Hello?
Anyone still out there?
Who blogs here anyway?
I'm starting to wonder why I thought having all my kids in school all day would give me so much time for work.... because it turns into workout time/get ready time/ lunch time/ a tiny, tiny bit of work time and then go get the kids and let the madness begin! This is the first year that I've had kids playing school sports, participating in school activities (Brenden had to be MADE to do it this year and although resistant at first, he is enjoying his school year much more than last year) but Payton.... my daughter would sign up and participate in every little thing extracurricular if we let her. I don't know this child. I am a homebody at heart and my oldest definitely has my tendencies but my middle child is her daddy's girl. Give her an activity or social outing and she is so there. I spend the majority of my days running someone somewhere. I vaguely remember my mom complaining about this but she was the mom, that was her job, wasn't it????, so I didn't think about how it affected her day. Ever.
Mom, I'm sorry for every trip you made to and from school, dance, piano, friends' houses and more that I didn't thank you for at the time. Love, Nichol
It is time consuming and I feel like my behind is permanently glued to the driver's seat of our family vehicle. Lovely mental image, eh?
And although working out has become routine around here, it does cut into my work schedule. Maybe if I could work out at 5 a.m. it wouldn't but..... well, I don't like anyone at 5 a.m. least of all the elliptical or treadmill. I need a cup of coffee and at least an hour of movement before getting on my workout gear and hitting the equipment. It's been worth it. I am down almost 50 lbs. since May. It's not all exercise. I would mainly contribute the weight loss to watching calories and eating way less. And none of my clothes fit. I literally had to buy all new stuff. Everything. I have piles upon piles of clothes I can no longer wear so I'm selling on ebay. That's a whole other story. It's not a speedy process for sure but I'm hopeful I can get it all out of my house by Christmas. It's the goal anyway.
And those dang kids again.... I feel like I probably should feed them and get them moving in the right direction in the morning before driving them to their schools. I guess I could let them fend for themselves but I sort of enjoy that morning time with them, connecting, checking to make sure they have homework done, papers signed or whatever else the teachers have sent home for them is ready to go, yelling about the dishwasher not being unloaded, the trash overflowing or the dogs being fed. Without those activities it just wouldn't be a normal day.
And then it's evening and the kids are hungry. Again. My grocery bill is scary. And we hardly eat together because, you guessed it, activities. More running around. Kitchen clean up or attending a sporting event.
I.
Am.
Pooped.
But.....
I am slowly recovering from a crazy few weeks and nine weeks into the school year I think I am finally learning how to manage all the things getting thrown at me. Maybe. I've been known not to multitask very well. I know, hard to believe, right? With all the blogging I've been doing? All the layouts? Gosh, it seems like I am a much better multi-tasker than my husband thinks I am! hee hee
Okay, in all seriousness, THANK YOU, to all of you who do check in to see if I've posted, who attended True Scrap 4, who follow my blog, subscribe, purchase my classes and enjoy my work. I appreciate you ALL very, very much!
I will be making every effort to be a better blogger. Even if I don't have a new project to share, I will post something, even if it's a silly photo of my new fur baby, Cujo:
Looks like a killer, doesn't he?
With how free and open my schedule is, it was the perfect time for a new baby, don't cha think?
Yeah, me too.
And he was my idea. For real.
And I am in love. He is awesome and I love having a little house dog again.
Last weekend, Payton and I colored together using Copics.
Question: How many times have I gone to stamp the cutest image only to find that it is so tiny, tiny that I don't enjoy the coloring process at all.
Answer: All the time!
Some of my most favorite images by my most favorite artists come in a size that is way too small, even for a card. Of course, this is my opinion. I should have realized how great digi images would be earlier. After all, isn't the freedom of sizing things the way I want what I love about the Cameo and die cutting?!!!!
I love to color and I am beginning to see that the joy of digi downloads is that you can print them bigger, making the coloring much easier.
Payton and I both love the super cute detailed images at Saturated Canary so I let her pick a couple out to purchase.
