Funky Monkey

These are my last few creations with a new, updated look:

(Hunter wanted to keep this yellow and gray one - he was quite cute)

Do you love the big button eyes and shorter arms?

These 3 friends are gone to good homes (2 were sold, the other was given as a gift) but I have several more pairs of funky socks just waiting to be turned into Funky Sock Monkeys!

Cards

I made this for my sister's Birthday card:

I got the idea from Julie, thanks!

The sun is actually sewn on using my machine...I wasn't too sure about the way it turned out looking like just a bunch of holes in the card, but it's not bad. Maybe it looked that way because I was using black top thread and white in the bobbin? Anyway, I thought the concept was cute, and my sister thought it was pretty cool too!

Thread Weight

I'm entering a giveaway and not really sure what I'm doing...hopefully this is right.

I use 50 wt thread.

Enter the giveaway yourself here!

Happy Birthday, Gidge!

My little sister is 17 today - happy Birthday!

I finished her quilt over the weekend. I'm not happy with everything about it, there are flaws and I wasn't wanting to tie it but rather machine quilt it...but oh well. It's still pretty good, I think, for being my first quilt ever.

I'm a Nerd

Just call me the quilt group nerd! I left our quilt group gathering at noon today with instructions and fabric to make a bookshelf block for Sara. Within 3 hours of leaving her home, I had my block done!

It's not that I didn't have anything else to do (laundry, dishes, treadmill time, etc)...I was just so excited to sew!

Oh, and I got most of my blocks back, they look fabulous and I'm so excited to get the rest and piece them all together!

Hunter's Party

Yesterday was Hunter's 4th Birthday (in case you didn't gather that from yesterday's post). We had Hunter's Birthday party last Saturday at the bowling alley - here are some pictures (it's hard to get good pictures of kids who move fast in a dim bowling alley):

I made the cake, and small bowling ball cookies! I've always had a desire to make fun cakes - this was my first one and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Can't wait to make more!

Wordless Wednesday - 4 Years!

The Quilt Group

My last post, a month ago exactly (sad), I mentioned a quilt group I was starting with some friends. Some of us met the weekend before last so I could distribute my fabric, go over the details of my quilt and we could pick our 'line up' for the other quilters.

The basic rundown of how things works is this:

1. The 'host quilter' (as I like to call it) hosts a get together for anyone who wants to come on the 3rd Saturday of the month. At this time they distribute their fabrics to each member of the group (there are 13 of us!) and they go over the particulars - what size of block they want, pattern, etc.

2. The quilters have 1 month to complete their square - a super easy task...it's very doable to make a square in one afternoon (or even as little as an hour, depending on experience and difficulty of the square).

3. At the next get together, the quilters will bring their completed squares for the previous host quilter or, if they're not yet finished, they can use the get together to get suggestions or even help to finish their square.

4. Once the host quilter gets all of their squares back, they can assemble the top and quilt as they choose, and on their own time frame.

It's relatively easy. We have some members of our group who have little sewing experience and I'm thinking (hoping) they are going to find this an enjoyable, stress free experience.

I am the host quilter for February, since I didn't mind having my quilt be the guinea pig and my instructions for the blocks were simple - create a 12.5" square using various sized squares and rectangles. Here are some pictures so far:

My fabric - bought to match the floral print which is a vintage sheet I found on ebay awhile back

My first block - I made this one to be sure I was providing enough fabric for each quilter

Izzy's block

My second block - I think I provided everyone with enough fabric to do 2 blocks, so I made another one the other day. Just seeing that extra fabric sitting there made me anxious to do another one!

I cannot wait to see what the other people make but most of all I cannot wait to work on blocks for the other people and see what everyone comes up with!

So Excited...

...to be starting a 'quilting bee' somewhat like these:

Common Threads

Block Party!

The one I'm getting together will have members who are all friends/family/acquaintances of mine and are local so we won't be having to mail fabric and completed blocks back and forth. We'll also be able to get together at any time. We're going to have all levels of quilters, so it will be fun to learn from the experienced and watch the beginners advance. I'll more than likely be posting pictures of the blocks I'm doing.

In addition, I'll be posting pictures from Christmas and more soon!

All I Want For Christmas...

...is water, but I already have that.

I recently learned that 4500 moms worry about whether their children will die today because of contaminated water - because 4500 children WILL die EVERY day because of contaminated water.

More facts:

-Right now almost a billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water. That's one in eight of us.

-Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

-Just $20 can give one person in a developing nation clean water for 20 YEARS

There is nothing that I need for Christmas, but there is one thing I want. I want everyone to be aware of how little it takes to help save lives. Click on the button below to learn more about how you can help.

I ♥ Scentsy - Giveaway!

I love Scentsy!

Check out the great giveaway at Needle in a Haystack

Holiday Decoration Blast From the Past

Have you ever seen one of these?

Did you ever decorate with one?

Either my mom, or a grandma, or both had one when I was young. When I was searching for ideas for my Baby's First Christmas theme wreath I'm making for the wreath auction at work (which I'd totally welcome suggestions for), I came upon the tutorial for the Baby Food Jar Christmas Tree.

I almost cried.

I hadn't thought about these in a LONG time and it just brought back the memories of the holidays in my past. Things seemed so simple then, probably just because I was a kid and didn't have a clue what was going on around me.

I wish things were that simple now - I suppose they could be if I adopted an "I don't care" attitude but I guess I'm too nice, or a sucker...I haven't decided which yet.

I'm totally going to make one of these trees this year! I need it, I need the idea of it.

Random

I just saw this and I wanted to share this link to one of the coolest "tablecloths" I have ever seen! It is super cute! I want to make one.

I haven't posted in so long. We haven't really been doing much. I've been gone 2 nights/week at fitness classes that I started at the beginning of this month. We're hosting Thanksgiving dinner for Dana (Travis' dad), Julia (his dad's wife) and Helen (his dad's mom). We just made this decision today (the Thursday before Thanksgiving) so I've got a lot to do. I'm going shopping today once Calvin wakes up from his nap and some of my things are make ahead (though only one I could actually make this far ahead) so that will help. That also means a lot of cleaning to do!

I want to make some of these for Christmas gifts:

Maybe a HOBO BAG or two!

Someone from work suggested vests for some of the men. Not trendy argyle vests, but more of a flannel, wool lined rugged manly type vest. Anyone have a good tutorial/link/pattern for such a thing? I'm still so stuck on most of the men's gifts.

I also want to make some decorations:

Paver Snowmen

A wreath

So much to do, so little time, ambition, money (oh, if only I had unlimited funds to turn all of my want to dos into have dones).

Happy Halloween

Today when I was wrestling Calvin into his "smedium" Robin shirt, it ripped down the seam so I'm going to have to make some adjustments to it before tomorrow - the boys are going to be Trick-or-Treating at Grandma Records' place!

Confessions

There's a great giveaway at PamperingBeki - I love her jewelry!

I confessed that I've been completely slacking on ALL housework lately. All I've wanted to do with my time is sew, bake, knit, blog, etc!

This week I'll have to put some of that off and get some of my chores done.