He's 12 and he loves Domo

 My second Noisemaker turns 12 today.
I can't really wrap my head around that but it's true.
The other night I caught all my kids looking at the computer laughing. I asked them what they were looking at and one of them answered "We're reading about the UGLY Christmas tree." And then one of the other ones says "Mom, you need to write more of our stories again."
Man, talk about a slap in the face.
It also has occured to me that I've not written any "right now's" in a couple of years.
If nothing else it gives us a good place to look back through the years and gives us snap shots of the kids each year. So if you don't mind I'm going to do that again.
My kids have grown and matured so much these last two years that I should write about it. And I will. :)

so this said noisemaker that has a birthday today...really likes domo's so of course last minute I tried to attempt to make one.

I had a sick kid home today so we couldn't really venture out and that's when I realized I don't have like any brown fabric! 

Literally this was the only brown fabric I had.

And it's not cotton...it's fake leather sort of fabric.

So it's thick

 I learned a lot trying to make this guy. In the middle of it I had to turn it around just to see how cute he was coming out or even IF he was coming out cute! I turned him inside out after I finished sewing the arms in (and btw KUDOS to my BERNINA for being able to handle 4 layers of thick fake leather as if it ate that many layers for breakfast!)  Anyways, first try I had sewn up the head... but in the middle of thinking about turning it back outside in, I had a "oh crap..." moment of how the heck am I going to get all those body parts out of a tiny little hole?!

So I turned his insides back out on to the outsides and unpicked his head sewed the legs in...and...

 TADA!
He's not perfect, but he's totally going to be a great present!
AND I know what to do differently and I'll try a few other things next time! Oh you know there's going to be a next time. The other kids are going to think I need to make everyone of them one...

 So yes, this guy was a success. And add a cute Domo cake that my neighbor made for us...

 Makes for a Domo-tastic Birthday!
HMMMM... doesn't that look like Domo is trying to eat a Domo cake! NO! Don't do it Domo!!!

okay well here's a few Right Nows for my Domo loving 12 year old:

right now:
*You are in 6th grade, are loving middle school, and have some great friends at church and school.
*You play the cello and LOVE instrumental music like  The Piano Guys and 2Cellos but your absolute fav band at the moment is Imagine Dragons

*You love Domo, the color green, and your favorite home cooked meal is Tacos
*You currently wear glasses and braces. And you don't care that you wear glasses and braces. :)
*You love to read.
*You love to be around friends.
*You are in the LEGO league at school and you love it.
*You are a great babysitter to your younger siblings and a good friend to your older brother.
*You have a quick sense of of wit and can pull off some pretty funny zingers.
*You can sew a really great 1/4" seam.
*You are my go to photographer when I need someone to take a picture of me holding a project.
(and you have an awesome eye for it)
*You love to snowboard, swim, and have been training to run cross country next year.
*You are a very loving son, and brother. You pay attention to others emotions and you act upon them.
* You already have big college goals. BYU is your top choice of school to get into.
*I never have to get on you to do your school work. There's been only a handful of times I've had to have words with you about not getting things done.
*You quietly serve others.

We are very happy with who you are molding yourself to be, we appreciate your witty smart mouth comments and your love of learning.
We are blessed to have you in our family.

ps: and no I don't have a picture of you right now...you may like taking pictures but you hate being in them. Btw start preparing for it cause family pictures are coming. You've been forewarned.

okay NOW, lets go eat some DOMO!

V and Co: introducing..well no, not yet

as much as i'd like to introduce my next fabric line "color me happy"debuting at fall market to all of you i can't just yet. i have too many things to sew and not enough time to place many words let alone pictures together for you. but there it is in the background ready to be cut up and sewn with.

