Is Friday the Weekend?

Boy, today sure felt like a weekend day. Nothing but fun in the sun, a little beach, and wind to make some waves for us. Here is Peanut enjoying a little swing above the water.




We took the family to PineView Dam in Huntsville area today. It was such fun. We packed a lunch, ate it on the picnic blanket, swam a little, built a little, and sunned a little.



Of course we brought along the brother and sister-in-law with us. Who were we supposed to play with? Plus they have seen both of our white bodies before, so nothing new oh, or scary i mean.



The kids had a lot of fun. and i don't think anyone got burnt---yay.

I got a little package in the mail today too. What fun is that!! 2 in a week. It was from an Etsy purchase (really it was free, oh 20 cents) I thought, why not...i'll go for it.
It is a little bit of a pay-it-forward thing. So check out what i got:





1st- this is the outside of the package. how cute is that!! it is stamped all over with different little sayings and stuff. very cute.


I opened it up and viola!! Love the mcalls pattern tissue paper. how fun!! then some paper flowers and all tied up cute.



Here are all the contents. a tag with a ribbon, 3 paper flowers + the large one, a cards with a guy running with scissors--funny, and a card. The man is kissing her arm and she is saying "i think he just licked me".
So now i have to think of something to give away or "sell" for free on my etsy to pay it on. The person buying doesn't know what they are getting so it is really a surprise.

I would do that again. what fun!! I always like a good surprise.

here is my newest sewing thing. i know, i know...i need to get the girl scout day camp stuff done, but really i dream about that every night. i needed some relief.


Yesterday i got this table cloth and a sheet at the D.I. and when i got home and started looking at them i said "hey, they match" so i put them together in a grab it bag. It's for sale in my Etsy shop...go check it out.


I of course used one of the ribbons that i won ---vintage fern drawing, and then added a red bird applique.




Then at 10:30 i thought "i should make one for grandma". So here is hers:



She walkes with a walker and likes her purses to hang off of her wrist. She doesn't carry much, so she doesn't need anything big and elaborate. Plus the one she has is black -with even black rope for the strings. I can't handle it anymore. She is old, but can still look cute. and it is summer for heaven's sake. i put a ribbon and bird on hers too. They are a little high though.....mental note...pay attention to that placement.
I was going to do things a little differently, but you know how grandmas are....stuck in their ways. they know what they like and deviate from it. So keep it simple, exaclty like her black one...then there is no excuse not to use it!!!

If that was a weekend day like, what will tomarrow bring?

PAPER BAG BOOK TUTORIAL

This tutorial is for the paper bag books that i put together for the Girl Scout Day Camp.

Easy, fun, and quick. plus i got to sew. :)

Step 1)

Take 3 lunch paper bags. Lay them on top of each other. I switched them around so not all of the folded or open parts were on the same side. Gives a little variety and reduces bulk just a bit. This will give you front, back, +4 inside pages. If you would like it larger put another bag in. I found 3 was a good number.

Step 2)

After stacking them fold it over and crease the center with your fingers. If the outside edges are off a bit and not perfect that's ok. Gives the book some character. You do need the folded edge nice for sewing though. I did make sure that there was no bottoms on the outside. If there is flip that "page" and make the outside the nice flat side.

Step 3)

Sew down the folded edge. Have your seam allowance 1/2 " or so. I used one color on the top and a different in the bobbin. They could "choose" what color they wanted on their edge on the front.

Step 4)

Decorate with paper, pencils, markers, crayons, stamps....whatever your heart desires!! Go for it and have some fun.

I didn't have any pictures to put in yet, so the paper frames are empty.

Make one for your kids, grandkids, cousins, friends, and even maybe yourself!! Watch out though....Soon you'll have a big 'ol pile like this!! This would be great for a 4th july party thing. hmmmmmm....i might have to make some more!!

LITTLE PACKAGES

I got a package on my front door!! I love packages!! I won this from amy blog. This package was small but loaded!! Check out how cute:

A lovely pile of pillow case remants along with some other cute vintage prints, a bunch of ribbon and lace embelishments (love the little birds), a few button packs, and some cardboard card embelishments. I will definitly be doing a few new things with these. I did open it all, love it, and then made something.....but i can't share until i deliver it. Maybe tomarrow.... :)

I spent part of the day at my grandma's home. She is planning on moving to another place. Not an assisted living place, but a sort of like it. She has her own room and they provide meals for her. Anyways, i am helping her go through her stuff. She was a sewer back in the days and had a nice little (bigish really) collection of ric-rac. She said i could have it if i would like. Of course i would like!! So check it out:

These plastics are loaded i tell you. Ric-rac is on skinny boards and they are all side by side. They are arranged by color and then sizes too. She has really skinny stuff that is way cute. I snatched up an embroidered pillow front in the blue and green. Pretty cool. I think i am putting it in the front with the other stuff on the bench. Cute. Lucky me.

