Down sizing

Happy picking Daffodils!

Work has been busier than normal the past week or so. I usually work 20 hours a week. But recently another manager quit, and this has shifted more hours onto me and another manager. I dont mind the extra hours for a few weeks .... little extra $$ at payday is always nice. It will be worth it when I see the paycheck .. but for now I'm missing a lot of evening time with family. :(

The flip side of missing evening family time ... is that I dont have to cook. :)

Another good thing ... is that my husband is good at laundry and dishwasher loading. :) And when I have a rough week at work, he picks up some of my slack at the house. This summer I'm going to try and reciprocate and start helping more with yard work! I have an electric weedeater that my Dad gave me ... and I know I can do that while Happy runs around in the back yard. Wont Hubby be surprised! :)

I havent had any time to do anything crafty lately. I was going to get out my scrapbooking stuff and finish up Happy's ... I stopped at 10 months and now he is 2! But I did create a book on Kodak.com and it held about 120 photo's, 26 pages and is only $30.00. That's cheaper than the empty scrapbook I bought.

Hopefully after Relay for Life settles down in April ... and we hire someone at work ... I'll have time to do something crafty. There's a few things I have mind that I'd like to make!

Old Blocks

I was going through a bag of quilt stuff that belonged to my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother. I'm nearly 34 .... and so that means that these things are OLD. :) ha! There are old feed sacks and string/thread that they pulled from the sacks to sew with!


I've been thinking of making a Lone Star quilt. I found this big block (24+ inches) in the bag today. It's a small 8 point star in the middle ... then she angled the same triangle sets around it to make a circle around the star. I love it! It's in really sad shape .... it's hand-peiced and some of the stitching is coming loose and there are some burns or holes in it too. I may end up ironing it and starching it good ... and seeing if I could put it behind glass and frame it. The colors arent great, but the history of it is deeply personal to me. To know that one of my ancestors created this with her own hand .. probably at the end of a long hard day of taking care of rowdy kids... that's special. If I can get it to lay flat, I'll frame it. :)

I originally thought this block was a bear paw block, but after looking online I'm not really sure. I have about 10 of these 12 inch blocks ... and the original paper peiced block she put together first! Anyone know the name of the above block?

This was one of my favorite blocks. There's only one of them .... but there are about 20-30 other blocks around 12 inches that are all different. I could sew them all together to make one quilt sampler.

It's fun to look through old things. Then I saw my box of new fabrics and smiled to think that one day someone would be looking through my stuff and giggling about the fabric choices I made in 2008!!! ha!

Lunch bag

I found this pattern for a lunch bag/gift sack: http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/ideas/projects/objectsgarmentsother/lunchsackgiftbags_1.html

My mom and I met at Hancocks Saturday after I got off work and we picked out our fabric/beading and button for us to each make a sack.

This morning I decided I would just go ahead and make it. Happy played with scraps of fabric and acted like he was cooking bacon!!

So the pictures above show my materials, and then the finished bag front and back. I wish it was taller, though. If I made it again I would probably add about 3-4 inches on the top. I think I would have had more material out of the fat quarters to make it taller.

It was fun to make. I'll use it for carrying a small lunch to work, or as a makeup bag on overnight trips.

Magic

That's right. Here's where the magic happens ..... my office. And here's Happy too! :)

My Dad built/made this desk/bookcase for me when I was in High School.... let's see....that would be about 18 years since he made this? Probably 1990 ..and I graduated in 1992. Eek! Long time ..

You cant tell from this picture, but there are two more shelves above that one, and each side on the bottom has two drawers. It's a nice desk and it means a lot to me. Now, I should probably get started cleaning it up. I can't stand clutter, and this is the most cluttered part of my home. But by the time I sit down at my desk at night, after work or after a long day .... I just want to veg out and play on the computer (ohhh and I miss playing at www.Pogo.com!).

So a new goal is to clean up the place where the magic of my blog happens..... sometime this month.

:)

My stash

Okay, I have more than one "stash" at the moment. This is my fabric stash. Its not too big, not too little. But looking at this picture makes me hate the store bought quilt on my bed right now... only thing is that I love the weight of the quilt. Just wish it looked like a fancy designer duvet cover instead!

In my kitchen, there is another stash ..... reeses peanut butter eggs. Ha!

Snowy day here, but it was melted by afternoon. Would have made for a nice snowy craft day inside, but instead Happy and I were outside before 8:00 am playing in the snow! We even went out before eating breakfast!

My eyes!

None of these fabrics were bought with any rhyme or reason behind them .... it was one of those days where I saw a sale and had to get something bright and pretty. Our local quilt store is suddenly closing due to the owner being ill, and everything in the store was on sale. So I got 3 yards of the yellow print, and then the rest are fat quarters. I dont know what I'll do with them, but one day I'll figure that out. Until then, these may be so bright that it'll hurt your eyes!

This store was also where I could rent time on the long arm quilt machine. I have two quilt tops that I was going to schedule time to quilt them. Now I either have to figure out how to do it at home on my machine (uhhh, yeah.. handquilting is out of the question for me!)... or find somewhere else I can rent a machine.

