Merry Little Christmas

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. Ours was simple and quiet. The budget was small this year, but I have to tell you, this Christmas was the best one yet I think. We enjoyed each others company, had wonderful food, and enjoyed all of our gifts.

I made new stockings for the kids this year and they loved them. I used this tutorial from the Imagine Gnats blog. Her tutorial is for a quilt as you go stocking, but I opted to just use a fat quarter for mine rather than scraps (I made these at the last minute and didn't have much time to find the perfect scraps in my overflowing bins). They are quilted with meandering patterns and each child's name.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Trying...

... to get back into blogging is so hard! I always take a break in the summer and then it takes forever before I get back into the swing of things. Maybe a post a week (or even a month) would be beneficial to keep the momentum going.

Anyway, summer was busy - as usual - and I'm so glad school is back in session. Things aren't really less hectic, but at least I have some uninterrupted time to myself to get a few things done.

 You may remember the last time I posted, I had adorable baby chicks. Well, they are still adorable (I think anyway), but now they are actual chickens. I love them. I go them just for eggs, but they are so fun to watch and I love the noises they make. They are pretty entertaining creatures.

 She wasn't sure about the camera here and wanted a closer look. She also wanted to see what it tasted like, apparently, since she pecked at it several times trying to get a bite.

 Summer looked a lot like this for me. We got a boat last year (Craigslist, ftw!) and we have spent some great time together as a family as a result. I'll never admit it to my husband, but it's one of the best things we've ever purchased. The seats are torn, the paint is faded, but it floats. We are able to get away from phones, computers, and television and just play in water and build sand castles.

 We also took the to Silverwood. I thought it was in Coeur d'Alene, ID but it turns out it's actually in a town called Athol. Say it slow and laugh with me. C'mon. That's funny right there.

 I threw a camping party in my backyard this summer too. About 6 of my closest high school girlfriends got together and decided this would be a lot of fun. And it was. We floated the river too.

Of course we had adult beverages at this camping party. What party is complete without that? I wanted to make some cute party favors but I wanted them to be something the girls would keep and be able to use in the future. So I came up with some mason jar cozies. Everyone loved them and we had some delicious cocktails. The best part was that no one had trouble remembering which glass was theirs.

 I also made a couple dresses. I used the Staple Dress pattern by April Rhodes. I love them both, but...

This one is my favorite! I have plans to make a few more, but I need to figure out how to make a few minor adjustments so that it's fits my body a bit better.

And lastly, I made the decision to take on a new business adventure over the summer. I have been looking for a job that was part time and super flexible. Nothing was really panning out for me and we were falling quickly into money woes (isn't everyone these days?). Well, I have always loved Pampered Chef and I have a lot of their products, but I never really thought about it as a career choice. I was invited to a party, and although I couldn't really shop, I decided to go. Then I signed up to have a party of my own... The idea of starting a business wasn't really on my list of things to do, but nothing else was working out so I said to heck with it and went for it! I'm hoping it works out so I can continue to stay home with my kids and continue to have time to do things I love - like sewing!!!!

Here's my website if you're interested in checking it out :) Selina's Pampered Chef Website

A Little Sewing

I have managed to get in a bit of sewing lately. Mostly because one of my projects has a deadline.

One of my family members (well, my husbands family, but she's still like family to me) is participating in Relay For Life for the second year in a row. Last year she walked on another persons team, and this year she decided to form her own team. They have done really well with their fundraising, and have been working really hard to try to earn as much for the cause as they can. We all know someone who has been affected by cancer so it's a very important event for many people. When she asked me if I would be willing to make a quilt for them to raffle off, I didn't hesitate. I also wasn't aware that I would be moving though so that has been a bit of a hiccup in my plans to get it finished in time. Luckily, she gave me 3 months notice! I have a few more weeks to work on it and it is slowly but surely coming along.

This is where I was when I last took a photo. I now have sashing between the blocks on the four bottom rows and those rows are all sewn together. That means my top if halfway completed! The pattern I used for this quilt is called Pow - Wow by CluckCluckSew. All the fabrics are various lines (but all in the same color family) from Denyse Schmidt. I love how all her lines seem to play so well together. I wanted the quilt to appeal to a broad range of people. Not just women and not just people who love traditional quilt designs. I feel like younger people - and maybe even men - would be willing to buy a raffle ticket to win this quilt. People who are less likely to already own a handmade quilt, you know?

