while the other 75 kids were NOT and didn't make the effort. She'd just roll her eyes.

I know someday I won't be able to push her to do what I want her to do. That day is coming faster than I know, and I miss my little sweet girl. I do, however, enjoy watching my girl grow up into a beautiful, long blond hair, smart, sassy(I don't know where she gets that from), bashful girl that I hope someday will sew costumes for her little girl and smile, remembering back to 4th grade when she didn't want to wear her costume.

Here bunny bunny!

The kids already colored their eggs. Once again, I grumbled (for a second) about having to go buy white eggs at the store to color. Then I remember trying to dye brown eggs as a kid. It doesn't really work. Since we don't eat the hard boiled store eggs, I leave them sitting out as decorations all week. Then Evan plans to take them outside to shoot with his bb gun. Boys.

Doi, I'm an egg, duhh, me too, durrr, who are you? Gotta love dumb face stickers.

We got a little creative with some scotch tape and multiple dippings this year. That was fun. This is about the only time of year I can find something to do with my Great Aunt's glass bowl. I love this bowl because I remember it as a kid, but I just can't seem to make it fit in with my house. So, I use it as an Easter egg bowl.

Happy hunting! If it's not raining we're planning on a 3 acre hunt! Ha, ha. Chris and I should be able to sit and drink coffee for a good couple of hours! Maps and proper egg count will be needed.

Garden Gate flannel quilt

A new record! I finished this in less than 2 weeks! It was an easy quilt to do and feels great to cuddle up with. I'm not done with a label yet, but I'm calling this one Garden Gate. I've mostly done frayed edge quilts, so this one is a traditional quilt. I did a machine quilt along the sashing. I'm in no way patient enough for hand quilting right now. I'm into quick and easy at this point in my life. The most important thing is IT'S DONE.

The back is done with a flannel that I've had for a while. It's kind of a southwestern/pottery/kitchen/floral window looking fabric. Luckily I had JUST enough to cover the back but had to add a border to it to make it fit. I learned some stuff along the way as well so it was a win win. Now to finish my other projects...there's always some sitting around.

Hello, sunshine!

So, we're on day 10 of rain. Being a native Cali girl I've struggled with not having at least a couple of days of sun in between storms. Last night I caved and started microwaving smores and drinking Diet Coke, sulking about feeling like I was coming down with something. Today, however, I started out on the treadmill with some Daughtry and a better outlook. Mood is all about choice, and I'm not getting sick I tell ya! I'm choosing to treat my children like they are an important part of the house and will try my best to not raise my voice at them. I'm choosing to make dinner every night this week, instead of getting bored or frustrated with the complaining about why can't we have pizza or hamburgers instead. I'm remembering to pay attention to the little things around me(including the laundry pile that I'm ignoring cause "I don't wanna") I'm also choosing to distract myself from the sunless environment by starting some new projects. Heck! I can always use a few more projects in my stack!


Meet my new quilt project. I decided I wanted another flannel quilt for the couch. We fight over the other one so I'm making more! Here are my colors. The large salmon color is the sashing and border strips in between the bricks. We'll see how it goes!

Here is my other project that isn't quite as fun. I'm ripping off the wook paneling in the dining room. I'd rather have glued up, primed, textured walls over the wood paneling! I can't take the darkness! Who knows how long it will take me to get it finished, but I've got a lot of work to do to retexture where the glue is and get it painted. I've only got the one wall ripped down and 3 more to go. Chris gave me a look that told me I was on my own, as he was completely happy ignoring the wood paneling for a few years. I better start screwing something up so he'll come rescue me! Ha, ha.

playing catch up

I'm doing a bit of catch up as of late. I had good intentions of working towards some Christmas crafts to have, and to give as gifts. I'm thinking I'll be ahead of the game for next year.

Here is my first 9 patch pillow. It's my first 9 patch of anything, really. Makes me want to make a blanket and do the little ties to quilt it together. Hummm. Maybe once I get my other projects finished. No more fabrics in my stacks!
Here is a countdown calendar Karen (MIL) gave me a while ago from her stash. It turned out pretty cute! I think I'm going to re-do the binding though. I used some bias to do it to make it faster and I dislike how it turned out. In the back of my head I knew that would happen, but I was being impatient.

