Merry, Merry!

With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I finished a few items in the last couple of weeks, although one gift was given unfinished because I need to size it!  Which D2 was ok with, as long as we finish it this weekend.  

This is D1's little karate doll.  Except.....I forgot to stick it under the tree!Oh, well. Christmas will just last a little longer!

 This is a pillow cover I started last year, and then lost.  I found it!  Now I need to figure out what to do with it!

 These are a couple of Christmas gifts,  the little sailboat is cross stitched and then sewn onto the side of the box.  My Christmas table runner is finally done, I think I started it 2 years ago! And a green table runner.  Which I also have to figure out what to do with!

Now, with New Year's on Tuesday. I am off to see what else I can accomplish!

Almost there!!!!

OPAM will be over in just a couple of weeks, and Christmas is here next Tuesday!!  I am happy to say that my Christmas makings are almost done.  I do have one project that I won't be able to work on til D2 is away for part of next weekend, but everything else is almost done.  I mean, I need to sew in ends on one other thing!!  I may even get some down time this year!!!

On the left are wrist warmers for D1.  She is moving to Kansas with her other parents, and we don't know if they are moving themselves or having the military do it, so we took that into account with her gifts.  On the right are elf slippers for D2, and in the middle a doll for D2.  The one item I need to finish off the last little bit is a doll for D1.  This is short and sweet do I can finish up my "have to do" list and maybe do some of those little extras!!!

I think the holiday season is here!

In the last 5 days, I've been home after bedtime.  So I am running behind and constantly trying to catch up.  So far it isn't working!  However, before the schedule went haywire, I did manage to finsh a couple of things.  First, a quilt I started 6 or 7 years ago.  

 I finished it for a friend who has a red white and blue living room.  Some of the fabric dates back to when I did NOT know how to tell cotton from not-cotton!  But she loved it anyways, so it is now being used instead of sitting on shelf somewhere.

I also managed to get 6 of these done, probably because I didn't do any embellishing!  DH said no, they are fine, and if I started I'd get frustrated and stressy due to time.  So for once I did as he asked!

 One for me, one for a gift exchange, one for my MIL, and three for friends.  I found the design here. She has some amazing projects on her site, and it makes me wish I could like white as a decor color!

And, at last, a Christmas present is done!  These are for D1,and I am hoping to finish the pair for D2 today.  Elf slippers are just the thing for the girls, however I need to get a third ball of green yarn!!

Off to a holiday luncheon, then shopping.  I think I want an early bedtime, or Santa won't leave ME anything! :)

One is better than none!

Last week I only finished one project.  I am okay with that at this point, only because I made huge leaps towards finishing other projects!  I finished the back of a sweater I started YEARS ago, and am half through the front right.  Thankfully, there are no sleeves to knit!  

So here is my one lonely finish.  As with most of my cross stitch, it was a kit that had come with my magazine.

  I do have to say, I've never seen a photo these guys smiling, but he is rather cute.  He will be a gift for a mom we know who is from England.  

These week I am going to keep trudging through.  And maybe attempting some Christmas shopping while I am at it.   

His vacation is over!

DH was home for the last week, and the kids were home for all but ONE day!  So last week I posted nothing, and finished almost nothing!  It was a good week, but between everyone home and the Thanksgiving weekend, all the schedules were out of wack.  I don't think laundry got done for three days!  So this week is catch up, with a "how much can I get done" vibe.  With 1 month left of OPAM, I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed by how many projects I still have to finish.  I am going to have to schedule time without the kids home to get some Christmas stuff done!!!

My finishes last week were simple.  First, a bookmark for S2.  I wasn't keen on the kit but it came with my magazine, and I was going to stash as a "I have no money" project.  But he LOVED it.  So I worked the kit up for him, and told him he probably shouldn't take it to school, LOL.

So here it is, in all it's retro glory.  Now he is desperate for a book worthy of it. Next was a Christmas bunting for etsy.   I love buntings.  I love how they change the look of the room, how easy they are to change in and out, how easy they are to store...so many reasons to love them! 

For this week, it's just cram time.  I have several knit and crochet projects in the works. Granny squares are easy when the boys are having nerf wars and the girls are baking.  I have some new sewing projects as well as ll the old ones to finish.  So I'll just keep my fingers crossed no one gets sick!

On this Monday.....

I want to start out by thanking our servicemen and women for their service.  I know some who are feeling like this day is a joke this year, after what has been in recent news.  And maybe there are elements of truth to that. But for me and my family, we are grateful for those who are or were willing to serve and those of our older generations who fulfilled their draft obligations. 

On a much more mundane note, my week was more productive than I had expected.  I finished several items for the school bazaar.  Below are 8 felt rings I made.  The girls tend to snap these up on the first day.  So I make as many as I make, and let them sell out.

 And I finished these boxes.  They only had 4 left at the end of the first day!  I love doing projects like that, because when they sell out, I know somebody is happy with I made.  And that is the whole point of crafting in my world!

