Pink and Blue

Someone in our family recently painted their living room the pink in the

above fabric...one wall the darker pink and the other three the lighter pink. All of their furniture and drapes are the blue found in the larger squares. While visiting their hometown, I happened to find the pink/blue Batik that matches perfectly and planned to make her a table runner.

Not sure if she'd use a table runner, I instead made a square piece...it can be used on their table, under their TV, on the back of their couch or as a wall hanging.

It's a sad, sad day!

Emma's pink cowgirl boots are officially too small.

She's stuffed her feet into them for two years, looking cute with both skirts and jeans.

Alas, no more...

Slow winter months

Our family loves to spend time outside, but January and February tend to be spent inside. It's sunny out, but windy and cold. It's a nice rest before the outside work begins in March.

So, here's a little of what we've been doing. Ryan has spent quite a bit of time reading, and some time on his DS.

Emma spends her time playing on the living room floor. I love how she combines all of her toys and makes up stories as she goes along.

Here's a little Pet Shop, Polly Pocket and Play Mobile mixed together.

Lots of crafts

Before tax season gets too busy, Bob and Ryan are spending some time on their Pine Wood Derby cars. Last year, they kinda threw them together at the last minute.

This year, they have plans of cool designs and speed!

I got Bob a Dremel for Christmas. They were excited to use it for the first time on the cars.

We did decide, however, that it would no longer be used in the kitchen.

Sawdust everywhere!

The kids cook at least once a week. It's so nice to see them work together.

What they choose is not usually the most healthy meal, but we always try to add a salad to the meal.

Emma is already borrowing my shoes! I can't believe she was able to walk in these!

I've been spending a bit of time on this. More pics after it's been delivered...

So that's what we've been doing. Not too exciting, but I had post something so I didn't have to look at the picture of the 1/4" masking tape every time I pulled up the blog. :)

{favorites}

Just a few of my favorite sewing tools.

I'm still working on my completely handmade quilted wall hanging...it's so nice

to have something that easily transported, doesn't have a deadline and can be put aside when needed. When I was sewing each square together, I'd measure and then mark the seam line with a washable pencil. Now that I'm sewing rows together, that gets a bit more difficult. I was so glad to find, very cheap at JoAnn's, 1/4" masking tape. It's perfect for keeping my seams straight.

Another problem I had was keeping my strips in order. Right next to the 1/4" masking tape, I found (also very cheap), a set of 26 safety pins with 26 beads, marked with the letters of the alphabet. Not only does this help me keep the rows in order, but if I put all of the pins on the left side, then I always know which way to place the strips.

Mom gave me the quilt that she made for me and Bob, but it still needs to have the binding put on. She also gave me a bag of cut binding, but it wasn't yet folded into the double fold biased tape that I like to use. This tool made it so much easier and faster! The only hard part is getting the fabric through the first time; the directions say to use a pin to pull it through, but it is a bit tricky. If anyone has any tricks...

A Kiss A Day...

This was such a fun and fast project! Why should Christmas get all of the fun?!

Here's a "Kiss A day" 14-day countdown for Valentine's Day.

This one is for Ryan, so a bit less of the ribbon.

This one is for Emmalee

{Clipboards :: Wal-Mart, Patterned Paper:: Yellow Bicycle,

Solid Cardstock:: Stampin' Up!, Adhesive:: Stampin' Up! and Tombo}

From Men's Shirt to Emma Skirt

Last year, my dear friend (and inspiration) at Dandelion Bones made her daughter

a skirt out of a men's dress shirt. I found this XXL shirt at Goodwill for just a few dollars many months ago. It's sat in my "to-do" pile and finally emerged today as this...

I love how it turned out!

She really didn't want to pose for pictures for me, but I think she's getting into it!

We also discovered that, when unbuttoned and worn backwards, it makes a great apron!

{{If there's enough interest, I have photos to do a tutorial. Just leave a comment!}}

Then and Now

January 2005

Age Four

Age Three Weeks

January 2011

Age Ten

Age Six

For Bob's desk at work

{ten things i love}

~i love~

1. listening to the stories that are told on my living room floor

2. my art-covered table

3. taking a break from reading, to play this for a few minutes.
(Ryan is required to read 100 minutes a week. His log normally is between 300-600 minutes (in the winter, anyway). One of his classmates reads as much as he does, but she read over 900 minutes last week. The other kids challenged her to pass 1000 this week. Ryan took it upon himself to try and beat her...he logged in 1100 minutes!


4. lows in the high 20's rather than highs in the low 20's.


5. grocery shopping with coupons


6. anticipation of that first ray of sunshine as the sun burns through the fog


7. special times between children and their grandparents


8. how my backyard looks this January as compared to last January (when we bought the house)


9. the beginning of tax season...because it means the end of it is one day closer as each day passes


10. my craft "to-do" list...includes a few things for the house, a few skirts for Emma,
jammie bottoms for Ryan, binding the quilt Mom made for us, a friend's birthday gift, etc.