I thought i would show off the saturday pay offs from garage sales. Here is the little embroidered doilies. Those little flowers at the right are tight, big, french knot flowers. cute.

I love the indian crocheted finger puppet. It has long braided hair. funny...This is going to a collector of finger puppets. I know she will just love it!!

I'm trying to keep up with it all. I have 2 weeks until Girl Scout Day Camp!! yikes....i am just checking up on the last minute details and such. Every little thing takes time. Sometimes, too much time!!

I got up a little early today, sat at the sewing machine first thing (it was sort of nice) and sewed up all the little paper-bag scrapbooking books. I will do a tutorial on that for you. This is a great way for little kids to "make" their own books, and to collect whatever they choose.

Here is the Big pile that i ended up with. 115 of those guys!!!

Here is a close up:

Last thing..... if this little kitty sage isn't living the dream....sleeping in the sewing room!! On the warm iron board to boot...mmmmmm

Dead what? Where? oh, boy

So I thought i would share a little funny with you.

I was speaking to my mom on the phone, walked into the front room...look out the window and see the youngest daughter pacing on the side walk in front of the house. Now, i didn't know that she was outside, so that was a little suprise...but she was wearing just her underwear!! She has natted hair and a dirty face.....There are of course cars passing, they are probably wondering where does that child belong? is she lost? what's the story? locked out?

So i open the front door and say watcha doin? get in the house little girl... trying not to giggle...
She comes in, has this forlorn face and pouty lips and says I killed Jerika's fish.
What?!!!
Just sit on the chair for a minute until i can talk to you...

I am still on the phone with my mom, i have to leave the room and hide in my room to tell her what was just said...we just laughed and laughed.

so i hung up and took care of the greaving daughter in the front room.
Where is the fish? what did you do?
Oh, in the garbage can? (lucky it was easy cleanup) oh, where are it's eyes? it bonked it's head on the glass?
Ok. get dressed and tell Jerika that you will be buying her a new fish today.

Boy, it's only 10:30 am. She is soooooo curious, like in a morbid way. I'm not sure what to do with all that.
Anyways.....i'll post later with some pictures.
not of the fish or the naked pacer!!
Hope everyone has a great day!! I just know i will :)

sewing day declaration

After not having any sewing time the last few weeks, i declared a sewing day:

I hereby declare that the dates of June ? (can't remember) saturday is an all day sewing day. I will not be making any meals and whatever else for anyone ---good thing we have a soccer dinner party to go to with the kids, and i will not be picking up after anyone. If you need me i will be found in the sewing room, doing what i want for the day!!!

After this announcement i headed up and turned everything on, including the little fan, and off i went!! I made 2 trips out of the house. One was for garage sales.....i found a few small hand embroidered doiles 25Cents each :) and i think that's it on the sewing front. The other trip was for the quilt store---i am the area rep for Utah Quilt Guild and i had some posters that needed to be dropped off to the stores...oh horrible!! I of course had to look at the clearance ($4 a yard!!) and thier piles of $1 fat quarters. so i got a few things--but really i was good. they were for projects that i need to finish.

This is is what i have accomplished in the sewing arena:

I had a piece of fabric (fat quarter) given to me from Marsh, last years Utah Quilt Guild president along with a lovely pink rotary cutter (love it!!!- it's my favorite right now). This is a quilt challenge she says.....so staring at it for ...what....6 months now I have finally done something with it. It's a table cloth for outside. I have the front porch thing, with a wrought iron chair and bench. I would like to put just a small table in the middle, and thus need a table cloth. So it is not batted, or quilted. Just enveloped and appliqued. I used the challenge fabric for the butterflys. Now i need a little table to go with it. hee, hee.

I didn't follow a pattern. I looked through some books i had. There is this one:

Very "vintage" i guess. Amy gave it to me when i brought over her pocket people for her. She had 2. I also won a drawing on her blog. Can't wait to see what my little goodies are. This is the quilt pattern:

I think the whole quilt is way cute. Easy to do if you machine around each one and not needle turn.

