{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.

An Evening with Mozart

This past Saturday started out as a dreary, foggy day. In the early afternoon, the fog lifted,

our kids left to spend the night with Hop and Nana (thank you!!), and Bob and I headed downtown for a date. We spent the afternoon walking around downtown.

(That's Lewis and Clark in the foreground)

I enjoyed my first "Flying M" mocha. Yum!

We were getting a bit cold and needed to find someplace for dinner.

We happened to be right by the Spaghetti Factory, so we stopped in there.

We used to go quite often when we lived in Portland, but we've only been once or twice

since we've moved here. Their Creamy Pesto dressing is still delicious!

We stayed the night at the Courtyard Marriot. Such a beautiful hotel!

The Courtyard.

I'd like to come back when everything is blooming and it's a bit warmer.

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying some of

Mozart's work. Simply beautiful!

~~~

Thanks, Bob, for a wonderful Christmas gift!

It was so nice to spend some time with you before tax season swallowed you up!

When it's time to decorate for Christmas, I prefer to decorate with snowmen.

Besides being cute, they can remain out until spring time. This year, however,

my snowmen are making an early departure. I needed spring colors and a bit of

Valentine's red, pink and white.

Bob gave me this on our wedding day.

Miss Emma has become the "Go Fish" Queen. Yesterday, we played three games. She won two of them. And in one game, I didn't get a single match! After that game, she said, "Mom, can we play another game? I promise I won't win this one!" But, she did!

Bob took Ryan to Scouts last night and came home with these.

A month ago, I would have eated on of them right away. Last night when they appeared on the counter, all I would think was how incredibly disgusting they looked!

(If I'm gonna have a treat, it's going to be worth eating!)

The main reason I was able to avoid them was the calendar posted on

my cabinet. It shows my exercise for the month so far. Most of it is either walking or riding the recumbant bike (often while using the exercise band or weights for my arms). Since January first, I've walked/biked 15 days. (The others were either Jillian micheal's Yoga, volleyball, etc). In those 15 days, I've 'traveled' 131.3 miles. And it feels soooo good!

~~~

Happy weekend to all. The hubby and I have plans for a downtown date.

Can't wait!