I also finished an autumn bunting for etsy.  I really love how these warm up some of the empty spaces in our house.  And with a 1960's split level, we have a lot of bare walls and windows.  I do need to find a spot that is a bit easier to reach for taking photos.  Climbing up the side of our entry way is one reason I am not getting a lot of these done!  Someplace eye level would be good!

This week I think I only have one meeting, so I am hoping to work on Christmas presents. If I can get time without kids in the house!  My only major complaint about homeschooling is that I can't work on gifts while they are right there!!!

Back in to the goove of things...

We had carnival.  It was amazing!  The kids had a blast, all the shifts were covered, the gym is back to being a gym, and I spent a week semi-comatose!  After we finished clean up, I tried to spend the weekend in DH's recliner.  Except we had a birthday party for D2 the next day, but at her age, the girls eat cake, open presents, and spent hours giggling on the floor.  I did finish two more of the knit eye balls and 4 more Halloween buntings,  although I have no pictures because I can't find my camera. LOL, it is always like this after carnival.  I have a love-hate relationship with carnival, mostly because I have so many other things going on.  Scouts and school and dinner don't stop for carnival.  Housework does, though! I am looking forward to this week: no major plans!  Just getting life in order for the holidays.  Which means we purge the house, since I am not bringing anything in unless stuff goes out;  getting the shopping lists in order, and sizes of the kids to grandma.  Easy peasy. 

My OPAM total for this month was 15 finishes.   For some reason, the list has gotten longer over the year, instead of shorter!  And with 2 months to go, I'd like to make the most of it.  It may take a new level of determination to get everything done I wanted to, but if I just keep my head down and keep going, maybe I'll get there!

Crazy!!!

Nothing finished last week, and no time to type since it is CARNIVAL WEEK!  YAY!!!

What is it about phones??

As soon as you are the phone, the kids need you for everything! LOL...and you really can't do much while you are on the phone!  There were lots of phone meetings for the school carnival this week, which let to lots of starts and stops. But I did finish a couple of things.  First, the table mats I had left off with last week.  Done!  I only took a photo of one, since they are so similar.  Stitching down the binding is a little tricky when taking notes and holding the phone, but definitely doable.  As long as you don't lose the needle!

 These eyeballs were a pattern in my knitting magazine.  The kids saw them started making color requests.  DH said get the yarn, and even drove me to the yarn store! So I think he likes them as well.  The purple and orange were made following the yarn and needle instructions.  The big red one was crocheted, and the little red one followed the magazine pattern, but with a much smaller yarn yarn and needle.  the kids are hoping for more, but we'll see. Not exactly a have to do kind of thing.

I do think the jar needs an "eye of newt" label, even if the eyes are too big.  Or, if I make enough, an eyeball garland along the windows!

Next week, school carnival.  So there maybe nothing posted or finished.  We'll see how much phone time I get!

Can it be holiday season yet?

With a birthday and Halloween still 3 weeks away, followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas, and New Years, I am ready to start my holiday preparations.  I AWLAYS seem to bite of more than I can chew.  There is so much fun stuff to do, as well as the actual work, like winterizing the house, and getting everything cleaned up outside.  The past week has been busy, between popcorn sales for Scouts, canning blackberry jam, working on the Halloween projects.  The good news is boys are making good progress on their popcorn goals, I shouldn't have to buy jam for awhile and, I am almost ready to break out the the Thanksgiving stuff!  

These are my finished sewing projects from last week.  Three out of five table mats done.  One is for me, one is for a silent auction/drawing basket, and one is for etsy.  I'll probably finish the other two today and tomorrow.  Then I only have 4 more Halloween projects to finish.   I think.

Here is a close up of one of them.  the thing I really liked was how 1) I have no more Halloween fabric to use. (YAY!!! New fabric next year!) and 2) even though they use the same fabrics, some are brighter and some are darker, depending on fabric placement. My favorite fabric is the black and white "cartoon" fabric.  It reminds me of some of the book illustrations when I was younger.  

We canned 25 jars of blackberry jam, and the kids are hoping for more.  We'll see if we get more berries.  They are coming really late this year, so I might be able to get at least 2 more batches done.  We also have green beans to make dilly beans with.  Half the family loves them, and the other half not so much.  My sewing goals are all over the place.  I have so much I want to do and only so much time!! 

Last week was a flurry of activity.  On top of my sewing projects, we got two sides of the house primed, and one side painted.  We only have one left!  This has been a project that has taken way to long.  We didn't have to money to rent a scaffold, so DH has been using a ladder.  Which made it go so slow.  My dad brought scaffolding up for a day, and we knocked out as much as we could between the morning burnoff and sundown.  If we can get one more day like that, we'll be done! 


