What I've been working on

I've been busy lately working on a quilt.  The pattern is called "So Many Squares".  I now have the blocks and triangles done!  I put them all up on the design wall just to make sure I made enough...and I did!  Please excuse the lighting, it was night and I only have 3 lamps in the room.  The yellow is much lighter in real life and the dark triangles are a navy blue...oh and the wave at the bottom is where the lamps are plugged in under the design wall and makes a bump!  I've got most of it taken back down now and the blocks trimmed...sure hope I didn't mess it up doing that!  I like how it's turning out but I don't think I'll ever be making it again...sooo much work!!!

Valentine Necklace and Bracelet

I decided that me and the girls need to make Valentine necklaces and bracelets for our AG dolls.  I went shopping at Hobby Lobby in Visalia on Saturday and found some really cute Valentine ornaments that look like those candy hearts that are so popular with the kiddos.  I bought 1 package and on Sunday we pulled out all of my old beads (I had a huge box full) and we set to work...and quickly got frustrated...the holes in the beads were too small for the elastic thread!  Back to the drawing board I went.  On Monday I went to Joann's and found some really cute beads that had bigger holes.  The only problem I had with them was deciding which ones to get because they were all so pretty!  I ended up getting 5 tubes of purple and pink beads.  Last night I decided to try making a necklace to see if it worked better before getting the girls involved again.  Here is a picture of the finished product.  I think it turned out nicely (and it went so quickly that I decided to make a bracelet too!)  The little flower on her finger is a nail art sticker.  We thought it made cute "rings".

I'm back!

Hello there!  I know I've been gone for quite some time but plan to start blogging again.  We bought 2 of the grandgirls American Girl dolls for their birthdays in November.  For Christmas we gave them doll trunks loaded with clothes and accessories...some store bought and some made by me.  Brianna is the oldest and plays with hers much more than the younger one but they both really like them.  Their dolls are enjoying coming over for our almost weekly sleepovers and visiting with MY American Girl doll that Andy got me for Christmas.  He said I made so many outfits and enjoyed doing it that I needed my own doll...isn't that sweet?  Sooo, I've decided that this will be the year of AG dolls.  I plan on having craft nights with the girls each month for us to make something for our dolls.  I haven't got the months planned yet but am working on a Valentine's tea party.  I contacted a friend and her little granddaughter has an AG doll and she said she'd love to help me plan the party...yea!  If you've never gone over to see Cheryl at cheryl-comfort.blogspot.com.  You are in for a real treat!  I'm getting ready for a class on my new iMac laptop (hubby was very generous at Christmas).  I'll take some pics of things I found for the AG dolls at the Dollar store and post them later!

Lots of Stuff

Hi!  I'm still alive!  I've just been very very busy!  About a month ago I went to an Estate Sale and bought lots of stuff!  The lady that passed was a sewer and boy did I ever come away with fabric!  I also bought us 2 recliners and a small one for the grands.  I've been wanting to consolidate the grandgirl's rooms into 1 room and finally started on it.  I spent about 3 weeks sorting and moving everything I'm keeping for them into the smallest of the bedrooms.  It's turned out pretty cute!  The 3rd bedroom is quite a mess still with stuff for a yard sale, things I want to keep and a recliner going to the kids house when they have room for it.  We'll have a yard sale in a couple of weeks and then we're going to paint the room back to a nice sunny yellow.  I made drapes for it and the office over the weekend.  When I was moving things around I decided to utilize some storage on the side of the 3rd bedroom closet to hold yarn.  When I say yarn I mean YARN...you see my father-in-law called me here while back and said he was at an Estate Sale and there were several tubs of yarn for sale for $20 and did I want it...heck ya!  Then about 2 weekends later I stopped at a yardsale and a lady was selling all her yarn stash because of carpal tunnel...3 more tubs for $25...double score!  Here are a couple of pics of my yarn stash:

As you can see there is so much I couldn't get it all in 1 picture!  The bottom tote is full of yarn too...blacks, browns, and varigated.  I've already started using from my stash to make a white baby afghan for our "grand on the way".   I always try to have a crochet scarf in the works.  I donate them every winter to the homeless.  I think I'll be able to make lots of scarves this summer!

Busy long weekend

Boy howdy was I ever busy this past weekend!  Here's a rundown:

Friday-vacuum/sewing shop was having a sale on some fabric...$1.00 a yard!!! You can't even buy muslin for that so I was there abotu 15 minutes after they opened...of course there was already a line and the fabric was gobbled up BUT I managed to still get 31 yards of some really nice fabrics for backings!  It was so cute all the ladies standing in line were eyeballing the fabrics getting cut and asking if the person was taking it all or just some of it then someone would hold up the bolt and the next person in line that wanted it would get it...we had fun!  After that I spent a nice afternoon doing some sewing and puttering around the house.  Went to dinner with the hubs and enjoyed a nice steak and ribs.