This weekend I'm going to work on a food project. I want to make Empanadas. I'd like something that I can make up from leftover meats and veggies that can be thrown in the freezer for later consumption. If they turn out I'll be posting a picture! If you never hear of them again then don't ask! Have a good weekend!

Chocolate houses

I saw an idea for a new take on the gingerbread houses during the holidays and decided to give it a try. It was a YUMMY success! We used the large chocolate bars and cut them with a serrated knife. It must be serrated and you must saw it, or they break. We melted the scraps and put the melted chocolate into sandwich bags to pipe the edges together. We used drinking glasses to hold the sides together while the chocolate set up. It was easy enough that we plan to do it again next year!

Wal Mart had a little section in the candy area where they had little tubs of candy pieces to use for decorating houses.

Surprisingly, Evan really took to this idea. In the past his patience wasn't really there for decorating houses. This time he got into the design, placement, and finishing touches better than his sister. Maybe we'll have to do Easter houses with white chocolate! Oohhh! That would be fun!

Amanda is my little chocolate freak. I think she ate more than she placed. The fun next year will be to find more unique things to decorate our houses with. Maybe we'll make a little village of chocolate!

More fruits, and veggies of our labor...food and otherwise.

Um, I'm now sick of squash, for this year anyway. The chickens are excited about this fact. They've been getting zucchini and cucumbers thrown in to them daily. The tomatoes, bell peppers and jalapenos are now ready...finally. Salsa anyone???

Here is a sneak peak at Evan's quilt that I've had in the works for 2 years. Now to just wash it and act like it's a surprise on his birthday since he's seen it. I gave up staying up late to work on it when he wasn't looking. The best part is IT'S DONE!!! Now we have a fun trip going to the laundrymat to use their oversized machines. I just love experiencing the laundrymat culture.

Here is Amanda's book bag for school. I just barely finished this one by the hair on my chinny chin chin. School starts tomorrow. I need to lengthen the strap a little, but other than that she loves it. It's stuffed with school supplies that we got yesterday. She is so excited to be in 4th grade!

We got a little crazy on the front with the embroidery settings on my machine(Maybelle).

This bag was a bit of an experiment since I worked from a pattern and picture we found on the internet and just changed the size up a little. One thing I've noticed on the free patterns you find on the internet is the directions are usually lacking. If I hadn't just made up 11 grocery bags made with similar lining concepts I'd have not been able to complete it properly. These people need to edit their directions better. They forget key parts that make a huge difference, like don't sew the handle all the way to the top since you have to tuck it down inside when you are sewing the lining to the outside. That way when you turn it the right side out the handle is on the OUTSIDE instead of the INSIDE. I think I'll write them a note. They forgot that whole step. Anyway, bookbags are packed and awaiting a lunchbag and school starts tomorrow. I see some closet organizing going on today in preparation for tomorrow. Fall is near, and I'm ready!

More randomness

Summer food...steak and roasted veggies. Yum

Outdoor discoveries. Wooly bear catepillars.

Summer projects. Amanda's doll with her clothes almost done. It looks like she's wearing a kimono. I tried to talk her into thinking this looked cute, but she didn't buy it. I guess I have to hem them soon.

Here she is in her underclothes. We'll get her eyes on sooner or later so it doesn't look like she's sleeping all the time.

Local living history field trip

Amanda had a field trip planned where they had to dress like early settlers in our area. We set out to get a pattern and fabric for her costume. They had to bring their lunches in baskets or pails and were asked to not bring plastic anything. We had lemonade in canning jars and everything wrapped in waxed paper. She even made me unwrap my string cheese and re wrap it in waxed paper. I pointed out that there were lots of kids with bags of chips and containers of yogurt that weren't following instructions. She just gave me the "look" as if I'd gotten the memo and was required to comply.


I was in charge of helping the kids (40 of them) make leaving dolls and button spinners. Next time I'm doing the baking or laundry! I kept trying to tell the rowdy boys that they weren't following the guidelines for how they were to act as if in 1859. Yes maam, no maam, ladies first??? Hello???

We conned grandma into helping in the baking section since her teacher didn't get enough volunteers.

Amanda said she wished it was still like it used to be in the 1800's. I said yeah, except for the whole hygiene thing. Well, maybe the long sleeve and full skirt rule too. I can already feel that I'd have been the rebel not riding side saddle and maybe rolling up my sleeves when it was 100 degrees and I had to go churn butter or water the crops or chop off a chicken head...

