well looky what we got here...

my fabulous friend that just so happens to be a professional quilter brought back my katie quilt! i'm binding it this weekend!!! oh and see these plates? yeah they are alright, someone was cleaning out their closet and didn't want them any more and asked if i wanted this little plate rack and the the plates to go along with it...wasn't too excited about the plates...but with some spray paint...
hello now they don't look so bad! it was kimba from a soft place to land that taught me not to underestimate the power of spray paint!

and yes i got another one of these nice awards this time from empty nest full life, this gal is so nice and we hit it off from the first time we uh...met? blogged? commented on each other's blogs! anyways, thank you so much for the niceness. i'm glad people like my blog as much as i like to spout off my mouth about nothing really and some quilting and child rearing here and there! oh and thank you to all you nice ladies that put my link up on your blog, any little bit of publicity helps seeing that i'm just starting out in this whole etsy thing! thank you!

shop::stocked

it's all done...for now...i'm still making more of the holly hairclips in different colors and sizes...but that's all i got for now...hope you like it. check it here

please tell your friends...

mountain standard time...

please please please tell your friends...
if you put this picture with a link to my blog on your blog, comment to me with a link and i'll give you 10% off your purchase! or if you don't even want 10% off and you just want to be extra nice to me and link me that would be super nice and we would looooove that too! thank you and can't wait to see you there!

mad about yo-yo's, red, and turquoise

well my HOLLY girly bags are coming along quite nicely, i'll definitely be making the deadline i made for myself of wednesday at 2pm to stock up the store with the handbags. this weekend has been spent making yo-yo's like a mad woman, and playing outside with the boys and the little one.
oh and i took a quick break to spray paint the tops of my milk jugs red, yes thank you for the suggestion i think it turned out marvelous!
and this is my new favorite dress...actually it's old, but i never used to wear it cause i thought it swallowed me up in black but add a turquoise necklace and bracelet and voila! not swallowed up anymore...oh and i' sewed the back up cause the v went all the way down my back and i hated that, no shirt looked good from the back, and when i sewed it up it closed the v neck in the front a little and now i looooooove this dress!

i made everything you hate...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G.I. JOE HUSBAND! we made the dinner you hate the most, spaghetti, and for your cake we made a triple chocolate with chocolate chips... death by chocolate kind of pie...because you hate chocolate, we figured you were kind of sad that you couldn't spend your special day with us eating your special dinner and eating your cake with us so we decided to make it easier on you and make everything on the menu things that you hated to eat! we love you and miss you and just think you are so great. next birthday will be better for sure! hope you get to relax and enjoy not eating the things you hate on your birthday! love, v and the boys and the little one

GASP...what is this?

something i planted is actually going to be edible! the starts of my veggies sauteed with meals from my own little garden days are coming soon!

we're out playing...

i should be working on stuff but it's too great of a day! have a great weekend...

so happy to introduce...

okay here she is...the HOLLY (get it because of the hollyhocks that inspired me to FINALLY make her real instead of just in my head) she's so darn cute, and she's coming to you in my etsy store next week...but not just in blue...in pink, brown, green, yellow...and when i go through all of these fabrics i have (that have been sitting here since oh maybe march just for THIS project) i'll definitely be buying some black and orange and some more super cute fabrics...but wait it gets better!yeah she's reversible! and the yo-yo pin can be switched out! cause yup...i'm making just the yo-yo pins to sell as well! so now i'm going to start creating as many as i can for next wednesday (that's when all these little pretties will be up for sale! well at least the purses with the coordinating yo-yo are)

so pretty...

okay so here it is...NO I DIDN'T make that one...but i'm making one sort of like it...in light blue...so hopefully it'll look like that but in light blue minus the bow. um i sew for the boys too! but can you tell i've been waiting for a girl all my life?

my working conditions...

so here's the idea...not in the right fabrics cause i did it while the kids were awake. i thought i would show you my less than perfect behind the scenes working conditions...

