Cha ching!

My first paying quilt job - thanks Emily!

All of the nerves came up again when I pinned this quilt to the rack. Thoughts kept running through my mind - Someone has put all of this time and love into this quilt. What if I mess up? What if she doesn't like it? Then I turned the machine on and started quilting. All of the nervousness went away and the thread just flowed over the quilt in a nice rhythm.

I've so enjoyed working from home and doing what I love on a daily basis. The fact that I can do what I love every day and make a little money doing it is just so amazing and overwhelms me (in a good way) at times.

And speaking of doing what you love, my friend Lauri is doing what she loves for a living. I was so inspired when I read her email, then looked over her website.

Totally unrelated, or at least partially unrelated - I'm giving away free laundry soap samples with every pad order at my etsy shop. Laura over at showertreatshop.esty.com makes wonderful handcrafted vegan soap and laundry detergent. I've tried a sample and it's wonderful. There are a limited number so don't procrastinate too long :)

Flower Girls

Sara has joined me in the Room of Requirement again and at times has been in there by herself working away. Here is a little of what she has been working on.

We made the movie with Windows Movie Maker, which was already on my computer. Who knew? My goal for today - make strawberry jam before my strawberries disappear like they did the last 3 times!

Hello Stranger

It's been some time, how have you been? It seems that I've been swept up in the lazy days of summer. The kids and I have settled into our no rush, no schedule summer routine. Even while sitting here trying to write this post and thinking back on the past couple of weeks, it just all seems a blur...sewing, reading, hanging out...oh, I did work at the quilt show, and I did paint my bedroom this weekend - way over due. Finished a project or two, thought really hard about making strawberry jam and picked up this little beauty at a local thrift shop.

I have been looking for a bread box for some time now and was so excited when I found one like mom always had, plus it was painted a creamy white and already distressed.

This little boy shown here with his grandfather's pictures

Turned into a 15 year old young man who is now eligible for his driving permit.

and this slightly younger and less camera shy young man is apparently trying out a new look - ha! At least he can cook!

So back to those pictures of Aaron and his grandfather...a really amazing thing has happened in the past couple of weeks and now that I think about it, that may be another reason for my absence here. Without getting into a lot very personal details, my husband is originally from Argentina. His father was killed when my husband was just 4 years old and he and his mother ended up moving to the US when he was 8 years old. He has never been back to Argentina and has had virtually no contact with his family there. Over the years, we have tried to find them, but have never had any luck. Enter facebook. One unsuspecting day, he was contacted by two cousins that he didn't know he had. Names, details, and pictures were exchanged and we are now connected to our Argentine family. My Spanish is horrible and their English is broken, but we've all been able to chat a little here and there. Diego was even able to talk to his Aunt and cousins on the phone for a little while. As he heard his aunts voice, memories came flooding back. I can't begin to describe what a blessing it has been to all of us.

Piecing Things Together

Time seems to be flying by this summer. The balancing act is really something isn't it? How do you pack it all in and keep track of it all? I have the traveling calendar and the kitchen calendar. It's easy to get everything written down on the traveling calendar, then I get home and it either never gets to the kitchen calendar or there is already something scheduled for that day. When I stand back and look at the calendar with all it's handwritten notes and appointments, I can't help but think how blessed we are to have so many events, opportunities and friends. I can't imagine a blank calendar. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of blank days on the calendar, those days are filled with spontaneous trips to the library, or just hanging out being a family.

During all of the running here and there and pad making, I have been able to finish up the quilt that I have been working on. Remember the blocks that Emily gave me? They went together quickly and I was able to get them on Ol' Betsy and do a little machine quilting.

What do you think? Don't you just love the colors?

I did a little free hand machine quilting here. It was a little tricky - I had to do the flower in two halves. The blocks were really big and my machine doesn't have a huge sewing space. Any pointers here? I'm thinking I could have done the center of the flower, then moved the quilt and done the top half, then moved it again to do the bottom half. The white sections just have some meandering stippling (not sure if that's the real term) which seems to be the easiest for me to do so far.

This fabric was perfect for the borders. The "x" pattern on the lattice goes with the white blocks in the quilt, and the orange is so fun. The rick rack by the binding seems to be showing up in a lot of my quilts lately. Rick Rack is one of those things that comes and goes in style and I feel like I have to use on everything before it's gone again.

