Sunnypond

Crickets Chirping

2010-01-22T20:34:00.001-08:00

Lately, the majority of my comments on this blog have been from spammers, one even in an Asian alphabet! Don’t try to look, I’ve deleted most of them.

It sounds to me like crickets chirping. Life is different this year. More than ever the family needs more of my focus. The sewing has slowed down. The crafting is happening only when I have an excuse.

So this blog will be taking a break. I don’t know if it will be permanent.

Many thanks to you non-spammers for visiting and especially those who commented. I will be “living” elsewhere. If you are interested, just ask. Or do a little detective work.

Twins

2010-01-15T13:32:00.001-08:00

Loose Ends

2010-01-13T06:02:00.001-08:00

I have a couple of projects that I started or didn’t quite start from many months ago. Today I finished this one:

It will be perfect for a trip we will be taking soon…

And just thought I’d share another photo I took at the same time for another reason (Dad helping out with sales at the office). Here is our little Daisy Scout with her cookie order form. Wouldn’t you buy from her?

DIY Mat

2010-01-12T09:51:00.001-08:00

Thanks to much encouragement from Sarah, I built up the confidence to try making my own custom mat to hold two 5x7 photos. I’m happy to report that I was able to do it and it doesn’t look too bad. It certainly isn’t perfect, but from a distance it is not too bad at all.

I found this 11x14 frame at Target, instead of having to wait for them to go on sale at Kohls. I think the price would probably be similar if I had. It matches the other frames perfectly. I thought I had bought a small piece of mat board at Hobby Lobby, but had actually picked up a piece of illustration board. No matter, it still looks ok.

I just measured the openings out on the back of the board using my clear plastic quilting ruler. Remember, measure twice, cut once. Then used an exactoknife along the straight edge of the ruler to make the cuts. I spent as much time as needed to make each cut, not rushing things and making sure to get the best corners possible.

And her is the final arrangement. At least until I decide it needs some more tweaking. Such as, maybe it could use some layering…

Girly Valance Reveal

2010-01-07T20:29:00.001-08:00

Well, I really don’t know when I’ll have the time to right out the full tutorial anytime soon, so I’ll just show you what I made and save the tutorial for a later post (maybe!).

I had originally made these sheer lavender panels for Ella’s window. It’s not that I don’t like them, though the way they blended in with the wall paint was starting to bug me. The main problem was that right tie back. When Ella was younger, she’d keep tugging on it until it would pull the hardware out of the wall. Several holes are now in the wall (not noticeable in this picture though). And I gave up. So that panel has been hanging there like that for a while now.

I decided to avoid panels all together when thinking of a new window treatment. And went with a valance. I saw this basic style on the internet and thought that the Church Flowers in Pink fabric from Heather Bailey’s new Nicey Jane line would be a perfect contrast to the walls. It also kinda of compliments the spread, though I’m curious if she really needs a new quilt made out of fabric from this line. ;-)

One more closer shot. I never would have ever thought to use a non-decorator weight fabric for any form of window treatment, but by using a sturdy drapery lining fabric as an interlining (50% off this week at Hob Lob), I feel ok about it. By the way, I have learned that I will always use the lining fabric for all of my window treatments in the future, unless they are sheers of course. It just adds so much structure and weight to the finished piece.

Next up on the home dec. front involves making this 16 yard role of upholstery fabric into something… Lucky for us, the fabric was 70% off at our local ~~candy store~~ Loomcraft.

This project was linked at:

Hoop It UP

2010-01-07T14:27:00.001-08:00

I’m so excited to brag about my friend Jen of tailspinhoops! You may have seen me post about buying a hoop from her and her generous offer to gift one to me as a thank-you for letting them use the design I had custom made for my daughter as a regular item in their store. She and her boyfriend Jack are the creators and business partners behind the scenes at tailspin. Well to get to the good part, tailspinhoops has been featured on Offbeat Brides!

Isn’t she so darn cute?

If you’ve been looking for a fun exercise or just something fun and new to do, consider hoop dance and order your hoop today! Jen can help you pick out a hoop dance instruction video that is right for you. She might even be able to help you find a local class.

Jen is super sweet and very accommodating. She works full time and runs the hoop business with Jack. She’s also a very loving and devoted mommy to 2 sweet cats and soon to be to 2 more (if not already). I met Jen through the swing dance community, which is really a global community. I’ve only met her briefly, very briefly once. But have really enjoyed keeping up with her life and getting to know her over the years online. She currently lives in Philadelphia, which explains why we don’t get together more regularly. Ha!

New Little Nook

2010-01-06T13:02:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I finished a sewing project, for the house. I took photos all along the way hoping to write it up into a tutorial. That’s not going to happen today. I’ve been having trouble breathing and have developed a cough. Not much sleep for the past 3 nights. Turns out I have bronchitis. So I’m hoping to lay low for a bit until I feel better. For now, here’s a peak at my new sewing corner. I’ve had the machine in the basement right across from the computer. Two bad things. I don’t like not being in view of the sunlight and being so near the computer while sewing is distracting sometimes. So I moved the machine and cabinet and a few other sewing items up to a corner in the guest room. Because the guest room, it rarely gets used for guests anyway. It’s pretty much a pretty laundry folding room.

I think I’m going to like this new arrangement.

A New Arrangement

2010-01-05T20:23:00.001-08:00

We have a couple of ledges in our family room that we got a long time ago for displaying older, significant family photos. I’ve enjoyed having them up, but I’ve wanted to tweak them a bit. For the longest time.

I think what really prompted me to finally do something about it was this FAMILY “plaque” my dad made and gave us for Christmas:

I was searching for a place for it and finally could see it working with these photos. But in order to still see the photos, I would have to go forward with my long overdue plan. To mat them. (Therefore the plaque would not cover as much of the photos and you could see FAMILY better with the white mat background.) And with that, I wanted all coordinating frames.

Plus, I had also recently scanned a wedding photo of Jason’s parents finally to match a little better with the theme (older photos – we had a more recent pic of them up). I also photoshopped out the original background and put in a dark tan one (along with some clearing and brightening up), again to add a little more consistency amongst the photos. Took some time to figure out, but not too bad, huh?

For Jason’s grandparents and aunt (who was like a grandma to him), I wanted to convert them all to black and white, like my grandparents’ photos. So I scanned those as well, resized them and made them grayscale. A little photoshop again in some places to take out noise.

I did quite a bit of searching to find the two larger frames (Kohl’s). We had the 3 opening 4x6 frames already. Now I’d like to get a 2 opening mat for the 2 5x7 photos. I can find one at Pottery Barn with a similar frame style. In fact we already own one. The problem is that the mat is cream and would not match the others. I have looked around for just a WHITE mat with 2 5x7 openings and cannot find one, so I’m going to find out if a craft store can custom cut one for me for not too much moola. And it would then fit into an 11x14 frame. For now, this is how it is. I found the little ceramic birdie on clearance at Joann’s. I thought I wanted to put it in our dining room hutch, but she looks really great here, I think!

I've linked this post over at Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After party!

One Word Resolution?

2010-01-04T07:27:00.001-08:00

Have you read this yet? I had heard about it, but did not purposely set out to think about what my one word resolution should be. But, as usual, my subconscious brain decided to go to work at it anyway. The word that it came up with was INITIATE.

In my mind is the guitar I got for a birthday present that I’d like to do something with (relearn and practice for instance). The new hula hoop sweet Jen (from TailspinHoops) sent me at Christmas along with the Hoopdance video I bought are beckoning to me. A decision about something sorta big wants to be researched and made this year. A vacation needs to be planned. Home projects are waiting for me. I can go on and on.

If you had to choose, what would be your one word resolution? And why?

So We Thought Christmas Was Over

2010-01-02T13:18:00.001-08:00

But… we forgot we didn’t exchange gifts with Jason’s brother Scott!

We went down to the city (Chicago – Lincoln Park) last Wed. It was our first time visiting his new apartment which is located right across the street from the Lincoln Park Zoo. We all went over to enjoy “Zoo Lights”.

The front lobby of Scott’s apartment building (it used to be a hotel). Isn’t it pretty!

Miles in Scott’s apartment. He just looked so cute in his new hat made by his Grandma.

Scott’s Christmas tree.

A preview of something we’ll be doing in 2010?

Ice Sculptures

Cold, but fun!

Then, though we did not go to Jason’s family friends party, some folks sent along some gifts for us and the kids. Boy did they like these, hot chocolate mug sets. And of course, Miles got the Cars set!

Anyone else taking advantage of after Christmas sales?

Here are a few nice ones…

Hanna Anderson

Boden

Childrens Place (got some Christmas presents for next year already!)

I’m sure there are more out there, but I’m going to stop looking in case I find more things we “need”.

Old Friend

2009-12-29T21:57:00.001-08:00

Monday I got to see a good friend that I’ve known since high school. Even though we went to different colleges, they were about 30 minutes away and we took frequent trips to visit each other. When she moved to Arizona, we still kept in touch and visited each other. Then she lived in a few other states and there was a time we were not in touch as well as we once had been.

But recently she has gone through a rough life event and I’ve tried to be the best friend I’ve known how to be for her. Even though she now lives in Colorado. It was so great to see her and watch our kids having fun together. I’ll miss her, but at least I know we will continue to keep in touch!

Tea Bag Thank You Notes

2009-12-29T10:58:00.001-08:00

Because I can’t seem to make things easy on myself and buy pre-made Thank You note cards… I went ahead with an idea I had to make “Tea Bag Thank You Note Cards” for the attendees of Ella’s birthday tea party.

They are really quite easy, all you need are:

12x6 piece of decorative paper (per packet)
Pre-made template for tea bag packet
String (I used size 5 white DMC Cotton Perle)
Decorative Paper (size of your choice) for note
Small printed tags for tea bag tag
Stapler
Rubber cement, or other glue of choice

It’s really quite easy to make your own template for the packet. The measurements are as shown below. And of course you can scale the dimensions to your liking.

Once I drew out the template with a ruler and straight edge, I cut it out to use to trace on the back of the decorative paper.

Here I’m using the template just to show how to fold the packets. First fold the bottom rectangular flap up with decorative side of paper on the outside.

Next fold in side flaps. Fold them back out and apply glue to their insides. Fold back down and set under a heavy book until glue sets.

When dry, you can fold down the top flap. I did not glue this after inserting the note, but that is up to you.

Ella filled out a piece of paper with her thank-you to each child. Then I stapled a string to it. The other side of the string was then stapled to the tag which I printed up with a tea pot and “Thank-you” on it. Then I slipped her note into tea bag packets with the tag hanging out, for the cuteness factor.

Some other examples…

If this is your first time to my blog, you may want to take a look at the Tea Cup Invitations that I made for my daughter’s tea party.

I'm linking this post with Kimba's DIY Day and Today's Creative Blog - thanks for

visiting!

Our Final Christmas Celebration for 2009

2009-12-28T07:04:00.001-08:00

At my parents on the 26th. We met up there with my brother John and his girlfriend Kris. As we arrived, we naturally gathered in my parents’ kitchen. My mom did a LOT of work on dinner!

The kids posing in front of my parents’ tree. The beautiful dress is courtesy of Crystal.

The kids love their uncle.

And Kris.

The cookie spread. Contributions by everyone, including Kris’ mom!

Family gets ready to eat a delicious meal.

Another sweet moment. (The camera you see Ella holding in most every picture was her favorite gift from Santa!)

Let the unwrapping begin…

The best gift of the evening.

Home for Christmas

2009-12-25T20:45:00.001-08:00

This year we stayed home together all day Christmas. It was a really nice experience!!

Before the big day, the kids really enjoyed wrapping!

On Christmas Eve everyone got new PJs. I did too, but you do NOT want to see me in pajamas! The kids not only went to sleep in them on Christmas Eve, they never changed into their clothes on Christmas Day! Mr. Grinch did shower and change into clothes, for the record. And he’s not really a Grinch. They were just cute PJs.

