NthnButMoonshine

Hold On To Your Britches…

2010-07-24T22:23:00.001-04:00

This post is going to be one crazy ride…

So the sailboat quilt is finished. Actually it was finished a few weeks ago. But since I stink and I didnt update my blog you wouldnt know that. See, I could have lied and told you I finished it yesterday and you would have been none the wiser…but noooooo I told the truth! Okay, on with the pictures already…

Ill admit, I was sad to see this one go. Im not much for sailboats, but this quilt really grew on me. I looooved the colors, the fabric was a dream to work with and those tiny lil ship wheels were just sooo cute!

While Im in a picture showing mood…remember that Yaya Apron I was working on ages ago? Well I finally got around to photographing it…

Cute, huh? Wanna buy it??? It’s for sale in my Etsy shop! More cute stuff just added in there too…like these Convertible Diaper Clutches…

Shameless plug, I know. This is MY blog after all!

Still more to show yall! Im done with diapers in my purse! Im done with diapers all together. Mason is potty training and all is going very well. To celebrate, I made Mason his own little backpack to tote around a spare change of clothes (just in case) and whatever other junk he wants to lug. I gave him a choice between that sweet cowboy fabric I used to sew up his room and a fabric with dinosaurs. Wouldnt you know that stinker picked the dinosaurs! Ah well, he is super happy about his big boy bag…

Ive got another backpack in the works for a friend of ours at church. Want one? Let me know! Id be happy to put a custom in my Etsy shop for ya!

Whew! That was a lot of pictures!

Sailboats and Chocolate Spoons…

2010-06-23T21:39:00.004-04:00

It has been a busy, busy week with VBS, but I am having a blast! Somehow I ended up in charge of crafts for the 2-4 year olds. Lots of paint, lots of glue and one huge mess! All fun though.

My back is still misbehaving, but after a trip to the doctor and some good anti-inflammatory meds it is much more tolerable. The good news is the down time has given me opportunity to work on the sailboat quilt! All the tiny pieces have been paper pieced together and I have everything laid out to my liking. Here is the progress so far….

Today is my husband’s birthday! Mason and I made him a German Chocolate cake. Mason’s favorite part was licking the chocolate icing spatula.

No pictures of the actual cake. Its pretty darn ugly. Fixin to go cut into it and see if it tastes any better than it looks!

Thats all for now...

Thank you, Kristi…

2010-06-17T20:16:00.005-04:00

My sweet friend Kristi mentioned how terrible and neglectful I have been to my blog. (Actually, she told me she keeps checking my blog for updates on fat camp and wanted to know how it all was going.) So…
Fat Camp is done. I lasted the two weeks I had signed up to take. The classes were tough, but I met a few super sweet ladies. We had a good time laughing both with and at each other. All in all, I really enjoyed it despite the hard work. I agonized over whether or not to continue in the camp beyond the two weeks. The camp had really taken its toll on my wrist (carpal tunnel) with all the push ups and pull ups and other various exercises forcing me to bear most of my body weight (thats a lot of weight) on my wrists. Of course the decision came much easier after I managed to drop an entire dinner plate of food on the floor thanks to my hand completely giving out. Camp was awesome, but having painless and reliable use of my wrist is even more awesome.
That said, I went ahead and joined the gym! I love the hi-low aerobics class! Its kinda like line dancing and anyone who knows much about me knows how much I LOVE to line dance. I check in with a trainer once a month to keep on track. So far I am down almost 20lbs. None of my clothes fit anymore.

Sadly I am out of commission for a bit. We finally got moved into our new house. I decided to try out the big soaking tub in the master bath. I went to get out of the tub and ummm…I slipped. Managed to pull some sort of muscle in my back. So, no gym until I heal up. Next week I am teaching VBS at my church, so I wont make it to the gym then either. As much as that stinks, it should allow plenty of time for healing.

In other news…Im back to sewing again. Working on a sailboat paper piece quilt for a friend of DH’s. She had a lil boy a couple months ago. Trying to get my backside in high gear, but things have been nuts! Ill try and snap a picture to post here soon.

In the meantime, here is a picture I took of my lil man diggin in the sand last week…

Ahh, Fat Camp…How I Dislike Thee…

2010-04-28T01:15:00.001-04:00

It hurts. Everything hurts. Even my hair hurts. Monday wasnt so bad. Mostly strength training. Lots of work with weights and giant sized rubber bands. I find those rubber band things a bit scary. I mean, what if one of them snaps? Getting hit with an average everyday rubber band isnt much fun. Multiply that by a thousand and…ouch!!

Today was plyometrics. Yeah, fancy word for “exercises guaranteed to make you miserable”. My heart rate was in the mid to upper 190’s the entire class. I spent the whole time huffing and puffing and sweating like a pig. Not to mention we were working out in front of a HUGE mirror and I had to watch myself puff and jiggle through the entire class. Talk about motivation to drop weight. What I saw looking back at me was not one bit sexy. Ugh. By the end of class my legs would no longer support my half ton body and it was extremely difficult to keep them from buckling under me. I am so freaking sore.

The good news…well…this is going to sound a bit odd. I have 4 pairs of under britches I avoid like the plague. The waist band is a bit tight and it makes wearing them uncomfy. Today they were all I had clean (need to finish the laundry when I can bend down far enough to empty the dryer without yelping again) so I was forced to wear a pair. To my surprise, I put them on and the waist band fit comfortably. I guess I must be making some progress, even if the scale isnt showing it yet.

Now, if only I could get some sleep before tomorrow’s class…

What the heck did I get myself into?