I needed a couple of coasters for our side tables in the bedroom. My honey keeps using books and stuff, so i thought i'd make some. I used leftover 1/2 square triangles and boardered them. Then cut them on an angle. One is larger than the other. I will pay better attention next time. Oh, they are lined with a thin batting to soak up any drink sweat. Quick, easy, cute.

This here bird is for a swap. Sorry if you are peaking partner!! You will still have to wait until she arrives......Notice that lovely worm she has found? I used a Martha Stewart pattern from her website. Easy to do. Vintage napkin linen fabric, plus cute polka dot green belly. I did put a wool beak in + some wire legs (not on the pattern). She can stand by herself!! Funny.

This top is finally finished (top at least)!!! The 9 blocks are from last years- maybe the year before :( ? quilt group. They are 3 dimentional. Take a look:

Uses a bit more fabric, but they are fun to do. They are not fun to quilt though...do i catch them?, do i avoid them?, or do they accidentily get stuck while quilting and fold over? which one will happen????

I also got my sheets all cut up and ready to go. I am sooooo excited to see what all i get. i know it will be awhile. darn it.

Here is the last thing done:

The spectacular pink pinwheel quilt!! I quilted it and now it is waiting to get bound. I had a "KA-DUH" moment though.... i put it on wrong, so when i got close to the bottom there wasn't enough back!!! so all the pieces got taken off of the rollers, an extention was sewn to the back and then back onto the rollers it went. Then it go finished. Sad thing was it was like 4" that i was missing. Had i turned the top there would have been enough. KA-DUH...

I did some butterflys in the border with little swirls. Then in the pinwheel blocks i did a big flower with a little one inside of it. The blocks with the big flower print in the middle has a big butterfly in it. Over all i love it. oh, then loops in the green border. I am not by any means perfect, but this one turned out great. The pattern for the quilt top is a JAcki Robinson pattern. I do have to share the back:

Normally i don't piece backs, but it was fun. I just might have to do some more of that in the future.

Since 2 kids who sound like barking seals we did not go to church. I am going to work on a few more things. sooooo fun to have a decleration day...you should try it.

Guess what I got, did and doing...

Guess what i did this morning? Nothing but good old girl scout stuff. I know it's summer time, but little me is in charge of girl scouts day camp!! yikes, i already said that....a lot.
I have everything pretty much finished up. There are always the little things that need to be done, but for the most part i feel like i am on top of it.....until the next phone call, or email :) had a little meeting this morning....glad it's over.



Guess what i got.....glossy fronts, many pages, lovely patterns....i know you can already see the picture, but i thought i would try. My neighbor friend, known as "Sam's Mom" (that would be the baby sitter, she would be the mom to ....the baby sitter) stopped by for a quick minute to gab and drop off an over load of quilt magazines. yay for me!! Of course they weren't turned down and were quickly gobbled up with the scan through---and then deeper reading will happen at quiet time (that would be after dark, when the kids are asleep)





Guess what i did...here are some hints:
filled a bucket with warm water, dumped some tan rit in it....that's right!! i dyed some fabric!! It's been awhile. I found a piece with a small little dot flowery something on it that i need to line and back the feedsack bags with. I haven't been able to find anything that i like to use (i of course ran out of the first stuff), so i was excited when i spotted it. lucky me.


The picture has the dyed fabric and the sheet i got today to cut up into fat quarters for my vintage sheet trade. i am slowly but surely getting a nice little collection going to send on for the trade.
Look how great some of those are....oooooo...i am excited. i of course couldn't just buy one thing so i stashed 2 little grouping of red little flower something. They might make nice little stuffed somethings in the future.

Guess what else i did---i took the picture to show off my new furniture in my bedroom. Take a look:


Here we have a lovely new shelf with glass fronts that close and keep the dust out!!! i'll take any labor of moving furniture to ensure less work in the future. I have plenty of reading material placed inside with all of the little table quilts folded nicely on the bottom shelf.

And here we have my lovely blurry picture of my lovely new side tables. They are the perfect height for our tall bed, but not tall enough that honey doesn't hit his elbow everytime he turns off the alarm. I took a low picture so you couldn't see the off center pictures above the bed. That definitly needs some tweeking. There is a matching one on the other side---making it a set. nice.