The kids were more than ready to get the unwrapping started! We didn’t go too crazy this year with gifts. We tried to stick to this rule for each kid. 4 gift rule – something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. And you know what? It was nice and I think the kids enjoyed it more than getting a ton of gifts. Their gifts were VERY well thought out by us and they weren’t overwhelmed. The big hit for Ella was a play digital camera. Something she didn’t even ask for, but is really having a blast with and I think is a very creative tool. It has video too!

I bought this beautiful handmade dress from Crystal of Little Bit Funky. Ella loved it and talked about it later. She’ll be wearing it tomorrow for Christmas at my parents’.

Miles had a Very “Cars” Christmas. For the most part.

I made a couple of these for the hubby.

And a Czech dinner for the family. Pork roast, sour potatoes, dumplings (Knedlicky) and sauerkraut. (Jason is 1/2 Czech).

Wonderland Express

2009-12-25T11:27:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope that you are having a wonderful day!!

More of our Christmas adventures…

As members of the Chicago Botanic Garden, we enjoyed our second trip to see the indoor winter train exhibit. This time in the company of my brother John, his girlfriend Kris and Kris’ dad Dick (who volunteers as a train “engineer” at the garden year round). The main room of this exhibit houses several trains running through a landscape made of all natural elements. Even the houses and buildings. The structures are all replicas of the types of houses and many landmarks in Chicago. The first room houses the gingerbread house landscape and the last room has a Northshore section (the Botanic Garden is located in the Northshore area).

(All of the following photos were taken by my husband Jason).

Miles was very into his Bingo game card.

Detail on a gingerbread house.

Ella enjoying some bungalow replicas. I believe there included a replica of Michelle Obama’s childhood home.

Look at that detail!

Brownstones of the Gold Coast. (Oprah?)

Replica of President Obama’s Hyde Park home.

Gingerbread Houses

2009-12-24T21:26:00.001-08:00

At Ella’s Kindergarten, the teacher hosted a Gingerbread House Making Party. She provided milk containers and we brought the rest. What a great idea. I always get the kits to do at home and really there is very little the kids are able to do. Here is Ella with her masterpiece.

With the half and half and cream cartons provided, we smeared prepared frosting on and then stuck on graham crackers on. The rest was all creativity with lots of candy. I didn’t get photos of the other houses, but there was certainly a LOT of creativity in that Kindergarten classroom that day!

Cookies

2009-12-23T17:39:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2009, Part 1

2009-12-23T14:17:00.001-08:00

Our first Christmas celebration took place this past Saturday the 19th, in conjunction with Ella’s 3rd birthday celebration.

We prepared a meal, cake and cookies and set our table up in the dining room in an attempt to create a nice atmosphere.

The cookies I made this year from left front going clockwise: Kolachky with honey/almond filling, Mixed Nut Bars, Buckeyes and Gooey Butter Cookies.

If you click on any of the above cookie names, you will be directed to their recipe. Except the Buckeyes. You can find recipes for those all over the internet, but I didn’t find one like what I use. Which I love, because I’m used to it. Let me know if you really want it and I’ll post it or look harder for it on the internet. Also, a tip for the Gooey Butter Cookies… I found that Duncan Hines has a Butter Recipe Golden Mix that really makes these cookies even better than using the Classic Yellow Mix. Don’t worry, if you can’t find it, they still taste amazing!

Next up was exchanging presents and spending some time together.

Ella with her Grandpa and Babi.

Jen (Scott’s girlfriend) and Uncle Scott.

Ella carefully eating her Buckeye on the couch.

Miles with Babi.

Jason spoiling Velvet (the cat).

A family moment…

Sweet Siblings

2009-12-15T17:47:00.001-08:00

Sometimes siblings can have their not-so-good moments. Ours have plenty.

But they can be sweet too. And we saw a lot of it this weekend.

Goofing and playing.

Helping with buttons.

Fixing a boo boo.

I’m so glad they have each other and that they can treat each other so well.

The Inner Girl

2009-12-14T16:53:00.001-08:00

As my tastes have changed through the years, I will still love pink and soft pastels that I always was fond of as a little girl. I could not pass up this beautiful new fabric from the Leanika Line by Dena Designs.

Here is the main fabric I fell in love with:

Here is an accent fabric I love for the above:

And a funky lining for the bag I might make for myself, or the back of a pillow for Ella. Or both…

So I ordered myself a 1/2 yard of each to tuck away until I am ready to get back into the sewing groove again after all of my customs and Christmas presents are done.

Birthday Girl

2009-12-13T17:40:00.001-08:00

My sweet Ella, born just 6 years ago, celebrated her birthday this weekend.

With her friends, she had a Tea Party. Cheers!

Gift cake boxes courtesy of Daisys and Dots. I am so upset we didn’t get a photo of them all together before the kids tore into them. They were SO cute.

Nico was on time, but most of the guests were fashionably late.

Yum!

The kids had fun and were very well behaved!

Ella had another party with family. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle John and Kris (John’s Girlfriend).

(Not sure why we don’t have photos of actual people besides Ella for this occasion).

Table set for stew.

A lucky girl with family, presents and a roaring fire!

I think she likes it.

Our pretty, sweet, smart, wonderful SIX year old!

Ella got lots of presents from her friend party too. LOTS. She was so excited about all of them. In the evening, with family over she decided to dress her new Barbie in the new Barbie clothes. She said she was getting ready for a date with a boy. Her dad just about fell over. I told him she’s already a teenager, talking about dates! Neither of us were at all thrilled with the little bitty teeny weeny clothes Barbie wears these day either…

Get Your Dot On!

2009-12-09T15:58:00.001-08:00

Wow, this evening I am EXHAUSTED. On top of being a crazy busy day including shoveling wet heavy snow on top of my partially finished to do list, I am ready for some me time. Jason has been sick since Monday and while it is my pleasure to take care of him, I am so ready to have someone take care of me at this point.

Anyway, to take a break from creating (since I’ve had no time to create today), I am featuring a fellow small business owner/crafter.

I recently met a local (to me) team and their business godottygo! . One of the owners invited me to a craft boutique they had in October and it was just amazing to see all of their creations! They make mainly scarves as well as fingerless gloves and purses out of recycled sweaters that are donated or that they pick up at thrift stores. A lot of work goes into their designs with a signature “dot” motif. Each item is truly one of a kind!

Though the scarves are a bit pricey, they are worth it. They are so totally cute and I get comments on mine just about EVERYWHERE I go! Hopefully I bring in some business for them because I always tell people where I got my cute scarf and they almost always grab a pen or their iphone to record the store’s web url.

So if you are looking for a unique and beautiful Christmas gift, or something for yourself, make sure to check out godottygo! .

Another Day, Another Apron

2009-12-08T14:29:00.001-08:00

Here is my FIRST custom order apron! This is cut from my very own tweaked pattern. (I HEART this fabric BTW – it is also HTF unfortunately).

It was tweaked (from the red snowflake apron pattern) for a few reasons.

In order of importance:

The skirt was not flouncy enough. So I went from a half circle to a full circle to cut the ruffle. Boy am I glad I am good at geometry and math, specifically spatial reasoning.
The neck and waist ties were shorter than I would have preferred. I made the waist ties longer and the neck ties into one continuous neckband that can be slipped on over the head. Much easier to manage.
The apron was entirely too long, especially for the petite woman this one was made for.
It was too much bulk to sew the edges of the neck ties/band right at the edge of the top of the bib, so I moved those in just after the side hem.

All and all I’d have to say, this pattern making thing is really fun and I recommend it to my fellow blog sewing friends. There are definitely some challenges, but like with everything, it just takes practice and some trial and error.

P.S. Here is the Jessie Steele apron I was trying to mimic (next to mine):

I am going to squeeze in one more apron project before Christmas… Meanwhile I have yet another custom order, for 11 hand towels.

And I’d like to finally mention the great buy I found at a “garage sale”/estate sale/guy has several houses and is getting rid of this one and everything in it sale. I have always wanted a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I have never wanted to pay the $200 or so for one. I jumped at the opportunity to pick this one up for a fraction of the price! I don’t think it was every used, or if so, very little. I am really looking forward to making something with this new find!

Weekend Away

2009-12-07T17:46:00.001-08:00

My husband Jason and I decided we really needed some more quality/quantity time together, so this weekend while my parents graciously watched the kids, we got away to a favorite B&B in Cambridge, Wisconsin, the Oscar H. Hanson House.

We had gone there once before and stayed in the same room as the first time.

The owners, Mary Jane and Duke have done a beautiful job remodeling and decorating the interior of the house.

The dining room

Bathroom details

The room we stayed in

Cambridge is out in the middle of farm country and we enjoyed taking pictures…

Like this…

There were a few shops in town. We bought some black coffee mugs at Cambridge Stoneware Pottery.

The store had some nice displays…

Saturday night we went for our fourth visit to the Fireside Dinner Theater in Fort Atkinson. The food was ok. The production was very enjoyable.

Sunday late morning we headed back to pick up the kids, and use some of the new features we discovered in our new Highlander. (The backseat kid watching mirror.) The weekend was a very nice break and good times together as husband and wife.

Until next time…

Teacher’s Gifts

2009-12-03T14:02:00.001-08:00

This year, my children’s teachers are each getting an apron.

First, my daughter’s Kindergarten teacher is getting this red snowflake number…

(I actually used a pattern that I drew myself using a ruler and a some free hand onto craft paper! Not too shabby, eh?)

And my son’s preschool teacher who LOVES brown, is getting this one…

I will be making at least one other apron before Christmas, but probably two. One is a custom order from a real life friend, the other is hopefully a half apron from the fabric I had left over from the snowflake fabric. Business has been really good both in the store and also custom orders from friends and real life clients. So I have been keeping really busy.

I also embellished some frames for each of the three teachers at the Montessori school where my kids go. I LOVE this craft and have made about 11 of these frames so far. This idea is from Jessica of Brixton Lane. She has a wonderful tutorial so you could try it yourself!

A little gift to myself arrived this week. A custom design camera bag from Wicked Stitch Designs. It’s so cute I could almost eat it.

And… yesterday our first Christmas card arrived while today our first snowflakes arrived. My has 2009 flown by!

Burlap Wreath

2009-12-02T06:49:00.001-08:00

Hello, if you found this post I want to make sure that you visit Linda of Craftaholics Anonymous. She is the genious behind the following craft! I ADORE her blog, I LOVE her ideas and I HIGHLY recommend you get yourself over there now! I'm guessing you will love her too!

As I mentioned not to long ago…

I saw this wreath at Craftaholics Anonymous and had to make it! So here is my final product. It was VERY easy and fun to put together (and cheap).

Though no full tutorial is provided, some great tips are found here by Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous.

On another note, I have been blown away at sales in the shop and custom orders. It may not be a lot for most, but it is making me happy!

And on yet another note, I am doing something I never thought I’d do, I’m making my own patterns for things other than bags. Things that human beings wear. I hope they turn out ok!

Customs

2009-12-01T10:58:00.001-08:00

I am at the tail end of working on some custom order. Two done, one more to go!

I actually didn’t take photos of all of the pieces ordered from the first client, but here is the casserole carrier.

The next request was for a set from some gingerbread men/women fabric. These turned out SO cute. And I would have never picked this fabric to use. Under the potholders is a hanging towel. The client asked for one of these and I kind of made it up as I went. What do you think? Should I make more for the store? I actually cut a towel in half for it to look normal. Just a little something to wipe your hands on. Fun and easy to make.

For the last order I still have to get the fabric for an apron for a friend to give as a gift. That will be my last custom for now, unless I get more. Wouldn’t that be great!?

I am also finishing up one teachers gift and thinking about the second. Busy busy!

Thankful

2009-11-30T12:09:00.001-08:00

Is it just me, or does it seem like the year is moving quicker than ever? Maybe it is because of my advanced age? Or maybe because I have two kids in school and one in school full time? At any rate, Thanksgiving came and went and our house is already decorated for Christmas. Plans are made for Ella’s birthday party. We are all thinking of gifts for each. I have some bought/made.