every time i get on my chair to start sewing, it's like she has radar...
gets up on my lap and makes things....interesting to work with.
after i try and try to do things with her on me, sometimes i have to get up and put her down...she immediately does not like the situation and throws a fit

the boys on the other hand are a DREAM...HAHHAHAHAHAHhahah..ahha..ahmm (that was sarcasm at its finest) so far this summer i think they've done more damage than i've ever thought three little boys could possibly do...but then again i come from a family where i'm the only child AND all i did was sit with my barbies and make them duvet covers and pillows to cover that awful hard pink bed... and mind you i don't ignore them all the live long day...even if i followed them as their shadows i would still be fixing things and saying "oh dear when your father gets home" and "seriously? why?!!!" but i've had to let some little things go being an only parent and because of that the boys have come up with some seriously AWESOME stuff all on their own. you know when we 're not going to library reading time, the swimming pool, setting up slip and slide, being on vacations, going to friends' houses, friends coming over here, going to see family,doing chores, going to the dreaded walmart, and reading the star wars series ever single night(i now know more about star wars outside of the movies than i EVER wanted to)...they get a few minutes to "play" on their own.

so yeah there you go my life, my working conditions, and the things i create...not so glamorous, and just making do to get by and make a little here and there.

buggy barn quilt

so here's the buggy barn "stars and stripes" that i'm entering into the fair. and it wasn't till someone mentioned that they hoped that i would win a ribbon...that it actually dawned on me "oh yeah people are going to be JUDGING this thing" and i quickly started to have the feeling that i wanted to hurl...but i got past that and...i think i'm STILL going to do it. i'll take pictures of the other quilt when it gets back from being quilted by my fabulous friend that just so happens to be a professional quilter, and i'm working on my fall quilt as we speak so i can show off the quilt top soon to ya'll. it's a super nice day over here in the middle of nowhere that it's kind of hard to be indoors (you know perfect weather with a nice cool breeze) but i have tonight that i have to fill my time with cause i still haven't gotten to the "bookmobile" for the books i've been wanting. i always seem to miss it when it comes into town, but i think today's the day that it's here. oh yeah you KNOW there will be a picture of that soon. the things i'm getting used to...

another drab to fab

found on my little excursion this last time at the second hand store for $1.

all painted up (with the never ending red spray paint... seriously its 'cause i'm trying to use it all up before i buy a new color isnt it?) still thinking of painting the tops of the bottles red...(to use up more spray paint) to make it look like a closed container...still debating, i know the dilemmas in my silly little life.

my google ads...

okay i find it hysterically funny that my ads ( i don't pick what they are mind you) go from crafty things like "charm pack sales" and "fabric stores" to ones like "elk hunting 6 X 6 $3995" but my favorite one is the free elk ringtone from verizon i couldn't make this stuff up people even if i tried.

so if you are looking to buy charm packs and ELK LICENSES and want to sound like an elk... well you've come to the right blog! go google ads.

hollyhock inspiration

planted these babies last year, and they didn't come up...wasn't surprised because usually things that i plant from seed don't work...but hello this year they had a different idea!
i first noticed that the leaves were coming up in the spring and i thought to myself "ha, that's funny, i didn't pay ANY ATTENTION to them and NOW this year they decided to grow, but most likely i'll grow some mutant with only hollyhock leaves and nothing else." so you could imagine to my total surprise when i saw BUDS forming on my mutant plants...i got giddy and started welcoming everyone before they could even say "hi" at my front porch (where they are off to the side) to look at my beautiful mutant hollyhocks with their buds, but that that's probably all they will be seeing the buds that is because i grew them from seeds and i only grow weird stuff from seeds or nothing at all. half of the visitors would turn around and be scared while a small bunch would proceed to enter into the house (those are true friends that laugh at me and my *crazy*, the others aren't strong enough to be my friends) and now i find myself wishing i had tried to get rid of the apartment complexes that the caterpillars decided to build on my high rise hollyhocks but the boys wont let me, and tell me i'll be killing them if i put them somewhere else. and well if the mutant hollyhocks with no attention and caterpillars for residents have made it this long...who am i to get rid of the little critters? anywho...

i'm all riled up and wanting to put yo-yo's on everything! i had the idea months ago, but i think it was looking at my blooming hollyhocks that finally pushed me into "drive" so yes, i am

FINALLY making yo-yo EVERYTHING...little girl bags with yo-yo's, little girl hair yo-yo's, blankets with yo-yo's you name it, it's going to have a yo-yo on it.