2010-04-24T16:22:00.003-04:00

Yeah, thats pretty much what Ive been thinking all day long. Today was orientation for the boot camp I somehow talked myself into joining. Ive never been so out of breath, embarrassed and angry all at the same time.
Today they had is doing different drills and tests to establish a baseline. From this baseline we will be able to monitor our progress. As far as I am concerned, things can ONLY get better because they CANT get any worse than I did today. We barely get moving and my heart rate is through the roof, my body feels like it is on fire and I am huffing and puffing like Ive smoked 2 packs a day every day for the last 30 years of my life!
This led to the anger…at myself of course. How the heck did I end up like this? How did I go from an active person who played softball and could run a mile (I realize this is small potatoes to lots of folks, but it is HUGE for me because I was between 230 and 250 lbs at one point in time and I worked my BUTT off and got down to the active 150 I am speaking about) like it was nothing to this lump?!? Even lump sounds better than I felt today. Ugh. Why did I do this to myself? I mean the pregnancy and depression follow certainly didnt help me along, but why didnt I do something sooner?!
Wait, it gets worse... Just when I thought I knew about ALL the awful things pregnancy did to my body (can we say NO core strength!) my body let me in on ANOTHER cruel joke played. Three jumping jacks into a 2 minute drill and I realize my bladder isnt going to cooperate. Thats right, bladder leakage. Just my luck one of the instructors came by to holler at me to get moving just as I discovered this lovely fact. Poor girl, I nearly bit her head off telling her I was having a “personal issue” at the moment. Perhaps I should apologize on Monday and clue her in on my discovery. Ugh.
Got to let this all go though (pun intended). I know the next 2 weeks are going to be hell, but surely the pay off of weight loss will be worth it. No, definitely not expecting miracle weight loss in 2 weeks, but it might motivate me to stick it out for another 2 weeks.
What did I get myself into!!!
Thats all for now…

New Computer…

2010-04-22T22:40:00.000-04:00

Hi friends! Just a quick note to let you know I am happily typing to you from the comfort of my favorite recliner in my family room on my brand new laptop! Yeah for birthdays! Its a nice lil Dell Inspiron. Huge 17” screen so I can see what I am doing. Of course I had to get a pretty colored one, mine is pink. Bonus points for Dell since they donate $5 of each sale to the Susan G. Komen foundation to fight breast cancer. Anwho….

Thats all for now…

Changes...

2010-04-18T23:06:00.000-04:00

Lots of changes lately.

Mason was bumped up to the early 2's class at Sunday school today. His new teachers already knew him by name. I dont know why that surprised me. Ive spent plenty of time working in the nursery myself, so its not like we are strangers to the place. They shared some very sweet things they'd heard about the lil man and seem excited to have him in class. Mason was his usual easy going self. Gave his bag to his teachers and ran off to explore the magnetic fishing set. Of course being the good boy he is, he stopped playing just long enough to kiss me goodbye before I left for bible study. Some of his friends from the 1's room had been bumped up ahead of him, so he had some old friends to play with again. He seemed happy as a clam when I picked him up. All went well.

Ill be...umm...older this coming Wednesday. Still carrying around all the extra weight (plus some) from my pregnancy with Mason. What am I to do? GO TO FAT CAMP!!! Seriously! Next Saturday will be the orientation for an all ladies boot camp I will be attending 6 days a week. Im going to start with a 2 week committment and see how it goes from there. Ill have the option at the end of 2 weeks to extend it out again up to 8 weeks. Im really looking forward to this. Ive always loved team sports and things, so I figured this might be a fun way to drop weight, make some new friends and invest some time in myself. If I can find the energy, I might even write about it.

Looks like we wont be moving at the end of the summer as we had hoped. Hubby's work had a few unexpected developments and now we arent sure what is going to happen. Looks like we are stuck here until at least December. Part of me is kinda glad, there isnt much to do here nor do I have many (any?) friends, but I do love my church. Part of me is really bummed out because the move we were supposed to have made would have put us much closer to our family and it would have moved us into a MUCH more familiar area. I guess time will tell where we will head and when we will head there. Im just not much for this "all up in the air" business. Ugh.

Bright idea for the day...

2010-04-11T22:02:00.000-04:00

I really dont like washing the sliding glass door. In fact, I hate washing the sliding glass door. I am ashamed to admit it, but I rarely actually clean it. Mind you I have a 2 year old who LOVES to leave finger prints and nose prints all over it, plus I have a Labrador who loves to do the same. Well, minus the finger prints, but he adds extra drool. So you get the picture of what it looks like, right? Clean from about 3 and a half feet off the ground, save my husband's finger prints and nose prints *insert fuming look here* but we wont go there. I had cleaned the glass last weekend because we had company for Mason's birthday party. All week long I enjoyed fairly clean glass. Then today, I was sitting at my computer checking email and I can hear my son slapping his fingers against the glass. UGH! Then it hit me! A random idea from the middle of nowhere! Why dont they make glass doors like NASCAR windshields? You know, where the driver pits and a member of the crew rips off a layer of the windshield (imagine something like really clear seran wrap if you arent familiar with NASCAR) leaving the driver with a perfectly clean view with very little effort. That would be the best invention ever!

Still working on my second Yaya apron. All thats left is to finish adding the binding. Ive decided to hand sew it on the second side, so it's kinda slow going. I hope to have it ready by tomorrow night. This one is coming out even better than the first. I cant wait to show it off!

Thats all for now!

Lil Man is 2!

2010-04-11T01:41:00.001-04:00

Mason turned 2 on the 7th of April. We took a trip to the pediatrician for his check up this past Friday. Doc says he is a healthy boy! Yippee!! The bad news is he will be taller than me by Kindergarten. Well, maybe not by Kindergarten, but Doc expects him to reach 6ft with no problem. Great, nothing like having to get out the step ladder to look my future teen in the eye. I reckon I should enjoy my height advantage for the time being.

In other news, I finished a pretty lil diaper bag for a friend at church. Super cute and loaded with goodies. Almost wanted to keep it to carry for myself. Then I remembered how much I like not lugging a suitcase along with me anymore. Probably one of the few perks of toddlerhood. Somehow that doesnt seem to make up for the screaming temper tantrums my wonderful son has learned to throw. God bless him. Anywho, a few pictures...

The front.

Bottle pockets on either side.

The back. That green thing peeking out is a large, quilted changing pad.

Inside loaded up with goodies.

I also managed to somehow find the time to submit a pattern to the second volume of the One Yard Wonders book. Chances are slim my pattern will make the cut, but chances are zilch if I dont try!