Now, if you are anything like me, you tend to get bored during a project that takes awhile. For me that is dangerous because I always decide to start something new in the middle of what I am already working on!

The other day I made this Sidekick Tote (yes, another Noodlehead pattern. I'm addicted.) I used a black and white stripe for the body of the bag, Constellations by Lizzy House for the pockets, and a bit of Amy Butler dots for some homemade bias tape. Y'all, that part was hard. I've never made bias tape before. And if I never do it again that would be just fine by me.

Another thing I have been itching to try - like, for a few YEARS now - is paper piecing. When the Summer Sampler Sew - Along by Ellison Lane Quilts started, I wanted to jump in SO bad! Those little popsicles! Anyway... I needed a bit of instruction since I had no clue how to even begin paper piecing (other than printing the pattern). I tried the quick paper piecing tutorial that Jennifer(aka Ellison Lane Quilts) put together and I made this:

 I know it's just one tiny 6 inch block, but I did it! I was over the moon excited about this. Not because this little block is particularly striking and overly complicated, but because learning this new technique has opened up so many other possibilities for me in the things I can make. Now I never have to pass up a super cute pattern because it lists paper piecing as one of the techniques used in it's construction. Yay!

Super Tote!!! (and a new-ish wallet)

I have a pattern crush on anything Anna makes. Seriously. I have purchased 4 of her patterns now and I have yet to be disappointed. Or confused. I hate when I buy a pattern but I can't figure out what the instructions are telling me what to do. She has the BEST instructions. Plus, she's super friendly so you don't feel weird asking a question if you have one. I frequently feel like a weirdo, so it's cool to change things up a bit.

You may be wondering who the heck Anna is. She is a pattern designer, blogger, sewist extraordinaire... and she can be found at Noodlehead! Her patterns are seriously great.You may remember the 241 tote I made last year that I wrote about here. (After looking for that post, I realized I never did take more photos of this bag! Ack!!! I'll have to remedy that!)

The other day I purchased her newly released Super Tote Pattern. I am notorious for carrying around a TON of stuff I don't actually need to take everywhere I go. But hey, just in case I might need it, right? This bag really lives up to it's name. It is super! Super HUGE!!! (I know there's a "that's what she said" in there somewhere...)

 Anyway, this is my finished Super Tote. Tada! The pattern calls for piping along the edge of the outside pocket, but it was 11:00 at night and piping sounded like a bad idea at the time. Instead, I just made a little binding for the top edge and called it good.

 I love the gussets on the sides of this bag. I was a little afraid to do it with linen because it tends to be pretty shifty. But Anna suggested using Pellon Shape Flex interfacing for this project. After getting that on the linen, I had no problem whatsoever.

 I was being lazy and just used velcro for the closure on the front pocket. I have plenty of magnetic snaps, but again, 11:00 at night...

 Here's another gusset shot. Love these! They make the whole bag come together.

 And my recessed zipper. I was a little afraid of this part (as I usually am when it's time to put in a zipper) but it really was easy.

 The pattern calls for elastic pockets on both sides, but I opted to just make one with elastic and the other pocket is just a regular pocket. I like a smaller, less deep pocket for all of my 126 tubes of lip balm (I mean, really? Why do I have such an obsession with lip balm?!). And my cell phone. You can see here what I mean about all the stuff. My planner, wallet, 84 pens (in the elastic pocket), earbuds, and 2 bibles... why 2? No idea. Sometimes I like the newer pretty pink one, and sometimes I like the old, worn, slightly beat up one.

After showing you my bag, I realized I never did a post on the Have It All Wallet I made. I love this wallet so much!!! This pattern was really easy to follow as well, and I purchased it from Straight Stitch Society. They have some other uber cute patterns as well.

I used my one single fat quarter that I own of Echino fabric. And it turned out upside down. I still love it though.

 Room for all my cards

 Checkbook, coupons, and loyalty/punch cards

And my money would go here if I had any. Sad face.

