Completely Random Post

So today was my oldest son's first day of school. I missed him like crazy, but the fact that I have been sick all weekend (again!) and was miserable made it easier to know he was at least having fun ... rather than napping with the younger ones. When we picked him up, his first words to me were, "MOM! That was soooooo much fun!". :) Let's just hope he can hold onto that enthusiasm for a while.


Since last week was his last week home, I didn't do as much on the craft front, instead I really focused on time with him ... and of course Colton's birthday too. But, Amandajean was having a baby quilt week and I did have two quilt tops to show for it ... both are for Grandma to tie. I was planning on giving the barnyard blanket to my SIL, who I just *knew* would be having a boy this time (baby #4 ... and with the previous three girls it seemed about time, right???), but the ultrasound showed her in all her girl glory ... so I'm going to keep that cute blanket for myself. So that's today's goal ... getting over this dang cold & sewing up this blanket. Then I only have two more to make for Grandma followed by a break. Grandpa made the point that I am the only grand-daughter who has been having babies and she now has eight stocked up, should be enough for a while.

Happy First Birthday Colton!

So we had a very small party for Colton last night for his birthday. I kept adding people to the list and adding more people to the list and then Ryan reminded me to cut WAY back and that simple for a one year old is better. So just a few very close families came for his birthday and it was fun. I made him a birthday banner, which is my new favorite ... I know I say that each time. LOL. Then he got his animal blanket, along with a stuffed elephant and the Eric Carle book Panda Bear, Panda Bear (each kid now has a blanket from their Mom). I attempted to make him the cow cake following the video directions from family fun and I realized that I am pretty decent at a lot of things, but cake decorating is not one of those things. And I'm okay with that ... I think. I had planned on making more ... a cute turtle ice cream cake, monkey cups and animal balloons all from Martha Stewart, but ran out of time and amazingly enough, no one noticed and it was still a good party! HA! :) Colton didn't really touch the cake, but the delicious chocolate tart that Anthony brought ... that was another story entirely (not that I can blame him ... that cake was delish!).

Guess it's time to start ...

So I had this goal to make a cross-stitch for each of the kids when they were born. Here's Hunters and here's the link at Jo-Ann's. And then here's Savannah's (with the link here - it's a much better photograph then I took-). And since Colton's birthday is on Thursday, I guess it would be a good time to start on his too. LOL. I bought this kit when I was pregnant with him, but it came with a linen backing, not the usual 14-count Aida cloth I'm used to working with. So I picked up some with my 40% off card this past week. Here's my progress so far ... with Sunday stitching and tv time ... maybe I could have it done by Christmas???

Then it is Hunter's last week before the dreaded all-day kindergarten, so this week's goal isn't going to be craftin, but instead taking full advantage of these last few days I have with him. :) So, last night we went to the strip (sometimes I even forget it's there) and saw the flowers at the Bellagio. This time it had some large, mechanical bald eagles, American flags everywhere and trains. :) It's one of our favorite things to see here in Vegas, and then checking out the chocolate fountain right next to it and the fountains in front. Makes for a really fun, and free family night.

Quilt Of Dreams

Our weekend was full of cleaning, Olympics (my 5 yo has become OBSESSED with Michael Phelps ... lol) and then collapsing from pure exhaustion. So, not too much crafting happening, but I did have this blanket from last week to share ...

Mati told me about this quilt of dreams sponsored by Hancock fabrics each year. This is her posting of her submission from last year. I was tempted to do it, but money is not exactly falling off of trees lately with the gas price/food price increase and I had so many other unfinished projects I didn't want to add one more thing on. But then she called me to tell me she had enough fabric for three quilt tops and offered the fabric to me. I finished it just BARELY in time and turned it in last Tuesday, right before the flu bug hit and kept me down on my couch for days. Here's the finished project ...it felt so good to turn this in ... and I really liked it. So Mati, I'm hooked! I'll make sure to do one again next year too!

