V and Co.: summer happenings

 we are in full swing summer mode over here.
our strawberries are growing and are super sweet, there's something incredibly cool about eating from your own yard. i miss our days in the middle of nowhere when we had an acre and had our raised beds of veggie's but strawberries make up for it as we could never really get strawberries in the middle of nowhere because they don't grow all that well up at 7000+ sea level. but we did try anyways.
so ofcourse seeing our plants do so well is pretty wonderful.

another fun surprise was seeing all my new patterns and my new fabric collection on the back cover of stitch mag super super happy to be on there.

 summer at our house means lots of activities one of them being scout camps of all sorts for the each of the three boys. so far two have gone on their week long adventures, one is left to do his two day hike later on this month.

i got to volunteer at the youngest boy's camp, and learn quite a bit about nature and archery. and other stuff. but i really liked those two. so all i heard of the other ones were "blah de be blah, animal care..blah de be blah blah cooking over a fire :)

 aurifil was in the house at Pineneedles Iowa this last week as well. i was asked to talk about how i use my aurifil thread collection in my projects and of course other aurifil thread as well. cause well, it's the only thread for me :) and i am kind of a snob when it comes to thread now.

i've mentioned my sewing machine has felt a little bit lonely this summer as i knew it would. i did get to sew on it a little bit this last week.
it.
felt.
great.
as i am getting a lot more of my hand sewing done that need some kind of machine work, i'll throw in a little time with the sewing machine when the kids go to bed.

but not too much because that's the only time when i get to see the husband these days.

he's been equally as (oh okay waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more)  busy as the kids and i.
he opened up (on top of working at the local private university) his own private practice. and is working a lot of hours trying to set up everything and making sure all wrinkles are ironed out.  (cause he's that kind of a person)
he's been able to make it home most nights for dinner and family time, but we try to work in a walk at night so we can catch up on the day's happenings and then after that we old farts get tired and get into bed.
he leaves as early as 4:30 in the morning or most mornings around 5:45.

needless to say. he's busy. we're busy.
we like to see each other and talk. so we make the time when we can. :)
pretty proud of him and all he's doing and also keeping his family as one of top priorities.
i'm blessed.

 so during the time in the day when i'm here and there between running around to scout camps, gymnastics, band and orchestra, and of course the pool i've been transporting with me and working on a few projects.

later this week (after the 4th of july fun we'll be having over here) i'll give you a few hints on how to work with tiny little hexagons using the english paper piecing technique.
there are tiny little boogers, but they sure are cute and i'll show you how i used them in a fun little project!

happy fourth of july week. we will continue on our summer mode, of family, pool, and add some grilling to the mix.

have i mentioned i love summers.
because i do.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: i miss my sewing machine...but...

 i haven't touched my sewing machine for over a week. maybe it's been almost two.
sigh.
i really miss it.
i have been thinking of a butt load of fun things to make...and yet...no sewing and no crafting has happened.

no, instead i find myself traveling in the car to and from concert band, jazz band, orchestra, gymnastics, reading camp, and scouts. phew!
every morning we are up and at em.
man, i spend a lot of time in the car.
but it's okay, my kids are happy and active in things they like. and it gets us up and moving as a family early in the am.
i can't complain, i also enjoy the time i have in the car with each individual child to each individual activity we are heading to or from.

this year we have our summer schedule again (but this time i laminated it, thank you very much! oh and i spelled vacuum right this time!)

every day they are responsible for things that aren't on the list (i.e., pick up room, make bed, take laundry up to the laundry room)
i put pick up rooms on wednesday as a more "deep clean" pick up room, as in check the closet for all the stuff that was stuffed in there to hide it, remove all excess toys on top of dressers and so forth.

and this year we added a fun little experiment to our chore list

this year we have added timed increments to each chore, and a small allowance to be earned for each chore completed either by or before the time is up.
for example for bathrooms they each have 10 minutes of hard work (each child doing something different) and when the time is up they get either 25 to 50 cents depending on the chore (bathrooms are 50 cents, dusting is 25 cents).

what?
too cheap you say?
nope.
not when you go to the pool everyday and their snack bar consists of items from 25 cents to 4 dollars.
my kids love to earn their day's snack junk at the pool by finishing up small increments of chore times.