Another Move

It's been quiet on the blog lately and I have good reason. We have moved to a new home, and hopefully we won't have to do it ever again. My little house just got littler, but it is really perfect for our family. I know living in the country isn't for everyone. Some people need a place to get a latte everyday and don't want to drive 30 minutes to get it. Living out here, I have to make decisions about what I need and what I don't. It has been great for us because it forces me to really and truly *need* something before I'll make the trip into town to get it. I spend much less money, and contrary to popular belief, much less time in the car. I am a home body anyway so spending more time at home has been much more relaxing for me and I really enjoy it.

This is my new backyard. I spend a considerable amount of time out here. There is a lot of yard and I always seem to find things that need to be done. There's a lot of watering, weeding, and mowing going on. Eventually I plan to have a huge garden, but that will probably have to wait until next year.

Kevin has been enjoying the extra outdoor work. He really loves finding new things to attach to his lawnmower and drag around the lawn.

My front yard is my favorite spot. I love sitting on the porch listening to the birds. My view isn't too shabby either. We're surrounded by orchards that will soon be teeming with apples, pears, and cherries.

We recently got four baby chicks. I can't wait for fresh eggs from these girls. And they lay blue and green ones!

I never thought I'd hear myself say "get the chicken off the table!" but hey, I guess that's life on a mini farm for you.

 Ben loves his chick. Her name is Peanut Butter but he just calls her peanut. They have become quick friends.

I haven't been sewing much, but I do have a space set up and it looks very similar to the setup I had at our old house. Except now I'm not stuffed in a closet. My sewing space is in a corner of the family room so I can still be a part of what everyone else is doing.

I have my cutting table and all my fabric set up in the furnace room. I can go in there, make a mess, and shut the door :) Plus, I have a door in there that leads to the outside. I love opening it and getting some fresh air while I'm cutting fabric.

So while I have been too busy to do much of anything except organize things and work on the yard, it has been a much needed break. Now I'm ready to get back into sewing and hopefully I will have some new stuff listed soon.

Staking My Claim

Okay folks,

As saddened as I am about Google Reader being no more (insert crying face here), I had to do something to help ensure you would still be able to read my blog elsewhere.

I signed up over at Bloglovin - which totally makes me laugh and think of McLovin from Superbad - to import all of the blogs I read so I wouldn't miss any. I live vicariously through all of you productive bloggers who actually have finished projects to show us. You motivate and inspire me to do more and challenge myself to try new things. I'm sad Google Reader will be gone, but I am so happy there is something to replace it!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Eating Better

I have a seriously hard time coming up with quick, easy, and healthy meals for my family. My idea of changing up the menu was putting alfredo sauce on pasta instead of marinara. Or using the curly noodles instead of penne... Even if your family loves pasta, I've learned that if you try to feed it to them every day, they will start to hate it. 

I tried freezer meals. To be honest, almost all that I tried were awful. We ate it because there was nothing else prepared, but I made mental notes of which recipes I will never make again.

I tried making lists and printing out recipes I found on Pinterest but that really takes a long time and my attention span couldn't take it.

Then I heard of websites offering meal planning services. I was a little leery of trying it because, well, it costs money. And I'm cheap. But I really needed some help getting out of the pasta rut. I checked out a few different meal planning sites but ultimately I decided to go with eMeals. I loved the wide range of options they offer. 

I picked the plan I wanted (classic meals was the best choice for us, but they also offer paleo, vegetarian, clean eating, gluten free, and a few other choices) and set my grocery store of choice - yes, you can set your grocery store. The meals planned are based on the sales at your store that week. (FYI, for my family of 6, I spent $113.00 for a weeks worth of dinners).

I wasn't real sure about the first meal on the menu. Curried catfish. Gross. But I made a pact with myself that I would try each recipe once. 

You guys!!! This was delicious! All of my kids ate it! If you knew my kids, you'd realize what a miracle that is. My daughter called me after school the next day to ask if she could have the leftovers...

 

Meal number 2 was a sauteed vegetable dish with chicken and wild rice. Baked apples on the side. Just as delicious as the first meal.

It has been so easy. Seriously. They send you recipes and a grocery list every Thursday. I am no gourmet chef, but this has given a lot of confidence in the kitchen. If you are struggling with what to make for dinner every night, check this out. I signed up for three months and after eating the dinners for 2 nights my husband told me to sign up for the full year =)

Pillow Pop - Project #1 finished!

