confession...

oops i forgot to write :

p.s. i still need cute sationary

great second hand finds

so this weekend my fabulous friend that just so happens to be a professional quilter, decided that she was going to *pay* me back for watching her boys one saturday so she could go to the town 45 minutes away...she told me to take my time...oh and i did. so with just katie in tow i went to the local second hand store that i usually don't even think of going in due to having the whole crew with me and being spoiled with the second hand stores up in salt lake city...but HELLO...these past two times that i've gone in there...i have not been dissapointed. so here's my...i mean katies new (partial) tea set for her room, it came with 3 tea cups, 2 saucers, and 2 plates...i gave her the two complete sets and i took the extra cup and put it in my decor in my kitchen. i love this tea set!!! it was 50 cents a piece.

i also found katie's new bedding for her little doll crib (which by the way was mine growing up), the mattress was a pillow case and the *cute* orange blanket was a steal at 50 cents! um and i finally went and bought this mirror that i have been coveting for over 5 months now. it was a $32 and i fretted over it and i've had it in my basket so many times when i've been at home depot only to put it back at the last minute...but i finally bought, it i figured if i've been thinking about it for over 5 months it was worth buying.

and i don't know if this is a figment of my imagination or what...but did anyone else have one of these little picnic baskets growing up? maybe i just *wished* i had one and so i created it in my head...but none the less the little one was as excited about this thing as i was.

other finds not pictured were: a chunky transformer that kyle absolutely loves, a WHOLE set of legos (which my boys have been asking for) for 3 dollars...oh and my *most favorite* is a yellow necklace for 75 cents...but i'll show you that one another day when i have an outfit to show it off!

our weekend...

they did this, and got into mud fights... while katie and i watched in amazement that boys would want to do that for hours on end.

before and after::craft area

ugh everytime i would walk by it, it made me cringe...

much better. still a work in progress but i think it's a step towards to what i want when i actually have a room dedicated to just me creating stuff. what i found out about myself today...i'm drawn to green fabric. that's what i have the most of, i totally thought i was a red person...i guess not so much!

summer inspired quilt

so summer's in full swing here. how can i tell? soccer soccer soccer! here's the 8 year old manning the goal. and the 8 year old telling the 6 year old all his advise...oh dear heavens.
that's funny huh dude? the 8 year old thinking he's all pro and stuff...oh whatever.
the little one was loooooooving soccer too. and with all this summer going on, like soccer, summer reading programs, going to sleep late, waking up late, running in the sprinklers, spending who knows how many hours outside...i got inspired to make a quilt with fun colors so that i can have a picnic quilt too.

remember those vintage sheets i got at the second hand stores? the stripy one is the left over pillow case from my pillow case skirt, and i made a skirt for the little missy with the green sheet , i've cut out my amy butler "barcelona" skirt out of the blue one (oh and i didn't hurl while doing it so i think i'm good to go with the zipper) . but i had some left over and i thought..."that would be sweet in a quilt" so there you go. my quilt inspired by summer and made out of my vintage sheets i can't wait to finish it so that i can take it to the 4th of july "stadium of fire" celebration. yeah that's right, i got free tickets and i'm sitting on the field...cause i'm just that cool...actually we're part of the shin-dig...i'm not quite sure what we will be doing something to do with honoring the soldiers overseas and stuff, but whatever we're on the field and it was free and oh yeah, hanna montana going to sing...i totally wish i had a tween girl that would appreciate this...maybe i'll get online and download some of her stuff and force feed it to the boys...do you think they would appreciate that?

picnic blanket for the little one

i last night i finally binded the little ones picnic blanket. in theory this is a very easy quilt to make. in reality, if i had instructions instead of just going off of my memory of what i saw at a quilt store up north, and if i had some fabric glue instead of pining every individual square down, it might of been a super easy quilt. but i'm impatient, and being out in the middle of nowhere, i did not have access to buying fabric glue, so i went with it...
my quilting isn't straight and there are some puckers here and there, but the little missy is not yet 2 and i don't think those things matter so much to her. she loves it i love it and i love playing picnic with her (so do the boys, but they don't want me to mention that, shhhh)

tutorial::easiest apron to make (and cute!)

