Quirky... in all the right places...

In high school...
-my student work was "Minor Officials Coordinator" aka whatever home sporting event our school was hosting, I was responsible to find all the timekeepers, lines persons, scorekeepers
-I loved to plan or organize just about anything
-I made my own Christmas cards
-I lived and breathed by my day planner
-was kinda nerdy but generally ok in my own skin

In college...
-my nickname was OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and I laughed cause I came by it honestly :) - I'm a perfectionist what can I say :)
-I was on student council, a dorm leader and was still planning &/or organizing anything I could
-I had the only hammer in the girls down - yes it was a scrapbooking hammer, but it worked to put a nail into the wall just as good as a hammer from Home Depot {and it got plenty of use in our dorm!}
-My entire life was governed by my day planner - if anything had happened to it, we would have all been in serious trouble {and I may have had a full on melt down}
-I allowed myself to be creative when my day planner said I could
-I was still kinda nerdy...graduated with a few hard knocks, but I learned  all over again that it was ok to be just me...nothing more, nothing less

Today...
-I'm a wife: I make a valiant attempt at keeping our house and life organized, some days I'm good at that, some days I'm not...and I'm ok with that
-I still design my own Christmas cards
-I've lost the day planner: I have a few less things on the go so generally those things just stay rolling around in my head {disclaimer: I do put reminders & some appointments in my calendar app on my phone and I do keep a copy of Justin's work schedule pretty close at hand}
-I still love to plan just about anything...usually now my planning revolves around having dinner guests or having people over...I thrive on this, I really do
-I try to be creative as much as is humanly possible...some days are less creative than others, but creating has become an integral part of not just what I DO, but who I AM
-I know I'm a full on nerd but I don't make any excuses for it anymore...my friends tease and laugh at some of my frills but I can laugh right along with them knowing full well they've just paid me a huge compliment {and I have some amazingly talented & creative friends!}...I love who I am, I have far to go still, but I think the journey looks pretty amazing from the current view...

I found this on Pinterest last night...sums up a big part of what makes me {me}

There's No Place Like Home...

Those closest to me often hear me say that I love our home and it's one of my most favorite places in the world to be.  Whether it's inside or outside in the yard, there's no other place where I feel more 'me"...

I felt like yesterday was such a gift... we've had some less than fabulous weather in the past while, so when the sun decided to shine yesterday I couldn't help but smile and feel like I was being given a gift.  I spent part of the afternoon on the deck enjoying Pinterest and my sister's company and some much needed vitamin D.

I've been just itching to use the new fire pit we were given a few weeks ago and the way the day was shaping up, it seemed like the perfect evening to try it out for the first time...so there we sat for a long time last night chatting with friends, enjoying the warmth of the fire, the yummy roasted marshmallows and smores... and in those moments, all was right with the world...We have the gift of living in a house where there are no other houses behind our back yard, just the wide expanse of a farmers field.  So as we sat there last night, facing the field, we listened to the crickets, watched the sky get darker and then stars make their appearance, and for a while I kinda forgot the rest of the world existed.

We love to camp... to sit around the fire until we can barely keep our eyes open... last night it was almost like the campground had come to our back yard... it was the closest thing to perfect I think you can get living in a city...something tells me that there will be many many hours this summer spent sitting around the fire...sigh... it doesn't get much better than this...

Not a great picture, but it sure was toasty...

Springspiration Challenge...

About a month ago I got an invite from Monique of Pocket Full of Whimsy to be part of her fun crafting challenge.  She sent the invitation to 5 of us: she would send us a package of materials and using all the supplies we could create anything our crafty minds could come up with!

We've all be furiously creating and this week is the big reveal week :)  Each day this week Monique has featured each of our projects on her blog and the full posts can be found on our individual blogs.  It's so much fun to see what everyone is creating!  Thanks Monique for the challenge!

When I got my package of materials I knew right away I wanted to create something that would be practical - either now or one day.  I brainstormed a list of possible projects but the one that I wanted to try was a diaper clutch.  No, I don't need this now lol, but someday down the road I hope to!  I've seen these on a few websites in the past while so I thought I'd try it out!  The sites I've seen describe these clutches as being a handy way to keep an extra diaper and wipes in your purse or a convenient way to pass off a diaper and wipes to your husband when he takes the baby to change them.  A friend of mine uses hers to keep an extra set of clothes in her purse for her girls.  Sounds like a handy thing to have around!

Our Crafting Supplies:
Vintage fabric, two doilies, bakers twine & a button

I cut the fabric into two pieces: 1-8x13" and 1-8x10".  (I doubled my fabric up so that the finished project would be a little more sturdy and hide the lining fabric a little better.

While the bulk of or project was to be from the supplies provided, Monique gave us the freedom to add in a few extras if we needed.  I added this fun red fabric to use as the lining of the clutch.  I also cut two pieces of the lining fabric the same dimensions as my vintage fabric and then sewed each together to create a "bag".  A strip of velcro on each "bag" was added to hold the finished project closed.

After trimming the bottom corners and the top flap at a slight angle, both "bags" were turned inside out.  I put the lining inside of the vintage "bag" and sewed along the top of the bag, starting about two inches from the center, all the way around along the top of the flap and back down to the top of the bag.  I left about a two inch hole that I'd use to turn the "bags" out to their right positions.