Amanda from Little Treasures by Amanda started a sew-a-long for the Misfit Quilters. She chose the Pillow Pop book by Heather Bostic. I purchased my copy from Amazon and I love all the projects in it!

She chose the first pillow is called "Life Aquatic" designed by Heather Bostic. (All the pillow designs in this book are not by Heather. It is a compilation of projects from many wonderful designers.) Heather's pillow was made with aqua and orange fabric scraps. Originally, I planned to make mine using a different color scheme, but when I went through my scraps I realized something. I think aqua just might be my favorite color. My blue bin of scraps was overflowing. Literally. So I decided to throw caution to the wind and just copy everything Heather did. No shame, right?

Here is my pillow top after I sewed all the squares together. I wasn't really sure about it at this point but I continued on. After I had the top quilted and it was assembled with the back I really loved it! It's funny how a little simple quilting can change something entirely.

This is my finished pillow. It now lives on my couch and has already been used in a few pillow fights and licked by my dog.

Next month (which is actually tomorrow, I guess. What happened to February?!?!) we will be starting a pillow designed by Katy Jones, who makes super awesome stuff! Want to join in our projects? It's not too late. You can join in anytime. We'd love to see your finished pillows!

Being Green

I love recycling. I love the idea that you can take something you would normally throw away to pile up in a landfill, and instead use it to make something else. Lately I have been interested in finding ways that I can make the products that are usually a disposable item into something reusable that doesn't need to be thrown away at all.

When my children were babies I used cloth diapers. And for a long time, I made all my own body products including soap, scrubs, and lotion. I suppose it makes sense then that I would be thinking up ways to make reusable feminine hygiene products for myself. Really, when you think about it, how much waste is that? Every woman in the world, multiple times a day, for a week every month throwing used products in the garbage.

The following excerpt was taken from natureswizard.com if you'd like to read the full article:

"The effect your disposable feminine hygiene has on our environment

Every year over 45 billion feminine hygiene products are dumped somewhere. This means that over 12 billion sanitary pads and liners are buried in landfill or incinerated every year in the United States and Canada. It takes approximately 500 years for a pad to break down into tiny pieces in a landfill site. This breaking down into small pieces is called Degrade and is very different to the process where things Biodegrade.

Over 90% of a sanitary pad is made of crude oil plastic; the rest is made from chlorine-bleached wood pulp. If you think about the impact on our environment of making the absorbent material that fills out the pad, which includes chopping down large areas of forests to source the wood and then chlorine bleaching the pulp, the use of crude oil plastic is a massive burden on the environment. We are rightly concerned about the billion plastic shopping bags given away daily, but by using plastic laden feminine hygiene products, each year we add the equivalent of 180 billion plastic bags to our waste stream.

According to the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, 80% of the plastic floating in our oceans comes from land as waste under 5mm passes through the filters and enters our streams, rivers, oceans and the stomachs of birds, fishes and other wildlife. If plastic is burnt in an incinerator, it will release dioxin into the air that we all need to breath, and will eventually go on to also pollute the water we need to drink and the soil that we depend on to grow our food."

Crude oil plastic and chlorine-bleached wood pulp? That sounds like just the sort of thing we ladies should be putting near our nether regions, don't you think? I decided that I was going to do something for the earth (and my lady parts). So I made some of these:

I purchased Kam Pliers from Etsy to add the snaps. I wasn't sure how absorbent these would be and I was a bit skeptical about them at first. But honestly, I have now made and used many and I love them! I like making them out of fabrics that I love. It may sound weird, but it makes it kind of fun to have your period.

I mean, c'mon. What woman doesn't want a Star Wars maxi pad? This one is actually for a friend of mine who requested I make her a couple. 

In keeping with my reusable theme... today I also made some UNPAPER TOWELS! Again I used the snaps and rather then buy terry cloth (which you can find at JoAnn's or any other big box fabric store) I opted to use a couple of beach towels that were headed to Goodwill anyway. I armed myself with this tutorial and had a set done in about half an hour.