This was my first attempt at using linen on the back. It was actually a linen blend, other than making the quilt a little heavy, it was great to work with. The fact that it was in the bargain bin at one of the local quilt shops didn't hurt either. It's a nice and neutral color that isn't too boring but won't compete with the bright colors on the front.

So there it is - don't you love it? I can say that because Emily did all of the work choosing the colors and creating the pattern. It should be available now, or if not soon. I'm taking it down to the quilt show to show her today - how exciting!

Just checked the calendar and I'm off to tie dye some shirts with the girls at church, run Josh to cycling practice, drop the scissors off to be sharpened - take a peek at fabric since I'm there and have a gift card in my purse, then it's off to the quilt show and maybe just maybe I'll squeeze making dinner in there. Is it Taco Tuesday yet?

Fund Raiser

After extensive hi-tech testing with a whole bunch of acronyms, it was determined that Josh has the proper physical make-up to become a Professional Cyclist, or "Olympian Level" as it was put. Did you know that some colleges offer scholarships for cycling?

He rides because he loves it and we think he's pretty good at it.

Hearing a professional say that you have professional potential is a good feeling.

Josh has a few races this summer with his biking club here in Utah, two are in Idaho. We've recently sent out an email to family and friends updating all of you on his accomplishments. Thank you to all of those that are willing to sponser him.

Since we can't really have a "team" fundraiser, and no one really want's to buy a $10 roll of wrapping paper anyway, we thought we would just put it out there and ask for support. With everyone contributing just what they would have spent on a roll of wrapping paper or a couple of candy bars, we can reach our goal. Thanks so much to all of you. If you haven't contributed and would like to, you can email me for our address or you can send a few dollars via paypal to my paypal account aprilmazzo@yahoo.com. Thanks again - and thank you for the moral support as well.

Trudging Through the Muck

I've been having buyer's remorse all week. Don't get me wrong, I love my machine and the quilt rack, I'm just scared to death. All of those words of doubt keep popping into my mind. Plus thinking about all of the things that I could have bought for that price. Diego keeps telling me not to worry and that we wouldn't have spent the money on the other things any way. Still doesn't help the knot in my stomach.

A little tonic was reading Crafting a Business by Kathie Fitzgerald. It featured many different artists and how they got started - very inspiring. It even had Amy Butler. There were a couple of quotes from the book that I loved, but I can't find them so I'll paraphrase. Everyone has doubts, trust yourself, put on your boots and trudge through the muck - it will be worth it in the end. So after a good cry, I pulled up my big girl panties and I'm moving forward.

I did put a quilt on the rack and finished it. It came out really cute, but it was definitely a learning experience. That's a good thing. Managing the quilt, which way to turn it, how to stay within your quilting space. Those are all things that you can't really figure out until you just go for it. I'll post some pictures soon, I'm just trying to stay above the laundry pile - how can 90% of my wardrobe be pajama bottoms and t-shirts.

Last Day of School!

I'm sitting here playing around on the computer, avoiding all of the other things that need to be done. Enjoying the last hour of quiet before the crazies are home for the summer. :)

Truthfully, I'm so looking forward to it. I need a little craziness in my life to keep me balanced. The alone thing is so hard. When they are at school all day, I long for them to be home. During the summer they are home all day and things are louder, busier and just plane crazier - but- when night comes and they are all tucked in bed - or piled in the living room, crashed on the couches - I lay down my head down exhausted but fulfilled.

How quickly time has passed. Next year I'll have one starting 10th grade - High School. He's already talking about driving. Josh will be in 8th grade - on his own, without his brother there. Not that they hang out together at school, but just knowing that your brother is there is nice. Sara will be in 4th grade. That doesn't seem too old in comparison, but she's my baby. She's my pool buddy, my library buddy - just my little girl. How long before she's off doing teenage things?

This summer I'll be cherishing all of the moments - even the crazy ones - and packing them away in my heart. :)

Note to self - read this post several times during the summer. Especially those times when you are tired, grumpy and want to pull your hair out - or someone else's.