oh go ahead say it "but vanessa you have a teenager! wont he totally say "whatever, don't care, i have money from my birthday anyways.""

yeah, well here's my answer: no work= no pool or video game time or friend time. so you can either work and get paid enough for the snack bar or you can get nothing and the whole family suffers that day.

it's never come to that thankfully. because my kids know i'll do it. i don't threaten, i follow through.

i also have decided that 5 to 10 minute increments of time is a huge amount of time when there is motivation to get the chore done.
every day we have finished most of our chores by 10 even in between all the traveling we have been doing for the summer activities.

my minions are doing awesome, and i love that this experiment of small timed increments has worked out so well.
we go to bed with a relatively put away, clean house, and wake up having to just hit the scheduled chores to keep it up.

i think i may try this on just me when they go back to school. because let me tell you when you only have 5 minutes to pick up the master bedroom and you don't want to be the only one that didn't do it in the allotted time, you'd be amazed at just how darn fast your butt can get in gear. i think i'm going to give myself 10 minuted every day to tackle the storage room that houses all my fabric scraps. perhaps a scraps giveaway and listing some fabric in the shop? hmmmm. we'll think about that later on.

i've said it before, and i'll say it again. one of my favorite things about the midwest is the fireflies, and the clouds.

 this looks like it's some kind of smoke billowing from some far away fire...but they aren't they are clouds. this was the scene when i looked east from my back yard.

and this is what i saw when i looked west later on that evening on my husband and my walk. 

i love the midwest clouds. my husband is like "why are you so weird about the clouds?" and i'm like "they totally look like "Toy Story" clouds and then at other times they do weird things like...blah de be blah blah blah." yes, by that time he tunes me out. what can i say i like them. it makes me happy. happy makers they are.

so yes, i've been feeling like i really would love to put in some sewing time. and i will here and there. (there has to be a rainy day in there again sometime right?) or perhaps one day the kids just decide they want to stay home and make quilts one day instead of going to pool. no? well maybe. you never know.

but for now, i'll enjoy the things that are making me happy till i can get back to the other thing that makes me happy...sewing.

:) we'll talk soon.

V and Co.: snicker doodle ice cream cookies

one thing is for sure. having the kids around 24/7 is quite the shock the to system that might throw you in for a tail spin after having them be gone for 6 hours at a time for the school year.
here's a fun and easy way to get a few "awesome mom" points and you might just get a few minutes of quietness due to the fact that the kids will be stuffing their pie holes with the yumminess of these treats.

 first things first you will need individual cups of vanilla ice cream kept frozen. (these obviously are from walmart.)
and then you will need snicker doodle cookies.
the recipe i used goes as follows:
SNICKER DOODLE COOKIES:
ingredients:
 3 3/4 cups flour                              2 eggs
 1/2 tsp baking soda                        1/4 cup milk
 1/2 tsp cream of tar tar                   1 tsp vanilla
 1/2 tsp salt                                     3 tblsp sugar
 1 cup margarine/butter                  1 tsp. cinnamon
 2 cups sugar
preheat oven to 375 degrees
directions:
-stir together flour, soda, cream of tartar, and salt. set aside.
-beat butter for 30 seconds in the mixer, then add 2 cups of sugar and beat until fluffy.
-add eggs, milk, and vanilla; beat well in mixer till smooth.
-add dry ingredients, one cup at a time until it's all combined and mixed well.
form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the mixture of the 3 tblsp sugar and cinnamon.
-place the balls 2 inches apart (optional: flatten a little bit, i never do cause i'm lazy like that.)

cook for around 8 minutes till just slightly golden brown.
cool on cool rack.

for the ice cream cookies cool completely otherwise the ice cream will melt. i would say even give it a full day of cooling if you can.

 now onto the the ice cream cookie part!
your cookies should be fully cooled down, and your ice cream cup should still be frozen.
get just a little bit of cinnamon. as we will only be using a pinch in each cup.

 for each cup you will need two cookies and pinch of cinnamon and a spoon for mixing. :)

 just place a pinch of cinnamon in each cup (if you are having your kiddos help either do the cinnamon yourself of have them use the cinnamon dispenser and shake a little into the cup)

because we don't want the ice cream to melt we will just mix the cinnamon a little bit.

then scoop up the ice cream and place it between two flat sides of the cookies.

eat and enjoy your yummers snicker doodle ice cream cookie.

and enjoy the little bit of peace and quiet you will get while your kiddos nom nom nom on the yummy cookies. 

