Tying up loose ends...

Yup that's right, almost time to go back to work. Our school has one of those electronic message boards and they have a countdown til the first day of school going on it! We see it every morning when I take DD to soccer practice. I get to subtract one day because being in the cafeteria we go in to set up a day ahead. So sweet of them to count down for us!

Ah, but the weather is still fine, and time is what I make of it...working or not. The house is in order after last weeks mad dash, so I've been taking time to get much sewing in. This was supposed to be a table topper....

but my, it turned out big! The center was 18 x 21, fat quarter size and I measured and remeasured....but it looks more like a wall hanging!

Those are my binding strips to the side, can you tell I wasn't in the mood for small binding. Haven't folded and pressed them yet, so they are not THAT big. I do love the fabric though...

I think it will go on my dresser in the dining room for fall. The gals at MaryJanes farm got me on an apron kick again. I've only made a few that I have given away...I have bought and inherited most of mine. I started browsing through a topic on aprons and I was just blown away by everyone's talent and imagination! Time to get sewing says I!! Right after I make this table topper:

Kinda a dark, but let me assure you, there are moose involved!!! Hehe...

I'm happy to report that I am happy with the wood floor under the carpet! Let me assure you that I lifted corners of carpet to make sure that I at least had an idea of what I was getting into. That and the fact that the dining area, hall and my bedroom are all hardwood gave me the security to start this project! DH said this weekend we'll take the carpet out of the livingroom together. Let me tell you, that is BIG brownie points right there! He does alot around here, and works hard all day, so when I get myself into one of THESE kinds of projects, I try to keep him out of it. We purposely bought a house that didn't need immediate work because we are really not knowledgeable do-it-yourselfers, and we're not at a point where we want to spend alot of money on it either. But that carpet was just bugging me and the project seemed safe enough, and so far so good.

Most of what you see on the floor is fuzzy from the carpet from where it is cut on the right side. That is coming out this weekend, and he'll also show me how to get those tack strips up. I'm sure some people would immediately have to sand and redo, but with two kids and a dog, I'm not too worried about marks on the floor.

So this week I'm taking the time to soak in summer. I guess I'm a big kid in alot of ways. Gotta walk barefoot in the grass, drink my sun tea, even lay down and smell the earth under the apple trees. Next week will be busy enough.

~Blessings

Just Thinkin'

Where did the summer go? Do you ever have to stop and think about what you have accomplished or been spending your time on over the past (add your number here) weeks? Did I do ANYTHING? What's been eating up my time?

I reflected a little this afternoon and realized how crazy this summer has been. Vacation in mid-July, come home and spend the week with Grandma at the hospital, following week was fair week, sick week, recovery week, cleaning week, which leads us to today.. and PHEW! after I did a little gardening this morning I made some sun-tea and sat in the back yard and just SAT!!!

Hope you find some time to just sit this weekend!

~Blessings!

Famine to Feast

My energy level and ambition are not always on an even keel!! I go from barely keeping up with the bare necessities to going whole hog!! I've really tried to change that about myself but so far no good. Anyhow it's been an ambitious week. I cleaned and organized my sewing area. That was inspired by my Aunt who is coming for a visit and a pillow case sewing lesson this Saturday. Tuesday I tackled my bedroom or should I say, the room everything gets thrown into! I sorted, filed, put away and threw out...isn't there a TV show about all that? I even got the table topper finished for my night stand...

Now all that stuff needed to be done. Well except for maybe the sewing...that was an added bonus! But last night I got really crazy, I started ripping up carpet! Never done it before in my life, but I've peaked under a couple corners in the hall and livingroom and was convinced there were the same hardwood floors underneath as in the diningroom. Suddenly, around 5:00 pm tools came out and the ripping up began! It was actually fun to do a little destruction! My son even joined in. We started small, just ripping up the the hallway and cutting it away from the livingroom. I tell you what, after seeing the dust fly from the carpet and pad and the piles underneath, I will never carpet if I can avoid it again! EWWWWWWW! I like to vacuum too but obviously vacuums aren't all their cracked up to be!

You can see off to the right is the livingroom, boy there are going to be alot of tacks to pull up in there! DH called this morning from work and told me not to start because he wanted to help! WooHoo!!!

Well, I'm off...we'll see what fun projects I can find today!