But I’ll slow down just a minute, to share some family pics from our Thanksgiving festivities. This year TG was at my in-laws.

Here is my husband’s side of the family

And mine

And here our princess, who we later found out, has pneumonia. She is currently on antibiotics and improving. I still kept her home from school today and may tomorrow as well, just to get her adequate rest and to keep her immune compromised body away from other germs.

The next day we sat down in the evening together to watch the movie “Flywheel”. As a family. And Miles said “We should take a picture, you know of the family, it would look so cute.” And so we did, in our lazy day clothes and all.

I’ve been sewing and crafting and decorating quite a bit lately, so I’m hoping to supply all my patient and loyal readers with more posts this week than usual.

A Special Invite

2009-11-19T09:56:00.001-08:00

Leave it to me to find any excuse to craft… My latest project was these cards. These are the invitations for Ella’s Tea Party birthday.

She has recently added blue to her long list of favorite colors. So I thought blue would be appropriate for the cards and then I cut teacup shapes out of feminine and masculine scrapbook paper for the girls and the boys. We are inviting boys. We’ll see if they come. All I know is that Ella’s been invited to many a Star Wars party lately.

I have several other craft ideas on the docket for teacher’s gifts. And I am thrilled to have 3 custom orders from my shop in the works!

Crafts, Books and Crafty Books

2009-11-18T15:04:00.001-08:00

I seriously want to make one of these burlap wreaths! And we even have a red front door which the wreath nicely contrasts. Linda is promising a tutorial each day for an entire week over at Craftaholics Anonymous! I hope one is for the burlap wreath! Though I think you’d just tie burlap strips around a circle wreath form… and add a handmade flower or two.

Yesterday I received my Creative Dance book which will help me in integrating some important movement exercises into my pre-dance classes. I can’t wait to read about this philosophy of learning dance and some sample lesson plans.

Today I decided to buy this apron sewing book with my 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby. It has a few apron styles that I’ve wanted to buy patterns for or simply could not find patterns for. {yippee}

This morning, I happily shipped off my first order since relisting my items on Kitchen Stitchen. In our new car. Yeah, we got a new car on Monday night. It is not as “fun” as the car I used to drive, but it does have a smooth ride, it’s roomy and seems more insulated from sounds and elements. I think it will take a while, but I think I’ll really like it someday.

View Full Album

Finally, take a look in the shop, I have all the new Holiday Themed potholders listed! And, what is that? They are discounted! That’s right, get ‘em while they last.

When Life Hands You Tea

2009-11-17T11:28:00.001-08:00

Change your daughter’s birthday party plans.

Bet you can’t guess what we are doing to celebrate Ella’s birthday, and where.

I’ve started making invitations which need to go out soon.

I have found paper cutting to be very therapeutic.

Let’s see what other crazy ideas I can come up with for this party as an excuse to craft. Of course I will keep you all updated with the final product(s).

And yes, I’ve decided to invite the boys too. I mean, she’s been invited to several Star Wars parties. Who will it hurt for a young boy to sit still for a while and enjoy some culture?

Needless to say. I’m excited.

_____________________

I'm also excited that Kitchen Stitchen on Etsy is back up and running --------------->

I will be adding new items throughout the week!

Our First Tea

2009-11-15T22:33:00.001-08:00

I don’t know who was more excited, Ella or me. We were going to a Tea Party, just the two of us. The party was being held at Infini-tea in Antioch, IL. It was a special one in that the characters from “Beauty and the Beast” would be present after their afternoon showing at a local theater (across the street).

Here we are, all dressed up with a Tea to go to.

What is also nice is that my brother lives in Antioch. So we were able to spend some time with him before our party. Our trip included a visit to Something Sweet to obtain the much talked about cashew crunch and peanut butter chocolate squares. And Ella got to pick out some candy too. Next time we must get some of their famous fudge!

Ella with Uncle John.

After a few other adventures, which may have included going to a home decor/craft store, where I may have bought a few sheets of really cool scrapbook paper which I don’t even know what I’m going to do with, we got to see the trees lit up down Main Street.

And this old building is a restaurant. It used to be a bank. It kind of looks like a museum. I like the tall arched windows.

On to the Tea Party! I’ve never really been to a real “Tea”. This lovely tea… uh… place was so warm and inviting. It was by reservation only and it just made us feel even more special. All of the little girls were dressed much like Ella. She was so beautiful and what a perfect time for some lovely photos of her!

Waiting with anticipation.

Pretending to drink tea. I wanted a full shot of her dress. I’m so mad this is blurry, but it is the best of the bunch.

Here she is drinking her Angel Falls Mist herbal tea.

And then she moved along to hot chocolate.

We were first served some iced water with a lemon wedge and our choice of hot beverage. I chose the Pumpkin Spice tea and Ella chose the Angel Falls Mist herbal tea. As you can see, later she moved on to the hot chocolate. I moved on to the Plum Cinnamon Rooibos. Accompanying our beverages were some small sweet breads. The first course consisted of mini quiches and scones with real whipped cream, strawberry jam and lemon curd on the side. Ella had the chocolate chip scone and I had the orange currant scone. She did not like her quiche, but at least she tried it.

Next were finger sandwiches, ants on a log and various other goodies. I got this photo after we ate the top layer. Ella didn’t like the olive roll. I happily ate the rest of hers.

Finally many petite cakes and pastries were served for dessert.

The characters from the musical arrived shortly after the start of the Tea Party and stayed through the entire time.

Ella with Beauty and the Beast characters.

She was SO happy to get to hug Mrs. Potts and Belle.

We truly had a magical time and both of us can’t wait to return!

Evolution of a Presentation

2009-11-13T17:22:00.001-08:00

For those of you who aren’t yet tired of hearing all about my craft fairs and table set ups, I have more to tell you! For all others, enjoy this photo and skip the rest of this post. Wait for the next which most likely will not be about any craft fair business. Ok, well I may or may not do one last post recapping the show.

Birdhouse Decorated by Nature

********************

Tomorrow is my last craft fair of the season and BOY AM I EXCITED. This show benefits the ministry that I have been very involved with for three years now, Teen Mother Choices. Last year’s boutique show was a big hit and this year’s promises to be even better. In fact, I hope I get a chance to play hooky from my booth for a while to look around.

First off, I am excited about my display. I asked my friend Cathy from church if she would help me. She is really good with decorating and arranging things so that they are warm and pleasing to the eye. She was so kind to oblige and had her design idea whipped up in a flash. She also went out and found the great towel holder pictured below at Goodwill.

AND she spray painted them for me! Whoa what a difference!

Back to the display set up: In working with Cathy, I realized I tend to arrange things more asymmetrically and perhaps therein lies my problem. I mean look at this amazing symmetrical setup. It just draws you in and truly does feel warm and inviting!

Next, one of the show organizers told me that my table would be in the MAIN front room. Some go in a back room and don’t get as much traffic. So that is something I am also excited about.

And finally this week I made 15 new potholders!! Assembly line style. And I’m still alive. Since those went so well at the last show, which I attribute to my new hanging display, I am hoping they will go even better this show! The other side benefit here is that I used up the last of much of my fabric purchased for the shop. That makes me feel so satisfied, that there was very little waste. I plan to use some of my scraps for sewing projects for my daughter’s Kindergarten class and then may mail the rest off to someone I wanted to send them to a while back. If she still wants them.

Yep, so wish me luck and next week I hope to get my Etsy shop back up and running with whatever I have leftover from after the show.

Have a great weekend!

New Blouse – New Display

2009-11-11T06:52:00.001-08:00

I obtained a pattern for a peasant type blouse for Ella a while back and recently decided I couldn’t live without Anna Maria Horner’s Fortune Fabric from her Good Folks collection. And so the two met and became this:

Since I have a picture of Ella in her new top at the library, I’ll take this time to Brag on her! Ella is quite the reader for a 5 year old. She is the best reader in her Kindergarten class, according to her teacher. The other night she read a book to me and I was astonished at the big words she was able to decipher with ease. She is now reading Because of Winn-Dixie, a children's novel by Kate DiCamillo. Yes… a novel. I read her this book last year. I am thrilled! Literacy opens such a world to people and reading is something that I enjoy immensely. Since I’m already bragging, I will also add that she loves math. She will make up problems adding several numbers together and then solve them. She has a much better memory than I, for which I am thankful. She is already memorizing addition facts and complex bible verses. And I am totally not pushing her on this, it is all her. I am just here to encourage and provide resources to quench her thirst for knowledge.

Finally, at the solicited suggestion of a friend, I redid my potholder display so as to have a neutral background. I used ModPodge to adhere some very affordable burlap.

Before:

After:

I do think it makes a difference and I am quite please with the resulting look. Now I’m off to make even more potholders. Have a great Wednesday and remember to thank a Veteran!

Indiana Show

2009-11-08T20:41:00.001-08:00

Well, at one point I thought the Indiana show was my best ever – profit-wise. And actually it was, by a very slim margin.

But I would like to think it was a success on many levels. First, it got my friend Gail out of the house for a much needed break from nursing her poor husband who had a terrible mountain biking accident a few weeks ago. She was SO tired and the ride down gave her a chance to sleep. Next, it is wonderful to be with Gail. She is like a sister to me and I love her and her family dearly. Heck, we went on 2 vacations with them this year!

It is also wonderful to see what a lovely relationship she has with her in-laws, who were the folks having the craft show at their house. They are absolutely lovely people and take me in as if I were family too. As if there aren’t enough wonderful and lovely people spoken of already, the other vendors and the guests were among some of the nicest people I’ve met.

As far as selling… I consider my new potholder display a success because I sold a lot of potholders! And for a while there, I had a constant stream of shoppers picking up items from my booth to buy. Unfortunately, that tapered off sooner than I would have liked. But as I said, I did make a decent profit. Just a bit more than I’ve made at other shows. One more show to go! Not sure if I’ll make more potholders or not. Oh, and I only sold one towel, so maybe I need to re-think a towel display. Any ideas?

Friday was Ella’s dance classes and it happened to be parent observation week. Here are some photos I’d like to share…

New Display

2009-11-05T14:08:00.001-08:00

Since my last craft show, I’ve been thinking a lot about my display. I’m not so good with the psychology of selling, or whatever you call it. But I did notice that the vendors next to me had their scarves blatantly displayed for all to see. It was like eye candy and I immediately found myself scanning all of the scarves to find my favorite, to find which one screamed my name. And so, from that experience, I concluded that having your stuff highly visible adds to the appeal of your product. That is, if your product is appealing to begin with, I suppose.

I had a few ideas running through my head, mostly based on one that my friend Nilsa mentioned when she came to my last show.

When I was in Hobby Lobby yesterday, I saw these three paneled display boards and decided that for $3.99 plus my 40% off coupon, it was something I could work with. So after some brainstorming with my husband and I, we came up with this…

Screws were inserted through the top of the board with washers and nuts on the back to keep them in place. The screw heads were covered with a circle of fabric tied on by a ribbon that runs down the length of the board and small clothes pins were used to hang the potholders along the string.

It makes me happy!

Halloween Weekend

2009-10-31T20:46:00.001-07:00

On Friday Ella and Miles had Halloween parties at school. Here is Ella with her Kindergarten teacher.

Here is Miles with his Pre-School Teacher.

On Friday night Ella and Daddy headed off to camp with Adventure Princesses. Meanwhile Miles and Mommy went to see Grandpa and Grandma for a very short visit.

We came back Saturday for Miles to participate in the business Trick or Treating. This year they had carnival rides. A first! He loved the cars and dragons rides.

Ella and Dad came back for a few hours for neighborhood Trick or Treating. Mom and Dad could not keep up with them!

Shades of Red, Pink and Cream

2009-10-27T11:33:00.001-07:00

The autumn colors have been so vibrant this year. I think that they are most years, but I am never not amazed each year how stunning they are. Today our subject is a bush in our front yard. I cannot even begin to capture its beauty in photographic form, but I tried.

A more complete view of this bush projects reds, pinks and creams. I love the transition of color throughout the bush.

