Another birthday

We celebrated another birthday last month, and now I officially have two 10 year olds. No, they are not twins - they are 9 1/2 months apart and are the same age for a couple of months out of the year. This two are, although they probably won't admit it, the best of friends and do most everything together. Matt, on the left and sporting the braces, is the newly 10 year old. Nate, on the right and sporting the glasses, will be 11 next month.

Thanks to everyone who gave him birthday and Christmas money the past two years, Matt was able to save up and buy something he's been dreaming of for 3 years now. A bow! They just started an Archery club in our town and he is beside himself. He's been out everyday shooting since last Friday when he went and bought it.

Hmmm, maybe I should've moved the grill so you could see the arrow better. Doesn't he look like a pro?

Well here's my booga bag, in all of its felted glory. I love the size, it's perfect! I lined it and added a big pocket, and then decided on grommets for the handles. I'm going to add a brooch to the side since I chose just ho hum colors to the outside to give it some oomph. But as a whole, I enjoyed my first felted project.

A gift

First off, I got a great gift in the mail yesterday. My bosom friend, Fay, got to meet Beverly Lewis several months back and got her to autograph some books for her and her Mom. Can you believe she didn't even think to get her good old friend an autograph? Me who loves Beverly Lewis' books? Me who made her an apron and sent it to her during her first week in a foreign land? Me who has gotten up early to babysit her kids? Me who gives her the same recipes over and over again because either she didn't write it down or lost it????? Can you believe it? Well I couldn't, either.



So guess what Fay did? She wrote Beverly Lewis' publisher asking her to sign a book for me. They sent her this handy signed bookplate, then my BFF even went and bought The Parting for me! Isn't that sweet? It totally makes up for her thoughtLESSness. I love you, Fay - and thank you.



And now, a close up picture of the jumper my Mom whipped up. How sweet is that? She even wore it again today, Grandma. She also made something for every one of the kids - but that is another post for another day.

First felting project

I'm in the process of my first felting process. Here is my Booga Bag, pre-felting. I'm letting Red hold it so we can compare the size after it's finished. It's in the washer as I type, and I can't wait to see how it will look - so far all it is is STINKY.

Speaking of Red, she's been at my Mom's house since Friday and I just got her back today. Mom made her the super cute jumper to wear today. Here she is pushing John out of the picture....

And here she is posing all on her own ....

She has decided that she doesn't want to live with me anymore, she wants to be her Grandma's little girl. I'm thinking that might not be such a bad idea .....

*update - it felted great! I was waiting on doing the handles until I saw how it turned out, so I guess I'll start on those tonight!

highlights

I decided to get highlights today. Just let me say I'm not to keen on them. They are very chunky and yellow looking. BUT! I think I've found a way to hide them. For those who know me and what my hair usually looks like, let me know what you think.

Here is some of the kids checking me out. Believe it or not, Matt said I look like a kid in his class. Oh, and ignore my lack of makeup.



And for all my Cumming readers, you can see that I look a lot like Kim with this big hair. If you can blow up the picture below, you'll see we even have a gold tooth in the same spot!

10 year old project

When I was cleaning out my closet, I found a quilt I started several years ago. It will be my first quilt if I ever finish it. I love my fabric choices - wait until you see the fabric I chose for the border. It's going to be beautiful.

It was meant to be

Derek's Mom gave him a photo album filled with childhood pictures for Christmas. I knew I had the same one, so just had to dig it out. I think we were in 5th grade. We weren't even in the same school system ... I think the whole state of Georgia used this ultra cool laser background/mirror combo in the mid 80s.

I have a problem

I didn't really think I had all that much fabric. Maybe I should start by saying; my sewing room is so cluttered that I can't even sew in it. I have seriously been sewing in the den on a card table. So I set out to clean my room to get ready for a new machine (more on that later). I thought the best place to start would be to fold and sort my fabric. So far, I've done these nice 6 piles.

Guess I didn't really need this beautiful Amy Butler fabric I bought from Glenna, yesterday. Oh wait, yes I did - that will really make a cute dress for Red.