Oh! Sivje from goosegirlsews.com was wonderful enough to let me be one of the testers for her new Yaya apron pattern. I have been waiting FOREVER for this pattern to come out! I was beyond thrilled when I received and email from Sivje asking me to be one of her testers! I tried out one of the smaller versions of the aprons and well...see for yourself!

Isnt it just DARLING!

Please dont ever tell my husband, but here is my son modeling the apron. I wanted Sivje to be able to get the idea of how it fit on a size 3/4t toddler. Nevermind the huge red spot on his cheek, he and the dog were wrestling and the corner of the armoire won.

Lil diaper bum...<3

I am about half way finished with a second Yaya apron. This one is in a Misses size. I post that one when I get it finished. I have a few customs to work on and then another baby quilt. Baby quilts are my favorite things to sew. Hopefully the fabric shows up in the mail later this week.

Thats all for now!

Insert Huge Sigh Here...

2010-02-08T23:20:00.002-05:00

He is gone. Just me and the lil man for 3 weeks. My wonderful, sweet, annoys-me-cause-he-loves-me husband has gone to Maryland on business for THREE WEEKS!!! Today was very nerve wracking for me. I hate to fly. I think if God wanted me to fly He would have given me wings. I think people who get on airplanes are NUTS! Scares me to death to think of my husband on a plane. But, praise God, my husband made it safely. Poor ole Florida boy has NEVER seen snow. Thanks to a HUGE snowstorm over the weekend, not only did my sweetheart get to see 3 feet of snow, he also got to pay a 25% surcharge on his cab fare to the hotel because of "driving conditions". On top of that, the area is expecting another snowstorm later this week.

Ive decided to let the dog sleep on my husband's side of the bed in his absence. I need another warm body next to me to sleep...even if it's the dog. Dont tell my husband.

I finished a quilt! See...

And the back...

Its for my sister...her birthday is on the 20th. I am sooooo excited because she has decided to come see Mason and I for her birthday! I always look forward to visits from her. Mason absolutely adores his Auntie Tiffany. And Auntie Tiffany is such a natural with Mason. I reckon it's her goofy personality Mason likes so much.

I also made a little stuffed birdie for my birdie obsessed lil man. He wouldnt let me borrow it to take a picture, so this is the best you get. I have to admit, they are pretty cute despite the poor shots of the bird!

Just before giving his birdie a kiss...

And after asking one more time to borrow the birdie, he decided he would rather snuggle with it...

Mason was so sad later in the day when he lost his new birdie someplace between my doctor's office and the parking lot. We looked and looked, but no luck. Hopefully it will bring a lil love to someone else's lil one. I have another cut and ready to be sewn...Mommy to the rescue...again.

Always Playing Catch Up...

2010-01-09T00:38:00.000-05:00

Geeze, I just cant seem to stay on top of things here. December was such a busy month for my family and I. I spent just about every day prior to Christmas baking all sorts of cookies and perogi of course. The whole family was over on the 20th for a big dinner and TONS of cookies. We had a great Christmas. Here we are in the new year already. Where does the time go? My son is fixin to turn two in April. I cant wrap my head around the fact that I have an almost 2 year old. Didnt I just give birth to that boy last week? Didnt he just start walking and talking yesterday? Why must things move so quickly! Look at this boy...

When on Earth did he get so big? I am so proud of him. He is becoming more independent, he follows simple instruction, he has his own lil opinion on things, he has become a goofball like his daddy and a snuggler like his momma...all from this tiny bundle who did nothing except eat, poop and cry. When did all these changes happen? Im sorry. I dont know where all that came from. I just cannot believe my lil man is growing and changing so rapidly.

So new year... Still working on dropping weight. Arent we all? Waiting for a few new patterns to show up in the mail so I can try out a few new things. Still working on those quilts that werent Christmas gifts after all. Long story, family drama...blah blah blah. Maybe if I am really good I will do a better job of keeping this poor ole blog updated. I promise I will try. My life just isnt exciting enough to fill space up everyday!

Feeling Grinchy...

2009-12-02T01:48:00.001-05:00

Thats all. It's been a crummy day and now I feel very grinchy. Worse yet, I feel so grinchy I cant sleep. Its 2 am. I wont bore you with the details. Thanks for letting me share my grinchy-ness.

Laugh for the day...

2009-11-24T11:39:00.003-05:00

My son is my biggest blessing in life. I adore his carefree spirit. Today I caught him dancing to a very catchy tune on Clifford the Big Red Dog. Please forgive the shaking camera and hyena laugh at the end. Mason didnt know I was taking video so I was trying not to laugh and wound up shaking the camera. By the way, it was Grandma C. who taught him that "raising the roof" business. Enjoy your laugh for the day...

2009-11-23T10:20:00.002-05:00

Alright, Ive been tinkering with this blog on and off since yesterday. I think I finally have it fixed again. Not as pretty as I wanted it, but it will do I reckon.
This weekend was extremely productive. I managed to get 2 quilt tops finished. They arent as complicated and fancy as I had originally planned, but Stacked Coins it is! The first is the Eva jelly roll I posted pictures of a while back.

And the second top is made from the Retro Betty jelly roll I posted a while back as well.

Two tops down, two tops to go. All still need quilted....ugh. Off to work on the next one.

I broke it!

2009-11-21T00:11:00.000-05:00

Im so sad. I broke my blog. I wanted to change to a pretty Christmas background, but I screwed something up and every background I apply is suddenly too wide. Im too tired to play with it now. I am sorry you have to look at an ugly blog.

Countdown til decoration...

2009-11-20T23:23:00.000-05:00

One more week...7 more days!!! I LOVE the holidays. I cannot wait until its time to pack up the last of my pretty lil fall things and bring out all the Christmas goodies. Lots of folks like to go out and catch all those Black Friday sales on the day after Thanksgiving. Not me. I dont want to be anywhere near that mess. You can find me at home, lugging out all the boxes of decorations. To me, decorating for Christmas almost trumps opening gifts on Christmas morning. I mean, those boxes sat in the garage for the last 10 or so months. I hardly remember what's in there. But as each box is opened and its contents unpacked and displayed, the excitement of the holidays floods the house. My wonderful hubby will spend the day on the roof hanging all the lights outside. And when the sun sets, he will drag the ladder inside the house to put up more lights and garland and things inside the house. Usually the first weekend in December we will set out to find our Christmas tree. My hubby, once again the master of lights, will spend HOURS putting lights on the tree. He hides them in the center, and then between all the branches and then some close to the ends of the branches...by the time the tree is done, there seem to be more lights than pine needles. Just the way we like it. Oh, and then there is the way the house smells after we bring the fresh tree in...I love that smell....

