V and Co video how to: jersey fabric bracelet

bypass all the embarrassment of listening to this and just look at pictures of the tutorial here

okay so here's the video. holy hannah, my voice, the blurriness, and katie's off key singing in the back ground and then going to the bathroom and then asking to be wiped in the middle of it...well...you asked for it.

this may be the only time i do this...because at least when i'm typing i can back space things that sound stupid...i suck at videos...that's all i have to say.
but for those of you who need it here i am being a total goober:


yeah...i told you so.
ps: i'm still cutting and putting more fabric in the shop

welcome to quilt album blog hop day 2

well first off i want to say "thank you" for yesterday. i was definitely not prepared to have almost all the fabric sell that quickly! i thought i had time to cut up some more but you guys swiped me out too quickly! but i have in fact cut up some more (some of them are "scrap" fat quarters...because i've cut a little out of them for appliques and such things...but i've discounted them and i've labeled them as such!) and i've also added some yardage. hopefully the shipping will work this time...i'll email you with an invoice of shipping if it doesn't. sorry for the inconvenience.
i'm making a new pattern for the shop as well...kits included this time too. yay! i'll let you know when it's done and tested and ready to go.
and YES i'm working on a VIDEO tutorial for the jersey bracelet! enough with the pestering already ;) kidding but not really okay no really i am just kidding and hang tight it's coming i just have to set up the tri-pod..ooooooh yeeeeeeah.

any ways check out the bundles, patterns, and yardage here.

also, i just have to tell you...we feel so grateful and blessed.
we have a couple of things working for us as we speak on the job front and on our house...but i want to say thank you for your suggestions and i've passed along a few of the referrals to others that are needing positions as well. we may be moving in some kind of direction...but i want to try to give others referrals or anything to help them figure it out too. so thank you!


now i've been asked by Pat Sloan to try the quilt album software.
i told her i'm a ninny with software and asked her if the dumbest of the dumbest in figuring out software could figure it out...she laughed (i think she thinks i was kidding but just ask the husband i ain't kidding!) and she said "it's simple to use! give it a go and see what you think!"

so i have. and because i've only scratched the surface on it...i'll let you know of the things it CAN do and show you the one thing i DID do on it. and btw yeah it's pretty easy even this nincompoop figured it out.

because this is a sponsored post and yes a giveaway please follow this link
as i speak more on it and i answer some fun questions about me!

we'll talk soon! thanks so much for everything. and please know that every comment suggestion and email of concern and referrals are taken and appreciated, and sometimes forwarded to another individual who is in our situation as well.
press on, we will.
;)

oh swear word, my husband's company is shutting it's doors sale

edited: thank you already for the orders. i'll keep cutting, for some reason no shipping was being charged to the first orders...so i've had to adjust the prices to include the shipping. sorry about the confusion. i've contacted big cartel about the issue.
last week was, well...not so good.
last week i got a phone call early in the morning with a friend's voice at the other end asking me if i had heard.
she told me what she had heard, i told her that couldn't be. it must just be a rumor.

a few hours it was confirmed, the corporation that owned the three programs in this area were closing their doors.

200 people were laid off and shocked. their familys were shocked. the community, beside themselves. in my little town there are only 500 people. in the whole county there's a little shy of a 2500 people. and we are isolated. this effects EVERYONE.
my poor husband wasn't even there. i knew, the whole town knew, heck most likely the whole county knew before he did. he was in the field out of cell range. his boss got in his car and drove till he found him.
my husband said he was blindsided.

thankfully we've gone with our gut feeling (these last two years) and have worked our tails off to pay off all our student loans. no joke, three months ago we made that last payment. we look at that as a blessing.

thankfully these last two years, we've worked our tails off to put aside enough money for utilities and house payments "just in case" for a little bit of buying time...

thankfully these last two years we've been diligent and bought extra food storage.