this apron that i'm going to show you is super easy and super fast. it's made from a pretty dish towel. buy your dish towel (mine were on clearance for $1.50 each) this one measures 18 inches by 28 inches (rectangle towels only)
fold up your towel just like the picture (in the middle fold up and then fold down halfway again)

press your towel for good creases
pin your sides down...
and sew each side down of the towel where you folded it together (this will make one big pocket in the front)

next you want to sew to make three pockets total, so sew two lines on you big pocket to make three equal sized pockets.
now to make the apron tie cut off salvage of fabric...
i then measured my waist doubled it and added 30 inches (so the the tie would go around my waist and tie in the front and have enough to have the ties hang a little) and i cut the width to 4 inches wide (you can make it bigger for a wider tie)

sew right sides together and turn inside out ( i think this is what took the longest!)
fold you ends in and sew them
next you are going to pin your finished tie onto your apron (fold in half the tie so you know exactly where the middle of the tie is!)

sew the top and bottom of the tie onto your apron...like these two pictures


VIOLA! you got yourself a super cute apron!!
(i'll put this on my side bar under tutorials if you want to come back to it in the future!) happy apron making!!

good book

it was easy it was fun and it was cute, and i did it in a day/night. once again i'm not into mythological stuff but this shannon hale chick is pretty good and makes it fun.

the one i finished today (not mush sewing going on because of it) is "unwind" by neal shsterman. its a fast read also seeing that i started it two nights ago, and am not allowed to spend every waking hour doing things just for me, but while the kids played outside, i got to sit in my nice little shaded corner and watch from afar...next on the list is "secret lives of bees" by kidd, heard its a good one, but it's going to have to wait a little cause i have a date with sewing tonight...i'll show you tomorrow!

my 8 yr old artist

i know i'm biased but COME -ON!!! tell me that's not amazing!!! he's better at art than i was at his age, and i had lessons. that is one thing i miss about a big city... i wish we had an art studio with teachers for the kid. for now he'll just have to keep doodleling on his own. dude you are so cool.

family picture...or rather lack there of

i tried to take pictures of the kids yesterday...i didn't get anything worth putting up on my header. but i was looking at all of them and noticed kyle...

and the cat that he was holding...i would feel bad for it but truth be told, i'm starting to hate those cats. also my 4 year old likes to "spike" his OWN hair, i'm not allowed to touch it and well, you see the result of his attempts.

and this is our new pasture grazer she's half horse half donkey so that makes her a mule, and let me tell you mules sound nothing like horses and when you are expecting a horse sound to come out of this very large animal, the sound that comes out of it scares the crap out of you!...so now count with me:

1 mule for grazing

2 calf's also for grazing

6 little kittens that run ALL over the dang house and climb up my furniture non stop, pull down my quilts (yeah and they are still alive), and who poop all the live long day (thankfully in a litter box but still! gross!)

1 momma cat that is still nursing all 6 kittens and has an appetite that is going to eat me out of a house and home and who is mirroring how tired i feel sometimes

1 lazy dumb dog that is so loved by...

1 very missed husband over seas

4 crazy kids who for some reason go through spurts of not able to do anything for themselves or do what is asked of them, and are pretty much trying real hard to become monkeys while they are disobeying and needing me...

and lastly:

1 crazy lady trying so dang hard to hold it all together...with a smile.

i broke

after nearly 5 + months of not watching tv...i did it. i turned it on...and my justification was "they've been soo good all day playing outside...i can reward them with a little tom and jerry, what's the harm in that?" oh i'll tell you the harm. i let them watch like 2 hours, and they were glued to the screen hardly made a peep, and I LIKED IT! oh i am soooo ashamed how much i liked it. i sat in the corner reading a book while they melted their little brains out...i feel like i just ruined everything i just worked so hard for for such a long time. tomorrow is another day. i just hope that i don't make this "reward" and ongoing occurrence.

the girl loves her shoes

what's a girl to do when she loves all her shoes? have a pair on her feet and another pair close at hand wherever she goes…might have a little to do with the fact that the momma loves her shoes too.
Both the little one and I got new shoes yesterday. They were on clearance and calling my name, and now it means I need to retire a pair of shoes that these will replace…hmmm... I’ll have to sit on this one for a little.