Take Care of the Land

and the land will take care of you. This week has been one of farming our land. After a small attempt at gardening last year - 6 tomato plants - we decided to really go for it this year. Several factors went into deciding just where to put the garden, and after considering the kids and the dog, we decided to go with the patch of land along the car and behind the car port. This is one of the before shots.

Nothing but a bunch of weeds and half dead yuck grass.

After several hours of sod removal by machine and hand, and some tilling, the earth was ready for planting. I'll have to take some more "after" pictures now that the plants are in the ground. We have 40 tomato plants, several onions, peppers, a couple of eggplants and cantaloupe and a grape vine to grow along the fence. Oh, and we planted pumpkins in our weed patch at the front of the house. I've cleared out the weeds, but they just keep coming back. There are a million little weeds and they each have their own root. We had heard that pumpkins take over, so we're letting them battle it out with the weeds.

Diego and Josh worked their tushes off. Me? I was working hard at getting that sewing machine up and going. Each day, I stole 20 minutes here, and twenty minutes there and I am happy to say that it is up and running. I did help pick out the plants and put about half a dozen in the ground myself. I've practiced on scrap fabric - it's not a big of a transition as I thought it would be from pushing quilts through my regular machine. Now, I'm itching to get a quilt done and on the frame to do some real quilting.

My New Quilting Machine

I'm so excited, and I've been sick to my stomach since we brought it home. Each day, piece by piece has been added, some removed then added the right way. There have been times when it's just sat all day while I've sewn pads, made dinner, ran errands or waiting for someone to come home and hold a long awkward piece.
I'm still a little floored that I have two sewing machines and two rooms dedicated to sewing. The table for the new machine is 10 feet long, so I had to put it downstairs in the extra kitchen - ha ha - that sounds funny, but I really do have two kitchens. We were using the spare as a hang out room - hence the movie posters - for video games while we figured out if we wanted to keep the kitchen in tact or change it out. Now, all of that extra cabinet space will come in handy. I was able to keep a couch in there for the visitors and there is the wonderful wood stove to heat the room. For those of you in CA, the wood stove is not actually a stove, but a fire place of sorts. And check out that old stove. It does work, but I've only ever plugged it in to make Ableskievers on a cast iron skillet.So, there she is - Ol' Betsy. That's what my Dad always called his cars, so I think that's a good name for her. The plan is to finish the leaders that I have to sew, then practice, practice, practice. I've gotten quilting on my home machine down, and it shouldn't be too hard of a transition to Ol'Betsy, however there is a learning curve. Any tips? I know, practice, practice, practice. By the end of the summer, if not sooner, I should be up and running and accepting quilts.

Working on Top Secret Project...

and I'm afraid to blog, lest I spoil the surprise. The funny thing is that the surprise is for me. We made a major purchase this weekend, I know, I know I could have gotten that new transmission, but Diego made me buy it and after all, it will expand my business. Did I just say that? A little over a year ago, my business was just a dream and now I'm expanding? I'm feeling both blessed and overwhelmed with the responsibility to make it happen - it will happen, right? No, it will happen - conceive it, believe it, achieve it (and pray a whole lot). The elves and I are working to make room and get it put together. I've said too much...

On another note, here's the end of a conversation I had with my oldest son yesterday
Me: See, I told you that girls are nothing but trouble.
Him: Ya, you were right.
Me: So what did you learn today?
Him: Not to date until I'm older...and that if you have an affair you could end up with a rabbit cooking on your stove.

Note to self: Using scenes from 80's movies as an example to a 14 year old boy caught between two girls might be a bit of an overkill.

My Best Friend

Yesterday was a beautiful Mother's Day! I hope you all had a great time with your families. After church and a quick lunch-and brownies- made by Diego and the kids, we headed up the canyon hoping for a hike to the waterfall. The roads were still closed half way up the canyon, so we settled for a walk around the lake.We haven't had a proper picture take of us in a while so we had the kids take a few of us. Later that evening after the kids were in bed, we were talking and realized it was May 10. That was the day that Diego had officially asked me to be his girlfriend...21 years ago! Has it been that long? I was 16, he was 17. We were knew we were meant for eachother, soul mates. Sure, we've had our ups and downs over the years just like every couple, but fortunately, there have been so many more ups. Now, besides eachother, we have three beautiful, healthy children, that are growing into such wonderful young men and women. The day will come when they will be grown and have families of their own, and I'm excited for all that life has in store for them. But, for now...for now we're happy to live in the moment, enjoy eachother and help eachother grow.