I am feeling like we are growing up a bit. We are upgrading our furniture just a bit and getting rid of --slowly-- those college, junky, boy we've had that wayyyy to long things.

Feels good to be a little grown up.

Hello My Brodda ---father's day

Got back earlier from a girl scout all-dayer!!! Wow..... first it was to a equestrian stable to ride horses and take a little tour. Pattie was great with the girls and the ones that could handle it rode the horses around the indoor arena by themselves. Not guided or anything. Such trust she had!! I was a little leary about that, but every one of them did very well.

Then we took off and went to lunch at the Mall. Each girl got some money and they had to go buy themselves their own lunch. Funny---there are some real indesisive ones.

Then for their last suprise they went to Teddy Bear Factory. It is similar to Build a Bear. After making their own bears, and chosing an outfit we got loaded up with 11 bears that we can donate to Primary Childrens Hospital. Fun huh?!

After all the girls left I layed on the couch for a minute and took a little rest. Boy, that felt good.

Did i ever show you what i gave the honey for fathers day? I don't think i did. So here it is:

This is "My Broddas Cookbook" (same as my brothers cookbook) spoken with a southern bauiau accent or whatever. My honey has a great brother -Ben-. They get along great and are good friends... so do the wives (that i think is more important). Every once in awhile when they see each other they say "hello my brodda"...we thought it would be fun to make a little cookbook for them.

We took a picture of them together on our last campout for the front ---even little wallets for the side, see it at the bottom :) Then inside we put their favorites in top loaders. This way they can easily put new ones in that they like. Both are very oppinionated and vocal about cooking. (funny- neither cooks) They really do say though--i like this, remember this one, put this where you can find it again....things like that.

The kids drew pictures for the dividers. A.M. and P.M. to keep it easy.

My honey really likes it and he put it with the rest of the cookbooks on the toppest shelf--i obviously don't use it.

Nothing fancy, but i guess thoughtful. He of course purchased for himself a new driver (steel or something special) and a new golf bag (one with the backpack straps for easy carrying).

We have 365 days until next years---better start thinking.....

Meet some new friends

I was over at sister-in-laws home saturday night having fire cooked hot dogs and yummy food for the dogs "Sambo" 1 year birthday party...i know, funny...but we'll go anywhere for a good little party!! anyways- they have a neighbor who has encroched uppon their land, with a huge garden.

Now, before you get all upset because he is in their yard, taking it over, digging, plowing, tilling and whatever else he does with dirt ---it's a good thing. Lucky for me he was out there --triangle hoe in hand staring at his crops. Everyone knows that i always take advantage of knowledgables. (that would be those in knowledge of something that i have an interest in) So, him standing, me chasing him down.......just a few questions for ya ;) and then off i go. 30 minutes later (I ate a cold hotdog for the info) and full of knowledge i came back to enjoy the fire pit and people.

I thought that i would share his knowledge and my new stuff with you. so, come along and meet some new friends.

*First his name is "nolan" ---not really sure if that is his first or his last. Didn't ask. He has a VERY large orchard in Brigham City full of cherries--they froze this year--, and peaches. He also grows a lot of other things to sell. Peppers, squash, pumpkins, and melons.

--this is what i learned:

**pumkins, zuchini, squash and other alike WILL NOT cross pollunate if planting new plants!!! They will if you take the seeds from those plants and plant them again next year.

**Peppers need NITROGEN to grow big. No, they don't really like to sell it (it makes big bombs) so find something with a high nitrogen count and use that. Fertilize it once a week in the water.

**Trough watering is the way to go!! Build a line, fill it with water, voula!

**Cucumber plants don't like to sit in water. They will mildew and die (i know this first hand--many years---duhhh)

**Fertilize your tomatoes when they are around 1 foot tall with a 16-16-16 mix. They love it!

**You can make new grapevines yourself---cut a length off that has at least 4-5 nodes on it. Plant it into the ground making sure there are 2 in the ground. Then water, and watch. Grows quick--will produce in 2-3 years. Of course you can buy them for $5....but just good info anyways.

I don't have any pictures of Nolan or i would share. I do however have a picture of my "best friends". I have many best friends. I have catagories that they go into. This would be my gardening best friends.

From the left---rake, hard one, medium size. Skinny shovel-don't know it's purpose in real life, just know i use it all the time. Lucky charm horse shoe weeder- gets right under those weeds and breaks up dirt great. New friend--everyone welcome her---the triangle hoe. She is better than her name implies ;) She digs beautiful trenches in between the rows of plants.