As for sewing, I finished 4 more Halloween buntings.  The top three are for my etsy shop, and the bottom one is mine for Halloween.  Not that there is any difference, but it helps to plan it out so I know where to put it when they are done! :) 

I have a few more to do, one of which will be used for hot lunch on Halloween, and one that will go into a silent auction at the Halloween carnival.   Those are on the agenda for this week.  As well as finishing up some the little projects laying around!  I need to leave in some room for making jam this week, as all the berries are sitting in my freezer.  And since the kids picked them, I need to do something soon! Maybe I'll do that on DH's day off this week.

Fall is here!

I love the colors of fall, but I really hate the temperatures!  There hasn't been frost yet, and after the morning cover burns off,  it has been beautiful.  But really cold!! 

I've finished all but 2 of the boards for the closet down stairs.  Guess what I get to do shortly?  Wednesday DH will finish installing them, as well as some of the trim we are replacing in the kids' rooms. 

Popcorn sales have started for Scouts.  I love watching as the boys learn how to handle the various situations that come up, but it is exhausting!!!  There is something about watching them try, try, and try again, with the results being they made no sales that time, and learn to handle that with grace. Or that they made more sales than they realized and asking "how did that happen?"  Even the older boys are still learning, the difference is that their goals are bigger.

As for sewing, the only thing I finished was a bunting to hang in the entry way!

This piece has S2's favorite fall fabric in it.   The patch on the upper left.  It has the "helicopters" or "spinners" seed. I have no idea what tree they come from, I just know ALL my kids were fascinated by them.  Nothing says fall like those do!

The desk Daddy brought up has been amazing!  The kids are fighting over who gets to do homework first!  And it gave me an excuse to do another purge of the house.  I have no idea where everything comes from. I go grocery shopping once a week, and household/project shopping once a month.  With the budget being what it is, I don't spend much and I don't stray from the list.  I'm starting wonder if little stuff-bunnies are breeding in closets and drawers! 

This week is full of nothing.  Just trying to get through everything and get it out of my house!!  I do have quilts for D2 and S2 to finish, maybe I'll get one of those done!

Life just got a little bit easier!

Last week DH got the remaining pieces cut for the closet, only to have the last three ONE QUARTER inch too short!!  He isn't sure what happened, but he was able to fix it, but I had to wait until yesterday when he had a day off.  So my lining isn't all the way in like I wanted, but we are still making progress.  I think he left me pieces to seal today, which I'll do when it warms up a little. 

Also, S1 has been doing his schoolwork wherever he plants himself for the day, which has not been helping him actually getting it done.  So yesterday morning my dad called to see if we wanted a roll top desk.  S1 said he would love to have a nice desk to work at, so we had to rearrange the whole living room yesterday before Daddy got here, so they could just walk it in and set it down.  It looks amazing, and hold all of the homeschool books and supplies. 

I finished all of the canning as of last night, although blackberries are just coming in.  But all of zucchini relish is finished and they will be put away tonight.  WOO HOO!  I get my kitchen back!! Actually, I would rather can than cook any day, but we have a really small galley kitchen, so anything we do completely takes over.  And for some reason, the after canning clean up leaves my kitchen extra sparkly clean. 

I didn't get any sewing done, since I spent most of my time either in the kitchen, or working on the closet.  We'll see what this week brings.  I have a few things I would like to get sewn up, as well as putting things away after moving the desk in.

And lastly......

 this is a picture DH took last week while walking to the corner grocery.  This is a CORNSTALK growing out of the gutter drain.  It's taller this week.  We are wondering how long it will last before the wind knocks it down or the street sweepers get it.  It makes us smile every time we drive past it!

And another thing almost accomplished!

Last week, we did some some more canning, plum conserves. My goal was 25 jars, and we got it done.  We always give a jar to the neighbors that let the kids pick the plums, plus 2 jars a month til next year. 

We also got started on a house project that I have been wanting to do for years.  But it always seemed too big for our DIY skills.  Now that we are working on it, it is disgustingly simple.  Here is a photo of the space that we had.  We have no idea what it was for.  To small for coats or linens, but in the wrong part of the house to be a broom closet.  It was just a space where it was. 

 

This is what the bottom half looks like now.   We used cedar tongue in groove planks to line the back, although my hubby has to go get more because I am lousy at math!  The sides will be lined in cedar as well, and we will be spacing the shelves every other plank.  The perfect height for our DVDs to be in!  There should be plenty of room for all the movies we have, but I have already told the children and husband that if they don't all fit, something has to go.  My goal this week is to finish lining it while I look for what shelving I want. 

This is the one sewing project I finished.  It is the trial and error version of our teacher appreciation gift for Halloween.  I'll be making each teacher a set of two, as well as baking some treats to go into the staff lounge on the day of Halloween.  I figure even our single male staff need kitchen towels!  I hate getting stupid useless gifts. I can appreciate the though without appreciating the gift.  LOL, I've had a few of those in my life.  I tend to lean towards things are useful as well as attractive.  Although everyone has a different view of attractive. I haven't had any complaints yet, so I think I'm on the right track!