A little bit of everything

This week has been an exciting one. First, one of my oldest and dearest friends whom I had been looking for found me on Facebook. She is so happy and it is so great to be back in touch with her - and she moved all the way to Australia! How fun is that?

Yesterday, I was thinking that it would be fun to get a VCR and watch some of our old VHS movies...Diego walked in from work, VCR in hand. I kept humming this song all day, then my son walked in singing it. I love it when that type of thing happens. When we were going through the VHS tapes, we found one of Aaron's first birthday - about 13 years ago. There on the tape was Danielle, the friend that I had just gotten in touch with. I was 3 month pregnant and about 25 pounds lighter. How depressing is that? It did give me the motivation that I've been looking for to loose a few pounds. Oh and speaking of being pregnant - Danielle is having her first baby! So of course I have a quilt half way done. They are not finding out the sex of the baby - which I love - so it has a lot of fun colors in it. No pictures yet, but I'll get there soon enough.
Speaking of quilts - see how my mind works - this crazy old lady gave me some blocks that she had put togeter. It wasn't the right fabric for the pattern - I told you she's crazy :) - so she passed it on to me. Isn't it cute? I'll get it together-the quilt- right after I finish the one for Danielle. Also speaking of quilts, HMQS is today through Saturday. I so wanted to go and help Konda and Emily out, but as often happens, I've over booked myself - and we have another old friend coming into town.

Simply Charming

I am so excited that I can finally share this with you. During the last little while, I felt like the cat that swallowed the canary. Let's, see...it was about a year ago, when we were all sitting around the table at the quilt show helping people to sign in as they came. Emily, who is an awesome quilt designer, was busy at work on a quilt and put me to work cutting out circles. I loved the quilt that she was putting together -so did everyone else that walked by- and knew that I wanted to do a bulls eye quilt. Later, Konda, another amazing quilt designer, came in and said that she was working up a pattern for her new book. I was thrilled when she asked if I would like to test the pattern and be in her book. With supply list in had I went to a local fabric store that was closing and bought a bunch of fabric that was $2 a yard, a few charm packs and several fat quarters. I do have to admit that I was a little nervous about the fabric. There were several large pink and green floral prints a little reminicent of the 80's.
In the end, there was no need to worry. The bold prints were mellowed out by all of the creamy colors and the layering of the pattern. Along with many other quilters, I have a circle or curve phobia. There are so many patterns that I have avoided because of a curve or circle. This one was so easy. You can imagine my excitement when I saw that Konda has finished her book - Simply Charming Circles - and it is now available.

By the way, that is Konda's beautiful machine quilting. As you know I've been working on my own machine quilting, but I'm not that good...yet. Which brings me to the other exciting discovery of the morning. Konda has an amazing Row Quilt Tutorial posted. This tutorial shows how to make a striped quilt that you quilt as you go on your home machine. Sweet!

May Day

May Day is here and it is bitter sweet to say good bye to the month of April. But, (you should never start a sentence with but), you know what they say...April Showers bring May Flowers.
That is the name of this new quilt. Once I saw the April Showers fabric by Alexander Henry over at Sew Mama Sew, I knew that I had to have it, and that it had to hang on my wall.

Flowers were the obvious choice for this one. I love how the colors in the Alexander Henry fabric really gives the feel of a rainy day. While matching the greens, blues and browns of the fabric would have been cute, I really wanted the flowers to brighten it up.
I consulted my boys about the quilting, and went with Josh's idea to sew raindrops into the April Showers fabric. The flower petals were super fun. It reminded me of those flowers that we would draw in elementary school. You can click on the pictures to get a better look.

Sometimes you can see it better from the back. Rather than pinning the quilt this time, I remembered the adhesive spray that was sitting unused in the sewing room. I really like the way it works. I did end up with a little fold on the back, but I'm sure that gets better with experience.
So now it's hanging just where I had imagined it would. Brightening up the little space in the entry room. Oh, and after I took saw this picture, I spent 20 minutes cleaning each little opening in that grate to the bottom left. :)

Making Lemonade

With the van in the shop I have been forced had the opportunity to walk everywhere that I need to go this past week or so. Since everyday I walk 2 miles round trip to the post office, I thought I'd share my trip with you - with a little help from Dr. Seuss...