Ode to Mati & The Very Hungry Caterpillar

So this is the finished product of the Hungry Caterpillar fabric that I bought a few months ago. Oh Mati. You're quilting is amazing! Look at that log, look at those tulips ... the entire quilt is amazing ... thanks to you! I totally think I am getting the better end of the bargain ... oh ... the day I have dreamt of is here ... not quite in the way that I pictured it (in my mind, I learned how to free arm quilt) ... but better, because NEVER in a million years would I have thought you could quilt real words or put the amount of detail into each stitch like you do!or the swirls or the amazing things you have done. Thank you so much. This is such a treasured quilt now ... thanks to you!!! ** BTW - Mati is very graciously letting me trade her quilting time for piano lesson time ... I definitely think I am getting the better part of the trade & my husband is THRILLED that maybe now I'll finish a couple of quilts! LOL.**

Savannah's Birthday

Yeah for fantastic hubby! He fixed the computer, so I finally was able to load up the pictures from Savannah's birthday! :) I came down with a nasty flu bug the last couple of days ... which is actually a bit of a relief. I've been having hot & cold flashes for about a week and kept thinking ... "I'm too young for menopause, right?" LOL. I wanted to make more for her birthday, but with Hunter starting school in a week and a half and baby's birthday coming up next week too, it limited my "making" ability. I did however make her a birthday banner. I had made my husband one like it for his birthday and both took me about seven hours from start to finish. I don't have a fabric stash, so I picked up scrapbook paper, and was able to get 4 triangles out of each paper so it works out to be pretty in-expensive. Of course, I was finishing it like crazy the night before her birthday, when I realized I had run out of bias tape for her ... and there was NO way I was doing a Wal-Mart run at 11:30 at night, so I used some light blue that I already had and put Savannah's name on a separate string in the front room. Then I also made up a little tutu for her using this tutorial. Unfortunately, this is the best photo I have of the bunch ... but you can still see it and she loved being dressed like a little princess for the day. :) Which is what really mattered, right? I'll post pictures of the AWESOME blanket that Mati did for her on Friday ... but if you'd like to see some of the pictures, here's her posting about it.

Ohmygoodness!!!

Look!!!! I'm posted on Craft Magazine's blog!!! :) Oh my goodness, yeah!!!!!!! :) Can you tell I'm a *little* excited???

Church is gettin' better!

So I have been seriously struggling with the kids during sacrament. It's the first session of church and my little ones WILL NOT sit still. Savannah is the worst, she tries to run up to Daddy. Oh yeah ... maybe the reason it feels so overwhelming is because I'm ALONE!!! Ryan conducts the music and gets to enjoy and laugh at me struggling with the little ones while he sits there calmly reflecting on the different things being said. More than one time I have wanted to fake being sick to stay home and let HIM struggle it out. Then I saw the cutest idea ever! But, the price tag was way too much for three kids, so I used what I had already. I dug out those extra black bags that I had from a birthday present I made for a friend and started to fill them up! Here's what they have so far:

• Individual bags with their initials on them - they just grab their own bag & head out to the car!
• Juice Box & little snack - they love having the control over that!
• Crayon Rolls - made them these for Christmas - and a coloring book
• Legos - baby loves them -
• Felt Boards - and I made some shapes, but mainly threw in some felt things we already had around the house.

I'm trying to add different things each week, like a puzzle one time or a different toy. I know there are mom's out there who are absolutely amazing. Who have children who sit there, reverently and never struggle. I am not that Mom. But, the last two Sundays have been fantastic and when each child gets a little older than I'll expect a little less in the way of distractions and more listening. In the meantime, pure bliss!

Be Back Soon!!!

So my computer won't turn on. There is something wrong and *hopefully* my amazing husband can fix it. *Hopefully*. We had Savannah's birthday on Sunday and I made her a banner like this one that I made Ryan for his birthday and a darling little tutu. Of course, I can't load the pictures for it until the computer turns on & I can load the camera pics. Then I am quilting like crazy on the quilt of dreams blanket for St. Jude's children's hospital (Mati gave me the fabric for the top ... so sweet!). It's due today ... guess I should finish the quilting then, right? In the meantime ... wish me luck on my computer!

Mario's Done!