Done!

Here it is folks! A sewing project that I purchased fabric for, made up a pattern for, and finished all in the same weekend!!! Look at my new babies! Hoaky, yes, kind of old fashioned, yes. Finished?? YES!

I made them double-sided so they wouldn't just be for Easter time. The other side will last through spring. I'm sure Chris loves how girly they make the table look. Whatever. I never found the bbq sauce/beer stained fabric at Jo Anns so he'll have to deal.

Here's to a finished project! Even I'll drink to that! Now to get Amanda's costume done for her field trip...I stopped at the sleeves. I'm tired of gathering. I still have to make the pinafore and the bonnet! The pressure is on!

Fessing up

Ok, so now I'm confessing the other stuff I got to put on my list of projects. I've been wanting to learn how to knit socks for a long time. I've also been eyeing this sock yarn for a while. I think a more appropriate name will be Soles and Moles, which not only rhymes, it also describes what my socks will look like, mole holes and all. Keeping fingers crossed!

I found these easy patterns on sale at Walmart when I was getting bandanas. Amanda and I will be making these this summer! Oh fun! I think I'll get some oilcloth so we can go to town with our canning and just wipe it clean.

And finally, once again, while at Walmart, they had a big pile of sale fabrics including this upholstry fabric. My chairs are in serious need of recovering now that the kids don't use the chair cushions as their personal napkins. Now our guests won't feel like they are going to leave with a stain on their backsides!

Spring projects

I've been busily preparing to, at some point, after a little procrastination, to start yet another series of projects! Some I have to do. Some I've been wanting to do. Here is one that needs to be done this month.



Amanda is doing a living history field trip to a museum here in town. They are supposed to dress in period clothing. I'll be making her dress and apron. I LOVE this chicken fabric. Here is the fabric for my costume. I signed up to do the craft part as a docent. Originally I wasn't going to make my own skirt, but I'm hoping I'll have time. I have a back up phone number just in case of a lady that does costume rentals. Secretly I hoped that Amanda wouldn't want the chicken fabric. Shoot! I'm fully preparing myself to look like a lampshade with all of the gathering in my skirt. I dislike pleats...

Here are the plans for another project I've been wanting to do for a year now. This pattern is for summer shorts that you make out of bandanas. I found this idea on another blogger's site. They go up quickly and are inexpensive to make. It takes 2 bandanas, which I found out come in a 2 pack at Walmart.

Chris found Evan a skull bandana which he was excited about. I'm not sure if they'll wear them...they thought the material was thin. I don't care if they only wear them at night. I just think they are cute! Maybe I'll finish them by October!

Shame, shame. Everyone knows your name!

Last week was a busy one. Actually, January has been a busy one. I've been working extra hours at school. This is a welcomed use of time as every little bit counts after the Christmas season. When I get home from school, piano lessons, girl scouts, boy scouts, etc., the last thing I want to do it household chores. These following pictures will explain.

Peanut butter pie. Yum! I made this to take down to Marcy and Sean's house for dinner on Saturday. I actually made 2. The first one was too salty. Why would it be too salty since the recipe doesn't call for salt? I grabbed the Adam's peanut butter that was unsalted. What? Who buys peanut butter that is unsalted? I added salt, mixed and poured, put in the freezer, and licked the beater. Ugh! Darnit!
This is the worst part! I had unwrapped and layered peanut butter cups on the bottom. There is no way that baby is going in the trash. We flipped it over and, with surgical precision, sliced the bottom off to remove and place these on the second pie, made with salted peanut butter and all! Marcy made her famous pepper jack stuffed burgers for dinner. Let's just say I was at the gym this morning. I might have worked off the bun...we celebrated Chris's up and coming 40th birthday and they found Chris's favorite beer that was, until recently, discontinued. It's a Double Black Stout beer made with espresso coffee. I think it is gross. We also shampoo'ed in their driveway and moved in a rug that we couldn't use anymore since we have no more hardwood floors at our new house and they have a baby that is ready to walk with lots of tile floors in her path. Boy do we know how to party!