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.

In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Onward up many

a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.

The Wrong Side of the Law

For some reason, this last week I've found myself on the wrong side of the law. First there was the ticket for my expired registration, then I received a letter in the mail from the courts. Jury Duty.

I had received a questionnaire some time back and filled it out with all of the reasons I couldn't serve. Apparently, they weren't good enough. So I received a summons to appear for today. I have been sick all week thinking about it. Don't get me wrong, I think jury duty is a good thing and that people need to have a panel of their peers viewing their case and making a decision. I just don't think we should have to and that choosing not to shouldn't be "punishable by law."

I was physically sick. Many trips to the bathroom and a letter to the judge later, I still hadn't heard anything. I called in last night at 6:01 - the letter said I had to wait until 6:00 - to find out if I had to appear and I didn't have to. I called three times - once I stuck my hubby on the phone to listen - just to be sure I had heard right. Whew! I have served Jury Duty before, and I will gladly serve again, when my littlest one is older.

The ticket really had me feeling like I didn't have a choice in the matter, then again, but one could argue that it was my choice to drive the van to the mechanic with an expired registration. This time, I didn't do anything wrong, but I felt like I was being sent to the principles office. How did I, good little April, end up in front of judges? Umph.
Anyway, all the walking that I've been doing lately has had this wonderful benefit of being able to have guilt free desserts. Like this Eclair Cake. It is really, really good. And for all of my friends in the desert, there is no baking/heating up your house involved. (Did you hear that Em...no baking, you could totally do this one!) It's just pudding mix, milk, cool whip, graham crackers and chocolate frosting. You do have to wait 4 hours to eat it...I had a piece after just an hour, but the graham crackers were still too crunchy. Waiting that extra time was worth it. So good.

Well, off to sew more pads. Tomorrow is Earth Day after all :)

Spring Break?

Two posts in one day? I had to give you an update...my little walk in the drizzling rain was an adventure. It started off with robins hopping around and me trying not to step on the 5-6 inch juicy worms all over the sidewalks and ended with a flurry of rain, ice then snow. Did I mention that it's spring break?

The Dress

The Easter dress was finished at about 11:30 the night before Easter. Whew. Originally, the jacket was a silky red with the polka dots as a lining, but after trying to get the silky fabric to lay right, I flipped it inside out and added the sleeves without lining them. The whole dress is lined also. I really debated lining it, since it was like making a second dress. I tried leaving it off, but it kept nagging at me, so I lined it. The nice thing about the lining is that the raw edges aren't against Sara's skin.

I'm off to walk to the post office, in the drizzling rain. Just think of it as an adventure - she tells herself. My mini van is still having trouble. Anyone else having trouble with their 1999 Chevy Venture?We've paid a lot in repairs this past year and I'm just tired of putting out so much money and the whole time it's at various shops being worked on so I can't drive it. It wouldn't pass the emissions test because the windshield wipers would spray fluid and the service engine soon light was on - that little light comes on ever few months and it's usually just a silly little thing. Anyway while driving it to yet another mechanic to have the transmission looked at, Diego in the car in front of me, I got a ticket for the expired registration. One block away from the mechanic - and yes I told the police officer that, and no he didn't care. Now I'm frustrated with the whole thing. I'm thinking about trading in the van for something like this. How do you think that would hold up in the snow?

I'm usually a pretty positive person...

I have a ton of things to get done today, I woke up a little grumpy and 2 out of 3 kids in my home are sick. The dog was whining to go out, so I took her out and she was being a spaz because she saw Diego petting the neighbors cat. He came up to her and I was trying to gripe and complain, but I'm sure all he heard was, "wa wa wa wa" because a street sweeper was making a ton of noise. Just as it passed, there was another loud noise that I was trying to talk over. I said out loud,"Where is that noise coming from?" We both looked up to see this beautiful bird singing her heart out. It touched my heart. Here I was grumpy and complaining and being annoyed and all the while the bird was serenading us. Then along came two other birds. And a third came and went so quickly that I couldn't get a picture. A neighbor walked by, smiled and said good morning. And I was happy. It made me think of something that I saw yesterday. I laughed out loud. Even later when I opened a new can of cocoa and it exploded on me, I laughed again.
Take time to smell the roses, and listen to the birds sing. Even if you don't get everything done today, and if you have sick kids, and your laundry is backed up, and your daughter's easter dress is still waiting to be cut out, and you are exhausted when you lay your head down on your pillow tonight...I hope you are are happier than a bird with a french fry. I will be.