Can you say STRESSED!?

2009-11-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

Ugh. Once again I have neglected you my poor blog! October came and went without one single post. Most likely because I was so busy getting a jump on my holiday sewing and working on Mason's halloween costume. That thing was a PITA! But it looked so darn cute on the lil guy...

Quack, quack...

Ah, and then there was the harvest quilt I worked on for two weeks and then put to the side because I was falling so far behind on other things. Now I am waving the white surrender flag over these shirts I am supposed to be making for the church's Christmas play. They are this silky material that slides all over the place and the edges of the material are just shredding away. When the pattern was cut out (not by me) the marks and notches were not transferred to the material so I have NO way of telling where things are supposed to line up and it is causing some MAJOR issues. Oh and the pattern pieces werent cut out with much care either. They are all wonky shaped and that isnt helping any either. I hate admitting defeat, but I will be looking for the person in charge of all of this on Sunday and telling her I am sorry, but I cannot make these shirts. Ive put so much time into them I am even further behind on my holiday sewing. Not to mention I have taken on a few purse orders and I keep joining swaps and stuff on my sewing board...what am I thinking! Why am I on here blogging? I should be sewing!

Jolene and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

2009-09-30T22:13:00.001-04:00

Judith Viorst fans?

Excuse my choppy writing. I am hardly awake at the moment and still felt the need to write all this madness down.

Anywho...my lovely day began at 4:30am. I needed to be out the door with my 17m old son by 5 am to make the hour and a half drive to Jupiter (FL, not the planet) for my son's surgery scheduled for 6:30am today. All was going according to schedule as I made my way through the pitch black house and over to the fridge to grab a quick bite to eat. As I opened the fridge, its light spilling across the floor, I looked at the clock...4:49, gotta shake a leg...eyes back to the fridge...wait, what is that dark spot on the floor? I turned on the microwave light for further inspection. Oh Lordy, dog poop puddle...with a trail. I follow the trail out to the family room and turn on another light. Another HUGE puddle (not pile, puddle...catch my drift?) of dog poop...more trail. I once again follow the trail this time down the hall and into the computer room...you guessed it. More dog poop puddle. Poor critter must have gotten sick last night (I promise, he is the sweetest, most mild mannered, well trained and HOUSEBROKE lab you could ever meet). As gross as it was it would have to wait until I got home (tile floors). Couldnt be late for surgery! I quick scribbled a note to my hubby not to enter the main part of the house barefoot or without a light. Also asked him to get the dog's crate out of the garage and pen him up. Snuck into our bedroom to leave the note...grabbed the babe and ran out the door.

6:15am we arrive in Jupiter for the surgery. Thankfully DS slept most of the way. Good thing too, he wasnt permitted to eat or drink anything after midnight. So we fill out paper work and sit to wait. 6:30 comes and goes...7:00 comes and goes...7:30 comes and goes...finally at 7:50 they call us back to get ready. By this time Im already struggling with a very unhappy, very tired, VERY HUNGRY toddler and Im not very happy about having to arrive at 6:30 only to sit and wait for an hour and a half before we needed to get ready.

It gets worse. We get DS undressed and they give him some meds to sedate him a bit and we waited some more. 8:15 comes and goes...8:30 comes and goes...9:00 comes and goes (at this point a child who had the surgery slot AFTER DS is taken into surgery) finally at 9:30 they wheeled DS back for his surgery. The whole time, even with the sedation he is in absolute tears he is so hungry and upset. And I am getting more and more upset with his doctor.

At his preop appt I asked for a later surgery time, he pooh-poohed me and said earlier was better. They can eat sooner. You'll be on your way by 8:30-9 oclock. So, okay I agreed to keep the 6:30 slot. I was LIVID that he wasnt taken in until 9:30. I was LIVID he had essentially tortured my son for 3 hours. Through God's grace alone I managed to keep my cool, but I will be letting him know at our post op appt that we will not be returning to his practice. Not only because of the wait time before the surgery, but the average wait time for an office visit is an hour and a half (this added to my hour and a half drive just to get there). His waiting room is usually so packed there are people standing everywhere, its hot and uncomfy and there is NOTHING for the little children to do there.

Anywho, surgery went well. It was a very quick and small procedure to unblock his tear ducts. DS is doing great and isnt in much discomfort at all.

But it's not over. We finally made it home sometime around 1pm. Put DS down for a nap so I can clean up dog poop puddles. Discovered dog had made more puddles in his crate and now has poop all over himself. Great. Chained the dog up in the backyard. Took the crate tray outside and rinsed it off. Cleaned all the dog poop puddles. Give dog a VERY sudsy bath. Put the crate back together and put the wet dog in the crate. DS is up by now and I am thanking God for DVR'd Sesame Street.

Oh...did I mention I was also a ball of nerves waiting to hear how my mom's surgery went today? Yep, thats right...she needed to have all scar tissue that had built up on her knee replacement broken up. Not fun. Thankfully, her surgery went just fine too. God is good! Thank goodness he blessed me with a good sense of humor or I might be on the edge of a bridge someplace!

Happy Autumn!!

2009-09-22T23:19:00.000-04:00

My FAVORITE season is finally here! My blog will be undergoing a few seasonal changes. Please bear with me through the transition!

Finally Sewing Again...

2009-09-18T20:58:00.000-04:00

It has been quiet an eventful week! Tuesday afternoon I walked in to my sewing room to find this...

Not a clue how it happened. No one has been anywhere near this door. The porch swing is on one side and my sewing table is on the other. Just another kink in my sewing plans. Thankfully the door is fixed now and my ironing table is complete to the point it is useable. I still need to paint the little knobs and put them on. I am also debating adding a little trim.