I love leaves on the ground. I purposely like to turn down a side street when I’m coming home from running the kids around. That side street is heavily scattered with golden leaves and since it is not as well traveled, the leaves cover more of the surface of the road. It is like I’m driving on a street of gold, only better.

It is heartwarming to witness Ella and Miles admiring the beauty of nature as well. Miles told me that a tree with bright red leaves was “beautiful”. Ella enjoys this bush in our front yard as much I as do. She delighted in finding a pink leaf and gave it to as a loving gesture.

Hope you are having a beautiful fall too. I’m off to work on a few more potholders before my next craft show.

A Break from the Cold

2009-10-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday we got a nice break from the colder temps that have been the norm lately in the Chicago area. While I felt like I should have been totally devoted to my sewing for this Friday, I could not resist finding any excuse to play outside with the kids. So to feel less guilty about playing hooky for a few hours from my work, I decided to rake. And thus, the kids got to play in the leaf piles. It was so warm, about 69 degrees F, that none of us needed coats. As usual, the kids loved bathing in the leaf piles. This provided a great photo opportunity. Here is the best of the few I took before I got really serious about the raking. (You should see how many more leaves fell since yesterday!)

Here are my two favorite aprons (on my two favorite kids)...

And my favorite new potholders. I want to keep one. Luckily I have plenty more of these fabrics if I want to make one for myself.

Here is my apron display for the show...

Onto tagging all of the new items!

Very Biased

2009-10-21T17:46:00.001-07:00

I continue to sew sew sew for the Friday show! I finally cut myself off from starting anything new and settling on finishing all of the items I have started. Which still means a lot of work. The most time consuming part of this all is making bias strips. These bias strips are needed for both the potholders and the kids aprons which are the items I am working on now. Lots and lots of bias tape is needed for the kids aprons. Yards and yards of bias strips!

To make these, I cut strips on the bias (45 degree angle) of the fabric. Then I sew them together to make one really long strip. Next is ironing the seams and cutting off the extra triangles on the sides. Finally, I use my bias tape maker to fold the fabric lengthwise into double folds.

Bias tape makers

For the aprons I iron both folds, for the potholders I only iron one fold. Then for the aprons I fold it in half lengthwise and iron again. Phew!

If you are interested in how to make bias tape, here is a place to start.

(from www.TheQuiltingCoach.com - Penny Halgren).

There are a few ways to make bias strips. I know two ways, but have just been doing straight forward cutting for now instead of a more complicated tube method. Learning to make bias strips/tape is a GREAT technique. They can be used for so many things like binding a quilt or even making piping for a pillow. Or, of course the examples below.

More potholders (these take a while to finish when you take into account all the steps required.

Layers of kids aprons on the dress form. Yes, I'm making a couple of boy's aprons.

More aprons waiting to be finished (just need, you guessed it, BIAS TAPE!). With that, I better get back to it.

Working Hard

2009-10-18T19:02:00.001-07:00

A little sneak peek at some of the new fall and winter fabrics for some pretty potholders.

I am currently putting together as many new potholders as I can before next Friday. I hope I get them all done before receiving Christmas fabric I ordered to make more children's aprons. I already have an order for two from a local friend.

I can finally unveil a dress I worked on last week for a custom order. Pretty cute for a girly girl who LOVES pink!

Finally a very rare photo of both of our cats actually snuggle up together. Just moments earlier Velvet (on the left) was grooming Paris (on the right).

Hello Stranger

2009-10-13T18:12:00.001-07:00

I know I haven't been very forthcoming with posts lately. Perhaps I have been hiding a little, like this little fellow...

...our cat Paris.

Working a little on some sewing jobs like...

...adding a tulle ruffle to the neckline and other alternations of this homecoming dress.

Loving...

...a lot.

Mourning more than a little...

...

Nursing my daughter who had croup and myself with a lovely cold weather-related upper-respiratory congestion.

Now I am focusing on sewing lots of items for Kitchen Stitchen. Because I have THREE Boutique shows coming up!

I've made a few new seasonal potholders.

And while I wait for more terry cloth fabric and insulbrite to arrive, I have been deciding what to make with some "orphan" fabric I have. So I made two of these children's aprons (identical) and plan to make two more identical aprons in a deep blue fabric with lime green trim. I'm thinking holiday gifts here. Any other ideas of kitchen gifts to make?

And if you are interested in the upcoming shows I will be in:

Here is a link with info for the first one:

The Unique Boutique

The second is in Indiana at my friend's mother-in-law's house and I don't have info for that just yet.
And the info for the third show can be found at the link below:

TMC Holiday Tea and Boutique

Sewing Cabinet DONE!

2009-10-04T21:52:00.001-07:00

It has been done for a while, but I have had a pretty crazy couple of weeks, so I am just now getting around to posting photos. I finally completed my goal of repainting my sewing cabinet that my mom handed down to me. You can follow the saga of this project here.

The spray paint technique did not work out for me.

And so I stripped it with real paint stripper and not just the liquid sandpaper I used the first time. I sanded too. Much better! Then I primed and painted with a brush. One coat of Kilz. Two coats of antique white. Brush painting has its drawbacks. You can see brushstrokes and some drips go undetected until it is too late. But that is where I learned you can sand between coats.

And while it's not perfect. I'm happy!

Before

After

Matches much nicer with my wall organizer and my neat Ikea chair! Looks great from a distance too.

Lake Geneva

2009-10-04T21:11:00.000-07:00

Fall Decor

2009-10-01T10:06:00.001-07:00

I started writing this post a few weeks ago, then waited to publish it when I heard that Rhoda at Southern Hospitality was having her "It's Fall Y'all" Linky Party.

Well, my mantel is ready for fall.

This year I actually had a vision. I must have seen these bundles of um, ~~weeds~~ fall foliage? somewhere because they came to mind, as well as placing little pumpkins on my black candle stick holders. (now if you look at Rhoda's decor on her blog, maybe that is where I got the idea for pumpkins on candle stick holders)

I found the pumpkin candles and bundles of fall foliage at Target in the Smith and Hawkins section.

The "hurricane" is actually a vase that came with some flowers that Jason sent me recently. I filled it with coffee beans and put a nice plump candle in it. The small blue vase is something I bought a while back to hold the wild flowers that the kids love to pick for me.

I recently found a ton of acorns in a corner of our yard from our neighbor's tree and had the kids pick them up for me. I used them for a filler in another hurricane. Warning: if you decide to use acorns for decor, make sure to soak them a while in salt water to kill any creepy crawlies that may be hiding inside!

And... some other fall decor I have around the house.

Here is a pumpkin "planter" project I made a couple of years ago. A Southern Living at Home project idea.

A wire pumpkin candle holder I've had for years purchased at Kohl's and two chenille pumpkins purchased from a crafter at a garage sale a few years ago.

An acorn pillow my mom made for me last year.

Here is a project idea that I stole from Creative Little Daisy this year. Much cheaper than buying something similar available this year at Pottery Barn!

Do you put up fall decor? What do you put up? I'd love to see your photos too! And if you want, you can link them up to Rhoda's Party too!

Move Over Vera

2009-09-27T21:18:00.001-07:00

Well, maybe not quite!

I have been busy with my head down at the sewing machine for the past two weeks. I've been working on a custom order from a client whose youngest daughter was in one of my dance classes last season. She wanted a duffle bag for her older daughter to use for her dance classes. The girl wanted it quilted and kind of Vera Bradley-ish but with funkier fabrics. She chose several fabrics that she wanted included in the bag and I met with the mom for her to relay all of the features she wanted.

I am now done and here is the finished product!

Front of the bag with matching makeup pouch

(I don't know if you can tell, but this thing is HUGE, I filled it with 4 large bath towels to give it shape for the photos)

Side with pocket

Back of bag

Inner side pocket

Inner end pocket

All fabrics are from Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market Line in the Spring colorway.

Though I personally am not quite into the whole quilted bag look, I have to admit that it was really fun quilting all the pieces and seeing them all puff up before my eyes!

I hope she loves it. She came by before I sewed on the shoulder straps to see if the length was ok and both she and her mom were really excited.

Phew, onto my next projects... hemming jeans, adding an embellishment onto a homecoming dress and making a birthday dress for a little girl (not my girl). I also hope to get a few more potholders and maybe casserole carriers made (ha, good luck with that!) before a Boutique show I will be in in October! More on that later.

A Hole in Our House

2009-09-21T10:37:00.001-07:00

As of 2 years ago, we have been talking about replacing our worn out sliding glass door. We decided it was a good time to get a wider door to take advantage of our wonderful view of the pond out behind our house. We do have two back doors, each quite close to one another. So we finally decided to go with the less expensive alternative, windows. We also opted to have the railing on that side of the deck removed and the stairs continued to the end to remove that obstruction from our view.

You can see how much more openness we were in store for. Look how narrow the double sliding door was.

Here they have supported the ceiling with lumber while they took out some studs in the wall.

It was very strange having a huge open hole in our family room. The inside was on display like a doll house.

Here the windows have been installed.

Siding back in place

Deck finished.

Trim installed and staining in progress.

Finished!

We absolutely love it and now need to think about some window treatments...

Hope you enjoyed a peak into the transformation!

Stash Patch Skirt

2009-09-10T12:07:00.001-07:00

My mom gives and lends me some of her sewing magazines often. This spring she lent me a copy of Stitch. I forgot about it for a while but then found it and looked through it only to find a skirt I wanted to make for Ella. When I called her to say I had just found it and would return it after making the skirt, she said she'd bought another one. Sorry Mom!

Well, ahem, here is the project I wanted to do. It was great for me because it helped me to really use up some of my stash. I really don't like the feeling of having nice fabric, even remnants from other projects, sitting around. This made me feel many of those pieces were put to {good?} use. Plus, I didn't have to buy anything extra for this project so it was relatively FREE!

The little apron across the front is embellished with a few buttons.

The hem is trimmed with some blue lace hem tape. I don't think it supposed to be used for this purpose, but I don't care. How many people will even know? Or care, for that matter?

As usual, Ella makes my crazy creations look cute.

Maybe it wasn't such a smart thing to do, my hand still hurts! Though I didn't use the rotary cutter, but rather scissors. So I guess the general movement just aggravated whatever was wrong. I think it may be time to call the doctor on this one.

Nothing in this World is Forever

2009-09-09T10:43:00.001-07:00

Top of archway leading to the outdoor ceremony site at the Little White Church on the Hill, 2009

This weekend we went camping with two other families in Galena, IL. Galena happens to be where Jason and I had our wedding. We were excited to go back to see the chapel where we got married 7 years ago and to show it to our kids for the first time ever.

Little White Church on the Hill, Scales Mound, IL, 2002

The chapel is an old, small, pretty building that was purchased by a retired couple who's family attended church there. It is out in the hilly country about 10 minutes or so outside of the town of Galena. They fixed it up really lovely and rent it out for weddings.

Little White Church interior with our pastor and wedding coordinator preparing, 2002

Our Wedding Sept. 14, 2002

The visit was bitter sweet. It was great to be there again, but the building is showing quite a bit of wear. Paint chipping, windows broken. The realization set in that this church may not be there forever. So the next time we visit, we will probably call ahead of time to see if we can go in the inside. Before it's, gulp, not there anymore someday.

Sept. 6, 2009

But we will always have our memories of that day. And we will enjoy going back for as long as we can.

Happy 7th Anniversary Jason!

New Items In Shop

2009-09-08T15:33:00.001-07:00

I have been putting sewing and shop updates on hold for a bit while trying to organize our lives a little better and get into routines that will benefit our family's day to day living. But today I sit here with a painful hand. I don't know what is causing it, but it is hard to do much and it has me in a bit of a funk. So I decided to work on photos and listings today for Kitchen Stitchen. Here are a few of the newest items...

A new casserole carrier in reproduction 50's Kitchen fabric by Michael Miller paired with some really cute green and white polka dot. Love it!

You may or may have not seen my previous post on my first table runner. I do love how it turned out and hope it will find a good home very soon!