 
This week should see some progress on the closet, hopefully all of the lining in, and a few of these towels done.  I'm starting early, just in case life gets in the way!  With school starting up, so is everything else!!

School starts!!!!

My list was pretty short.  Get everyone ready for school to start.  Now, for some reason, my hubby seems to think it's like getting ready for grocery shopping. You get in and go.  But it takes a lot more than that!  Between school shopping, pep talks, getting back on schedule, all the paper work that must be done, it feels as if I need to get ready for the getting ready.  But off they went today, and came home happy! 

I didn't get any sewing done last week. Instead I spent my time in the kitchen and canned!  I love canning, but only when I have adequate help!  otherwise Things burn, break, and generally go sour fast.  We received zucchini from a friend and made several jars of zuke relish.  I think 18?  And I have more to do.  And we have 13 jars of plum conserve from the neighbors' plum tree. And I have more of that do do.  We didn't get quite enough strawberries this year, but I may make a batch of mixed berry jam.  YUM!  The kids aren't quite sure how they feel about the dried plums. No, they aren't prunes.  Those are a different kind of plum!  There are no pictures, since my hands were full, but maybe after I get everything moved to the pantry.  Hubby did get me a journal to keep track of what and how much I can after I over- and under-estimated how much we use.  So this year will be the first time I know how much is going into the pantry.  Then next year I can see how much we have left and adjust how much I need to make (or keep!).  I thought it was a great idea and very thoughtful of him!!

This week has more canning as well as a small home improvement project. I've been putting it off for a couple of years, but NOW is the time!! I am hoping to have it done by next weekend.  This weekend would be awesome, but unlikely!

woo hoo!! I got stuff done!!

This week I finished a bunch a of little projects.  After doing the coffee cozies last week, I think I finally got back into the swing of things.  Which is good because school is starting in just over a week!!  This week, I finished another group of boxes for the school bazaar.  As well as the three in the photo, I also finished a brown and green one. I only have 14 more to go!  Then I have a few other items to send in as well.  I wish I could rent a space there!!!!  I also finished a needlebook that came with my cross stitch magazine.  I think I am going to use it for either my quilting shorts or my tapestry needles.  I haven't decided yet!

 These buntings I did are one of my favorite projects ever!!!! 

This little one is 60 inches and looks amazing over a door.  The original plan was to donate to our school Halloween carnival, but there are changes afoot there, so that is up in the air right now.  I made several, and some are up on etsy.  I really wish I had a wood fence, to string them on, but since we still have industrial chic going on, I have no "good" spot to photograph items than hang. :(

This one is around 6 feet long, and will hang along our banister over the Halloween week.  I am looking forward to hanging something there, as it is right when you walk in the house.  It needs something!!!

In the garden, my second planting of peas is sprouting! YAY!  And the two not quite dead plants that I had left in are getting new growth, including new peas!  So, I think this week, I may stay away from plans again, since it worked so well last week! 

I got to sew!!!!

I finally got to sew this week.  Just a little bit, but that's better than none!  We started out with a rather quiet week as all the kids except S2 took off for various events.  We ended the week with me literally sick from exhaustion.  Since we only had the youngest, we could do whatever.  "Whatever" included a camp out with his scout pack, and attending WashJam 2012.  He had a BLAST!!!  And of course there was all the house cleaning before we left. I hate walking into the house and seeing a pile of dishes.  Yuck. 

Back to my sewing.  I finished 12 coffee cozies for a friend. She had requested them to use as "thank you's" for events that she hosts bi-monthly. 

She let me have all the leftover fabric!  The button fabric is absolutely adorable, as is the pattern fabric. I also finished 2 cross-stitch projects.  S2 is hoping I can finish some more since he is eyeing a bookmark I started.

  

This garland has been waiting for at least a year and a half to be finished.  It may wind up in the laundry room when we get that finished.  Right now it is over our kitchen door.

This heart sachet is another "been around" project, but not for nearly as long.  I think I only started this past spring or early summer.  I stuffed it with stuffing and cedar shavings to hang in our coat closet.    Both of these projects were kits that come with my cross stitch magazine.  I love the patterns and projects in it, but I only ever seem to get the kits finished! I may need to start tossing the kits into a pretty box, and only work on the actual projects in the issues that I want to do.  But then I'd open the box and say"ooooh, I want to do this today!"  Which is a big enough problem as it is. 

I have no idea what this week will bring.  I know I need to get on school shopping, and D1 is coming home today, and S1 came home last night.  But there is so much I want to cram into the next 2 weeks before school starts!  I think I'll need to take it one day at a time, and just start work my way through.

I am done painting!!!

For this summer anyways!  Both the girls' room and S1's room are done!  Now I just need to get more trim!  I am thinking that I can get one length a week between now and the end of summer, and that should do it.  Here is S1's "new" room.

