Friday, August 28, 2009

Must-Sew List



My must sew list is getting too big!!!




First, there is the memo board I posted yesterday.

Then, there is this CUTE table runner. Only I would probably just make it into a huge square table topper.



Then, there are the remaining 11 wallhangings that I've designs but haven't made (3 are currently in progress, but they aren't done so it doesn't count!)



Then, I would like to make this really cute quilt I designed. Pictures to come......





And of course, I have yet to make any of my Nintendo-character themed quilt sets. I am thinking about starting with Princess Peach.







Wouldn't she make a pretty quilt? I am thinking the answer is YES. :D

I am hoping to get a lot of sewing done this weekend.

I was going to sew last night. I fell asleep at 8 PM! Can you believe it? The gal who stays up until 2 or 3 to sew/work actually went to bed, of her own accord, before 9!!

I need to make the quilt for my class. It's supposed to be tomorrow. I wasn't going to buy the templates. I have a design center on my Gammill that allows me to do perfect circles, which was what the templates were for. However, I am now thinking that I don't want to try to figure it out on my own. Okay, I just paid for them. Hopefully they'll come quickly :)

So, that means I now have like a week to piece my top. WHEW!

Can't wait to see what it looks like, though. I hope the thread colors I bought yesterday work with the different blues in the quilt. I want the quilting to stand out and be dramatic. We'll see. I guess that's why they call it a mystery quilt. haha :)

Thursday, August 27, 2009

I want to make this!

I want to make this memo board. Don't know what fabric to use. I was thinking Mary Engelbreit, but I'm not sure. Ideas??

What I've Been Up to.....besides working :)

New Haircut. LOVE IT! Thanks Angel :)
Have you seen Lola's laundry room? I am having Laundry Room Envy.... note that my laundry room also doubles as a bathroom.

Marhsy wore his pants around the shop one day...but on his head instead of his bum.
What a cheeser!

Here's me, in my skirt that I made out of Art Gallery. I wish they could've gotten a closer picture. The skirt turned out way cute. And I looked way cute for court. The t-shirts I wore were from Wal-mart ($7 and $9).

I made this bag from this pattern on Moda Bake Shop. I used fabrics from the Soiree line.
It's my super cute new purse. LOVE IT.

I'm also doing Gracie Lou's BOM. It's a darling quiet book. The patterns are a little tricky at times, mostly because there aren't any illustrations to aid with what you're supposed to do, but it is totally worth it. It is so cute! Currently working on page 3.....stay tuned! :)

This was page 2. He was the hardest so far, I think. And the most time consuming. So much zig-zag stitching! haha

I am also taking a class at Longarm University. These are my fabrics. The quilting portion of the class starts on Saturday. The quilt top is supposed to be finished and on the machine by Saturday. YIKES! I just barely cut the pieces out. The big piece pictured above is the backing fabric. The checkerboard fabric is the binding. The striped blue/white is the border, the dark blue is for the blocks, and the dot is for the background. Can't wait to see how it turns out! :)
Also, thinking that bug flipping should be a sport. More specifically, pill bug flipping. I would totally dominate at that sport! haha
I did a lot of really cute quilts lately, so go check them out on my other blog.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Court

She showed up. I couldn't believe it, but she showed!

There weren't any mediators today. Fortunately. The judge was just hearing cases. There were like 9 cases on the docket. We were number 7 or something. I had to sit there for forever.

Without boring you with all the details, here's what happened. We got up, I made my case. She made her case. She was obviously grasping at straws. It was awesome!!!


The judge thought that I made a good case and found in my favor. For all $1248 + court costs. WAHOO!!! Also, he asked us not to discuss the case in the hallway because he didn't want to have the bailiffs involved (she was PISSED).


So I went up to ask the clerk what to do now, and my landlady was freaking out because now she had a judgement against her. HAHAHAHA


She offered to write me a check then and there for the amount in full. WOO WOO!


I am CASHING the check first thing in the morning. We bank at the same bank (Different branches) so I'm going to go get cash IN HAND. I have to pay the process servers still. Not a big deal, though.

I WON! I WON! I WON I WON I WON!!!!!

Productive

I've been pretty productive these last few days.

Last week I quilted 8 quilts for clients. Yes, 8 quilts in 4 days (took Friday and Saturday off).

I went up to my mom's on Friday afternoon and she helped me hem my skirt. It's really cute! I sewed the buttons on Monday night, so now it is FINISHED. YAY!

I also made this cute bag using Soiree fabrics.