This is one of two Kaffe Fasset fabric napkin sets that I made. The other maroon color set sold right away at the farmer's market. These are just a great color and style for a dinner napkin.

I have a bit of an itch to sew, but if I do, I'll have to find another cutting method that doesn't cause so much strain on my left hand (the one in pain). I currently must hold my cutting edge down really hard because it is slippery. Unfortunately the next project I'd like to do is a patchwork skirt which would me a LOT of cutting!

Hope you all had a safe and happy Labor Day! Please stop by my shop to take a look around at the new items!

A Renaissance

2009-09-04T07:03:00.001-07:00

My cousin Katie works at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin in the summer. She lives in Austin, TX and I haven't seen her much throughout our lives, so we make a point to get to the Faire (which is very close to us) each summer. Once again it was great to see her. This was also the first year the kids really enjoyed the Faire more than ever in the past.

Katie and I (it was a tad chilly that day)

Broon, a favorite entertainer.

Missed most of the horse show, but got to pet one.

Among other things, this entertainer "The Flaming Idiot" makes sandwiches with his feet. He holds the worlds record for doing this the fastest. I wonder how much competition he has. It was pretty unappetizing to watch. Especially when he plunged a foot into a large jar of pickles.

He also climbed up on Jason to juggle fire.

The petting zoo.

Miles was not so brave. I don't blame him.

This porcupine is only 6 months old. It stayed up on a roof and apparently bites. Luckily it is unable to get off of the roof, although it certainly tries.

There was also a very aggressive zebra. It was kind of a bizarre petting zoo.

These are just some of the highlights of our day. It was a LOT of fun!

Boy's Turn

2009-09-02T19:01:00.001-07:00

Today was Miles' first day of his second year of preschool. Much to my delight, he actually said he was excited to go back to school! This is a boy who had some terrible separation anxiety about school (and every other drop off situation) last year. He has grown so much. You can just tell in these photos how at ease, confident and happy he was to go to school.

Oh boy Mom, I want to take this picture so bad that I think I'll sit down for it.

You wanted a smile.

Waiting, not so patiently for the door to open. Miles "Mom, when will the teachers open the door?" me - "When they are ready." Miles - "Mom, when will they be ready?"

Now I'm in, you can go now Mom! (Don't you just want to hug him?)

I am so excited about how much our kids love school and love learning. Ella is becoming a true blooded nerd, working on reading, writing and math with no prompting from us. And then teaching it to Miles.

First Day of the Big K!

2009-09-01T17:38:00.001-07:00

I can't believe this day is here, and yet I can. She is such a big girl, so smart, so motivated. It is time. Time for our oldest to go to Kindergarten. So please permit me to proudly share some photos of our drop off. Jason joined as well. It means a lot to me (and more importantly to Ella) that he wanted to be there.

We chose to send Ella to Kindergarten at the Montessori school she attended for three years for pre-school. It is a full day program and the children can learn at their own pace and own level. The teacher is wonderful. We are quite happy with our decision. The public schools do not offer a full day program. But we do plan to enroll her in public school next year.

Posing by the school sign in her back-to-school outfit and new haircut.

Waiting for door to open and school to start.

Getting situated after being greeted by the wonderful teacher and meeting a new friend and an old friend.

She's ready!

At least one tear may have been shed.

The report after school from the teacher was that she did well and is reading at an impressive level. The report from Ella is that she LOVED it. It was fun to hear the details of her day too. I left a note in her lunchbox and she clearly appreciated it. I'll have to make a habit out of it!

Last Day of "Summer"

2009-08-31T20:30:00.001-07:00

The weather here feels much more like early Fall, but today was really nice for an "early Fall" feeling day. And it also happened to be the last day before Ella starts her first day of Kindergarten!

We started the morning off with a preschool dance class that I teach. The kids (my kids) were pretty good considering they had to stay in the corner and watch DVDs and color. The students were good overall, except for the one who cried and wouldn't participate. I really felt for her though and wished I could have done more to make her feel better, but I had to give most attention to the rest of the class that was participating. Hopefully she'll be better next time... It was nice for me to be back in the swing of things teaching dance again.

We came home to the carpenters still working on our house (more on that to come). But much to my surprise and delight, they were finished early! So I scrambled to think of something fun to do on the last day before school.

First I took the kids to the Lake County Discovery Museum which is situated on a Forest Preserve. It is a small but nice museum for both adults and kids and mainly presents the history and nature of Lake County.

As I mentioned, it is situated on preserved land, so there was lots of space and beauty to play in and explore.

The buildings are so simple but beautiful in this landscape.

The Mastodon was a big hit.

She was very patient letting the kids climb all over her.

This is a sculpture of a tree marker used by Native Americans to mark trails. The trees were tied to the ground as saplings causing the trunks to grow in a bent shape which was recognized as a trail marker.

Thistle was scattered around the perimeter of this bog pond.

At home, the fun continued. I bought two small mixes of muffins (kids choice of flavors) and they used their mini-muffin pans I bought for them at a garage sale.

After the prep, they watched the muffins cook. Doesn't hurt that they learned a bit about what goes on during baking from a Magic School Bus book.

While waiting for the muffins to cool, I took the kids out on our paddle boat. I think it must be the first time we took it out this year. What a shame, we really need to take better advantage of the boat and the pond behind our house.

The day ended with dinner, baths, choosing clothes for the first day of school and a few snuggles.

Tomorrow is the BIG day!

In Progress

2009-08-26T07:44:00.001-07:00

My second attempt at painting my sewing cabinet is underway. I now have the first attempt stripped off, along with some of the original finish which I thought was supposed to be taken care of by the liquid sandpaper that I used during the first attempt.

This is taking a ton of time. I still want to sand it all before starting the painting process.

I won't lie, I'm not feeling very confident about painting it right now.

At least we had a good dinner. Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Michigan Vacation

2009-08-25T11:36:00.001-07:00

Last week we went on a vacation in Cassopolis, Michigan. Where? Yes, where? is right. Not much going on in Cassopolis. But we were in a very cute lake house, on a... lake.

And most importantly, we were amongst good company. Friends that we love and don't see nearly enough.

The weather didn't cooperate the entire time, but that did give us and excuse to get out and some other areas such as South Bend, Indiana (home of Notre Dame University),

Shipshewana, IN (tourist trap and Amish country)

and Elkhart, IN home of the RV Hall of Fame (yes we visited it).

We were also within walking distance of a farm stand which was open every day. Peaches were in season and were enjoyed by all. I love the country, because it reminds so much of my grandparents who were farmers in Missouri.

The kids all seemed to have a great time and it was wonderful to watch them interact.

We had a great time, but I was exhausted and we didn't get a ton of family time like we have been spoiled enough to have on past vacations. But I'd do it again, maybe not every year, but I'd do it.

Ella lost her first baby tooth early in the week!

Bowling in South Bend on a rainy morning.

Large hibiscus in Shipshewana.

A walk and silly fun after some fine dining.

All the kids. Well we tried to take a picture of them all.

I can't believe that just next week, the kids will be back to school and that Ella will be in Kindergarten in an all day program. I've also got them signed up for plenty of other activities...

Wednesday Thursday

2009-08-14T13:32:00.001-07:00

It was like a weekend, in the middle of the week. My parents watched the kids while Jason and I embarked on a midweek excursion of music and fun.

To try and keep a long story short, try to follow me here. We had tickets to see Jason Mraz on Thursday night. His best friend and fellow musician, Bushwalla (Billy Galewood) was on tour with him. Every year for the past five years a group has flown Billy out (independent of Jason) for LRC's (Living Room Concerts). We went to our first last year which was held in a forest preserve. We got to know the fans a bit and found them all to be really friendly. The organizer, Rikki, has kept in touch with us through various social networking sources. Since Billy was out with Jason this week, she set up an LRC for Billy and a few other local musicians on Wednesday night at Schuba's in Chicago in the small upstairs room.

I had the Grayslake Farmer's Market on Wed. until 7 pm, and we set out for the city right after. We missed the first act but did see:

Anthony Bagnera of Makeshift Prodigy.

A bandmate who did a song.

Todd Carey

And of course Bushwalla (pictured here with Rikki).

Jason and I also invited Scott to the LRC. I think he had a really good time. He also let us crash on his floor. Complete with Aerobed! The next day, the three of us took a bike ride along Lake Shore Drive. It was an amazing day. Perfect weather. We rode from his place on Montrose down to Fullerton by the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is where he'll be moving soon. (To the area, not the actual zoo).

Could we ask for a better day?

Great brotherly bonding.

No, not another member of the family, but one of the primates we saw when we took a quick walk through the zoo (it's free - so not like we are not getting our admission fee's worth by just breezing through).

When we went back up north, we went out to an Ethiopian restaurant called Demera. I missed Ethiopian food and the food there was great. Even Scott was making "yummy" noises the whole time!

---

Did I mention that we got an email last week saying we'd be getting line jumper passes with our tickets? We got in 15 minutes earlier than non-line jumper pass holders.

We ended up basically in the second row, surrounded by people we saw at the show the night before.

I really like one of the opening acts K'Naan. A Somalian rapper.

Did I also mention they were taping this concert for Jason's next DVD? So that was pretty fun. The camera guy near us was really having a good time.

Yes, this close.

We were in a lot of the crowd shots. We may end up on the DVD, who knows?

Look close, Jason's on the left and I'm on the far right.

How tired do I look?

Singing "Lucky" with Colbie Callait... for the third time. Really! He messed up the first time. Not sure what was wrong the second time, but perhaps third time was a charm?

Bushwalla performed with Jason for the final song.

A very gracious Jason and his band.

Between Farmer's Market and 2 concerts, I think I may have gotten very close to winning a record for standing the most hours within a 2 day time frame.

Now to pack for our next adventure!

New Items

2009-08-12T07:39:00.001-07:00

Here are two new casserole carriers that I will be offering at the Farmer's Market today.

This one was inspired by the colors of fall.

The newer items are Gift Recipe Books. The have a blank label on the front for you to personalize a book. They are meant for gifts for say, a bridal shower. All the guests could submit a recipe to add, or a family member could add family favorites into one book. They could also be used as party favors to give all your guests a book of recipes. Or even a blank book to fill.

I once gave away similar booklets at a cookie exchange for people to tape all the cookie recipes into.

When we are back from our trip, I'll put these in the Etsy shop and I think I'll offer sets of 5 random booklets at a bulk discount. What do you think? Good idea?

Table Runner

2009-08-11T11:28:00.001-07:00

Remember that table runner I was working on? Well, it has been finished for several days now, but I just put it through the washer and dryer last night/this morning before finally taking some pics. If you don't know why I'd do this, it is because quilts look so much better after a wash and dry than after just being freshly made. The fabric shrinks up a bit and the quilting looks more pronounced and fabric puffier.

So, here it is, in all it's quilty goodness. I do love it, but don't think the colors go in OUR house.

But I'd bet they'd work in SOMEONE's house! And so, I'm hoping that someone else absolutely loves it and buys it from me tomorrow at the Farmer's Market. And if not there, maybe on Etsy later.

I've been working hard to finish two more casserole carriers, which indeed ARE done. I'll try to get pics of those soon.

photos are on our coffee table and not a dining table, because our kitchen table is not in pretty shape and the dining table is full of my sewing stuff

And though I've been down about not having much business lately, I have thought about another way to sell on Etsy. See, I have all this leftover fabric to make more stuff, but don't even know where to start. So what I could do is offer made to order items. I would post photos of sold items and offer to make them custom upon request.

I've also finally gotten around to making a new item that I purchased materials for what seems like eons ago. Photos of those to come soon too. I could also sell these in sets of random styles, since they are made to be gifts and someone might want to use them as party favors.

My/our week is pretty crazy. We are going into the city for a couple nights after my afternoon of Farmer's Market. Then Sat. off for another trip. Haven't had much time to post here lately, but I will try to at least get up some photos of the items mentioned!

Oh, almost forgot! I found out through www.craftcult.com that I have a feature on a gift guide on Etsy! See it here.