This was taken the night the paint had finished curing. Which is also the night before he came home from his 50-miler hike!  I cut it a little close there!  It looked so clean before he moved his stuff back in!

I also made some cordials this past week.  I really enjoyed the simplicity of chop, dump, mix!  And I LOVE how they look all lined up on the counter to do their thing for the next few weeks!

The raspberries are from a friend's garden, and I had to breakdown and buy cherries and blackberries.  My garden just isn't doing so well this year.  We did get peas in, and I did a second planting of those to see if we could get more.  But that is "extra" in my mind. 

The only sewing I got done was some mending.  But it got stuff put away and I got to play with my machine.  So it was something, and that is better than nothing.  This week, I'd like to get all of S1's stuff out of the living room, and maybe get a quilt basted. That may depend on the weather though. 

Almost back to normal!

With the oldest away at camp, I have realized how many hands are necessary to run this house at a preferred level, LOL!  On top of that, I emptied his room yesterday so I could paint while he was gone, since then I don't have to worry about where he'd sleep each night.  They think it's fun one night to camp out in other rooms, but after that they start to get crabby about it.  And I don't blame them!  It took all day to get everything out, and then pull nails, fill the holes, and scrape & scrub the tape off the walls.  NO MORE TAPE ON MY WALLS!  Put whatever you want on the door, but leave the walls alone!  That child had stuff taped EVERYWHERE! The walls, the sides of bookcases, drawer fronts. I have no idea why I painted his furniture last year or why he wants his walls painted now!  It'll look great, and maybe having a color HE likes as opposed to what we had on hand when we moved in will make a difference.  We did get the outside trim around the rec room windows painted, and D2 is mastering the masking tape skills.  Although she didn't particularly love the masking, either. I don't if she'll be willing to help in S1's room.  We'll see.

I didn't get anything finished over the weekend, and I have little hope for this week.  The list is getting longer and longer, and time is running shorter and shorter. I can't believe summer is almost over!!!! So off I go to see what I can get done today!

Just a little bit behind

All of the camps are over except for 2, neither of which do I need to be there for.  S1 is going on a 50-miler for Scouts, and D2 will be doing a dance camp.  Easy-peasy for me.  I finished one project last week, a kitty print bone pillow.  I took a photo, and promptly lost my camera, so no pictures! 

The girls' room is still waiting for the last little bit of trim, and then I will be painting S1's room while he is gone.  I am very happy that no primer is required!  Just get the paint on!  He chose a soft grey, named "sharkskin".  Appropriate for a teenage boy, I think.  When we first bought the house, there were glow in the dark castles on the wall, but I got some primer and paint on the first weekend we were in the house.  It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't glow in the dark either.  I am hoping this paint job won't take an entire week.   I also have a quilt to finish for the D2 and a bunch of other little projects to get wound up and finished. 

We have spent the little free time we had last week de-cluttering the house.  In two days we took 10 boxes to the goodwill.  And the girls are still saying they have nothing to wear. HA! They are learning the error of that by doing laundry this week!  I'd like to get through more drawers and closets this week, but I am not going to hold my breath.  It is amazing how much stuff we think we need, and how much we never really use.  DH says we "need" the  two or three 8x8 casserole dishes we never use because it takes all three cook enough for us.  I say get one the right size, and get rid of all the rest.  Maybe he needs to dishes more often! LOL...

On the yard work list, I am hoping to build a real compost bin this month.  We have a semi-contained pile, but with 6 people, it get bigger than average.  We get great dirt out of it, and it isn't spread out all over, but I am sure the neighbors would like something a little bit more screened off.  So now I am off to see what I can get done sooner instead of later!!

So little time...

And so much that has to be done and that I want to do! Last week was full of meetings to finalize various day camp plans, as well as getting kids to from activities.  We did get a bunch of unused stuff out of the house!  Boxes of too small clothes, toys the kids don't play with.  We still have more to do, but I am happy with the progress, and the kids are happy with how easy and fast it is to clean their rooms.  If we spend anytime on the purge this week, it's the rest of the house.  Books, movies, whatever.

I only finished one sewing project this week.  It has been waiting to be finished for 3 years and it was for my bestest friend.  I thought I had tons of work to do on it, but when I actually sat down to finish it before I saw her this weekend, it only took 15 minutes!  Anyways, here it is.

A bag holder for all those plastic grocery bags.  Her kitchen is blue and yellow,  so I used squares of all my blue and yellow fabric.  She was very happy with it, although I felt horrible that it took so long to finish.

As for this week, there are no plans, just survive cubbie camp!  Anything more than that is  bonus!

Doing something new....

I've never participated in a link party, but I have spent (too much) time checking out other people's.  I am particularly fond of popping around Shabby Art Boutique. So in the interest of not doing house work right this minute, and having worked with D2 in the bathroom reorganizing today, I figured I would give it a shot.  It's better than watching Godzilla again!