Saturday-We went to see our accountant to get our taxes done for the year...broke even...yea!!!
I took a little trip to Tulare to go to lunch with a quilting friend.  We found a nice 50's diner in downtown Tulare then did a little shopping in a kitchen store and of course a fabric store (Beverly's).  I found lots of goodies in both places. Drove home in the rain but since I'd started dinner in the crockpot all I had to do was make a gravy and we were good to go. 

Sunday-I made a grocery run before church.  I dropped off the doll blankets for the toddlers and ended up working in the toddler room during church.  I have so much fun with the littles!  Me and hubs went to Chili's for a quick lunch then off to Costco for all the necessaries.  We can NEVER get out of there for less than $100!!!  Hubs took a nap and I spent the afternoon dividing things up into individual servings, making yogurt and baking banana bread.  We had some yummy homemade spaghetti for dinner.

All in all a wonderful busy but still relaxing weekend.

As for the yogurt...man is this homemade stuff good!  I scooped out a couple of individual servings and added Splenda and vanilla to them.  For my afternoon snack I cut up some apple and sprinkled a little cinnamon in with it and poured the yogurt over it...yummmmmy!!!!!  

Not sure what the evening will bring.  Hubs asked me to make him something so I may get started on that...of course I need to pay a couple of bills and get the checkbook caught up for the weekend spending as well.  And let's not forget an hour or so in the quilting studio!!!!

I made yogurt!

I can't believe how easy it is to make yogurt in a crockpot!  I found the recipe/directions at this wonderful blog: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html and decided to give it a try since I'm not overly fond of store bought yogurt.  Since I only have a huge crockpot I started keeping my eyes open at yardsales for a smaller one and a couple of weeks ago I picked one up t for a whole $2.00.  The recipe was for a larger batch than my little crock would hold so I just halved it and it turned out fine!  Stephanie also mentioned starting out using whole milk until you get the hang of making yogurt...well, all I had was 2% so that's what I used and it turned out just fine! 

Doesn't it look pretty?  After it was made I took a CLEAN tea towel and lined my collander and dumped the yogut in to get rid of some of the whey.  I know I could have used it in cooking but this was my first time and I just didn't know what to use it for.  I let it chill in the refrigerator overnight and the next morning I cut up some fresh strawberries and put them in small containers with some of the yogurt.  The littles had spent the night so I let them have the fun of adding their own sweetner.  I a small amount of powdered sugar in a little bitty bowl and gave them a teeny tiny spoon to sprinkle the sugar into their yogurt...they had lots of fun doing it and ate their yogurt right up!  Bri even asked for 2nds!!!  I put Splenda in the rest of it along with some more cut up strawberries and let it sit for a few days and man 'o man is it ever yummy!  Good thing I kept a little bit out for my started on my next batch!!!

It was so good that I decided I need a bigger (medium sized) crockpot to make it in!  Try it...I promise you will LOVE it!!!

What I've Been Up To...

Oh my goodness! I can't believe it's been a month since my last post!  I've not been lazing around doing nothing for the past month though...I've been busy I tell ya!  I've gone yard sailing a couple of Saturdays (and found great things), spent time with the grands, done some quilting, sewn some more doll outfits and moved things around in the quilting studio...not to mention the regular day to day stuff of work, laundry, etc, etc, etc.  I AM very lucky to be able to afford to hire my almost daughter-in-law to come over and clean the house for me every couple of weeks.  That frees up about 4 hours of my weekend and gives her some spending money.  Double win! 

My oldest son and his family moved to Oregon last month so I've been a bit down about that. Here's a picture of his son sitting in his bathtub...he loves this duck!

Now if he could just figure out how to get it into the bathtub he'd be in business (clothing optional!)...

I just figured out how to Skype last night and spent some time on it with them...Hunter was so excited to talk to me and waved and blew me kisses.  Gosh I miss him!  I guess Sammi has been Skyping with her other Gma and Uncle so at 6 yrs old she's a pro at it.  We had tons of fun catching up on her new friends and her going to the circus.

I had a Nana/Mia night when Bri went to a Daddy/Daughter night a few weekends ago.  Me and Mia went to Walmart and McD's before coming home for the evening.  At Walmart she picked out some Barney movies and nail stickers for her fun evening.  Here's a picture of her putting them on:

I can't believe she's 4 yrs old already! 