Bits and Pieces

2009-08-05T13:14:00.001-07:00

My Impatiens in August

Recently I saw a tutorial for quilt squares called Quartered Squares that I really loved. I immediately decided I was going to make a quilt using this design. Then a few hours later my brain said "Hold on there!" I knew I had so many other projects to be completed, and starting a quilt was not only silly right now, it would require the purchase of more fabric. And I really would like to work through the fabric I have plans for before buying more. But then, as I was pumping iron at the gym, the idea came to me... Make a few blocks and turn them into a table runner! For my kitchen shop. So while visiting my parents yesterday, I put some scraps and fat quarters together that coordinated (I should probably have enough to make 3 different color theme runners with what I have now) and dove into making a trial table runner. I did modify the sizes of each row to make the squares smaller.

Table Runner Quilt Squares - atop the fabric I will use for the back, binding will be a natural cream color

At this point all the squares are made and sewn together and I have purchased coordinating fabric to finish off the back and binding (less than $2 for a minimum amount of sale fabric from Hobby Lobby). I'm very excited, but a little nervous about the free motion quilting thing again. At least the size of this should be totally doable.

I HAVE been chugging away at some other shop items in anticipation for next week's Farmer's Market. Not sure I will make my goal, but I'm working on it. For a sneak peak, here are a couple of the HOLIDAY towels that are done. Yes, holiday already!

Love that reindeer fabric! Click to enlarge!

Today my totally sneaky and wonderful husband sent me a BEE-YOOtiful bouquet of flowers while he's off on a business trip! Aren't they totally gorgeous! He really tricked me into being home for our remodeler guy to bring by some paperwork to sign so that I'd be home for the delivery of these.

My Bouquet!! - perfect colors for the end of summer I think

Finally, (long post I know) I found another stitcher Marie through a recent feature on Heather Bailey's blog who is also creating these name pillows that Crystal of Little Bit Funky is making. I was so excited when I saw this grandma pillow. What a GREAT idea for a gift!! Pattern is available here if you wanted to try making one yourself. Make sure to check out Marie's blog, I love the personalized towels she makes too.

And I'm off to the Farmer's Market. I'm going to get my sewing scissors sharpened, buy some popcorn for the kids and see what else I can find.

Hope you are having a lovely summer day!

Dream Garden - Planted

2009-08-03T17:33:00.001-07:00

August - 2009

I had a dream about 4 years ago, that we would have a plot near the end of our yard filled with a beautiful perennial flower garden. We prepared the spot, Jason arranged the stone border, I purchased the mail order full sun perennial garden. We prepared the soil. At least as best as we knew how.

We'd never heard of germination killer.

So we received our perennial ~~sticks~~ flowers and planted them. Very soon the weeds started growing in around the new plantings. And at some point we could not tell the difference between the weeds and the plants we planted. We ended up pulling weeds and probably a lot of plants. It was a mess.

The following year the garden was overgrown with weeds. I pulled them all, more came back. At some point, we did not have any of the original flowers we planted.

Then I read a book by Martha Stewart about basic gardening and began to better understand the right way to do this. And so it became a new dream, to once again have a chance at a nice perennial garden.

Shasta Daisy, Becky

It didn't happen last year and this year we sadly named our little plot the weed garden.

Um, forgot to take my bike out of the CRV before heading to pick up the flowers and supplies. Turned out to be a nice photo op.

But something got into both of us to make it happen mid-summer. We knocked out those weeds, turned the soil, mixed in the germination killer, found perennials that looked like flowers ~~not sticks~~, at Home Depot and drew up a plan for placement of various heights and desirable (to us) flowers. Jason re-enforced the stone border and added fertilizer and topped it off with mulch. He was also very patient with my requests to move some plants around (before the mulch was added).

Working on the wall.

And now, it looks a bit measly, but it is a baby. And I'm excited to see how it will expand and mature. And we are both babying it tremendously now so that it will make it to next summer and be fairly self-sufficient. Baby Garden - Birdhouse Purchased from Artist at the Farmer's Market

It makes me so happy. Now we've got a whole lot of other yard projects to work on in the future, but I'm glad this one is done!

Carpathian Harebell

Because I Love Him!

2009-08-03T06:31:00.001-07:00

OH did I cringe every time we went to the fabric section at Hobby Lobby and Miles informed me that he wanted this fabric! I never really took him seriously. Well I never seriously thought of buying the fabric at least!

This last time he was more specific. After Ella mishearing that he wanted me to make him a skirt and me questioning him. He said "No A Shirt!"

And how could I say no?

I could not.

A couple yards of this fabulous fabric, some red thread, four checkered buttons, a McCall's 4164 pattern, throw in a bit of frustration here and there and the result is this.

Hope he loves it! {Think he does}.

The First {and so far Last} Quilt I've Made {photos are from a previous post}

2009-07-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

I see a few blogger that I love to follow making {some already finished} their first quilts. So I wanted to show off my first quilt again, it's been a couple years since I last showed it off. I think it's due for another brag, ha ha.

I did this all myself. I didn't send it out to be quilted together by a professional, but rather I foolishly decided to do it myself. Piecing the quilt, LOVE IT {cutting and sewing all the strips and squares and border}. I was so proud and excited that I COULD DO IT! Then came the quilting part. I made my quilt "sandwich" and started that daunting quilting process. Much hair was pulled out and I thought I had RUINED my masterpiece! It was so hard. Even with a baby quilt, there is a lot of bulk to try to roll up and squish up and keep under control. And getting an even stitch? Forget it... I actually DREW my squiggles onto the quilt with a washable pen. I also made a fancy border and on the top wrote {stitched} the words "Oh What a Joy!" I never heard back from the couple who's baby I sent this to, but I did hear that they received it. Well, I hope they liked it. Such is my life.

And after that, I stayed away from quilting. Mainly because of that free motion thing. I made this back in 2006. So, I think it is maybe time to revisit the quilt thing again. I actually did purchase a pattern for a doll quilt recently. Ha ha, that can't be too much bulk to quilt now can it? Plus my mom has a huge free motion quilting apparatus that takes up nearly the length of her whole sewing room. So I guess in theory, I have no excuse.

Oh, and as for sewing on the binding {the final step}, that is my absolute favorite part of the process. I love sitting there working a slip stitch onto a quilt binding, or anything else for that matter.

Skirt and Yard Sale Finds

2009-07-30T14:25:00.001-07:00

Remember that corduroy I was talking about from JoAnn's that is now 50% off? Now you can see just how CUTE it is! Yes I finished another easy skirt.

And YES Ella is reading up a storm and just improving by leaps and bounds thanks to all of her practicing! Which is why I felt a book was an appropriate prop for this photo shoot. I am so proud of her.

For this skirt I followed the directions for the ribbon trim at the bottom. It too was quite easy and I think the result is really pretty.

And finally I found some worthwhile items at yard sales to actually post about! This is not everything, but does fit into one of my favorite categories - home decorating!

So first is this great candle sconce that fits in perfect with our decor and will go great in the upstairs hallway next to a lonely painting. I swore I saw this in one of those direct sales catalogs. Upon research, I don't think it is Southern Living. But perhaps is from the Taste of Home Entertaining line.

Next is quite a simple item really, just a small hurricane. The color and the bubbled glass are perfect with our decor. Don't know where I'll use it yet, but I'm happy I got it.

I've got the lovely Lightening McQueen fabric in the washing machine for pre-shrinking. So be on the lookout for that lovely shirt coming up soon. Unless I botch up my first attempt to make a collared shirt...

Boating Party

2009-07-29T17:50:00.001-07:00

Monday the kids and I went to a social gathering which included a picnic, games and trips out on the Chain of Lakes on a boat. It was pretty laid back and gave me a chance to just be and not do so much.

I love how comfortable, yet safe, the kids are on a boat. They really enjoyed themselves. And YES, mom, they wore life jackets.

School Daze are Coming

2009-07-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

So I saw the cutest cordouroy print at JoAnn's for 50% off today. And I bought some to make another skirt for Ella. Then later took the kids to Hob Lob and Miles instantly decided he loved some Lightening McQueen print fabric (gag) which he wants me to make up into a shirt for him. Should be interesting. Of course I'll post all the results.

At this rate, I won't have to buy many school clothes for the kids. :-P

Easiest. Skirt. Ever.

2009-07-28T18:41:00.001-07:00

Recently I found this tutorial for sewing up a child's skirt. This will take you less than an hour. Believe me. Unless, maybe, you've never sewn before. Just browse the directions and you will see what I mean.

So of course I had to make one for Ella for school. One less piece of clothing that needs to be purchased for the school year! I found this great fall fabric at my local quilt store Quiltplay, during the owner's 23% off birthday sale. It is by Moda from the 3 Sister's Peace on Earth Collection.

The tutorial calls for a ribbon border, but I used a strip of fabric folded in half lengthwise and sewn onto the hem. Not sure the origins of the fabric used for the trim.

When I found the accent fabric, I knew it was perfect. It took me a while, but as usual I don't stop looking until I find it. And I KNOW when I've found it. I'm so happy with this, I am planning to make another. And maybe another.

The only problem is that I overestimated the amount of fabric I need and now have somewhere less than a half yard left. My first thought is to make a headband to match. Any other accessorizing ideas?

Dom and Allen's Wedding

2009-07-27T18:36:00.001-07:00

Here are some amazing photos my husband took of a wedding we attended for Dominique who went through the Teen Mother Choices program that I volunteer for, and her now husband Allen. It took place on July 26 in the early evening at Illinois State Beach Park. An outdoor ceremony right near the beach of Lake Michigan and an indoor reception. What a beautiful day! {Oh, and maybe you will notice the flower girl dresses that I made for the occasion!}

Naiyana - Daughter of the Bride

Anticipation

Give Away

Ready to Wed

Bonded

Pretty Hair

Dom Does

With this Ring

Humor

Mr. and Mrs.

The Ladies

Lily admiring a lily

The Cake

Teen Mother Choices

It's a Surprise!

2009-07-27T12:47:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, we headed off to my parents' house for a little birthday luncheon. A light lunch with my family, including my brother and his girlfriend Kris. The sweetest part was the traditional pink iced angel food cake. My grandma made that same cake for birthdays when she was with us. It is so special that my mom makes it for us. Even more special was having my two best gifts ever help me blow out the 4 candles.

After the lunch we went to the local mega mall (Woodfield), located in the same town as my parents, per my request to do some back to school clothes shopping for the kids.

Little did I know that upon our return home, tons and tons of my friends and family would be packed into the dining room and kitchen to yell "SURPRISE!"

After the minor heart palpitations, I proceed to go around hugging everyone in the room.

EVERYONE.

I start talking to my friends and learned that Jason had put a LOT of planning into this! And that family and friends (real true blue and lovely friends) had put a lot of work in behind the scenes too. People such as for example: Hannah...

I saw this list of directions for everyone. They all pitched in and did so much for me.

And Jason's main missions (and all the minor ones too) were accomplished. 1- to show me (again) how much he loves me and 2- to show me how many of my friends truly love me. I wish I had pics of everyone there, but I don't. But here are some:

People seemed to have a good time. I just wish I could have talked to everyone more.

The food was catered by an Iraqi couple that we met this summer. Yummy Middle Eastern food. The cake was my favorite: Tres Leches Cake and decorated so beautifully. And yes this one has FORTY candles! Friends Patrick and Christy brought a large bouquet of YELLOW roses (my favorite color). Jason had arranged baby sitters too, so people were able to relax more and the kids had fun.

It was so wonderful to see SO MANY friends from so many areas of my life. And it was so neat to see people meeting each other for the first time and really getting along.

And I really can't believe how well Jason pulled this off. He really worked hard on all the planning. I really felt loved that day!

He also thought hard on a present (as if this wasn't enough). It was kind of unexpected because I hadn't talked about it for a while, but he got me a guitar! (no, I don't know how to play, but I did take lessons as a kid and would love to learn how to play enough to be able to sing songs around a campfire or just within a small group).

I couldn't have asked for a better party or a better group of friends/family/husband!