D2 and I have been purging girl stuff this week.  Not because we don't like girly stuff, but because after painting the girls room, I didn't want another mess. No. Uh-uh.  This mama would hit the roof! In the process we found a lovely little chest she no longer wanted (score for Mom!) and tons of hair pretties.  TONS!  Some of them were MINE.  So the solution is.....

 You can barely see the tags I tied on to the knobs.  I had a pack of those little vellum key tags. (had is important, I used them all up on this! YAY!)  I made a label for each drawer, I just tied them on with a sheer green and pink ribbon.  There is a "mom" drawer, so the girls shouldn't be losing my stuff anymore.  Like any of it so fancy, since all I do are ponytails with my hair. 

This shelf worked really well, since I needed a spot for my teeny canister for my little hair clips.  My bangs are just long enough to stab my eye right now, so I NEED those if I want to see, and again, I found them in the girls school stuff when they were emptying desks at school.  There was still too much "space", so I also moved my mom's ring holder, make up brushes, and a bottle of oil on to the shelf as well.  To top it off,  I put my vanity set in front.  I can't stand the brush, but I love that comb!  And the best part...all the hair doo-dads are in ONE SPOT!!

No sewing...

or anything relaxing last week. However I did get one big, long put off, house project (mostly) done.  The girls' room is PAINTED!  And most of the trim is in, but we ran out.  So I think I'll just buy 10 feet a week until it is done. We are putting in through out the house, so I'm not worried about getting too much. So here is the "before" picture from last week.

Oh that glow in the dark paint was bad!  And notice how the ceiling LOOKS white?  Well, it wasn't, and we never noticed until we painted!  It is GREEN!  Pale enough to look white with the old blue walls, but rather obvious with the new yellow!

So now we have added painting the ceiling to the list of things that need to get done, but I think that will be NEXT summer. I have 2 more rooms to paint before September!  Here is the trim. Much better than the old stuff, which went around the room and over the closet and door.  It was glow in the dark too.

Since the trim is going all through the house, it is the only thing the kids get no say in, much to their displeasure.  But the girls are happy with the end result, aside from realizing the ceiling is green.

This week is all about getting everything in order for 2 weeks of day camp.  Cubbie camp followed by VBS.  I will definitely need some down time over the weekends, so maybe then I will get some sewing in!  Or at least hiding in the workshop staining some more trim!

It's July!

Almost to the summer halfway point. And  I am so not ready.  We had a quiet week with 2 kids away at camp, which meant...I got stuff done!  Only three crafty things, but lots of home stuff! 

The first item I finished was the girls dresser scarf.  The last one for the house! YAY!  I also finished a non-seasonal pillow cover for the living room.  I love changing them out for the season and holidays, but you can only get away with St. Patrick's for so long, LOL!  I also knit myself a cowel, I think it will be easier in the winter than wearing a scarf around the house!

 The applique on the pillow is from one of my cricut cartridges.  I used fusible webbing and the stitched it down once it was in place.  I do NOT like round parts!  D2 liked the left over sashing fabric, so that is what we used for her runner.  I have one little scrap left, so I think it was well done!

Below is the "before" picture of the girls bedroom walls.  Ugh! They hated them.  Those flowers glow in the dark!  So does the trim!   They designated the "over the closet" part of wall for posting photos.
 

The girls picked out a soft yellow and wood trim, so two walls are painted, trim in being stained, then I get to move the furniture over and paint the other two walls.  Fun. And time consuming.  But it was the only way to do it while they were at camp.  They got their share of work in, though.  All clothes had to be gone though before I would start!

I don't have a lot of plans for this week. Mostly finishing the room, and getting ready for more camps.  But I have high hopes of getting a couple other rooms painted this summer, as well as some stitchery projects I've been wanting to do.

Lazy days of summer??

HA!  Yesterday started the rush of camps for the kids.  S1 is off to camp until Wednesday, D1 is at camp in her hometown, D2 leaves today.  I wish I could say I love driving!  S2 and I will be home by ourselves, so who knows what we'll do!  I am glad that the kids love their summer camps, S1 has gone to this one for 4 years now, and D2 has been going to hers for 3 years.  They have a good time, come home tired, and I have no idea what they learn!

This last week our dryer died, and then the motor blew up, so we are installing a sort-of "new to us" dryer today.  Not much got done with the rows of laundry hanging through out the house, but I did finish this cute little bag that D2 laid claim to.

The cross stitch panel had been sitting in a basket of "stuff" for a couple of years and I finally finished it, but then I needed to do something with it.  I saw this orange fabric at Joann's and thought it was perfect.  I sewed the panel down with some orange/pink/yellow variegated quilting thread I had stashed around.  When I finished it was one of those "whoever wants it can have it" projects! 

Plans for this week include driving all over the Olympic Peninsula, which is beautiful country.  I am hoping to at least prime the girls room while they are both gone, but we'll see. 