Pictures to come soon, don't worry!


Also, I have court tomorrow night. I'm hoping she doesn't show. Wouldn't that be the best ever?! Updates to come on that Wednesday. :)

Saturday, August 22, 2009

How I spent my week.

This week I quilted 8 quilts. Yes, I was crazy quilting lady! haha. I also finished my skirt (sans buttons, I need to sew them on tonight....pictures to come later) and my clown page for the page of the week project I joined at Gracie Lou's (again, pictures to come soon).
Anyway, the quilts I did were all cute and unique, so please go check them out. My favorite one is the Lady Madonna quilt. It is so pretty! You can see all the quilts here, at my quilting blog.

How my mom spent her summer vacation

My mom teaches at a private school in Salt Lake/Sugarhouse area. She is very smart and very talented. She has been teaching at this school since 1995 (I was in 6th grade there when she started.) She has taught kindergarten, first grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade. They move her around each year. It's not unusual for her to have the same students several years in a row.

Anyway, this year she is teaching 5th and 6th grade history and geography, and then having study halls for the rest of her class periods. She has had timelines up on her walls in the past, but never like this one. This one is HUGE!

I tried to take the pictures in order....apparently that didn't happen, or Blogger screwed them up when I loaded them (which wouldn't be the first time). Anyway, She started at 3500 BC, but I don't know where in this set of pics it is. Anyway, isn't it awesome?! She has dates and events and pictures, and each color strip is a different continent.





















See? Like I said, so not in order! I don't know what happened. Anyway, you get the picture.



So far everyone who has seen it has LOVED it (All except for 1 teacher who gave a backhanded compliment, but only because she is jealous she isn't as talented. haha). I can't believe how much work she went to to do this. CRAZY lady! :)

Friday, August 21, 2009

Sewing, Daily Sewing

I've started sewing at home now. YAY! And, I'm not sewing on my piano bench anymore. HOORAY!

Ever since Mike brought home the FREE jukebox, that doesn't work BTW, it has made for a really great cutting table/sewing machine stand :) hehehehehe

I have been trying to sew a little bit every night this week. Tonight I started working on this bag (tutorial on Moda Bake Shop). It's the Mill House Inn tote bag. I would have finished it, except I forgot to bring some batting home from work :( Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish it. I can't decide if it would be a better purse or diaper bag. I'm leaning toward purse right now. We'll see. Can't wait to show you the finished bag!!

P.S. - I'm using Soiree. I bought it at Gracie Lou's. It's their collection of the week, so 1 yd cuts are only $6.00/yd, and all pre cuts are 30% off. Great deal! Go to their shop in Salem, UT and get you some cute fabric!!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Fabulous Tute and Giveaway

My fabulous, famous sister-in-law LOLA was featured on Moda Bake Shop

today.
Go there and check out her fabulous tutorial for a binder cover.

It is super simple. I am sewing-tarded when it comes to anything but quilting (sometimes quilting, too) and this was so easy that I understood each part (which NEVER happens!).


She's also having a giveaway on her
blog.

Laughing at Work

Marshall is currently wiping his Cheezit's on Keisha's shirt. Then he giggles hysterically when she catches him. If it weren't so darn cute I'd stop it. Besides, I'm sure it'll stop when he falls over backwards off his stool because he's laughing so hard.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Dreams.....and stress



I rarely dream. I don't know if anyone else is like me, but if I do dream, I don't ever remember them.

The only times I really ever remember by dreams are when they are traumatic (or really good, but that is for another post at a later date).

I usually only dream traumatic dreams when I am stressed. Last week I had my go-to stress dream:

We were driving in the car and my teeth started falling out of my gums, and Mike wouldn't take me to the ER or the dentist to get them put back in.

Variation: My teeth crumble to dust in my mouth

Either way, it's intense. I wake up angry at Mike, even if he's out of town. Then I realize I still have all my teeth, and everything is okay.


The other night I had a stress dream. This one was new. We were at our vacation house, and my belly button was HUGE, like a gaping hole in my stomach, and my insides were trying to explode out of it. Yeah, I know, gross. No one in my family would take me to the hospital! RUDE! They called the doctor and he said to cut a slit in the fat folds with a knife and I should be okay. What kind of doctor was he anyway?! I eventually convinced my dad to drive me to the podunkville hospital (and the only way I even dreamed about it was I noticed it on our trip to Bear Lake last month....weird, huh?).