Today we are both exhausted! We went to a wedding Sunday evening and still have a lot of cleaning up to do.

Tomorrow: pics from the wedding...

Thank-you Pottery Barn

2009-07-24T06:45:00.001-07:00

I used to love the Pottery Barn style and loosely based my decorating on it. Well maybe more than loosely. Then, lately they style in the PB catalogs have been along the lines of more modern, maybe slightly industrial. While I do really like that modern clean style (though not really the industrial one), it wasn't me and I was wondering if I my decorating was becoming to "out of it". But this month when I opened my August PB catalog, I was shocked. I was drawn into the decor. It was so me. A mix of rustic, sophisticated, Mediterranean, with earthy autumnal tones with a touch of modern art. So me. The rooms made me feel so comfortable and at home! This is on PB catalog that will not be recycled anytime soon. Here, let me show you some examples.

I guess we could start with reality. One thing we have in our house, which I've heard is "out" is wood stained trim. Now it is not as rustic and chunky as this, which would be great. But nonetheless, it is stained, not painted white. And I always preferred this to white. So it is nice to see it in some of these PB rooms.

This is a dining room that I could feel right at home in. Understated furniture, a little rustic, neutral paint and sophisticated, yet not too fancy accessories.

What I really liked in this family room was the faux finished walls. To me this looks kind of Mediterranean/Napa. Very inviting and comfortable.

Here I love the natural light, chair rail and wainscoting, along with a sleigh bed and a touch of country in the quilt with the wonderful autumn colors.

Love this bathroom. So far away from the typical clean, industrial, modern look they have had a lot of lately. This feels comfortable and relaxing to me! Again, love the faux finish on the walls.

Another nice bed. Simple and elegant. Bright yet accented with lovely fall colors.

More rustic...

Ah, to have such a project room, with the brick wall!

Speaking of brick walls...

OK, maybe not in my lifetime, but a great style to see at a vacation destination maybe. I LOVE the brick wall. Did I say that already.

There are many more examples of styles in this catalog that I love. Hope you get your PB catalog and enjoy it as much I am!

Store Update

2009-07-22T12:57:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been listing new items at Kitchen Stitchen my online Etsy store. Some are new, like these cloth napkins...

This set of four placemats...

And some items I've had made for a while but just now offering online.

Waffle weave tea towels...

and pocket potholders...

I still have a ton of magnets to photograph. I'm also working on a couple more sets of napkins in deeper colors, perfect for the upcoming fall!

Oh, and today I was also featured on another blog! Come see the article here.

Thanks to you all who have supported me and believed in me through this crazy pursuit of offering quality-made kitchen items for sale!

40 years Since Man on Moon!

2009-07-20T20:31:00.001-07:00

This is information that means more to me than most people.

I was not alive when this happened.

But I was born the day these magazine issues came out, which also happened to be the day the men returned from the moon.

And so, if you are good at math (well, you really don't even need to be good at it), you can figure out what big day is coming up for me.

And if you still can't figure it out, forget it and enjoy this moment in history...

Figured it out yet? :-)

Two in One

2009-07-19T22:11:00.001-07:00

I found this fabric a while back at Quilter's Heaven in Northbrook and knew I wanted to make it into a skirt but didn't know how much fabric to buy. Then I found a skirt pattern at YouCanMakeThis.com and purchased it. I got the fabric, plus another print I liked last Tuesday.

{Sorry for the grainy, somewhat blurry and cutoff photo(s), I had Ella take them for me. I was going to have Jason retake them this weekend but somehow that didn't happen}.

fabric - from the Clara line by P&B Textiles

This skirt was SO easy to make. Just a lot of fabric, but simple assembly.

fabric - Garden Party by Phillip Jacobs for Rowan

The only problem was the waist/high hip fit. It was too big even though I'm sure I measured my high hip correctly. I finally figured this is supposed to sit on your hip, not around your waist. So I just ripped a bit of stitching out at the sides and moved the ties in to where the skirt would fit and top stitched it back up.

What do you think? I can wear one side to a party on a Saturday and the other side to church on a Sunday!

It certainly feels very soft, light and comfy!

Second Attempt

2009-07-16T21:26:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my second of three days this summer selling at the Farmer's Market in my town.

As I promised myself, I made two new casserole carriers as they were the best sellers last time. I absolutely LOVE these bright colors and how the color combinations look together. I've also reduced some of the cost of materials by sticking with a solid color lining instead of a designer pattern fabric. It makes sense to me. You don't really ever see much of the lining fabric.

Both Jason and I REALLY love the carrier on the top (left below)! I think I decided we are going to keep that one! Ooops! :-) Guess I'll need to make some more! Because the other one sold, which leaves me with just one. I love making these though.

And here are a couple of children's napkins that I made with ruffles. I found that locating ruffled trim and dying eyelet trim was too much trouble AND way to expensive. So the adult napkins will not have trim and not sure the children's will all have it either. Sorry, I did not yet take photos of the adult napkins.

And here I am at the booth this week (yesterday) right before closing time. You can see how sweaty I got by the glow on my face!

And I just wanted to show my table from last month. Because I've lost some weight and I think you can kind of tell. At least that skirt was not tight on my this week like it was last month! Hooray! Still plugging away at losing more though! Coming up soon... my latest project, after doing some minor tweaks on it!

New Pretties

2009-07-15T18:32:00.001-07:00

Some fun new items have come to our house to live. First is this enamel ring. I would never have thought to seek out something like this, but I saw a mom of one of my son's friends wearing a white enamel flower cocktail ring and thought it looked so fun! I found this pretty blue one and purchased it from Linkel Designs.

Next, I'd been eyeing this cute pincushion for weeks and finally decided to suck it up and buy one of my own from Feltmates. And I love it! As you can see, it is getting much use.

Finally something for Ella. Saw this at TJMaxx for a good price, thought it was cute and bought it to give to Ella for a first successful day at summer day camp. Miles got a Cars (the movie) writing set, but it's not pretty enough to post!

Just got home from another Farmer's Market. Did a little better than last time, but not much. My jaw dropped when one lady, who apparently was looking for me each week, paired up five towels and pot holders to purchase as gifts for friends! I also sold another casserole carrier and heard a lot of oos and ahhs over them. There were a lot of artists this week all squeezed in together so much so that I couldn't set up my chair and could not even stand up next to my booth without being in front of another artist's table or in front of another artist's body (he had enough room for a chair). Luckily there was a bench across from my booth. Unfortunately I was sitting in the sun all day. It was a little hot in the full sun.

For Her Grandma

2009-07-14T19:05:00.001-07:00

Thought she'd love this pretty profile of Ella.

Day of Botanica

2009-07-14T19:01:00.001-07:00

Today we met Jason for lunch at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I brought lunch and we ate outside at a picnic table. I like to dress the kids nicely, because it is so lovely and I don't want them to look like little hobos. Plus there are always plenty of photos ops.

This is just classic Ella. No one is a stranger to her and if it has anything to do with arts or crafts, she's in. If there is nothing else I remember about Ella at this age, this is the one thing I do. She skipped right over to this artist.

What a sweet young lady to indulge our girl!

Then Ella gave her drawing to her new friend.

The Botanic Garden is a beautiful place. I am so thrilled that our children love to go there and ask so many questions about nature. You can see here that they are holding papers. Those are "Bingo" cards that they play as they walk around. They put stickers on the items shown on their cards as they see them. Here they are headed to the Japanese Garden.

Then they were dying to go to the Fruit and Vegetable garden. This archway is made of apple trees. Just beautiful!

What a lovely trip to the Garden today!

Who's Rights?

2009-07-13T10:59:00.001-07:00

I am not here to condemn, but I am always so curious what people who are pro-choice think about the rights of the unborn child.

In the last year I've read books about the Taliban in Afghanistan and was utterly horrified at the treatment of women. If a husband were to beat his wife near death or even to death, it was his choice and his right. This is not a mentality that is exclusive to this group of people either. Well, what about the rights of the woman? I'm sure most people in our culture are equally appalled by this mentality and behavior. For me, my thoughts went instantly to the unborn in situations where in our culture, it is the choice and the right of a pregnant woman to end his/her life no matter WHAT the reason. I have a hard time finding a distinction.

And then recently being around so many teens who chose not to end the lives of their babies, I have learned that there is great pressure all around them. From boyfriends, from family, from friends, to choose to terminate. Then how does this become their choice?

I know this is a controversial topic and people feel strongly on both sides. I certainly don't fully agree with some of the tactics that pro-life groups use to get their point across. But I still believe in the rights of the unborn over the inconvenience of their mothers. Of course I am aware that the broad spectrum of "inconvenience" reaches all the way to life threatening dangers to the mother.

When I was a young teen, a short film was shown at a church camp I attended for a week one summer. It really got me to thinking a lot about this subject. Basically it showed a scene of the life of a handicapped teenager (born with a physical defect) throughout their day. And then what that day was really like because their mother had chosen to terminate her pregnancy. It was kind of like an "It's a Wonderful Life" type of thing and of course the results were sad.

With that, I have recently been thinking about this issue more and more. Several women, both Christians and not have confided in me that they have had abortions. I personally have not found one who was not brought to tears talking about it and who thoroughly regretted it. It is something that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. And as young adults/teens, heavily influenced by the people and popular culture around them, they felt that they did not make an informed decision, let alone their OWN decision.

I do believe that we all can be forgiven for our sins if we confess and repent, and for that I am so grateful. And yes, of course these women remain my friends!

The reason I thought of writing this post is because I came across this video and was struck by this life, a willing life that almost was not. Her forgiveness of her mother and her gentle and accepting spirit, her zeal for life are apparent. God gave Gianna Jessen a second chance and for that she is grateful, no matter that the failed abortion procedure caused her to have medical challenges. In fact through those challenges, she has become strong and has taught those around her so much. Remember, this could be anyone, this could be you. What about her rights? What about your rights?

And this is interesting too. Did you know that "Roe" of "Roe v. Wade" is now pro-life? Did you know she never had an abortion? Did you know that she now feels that she was ill prepared at a young age to make such a big decision to fight the law when she took the matter to court?

I respect that everyone has their own feelings on this topic, but now you know what mine are and perhaps these explanations will help you to understand them a little better.

More clips of Gianna Jessen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPF1FhCMPuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8B1nKGIAeg

I promise that the next post will be light hearted, but I cannot apologize for trying to encourage some deep thought on such an important topic.

Revelation Song

2009-07-10T05:23:00.001-07:00

This is my favorite song of late. I think the first time I heard it was during worship in church. Then I heard it on the radio covered by Philips, Craig and Dean. Both the words and the music are what I find very powerful and moving! Here it is sung by Kari Jobe. She has a beautiful voice!

Worthy is the,
Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to Him who sits on
Heaven's Mercy Seat
[Repeat 2x]
(Chorus)
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And I will adore You…!
Yeah!
Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the Only Wise King,
Yeah
(Chorus)
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I - will - adore You!
Yeah!
Filled with wonder,
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your Name is Power
Breath, and Living Water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...
(Chorus)
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I - will - adore You!
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come,
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I - will - adore YOU…
(Chorus) (Repeat at a cappella)
Come up lift up His Name
To the King of Kings…
We will adore YOU Lord…
King of heaven and earth
King Jesus, King Jesus
Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya!
Majesty, awestruck Honor
And Power and Strength and Dominion
To You Lord,
To the King, to King
To the King of Glory

Kitchen Inspiration

2009-07-09T06:41:00.001-07:00

A Crate and Barrel catalog came in the mail today and I was really drawn to some napkins that I saw on the last pages. So I went to their website to snatch a pic to show you all. Too bad this pic doesn't do the pic in the catalog justice, but hopefully you get the idea.

Napkins, too easy. But look how bright and cheery they are. I am SO drawn to them. So, I think I should make some and see how they do. The Lord knows I have enough pot holders and tea towels made already. Why not start a new line of items for the shop?

And then I saw this placemat and contrasting napkin. The back of this placemat has the same fabric as the napkin. I'm always thinking I need to make everything so fancy with crazy designs in all of my products. But in each of these cases, the fabric stands on its own. And the sewing is easy. So why not give it a try?