Back on track?

Maybe.  With kids out of school for summer, I have 2 less errands to run everyday, so I can actually plan on being home.  We have 2 weeks of camp in July, but they are day camps, so I can still come home every night!  We didn't do our annual Family Camp sponsored by our Church, which has the kids upset.  It was a great thing, but didn't work for our family, since Hubby always works on Saturdays, so if any one needed to come back to town, it was ALL on me!  And I just didn't want to drive that much this year!  I think I'm going to rig a fire pit in the back yard so we can still do a campfire, though.  It's not fair for the kids to miss out on EVERYTHING!

This last week I did get some projects finished. The biggest one is S1's bed quilt.

I have really loved doing these simple quilts for the kids' room, and I am now officially half way done!   I have dubbed the "x" pattern "St. Francis."  It is simple, it looks good, and meets the spacing requirements for the batting.  He chose an Asian theme for his bedroom, so all of the fabrics in this fit that, although he chose one that I think is more Middle Eastern in design, but I don't know.   He likes it, and when he gets too bored, he starts looking up what the various kanji mean.

I also finished this cute little cross stitch card.  It came with one of my Cross stitcher magazines.  WHY OH WHY are the UK cross stitch and knitting mags so much better than the ones I find at home?  The ladies at the store I get them at actually tell me when they are expected in so I can get mine, and they let me get into the box to find them before they put them on the shelf! 

I think it will go in a set for an auction next year.  Unless someone needs a baby card before then!

I don't know what is on the agenda this week.  I do have some closets to go through, and a friend is coming by to work on our bathroom. (I kind of wish I had a blog back when THAT started!) And if the wind ever settles down, I have some yard work to do.  Oh yeah, I got the first strawberries of the season yesterday!  YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a weekend!

We started out Friday thinking we were set for a crazy weekend.  But then the birthday cake got broiled in the oven, and we had to bake another one.  Someone had gone it to make garlic bread, and didn't know there was a cake in there.  I didn't know anyone was going to use the oven, so we had a mommy meltdown to start the weekend right!  Why was the cake in the oven? To hide it from the cat that likes baked goods, AND we discovered if you cool the cake and the oven 10 minutes, then put the cake back in and shut the door, you wind up with an amazingly moist cake. (It took 2 or 3 times of hiding the cake from the cat for us figure out what was happening!)   So Saturday was the birthday party, which was more like a birthday open house, people came and went all day.  The birthday boy was happy, and mom and dad were exhausted!  Sunday, which is supposed to be a day of rest, and we really try to keep to that since the rest of the week is so busy. But this Sunday, D2 and I went to church in the morning because we had a book club in the afternoon, and the boys went in the afternoon because S1 was serving.  Except at one point my dear husband looked at S2, and there was a WHITE faced little boy with green lips!  Apparently he didn't actually throw up, but it was a close call.  So we all get home eventually, and it's like "can we sleep now?" 

The rest of the week pretty much followed that pattern, so all I got done were 2 little cross stitch cards.

These were a kit I had received months (years?) ago and just finished.  I tend to float between knitting and cross stitch.  I'll knit a couple things, stitch a couple things, and repeat.  I've noticed this is mostly when working on big sewing projects, since the machine is taken over by a quilt.  The goal is to relax right? 

This week I am making several centerpieces, finishing a quilt, and then the kids get out of school for summer!!  I am curious to see how having them home affects my OPAM finishes.  How much LESS will I get done? 

I have accomplished....

Nothing!  Nada!  It has been cold and icky out, as well as a little too busy for my tastes.  I have plenty of stuff to work on, but I need to be home and available to work on it!  LOL, dear hubby thinks just being home is enough, and it's like no.....if I am scrubbing the tub, I can't be at the sewing machine.  If only I could bi-locate.  But then I 'd really just be wishing I could tri-locate, and that could just go on and on.

I did do one thing that is a big thing, and I am not sure how it is going to turn out yet.  But.....I opened an etsy shop.  You can see it here: ErielleDesigns.  I did not make the jewelry, that is all made by D2.  All for the sewn items are various projects that I was working on for fundraisers, but we really don't have the storage for them, and neither does the school. So why not etsy?  Cost is the same in the end.  But now I really need to get some stuff done!  Big scary leap off a cliff there, but big scary leaps are good for the heart!

Oh. My...

So this last week has been a little crazy. Good, but really ...odd.  DH had Memorial Day off, but all the kids were gone, except S2.  So....life with an only child is NOT for me!  Three days of entertaining him wore me out! The funny thing is, when the other kids are home, he doesn't *need* that much attention.  Although with 6 people, it is pretty easy to break up the person to person moments.  We took him to a service at the local cemetery presented by the local VFW.  He was quite happy to receive one of the shells/casings(?) from the 21 gun salute.  And he was also quite happy to let go of the balloons as prayers were said.  If only I had all the other kids home...it is good for them to be reminded that yes, people do make sacrifices for them every single day.