(well actually it's already been cut up and being sewn with and that clean area is nothing but a memory at the moment as i'm running around with strings attached to every part of my body, and i walk around talking to myself quilt references and measurements... and fabric has exploded everywhere)
as a matter of fact i've taken into wearing this sign:

 that a great friend made for me so i didn't have to keep telling everyone "no i'm sorry i can't, but maybe in novemeber?" i think november is going to be as busy as this october with all my "...come talk to me in november about that"s

the good news is though that even though i am a thread of a mess with hardly any sleep, we did get out the bat garland and other halloween-y type things out for the house. and i am feeding my children, and making sure they are clothed before they leave for school. see mom i'm still taking care of them!

so just give me a couple of more days (man i ask that a lot!) and i'll get you action shots of the fabric. okay maybe not action shots, but i'll at least talk more about it and give you a closer look. hang tight.

V and Co: how to make: ombre dutchman free quilt pattern

 welcome welcome!
i'm so excited to finally have the time to share this with you! it's been sitting here since last may when i made this quilt for quilt market.
but as you all know the kiddos are in school now and i did my "go and do everything i've not been able to do since june 1st without children" all in two days.
i went to get my car detailed, went grocery shopping, to fabric stores, went to hang out with friends, went to eat with-friends-went-to-target-went-and-walked-around-places-just-because-i-could-AND-THEN-I-WENT-AND-ATE-CHOCOLATE-IN-THE-MIDDLE-OF-THE-DAY-IN-THE-KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!

BECAUSE.

I.

COULD.

so i got it all out of my system and now i am able to get back to work.
it's basically a mom's version of the first weekend of college for freshman when they realize there's parties and no parents around. not that i would know anything about that...i've just heard about that kind of stuff.
anyways. what were we talking about. OH yes, here's my project i've been wanting to show you.

this quilt is a lovely quilt 48" x 48" and perfect for babies or for a wall.

it looks like i used different shades of fabric, but in actuality i used my ombre fabric. 

i used the gray, navy, teal, and lime green for this particular project. 

lets get started

what you will need: 

-1/2 yard fabric of green, blue, teal, and gray.

-1 1/2 yards of fabric of white or background fabric.

-rotary cutter

-erasable pen/pencil

-pins

-ruler to cut strips and to trim down HST (half square triangles) 

 from each color (gray, teal, navy, green) of fabric:
cut 4- 4" x WOF (width of fabric) strips
  -sub cut from strips 20- 4" squares
from white fabric:
cut 4- 12 1/2" x WOF strips
  -sub cut from strips 16- 12 1/2" squares

-put aside 16- 4" from each color (you'll trim these down a little bit later but lets leave all the trimming to the same time)

-next pair up lights and darks and mediums to create contrasting HSTs (half square triangles)
and please don't freak out that it's pink, i totally missed taking pictures the first time around of a quite a few steps so i made some of the steps using pink. 

-with your erasable pen/pencil draw a line from corner to corner on the wrong side of one the squares in the paired up squares.

 -sew a 1/4" seam from the drawn line on both sides of the line

-cut on the drawn line

 -when you open up each side you will have a HST square.
-do this to all your paired up squares

 - trim down each to 3 1/2" square (and even the squares you put aside)

 use 1/4" seam unless otherwise instructed
-place first row and sew as follow: 2 squares
-second row 2 HST then sew it to the first two squares to create a 6 1/2" square
-sew the two 3 1/2" squares on either side of the second row.
-third row you are going to sew 4 HSTs and sew it to the above sewn block

 -sew two more squares on either side of the third row

 -fourth row...you know the drill... but this time sew 6 HST squares

 -and again sew two more squares at either side

 -take one of your 12 1/2"white square and place it on one side of your "step up triangle"
-i like to draw a line so that i can have a guide to follow.

(hint: make sure you dont sew over your points of the squares already sewn)
-pin in place
-sew on the line

 -cut off excess

 -repeat on the other side!