Tomorrow I think I will get back to work on my Christmas gift quilts. I was really hoping to have at least two finished by the end of this month. Sadly, I dont think this is going to happen!

I Did It...

2009-09-14T21:17:00.000-04:00

I took the plunge and opened a shop on Etsy! NthnButMoonshine's Shop. Stop by sometime!

Never EVER Again...

2009-09-14T10:59:00.001-04:00

My ironing board has seen its last day. I was so upset when I was ironing out some log cabin blocks and some of the nastiness from my ironing board was making its way onto my blocks. Obviously not wanting to do any further damage I quit what I was doing and started shopping for a new ironing board cover. Well, I wasnt satisfied with just a new cover. Ive always disliked that ironing board. Too small for the huge pieces of fabric I iron and the cover is always slipping off. So I found a cabinet at Habitat for Humanity! My hubby and I are working on transforming it into an ironing table on wheels. It has been about a week since the last time Ive put needle and thread to fabric and I am going stir crazy. I figured Id ease my jonsing a bit and clean my iron out by steaming some vinegar through it. Yeah, bright idea. Never EVER EVER again. The stench (even the word stench isnt enough to describe this smell) was HORRIFIC! I live with my husband, my son who is in diapers and a dog...there are some disgusting smells around this house...but this was something else. Ugh. I think God was teaching me a lesson for complaining to my husband about his smelly socks and tshirts piled up right by the bed last night! Id happily bury my face in those in order to NEVER smell vinegar through an iron again. Here it is 90 some odd degrees outside and I have the windows in the sewing room wide open and the AC cranked. I dont think I will ever complain about my hubbies stinky socks and shirts again.

Oh...here is the cabinet before any work..

More to come...after I get my sense of smell and will to breath back!

Gobble, Gobble...

2009-08-28T22:14:00.003-04:00

Gobble, Gobble by Sandy Gervais for Moda that is! I just wanted to pop in real quick to give you a peek at this jelly roll undone. I cut most of my pieces for the quilt I am making with it today, but I just had to snap a few pictures of the strips uncut for you to lust over! Enjoy!

Fall Bag and Swap Blocks...

2009-08-26T22:15:00.007-04:00

Yippeeeeeee... I had another free weekend to myself! Once again my husband took off with our son to go see his folks. Money wasnt right to board the dog, so I stayed behind. I did absolutely NO housework, but I sewed my heart out! Starting with....a new bag, TDK wallet, journal cover, coin purse, keychain, and a diaper clutch (not pictured) all in coordinating fabric. I found these - minus the orange squared fabric- as a fat quarter bundle at Joanns. There were a few other browns in the bundle, but I fell madly in love with the birds and gingham! I also found that pretty orange dodad at Joanns. It was in there jewelry making section. I reckon it was supposed to be made into a necklace, but I rigged a way to stick it on a pin and stuck the pin to my purse! I just love this set. The colors scream fall (by far my most favorite season), but I am too antsy to wait til then. The bag is already loaded with my junk and being used!

I also finished up the last couple of blocks for the Virtual Quilting Bee hosted by fellow Sewing Mama, Crys.

For Emily:

For Amber:

For Christin:

For Crys:

For Sara:Tomorrow my mission is to finish laundry and clean my sewing area. Then its time to start tackling Christmas gifts!

Show Me How You Blow Your Nose...

2009-08-22T10:17:00.005-04:00

This past week Mason came down with a cold which he passed to me and I in turn gave it to DH. Needless to say there has been lots of nose blowing going on. I guess children do learn best by modeling...

He isnt actually blowing his nose. He puts his lips together and blows to make the noise. This child never fails to crack me up. Hope you enjoyed a laugh too!

Jellyroll Heaven...

2009-08-21T18:34:00.012-04:00

*****THIS POST MIGHT BE A BIT DISJOINTED. IT HAS BEEN EDITED TO REMOVE GIFTS IN PROGRESS FOR FAMILY/FRIENDS BEFORE I POST MY BLOG TO FACEBOOK*****

**EDIT** It is this super yummy Hello Betty Retro I ordered from Quilter's Roost. Let me take just moment to tell you about my experience with Quilter's Roost...

Wow. I will sooooooooo be ordering from Jodi at Quilter's Roost again! Her prices are about the same as her competitors, but she has them beat in service by miles. I placed my order for this jelly roll on Saturday or Sunday, which means she didnt get my order until Monday. Well, not only was my order IN THE MAIL on Monday, it arrived in my mailbox on WEDNESDAY! No small feat considering Jodi is waaaaay over yonder in Washington and here I am in Florida. Of course, like any other package of fabric I get in the mail, I ran inside with it to tear it open and scope out my treasure. So in the house I ran, tearing open the mailer as I went. When I get the mailer open I am greeted by this pretty brown paper wrapped package all tied up with a string. Tucked in side the string is my order information...item, quantity, price...blah blah blah, but at the bottom of this order form thingy is a HAND WRITTEN "Thank you!!!". I was really touched by the personal attention. Finally I convinced myself to open that pretty little brown package and GASP there, sitting like icing on my jelly roll, was a scrumptious deep green fat quarter! Oh, Ms. Jodi knows how to make my heart happy. I love fat quarters. Especially ones Im not expecting. Please stop by the Quilter's Roost and check out all the pretties she has to offer.

Without further delay, here is the Hello Betty Retro jelly roll all unrolled and laid out to admire.

I also ordered 4 other jelly rolls from The Fat Quarter Shop. Here is one of the 4, Eva.

The other three I ordered were Hushabye, Vine Creek and Gobble, Gobble. I havent gotten around to unrolling those yet, but I will be sure to post pictures as soon as I do!

Grocery Bag Tutorial and Goodwill Score...

2009-08-04T10:32:00.013-04:00

My DH is gone for the week to some class for work in North Carolina. This has left me a fair amount of free time in the evening to spend sewing and trying not to miss my hunni. Of course after chasing Mason myself all day and all night I am beat, but sitting in front of my sewing machine isnt too much work!

