Friday, September 7, 2012

Rope Rug


I am a huge fan of braided rugs. I would love to have one in my home. I think they inspire the Anne of Green Gables in me, that basic vintage life and I long for. But they cost so much. I realized that if I want one in my home I will need to make it. I've gathered scraps of material for years, intending on braiding one yet I realize the work that goes into braiding and sewing them together might be a bit daunting. I changed focus a little bit and found this rope in my stash and thought that it might be the perfect balance of making a rug without the labor of braiding strands of fabric together. 

Really it is quite simple. I used an overlock stitch on my sewing machine to bind the two cords together, then the time is spent going round and round.  This is just the beginning.  I'll up date this post when I have it finished. 





Tuesday, August 21, 2012

I'm Back

What a Great Summer. It was very low key for my family and we had a blast just being together. But like all good things, there is a time for them to end and start the next chapter. School for my kids is year round. I really like it and I think they do to. School started about 3 weeks ago and we are counting down the weeks till our fall break. It brakes up the school year so that the kids don't get burnt out. So with this year and my kids all in school, even my youngest in Joy School ( a home based preschool). I have a few hours to myself each week. This is were I will fill my time. Blogging about all of the fabulous projects that I have going on and finished!!


Here are some pictures of the fun things that we did over the summer.

I really got into quotes this summer. I have a hard time remembering the great quotes I hear so I've hung them up all over my house. This was a great website you should go visit.
SpirituallyThinking

This is just a tidbit.. a morsel of a quilt to come. I'm so excited!



My little girl sits so still for so long for me to create on her head.


We had lots of fun finger painting with chocolate pudding.



We went to our county fair, we might be odd, but found the livestock and craft pavilions to be the best part of the fair. I was amazed at the quilts. I plan to enter one next year!



These are some of the best French Fries that I have ever made.


 My chickens have struggled this summer with the heat and also mites, more of that story later, but look at the size of the egg she still gives us.


My garden now has extra protection from the birds. I might get a crop of tomatoes this year.



The kids loved these little piggies as a summer treat. They were so easy to make and sweet to eat.




Look at my grass!! I've been mowing it every week and now, with a tip from my sister in law we water at night. Look at the great place to play, even in the heat we spend evenings in the back yard.

Check back in soon. I have so much more to show and tell.


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

A Type of Change



"I am grateful for my body, I choose to love it and support it by wearing clothes that honor it, eating foods that nourish it, and choosing activities that keep it fit and balanced."


Before and After





30 days of dressing my Type 2






 What's sad, is that I took this picture because I thought I looked great.
 I was headed out for my anniversary dinner.




My youngest son took this for me today, this is what I look like just around the house. Nowhere special to go and I still had hours before my husband would be home from work.

I'll post more about this soon. Feel free to ask me questions.


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Summer

I have been loving the summer. It is great to have my kids home, they play well together that always want to have a fun day.  I've been teaching swimming lessons, we've done a lot of reading and gone to visit family. "It is going to quick" says my oldest son, but I feel like it to. Sometimes in those perfect mother moments, I want to hold on to those little kids forever and have them never grow up.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

So I didn't win

So I didn't win.

The contest was won by an amazingly talented women named Angela Pingal. She has a great blog at Cut to Pieces, I've already found great ideas. I glad that such a neat, self-taught, quilt lover won the prize. It was quite a prize and I hope she LOVES it.
I have taken some time to reflect and adjust to a life of reality instead of  blissful dreams of me winning all of that great stuff, but alas the day goes on and I'll find my big break the hard way. Not that Angela didn't win the hard way, I'm sure it was a month of intense work.
 Again "Great Job".

So on to the next project and the next set of dreams… stick with me it will be fun to see.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Now we sit and wait

The addition for the Moda Sliced competition just ended, and I won't know until Sunday if I am in the top four. There were so many good ideas, I'm trying to keep my assurances up. I have a hard time sleeping now just for the fact of trying to think of every possible new thing that I could design. If anything else good comes out of this at least I have a few great ideas for future projects.  I'll let you know.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Moda Bakeshop Sliced Contest Entry

I entered the Moda Bakeshop Sliced Contest.

I would love to win, I guess that is the reason anyone joins a competition. The grand prize would be amazing. I am in need of a good sewing machine and this one would be a dream, but I have other reason for winning to. It would be a great chance to get my foot in the door with an amazing group of Chiefs, Designers, that love the same things I do. I really think this would be a great start at my dreams of getting a successful blog and business going. Just to be mentioned on their website would be an honor. Enough of my dreaming, look what I made.