V and Co signing off on how to survive having your kids home after you've enjoyed er i mean...you've had a school year long of 6 hours a day where your kids are being perfect angels to those awesome teachers of theirs! 

bring on summer. 

i'm grabbing it by the horns! 

V and Co: spring 2013 portland oregon market recap

truth is...i didn't take a single picture with my "good camera" and all i have are my instagram photos to go off of!
but that's okay cause i guess i did okay on taking pictures of...
oh my gosh...
selfies:

 well sort of. i mean i did have some people take pictures using my phone as well.
as you can see...i never really ventured out of my little section at the moda section. i got to hang out with miss sandy klop, bunny hill design, sweet water, and me and my sister on one of the design walls.

V and Co.'s section on the Moda design wall

speaking of me and my sister design. they have the best moda market write up! 

we had a blast over in that section and i am very happy that i got to spend time with all of them and to get them set up with instagram. well maybe. 

i mean i was like "oh look how cute they are all staring at their phones at the same time (yeah all of them like sandy klop, anne sutton, the sweetwater girls, and then later on the me and my sister gals jumped on board too, with further instructions from the social media queen herself camille roskelly  after i left. 

later i felt like i had done a bad thing to introduce to them this addiction. but actually now being 2 weeks out of market i love it that they are instagram junkies because i get to see what they are doing day to day. :) you should follow them they will be very excited if you heart their pictures...and well you will get to see susan's remodeling of her home... have i mentioned i'm obsessed with instagram too? yep shh don't tell my blog. oh wait i think it already knows. :P

anywho...

for some reason i don't eat a bunch when i'm at market.  but the stir fry i kept smelling was calling my name and i had to get some the second day and it was sooooooooooo good. like super yummy.

it was so yummy that i really still think about it. and can't wait to have it again some day. :)

okay wait what was i talking about...instagram, food...oh yeah market! 

okay

this new line of mine (due to hit stores in july) continues with the same theme as the first of ombre and play with color and prints. so of course i had to have an ombre print like i did with my first line with the dots. 

this time i went with chevrons. 

when i first started the draft drawing for the chevron i had a bag in mind and well i made a pattern for it the hampton bag  but i knew i wanted a skirt in it. 

and well i have to give a shout out to my skirt maker amy webb of amy lou who last year she made my skirt using my first line simply color and this time she made another one for me using my ombre chevron fabric for this new line simply style.

love this skirt...and have already worn them a few times after market as well. 

it's a simplicity pattern for the A-Line skirt. amy has some tips she's going to put up on her blog about sewing with this pattern and fabric. (i think she said on monday :))

she did a bang up job and i am so SO grateful for her help with making me skirts to wear at market. :) 

 portland showing off it's gorge sunset

so little known fact:

i get nervous in front of large audiences. yeah yeah nothing special, lots of people get nervous vanessa. but yeah, when i say i get nervous i mean i get down right want to panic nervous.
BUT i am working on it. i really am. i mean one on one i'm like golden...even like a small group of people... i can totally be my loud self.
HECK, put me in front of a class where i'm teaching with the sewing machine, i'll ease into my gig and be all kinds of me and relaxed...after my first initial panic mode...
but you put me up in front of a LARGE crowd and not for a long period of time... for some reason, my voice gets shaky and my eyes start a buggin' and all of a sudden i feel the need to speak a 100 miles a minute and i feel like i'm running a marathon. oh what? you want to see it? sure here it is... the fat quarter shop did a video of the moda school house. i make my awesome sauce appearance at 17:55

yeah i know, i look pretty darn amaze balls but the rapid speaking and the shortness of breath kind of give me away. 

the great news is...i'm doing leaps and bounds better than the first time i had to speak to a large audience. at least this time i didn't feel like i was going to poop my pants and toss my cookies...i just may have a couple of minutes here and there that i look like i wanted to throw up. 

baby steps. 