Ive come to love this trend of using cloth grocery sacks instead of plastic ones. Not so much because it's a "green" idea, but because they are just so much sturdier than plastic. The ones you buy from the store are a bit bland and generic to me though. Besides, why would I want to tote around a bag with a store's name slapped all over it? And I might make the folks at Winn Dixie angry if I came shopping with my Publix bags....oooo...that wouldnt be good! Anywho, I decided I would just make my own out of woven material. At first I started digging through my quilting stash for fabric, but then I couldnt justify turning my precious quilting fabric into BAGS...afterall it was for QUILTING! So I loaded Mason up into his carseat and drove over to our local Goodwill. There I found a nice big white bedsheet and a pretty blue flowered bedsheet for a whole $7. Oh, and I found a great new chair for sewing and it was only $4!

See! Isnt she pretty! Now I can have the comfort of a backrest and still be able to touch the floor and work the pedal. Excuse my overflowing trash can. I missed the truck today! Anywho...back on topic...I came home to browse the net for a tutorial to make these darn things. Well, I was quite disappointed. It wasnt that there was a lack of tutorials, it was the tutorials seemed to lack enough pictures. I am a visual person! I need pictures! So I decided I would wing it and make a tutorial with LOTS of pictures as I went along. And so I present you with my grocery sack tutorial!

Start out with a plastic grocery bag of your choice. Mine was from my trip to Wally World this afternoon.

Smooth the bag out flat and tuck the gussets back in were they belong.

Cut off the sealed end of the handles on top and the sealed edge of the bottom.

Pull the gussets all the way out and lay the handles flat as well.

Cut up the center of each side of the bag.

At this point you should have two pieces that look something like this.

Throw away one of those pieces and use the other as a pattern. I traced mine onto some drawing paper. You could always use the bag itself, but paper is easier for me.

Pin your pattern to the fabric of your choosing. Bedsheets from Goodwill in my case. And cut out your fabric. You need two for the liner and two for the outside.

This is what you should have. Two liners and two outsides.

Turn your outsides right side together and pin along the side seam.

Sew! Using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Press the side seams open. Repeat pinning, sewing and ironing for the liner.

Place your outside piece INSIDE the liner with RIGHT sides together.

This is what you should have now.

Pin the outside piece and liner together along the top opening of the bag and sew using a 1/4" seam allowance. Repeat on other side of bag.

Now pin the outside and liner of the handle together. Sew using a 1/4" seam allowance. Repeat for other handle.

This is where I lost a picture. It was a picture of the inner curves of the handle and top of the bag clipped and ready for turning. So....clip your curves to insure a smooth curve being careful not to clip your stitches and turn your bag right side out...like this:

Then iron it nice and flat.

Topstitch the top opening of the bag if you wish.

Turn the bag inside out...again. Line up the tops of the handles and pin. This is the part where you tilt your head and go..."but now you are going to see an ugly seam on the inside!" Dont fret. I promise I will fix it...keep going. Sew a 1/4" seam along the tops of the handles.

Press open the seam on the handles.

Fold the handles in half by folding the outer most piece of the handle under towards the inner most piece of the handle. Pin in place. This will help you form the gussets (and it hides that ugly seam you were pondering earlier...I told you I would fix it!).

Cuss at and finagle your fabric until you get fairly even gussets on both sides of your bag. Pin the bottom before it moves and you have to start all over! Sew bottom of bag with a SCANT 1/4" seam allowance. Dont fret over the ugly seam, we are doing a French seam that will hide all that!

Because my gussets are slightly imperfect and all those dangler threads annoy the crud out of me, at this point I like to trim JUST A HAIR off the bottom of my seam.

Clip both corners. Careful not to clip through your stitches.

Turn your bag inside out...again.

Iron the bottom of the bag flat. I like to stick a couple pins in those little flaps the gussets make just to keep the bag from distorting while I iron.

Sew a 3/8" seam allowance across the bottom of the bag.

Now its time to get those pins out of the handles. This is the tricky part for me because I try (usually unsuccessfully) to sew over my topstitching of the opening. Sew a 1/4" seam allowance across the area you pinned on the handle. I only sew about an inch before and an inch after the center seam of the handles. The pin in the middle is pinned through my center seam.

And this is what you should have now.

Press the sides and bottom of the bag nice and flat.

Ta da! Nice work!

Now fill'r up!

Test'r out!

Aint she much prettier than the ones you buy at the store?

Please let me know if something is unclear and needs further explaination. Id love to see your bags posted too!

Just Keep Swimming...

2009-07-29T17:58:00.005-04:00

Today was the last day of our Mommy and Me swimming lessons. Mason had a great time even though he was too young to master most of the skills. It was nice to get out of the house and spend time with other people! His swimming instructor, Miss Amanda was a sweetheart. She was awesome with this younger group of kids. Here he is with his certificate and medal!

I bought this ABC Quilt pattern from a fellow Sewing Mama at SarahBellumQuilts . Ive been working on it little by little and I finally have the topper finished. The topper is quite nice and it went together easily until I hit the frames. Im not sure what went wrong. I dont know if it was my cutting (although I double and triple checked it) or the measurements in the directions, but for some reason or another the two side (inner and outer) frame pieces came up short and the top and bottom inner frame were too long. No I didnt reverse them. I checked. Sigh. Anywho. After some tugging and taking in, I fudged them on.

Each one of the letters and hands were traced and colored in with crayon. Then the crayon was melted into the fabric with a hot iron. After all that, they were each hand embroidered with a simple running stitch. Took me FOREVER to finish, but I was glad I decided to do it. Although my stitching isnt perfect, it looks pretty good on this quilt.

Tomorrow I will work on pinning it down and perhaps decide exactly how I want to quilt it.

Lil Bit of This...Lil Bit of That...