The use of my serger made the process a lot quicker, but I prefer the more finished look of the towels in the tutorial. Just a note if you decide to make these... terry cloth is a pain in the a$$!!!!! It is shifty and stretches out as you sew it. Go slow, use your walking foot if you have one, and pin like crazy. If you use a serger like I did, a little basting spray might be a good idea.

New Cutting Table

I have been wanting a new cutting table or a long time. For awhile I was using one of those tall, white fold-able craft tables from Jo Ann Fabrics. You know, the really wobbly ones that have wheels on the legs that you have to put a piece of folded paper or cardboard under to keep it from teetering as you cut fabric with a super sharp razor blade? Yeah. That.

Then I started using a small dining table. It was pretty ugly and way too low to the ground to be comfortable cutting for extended periods of time.

I found some bookshelves at Shopko on sale for $25 each (score!!!!). They have 3 shelves on them and are 36" high. I bought two of them, along with 12 small tupperware bins. The shelves serve as the legs for my new cutting table, and double as storage. I didn't have an idea for a table top until I brought home the shelves. I was moving things around in my room trying to make space for my new cutting table. As I was moving the old white craft table, I realized that I could just unscrew the wobbly legs from the top and just use that! It was a little too big so I took one of the fold-able sides off and it was perfect. My cutting mat fits on top with some leftover room to store my bolt of fusible fleece.

And if you were wondering what all those small plastic bins were for... COLOR CODED SCRAP STORAGE!!! This is very exciting to me because I have so many scraps. I never used them in project because it was hard to sort through a huge bin where all the colors of the rainbow were all jumbled together. So far since I have organized them, I have made 3 different projects using my scraps.

I built the shelves with the help of my 11 year old daughter. Including the time it took to sort through all of my scraps, this was a project that was about 2 hours from start to finish. It was inexpensive, saves my back from hunching over while cutting, and it looks pretty! It is so simple, I would encourage anyone who hates their current cutting space to give this a try.

Birthdays and Winter Fun

Winter is a busy for me. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this. As if Christmas weren't enough reason to be buried in things to do, our family also has 3 birthdays within a 2 week time period at the same time.

The first birthday we celebrate is for our sweet puppy Bijou. I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't celebrate the birthday of their dog on Christmas Eve, but she is an important member of our family. She turned 4 this year.

The next day was Christmas and it snowed ALL DAY! It was great. Behind our house is the Junior High and they have a huge hill. What better thing to do after opening all the presents than to load everyone up in the truck and go sledding?!

Here is Alice flying over a jump on the hill. She got a bit airborne on that one!

 

And my little man taking a break from making snow angels.

 

 

Irene isn't really the dare devil of the family. In fact, she's quite a chicken. She was a bit scared of such a big hill, but once she went down the first time, we couldn't stop her.

 

And this is Sara after a crash... letting me know she's okay.

 

 

The next birthday is my husband's. He turned 34 on New Years Eve. He thought he was turning 35 so he was excited to be 34 for another year =) We went out to dinner with some friends at a fancy restaurant and then went to a kid-friendly New Years Eve party afterward. I love anything sparkly, so to ring in the New Year I got a new sparkly shirt!

 

Irene had the next birthday on January 5th. She's the big 1-0!!! Or as she would say "DOUBLE DIGITS, BABY!!!" We went to her favorite place (a local indie book store) and she got a new book. Then she chose Olive Garden for dinner. By the way... did you know they no longer sing Happy Birthday and give you a dessert at Olive Garden if you go there on your birthday?! Maybe it's just our Olive Garden. Or maybe our server was grumpy and didn't want to. After dinner we played outside in the snow and it seemed like the perfect picture opportunity:

And for something crafty!!!! I've been in a huge crafting slump lately. Working is really putting a damper on my sewing time. I opted for a project that is more transportable. As many of you know, The Frosted Pumpkin has a new cross-stitch sampler. I never did finish my Dessert of the Month sampler, but the latest one is a Woodland Sampler! How could I say no to woodland creatures?

I have all my embroidery floss, but am having trouble finding the tea-dyed linen. I started my sampler but the white floss doesn't show up very well on the ivory linen I bought. I'm going to tea dye it myself and start over!

What have you been up to all winter? Hibernating, being super crafty, or out enjoying snowy weather activities?