Valentine wreath!

I see it has been almost a week since I have posted anything. Where did that week go???  It has been pretty hectic between my own activities and the kid's activities.  My son had his first basketball game on Saturday.  We got creamed, but he was okay with it because we went out to eat afterward.  

I have been busy at school with our Handmade for Haiti silent auction.  It is going well, so we decided to extend it through this week.

If my potholder pass buddy is reading this, not to fear, you haven't been forgotten.  That is my sewing priority for this week.  I'll post those after I am sure she has gotten them in the mail.  I don't want to spoil her surprise!

Somewhere in between all of our running I realized that I still had mistletoe hanging up.  (How in the world did that happen?!?)  Anyway I took that down and I decided not to let Valentine's Day go by without at least one special decoration, so here it is, my Valentine wreath.

I had great hopes of making it very cutsie, but I didn't have anything on-hand.  I may add some hearts or XOXOs at some point.  I must give credit to Jen at Tatertots and Jello  for this idea.  If you are interested in making one yourself check out her tutorial.  They are made with lots of hot glue and cupcake wrappers.  You would think by age 33 one wouldn't burn herself so much with the hot glue!

Handmade for Haiti...a silent auction

Well, as usual the weekend wasn't quite long enough even with our surprise snow day on Friday. I did accomplish a lot though.  Somehow I finally mustered the energy to clean out my basement and turn it into a sewing room.  I am "sew" glad that I did.  I made two projects last night in no time for our "Handmade for Haiti" silent auction at school.  It's amazing what being organized can do!

I am the advisor for the school's OAmbassador club and my friend Cathy is the advisor for Key Club, so we combined our talents and came up with the idea for a silent auction.  We are getting a variety of items from jewelry to special order cakes.  It is a lot of fun and it is so nice to see everyone pulling together to help out!

Here is a travel pillow that I made for the auction from some Debbie Mumm fabrics that I bought before Christmas.  It was meant to be turned into a quilt, but I think it looks great as a pillow, too.

Here is a "Granny's Clothespin Apron" that I made, too!  It is from the One Yard Wonders book.  I LOVE that book!  The girls at school loved the apron, so I hope there will be lots of bids on it!  My lighting wasn't very good, so I hope that you can see the pockets.

I'll definitely be making more of those.  One for me, too!

And here is the auction table at the beginning of the day.  We have since added some items including a bunch of quilted purses.  I'm thinking about having the boys bake up some more of those dog treats.  I'm sure that there are some dog lovers that would be into those!

It may not look so great with all of the white bidding papers, but hopefully we will raise tons of money for Haiti!

February Friday Night Sew In

Heidi and Bobbi  are hosting the Friday Night Sew In with giveaways again in February!  Check out their blogs for details.  I can't wait to set aside special time for myself and my sewing!  I hope that you'll join us.

Giveaway at Make It and Love It

There is a great giveaway at Make It and Love It!  Head on over to check it out!

Potholder Pass Swap!

My very first swap!  I'm so excited to be a part of this.  I'm pretty new to the world of the sewing blogs, so I never really knew that fun like this existed!  I can't wait to get started!

Oh Happy Dog!

Ever since Thanksgiving the kids have been begging to make cut-out cookies, but their mean mom kept saying no because she knew that she would eat them all.  So today we compromised.  Two words... dog biscuits! They got to roll and cut and I have no desire to eat the results of the rolling and cutting.  Win-win situation!

They helped to measure and mix, roll and cut, and they placed them on the trays.  Mom got the fun job of clean up, which wasn't too bad.  The biscuits are much less messy than sugar cookie dough.

Here are some pics from start to happy dog!  They are lip-smacking good!

And here is the happy dog!

Weekend fun in the sun...

What a great sunny Saturday for a sledding party!  We had such a good time!  Although it made me realize that I better get back to the gym.  That hill was big!  I haven't been sled riding since my 8 year old was born.  I had forgotten how much fun it was.  I only planted my face in the snow once. =)

Boys will be boys...no matter how old they are!

We also hit a milestone on Saturday, too...hubby's car turned 100,000 miles old.  Maybe I'm wierd, but I love to watch the numbers flip when it changes to something big like that.  We had a "mile" high-five when it rolled over.

Here's to another 100,000!

So needless to say, I haven't finished my tablerunner yet.  I did get the backing and batting though, so hopefully it won't be long.

Sew-in results from Friday!

Ok, so this is what I accomplished last night during the sew-in with fellow sewers from Heidi's blog.  Still a WIP, but starting to shape up and look like something. I can't wait to see what everyone else created!

Obviously I am not finished with it, but I am a lot farther along that I was when it was just some strippy squares. I got the idea for this table runner from John at The Quilt Dad .  His work is absolutely beautiful!  The table runner was featured at the Moda Bake Shop . He calls it "Turning Corners".  His was pinwheels, which I had planned to do, but it just looked better as stripes.  I'm off to buy some fabric for the back and some batting today.

Hopefully I can finish this soon, but the weekend is looking a little too busy for that.  If all the snow isn't melted by afternoon we will be off to a sled- riding party.  Have a terrific Saturday!

If you can help the people in Haiti text "Haiti" to 90999 and $10 will go to the people of Haiti, or text "yele" to 501510 for a $5 donation.