Oh, yes ... and that pile of fabric in my kitchen that came from Sew, Mama, Sew last week. Well it was 15% off and I LOVE the floral on the right. Not sure if you can see it, but there is some orange just like it underneath.

Here is part of the shelf that I'm going to cram in the fabric I just neatly folded.

And even with all of that fabric I've been folding, I still can't see my table. I don't think I'll finish cleaning my room tonight. I think I need help.

I made little bit the Oliver + S Playdate dress yesterday. Isn't it sweet? I used the Amy Butler fabric I bought from a local gal last week. I think Anna did a fine job of picking out material for this dress.

And I think I found my new favorite pastime .... covering buttons with fabric. I don't know why I enjoyed it so, and I don't know why I waited so long to open my button mold package.

I left out the trim around the yoke. Next time I make one, I think I'll try that. I also left the ruffles off the yoke because I thought the material was busy enough without them.

I'm very please with this, and Anna is, too.

I love having a husband that tries new things and doesn't need a recipe to do it. He made these little chocolate cakes last night. They were so good that I didn't even want to stop to take a picture of them - but I just had to so I could share with you how talented he is. The picture isn't that great, so I'll describe how delicious they were. They were a moist cake with a sort of crunchy outside. When you cut into them, it had a gooey, chocolaty center. Yum, these were so good - I wish you could have all been over at my house at 11:00 last night to share in the goodness.

very, very, very, VERY, very late

I joined a swap several months ago called the Scrappy Tidbits swap. We were grouped in fours, and you sent scraps to your other 3 partners. Then you make something with all of the scraps. I chose to make a wallet for each of my three partners, and I'm only 2 months late. I will never, I repeat NEVER sign up for a swap during the Christmas season again.

I found a great tutorial online for this quilted wallet at That Darn Kat. It was a little frustrating trying to figure out the credit card slots on the bottom, but I worked it out by the second one. I also sewed a right to a wrong side one time and almost threw the whole thing in the garbage. But in the end, I think they turned out rather cute. Except one is a little catywhompused, but I just think that adds to the homemade feel - that's what I'm telling myself anyway.

I actually didn't put any of my own fabric on the outside, but used bits and pieces of my three partners. Below is the inside. It has 10 credit card slots and two places to hold bills. It's only lacking a change pocket. My favorite part is the pearl snap.

My Mom's friend told me about a lady who sells fabric and patterns out of her house not 5 minutes away from my very own! And not just any fabric, but Amy Butler fabric. I let the girls pick out their own for a dress. Little bit choose the above, and I'm using the above Oliver + S pattern. I think it will look darling and can't wait to make it.

Red chose this pretty pink. It's not what I would have bought, but she loves it and wants a skirt out of it. I think I'm going to make another Redondo for her.

My Mom is trying to call in a favor and get us a week at the beach. We're going to take the girls and our machines and have a week of sand and sewing fun. I hope it will all work out.

New fabric

Check out this new fabric I got from the Long ladies over at Marie-Madeline Studio. My favorite combo is the two above. I love it all and can't decide what I want to make with which fabrics. Isn't it lovely?

Crocheted headband

Isn't this the cutest? I found a pattern for this crocheted headband here. She has several cute crochet patterns, I especially love the headband with the bow - so check out links on the sidebar for more patterns.

I don't know how to crochet, so my Mom whipped this up for me, along with a green and pink one, in no time. Thanks, Mom!

New Year

Happy New Year! Derek seems to be recovering fairly well from his surgery. He went back to work on Monday and the boys started school back yesterday. Maybe things will return to normal (for me anyway) and I can get back to my blogging and crafting.

Nate and Matt left this morning to go on a Science Club trip to Jekyll Island. They'll be treking through a marsh and studying wildlife around the beach. They were so excited, although we were not excited to hear they had to be at the school at 5:00 am. That's right, I said FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. Here they are before they left home. They'll be home Friday afternoon and I can't wait to hear what all they got to do!