great second hand finds

while my mother was here this past week, the plan was for me to "get away" for a few days with a friend and do...anything. so of course that included some second hand shopping. i would of liked to stay the whole time that was originally planned, but the kids being sick was not foreseen so it was cut a little short, but still just the same...WONDERFUL.
it's funny how we start collecting things isn't it? i now find myself with a plethora of vintage sheets, picnic baskets and rolling pins. well maybe not a plethora, a few i guess. i also found that enamel ware pot for katie's kitchen (at my friend's mom's antique store) and she GAVE IT TO ME, oh happy happy day! so with all this vintage-y stuff, i have found myself itching to make a traditional quilt...i've already started collecting inspiring pictures, and looking at books. i can't wait to get started but first i have to clean house and finish a few quilts that have been staring at me for a while. one is my fall quilt, and the other is katie's quilt that was started before she was born (yeah i know).

some really fun exciting news is that i've decided to enter my pinwheel quilt and my buggy barn "stars and stripes" quilt in to the county fair. (yeah, not too big of a deal compared to bigger places, but none the less a first for me and still quite nerve racking!!) so cleaning and sewing i will go. and hopefully i'll be able to show off my quilt tops soon to you all!

i got an award...

my first one i'm sooo proud! thank you to nicole at our cozy nest. i don't know all the rules but i ACCEPT! been taking care of sick kids but not the whole time while my mom has been here. i did get to hit a few second hand stores and antique stores...i'll post more on monday. have a fabulous weekend and stay healthy!

3 out of 5 isn't bad

now 50% of my children are puking and i've slept probably oh 2 hours total and not consecutively but i did manage to make 3 out of the 5 doll blankets that i had planned to update to the shop. so i will hopefully find some time to update this morning. i'm forcing myself to take a few days off from everything. my mom's here and she's a huge help with meals and healthy kids. so yeah see ya in a few! and wish me luck to not tossing my cookies! the shop is updated check it here.

tutorial:: no sew ironing board cover

what you'll need: enough fabric to cover ironing board, a pencil and a hot glue gun.
so this was my ironing board that i use ALL the time...pretty hammered and kind of ugly
i flipped it over and with a pencil i traced around the ironing board, i then cut out it out leaving around an inch and half extra seam allowance so i could easily tug and pull at the fabric to the under part of the board...
i then hot glue gunned the whole thing in a matter of minutes with only a few swear words leaving my mouth as i burned myself with the hot glue...i don't recommend putting your finger on the hot part of the glue gun or on the hot glue that comes out of it either...i got a blister, that was NOT a happy maker. aside from the blister, and the couple of swear words that i now have to repent for...it was an overall super easy and super fast little project, and i've used it already all weekend long... and now its cute instead of drab and ugly!
comments closed

and the scraps go to...

so i cut up the names that were entered and i picked out randomly from the pile...and brandy from "a little glimpse of us" you get to have my scraps and lisa from "celebrate creativity in all it's forms" gets the charm packs!

thanks for helping me organize my life a little more by taking these off my hands. email me @ vanessa_christenson(at)yahoo(dot)com with you address and i'll mail these out to you asap!
now back to our regular programed blogging.

my laundry pile has exploded

monkeys swinging from vines and landing in mud...
building volcano's with actual "water lava" explosions...( i swear they are going to have some AWESOME memories growing up together) this is what the boys did all day yesterday. oh and making a mountain of dirty laundry that had to be hosed off before it went into my laundry machine...they did this while katie did...
this. she never left my side. every time i stood up she would leave her picnic blanket and come hang out on my chair and she would then start to "sew" things. today has been a little bit more of a challenge...katie has decided to get the flu, so yes that makes for EVEN MORE laundry...i think i'm up to 5 loads sitting in my bedroom waiting to be folded. thankfully the boys decided to NOT put on any clothes and just play in the mud in their underwear...while i nurse the little one, and the boys build cities and volcano's made out of mud...i have little time to sew. only bits and pieces here and there while she sleeps, and in between laundry loads. we didn't go to church with katie tossing her cookies every half an hour, and these news reports are starting to take their toll on me. i'm thinking i need not to read what's going on in Afghanistan these days...it rattles my nerves too much. so today sucked. but tomorrow's another day. i'll draw for winners of the charm packs and the scraps tonight and post in the morning the winners. tomorrow's another day, another day closer to bringing my husband home, a day closer to not being apart, a day closer to less anxiety for his well being. i just have to do one day at a time, sometimes just one hour at a time, and unfortunately even sometimes one minute at a time.

a very good saturday indeed!