Friday Night Sew In

Hey all!  Heidi at Handmade by Heidi is hosting a the Friday Night Sew In.  Sounds like fun!  Head over to her blog for the details.  I'll be participating!  Maybe I can get that table runner finished.

The New Machine!

It arrived yesterday!  I've been debating on whether or not to buy this machine for quite some time now and I finally gave in.  I'm so glad I did!  So far I love it.  It is so cool and even has an alphabet font and tons of decorative stitches!  The boys are loving it, too.  They have both had their first machine lesson on some scraps.

Soon I'll be posting the table runner that I am making from the Birdie honey bun that I bought from Piece  n Quilt . Such a friendly place to shop!  So far the project is super cute!  I love working with the springy colors during the dreary days of January!  Here is a sneak peak of some of the fabric.

Goodwill

Well, I thought I 'd better post something before you all give up on me.  I wish I had some new project pictures to post, but I haven't finished anything that I've started.  I have a couple of things in the works, so hopefully there will be new pics soon.

Yesterday I went to the local Goodwill store.  I've been there many times, but with the wrong attitude.  Carin, if you are reading this, I hope you are smiling!  I came home with a huge garbage bag full of finds!  I was there for what seemed like hours.  Once I found a few cool things, I couldn't stop.  And with the blue tags at just 29 cents who can blame me. I even found a suit at that price.  Some things were new with tags! I may have found my new favorite store.  But never with the kids there!  That would be torture for us all!

Anyway, I got this great gray and pink wool skirt.  The size tag had been removed and of course I had to take a chance at it fitting for just 29 cents.  It looked brand new!  Unfortunately it was a smidge too small, but I was actually happy about that.  I have since ripped it apart and will be making a bag in the near future, as soon as I can get some interfacing.  I'll post the process as soon as it is complete.

I hope everyone is staying warm!  Have a big cup of hot chocolate and relax!

The daily grind

Well, back to reality, with much less time to create.  Everyone has been back to school for two days now and things are back to HECTIC!  Basketball season has started for my 8 year old.  He absolutely loves it though, so it makes it all worthwhile.  I'll have to find some small projects to tote along to practices.  Maybe some embroidery.  I have a Santa WIP, but I'm not so sure that I can do that one so soon after Christmas.  Any other take-along project suggestions?

I got a great new book in the mail yesterday called One-Yard Wonders.  I am so excited to try some of the amazing patterns.  This should help me clean out some of the fabrics that I just had to have, but have never used.  I hope my little Kenmore will be up to the challenge!  I can't wait for the weekend!

Snow day to the rescue!

After much anticipation on the part of my boys, we avoided one Monday of school due to a SNOW DAY!  I love hearing the excitement in their voices when I tell them that news!  Honestly, I was a bit relieved that I didn't have to go back to school yet after the wonderful holiday.  It will be easier to go back to a four day week instead of a five day week.
So, what did we do with our snow day?

The Challenge...

to create something using these left-over fabric scraps.

I was all set to make some flower pins or magnets until my 6 year old genius designer appeared at the table and started cutting.  When he was done his scrap looked like an elephant.  So instead of flowers we made a really awesome pillow from his design.  I love it when we can make things together!  Although I think I promised him that he could learn how to use the sewing machine next time...I'm not really sure that I am up to that.  Oh well, I best keep my promise though.  Anyway, one needle eye through my thumb later (OUCH!), here is the finished project!

Another project...

My totally cool dad retired from his job today after serving the same company for 42 years!  That is truly an accomplishment.  We are all very proud of him.

I made him an apron today.  He said that he will be doing all of the cooking now that he won't be going to work everyday.  Mom will be happy about that.  Anyway, since he loves coffee, I made the accents from a coffee print fabric (the same fabric that I made my kitchen curtains from and the same fabric that I put as my background on my bulletin board at school). The rest was made from a nice heavy denim.  For some crazy reason I had 7 yards of this 60 inch wide denim and ended up washing, drying and ironing it last night.  That was a job!  But now I'll be able to create some cool things with it.  I see a bag in the near future.

Happy cooking, Dad!

The first project of 2010

So they might be really simple, but why start out too difficult.  Here are the pillow cases that I made yesterday.  I got the idea from the travel pillow tutorial  on The Creative Juices of Ariel blog.  This is one of my favorite blogs.  You should definitely check it out if you like to create!

I made these with myself in mind, as I am loving owls at the moment, but I had two little boys asking me if they were for them.  I talked them out of it by promising them some with a fishing theme and a car theme.  They are really quick to whip up, so maybe I'll tackle that today. I'm looking forward to actually putting a pillow form in them too, but it hasn't quit snowing here for days and I can't seem to make myself step outside.  Spring is just around the corner, right??

Coffee... one of life's simple pleasures

What could be better than a steaming hot cup of coffee on a frigid, snowy day like today?

 I have designated today to be yet another day of procrastination, finding all kinds of things to do instead of lesson plans and corrections.  Those things just aren't as fun as watching snow flakes swirl around or looking through my fabric stash.  I better not procrastinate too long though... back to school on Monday.  That will be a definite culture shock.  I've gotten used to sleeping in and dealing only with an 8 and a 6 year old instead of waking up early to a bunch of precious teenagers.

Off to find something to create... and just one more cup of coffee!