Then yesterday......oh. wow.  Field trip!  D2's class (and 3 other grades) went to Seattle to see the King Tut exhibit.  Never mind the kids who get carsick, dead batteries, over heated vehicles (yeah....that was all my car!)   But we made it there, we made it back, children were returned to their parents, and I went home to a glass of wine! 

Now the exhibit itself was one of those ........wow.....moments.   Not in an exhilarating, adrenaline kind of way, but in one of those the mysteries of the earth and our history will forever be opening up to us at some level unthought of before.  I mean, you are standing in front of a thing that dates back to Ramses.  You look at this and think, "hmmm, wasn't he the guy Moses had to deal with?"  And the kids are like "yeah....didn't you go to school?"  And you look at it and think "...........this is as old as Moses.  Really.  AS OLD AS MOSES!"  And you look at your daughter and say, "and you though my Bif Naked cd was old"  :)  

The other thing I came away with was the amount of EFFORT that went into the creation of these items.  Forget the culture, religion, age, etc.  Looking at those pieces made me feel as though I lived in the laziest age of the entire history of man.  A coffin for a prince's cat was made with more care and attention than anything I've seen in my life.  A coffin for a cat.  It was beautiful.  The jewelry was handcrafted with out the aid of the gadgets we have today and was 5 times bigger!  A more humorous example......the toilet seat!  Sure, it was square in shape, but it was a toilet seat, once you get past the shape, completely recognizable as such.  Again....it was how old?  And we run to wally-world and they break after 2 or 3 years.  No pictures were allowed, but I am so hoping to make it back before it leaves.  If you are interested, it leaves the Pacific Science Center in January 2013.  This is the last stop for the exhibit, and it will be returning to Egypt, so if you have a budding Egyptologist in the family, do try to make it!! 

A busy busy bee...

Tomorrow  I will be losing my mind.  We have a pack meeting for scouts, and I need to be running around getting ready for that.  I know if I turn my 'puter on in the morning, I will definitely get a late start.  So, I'll just do online stuff today!  

To start with, I finally finished a quilt!!

I have no idea why it is sideways.  I had to use D2's camera, and apparently it doesn't work the same way as mine. This is a stacked coins I finished and donated to a local fundraiser.  I'm curious to know how much it sold for.  The last time I did something quilted, they listed it with a value of $25.  Ummm, yeah, that wouldn't have covered the fabric. It's been a couple of years, so I hope they did better this time.  

I also finished a pair of knit wrist warmers for D2.

They are her favorite shade of blue and only took a week to knit up.   The only problem is I'm not sure how long they will fit her!

And the best part of the week was ...... 

My wonderful hubby getting all of his "honey-do's" done before his vacation ended.  Some of them have been waiting a few years!  Drywall is hung, planter boxes are built, and hose hanger is hung! Now I am just hoping we can keep up the momentum for a little bit!  I want to get another quilt done next week, and finish a little knitting project for ME!!!   I haven't done one of those yet! :)

We have SUN!!!!!

So I only finished one "inside" project this week.  I knew if I stayed inside the sun would go away and I would never get any outside stuff done.  So my lone indoor project is a cowl for D1.

Ooh, this was nice yarn to work with! A silk/bamboo blend.  And real wood buttons.  She hasn't seen it yet, it'll be a surprise the next time she is up from her mom's.  I am pretty sure I will never use this pattern again. It is lovely, but I have a fondness for simplicity, and this had a 3 different stitch patterns 5 areas. Yeah, if anyone wants this pattern, let me know.  I'll mail it.

Because it was so sunny and warm, we made progress in the backyard.  When we first bought our house, the ivy behind the garages COVERED them. I wish had pictures so I could actually see the difference.  The fact that I can now walk behind the garages is a victory.  Over the 4 or 5 years we've lived here, I have gone on crazy insane kill the ivy sprees.  Over the course of this last weekend, the backyard went form this:

 to this:

 There is still tons of work to do, including painting and replacing the chain link with something not ugly. Both neighbors have dogs, so tearing it out before I have something to put up isn't an option.  I will say pulling out the stupid privacy slats made a huge improvement.  Weeds love dark, warm, and wet.  So all the sun they got yesterday started killing them off before we started weeding.  YAY!! Less work for me!!

And DH brought home a present for me.  A supermarket display shelf that the store manager was going to throw away.  Please ignore the mess of my garage.  We are slowly getting it cleaned out.  I am not sure what they used it for,  he even scored a lcd picture viewer that he has loaded with his photo references for drawing.  I really WANTED to be mad at him for bring home another "thing", but this has so much potential, I just could not summon any of my usual "you brought home what?!?" indignation.  I am really hoping to get to play with it this week, I have 100 ideas of what to do with it, but I need to start with covering/removing that branding and logos.

Well, there's an information overload, and the sun is here again today, so I am off to go do something not in the house!