we will be fine for a while.
BUT, we have a lot of hard decisions to make.
one of them is to see what next step we will take.
what to do about our new to us house.
what to tell anyone who asks "what are you going to do?"

for now i will continue to do what i do. i'll keep blogging, (another blessing) i'll keep making patterns (another blessing), and i will start putting fabric yardage and fabric in fat quarter bundle packs...

and of course...
we will pray, we will fast, we will believe in that saying that my friend's husband is fond of saying:
"whenever God closes a door, he will open a window...but that doesn't mean that there wont be hell in the hallway."

so if you find a little bit of time in your day. give a little prayer for that little town out in the middle of nowhere utah, that they will rise up and come out fighting strong.
;)
we'll talk soon.

if you'd like to buy some fabric (while supplies last of course) check it out here. i'll continue to add more as i cut.

and ahem if anyone knows of a job that a really nice guy with a PhD. in marriage and family therapy can do...drop us a comment. :)
edited:
to answer some questions:
**yes we are willing to go outside of utah, jake's actually already got a couple of interviews outside of the state (just found out this morning! yay)
**yes, the programs are going to open up again as either non-profit organizations, or as private sectors. don't know how long the process is, but at least there's light and hope! (so if any large donors or people interesting in helping out are out there. please email me and i can get you their contact info)
**yes, this town is amazing, yes, it will be super hard to leave, because we will not be leaving friends and neighbors...we will be leaving people who were once strangers...who have become like family.
thank you all for the kind, emails, comments, and words of encouragement and love! you guys are freakin amazing. thanks.

kits available and in the kitchen

well many of you are already making the bracelets. yay! some of you have mentioned that using an old t-shirt totally works...YAY! but some of you have mentioned you didn't have any place to get jersey material...BOO. but here's the deal i have enough fabric of each color pictured above to make a few kits.
so if you want it you can order your kit here. all three colors are available (while supplies last).
aqua=SOLD OUT thank you!
gray=SOLD OUT thank you!
mustard yellow=SOLD OUT thank you!

now remember when i showed you my new dining room table and chairs? yeah, and i didn't know what color to paint the "EAT" well many of you suggested and i decided to go with metallic silver.
a little too blah for you...sorry it ain't your house. it's mine, so shut it... ha!
actually to tell you the truth...i can't decide if i love it or just am okay with it. someday's i really like it...other days it just looks like cardboard letters spray painted silver. (btw for those of you who asked where i got my letters at jo ann's but not every joanns carry's them, i found mine at the draper, ut one while visiting my mother-in-law) they have the whole alphabet...and you will see when i show you the kids rooms...that i uh went a little crazy and got one for each kid's initial. i have a vision, and for $9.99 it's a good size wall art. and yes the husband still wants "poop" in the bathroom over the toilet.

aaaaand we may have woken up to snow AGAIN yesterday, but in my kitchen spring will be a happening soon.
from home depot i bought this kit of herbs with bio-degradable pots. again for just around $9 not a bad buy...and well a little bit of a happy maker on my window sill all the while i yell "poop!" out at the snow through the window. gosh we say "poop" a lot. hmmm.

also a a little tidbit of exciting info: my oldest child (the one i wrote a novel about here) got a 100...wait for it...and 5% on his social studies test. proud happy tears were had by all. we seem to be making a little bit of progess in some areas and huge leaps and bounds in others. :)

have a great weekend.
i'm working on another sewing project. lets see if i can beat the clock before the kiddos get home today. but katie's not feeling so good...so i don't know how this all will play out...but...
if so...maybe monday?
we'll talk soon.