I believe I mentioned moving around my quilting room and yard sailing...well here's a picture that pertains to both:

We have dedicated the formal living room for my quilting studio.  When we first moved into the house the room seemed HUGE!  Now, 3 years later, I've been trying to find a way to fit a nice comfy chair in the room so I can either sit and do hand work OR have a place for someone else to sit and visit with me...soooo I moved the midarm and table on a diagonal and it really opened up the room for more possibilites.  This chair was purchased a couple of years ago at a yardsale. It is antique oak and set me back $100 but it's very solid and gorgeous and worth it to me.  I picked up the little table/storage basket thingy last weekend for a whole 2 bucks...can you believe it!?!  It was dirty...the kind of dirt that sticks (I'm thinking it was in a bathroom and hairspray is on it) so I'm going to spray paint it in a couple of weekends.  It's sitting there now for me to try and decide if I want to leave it there or move it someplace else (like the bathroom), and paint it white again or perhaps a nice warm brown.  The fabric on the baskets and top are temporary.  The little figurines on top also came from yardsales for a dollar or less.  Some of the other things I've found lately are a couple of Raggedy Ann dolls, books for the grands, a book on CD for me, bathroom accessories for almost DDIL, a tub of misc sewing accessories like thread and bobbins, a bunch of little teddy bears that the girls can play with their 18" dolls with, puzzles (for me),  a couple of dolls for the grands, and a little table that looks like it's for a kitchen but I'm putting next to the BBQ just to name a few...sorry I don't have pictures of all of this! 

I finished up a quilt for an upcoming baby shower and made some burp cloths to go with it.  I'm really excited about the gift because it all came from stash!  I'll try to get a picture and post it later.

I'm currently working on 36 churn dash blocks for an exchange I'm in.  We are doing red & white blocks.  I'd love to work on them this weekend but I kind of doubt I'll have time. 

I wish I had more time to blog but gosh there are only so many hours in a day...sooo I can either sew and spend time with the family OR I can blog about it!  My first choice is always sewing and family hence the few and far between posts sometimes.  Speaking of family, here's a picture of the youngest grandson.  He's wearing a hat that was on one of the dolls I bought last weekend...silly cute boy!

As of right now we have 8 grands and 1 on the way and all are 6 years and under...I'm a very blessed Nana!!!

I'm linking up with Karen at sewmanyways.blogspot.com.  If you've never visited her blog you need to head over there right away because you are missing out on some very intense awesomeness!!!http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/

More Doll Clothes

I've kept myself busy lately making more doll clothes!  This could be addictive!  Here are a few photos:

This outfit is on an American Girl doll I purchased off Ebay.  She has a few issues such as loose strings in her arms, cut bangs and 2 different colored brown eyes.  Her hair needs some brushing and something for the frizzies too but for $27.00 I can't complain too much.  I mainly bought her so I don't have to keep borrowing one of the girls dolls to try clothes on.  The pants for this outfit were fun to make.  The top...not so much!  It has a collar and interfacing and between the fact that I haven't done those things in several (alot) years and they were so small it took me several tries to get it looking right.  The top is a bit snug on the American Girl.  It fits the Karito doll just right but the pants are capris on her since she's about 2" taller than the AG.  Here is the next outfit I made:

This outfit was lots of fun to make.  I've since put a cute black bow inbetween the straps at the top of the shirt.  I had so much fun making this outfit that I've cut out 3 more (in different fabrics)!  I also used the same pattern to make 2 sets of summertime jammies.  As you can see I added cute little ribbon flowers at the ends of the straps.  The other set has light blue buttons instead of flowers.



Here is the book I got these patterns out of: 

I went to a yardsale last weekend and bought some white eyelet kitchen curtains.  The valances are the perfect length to make cute skirts for the dolls.  All I had to do was cut the length off to fit and sew that side up.  Now I'm putting on snaps and they'll be finished!  Cute little skirts for 50 cents with lots of fabric left over! 

I've also made a few more things out of baby clothes.  They aren't perfect but the girls love them and that's all that counts right?

 This was made out of a size 18 month top.  It was just asking to be made into a long dress.

And this was also a long top.  I cut it in half and made a skirt and top out of it.  I used the cap sleeves to make matching anklets!  By the way, this is a Madame Alexander doll.  She's about the same size as an AG doll.


I've been busy sewing 2" scraps into a scrappy quilt but I'll save those pictures for another blog post...hope you all have a wonderful day!

I don't know how to do a link!

I joined a linking party but don't know how to show it on my blog so until I figure it out go to www.sewmanyways.blogspot.com and check it out!  Ok, I'm off to see how to do this the right way!