I guess while I'm pondering how to get these tops quilted, I can just collect fabric. After all I dont even really have a stash to work from!

Dancing and Working

The title says it all. I've been dancing and working. Whew ....

Wait a minute, that could sound bad. I haven't been dancing WHILE working ... or working while dancing or any combination of those. ha! I fear that if that was the case, I'd be one poor mamma! Unless the object of the job is to get paid to STOP dancing ... ha!

So I can mark something off my list of goals. My sweet hubby got me Dance Dance Revolution Disney Channel Edition for Vday! I was so tickled to get it!! (now, all of you can stop laughing!). It is seriously fun, though. And there's a workout section so that you can track calories burned, etc. I haven't done much from the workout section ... my goal is to get a perfect dance score! Little Happy has fun dancing on a Barney dance mat that was once Sunshine's ... and he jumps along with me as I dance.

Aside from that I've been working my usual 20 hrs a week. Not much time for crafty things lately. But I'm still looking for just the right pattern for the cherry fabric. And I know I want to make Happy a quilt someday too. I know the pattern I want to use for him, but not the fabrics.

Relay for Life stuff is fast approaching ,and taking up some of my daytime free time. After April I'll get back into regular stuff.

But then after April, it'll soon be time to plant some flowers and my little garden! We have sweet little raised bed flower/vegetable garden in our backyard. I'll need to get some more dirt and add to it this year. This past summer I didnt keep up with the veggies, and pretty much just scattered zinnia seeds everywhere ... and the bee balm sort of took over. I'm going to do something with that this year. :) Enjoy the picture from July 07 in my garden!

Love is in the air!

Yep, that's right ... love is in the air! And I'm not talking about sappy lovey dovey Valentines love ...... I'm talking secrect stash love!

I bought these 12 fat quarters at a wonderful quilt shop. I fell in love with the bottom fabric first. I love red cherry fabric... then the rest just sort of fell into place. I have no idea what pattern I'll do with these, but I'm enjoying flipping through magazines and websites for ideas. I think I have a good mix of dark/light for each set.

No matter what I make out of them, I'm sure I'll love it.

Polka Dot Parade

I finished piecing the Polka Dot Parade top .... now to decide on borders/binding and backing colors. Originally I had planned on doing a solid black border and binding .. .to tie together with the black center blocks. But now I dont know if that will work or not. It's bigger than I had thought it would be too!

All the fabrics are polka dot (except the white solids) ...and I love how that clashes with the squareness of the 9 patches. I used a cheaper white fabric and really could tell the difference between it and the nice Kona cotton I have used before.

Brain Age

Art by Happy - copyright 2008

I'm 33 years old and I love video games. I confess. In our house is a playstation 2 (and about 10 games), a nintendo gamecube and nintendo DS. And I play them all. And I'm the proud player that won 3 different Ratchet and Clank games. My latest love is Brain Age for the DS. Maybe by playing all these games, my brain age will become nice and young and supple.

Only a saggy 33 yr old would think of supple brains, cause certainly nothing else is supple. Now it's turned into one of "those" words ... you know the kind. The one that is normal, but when you say it over and over it sounds weird ... and when you write it it looks weird? Supple. Yep, weird.

So for Valentines day my husband already knows that he can get me either Flash Focus for DS OR jewelry and i'd be tickled with either of them. And secretly, I want want want want want Dance Dance Revolution Disney edition..... I mean, come on .. it would help me shed this last 50 pounds I need to lose!!

I've got some goals for the coming month.......

1. Organize the "office" part of our bedroom.
2. Get Happy's Scrapbook up to date!
3. Finish the polka dot quilt
4. Get the polka dot quilt and the batik quilt on the quilting machine at the quilt shop.
5. get Dance Dance Revolution Disney Edition.......
6. Whoooops..... delete number five for a while.... because secretly I want a Wii even more.
7. Lose 10 pounds.

I feel tired already. :)

Settling down

Misty River Morning - photo copyright 2005

One of the things I love at night, is the sound of my son settling down at night in his bed. After I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and a few odd verses of Lean on Me that I love (lean on me, when your not strong, and I'll be your friend .. I'll help you carry on.... Just call on me brother, when you need a friend, cause we all need someone to lean on)... I dont know if those are the "right" words to that song .. but it fits perfectly. Like, for Sunshine we always sang You Are My Sunshine each night ...and she was certainly our Sunshine. And Happy is our little Twinklin' Star ...and I hope he always knows he can call on me/us!

I'm rambling...

So, after I sing (wouldnt THAT have been shorter to say!)..... and I leave his room.... Happy will lay on his tummy in the dark and start talking softly. Some nights it is only a few minutes of talking and sometimes it is 15 min of talking! I love to have the baby monitor on (yes, he's 2 and I will use that monitor in his room until he's old enough to move it out himself ...and then I plan on disguising it and putting it back!).... anyway. I love to listen to him talking. He talks softly and has serious tonal inflections .... up and down, highs and lows. Sometimes I can understand what he's saying and other times I just hear the sound of his little husky toddler boy voice. It soothes my soul to hear him settling down and talking about his day. He sounds content.