That's when I woke up. Sweaty. And a little freaked out. I won't lie, I checked my belly button to make sure it was the right size. Sure enough, it's normal. I've checked several times today.

Now, I don't particularly feel like I am under any stress at all this week. Why would I have a stress dream?

Also, I'm worried that this dream will replace the teeth one. I don't know if I can handle that. The teeth one is bad enough. It's better than the one I used to dream, though.

When I was little I thought that the eagle on the side of the USPS mail trucks was a wolf. Yeah, weird. I had quite the imagination, apparently. Well I would dream that the wolf was coming to get me at night, and I'd run up the front steps of my cousin's house, and they wouldn't let me in. Again, for being a kid, it was quite the intense dream.


Do you see the wolf? I know, it's weird. The blue wing of the eagle was the wolf's head. The white head of the eagle was the wolf's collar. For about five years I was terrified of the mailman! I'm actually glad they changed the logo on the trucks. It was that traumatic of a dream!

I actually had that dream for a while. Until I was pregnant with Marshall, actually. That's when the teeth dreams started happening. I'm sure it's because my dentist told me I had gingivitis at the time. Stupid dentist for planting that worry seed in my mind. BOO!

What are your stress dreams? I know some people have the naked/underwear in class on the first day of school. Or going to class to find out you've missed the entire semester and it's finals day (I've had that one a lot recently, too....stupid high school finals. It wasn't even college! It was high school!)

So really, tell me your stress dreams so that I feel a little more normal, will you?

THANKS! :)

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Taking a Break

I am taking a short break from hectic quilting to work on something for myself.

Remember how I am the plaintiff in a small claims case? Remember how I bought these beauties?




I don't have anything to wear with them. I was so disappointed when I got them because they are beautiful, but I had nothing that matched. So, I went up to Gracie Lou's and bought this lovely Art Gallery Fabric, which can be purchased here, at Gracie Lou's online store.





I am going to be making this skirt (the one on the model) out the Art Gallery fabric.



Court is on the 25th. I am hoping to have the project done by then. Don't you think I'll look great with the cute skirt and the heels? Today I cut out all the fabric and interfacing pieces for the project. I'd start sewing, but my good sewing machine is at work. I'd rather not use the Janome for a project like this. I think I'll stick with my Singer HD-110. :)

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Random Thoughts

I have so many thoughts and ideas rolling around in my brain that it's driving me crazy! I need to get some of them out of there! haha

Thinking about writing a book. Thoughts? Suggestions? Am I totally crazy? It probably wouldn't ever get published. I don't think I'm that good. Besides, that would be asking too much of myself, I think. I do think, however, it would be a good experience.

I remember trying to write a story when I was in Jr. High. I think I got to the middle of the first chapter before I typed

"And they lived happily ever after. The End."

Hahahaha

Or maybe I just gave up and it's sitting in a file somewhere, lost, waiting for me to find it and finish it. At any rate, I've never been good at finishing things like that.



Does anyone else have dreams that are so vivid and real that it's like you're watching a movie? And then you wake up and realize it's a dream, and the more you think about it the less you can remember, until it's just a faded memory? I hate that.

I've had a lot of dreams like that lately. I try to think about them while I'm in the shower the next morning, and then write a little of it down so I don't forget. It doesn't always work, but that's mostly where my ideas for stories come from.

Anyone else like that?

This is a totally random, disjointed post. I'm sorry if it doesn't make any sense. I just needed to think about things. But seriously, if you have any suggestions for me, or have done the same thing, please comment!

Or just comment because my self esteem depends on them.

Hahaha just kidding.

Or am I? ;)

The Battle

What a week this has been! WHEW! I am so glad it is almost over!

The week started out with a late night. I was up doing laundry. I started to fall asleep on the couch, so I decided to go up to bed. Forget about the laundry, it can sit in there overnight without a problem, right? What's the worst that can happen? It sours and I rewash it, right?

So, I get up, turn off all the lights, and head up stairs. Well, not really up the stairs. Just over to them. Didn't make it up the stairs because they were covered with......... wait for it...............................................................................................................................................................

PILL BUGS!

I am dead serious. I live in a split level, so when you come in the door there is a set of stairs going up and a set of stairs going down. The landing, where the door is, was also covered with bugs. COMPLETELY. It was so full that they were falling off the landing down onto my living room carpet. That area was also completely full of bugs. I am cringing as I remember how gross it was.