Oh yeah! Cross this off that never ending to-do list! Hunter is so thrilled, he's been dancing, singing and jumping up and down with it. I got the pattern from here and the goomba shoe at the end is here. There are two more marios' on the pattern, but I couldn't stand doing any more of those black stretches on the bottom & he loves it just the way it is. :)

Thrifty Thursday

I had been having some pretty bad luck lately at the thrift stores, but this week definitely paid off for us! :) I love collecting games for the kids and when they are a buck, who can go wrong??? I always make sure to have all the pieces though, and the kids are really enjoying the variety of games we are accumulating now. Here are the three newest finds, and then Hunter found this and BEGGED for it. I figured why not for $2.99 (it still works perfectly too)! Then I was just talking with my friend the other day about wanting to make themed blankets for the major holidays: Christmas, Easter, Halloween, 4th of July, etc. Well, I'm working on Halloween right now, but these 4 yards of easter print were a steal for 75 cents! I think I'll give it to a friend ... she needs an easter stash. :)

Painting and the Farm

I have absolutely no budget for the kids' rooms. Not in the "oh, I can spend whatever I want to" kind of meaning, but the "oh, I only have a few pennies to rub together for a magical room" kind-of meaning. So, I have been slowly accumulating things and next up is Savannah's walls. I really love this wall painting and this one as well. I was planning on keeping Savannah's walls the light purple they are. But after the alphabet painting, Savannah has informed me that she wants pink walls. In fact, she keeps finding my hidden paint stash from the letters and then trying (thankfully up until now unsuccessfully!) to re-paint her room. So, I have started searching the oops paint section at Lowe's & Home Depot. Yesterday, I found these two cans of pink paint! YEAH! And then these smaller cans for the flowers ... I want to keep looking a couple more weeks and then we'll be ready to go. :) In the fabric news, I now have four more baby blankets to complete before mid-October (so excited for the families!). So I picked up this darling ensemble when I did the monthly quilt shopping with the gals from my quilting group. I already know which darling baby is getting it, I just love those bright, bold colors.

My Little Helper

So I promised myself that I wouldn't read blogs or blog or play on the computer until the cross-stitch is done (shouldn't take too long!). This morning, while the kids were eating breakfast, I sat down to work on Mario #8. Savannah came up to watch for a second, snuggled in on my seat and told me that she wanted to be my big girl helper (so sweet). So it's taking a bit longer this morning because of that. I put the needle in the right hole & she pulls up, then I push down. Sweet morning I tell ya'! :)

I couldn't take it anymore!

I am overly attached to my old sewing machine. I love it so much. It's a brother that my husband picked up from Costco and the other machine that I got ... well ... it just wasn't mine. So, I re-craigslisted (is that a real word???) for the same price I bought it for. Which, pays for the repairs on my machine. I should have it back tomorrow. In the meantime, I am finally going to finish up this little mario cross-stitch. My son was so excited this morning, he was singing and dancing to see I'm almost done with Mario #7. The pattern calls for 11 little Mario's, but I am going to scream if I have to do any more black on the bottom ... so it will be done after #9. :)

Over a year in the making

This took a bit longer as the final project & so it's more like 7 projects in 17 days. I under-estimated the paint time, touch up painting and then touching up the touch up painting time. LOL. :)

I have spent a little over a year collecting and looking for bargains on alphabet letters. I had seen this cute collection of different sizes, colors and shapes on a Pottery Barn Kids magazine picture and have dreamed of it ever since.

The last month or so though I really have been spending more time on it. I found those letters at Goodwill and then some clearance letters at Wal-Mart for only 18 cents each! The kids helped paint them all... and then others have scrapbook paper on them ... some have an attempt at the "artistic" set up ... and some are VERY large ...I had earmarked this etsy shop, Under My Umbrella months ago, just waiting for a chance to order from her and she was awesome to work with and a FANTASTIC deal! :) I e-bay'd Hunter's old set of curtains (from Pottery Barn Kids) and that money was almost enough to get six letters from her (with shipping). Look at how cute her letters are! So I spent last week doing a couple of letters a day and here's the end result! I love, love, love this alphabet mural. It's got different sizes, shapes and it really hasn't cost us too much out of pocket (about $30!!!). Mainly sales, and slowly, slowly working on it. I pulled it out the other day to show some of it to Mati and she made the comment that I had been working on this for a loooooong time. But this was so worth the wait! Now to find a cute new light switch cover. ;)