Maybe we should all do that to settle down? At what point in life did we stop doing that, and started laying in bed in the dark and our thoughts whiz through our heads keeping us awake for hours? What if we just spoke out loud about our day, our feelings ...... and then close our eyes and go quickly to sleep? What a difference that may make!

I wonder if I would ramble during my settling down talk?

Progress

I've gotten five sets of 9 patches completed. I have some mismatched pieces left that I'll try and put together some way .... but there should be enough of the black polka dot to use as center pieces to pull it all together.

Sewing is relaxing. It's like therapy ... my hands and mind keep busy, and I make something pretty and useful at the same time. I mean, I could keep my hands and mind busy doing .... well .... I'm sure there's other things to do to keep my hands and mind busy and be productive at the same time. I just cant think of it. My mind's been too busy.

Men and their toys

You certainly dont want to get in the way of men and their toys.

For instance:

My son and his new train track ....

Or my brother and his train....

Boys and their toys, gotta love it.

Seeing dots

I've decided on this 9 patch pattern for the polka dot fabric. I'm going to try and have a black polka dot in the center of each 9 patch and then use a black fabric for a border or binding. I'll have a white square between these blocks.

It'll be bright and cheery .. just what I like.

Happy boy had a great 2nd birthday. He loved his presents, the cake, and the special visits from family and friends.

And I enjoyed watching him be a little big boy. Its fun to watch him grow.

M

I have polka dot fever. It's bad, I know. It has a mind of its own ... and obviously wants to be orange. Do these colors go together? Not really ... are they all the same intensity? Mediums? (well, except for the black which is definately my darks) .... Can I pull all these together into one quilt that wont burn someone's eyes??

We'll see.

Happy turns Two tomorrow. I can't wait!

Transformation!

"I'm turning Two ... what's it to you?"

You remember the sweet little boy of whom I sang the praises of for his wonderful year .... the boy that Santa bestowed good presents for?

He is turning Two.

The Transformation has begun.

Let me share with you the dreaded signs of Transformation To the Terrible Twos!

1. Tonight, while sitting on the floor watching Shrek Two .... his pointer finger was in his mouth and he was sucking it loudly. I say "Case, what are you doing!!?" (he's been so good at not putting his hands in his mouth for months!). To which, Case turns around and tells me "Eating.". I say "What are you eating??" (fearing that he would say boogers) ... but instead Happy says "Breakfast!" Then sticks his finger in his mouth and continues "eating". Hey... at least it wasn't boogers!

2. Tonight while Happy was sitting in the bathtub playing with some bath toys ... he suddenly scoonched (yes, that's a word) down in the tub, spread his legs apart a little bit ... looked down between his legs and proceeded to watch LOTS of bubbles float up from under his booty. Yep.... he took a Fart Jacuzzi and never even said Excuse Me.

See, the transformation to Two? It's a good thing I'm ready to handle it ... after all, haven't we all had a Fart Jacuzzi at some time or other? ha!

A year in review

This Christmas night, as I sat with our almost two year old son ... I started to tell him all the Good Boy things he has done this year that Santa will be bringing him gifts as a reward for being good.

What a wonderful year for Happy! Once I started thinking of this year of his, I was bowled over by how much he's changed. I think that this will be the year he changes the most in his life. As illustrated below:

This Year Case ....

1. Learned to Walk!
2. Then learned to Run!
3. Learned to go Potty!
4. Learned to talk in complete sentences (Open the gate! I can eat Cookie! I go potty! Daddy and Mommy Funny! I talk PawPaw and MawMaw!...etc.)
5. Learned to undress himself! Ack!!
6. Learned to throw trash away in the trash can.
7. Learned good manners .... says Thank you and Please!
8. Learned that when a camera is around ... to squeeze a cheezy grin and say "CHEESE!"
9. Learned about Santa and presents and Baby Jesus!
10. Has become such a big boy, no longer a baby.


And he's a good boy. I'm proud of him. And I think that Santa will agree.

Merry Christmas. May all your years be as rewarding as Happy's Year has been!

The windows of this house are panes of a soul.

They show the heart of the home that was.

The porch of this house is the sole of the home,

that shows the love that was.

Where time left this home, it's easy to see.

Dusting off the porch, sitting in a sturdy chair ... waiting for a visit.

Although this home and the soul within is long gone,

tis not forgotten.

Happy Face

Well, I pestered my MUCH older brother (hehe) to send me this picture. He and his son (my darling handsome nephew!!) were riding fourwheelers along the banks of the river recently, and my brother managed to create this great smiley face. I just love it!!!

I had ridden back there with my son and my mom recently too ... but all I did was take pictures of the flowers and trees and water. I didnt do one thing creative!

I love this picture and hope that you all do too!

M