Here is another little happy project(Bob Ross??? Anyone???) I've been doing. One of the blogs I visit had a little pattern for a coffee cozy. These go up quickly and use up scraps of my favorite Amy Bates material that I just can't bare to get rid of. I still have to sew the orange button on but you get the idea.

I have 5 made up, even though I only get one coffee at a time. I guess I'll have to give some away. Reused material scraps, don't have to use the paper sleeves on the coffee cups, can give some away, win-win-win!

We finally brought over our disassembled swing set from my parent's house. I got some more practice backing my dad's trailer down our long skinny driveway. Always fun.

We've been having unseasonably warm weather here. I'm talking the high 60's and low 70's STILL. I thought it would have only been like that for a couple of days. We're going on 2 weeks. Since I just got done watching An Inconvenient Truth, this really freaks me out. We need rain!!! It makes me anxious! Then I go outside, take a deep breath, and just LOVE being outside! It really is nice out. The plants are getting confused too.

I let my girls, and guy, out for the first time this past week. I typically don't let them out since I have a neigborhood hawk that likes to show up on occasion, but I hadn't seen him in a while. The girls just couldn't get enough scratching and eating in. They were sucking up worms and bugs like spaghetti noodles! Guess what? Within 5 minutes I saw the hawk swoop in and take up watch from the trees. So, guess who got to babysit them? There was no way they were going back in until dark, which was about an hour away. Now the neighbors probably really think I'm nuts. The big girls are probably pretty safe, but the babies and momma #1 are prime pickings!

You could hear their excitement as they clucked away. It was almost as bad as a bunch of tired moms getting out for an evening at Starbucks all giddy on caffeine.




Here is my new kitchen chicken that I got for Christmas. He keeps guard of the back yard and.........wait for it...wait for it...

This! Here it is folks. My mess. I stood back so as to not give you any virtual smell from my dirty dishes. Here is my shame. I also have shame in the form of laundry piles, shoes all over, and dust covering my shelves. I'm giving myself up, inspired by another blogger pal I check in on from time to time. She posted a photo of her mess and I thought it might force me to clean if I do the same. I just have so much OTHER stuff I would rather be doing. For example, I spent 4 hours with Amanda at a birthday party in Roseville at John's Incredible Pizza yesterday...wait, that's not something I wanted to do. See? I spend so much time running around that I get selfish and hole up doing something I want to do once I'm finally home instead of putting away laundry and cleaning up the kitchen. I think I've been pouting these past couple of weeks. It's been so nice outside and I've been in denial.

So sorry kitchen! I'll do better! Same to you laundry! I just wonder at some point if my grown children will say, "Remember when mom wouldn't clean the house and we went to school in wrinkly clothes so we could build our turkey coop that weekend in anticipation of the babies we killed and ate for Thanksgiving and then she sewed all evening and instead of feeding us a nutritious meal she fed us corn dogs and pizza bagels from the freezer for dinner because she didn't want to cook because she was almost done with her coffee cozies? And remember when she let us play XBox instead of making us go outside because she wanted to help Daddy get the swingset put where it was going to go?" Good times, good times. Ok, I think I'm ready to go clean something. Shame works wonders!

bad blogger

I've been a bad blogger lately. Not only have I been bad about keeping up with my posts, I've been bad about responding to people's comments. I've also not been visiting my normal list of blogs lately. Bad, bad, bad. Too much going on. The main reason I'm online now is because I'm having a Christmas party at my house tomorrow and I am tired and not wanting to clean my house. Hopefully I'll be able to get it all done tomorrow and if not, I'll just have to get over worrying about what people think about my messes!!! My house is very LIVED in at the moment. I did get most of my baking done and my food stuff planned. I have the tables for the kids to decorate their cookies set up and ready to go. I think I'm hucking the huge pile of clean clothes in my closet! Priorities, right? Cookies, yes. Clothes away, no. Here is a picture of my 2 new Frenchy Bags that I finished. I love these bags. Now to use some different fabrics. The green one didn't turn out to be as enjoyable to my eyes as I thought it would be. The small one is great for a trip to the mall but not big enough for me to use as my everyday purse. Minor details. They are fully lined and have dividers inside. Next I plan to finish Evan's quilt. It's nice to have a place, although out front where it can be seen, where I can leave my machine set up and get my projects done little by little. I used to have to put it away all the time in our old house. I'm able to get much more done now.