 - and there here's your first one done!!!
now do it again for all the other ones

 -place your blocks the way you see them in the picture above.
-sew your blocks

 i quilted my quilt by using my walking foot  and quilted straight lines just like i did in my reverse hopscotch.

i am going to enjoy this little bit of time to work again. and then i'm sure once we get close to summer vacation again i'll be ready to take a break and hit the pool again. but i'm getting ahead of myself, right now i'm just relishing in the blissful 6 full hours of the only noise being made by me and my talking to the animals and my working on the sewing machine.
:) school rocks.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: selvage zipper tote for BERNINA

well, the day has arrived where i get to talk a little about my relationship with BERNINA. 

i bought my first bernina 5 years ago. 

actually back up.

my husband bought me my bernina for my birthday 5 years ago.

it was the best birthday gift he has ever given me. 

second best was my flat iron. yes, you know because i have monica from friends hair remember? (man i miss blogging about stupid stuff...maybe i'll start that up again...)

anyways, when i got my first bernina machine i turned it on and immediately i felt the difference between my new bernina sewing machine, and the old not bernina one i had been using for years.

it's like overnight i became a better piecer, (thank you 1/4" seam foot!) and a much better seamstress in general.

i KNOW it has to do with the sewing machine because i didn't just wake up and become that much better over night due to my skills. 

so fast forward to my craftsy class...and well what do you know i got to sew on the new bernina 380  and fell in even more in love with the bernina sewing machines.

then i got to work briefly with the 780 and holy swear word that was a freaking amazing experience and i am grateful for that! 

i have since settled quite nicely with my 580 and i think we fit well together. katie has been learning on my 580 and i'll blog about that in a little bit. it's been cool to see her at such a young age really love to learn. tearing up. stupid hormones..k what was i talking about...oh yeah.

i have the privilege to work as a bernina ambassador, and one of my duties is to create a few fun projects for the WE ALL SEW blog. 

 for my first project over there i decided to make a fun little selvage zipper tote.

i give you step by step instructions on:
*how to create your selvage blocks
*how to use your zipper foot to create the best looking sewn in zipper :)

*and how to finish your adorable bag

i used a lot of pictures (just like i always do!)
and of course written instructions to go with all the pictures.

so head on over to the BERNINA blog, tell them i sent you. and let me know what you think of my first project over there.
if you have any bernina machine questions i will most happily answer them in the comments section, and if i don't know...i have my bernina dealer quilt shop here in town that is awesome and full of knowledge in the bernina world and can give me the answer to just about anything you throw at me. :)
okay.
have a fantabulous day.
we'll talk soon. ;)

V and Co: getting my embroidery on and 15 years

yesterday i continued to work on things for market. 

i am doing a school house with Aurifil threads and i will be showing off a few things i've made (including this little bag) with my line of threads with them.

 one person asked if i did the embroidery by hand. uh no. but thank you for thinking i did that by hand.
 nope the embroidery was stitch #431 on my Bernina 580 
these threads were created for my simply color line. but go great with my simply style line as the colors are close enough that they transfer pretty well!

 the bag pattern is my color block pouch. (the large bag of the three)
it's one of my favorite to make as a gift for sew-y friends because it's fast and easy and totally a necessity.

yep. i'll be making a few more. :)
and i'll be making a few other things with my embroidery machine and thread here soon too. watch for it on the We All Sew Blog for BERNINA. :)

also this last week my youngest one was caught on camera eating a microphone.

this was taken before the kindergarten moosical.  she obviously is lacking in the personality department.


we also (the husband and i) celebrated 15 years and one month this last sunday.
yep, last month we celebrated 15 whole years of marriage.

i married a pretty cute boy 15 years ago.
and today i celebrate 15 years of being with my best friend, the love of my life, the guy that can make me laugh so hard i pee, the guy i can look across the room and with one look i know what he said with that one look. i'm married to one of the hardest working men i know and a great example to my boys. i celebrate 15 years with the guy i have 4 kids with, countless of memories, a few trials we have been able to go through and look back at and learned from. i am celebrating 15 years with the man that mirrors my desires to have a good family life, mirrors my desires to create a safe home for our children, the man that mirrors my sense of humor, and the man that continuously tries to keep smiling.
i am one lucky gal i said yes. one of these days i'll have to write down our story. it's pretty hilarious. :)

this week i'll also write up about my time at the MQG in Des Moines. they asked me to talk about traditional blocks in modern quilting . it was fun and i got to meet some lovely ladies and got to talk fun stuff with them. :)

here's a blog post by one of the members! it was so nice to meet you veronica!!
we'll talk soon!