the little one played with her new toy food that i found this morning at the garage sale before i started working like a madwoman on little doll quilts...which by the way 3 down 2 more to go. hopefully all done and bound by monday sometime. did i mention my mom's coming? oh yeah my mom's coming. i have to get everything done by monday...do you think i can do it?

little chair before and after

remember the little chair i got for katie's room for 50 cents?
some spray paint (i know red AGAIN, i'm trying to use it all up before i buy another color)
cardboard to hide the hole...
batting to make the chair pad...

i then hot glued the fabric on the bottom of the cardboard and then hot glue gunned the pad onto the chair and VIOLA!

i'm setting up a sweat shop over here making doll quilts, i'm working long hours and taking breaks to feed the kids and make sure they aren't breaking anything important...i'm trying to do an update to the shop by monday! wish me luck!

small town signs

We are rapidly approaching fall here. Yes, i know what you are saying “WHAT?! Its’ july crazy girl!” but let me explain…out in the middle of nowhere things are done…differently. You all are still frolicking around going to water parks sipping lemonade…here we’re talking about cords and hunting licenses.

here are the sure tell tale signs that we are getting close the end of summer…small town style:
1.everyone is getting their permits for cords…what’s a cord you ask? It’s an amount of wood that you are allowed to cut down for personal use. EVERYONE around here has a chainsaw and they go out and get their cord and then they chop it down for logs for the upcoming winter for their fireplace.

2.farmers are harvesting their alfalfa. On my way to soccer I have to pass many many MANY fields of alfalfa, and I noticed the farmers are getting ready to do their first harvest of hay. They cut it all down and then in the next couple of days their tractors (don’t know if there’s a specific name for the specific tractor that does this…to me they are all tractors) goes and gathers the alfalfa and “poops” out bales of hay (still green) and some bigger tractors make circular bales of hay…have no idea how that works but it’s cool. Want to get a picture of that.

3.there’s exciting chatter of a HUGE elk this year and everyone is talking about the “pool” to get a chance at it. I was talking to a friend and she was explaining that she went into the pool for hunting elk this year. I looked at her like she was speaking Chinese (mind you I don’t know how to speak Chinese) but then I remembered that I heard last year something like you go and get in line to be put on a list and your name gets selected to hunt bambi’s dad…now being from California where every tom dick and harry is trying to save everything from “wetlands” to “five legged mosquitoes” it’s quite alien for me to think of people and not just men, talking about that “this is the year that they are going to get ‘er done and get em that elk!” apparently there are pictures, I’ve been told, of this so called elk that has a 9 and 12 point (once again Chinese)… let me try to explain this one if I can … I guess every year elk loose their antlers and they grow them back each year a little bigger with more “points” it’s pretty nice huntin when you get yourself a 6 and 6 point elk (six antler points on each side) so to hear that there is an elk that has 9 and 12points…that’s like INSANE! Everyone and I MEAN EVERYONE is talking about this elk…pretty sure if anyone gets this elk it’s going to be mounted on their truck grill instead of in their house so that everyone can see it first hand… poor elk doesn’t even know what’s coming…


sure signs that we are moving into winter time:

men traveling in packs of florescent orange safety jackets and camo hats, gun racks in truck cabs, and bambi’s dad’s antlers sticking out of the back of pick-up trucks…it’s a good thing I’ve not told anyone around here that I was a vegetarian for 12 years!

simply scrumtious scraps giveaway

if you read my little sidebar "to do" list you would see that i've been "organizing" i started with the kids rooms and now i'm moving into my craft area...i've been blessed that i have a business that "makes" me need to buy fabric. been doing the stitchery business thing for 5 years now, and now i'm trying to branch out a little and create some different things. but with 5 years of "having" to buy fabric...i've acquired a stash. i do this usually at christmas time where i go through my scraps and either give them away or swap for something. well i'm cleaning it out right now...this is just the tip of the ice burg, and i'm thinking of selling the rest of my scrumptious scraps in my etsy shop this batch doesn't have a color scheme going or anything it's just whatever, so you'll find greens, creams, reds, blues, yellows, and even a smidge of black and brown.

and i have some yummy charm packs to give away too. these two charm packs coordinate with each other, one being all gighams and wovens, while the other is prints...

so leave me a comment...tell me you want em. tell your friends to leave a comment for you too, so if you tell a lot of friends to mention your name then that's how many times i'll put it in for the drawing . on monday morning the 14th i'll draw the winners names from a bowl and we'll see who gets the yummy fabrics! sound good?