I started killing them with kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels, whatever I could flush down the toilet. Didn't really make a dent. I then made the, probably unwise, decision to start up the vacuum cleaner. It was 3 AM. Yes, that's right. 3 AM and I was sucking up hundreds of bugs. Mike wasn't too happy. Apparently I woke him up. Should've closed the bedroom door and turned the swamp cooler onto high before starting up the vacuum....OH WAIT! Couldn't get up the stairs. That's right.

Next morning, vacuumed up 100s more. Mike set off 2 bug bombs, 1 upstairs, 1 downstairs, while we went to work. When we came home, the ones inside were all dead, but the ones outside were still coming in! WHAT THE HECK?!

So, being a man, Mike heads off to Home Depot. (Where else? haha) He buys a new door sweep that goes on the front of the door. We had one on the back, but the plastic piece got ripped off by Marshall a while back (it was really cheap and started ripping 3 days after we moved in). We get home and take the door off, which was a struggle in and of itself because the hinges had been painted over.

So, door's off, we put the door sweep on and put the door back on, as it's RAINING, and the door doesn't close because the sweep is getting stuck on the threshold. UGH!!

Mike tries to take the threshold off, but the screws are rusted in. Can't take the whole piece out because it's cemented in on the outside and the tile grout was on top of it on the inside. Lemme tell ya, whoever built this place was pretty dumb to make it impossible to replace the door without ripping up the whole front of the house!

So I go off to Checker to buy an easy-out stripped screw kit, because the screws are not only rusted, but stripped. So lovely. I come back, and Mike has the piece out, but one of the screws had broken off during the process. We go BACK to Home Depot, return some things (shivs cuz he thought he could level out the unlevel door frame) and buy a new piece of wood, that's a little smaller than the old one, and head back home.

Take the door sweep off the door (now there are holes in the front of the door, looks really great with the crappy ancient paint job they did who-knows-how-many-years-ago) install the new piece of wood. Well, whaddaya know? It doesn't work! It's too small! Hmm....I could've told him that when we bought it, but did he listen? No. He's a man. I also told him before he did anything to call his dad. Again, did he listen? No. He's a man. "I can do it myself" he says. hahahahahaha

We jimmy-rig the door so that the bugs won't come in. At least, that's what we think. Funny enough, they still come in. At about midnight I went outside with a can of ant spray. Yes you read that right. It's all I had. I used the entire can and sprayed my whole front porch down. It worked pretty well. They actually are still dying out there thanks to the ant spray :)

Next day we go back to Home Depot. Again. We buy a whole new threshold. Never mind the fact that we can't get the old one out, Mike says he can use some of the pieces to replace the old ones. We go home, and he can't get the new piece in. Big surprise. He got so frustrated that Marshy and I left for a drive. We ended up doing some grocery shopping, forgetting a lot of things while we were at it.

Come home and find Mike finished. He put the new piece where the old one with the broken screw was. So now, after 3 days of he** we are back to square 1. Yeah, it didn't really make any difference. The bugs still come in. They die, eventually, thanks to the bug bombs, but now instead of vacuuming up live bugs I vacuum up dead ones. UGH!

Mike says he'll replace the strip of plastic stuck to the bottom of the door this next week. It involves taking the door off the hinges again. So don't wanna do that, but oh well. He figures the bugs are like ants. They always find a way in. He figures that until the landlord puts in a/c units in each building instead of the swamp coolers we will always have this problem.

Oh I can't wait until winter when I won't have this problem!! But then, spring comes too quickly and it'll be back again. UGH!

I am so tired of waging war, but I guess it will be over soon. Someone said to try boric acid. Someone else said to try Bounce dryer sheets. Someone else said fly paper. Anyone tried any of these before? Let me know. I think tonight I will try the Bounce, since I don't have boric acid or fly paper on hand. :)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Getting Closer

A few months ago I ordered these jeans from Ruelala.com (email me for an invite if you want to join).

When I got them I tried them on. They are a size 31. I couldn't get them over my thighs. Yeah, I know, I was totally upset and almost cried.

Tried them on this morning, and can now almost get them up to my waist. YAY!!!! I've only been working out for 2 weeks (on the 2nd day of week 3). I haven't really been dieting. I still eat whatever I want. I have Skinny Cow ice cream instead of Ben and Jerry's, but it's still ice cream. I eat cheese and cereal, we had tacos for lunch yesterday. I am thinking that this will be easier to maintain than the diet I did earlier this year.