V and Co at Aurifil schoolhouse talking about who the heck knows what.

i figure in like a few more year's i'll be all swanky up there and so darn relaxed that people will put my face next to the word "totally relaxed" in the dictionary. and then there wont be any pictures like this one up above of me looking anything but relaxed to be had... (thank you to julie for capturing this gem of a picture which btw makes me laugh so hard every time i see it.)

just you see.

in a few years i'll be showing up wheeled in a bed and pjs and bed head, looking as relaxed as a college kid after all their finals to graduate. 

don't believe me? yep, me neither...but i'm sure it'll just keep getting easier. 

and well, since i'm still not that relaxed i do have to say thank you to a few lovely ladies and especially these two. erika is just one of those lovely ladies that  even though we've met a handful of times she's like totally like the longest friend you've had the second you meet her. she's just a little on the awesome side and i like her a lot. 

then there's megan who does a lot for me on the "calm your freak self down" on a regular basis. and not just during market time. at any given time of the year she'll get a rapid series of texts and she usually talks me out of it. she's a great person to mentally slap me with a "YOU DID FINE. GREAT EVEN. GO GET CHOCOLATE...AND CALM THE HECK DOWN ITS OVER"

she physically did that for me during market schoolhouse (well not literally slap me but you get what i mean.) on occasion she is of NO help to me like when we both lost our hotel key. it was funny though.

all in all this quilt market, being my sophomore one, was a nice little more on the laid back side, and i had a blast with people. last year i was a little too strung up to relax and would crash at the end of each day the minute i could back at the hotel room. it was a nice change and i enjoyed myself. :)

the highlight of my time was when i nearly started crying when i saw kay of sew serendipity  came to see me in person to show me her marilyn dress she made with my fabric.
i am still blown away with how gorgeous it is, and i am in such awe of garment sewers that i couldn't help it. i got a little verclempt.

so i had to leave early on sunday...
and well because it wouldn't be a V and Co trip without some kind of "story" that went along with it...of course the odds of an easy going trip home would not be in my favor.

so yeah... i left on sunday early morning for  what i thought was my 10 am flight. i got at the airport really early because i am like that and like to have a lot of time before i have to get on a plane...just in case. and well thank heavens i did...because when i got up to the line and was ready to get my plane ticket the lady looked at me and was like: "oh sweetie your ticket is for next sunday."

i just sat there and stared at the lady. blinked a few times and was like:
"excuse me?"
nice lady: "yeeeeah, see here," she says pointing to the date on the paper. "it says may 26. today isn't may 26. that's next sunday."

i stared at her again. mouth slightly agape and i think i made a little squeaking noise.

in my head all i could think was "of course its for next sunday because why would i have just a normal run of the mill experience going home from quilt market?"
crap.
uhhhhhhhhhhh......"what do i do?  i need to leave and get home today."
they told me for a reasonable price they could put me on standby for the next possible flight. oh no wait, no they couldn't because the connecting flight left before you got there...soooo maybe they could put you on this other connecting flight and then get you to denver and they you have a layover of just 1 hour and then you should be on your way to good ol iowa. or something like that. she explained it first and then needed me to say yay or nay that i was up for the challenge.
yup.
okay lets do that...i think...

dear heavens this isn't going to work.

while the lady's fingers hit her keyboard at rapid speeds trying to  reroute me she kept talking to herself "no wait that doesn't work, maybe if we do this, no that's san francisco, we want iowa, okay maybe we do this and it gives her time to get to there, but what about the luggage...hmm maybe this...and then we can...yep...i think that might work."
i just sat there like:

is it going to work?
she finally looked up and said "okay. here's what we're going to do..." then she explained how she was going to take my luggage and send it out first so that if i dont make the first standby it's okay because my bag will at least get there before me rather than after me, and then she told me all these hoops and dance moves my luggage was going to do to make sure it's there when i do get to my final destination.
i was pretty sure once i let her take my bag that would be the last time i would ever see it. so i said my final farewell and then started on my way. she waved and smiled as i walked away hesitantly looking back. and then thinking "alright. lets do this."