On the agenda today…clean, clean, clean, a little more gardening,

and trying to get rid of these ( i didn’t say they weren’t cute or anything…i just don’t need 7 cats at my house you know?) i’ve put it off till now because i’m still in the doghouse for getting rid of the goats. *sigh* just trying to get some of the crazy out of here and clearly i’m not going anywhere so the cats have got to go…anyone want one?

finally...

my little doll quilt is done...

and if i didn't need the money i would totally tell you all to "forget it you can't have it" but because i need the money to keep on my goal of buying a new sewing machine, you can find it here and buy it in my shop it's got to be by far the most delicious little doll quilt i've made as of yet!!! hope you like it! sold

le skirt

made out of two pillow cases i found at a thrift store for a total of $1.

I tried to take a picture of le skirt by myself but i couldn’t get the right angle, so i gave my 6 year old le camera, and before i could even get situated to ask him to take le picture, he was handing it back and saying “okay mom I took it” and off he went running back to his brothers to continue the always on going play of “soldiers” i looked at le picture, and thought…"that’s not a half bad pic”... got to hand it to le 6 year old.
next project: amy butler pattern. i still get sweaty palms and have an urge to throw up when i think about having to put a zipper in…i know i’m a dork, don’t you think i already know that? but hey this is the year that i do things and not just talk about them…i don’t know when yet…and it is a little less scary when I’m working with $2 sheets…I mean what’s $2 right? so i’m sure you’ll be seeing this skirt sometime in the near future.

confession...

i meant to go walking this morning... instead:

sorry kelly i stole this idea from you, but you are used to having people copy you cause you are so cool.

and now we sit and wait…

i’m burnt, i’m tired, i’m dirty, and i've got some paint on me too.

seriously…i’ve spent the last two days busting my butt planting. and these pictures are all that I have to show for it…i know i know it’ll keep growing and filling in and I should be getting some nice zucchini, squash and tomatoes sometime later this summer...apparently i’m into instant gratification, none of this waiting around and watching things grow at a snails pace. but whatever, i can’t make time go faster (trust me i would make this year go in a blink of an eye if i could!!!)
can you see the chain link fence? its EVERYWHERE... I hate it, and I can’t justify spending thousands of dollars putting in a nicer one…it does the job and it came with the house…so, the plan is to plant vine-y things all around the fence so that i have a “natural” privacy fence thingy…so like in a 100 years I’ll have the perfect fence with vines and flowers all over it…I should just get the stupid fence.

this by far is the favorite that i have going on right now...i love how it hangs over the basket

I’ve totally slacked off on sewing. since I’ve practically lived outside for the past two days and we had story time at the library, my kids are doing baseball and soccer, thank heavens I didn’t sign them up for swimming lessons… I haven’t even seen my sewing machine. It’s cold and lonely and it’s feeling neglected but i’m planning on sewing today…on the schedule is to make a skirt out of a pillow case i got at a thrift store (50cents), and I’m sewing outside pillows for my chairs in the back patio area. Oh yeah and I’m hoping to finish that darn doll quilt that’s been sitting there staring at me every day as I pass by it. Big plans… lets see how much I actually get done. wow is anyone else sensing a sour mood…hmmm. I need chocolate…oh wait i’ve already been abusing the chocolate…i mean i need MORE chocolate.

Inspiration in all the right places

this is my uncle, and this is his backyard…isn’t it amazing? he built the little house (it used to be the playhouse when i was growing up, and now it’s his little retreat) he made the pond (we used to swim in there as little kids) it even has a water fall and bridge. As i’ve grown older i look at this backyard (that I’ve been staring at for over 30 years now) and I see it in a different light. it used to just be a backyard with endless possibilities for the imagination to go wild with play, but now it’s amazing and inspirational and i see the endless years and devotion and hard work that this man has put into this beautiful backyard masterpiece.

this is my sis-in-law chadley and her husband rob’s backyard. i love the vibrant colors i love the mirror, i love love love topiaries, soooo you know i’m loving it all.

anyways yesterday i decided that i was no longer going to be inspired from a distance…i’ve actually started my transformation from “winter yuck” to “summer yum”.
the planting has begun, i spent yesterday planting flowers and vegetables. today i am going to go buy a few more pots for my garden, i’m painting some outside "furniture" and I can’t wait to show you my progress tomorrow! Happy planting (even though all of you have been doing it for a while already!)