If you'll notice in my sidebar I added the weight loss tracker...again.... I'm hoping this will help me stay motivated. That, and the fact that if I beat Mike then he owes me a trip to Cancun. Yeah, I think that is motivation enough, right? haha Well, so far I've lost 7 pounds. Only 50 more to go! :)

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Quilting updates

Just updated my quilting blog. Again. It seems to keep getting away from me, so every time I go to update it I have like 5 posts to do!

Anyway, please go check it out. There are some really cute quilts on there. Some of them you can get patterns, fabric, notions, whatever for at Gracie Lou's. They have the cutest things! I swear, if I had unlimited resources, didn't have to sleep, and had all my time to myself, I would totally quilt all day!!

Also, I know that school is just starting (next week), but it's never too early to start thinking about custom made Christmas presents. T-shirt quilts make great Christmas presents, and you don't even have to do anything to get them! I will do all the work, you just provide the t-shirts. The quilts start at $14.00 per block. That includes everything needed to make the quilt: materials, labor, quilting, binding, batting.....EVERYTHING. Including FABRIC.

Salem Days Pageant and Fireworks

The pageant this year was the BEST it has been in YEARS. It was awesome! They did Salem's Got Talent. On Friday, they had 36 contestants. The top 10 got to move on to the actual pageant Saturday night. The 10 acts were really great. Brother-in-law was the MC, and he did an awesome job. I think the favorite was when he dressed up as Nacho Libre. My favorite act of the night was a 4-year-old little boy who sang a Jonas Brothers song. It was awesome! He even danced. So CUTE!!!!

After the pageant portion, they had some lady who lives in the city come and sing. It was kind of a downer. She sang her own songs, none of which were really upbeat and a little too country for my liking. At one point, she said she still had a couple more songs and half the crowd groaned! Then she sang one more song and one of the city council members gave her the cut-off signal. She talked him into letting them do one more song, and when it was over everyone cheered.

Fireworks were AWESOME!!! Marshy has never seen fireworks like those before, and was a little concerned at first, then he warmed up to them.


Giving mommy some cheese. He loves fireworks now! :)


Overall, it was a really good night. The only way it could've been better was if the 2nd act had kept the feel and the energy level up. Everyone was so pumped about the Salem's Got Talent, they needed someone who could keep it going. Maybe next year they can get a cover band or someone really cool.

One Project a Month Challenge

I kind of slacked off a little in July. I finished binding a couple of quilts, but forgot to report on them, so they don't really count. However, I did finally finish this quilt. It was supposed to be my "little" brother's Christmas present.....last year.


I was able to finish it in time for his birthday on the 4th, luckily. :D
I'm hoping to get some more projects finished this month, too, but we'll see. So far I've been so crazy and stressed that I barely have time to think it seems.

Salem Days Quilt Show

The Salem Days Quilt Show was awesome! We had 59 quilts shown (not counting the 5 on display for the raffle). It was FABULOUS!
(Above: I quilted this one.)





(Above: this was one of mine)







(Above: this is one that I quilted)

I love this one! It is so cute! And it was hand quilted.





I loved this one too. It was hand quilted, and has the US Marines symbol in the center.

This is Izzy and Ivy's quilt.




(Above: I quilted this one, too)

(Above: This is one of mine. It's an original design to boot.)

We only had 1 male entrant, and this was his first quilt. It was amazing!!































This one was really cool. It was hand appliqued, and then hand quilted.

(Above: I also quilted this one)

I love this one. It is fairy tale scenes embroidered on the white with bright piecey borders. Super cute!



(Above: This is one of mine. Pattern from a Fons and Porter magazine.)



This was our booth for the raffle. Proceeds went to Colton's Angels so they can put a Christmas tree in the Festival of Trees this year. For not advertising very much (or at all, really, except for this last week) we brought in a lot of money. Thanks to everyone who came down and bought raffle tickets. We really appreciate your generosity! :)



This one was called "Oh my gosh!" because that is what you say when you see it. Holy cow the pieces are TINY! Like maybe 1/2 inch squares? less than an inch for sure. And it's all pieced together PERFECTLY. Impressive.




I quilted one similar to this last year. I love this quilt. I wish I had the pattern. It looks like it would be such a fun project. Lots of applique, but still, super fun to make. Super cute when finished.


I love this quilt! It is a Book of Mormon quilt, and is so cute!


(Above: I quilted this one.)


(Above: I quilted this one, too.)



There were some cute Halloween quilts, too. I love the litle witch table toppers.
We had such a fun time. I can't wait for next year. Hopefully we'll get as good a turnout, and maybe we'll do voting/judging or something. :)