Hey! I had an extra day!!

I had totally forgotten that this was a leap year!  So I actually got some stuff done on Monday and Tuesday, to bring my OPAM total to 15.  I feel like I should get something done everyday, but I think that might be the over-achiever in me.  I tend to keep her stuffed in a teeny tiny box! 

So, here are this weeks finishes!

This is a quilt and pillow set that is leaving my house IN TEN MINUTES! YAY!!  They are 4th of July/patriotic themed and we are donating them to local fundraiser.  The blanket had been pieced and sitting in a storage bin for the last 2 years.  One thing done and so many more to go!  That storage bin is almost empty now, as the other quilts and batting in it are queued up to be quilted this week and next.

These 4 little guys are from my bin of scraps.  Three are Christmas blocks, and the fourth is just bits and pieces with a crumb block center.  I am really happy with how they are turning out.  The bin is still overflowing, but it may be a year long endeavor.  That's okay because I have no idea what I am going to do with them yet. 

This week I am hoping to finish an I Spy quilt, a broken dishes (I think) quilt, and a checkerboard.  That might be more than realistic though!!  Especially if I try to get any house projects done.  Like maybe get all the empty boxes out of the garage.  Or take a load of stuff to the Goodwill.

And the quilt and pillow have left the house! I need to go get stuff done while the Mr. is gone!

WOW!! February is almost gone!!!!

And I haven't gotten ANYTHING on my to do list done!!! Too many other "little" things got in the way.  Last week was Valentines, then we headed right into party planning and a Cub Scout Blue and Gold.  It isn't like I didn't get anything done AT ALL, just not the things I needed to finish for my sanity.  We had a good week, and the Blue & Golds are nice because the little men (usually) have earned their rank patches by then.  But.....it also means when you have those last three little achievements to finish, they get moved to the top of the to-do list! 

I did get one project (mostly) finished. Beware the glare! I could not get a good angle for these guys no matter what I did. 

These are magnets I made using old Maya Road and Prima embellishment tins. I cut the patterned paper to fit the bottom, glued it in, and then added some little somethings that I had in the crafting supply boxes. I did E6000 the lids on, and used self adhesive magnet strips on the back.  My 2 favorites are the red butterfly and the top blue butterfly.  It was one of those things that I had in the back of my mind for while, but just never took the time to do.  The tins were too cute to just throw away, but I am REALLY TRYING HARD not to hang on to every little thing. I thought I was done, and then found 4 more little tins to do up. LOL, a crafter's job is never done! These are another little something that will be donated to the school bazaar in November. Too bad they don't count for OPAM, though. I haven't gotten anything done for that in 2 weeks!

Next I have added a rather over the top, "what am I thinking" goal.  The following picture is my scrap stash:

These are just the little bits. No fat quarters, nothing bigger than 6x6. Just bits & skinny strips. Yeah....it's time to do something with these.  So, I have decided to see how many star blocks I can get out of this bin. I picked up the latest issue of McCall's quilting, and there is a lovely scrappy star quilt in it.  The finished size of the blocks I am starting with are 6 inches. I don't know if I want to do the larger 12 inch blocks yet. That decision isn't on the horizon at this point. I may have enough little ones coming out of this bucket o' scraps.  With 4 kids, and holidays, and various school projects, I know there is quite the variety of fabric choices.  I may go semi-planned with this, and then just do a few with whatever I grab.   The pieces that are too small to use in the star blocks, I'll probably build into crumb blocks such as what Bonnie Hunter at quiltville.com does.  They are fun when you just need some quality time with the sewing machine.  I hope to get at least 2 a week done.  Who knows, maybe the Mr. will let me buy something fun if I can get these done! 

Now I had better get to work if I plan on having any OPAM projects finished this month!

I miss my sewing machine!!

But that is OK because I am done with the non-sewing projects.  I enjoy doing other things as well, but sewing is my FAVORITE way to spend the day.  With Tuesday being Valentine's Day, it was time to fill the teacher baskets from last week and finish up the kids' class treats, as well as using the basket scraps for SOMETHING for the school.  We have a budget at school for teacher appreciation, so in getting reimbursed, I felt very strongly about using the scraps for the benefit if that school.  And some of the scraps were pretty big.

The "bouquets" are paper flowers with a fabric heart coming up out of the middle.  For the flowers, I used whatever was handy.  Newsprint, scrapbook paper, and brown paper bags, all sprayed liberally with some Smooch glimmer spray.  The "vase" is a soup can washed, spray painted, and decorated til I ran out of stuff to decorate them with.  Tags, die cuts, stickers, whatever.  I got 18 of these done, one of which I gave to the school secretary, because she is awesome, and the rest will got to the hot lunch ladies to decorate for holidays.

I found the idea for the class treats in the last issue of Crafts 'n Things magazine.  They are cardboard tubes cut down, painted, and embellished.  S2 chose a Japanese newspaper to wrap around them, and found some chipboard hearts that he had me cover in glitter glue.  They came out pretty cute! Cheap (which is import when you are doing 50 of something), simple, and he got to participate in the designing. D2 just went long with whatever her brother decided.

We have a bunch of functions coming up and I have no idea what I need to do for them just yet.  So in the meantime, I am going to run and get some quality time in at the sewing machine before I get another to-do added to the list! :)

I keep thinking there are more hours in a day...

I never seem to get as much done as I think I should.  Probably because we actually need to sleep, eat, talk to other people once in a while.  So as a result of my poor planning, I didn't get half as much done as I wanted to.  Which of course means I am now really behind!!!

This week, the only things finished (or worked on at all, LOL) were the baskets for the teachers at school.

 

16 done in all!  3 last week, and 13 this week. I am really glad they are finished.  They look amazing, and I kind of wish I had someone to make ME one and fill it with goodies!  :) I supposed I could, but that just isn't the same.  This week is a paper crafting bonanza.  I have luncheon decorations to finish, invitations to finish, and class valentine's cards to start and finish!!!  So off I go.....

January is over!!!

It is so weird that the first month of the new year is gone already.  I feel like every year goes by faster and faster as I get older.  Maybe it's just all the stuff we try to cram in to the year.  There isn't time to enjoy any of it, just enough time to get on to the next thing.  At least I got some stuff done in January. The pile of brush debris in my back yard is gone. (YAY!!)  It would be better if there was grass out there, all but a little tiny square was paved over at some point in the house's past.  YUCK! 

I also got 28 things finished for the 2012 OPAM.  Plus a couple of wood projects that were haunting me over the last year.  I still have a lot to work on though.  I really like mixing the smaller projects with larger, more time consuming ones.  The sense of finishing is so important to continuing.  Go figure.

I have no idea what I will do when I get some these bigger projects done.  It will be hard not to jump in to MORE, BIGGER projects.  I have a couple of ideas, but not sure I have the stamina to really dig in to them.  Right now it is "just keep sewing, just keep sewing" in my head. 

The sun has come out, so my brain is wandering into garden mode.  Last year was our first year, and I'd say it was successful.  This year we are going to try and get another bed built in the back non-yard, and maybe add some more veggies.  Last year, the kids planted carrots 10 to a seed hole.  They were very artsy carrots.  Definitely need to spread those out some more.   And I really want to get some of the other yard and house projects done. We'll see. The Mr.'s work schedule is anything but regular, and sometimes I get stuck trying to do some of these by myself.  And the look he gets on his face is priceless when he comes home in the middle of something.  (The best was when I ripped out the nasty drywall in the bathroom.)  They say marriage is a sanctifying experience.  I can see why! LOL