Still Rolling

First, I just have to share...My Spring Chick and Easter Egg tutorial was featured on The Crafty Crow. How cool is that? There was an email in my in box this morning letting me know. It was such a nice feeling, especially first thing in the morning.

Last Thursday, we had our cooking day. Amber taught me how to make a pumpkin roll. We seem to be on a rolling kick...first the egg rolls and now the pumpkin roll. With this new skill, the possibilities are endless. Chocolate cake roll with chocolate filling. White cake roll with raspberry filling. Another pumpkin roll. The recipe is simple and is on the back of the Libby's pumpkin can. It's the rolling of the cake that has always thrown me off. I have a hard enough time frosting a cake without all of the little crumbs getting into the frosting. It's actually a lot easier than you would imagine. Technically, you are supposed to roll it the other direction, for a fatter slice, but we were splitting the roll, so we opted for smaller slices.

The key to rolling is to be generous when coating your kitchen towel in powdered sugar. The sugar keeps the roll from sticking to the towel. It is a bit like magic. You let the roll cool, then unroll it, spread the frosting, and re-roll it. Somehow it doesn't break and rolls right back up. Wow, I've feel like I've said rolls a lot of too many times. It's making me hungry - dinner rolls anyone?

This weekend was a lot like March. It came in like a lion...And went out like a lamb.

Happy April

I couldn't let the day go by without wishing you all a happy April. The fortune cookies turned out great. My favorite fortune was "Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings. "

With that, I'll leave you with a few tracings from a vintage coloring book that I found. I think they would make great embroidery or needle point patterns. Maybe squares for a baby quilt? You can click on the pictures to enlarge or download, then you can make them any size you want. Enjoy the free embroidery patterns!

Someone's In the Kitchen

Thanks for all of the encouraging words. That is one of the things that I love about blogging - we keep it real. Good days and bad. I think I'm on the upside now.

I do have to say that I was going to apply for a job at the school district. I saw an amazing/perfect for me job, got everything together and filled out the online application. As I went back in to actually apply for that job, the position was no longer listed. Now the only positions available are coaching boys teams and a sweeping position. Not that I'm above sweeping, I do that at home all of the time, it's just that the job is after school when I need to be home with the kids. At least my application is up and ready to go for the next opening.

In the meantime I was inspired to run a promotion at my Etsy shop. I'm guessing if money is tight here, it's tight in other homes as well. Things have picked up a bit.

Happiness came yesterday in the form of good food and good company. Amber and Shalyse, came by for a little Eggroll 101. If you know how to make eggrolls, you always have friends. So we spent the day, all day in the kitchen.The time spent laughing and enjoying their company was so therapeutic for me and I think for them too. We thought that we should really do this more often...so we are. Next week we're making a Pumpkin roll at Amber's house. I'm bringing the cream cheese.Once all of the rolling, frying and scarfing sampling of the eggrolls were done, we moved on to Fortune Cookies. Did you know that you can make Fortune Cookies? Shalyse had made them before, so she took over the teaching position. It took a couple of test runs to get the timing and folding done, but they were so cute, and tasty too.We ate them all, only because I didn't want my kids to see them ;) . Wouldn't they be perfect for April Fool's Day? You know, with silly little notes like "check your nose, you've got a boogie". I may have to work on those a bit. Feel free to leave any ideas in the comments section. Remember, I have two teenage boys...so pretty much anything bathroom or body related is good - I mean anything within reason, like "PG". I would say PG-13 but they are allowed to say the F words a couple of times in a PG 13 movie and I don't think that would be very nice in a fortune cookie ;)

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

I'm sitting here watching the snow fall again, wondering when March will finally go out like a lamb, and reminding myself that we need the moisture for this years crops as well as my own vegetable garden.

