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!

FINALLY!!!

After a year and a half, this little guy is FINISHED!!!!! I finished it him at 10:00 the other night, and presented him the proud owner on his way to bed.  I have a very happy S2 right now!

The pattern is from a back issue of the UK's Simply Knitting, which is my favorite knitting magazine.  And my kids have a thing for Alan Dart patterns (which is why I was knitting this little guy).  I've never done a 3-d knit object before, unless you count wrist warmers.  And you can see on his left arm where I eventually (sort of) got the hang of a mattress stitch.  But, his proud owner is so pleased with him, that S2 tried sneaking it to school. Oh. No. You are not!  Too much work for this to be out on the playground!

We also got some more onions planted, red and white this time.  And eventually I am hoping that the tomatoes will get some starts.  Then I shall be done planting for this year.  Unless my DH gets the other garden bed replaced, but his honey-do list is pretty long right now.  For now, I am off to play with my sewing machine!