Doll Clothes

I've been very busy lately!  I decided I'd try my hand at making clothing for the grand's 18" dolls.  I had bought a book a year or 2 ago and put it away thinking I'd get back to it shortly...we all know how that goes right?  Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this!  Anyway, I've dug the book out, looked at tons of pictures on Pinterest and gotten started on a new addiction...called doll clothes.  My 1st project was to take a top that Mia had outgrown and see if I could turn it into a dress for Brianna's Karito Kids doll, Mae Ling.  (Karito Kids are beautiful dolls and just a tad bit taller and slimmer than American Girls or Madame Alexander dolls.)  I knew I wanted to save the cute embroidery work on the front of the dress and the eyelet at the collar and hem.  By trying the top on the doll I was happy to see that it was the perfect length for a long dress!  I took a big breath and started by taking off the center strip of the top and laying it aside.  Then I took the plunge and cut the top down the front center.  Boy, that was scary!  I sewed it back together as close to the embroidery as possible then using a seam ripper took out the sides and sleeves.  I had to remove the front from the back and after doing that I cut the back in half.  I fiddled around with how to put an opening down the back so the clothing would slip on and off easily.    I figured it out but had to go back later and make the opening bigger.  The front and back were made smaller by cutting them at the sides and the sleeves had to be cut down to fit in the smaller opening.  This all took me about 3 evenings of working on it.  I went to Joann's and found some cute silk flowers to put down the front of the dress.  I took the center strip that I had first taken off the shirt and made a simple headband and used the rest of the silk flowers on it.  I was so happy with how the dress turned out that I decided Mae Ling needed new socks and shoes too!  I took a youth's pair of white anklets and created kneehighs and then crocheted a pair of black Mary Jane shoes.  While it's not perfect in my eyes it is in Bri's and that's all that counts!  The girls spent the night with me on Saturday and Bri's comment after I finished the shoes and we got the doll dressed..."Oh Nana, she's perfect"!  And that dear friends is all it took for me to get hooked on making doll clothes for the girls!

Mae Ling's new shoes and socks...I made the shoe pattern up!

Mae Ling in her new outfit:

 
 

My mind is going to get me in trouble...

Why is it that I can think of 100 things I'd like to make but just can't seem to find the time to do them???  Here are a few things I'd like to start working on:  a donation quilt for a pet rescue, some doll clothes for the grandgirl's 18" dolls (both sewn and crocheted), a Civil War quilt for home, a R/W/B quilt for us, and some crocheted scarves for the homeless.  I'm currently also working on 3 crocheted scarves for the Special Olympics and some quilting on my LA...not to mention I need to work on a couple of quilts for church as well as design one for a lady at church that just lost her husband.  I'd pray for more hours in the day but God would probably just wake me up at 2:00 in the morning to give me the time I requested and I really don't do well on just 4 hrs of sleep a night.  Hummm guess I better get my list organizer out and jot down some notes...

A Happy New Year

Christmas is over and was wonderful!  I'd love to post some pics of it but my phone died and I lost all of my Christmas pics!  Tragic I tell ya!!!  My beloved iPhone died just before Christmas so I got a replacement one.  It didn't work right so I took it back and they said I had probably corrupted it w/my computer (I always did think that computer was a bit shady!)  so they rebooted the phone which wiped out all my Christmas photos...and it STILL didn't fix the phone!  Soooo, they gave me another phone and guess what...it had a DIFFERENT problem!  I went back that same day and the guy looked at me like I was either crazy or trying to pull some sort of scam on him...yea right I'm the crazy blonde that just LOVES spending all her time circling the mall parking lot looking for a place to park then fighting the crowds to get into your store, shouldering my way back to the Genius Bar and hoping the 4th phone will work!  Anyway he checked it out and found out I was neither crazy nor a scammer and gave me my 4th phone in 2 weeks.  So far this one is working.  Horray!!!

Like I said above Christmas was wonderful!  The kids were all happy w/their gifts and hubby liked his too.  I got a 24 hour virus on Christmas Eve but was feeling better by Christmas day.  New Year's Eve was good too.  DS#2 and family came over but not DS#1 or his family, they went to visit friends in the mountains.  We still had fun and the girls both stayed up to midnight...little night owls!  They sure had fun counting down to midnight and drinking apple cider to bring in the new year...settling down to go to bed afterwards not so much.

Cookie Count Down

Well, I didn't get as many cookies made last night as I'd planned but I did get some done at least.  I made these: 

 And boy are they good!  Gingerbread cookies dipped in white chocolate with little holly candies on top!  Today I'm going to try my hardest to finish up my cookie baking!

Best Laid Plans...

