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!