 If you know me well, you know that I love clocks maybe a little bit more the fabric, thats almost shocking to me.  So when the parameters of the competition was to make a office or studio accessory my first thought was a clock. I made a sample one first just to see if the idea were feasible.  It seemed to really fit together, and so I bought  some Moda fabric and started on the official entry.  Here are the pictures I submitted.  My family has been a great support. Thanks So Much.







Tell me what you think!!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Miserable vs. Rewarding


Last night I sat down to start the first few stitches of my quilt and discovered that I had lost my thimble! A thimble is very important piece of equipment for quilting and I just could not start without one. My loving husband, floored that I did not have a spare, jokingly asked if he could make me one out of Duck Tape. His face registered surprise when I immediately took him up on the offer. He had me run and find a button to give it some strength in the end and set to work. It worked great! I went through a couple of them, and each new one got better and better. I really was amazed, the duck tape thimble worked well and was really comfortable. See how resourceful you can get when you really want to quilt!






Saturday, February 4, 2012

Scripture Cover

A few weeks ago I did a post about my first adventures on Pinterest.
I found a book cover and really wanted to make it for my scriptures. I got a new set for my birthday and wanted to keep them nice from the start.  I really liked this tutorial and found the pattern quite easy to follow. I added my own flap so that it would close around front, just to protect the pages and little more. It really was simple and easy and a fun day project.
Go to her website if you would like to craft this yourself. ~By Small Means~

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Tucson AZ Gem and Mineral Show

It is sad to say it,  but I have never been to the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. I never knew much about it. But yesterday and friend brought me out of my obscurity and took me to the gem show. I am still a novice in understanding it facets, I guess there are different areas set up around town, some that cost money to enter, some you can't bring kids, but the one I went to was free. It was more like a local bazaar than a gem show. It was set up in the parking lot of the Kino Sports complex and said they would be there through the 12th of Feb. We saw a lot of neat handmade wood working and home decor. There were really neat carved furniture and beautiful paintings.

My friend had mostly gone to get the jewelry. It was very inexpensive but well made, and I found several pieces that I liked very much. They had most of the bracelets and necklaces 1/2 off and all of their sterling silver too. The most expensive piece that I liked was thirteen dollars. I did find this bracelet that I really like for $4.00, I thought it was a bargain!




Tell me if you decide to go, I would want to catch a ride and go again!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Spring Graden



 I thought I would let you in on my secret. My goal this year is to be one step ahead of my husbands questions with the garden. Throughout our marriage he has definitely been the back bone of the garden. I'm out there helping for sure, but it never has been my first priority. He has expressed on many occasions that he would love to see me excel at gardening as my mother, and his mother did before me. 
So I am going to give it a whirl. I hope that as the year goes on I can post happy pictures of a flourishing garden.  This is what I have started so far.  Broccoli and Alyssums have sprouted first and tomorrow I plant tomatoes, cauliflower, and bell peppers. 







Last Years Garden





It looks so pretty when the plants are all young. Last year was our first season in our home, and with that came not knowing where the sun really will shine. Also the bugs took their toll, on our tomatoes, I think out of 10 plants we ate 6 -8 tomatoes. Those big, green, tomato horn worms are nasty. We pulled them off by the dozens. This year it will be better. I will fight a stronger fight. We did get a great crop of watermelon. We planted to plants and got 8 large watermelon. I had never seen them grow so well.







Monday, January 2, 2012

The Joy of Pinterest

   

    Over the holidays I heard from many a sister in law that I needed to get acquainted with pinterest. I know about Pinterest from my sister's wedding planning, she used it all the time and was able to send and save pictures she liked. So now that the holidays are over and I'm back to normal schedule I've found the time to get on and look at what is available on Pinterest.

I have looked only a little and I am amazed. So far I've looked up ideas for:

Family Home Evening Charts,

                                                                  ~ simple as that~



Family Tree Pictures,



                                                             ~Legacy Family Trees~


Scripture covers,
                                                              ~By Small Means~





Scripture Tote,

                                                                 ~I Still Love You~


I'm so excited to have this new resorce. How did I get along without it? 

Thank you, Thank you to those sisters who have gotten me hooked!