I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the "turning out" process, but it went something like this:

Once I was finished sewing the top of the "bags" together, I gently pulled the red fabric right side out through the two inch hole I left.  I then turned the vintage fabric right side out and then stuffed the red lining fabric inside the vintage "bag" that is now turned right side out.  (It really is a simple process, just might sound a tad confusing sorry!)  What you're now holding is a diaper clutch with all the fabric turned the right way like this:

I then went around the top of the flap as well as the top of inside of the bag with a top stitch.  This will hold everything together nicely as well as close up that two inch hole you left to be able to turn the bags out the right way.

Now to embelish a bit!

I used the bakers twine to do a blanket stitch around the top flap of the clutch...

I carefully separated the two doilies and sewed a piece of fabric behind each one and added a button to create flowers...

added them to the clutch...voila!

I made a couple more of these for my neighbor who has recently had twins, so I borrowed the contents of those for this shot just to give you an idea of how things fit!

This same design could easily be used for a lunch bag, a kids travel kit , or just about anything you could think of!  (I used this tutorial from Diary of a Quilter to get me started)

Don't forget to check out Pocket Full of Whimsy to see what the other ladies have created!

Playing House...

When I was a little girl I loved to play house.  I was fortunate enough to have some "kitchen furniture" that was just my size, a fridge and a stove that were built for me that I think I received as a Christmas gift.  I spent hours at those wooden appliances dreaming of the day I would be a "grown up" and have a real kitchen of my own... well I have the kitchen, not sure if I'm the "grown up" just yet ;)

As I was perusing my Facebook wall this morning, the mom of a family I met while living in China posted the following link.  I will admit I don't often check out links very often (with the exception of my favorite blog links) but I checked this one out, and I'm SO glad I did!

Convert Old TV Cabinets Into State of the Art Play Kitchens

From this:

To this:

Isn't this a fabulous idea?!?  I don't have a little girl, but I know several of my friends who do :)  I see tv stands like this all the time on kijiji or Facebook Garage Sale... I just might have to store this idea for someday down the road!

The Perfect Excuse...

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from my sister.  She doesn't normally call in the middle of the afternoon so I was a little curious what was up.  The reason for her call was nothing short of absolutely fabulous.  My sister is an uberly talented hair stylist.  She started down this path 7 years ago and with some twists and turns in the road she was finally able to write her journeyman's exam a few weeks ago.  So the reason for her call - she had just gotten her mark back and SHE PASSED!!!  I'm so incredibly proud of her :) She has worked long and hard to get to this point and I'm excited for her!  She is now waiting for a date for her practical exam, but at least the written exam is now behind her!

As soon as I hung up the phone I knew I wanted to do something special for her.  I also knew that I wanted it to be something I could take to the salon for her and her staff to share as one of her other stylists also wrote the same exam and passed.

Last week I came across an uber cool idea for packaging cookies (I'm OK with Unconventional...) and couldn't wait for a chance to create these myself... and this was the perfect occasion to get creative!

For me, the "punch" of this idea comes from the tag... and I love how this one turned out :)

It took me a few tries to get the cookies the right size for the CD envelope, but eventually it worked lol!

Because most of the envelopes didn't "close" flat, I used some adhesive on the front and back of of the tag to help it stay on.

And the finished product!  I LOVE these!  I will most definitely be making them again :)

She loved them when I dropped them off at lunch!  Her reaction made my day :)

The All Star - The Promised Update

Thankfully my computer decided to cooperate with me late last night and I was finally able to get at the photos of my weekend's quilting progress :)

I started out on Saturday with only three of the nine rows complete... by the end of the day, all nine were together and I was loving the way everything looked.

On Sunday morning I had some extra time before church so I once again laid it out on the floor to look a little closer... I wanted to add a little more length but 1-didn't want to add a whole row as I had planned & cut my fabric specific to this design and 2-I wanted something a little different but not too wild for a bit more length.  I experimented with a few different ideas.  First I laid out two long strips at the top and bottom to give it a little "something" but it just wasn't "it".  In the end, I used half sized squares that I was able to made from the left over scraps.  It was just what I was looking for.  It solved the problem of that little extra length but still didn't deviate too far from the overall look I was going for.

By late Sunday afternoon I was ready to work on the boarder.  I had saved one piece of fabric from this stack, had intentionally not incorporated it into the quilt just so that it would help the boarder to pop a little more... and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

The one thing that keeps coming back to me as I look at it altogether now, is how well all these fabrics play off each other.  It's a tad difficult to see in photos, but each fabric does a great job of showing off the other fabrics around it.

The next step is to clip just the boarder so that I can sew on the binding and then it will all be ready to clip and wash and send off to this coming All-Star!

Seeing An All Star Come to Life - 3

Sew, sew, some laundry, sew, some house cleaning, sew, sew... Ya that pretty much nails down my weekend lol!  I am very grateful that I had so much time at home this weekend after the busyness of the last several weeks.  {I'm wired in such a way that if I don't have good sized chunks of time in my house, I being to feel rather "frayed" inside, so this weekend went a long way to helping me feel much more refreshed :) }

I sewed/quilted until later evening last night and of course was snapping pictures as this All Star quilt continued to take shape.  I went home at lunch today planning to download and edit the photos and have them all ready to post here this afternoon... however, my computer didn't want to cooperate!  I did snap a quick picture with my phone Sunday morning before church so I could show my sister, so for now I'll post it and hopefully have the real photos ready for tomorrow! (or maybe even later tonight)

Stay tuned...  :)

This shows nearly all of the top as well as the fabric I planned to use as the quilt boarder.