2009-07-26T23:50:00.003-04:00

My little (and only) sister came to visit me this weekend. She went with me to get my hair trimmed and to search out a new pair of black flip flops. We finally had some luck at Bealls. A girl in Florida can NEVER have too many flip flops. We had some laughs, mostly at each other's expense, playing on the Wii Saturday night. What do you expect, we are sisters...if we come across an opportunity to poke fun at each other, we do. All in love of course! Sunday morning she came to church with Mason and I. It was probably one of the rare occasions she has been to church, as we werent raised in a church going family (this despite the fact we were "Catholic"). I pray she finds someone closer to home who will minister to her and bring her into a church family. It makes me wish we lived much closer so I could do the job myself.

Sunday afternoon my wonderful hubby let me sneak back to church again so I could attend the new member class. I got a lot out of it. I even got a sneak preview at the new sanctuary to be dedicated in September! It is HUGE and it is beautiful. I cant wait to attend worship there. In the class we were given a small booklet of all the ministries we could participate it. There are so many! I am praying that God will impress upon my heart which one(s) He wishes to call me to. I just cant express how happy I am to have found this church. It feels like home.

Catching Up...

2009-07-24T22:32:00.006-04:00

Oh, my poor blog. How neglectful I have been to thee!

July has proved to be a very busy month for me. I finished more projects for Mason's room, made a neat little Disappearing Nine Patch quilt, a doll size fish quilt for a swap and painted a bookshelf for the play/sewing room. Thats just the crafty stuff! Here are a couple pictures...

A few super easy (once I worked out all the kinks!) basket liners to match the rest of Mason's new room. These went together so quickly! I might be making a few more for other baskets in the house.

Then one day my scrap fabrics spoke to me. They told me they wanted to be made into a pretty little Disappearing Nine Patch quilt. And thus this quilt was made. No pictures of the doll quilt. I took a couple, but apparently it was REALLY hot and humid out the day I took them. The camera lens fogged over and I didnt realize it until after I had mailed off the quilt. Oh well.

Mason and I have been going to Mommy and Me swimming lessons every Monday and Wednesday. He is the youngest of his class. I dont think he is getting as much out of it as the older children, but its a morning out of the house and a chance to see new faces. He does enjoy all the splashing and he adores the rubber duck his teacher gives him to play with too. I think his biggest accomplishment though, is his willingness to stick his face in the water. He just started doing that last week. After lessons we stay for a bit in the "zero depth" end of the pool. Its neat, its like walking into the ocean, it starts at nothing and gradually gets deeper. Anywho, Mason just decided to squat down and stick his face in the water. I was so proud! That is a big thing for such a little guy!

Other news...Im fat. Ha...like that is news. Well, I am and I am SICK of it. I want my pre-baby body back. So I joined SparkPeople (http://www.sparkpeople.com/). This website is neat. It helps you set goals for yourself and helps you set up a timeline to lose the weight you want to lose. It provides an online food diary with daily feedback and it also has a section for recipes. There is also a Facebook/Myspace aspect to it where you can meet and friend other folks losing weight with the website too. The best part is, ITS FREE! I showed it to my sister who lives 2 hours away and she uses it now too. We check up on each other daily and cheer each other on. This leads me to my next rave...

See, this is me pre-baby. Still had some meat on my bones, but NOT NEARLY AS MUCH AS I DO NOW! I want that back. I know I cant do it by dieting alone, but its too darn hot for me and Mason both outside during the day and in the evening the mosquitoes will carry my 200+ pound self away. So join a gym you say! Ha. No gyms. They are expensive. They charge extra for babysitting. I dont like leaving Mason with strangers. I dont like being stared at while I work out. I dont care for the meat market atmosphere. So WHAT am I to do? Buy a Wii of course! What a great solution! I am in love with this thing! I found a Wii and Wii Fit with the board on Craigslist. The Wii Fit is pretty cool, but I was really after the Wii Active game. Oh my goodness. I cant rave enough about it. Its cardio, its strength training AND best of all, a personal trainer in a box. The best $60 Ive ever spent on myself. The Wii remote and nunchuck track your movements so you cant cheat. You MUST do the exercises correctly. The personal trainer helps you when you struggle with exercises and cheers you on when you are doing well. I know, positive feedback from a voice in the TV sounds stupid, but I like it! Oh, and there is a little ticker in the upper left hand corner that shows how many calories you have burned...HUGE MOTIVATOR!! I have a blast playing...in fact I tend to forget Im really working out! As soon as Mason goes down for his nap I get my Wii hooked up and ready to go. By the time my workout is over, Mason is getting up from his nap. No babysitter needed. No gym fees (yeah, I had to by the Wii, but it was nothing compared to a few months of paying for the gym and the hubby can enjoy it). No stares, unless you count the dog. No meat market. Did I mention Ive already lost 7 pounds? Go me!

Lots Of Randomness...

2009-07-02T08:52:00.013-04:00

Let's see...Sunday I finally decided to be come a member of the church I had been visiting for the last month or so. It reminded me a lot of my church back in Orlando. I was so happy to find this particular church. For the last year and few months Ive been trying to find a church that was a good fit for me and I am so thankful I found one that feels like home.

I have been SUPER busy sewing the last few days. I am so sick of looking at that old pastel-y (yes, I made that word up) nursery set in Mason's room. I finished his quilt earlier this week. Excuse the mess in the background. Our daily storms have gotten quite nasty lately. We try to keep all our yard things tucked up close to the house so they dont blow away!

Yesterday Mason literally spurred me on to get his valence done. I rarely pin anything, however the valence was somewhere around 108" long and I wanted it to come out halfway even so I took the extra time to pin it. I really hate using pins...I stick myself all the time, I dont like the monotony of the pinning process and I am always worried I will lose track of a pin and Mason will get a hold of it as my sewing room is also his playroom. Well, thats exactly what happened yesterday. I must have missed seeing a pin land on the floor. There I was, happily sewing along while Mason played beside me on the floor. Next thing I know I have this very sharp pain in my right buttocks! My lovely, wonderful, sweetheart of a son POKED ME WITH THE DARN PIN! Actually, I am just thankful he poked ME and not himself or the dog, or worse tried to eat the stupid thing. Have I mentioned I hate pinning? Anywho, here is the valence...ignore the wrinkles in the blue curtains. I still have to have them cleaned and pressed.