So here is the new garden. It has been waiting for me to de-weed it for a week or so now. Isn't it nice? I cleaned it all out this morning and dug new trenches for the water to go this evening. I learned this from Nolan. See the big dirt space in the center sort of rightish? let me tell you one more thing: you put a trench on the outer sides. Then the plants next to it. Then in the center you leave for dirt. This is where the plants can lay and grow. No Moldy here baby! As my boys say "ingenious".

So there ya have it. your little garden lesson for the day. I love to do it, but really struggle when it comes down to "doing" it. I love that people are out there (Nolan) who are over flowing with knowledge and love to spill it out. I have my fingers crossed---it will be a good garden year!!

Here are the travelers taking a slide in the afternoon with us.

This was a great day.....hot....but great.

would you take a look at that-

Would you take a look at that?!! yikes.....

I thought that i would start with a few ---before and afters. I have a good friend Marlyn who does some home organizing help and she needed some smocking help. So before smocking help i had her go upstairs and check out the boys room. It has just gone through a little bit of change.

They were in mini-bunks (small little bunk beds that fit crib matteresses) and have just upgraded to the real deal. --don't tell them they were sleeping on cribs at age 7 1/2 please---

So this lead to of course, the rest of the room. why don't they have space in their drawers? why is the books on the shelf sideways? where did all these teddy's come from?....

After a little bit of coaching and talking, i think i got it. SO, we did a little flush out.

This weather is soooo weird, we haven't been able to get rid of the long sleeves and pants becuase one day- 60 the next-80 so it is nervewrecking!!

I think there is plenty of room now, the box in the closet is gone, the clothes are re-organized, the church clothes have been taken care of....ect. i still have one drawer completely empty in thier dresser. i might move the socks and undies back into it. don't know yet. The books were straightened out and what did i find? a library book!!! i think we have owned that one for a good half a year...if only i can find the other one......anyways.

The beds are nice, the clothes are under control, the books- nice, and wow....doesn't that feel good?

One down another 2 to go.

We got some way cute side tables for our bedroom today, so our room is a little apart also..... pictures later of course.

I do have to share some Flirty Apron News. I got mine in the mail last week!!! It came with some cute julyish napkins. There are no pockets in this baby, but look at the towel hook. i love those---so much better than slinging it over the shoulder.

This one i WON --yay for me!! Look at that ruffle at the bottom!! flirty :)

I really should have taken those photos in the clean kitchen and not the girls room....another yikes.....yikes.

well off to re-do and go-through

Long List of Summer Doings

I have been a little "summer" busy. Jerika is going to soccer camp up at the u of u. Fun stuff!! and i have to go and pick her and her friend up every day in the afternoon---i can't imagine doing this on a daily run, like school--

I come home, there are things to do....erands to run....movies to go to that are over crowded and we leave, visitors visiting, dinners to make, faces to wash, fights to squash, houses to sell (i have one in salt lake for 1.2 mil if anyone is interested :) , packages to mail, swaps to swap, and whatever else comes my way!!!!


I did sneak in a little sewing yesterday---i think 30 minutes--- i made my toadstool and of course a little gnome to go with for the toadstool trade.



Last night after the visitors left i sneaked out and went to quilt group. What fun that was!!! There was a great lady ....can't recall the name... who did a little trunk show and showed us how to look at quilts a little differently. She looks at everything now and says to herself "how can i make that block using 2 1/2 inch strips?" C-R_A_Z_Y!!!! let me tell you. She had some wonderful quilts and of course i quickly jotted down a few patterns that were stupendous...... i am having a hard time deciding what to start.
I of course would be the proud owner of only 1 jelly roll, but i think that i can .make my own... and start cutting things into 2 1/2 inch strips to do something scrappy.
Everyone asked her---do you have a book? and she said NO... so we are all left to our own confusing mind of math and 2 1/2 inch strips.
I do have one link to share with this though. She mentioned a pattern and said she got it from Quiltville. Here is her blog-quiltvilles' quips and snips and her website. Scroll down and look at the left side for her free scrappy patterns. they are wonderful!!!

I need to be off doing something from the long list above i am sure-----
Hope everyone has a great day looking at blocks and dreaming of conversions for 2 1/2 inch strips..... i just might try it out... of course after my list is complete