They grey sky has been effecting my mood today. Sales at the Etsy shop have slowed down, and I find myself contemplating getting a job outside of the home. Which makes me sad and confused. I have faith that Heavenly Father will provide for our family, and yet I'm confused at what my role in that will be. I don't want to sit idly by, waiting for blessings to come, if I should be out putting in a hard day's work to receive those blessings. And yet again, I don't know what job I could get outside the home that would allow me to be with my kids on sick days, school breaks, and summer break.

Thanks for letting me indulge a little in self pity searching. I'll press forward in faith, hoping, praying, sewing. After all, you reap what you sew right?
Rain Cloud available at tanyap.etsy.com
Frieda Journal was a recent purchase from waterscissorspaper.etsy.com

And the Winner is...

MarvelosThing! Congratulations! Please send me an email with your mailing address and I'll send the sweater out to you.

The sun is out and so are the kids - no school today :) We're off to have some fun. From what I hear, there is some hanging out, bike riding and paintballing planned for the day. Sara and I will probably take a trip to the park with some friends. Enjoy your day!

Giveaway

It's time for a Giveaway! After stitching up a couple of baby sweaters from patterns online, I've ventured out a little and have come up with a couple of sweaters of my own. Since I don't have any wee ones in my home and I can't seem to get my teens/preteens to fit into any of these adorable little sweaters, I've decided to post the first two in my Etsy Shop. So run on over and take a look if you are interested in one.

In celebration, let's have a give away. Who wants the purple sweater that I made earlier? This one is smaller than the ones in the shop and is definitely a newborn size. I have added a little button at the top, just for cuteness - it's not in the picture, but it is just like the flower button on the sweater that is in the shop - only purple.So, just leave a comment here on this post letting me know who the sweater is for and I'll choose a random comment from a hat. How does that sound? We have to have a deadline, so let's make it Thursday night. I'll announce the winner on Friday. Good Luck - oh, and happy St. Patrick's Day.

Meet Sally

This is Sally. She is a thrift store find. My hubby and I were on a date one night and we popped into a local thrift shop- no really, it is romantic. He doesn't like, make that "hates" the thrift store, but on occasion I can con him into browsing through the book section for an hour or so while I scour the entire store looking for 50 cent treasures.

So anyway, we've been in the thrift store forever and are getting ready to check out and I spot this head sitting on the counter of a different check stand. I ditch my husband in line and hurry over (it is a thrift store, after all and one must hurry, lest their treasure is spotted by another). So I pick up the head and ask if it's for sale. It was and a bargin at $4.

A - Wow, look what I found.
D - laughs
A - Should I get it?
D - What are you going to do with it?
A - I don't know, but you never know when you might need a head. It might come in handy.

We bought her and named her Sally. On the way home, we traded off sticking her out the window peeking at other cars. Come on, you know you would've done it. Then when we got home, Diego held Sally up above his head and called the dog. She peed. Now Sally sits in various rooms, all of which the kids are freaked out to go in when she's there. Mark my words, that girl is going to come in handy some day. I can just hear it now..."What we really need is a head of some kind..."

While she waits for her big break, she's been doing a little side work as a hat model. These are her first "head shots". What do you think?The hats might go up in the Etsy shop, then again, winter is just about over...then again, it did just snow. They also might make there way to a couple of new friends. We'll have to see.

Waiting and Enjoying

Waiting for the sun to come up. Enjoying the beauty of the morning. Waiting for Spring to arrive. Enjoying the last few snow falls of winter.
Waiting for my quilt from the Four Seasons Quilt Swap to arrive. Enjoying the anticipation.

April is moodling...

I found this great quote from Brenda Ueland. Which provided me with this wonderful new word, new to me at least.

"So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering."
You know how quotes are...once you find a good one, you find several. Then you have to share them, and they tend to lose something in passing them along. Nevertheless, I'll indulge myself with sharing two more with you. Plus commentary :)

"Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost" Isak Dineson. I can hear the cry from artisan mom's everywhere...give me leave, just for a few minutes.

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Pablo Picasso. This is probably due to the previous quote...give me leave. I know, I know it's deeper than that, but not as funny.