This was mine. I worked on it a little at a time for 2 days. Lots of experimentation with color (especially with the hair) and shading.
Payton wants this badly so I will be cutting it out at some point and placing it on a card or maybe making a background to put it on so she can place it in a frame.
If you're wondering about the image, it's this one: Witchkeys.
Or if you want to check out all the fabulous offerings, click HERE.
I am still quilting addicted.
Totally, completely addicted.
I just love, love, love fabric. For me, it's like patterned paper in scrapbooking. In fact I buy fabric exactly like I do patt. paper because I tend to gravitate towards similar patterns in both.
Quilting projects I'm currently working on:
Don't mind Cujo. Wherever I am. He is. I tried to get him to move and he tried to pull the quilt in a game of tug of war (his favorite) so we compromised. I let him be in the photo.
I need to add the binding to this sweet baby boy quilt, a gift for our friends' newest addition to their family.
I meant to finish this last week but I changed my mind on the binding and want to go with this new gray stripe fabric by Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade line for Moda. I only had a fat quarter, so I ordered a couple of yards (I want extra!) and I'm waiting on my order to arrive. It says it's gray but it's sort of a taupe-gray and looks great with the other colors/patterns in the quilt.
As for the quilt pattern, I'm using the Juice Boxes, from one of my very favorite quilter's/pattern designers, Allison Harris at Cluck, Cluck Sew.
I'm using a hodgepodge of fabrics from my stash.
- Moda's Sweetwater Lucy's Crab Shack (bicycle)
- Moda's Sweetwater Reunion (green chevron)
- Moda's Fig Tree & Co. Tapestry (teal w/ small
- Moda's Fig Tree & Co. California Girl (yellow stripe, yellow floral)
- Riley Blake's October Afternoon Farm Fresh (brown plaid, green gingham, teal gingham, brown polkadot, teal polkadot, cream haybale)
- Riley Blake's October Afternoon Seaside Yellow Sandcastle Dots
This next one is a fall-themed quilt for our home.
\
And another pattern by Allison Harris, Skipping Squares. It is so fun. I love the block designs. Did I say that already?
I'm still finishing the quilt blocks. Pretend this one has the white border sewn on.
I love the block styles. I love the colors. I love the fabrics.
The majority of the fabrics are from Lotta Jansdotter's Bella collection. I'm also using the great text fabric (Concrete Sewing Guide) from Sweetwater's Mama Said Sew collection for Moda. I bought a bit of this to have on hand. Great text fabrics make me happy. The orange and gray polka dots and orange and gray leaves are some from my "favorites" stash, Half Moon by Moda. I wish it was still available. The colors are so super yummy. The white is Moda's Bella Solids Snow.
I tried to get this finished for Payton's birthday last Friday but....
I ended up having to rip a bunch of the strips apart and interestingly enough, that is not as fun or as fast as sewing them in the first place. Go figure. So... Christmas gift it is! This is the quilt top. I get to rip out a row on the backing too before I can begin quilting. I was on a real roll last week. (slaps forehead)
This is folded in half. It's gonna be nice throw-sized. And bright. She's 12 and all about bright.
Close up of strips.
I'm using THIS pattern.
Most of the fabrics are older from my stash (originally was going to use these Doodlebug fabrics for something else).
- Riley Blake's Doodlebug Feeling Groovy
- Moda's Aneela Hoey Sew Stitchy (redwork stitched bird, glass circle birds, carnation french knots)
- Green solid....hmmmm.....I don't remember. Something that matched and wasn't "white". My daughter's request. I like white sashing. She does not.
I forgot to photograph the binding (yes, I already made it. I like making binding. I am weird.). It will really tie the whole thing together. It's Michael Miller's Clown Stripe in Lagoon. I'll be sharing as the quilt progresses.
If you've made it this far, you are a saint.
I've got lots of great stuff for you guys this week. Well, a great giveaway and then some projects that may or may not be great. ;)
More soon!