I also finished the laundry hamper to match the set. This was one of those projects that made me want to tear my hair out! It wasnt particularly difficult, but it was tedious and time consuming. So many parts and pieces. I didnt have a pattern, so I was looking at the old one to figure out how they made it. Easy right? Ha, ha...not for me! The construction part wasnt really hard...getting the measurements JUST right was the tough part. The finished project had to fit back on the wooden frame that the original was on and if just one bit wasnt right, the whole thing fit weird. Ugh, Im glad its done.

Todays project...bedsheets and basket liners. Oh, and maybe I will do the laundry be for DH runs out of clean undies!

Cleaning...yeah right!

2009-06-25T19:31:00.004-04:00

So here I am...one day closer to my in-laws coming for a visit. Did I spend today cleaning our bedroom and the playroom/sewing room like I had planned? Heck no! I took one look at the playroom/sewing room and decided half the mess was Mason's quilt in progress. It seemed logical to me to work on his quilt instead of clean. I mean c'mon, if the quilt in progress is half the mess...then sewing up the quilt would be just as good as cleaning up right? I think there is some fault in my logic, but I did enjoy working all day on it. By this afternoon I had a pretty little stack like this...

After I had fed Mason some lunch and taken the dog out for the umteenth time to potty today I got right back to work on the quilt. Thankfully Mason decided to play nicely by himself in the playroom with me. And by the time my DH came home, that stack of quilt squares looked like this...

Whew! That was a lot of work for one day. Too bad I didnt actually get any cleaning done. Oh well, there is always tomorrow. Now I am starved. I was so busy I forgot to eat. DH should be home with Chinese takeout shortly. Yum!

Rambling...

2009-06-24T15:58:00.003-04:00

Things have been super busy around here for the last several days. DH really enjoyed his Father's Day this last weekend. As per tradition he had his choice of dinner and dessert. This year he chose chuck roast with mashed taters and cheesecake. Well, needless to say cheesecakes arent something I have a ton of luck with baking. I gave it a try anywho. There will be NO pictures of my cheesecake to taunt you with. It came out very ugly...all cracked and whacky. Of course, my DH, being the wonderful man he is, said "I dont care what it looks like as long as it eats good." Apparently it must have "ate well" because by Monday morning it was more than half gone and he was the only one who ate any of it! He is such a wonderful man to compliment me even when things dont come out perfect.

Tuesday was DH's 31st birthday and again as per tradition he had his choice of dinner and dessert. He chose lasagna and chocolate cake. Thankfully those both came out MUCH better than the disastrous cheesecake. Sadly, I didnt think to snap a picture of the chocolate cake to share.

My In-laws are coming for a visit this weekend. I am VERY blessed with wonderful in-laws and I always look forward to their visits. I dont, however, look forward to the cleaning I need to get done before they get here. Today I took apart the couch and sucked all the crumbs out of it...eww. I scrubbed every inch of my kitchen and washed the floor in there. The guest/computer room has been tidied up, dusted and put back into order. Tomorrow I will tackle our bedroom and the playroom/my sewing room. As for now...Im off to chase DS around the house for the fun of it!

Lemon Labels Should Have Warnings...

2009-06-18T21:08:00.007-04:00

Another busy day gone by. Mason was up to his usual antics today. He must have fetched me the tv remote half a dozen times. He loves the colored buttons on it. Then the man came to fix our dryer. He couldnt really find one particular thing wrong with it, but he did find a few things that could be contributing to the problem. I reckon we will see how well he "fixed" it when Monday aka Wash Day rolls around again.

As I was rummaging through the fridge in search of lunch, I came across the over abundance of lemons I bought for our fish (bleh, I will never eat that again) dinner last week. I decided to make a lemon cake out of them. Well, someone should stick a warning label on those sour devils. I was juicing one of the lemons when some of the juice shot up and hit me in the eye! Oh for the love of Pete I wish I had worn safety glasses. I had to finish making the cake like a pirate, with one eye! Anywho, it turned out really pretty...

Just one more shot to show you one of my most treasured possessions, my grandma's cake plate.

Later tonight I will cut into it and we will see how it tastes. The buttermilk I would usually use for this recipe had turned so I subbed some sour cream. Not sure if that was a bright idea, but we shall see!

Growing up...

2009-06-17T21:23:00.010-04:00

My son, Mason, is getting so big SO fast. Its hard to believe he is already 14 months...walking, saying a few words, a few signs and getting into EVERYTHING! My dear hubby, Carl, and I have decided we really dont like Mason's room anymore. It is done up in a farm theme and was much cuter online than in person, but rather than the hassle of returning, we settled for it. Well, its really babyish and my baby isnt so much of a baby anymore. So I have decided to start working on redoing his room. Hopefully I will finish in time for him to be transitioned to his "big boy" bed. Right now I am busy turning this...

into a toddler bed size quilt, valance, diaper stacker, clothes hamper and some sort of name decoration for the wall. I just finished using these same fabrics to make a quilt for a friend of my husband's who is due with her first baby at the end of this month. Here is the quilt I made for her son:

I plan on making Mason's to be very similar. I managed to get a good chunk of the work done over the last few days. Most of the blocks are paper pieced (my absolute favorite way to quilt), I need to add the blue onto a few and its off to the sashing we go!

And So We Begin...

2009-06-16T22:46:00.005-04:00

So here I am. My own blog. Writing isnt really my thing. Im lazy. I leave out apostrophes on contractions and I tend to drop my g's. Oh, and I really like to use ellipses instead of starting new sentences. I tend to write like I think or speak, rather than use proper grammar...just be forewarned.

So what is my thing? Honestly, I dont know. I have lots of things that keep me busy and lots of things I enjoy doing...I guess I dont have just ONE thing.

Life has changed for me so much over the last two years. No longer am I the single girl headed out for a couple beers and some dancing with friends on Saturday night. No, now Saturday night is filled with sippy cups and stories and a quiet dinner in with my husband. No more Tuesday night softball league, now its Mommy and Me swimming. Lots of things have changed, but one thing I still enjoy these days is quilting.

I love the magic of it. I love watching piles of fabric become something much more interesting.