What is that saying about best laid plans?  Something about how they can change...yep my plans last night changed with one little phone call.  I used to run a daycare in my home when my boys were little.  There was one little girl, "C", who was with me from the time she was 2 1/2 until she was in 5th grade.  Not only was she there during the day, she spent many evenings and weekends with us as well since her parents and me and my ex became best friends during that time as well.  Anyway, fast forward to last night, "C" called to say she, her partner, and her daughter were in town on furlough from the Army and would I like to get together?  Of course!!!  They came by the house for about 1/2 hr then we went to dinner at Japanese Kitchen with her mom.  Wonderful time!!!!!  Then her mom and daughter came over to my house to visit the evening away.  Just perfect!  Cookie baking got put off until tonight...and if that doesn't happen there's always Costco cookies right???

Almost Christmas

Well, we're in the final countdown to Christmas!  It's been a very busy time at the house!  I've been wrapping lots and lots of gifts for all the littles (and not so littles too), decorating, shopping and now I'm in the baking mode.  I made some round Christmas cookies so I can make these:  



And these: 

And possibly these:   

These are in my plans for tonight: 

Along with these: 

There are lots more I'd like to try and hope to get time for.  All these photos can be found on Pinterest.com.

Happy baking!!!

Oh Christmas Tree! and other stuff

Hi,

I got an email poke from a friend telling me I haven't blogged in a while...oops!  I've been very busy!  I finished making some Christmas presents, got Roman's quilt top completed, got the tree up and decorated, and started decorating the house, not to mention all the shopping I've been doing for Christmas presents for the littles!  Here's a picture of our tree this year...very pretty even if I do say so myself!

I just love this tree.  Andy and I got it the year we got engaged.  We had so much fun picking out ornaments for it.  We decorated it in blue, silver, white and clear ornaments.  So many of the ornaments have a special memory attached to them.

Here's a picture of Roman's quilt top.  It's a quick and easy pattern but turns out cute every time I make one.

I'd like to get it quilted this weekend but also have lots of Christmas gifts to wrap...decisions decisions!

GOD

I got this as part of a message today in an email...just in case I forget God's awesomeness I copied this part of the email and am going to print it out and put it on my desk:

I am God, the only God you've had or ever will have— incomparable, irreplaceable—From the very beginning telling you what the ending will be, All along letting you in on what is going to happen, ASSURING YOU, 'I'm in this for the long haul, I'll do exactly what I set out to do,' I've said it, and I'll most certainly do it. I've planned it, so it's as good as done."

This is your God! He will bring evil to an end, and He will take care of you! He is in this journey for the long haul!

Counter

Someone mentioned I need to add a counter to my blog...to bad she didn't mention HOW to do that!!!

I had a wonderful evening last night visiting with 2 quilting friends.  Sandra had accidentally stitched through her finger so she wasn't able to do any work but came to keep me and Cheryl company anyway.  Cheryl brought at least 3 projects to work on and seemed to get a lot done even though I gabbed her ear off!  Oh and she brought over bunches of cool stuff...scrapbooking supplies and magazines, rick rack, cross stitch kits, and tons of all-occasion cards!  It felt like Christmas!  She was making the cutest ornaments for a swap.  I'd tell you about them but they may be a surprise so I'd better not...yet. 

New Day

Today is a new day.  I may get down but I refuse to stay there.  My God is greater than anything I could ever go through.  When I have my down times I usually allow myself a day or so to acknowledge my problem, wallow in it, then it's time to get over it.  Today is the day to get over it.  I have no control over others...only in how I react to them!  I am a daughter of the most high God and therefore am blessed beyond imagination!  I read someplace that if a mountain was smooth there would be no place for your hands and feet to hold onto! 

Bone Weary

Have you ever heard that phrase?  I don't think I made it up...or did I?  Either way, that's how I feel today.  Tired to my core...tired in my soul...bone weary.  I don't want to feel this way but sometimes it just happens, sometimes there are good reasons and sometimes fear just takes ahold and settles in until all that's left is bone weary.  Mine didn't just happen today and while there are reasons for it I think mine is from fear today...time to pray away my fears.  Fears are not from God.  I thought I needed Ibuphrophin for my headache.  I think I just need to spend more time on my knees in prayer today. 


On another note...Saturday is my stepson Colton's 22 birthday.  We won't be celebrating it with him since he's celebrating with Jesus...someday we will though.  That's a comforting thought.  I sure do miss that kid.  Depression is a nasty disease and it took him much too young.  If someone in your life suffers from depression please don't take it lightly.  We miss you Colton and love you so much. 



Colton was so excited to get his iPod for Christmas that year!