V and Co how to: jersey knit bracelet

i don't know what it is about this time of year that makes me just want to have my bare feet in the sand, be watching the sun setting into the ocean, and breathing in the warm salty air of the beach...
as i get older, more and more i find myself missing that place i used to go to almost every.single.day. as a teen. (my skin doesn't miss it. as a matter of fact, i now wish i listened more and DID put SPF on my face...hindsight is 20/20). my mom calls me from her walk on the beach almost every morning...
*sigh*
yeah, i get a little homesick around this time of the year. heck on my pinterest my "dreaming of summer" has the most pictures in it. ah yes. i miss my ocean. case in point. this bracelet, brought a flood of memories, not because i used to have one like it but because i can totally see me wearing it by the beach, not caring that it's gotten salty and wet, because i can totally make another one in like less than 5 minutes flat when i get home.

it's simple, and it's perfect to dress up your bathing suit, or your cute summer covering with your flip flops in tow, or wear it with your cute summer dress while you dine eating fresh fish while watching the tide come in and the sun set.

*sigh*

i guess you can take the girl out of the beach...but not the beach out of the girl.
i'm counting down to my visit to so.cal. and i can't wait to actually wear my bracelet at the beach. but for now...i'll wear it even if there's snow and winds and i'm encircled by mountains.

lets get started:
*1st you will need approx three strips of jersey knit fabric cut to 1" each with the length of at least 58"

i found my my yellow jersey knit fabric here...my blue fabric at joann's, they have a large variety and you don't have to buy a whole yard of it, like i did. and my gray jersey fabric from robert kauffman

*2nd you will need your fingers. that's it, oh and a pair of scissors.

how many fingers you use will determine how thick your bracelet will end up. i'll go into more detail on the 4 and 2 fingers...i'm assuming you can figure out 3 fingers! personally my favorite one is the 2 finger one...it's the perfect thickness in my eyes.
okay...
*first you are going to take your 1" strips and cut on your ends a 1/4" slit.

*next take your slits and line them up ends together like the picture above.
*now take your bottom strip and pull it through the slits from TOP to bottom
*gently pull till you get a little knot.
now a lot of you will go back in time with me and totally remember doing this with yarn when we were in grade school or somewhere along that time. dont' know if it was a california thing cause i asked my friend who grew up in florida what i should call this and she was like "what are you talking about? i've never made those."

*with your connected strips we are now going to weave the strip in and out of our fingers.
use the next set of pictures as a guideline (next set of pictures are for 4 fingers):
start off with weaving behind the pointer, in front of the middle, behind the ring, and in front of the pinky finger.
then wrap it around and behind the pinky, then in front of the ring, and behind the middle, and then in front of the pointer.

*you should now have all fingers "weaved upon" (ha!)
*bring one big loop around to face you (from the pinky to pointer)
*take your weaved loops and go over your finger and big loop like the picture above.


*continue to do so with all the fingers going in order.
*when you get to the end, or at the end of your first chain (at your pointer finger) make a new loop and start the process all over again!
* once you get like 6 chains done, take your starting tail and gently pull (while your chain is still securely placed on your fingers!) so that you can get a good feel as to how long you need to make your chain, depending on your wrist size.


now let me show you real quick how to make a two finger chain then we will proceed on how to finish your chain and how to tie it off:

**because you are using less fingers you will need less strips. i just used 2 strips when i made my 2 finger bracelet

*just like the 4 finger chain start with a small tail (of at least 4 inches)
*starting on your ring finger, weave behind (your ring finger) and then in front of your pinky.
*then come back and loop back in front of your ring finger.
*come back around from behind (from the pinky side) to the front to make a big loop.
*repeat the steps i showed you while doing the 4 finger bracelet.
*remember to pull your tail so it makes the chain more defined and it gives you a better idea of how long you need to make your chain.
*once you've determined you have a long enough chain, carefully pull the loops off your fingers, making sure you don't undo any of the chain by losing the loops!
*slip the extra tail into both loops.
*pull all the way through, and gently tug the end.