~Blessings!

Goings On

Boy I've missed you all! Thank you so much for all your well wishes. I wasn't sick last week, but I sure didn't have a whole lot of energy. Very little was accomplished last week though. I did get to go see that sweet little baby of my girlfriend's. He is a cutie patootie...and so little! I haven't seen a babe so little in a LONG time. My DD has big plans of baby sitting and having him tag along and such; I think SHE was surprised at how little he is!

If you have never visited http://www.maryjanesfarm.com/ please do. It's worth your time. I have met some of the sweetest ladies on Mary Janes forum. Two of those aprons on that peg shelf are from dear farmgirl friends. And mail....I just love getting mail. Christmas and Valentine's I participated in card exchanges and had so much fun. But I am just tickled at how many notes and cards I get "just because". And I love sitting down and writing back. I keep cards in baskets around my sewing area. Every once in a while I put them in my scrapbook. I took the time to do that on one of my off days.

Oh, and here is Baby Mario's first page in my book!
LOL! I'm not really a scrapbooker. I just can't throw out a card.
I won't even discuss that August is quickly slipping away; but I did get two projects in the house accomplished that needed to be done before I go back to w**k! You know, those rooms that needed to be hulled out and rearranged. Cleaned out the front porch which is the toy room. Not many toys the kids play with anymore. Now what to do with all the toys?? Yesterday I cleaned my room (EVERYTHING gets thrown in there) and made a table topper for my bedside table. That sounds too glamorous....I sandwiched and stitched in the ditch a top I found at an antique store! I'll take a picture today after I do the binding. Because that is what I am doing today....sewing!!

Hope everyone is safe and sound, I know the weather all over the country is pretty extreme right now. Drop a line and tell me what you've been up too!

~Blessings

On the Mend

Well I am back! What a lulu that was! The doctor's office called today to tell me I didn't have strep...whip-de-doo!! I was flat on my back with a fever for 3 days last week, with a throat that felt like broken glass and swollen glands. It took me the next three days just to get a modicum of energy back!! I am so glad that is over. I couldn't even read, let alone sew! It was terrible! :(

What made me feel the worst was that my bf from high school had her first child Wednesday and I haven't been able to go scoop that little baby bean up in my arms yet! Also have not been able to visit my grandmother. She is home, I don't think she even spent a full week in the rehab place. She said the air conditioning didn't work and it was terribly hot. I don't think she liked sharing a room either. I sent her a care package, but I haven't called. The way I sounded she would not have understood a word I said. So I have some catching up to do with friends and family.

I sorted through my fabric some today. I'm on a table runner kick....want to make them. I started some cutting, but my eyes got pretty heavy after a while. Do I really have to build my endurance back up???? My fall fabrics are catching my eye, and Christmas too. Time to start thinking of gifts.

Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers!

~Blessings

UGH!

On bed rest this week with a viral throat infection....yuck! Hope to be back soon.

Hometown Parade

Last night my tribe and I headed to my parent's home to celebrate mom's birthday. She's extra special, every year for her birthday the little hamlet throws a parade!! Well, I guess the parade and carnival have been there longer than we have, but it does make a fun birthday party!

DH and G-man pulling the Lion's club float.

Grandpa and DD on her favorite tractor.




I am only seven miles away, but it's always a treat to go to the parade each year and visit with my former neighbors and the girls I used to hang out with in town.

~Blessings

Our First Fair Entries

Ok, before you take a peak, I have to say I know our fair display was really lame. I've been to the fair before and know all the work these 4H groups put into their displays. In our defense, I will explain that due to employee turnover in our Co-op office, our paper work was delayed and we were not a group until March. So we worked our little tails off to get our pillows and quilts finished and we barely got that done! We could not even think of a fair banner, although we do have a cool idea that we will start on this fall.



That being said here are some pictures from our display.

In this picture, if you look hard enough, you can see the cardboard sign the girls and g-man made and signed!!


Our pillows were all the same, except for G-man's, because I gave them the fabric so we could hurry up and sew our first project.

The judges were mighty generous with the blue ribbons for the displays!!! Everyone got one!

We had such a good time and are all looking forward to our first full year coming up! I know they got a lot of ideas from other groups, so they'll keep me on our toes!

~Blessings