And the last one just for fun...
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere." GK Chesterton

Well I'm off to moodle. Want to come along?

Here Comes the Sun...

do do do do....it's supposed to be sunny and 54 degrees today! I never thought this Southern CA girl would every feel that way about 54 degrees.

Thank you for all of the lovely comments about my quilt for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. To no one's surprise, I'm sure, I went back to the fabric store and bought 8th yard cuts of all of the same fabrics to recreate the quilt for myself. I'm really not good at the trading thing.

The quilt and the theme of the FSQS really inspired me and got me thinking. I'm going to recreate the red quilt as a quilt block, then do a blue block (fabric purchased the same day:) with some sort of waves, and continue on doing a block a month, each block monochromatic with various seasons/nature themes. At the end of the year, I should have an amazing quilt - I hope!

In the mean time, I've been poking around on Ravelry a little. I've been on for a while, but seem to have been a slow starter. There are a plethora (did you get the Three Amigos reference ;) of knitting patterns that I love, but alas, I crochet. I did find this amazing pattern for a baby sweater that I had to try.

This was the first attempt. I used some thin baby yarn and a G hook and it came out very "newborn" size. Because of the yarn that I used, it was a bit too sparkly for my taste.Then I tried an H hook, which is the next larger hook and some Vanna's Choice yarn (not ready to commit to $15 a skein for a trial run). This one turned out just as I had imagined it. Since the photo shoot, I've added a little flower button at the neckline. Oh, and on this one I left off the optional ruffle on the sleeves. And I just found out a friend is expecting...and it's a girl. Perfect timing.

It's Done!

Last week I finished the quilt that I have been working on for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. Each swapper chose two colors, a season and either a doll quilt or a table runner. Once we received the info for our partners, it was up to us to make a monochromatic quilt, using either black or white as an accent color.

My partner chose red and gold and her season was fall. I haven't sent off the quilt, but I don't think I'm giving away anything. Those are pretty general colors for fall. Once I had the info in front of me, I poured over different ideas and really had a hard time with the whole color thing. I wasn't quite sure if we were supposed use both colors or one of the colors, but it is "mono"chromatic so I went with the red and used gold as an accent color rather than black or white. Was that OK? Some of the fabric had gold in it anyway so I just went with it. Plus, I don't think the quilt swap police are coming after me any time soon :)

So, I drug my husband to the fabric stores to help me pick out the right colors. Did I mention how much I agonized over this part. He was picking out fabric for the color and I kept sayint that I didn't like the design of this fabric or that. In the end, I walked out of the store with a bunch of 1/8 yard of fabric that I mostly didn't like.
Now that I had the fabric, where do I start? Deciding on a log cabin, I cut all of 1/8 yards into 1 1/4" strips. After three blocks, I was tired of it. So I finished up a fourth block and thought, now what? Ah a border, that will take up some space. Wait, all of my strips are only 1 1/4". Flying geese, they are fallish right? Don't they fly south for the winter? I paper pieced 1"x 2" flying geese for the top and bottom to add a little height and create more of a rectangular quilt. That is where the gold came in. Little golden geese. Then I added the tiny stop border. Still left with all of my 1 1/4" strips, I sewed them all together, then cut them into 3 1/2" strips and made them into a piano key border.

Whew, done right? No, now comes the actual quilting. Trying to avoid the obvious choice of leaves, I really wanted something a little different and that had a little bit of my style in it. So I went with an unruley fall tree. All branches and no leaves. I love the way it came out. The colors on the fabric give the tree the feeling of having leaves and yet not at the same time. Anyway, I've blubbered on enough about it. It's done and it's going to get a lable by the end of this week. Then it's off to my partner, whom I hope loves it as much as I do.This may be the last swap for me - It's really getting hard to part with these little quilts. Maybe next time I'll just play along with a swap, and be my own partner. Are there any quilt challenges rather than swaps out there? One that challenges everyone, then posts all of the results on flickr?

Last Minute Valentine's Gift for Teenage Boys

Just popping in for a quick hello, and to share an idea for a last minute gift for those teenage boys in your lives :)

Duct Tape Wallets! Genius! I found the instructions here.
These seriously took me about 10 minutes a piece. They would also make great stocking stuffers for Christmas. Enjoy!