*tie off your bracelet with a knot.
*cut off excess tails!



so by using 2, 3, or 4 fingers, you get:

side view.
and top view of thickness.
and now you are so ready to hit the beach, pool, lake, or heck the grocery store. cause yeah, they are that cute.
now available: KITS sorry sold out. but thank you!
and ps: i'm making a video for the few of you needing a video...just need to get the 'ol tri pod out. stay tuned.
FIND VIDEO HOW TO HERE
are you so ready for summer like i am?

in 5...4...3...

alright so it's time...well in about 30 minutes from now it's time, (march 21st 4pm EST) to listen to the Creative Talk Radio and listen to yours truly be nervous live... i'll be talking about creating, blogging, and family.

i promise not to go all CHARLIE SHEEN on you.
if anything i'm humbled to even be asked. thank you Miss Sloan for the opportunity.

a fun giveaway is also going to happen during the talk show as well.
i'm giving away from my personal stash a fat quarter bundle, and three of my patterns. whichever you choose.
so go to Pat's blog for the giveaway details.
giveaway go through friday at noon.
we'll talk soon. ;)

me on the radio

well i've landed on the Famous Pat Sloan's radar (yup, feeling sick to my stomach with nerves again), and if you'd like to hear me fumble and try to answer her questions on the radio
please tune in on monday the 21st (also my anniversary to hubby! 13 years!) at 4pm EST. i will be putting on my "professional" self up front, but it is a little more than just my 5 minutes on GTU so maybe some of my spunk will come through. who knows, i may just be swallowing down the lump that's appeared in my throat ever since she asked me...or maybe i'll be totally fine and do a bang up job. :O
lets hope for the latter.

i will be wearing my new dress (thank you shabby apple). or maybe i'll get me some other Dresses from Shabby Apple i saw on their site... um like one of these:

or maybe i'm just lying to you and i just want you to *think* i'm dressed all professional and really, i'll be in sweats with no bra, hair in curlers and slippers. kidding, by that time of the day i at least have a bra on.
see you...er...hear me on monday!
and we'll have a giveaway to go with the excitement!

ps: if you enter VandCo10Off in the coupon code section shabby apple will give you a 10% discount. pretty sweet!
oh and pps: i just bought the white one.

bloggers block-a-palooza block #16: pinwheel parade

hey there! it's my turn for the block a palooza that quilt dad has put on. make sure you visit all the other bloggers who have already created a block!

with the weather we've been having it actually does feel like spring! (high 50's). the kiddos have been outside every day after school, and can i just say, what a difference it makes to get a little vitamin D in the system and some fresh air? once again dreaming of summer. but lets talk about spring first.
i named my block pinwheel parade because when i looked at the block i thought of spring and lots of kids having their own pinwheel blowing in the wind. so lot's of kids running around with pinwheels = a parade of pinwheels hence the name.
but enough talking lets start cutting

okay here's your cutting:

cut 4 white squares 4.5" x 4.5" - solid areas
cut 10 white square 3" x 3"
cut 10 print squares 3" x 3"

take your 3" squares of whites and your 3" squares of pattern fabric (2 white and 2 pattern will make one pinwheel)
take a ruler and draw a line down the middle from one corner to the other diagonal
place right sides together, with the white facing out towards you.
sew 1/4 seam from your line.
then do it again on the other side of the line.
cut your two halves. open and press with an iron.
**cut your blocks down to 2.5 (all 20 of them)
place 4 squares like the picture above. do this for all 5 pinwheel blocks
take your right block and place it on top of your left block like the picture shown above.
with a 1/4" seam sew your two blocks.
repeat to the top 2 blocks.
open and press your blocks.
right sides together, place the top block on top of the bottom block
sew your two blocks together.
press open.
do this for all 5 pinwheels
next take your solid white blocks and place them like so:

pinwheel-solid-pinwheel
solid-pinwheel-solid
pinwheel solid pinwheel

with a 1/4" seam allowance sew your strips together to make your final block.

done.
PDF VERSION HERE

**now if you have been watching the news you know of the devastation that japan is going through. there are many places to donate, i have a friend who is from the area that the tsunami hit hard, please visit her blog to find out how to donate help. even the littlest amount can help.
then hug and call your family.
and pray for all those not being able to do just that right now.