and i did.
when i got to the gate C which just so happens to be in the basement area of the airport. oh yes, yes it was. when i got there, i had to squint because it wasn't as brightly lit up as the upstairs main airport area, and then when my eyes adjusted i was a little taken back. there were like 20 people and half of them were asleep lying down in random places and corners.
"where in the...okay..." i muttered.
i asked the attendant at the front desk if this was where standby for flight so and so was. and she said "yeah. it is."
so i sat down. next to the guy covered in newpaper for a blanket (i'm exaggerating naturally) but it felt like the desolate area that no one knew except for all the standby losers like myself.
sigh.
the good news was that i got on my first standby plane. YES! my luck was on an upswing! i would be getting there right when i thought i would (slightly later but whatev)

i even saw my luggage getting on the wind up plane i was getting on and i was beyond excited at the turn of my events.
fight was great.
and i got to denver with ample time ( like 45 minutes) before i had to get onto my connector flight home.
booooyaaaaa.
so then i go to look at the screen to see what gate i need to hurry to, so that i can get a little bit of junk food to eat while on my second flight...
and well when looking up at the screen i see one "canceled" flight.
and yep you got it my face went from this:

 quickly to this:

and then to this:

of course. naturally it was the only flight canceled.

so i marched to the first person with an airport outfit on. and asked "my flight was canceled what do i do?" 

she answered " you go to guest services" 

so i go to guest services...only to find it like the sahara desert, with tumbleweeds blowing by with how vacant and desolate it was.

i go back the ever so helpful airport lady. "...and if there's no one at guest services..."

she answers without looking up (this i am not exagerating on) "...then you go to another guest services..."

"...and where exactly would that be?"

she waved her hand in a direction and then i turned and left and found the next place only to find out and be told that the next flight out would not be for another 9 hours. 

yep...

thankfully i only freaked out in my head like this. 

but i did do a maniac sort of laugh. which i think scared the lady helping. 

i calmed down. and then smiled and said 

"i'm having an awesome day. how bout you?" 

she looked scared but answered "oh i'm doin' alright...have a nice...fli..."

"stay? yeah i'll do that. i'll have a nice stay. thank you." she smiled and chuckled and i smiled and chuckled too. 

and well i sat and ate, and window shopped around the "B" section of the denver airport for 9 hours. 

i got on my plane (which i was pretty sure was going get canceled as well because of the tornados in the midwest happening that day) but it didn't. 

i got in at my rinky-dink airport at 12:30 monday morning. 

and had to sit there along with 100 other people for an hour. for our luggage to show up. 

i finally got my luggage. and my husband came to find me looking like:

but i was home.
and i had an awesome market.
can't wait to do it again.
well minus the last part.

V and Co: still alive

hello! yes, i'm here. 

what?

you wanna hear about market??

yeah i know. 

i want to write about market. i really do. and i have actually placed most pictures in a post (ahem all taken on a phone... i know i suck)...i just have to write the words. and tell the stories...so bear with me it's coming. :)

being home for a week after market and finally clawing out of luggage, emails, and followups...i've been able to also have one full week of just alone time with my mom.

 i don't know if it's the spring allergies or if it's the travel and stress, or a combination of the two that always seem to bring on sinus infections and illnesses at this time of year...but thankfully this year i only hit a few run down days prior and after market.
my mom was here to help so i'm sure that was part of the speedy recovery. :)
we had a great time walking the trails here in my neck of the woods in eastern iowa, and then i remembered growing up i was always either on a bike or trying to catch up with my mom's super speed in walking. man, her little legs flail as if independent from her body and i just had to buckle down and try to keep up this time around as well. i have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing thing as my mom and i both choose walking as our form of exercise/stress release. it was great to have her here and we were all sad to say goodbye to her this last weekend.

in other exciting news...this little 6 year old did her first almost completely independent sewing.
i placed my sewing machine on it's slowest speed, and gave her the borders for a block she wanted to make into a pillow.

she did pretty darn good.
i'll show more on her block AND pillow here soon.
i think this was the highlight of my year thus far.
okay off to sew a few final things before summer vacation officially begins tomorrow at our house.
ahhhhhhh! i mean YAAAAAAY i get to have my kids around 24/7!
can't wait for the first time i get asked a question while i'm on the toilet.
we'll talk soon.