Now I'm in the middle of making the two casserole carriers I promised myself I'd make before the next Farmer's Market. But I think simple napkins and placemats should be next up.

And because I can't seem to give myself enough to think about, I'm on another kick to work on the kitchen, making it over that is. I'm tired of the old wallpaper. I want pulls and knobs on my drawers and cabinets. I want bead board under my cabinets. It can't be exactly what I want at this point, but a few changes to freshen it up would be a welcome change.

Oh sure Kristi, you still have that stinkin sewing cabinet to finish up!

Here are some other inspiring napkins that came up yesterday:

Source: Home Made Simple

Source: Anthropologie

I've already purchased a bit of fabric and started on some napkins. Finding the trim (see above two photos) has been a huge challenge. I finally decided that in order to get colored eyelet trim, I'm going to have to dye it myself.

Conflict Resolution

2009-07-07T19:57:00.001-07:00

"...Teach the older women to be reverent ...then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands. So that no one will malign the work of God" Titus 2:3-4

On Thursday of this week, I am attending my first ever "Blessings Shower" for a lovely young woman who just graduated from the Teen Mother Choices program that I work with during the school year. This will be the first blessings shower I will have ever attended. Perhaps reading the quote above, which was on the invitation, will give you an idea of what this is all about. We will be showering the bride-to-be with God's Word, personal experience, or wisdom passed on to us from a Godly woman and then we will be praying for her. I just finished writing up what I think is a huge key to successful marriage/relationships and decided to share it here as well in case anyone is interested.

I learned much of this myself through a couple of books and words of wisdom through other older Godly women.

In the almost 7 years of marriage to my husband, I have come to strongly believe that the secret to our success is based in our learning and practicing effective conflict resolution skills. I can remember how it was before getting married, why would I even want to think about such a negative topic? I was in love, romance was in the air and life was close to perfect. But conflict happens. Romance is interrupted by daily reality. And really, love is so much bigger than romance. Even the best suited couples face conflict. Some of the top issues that can cause conflict are the division of household responsibilities, differing perspectives on money issues, in-law tensions and scheduling conflicts.

Often individuals resort to conflict resolution methods that they learned from their families. Some of the common, but ineffective methods are the following:

· Withdrawing from the situation, refusing to talk about it, giving a cold shoulder. The result is added tension and the problem doesn’t get worked out.

· Shouting, throwing, breaking things. This only causes damage, not just to physical objects, but emotionally to the other person. Again, the problem is most likely not effectively worked out.

· Escaping – for example, going shopping, working too much, getting drunk. This method is both self-destructive and masks the issue at hand by causing another issue. Here conflict is avoided.

· Physical abuse – this is an out of control reaction causing pain and distance, it is cyclical and is therefore a horrible example for children in the home. Unfortunately that is often why it happens in the first place, because an individual learned it as a child in their family.

It is always a good idea to discuss conflict resolutions used in your respective families together. It creates awareness and sets the stage for discussing how you plan to handle conflict with each other.

Before you even study some practical conflict resolution skills, it is so important to have the right attitude. Even without skills, I believe a marriage, or any other relationship can be resilient to conflict with the right attitude. That attitude is the spirit of reconciliation. Too often, individuals have a spirit of retaliation in approaching conflict. They want to strike back, get even and point fingers. But what we must realize is that we have fallen short of God’s standards by our sin and we are in conflict with Him! But our God, full of mercy, gave us His son to bridge the gap of conflict with Him. This joy of our reconciliation to our holy God begins to invade other areas of our life. We desire to experience the peace we have with God with others. We realize that every person matters to God and should therefore matter to us. And so we have compassion for others.

Once you have the spirit of reconciliation, the following practical skills will come much easier:

· Pray about the problem before you even approach your spouse. Seek a more balanced perspective about the situation. Are you part of the problem? Is this issue as big as you make it out to be?

· Plan with your spouse a time to talk about this issue as soon as possible. Make time to sit down together alone and undisturbed to discuss the situation.

· When talking, start with affirming words such as “I love you and appreciate you and I want to work on this together to straighten it out.”

· Be willing to take blame!

· Bring your hurt, not your hostility – communicate honestly, even if you feel hurt and don’t know why, tell your spouse just that. You may be surprised that together you can discover the source of your feelings and in doing so develop a more intimate bond. Just a warning, if you wait too long to approach your spouse with your concern, your hurt could very well turn into anger.

· Be direct and don’t beat around the bush or drop hints. Your spouse may not catch on, or may get frustrated with you.

· Use “I feel” statements rather than accusations. For example instead of saying “You did such and such,” say “I feel such and such, when you do that.” Accusations put the other person on the defense!

· Avoid using the words “Never” and “Always.” Wow, will that ever put the other person on the defense! It can cause a lot of hurt, anger and emotional damage.

HELP!

What if you are still having trouble resolving conflict? There is nothing shameful in seeking help.

“For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make a victory.” Proverbs 11:14

Help is best found in a trusted friend or family member. Not a pal or a casual acquaintance. Help is not productively sought out in the form of gossiping about your spouse or venting, but truly asking for advice for the entire situation, including your own shortcomings in the matter. And if you don’t have a friend you feel comfortable or trusting enough with to discuss such important and private matters, seek out professional counsel. It is truly better to seek counsel when things are just a little rough rather than to wait until a situation is out of control.

Again, conflict resolution may seem like a real drag to think about right now, and if you don’t feel like even thinking about it now, please tuck this away in case you want to look back at it someday. I truly believe that if you can solve issues well with your spouse, your bond will be much stronger than if you have no conflicts at all. Because it is through conflict that you can learn so much about each other, truly have compassion for each other and learn to weather the toughest storms that may come your way.

Sewing Cabinet Refinishing - FAIL

2009-07-07T09:57:00.001-07:00

I was excited! While I am so grateful and happy to have been given this sewing cabinet by my mom, it was pretty worn. I've been reading how easy it is to refinish older furniture on several of my favorite blogs. I was ready to try it. I was confident!

This is not the greatest photo since it was in the basement and I think I used the point and shoot here. But I think you can get the general idea.

Then I started. First was the liquid sander/deglosser. I applied it as instructed and well, I was doubtful if it did its job when all was said and done. I didn't see much difference, but maybe it was barely detectable because most of the gloss was already worn off. I applied a few coats and just assumed it must be ok. So then came the spray paint. I would have never thought to use spray paint myself, but others swore by it. And I saw their successful results. So I got some Rustoleum in Heirloom White. Unfortunately this color did not come in a gloss. So I bought another can of gloss spray paint. My one can of spray paint quickly turned into 4! It just looked like it was, well, spray painted and I wanted the paint to look even on the finish. It never did. In fact, in this photos maybe you can see what I'm talking about on the top of the cabinet. I left several days for this to dry before applying the gloss spray.

And so, this is what happened after it sat for a couple of minutes.

I tried to scrape off as much of this mess as possible. But now I need to get it all off. So I need to by some paint stripper. Or maybe I can use the spray gloss as a paint stripper! Then I think I need to hand sand it and finally use a paint WITH gloss that I will apply with a BRUSH!

I am so in AWE of those blog friends who can do this and do it so easily. This is obviously not a skill that I can boast about. And now, this is the last thing on my mind to work on. I just wanted to cry. I know there is a lot of work ahead and a lot of money already wasted.

But I wanted to let you all know what happened with this, even if it was a failure. Someday when I feel like getting back to it, I'll post my (hopeful) success!

JCPenney Portraits

2009-07-06T13:26:00.001-07:00

It was that time again. Time to capture the smiles of our offspring in portrait pictures. There weren't a lot of great ones, but that made it that much easier to pick out the top two for each child and together poses. Which I think ARE pretty good!

Must be Doing Something Right

2009-07-01T05:46:00.001-07:00

As I've mentioned, Ella really wanted to sell cookies at the Farmer's Market and so I helped her to make it happen. I'm not sure if I mentioned that she sold out in about 1 and a half to 2 hours. She was a really good salesperson {and cute}. We really did have quite a few bags of cookies. I was really proud of her. But that's just the beginning of my pride. Later when I asked what she wanted to do with her earnings, she said she wanted to buy a birthday gift for Miles {I had already bought one for her to give him}. My heart just melted. She told me she wanted to go to Toys R Us to pick something out. So I took her the day before her brother's birthday. She was so careful to pick out just the right gift, with a little help from me because Miles had told me some of the things he wanted. She ended up getting him a {toy} laptop. She got him a nice card and wrapping paper too. And when he saw that gift all wrapped up, he could. not. wait. to open it. When we had the family party {after the kid party}, it was the first gift he opened. Now he loves that thing and shares it with Ella.

So even though I often wonder if I'm doing anything right with the kids, it's occurrences like this that make me feel a little more confident that we are doing SOMETHING right!

What I'm Up To

2009-06-30T11:58:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been focusing a lot more on my health and my kids. Exercising a ton, eating less and healthier {lost 9 lbs. so far since the second week in June} and doing lots of stuff with the kiddos too. Not so much creativity flowing around here lately, at least not from me. I had also been busy preparing for the Farmer's Market for Kitchen Stitchen and the Munchkin Mart for Ella, both making cookies, setting up and supervising while she was selling. And planning and executing Miles' Birthday Day of Parties. {ok, some creativity in there} But I do have a few projects I'm slowly hacking away at, or at least slowly preparing for.

The one that is the furthest along is my sewing cabinet. It was passed down to me from my mom and starting to get pretty warn. I decided to strip it and paint it white {it was stained wood]. After mustering the courage and seeing how easy Rhoda from Southern Hospitality makes it seem, I finally got started. I used a liquid sandpaper/deglosser and then Rustoleum's Heirloom White Satin spray paint to refinish it. I also used a metallic chrome spray paint to redo the hardware (it was an antique brass). Let me say, it has not been so easy for me! I have used 3 cans of spray paint and need to run out for a 4th! As hard as I try to be even, it looks like it's spray painted! Thus all the extra coats. The funny thing is, this spray paint is supposed to take one coat HA! And the deglosser? I suppose it worked, but I was skeptical and there are places on the wood that seem a little rough. I just hope it turns out alright. After the last round of spray, I'm going to try some clear gloss spray:

I'll let you be the judge when I post before and after photos. I chose a white paint to refinish it because I think it would look nicer with my wall organizer and mod sewing chair.

Other projects which I either only have the fabric for, some of the fabric for, or only the pattern for are as follows:

2 casserole carriers to make before next Farmer's Market as those were the hit last time. Fabric was purchased at Quilter's Heaven in Northbrook, IL.
A reversible wrap around skirt. I only have one of the fabrics chosen {not yet purchased}. Found this at Quilter's Heaven and knew I wanted to make a skirt from it. Just didn't know what yardage I'd need at the time I was there.
A small hanging quilt or doll quilt. It will probably be a doll quilt for Ella's babies. Pattern purchased at Touch of Amish in Barrington, IL and fat quarters for the dresses at QuiltPlay here in Grayslake, IL. Should be interesting to make.

Another cool happening was our trip to an Art Fair in Evanston this past Sunday. I lived in Evanston two times. The first time was while I was in grad school at Northwestern and the second time was about 6 years later for a span of about 5 or so years. I love Evanston. It is not your typical suburb. It is very classy urban and certainly has some very beautiful areas and architecture, including the University and lakefront. It was a great place to live for a while. It was nice to be back for a bit, though next time I'd like to visit my old apartment and the flat that Jason and I lived in for a few months before buying our own place. Back to the art fair... While we love art fairs it seems we rarely find something we just LOVE, or at least something we BOTH love.

But this time we did and it was even at a decent price. And so we came home with the neat water color. I have it hanging in our dining room and we both think it looks great.

During our visit to Evanston, we also stopped at our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant in town, The Olive Tree. Ah! I ate all vegetarian. Healthy, but perhaps a bit too much pita consumed to scoop up all of the hummus and babagannoush!