pin cushion obsession

I finished one row (of three) from my quilt!

And to celebrate I made a cute little pincushion.

I have been wanting to make this forever and I finally ordered the pattern.

I think I will have to make a few family companions for this pear. And then I may have to make some cousins. Ha ha. Is there something wrong with me that I have a mild obsession with pincushions? Every time I get a new crafty book I want to make the pincushion first. I've been drooling over Anna Maria Horner's pin cushion caddy ever since I got the book. But I have plenty others. So I wouldn't make it. But... if I start a pin cushion collection, then I can make as many as I like guilt free!

Today I'm thankful for collections! I knew something key was missing from my life. This must be it.

Dear Earth,

I made a pretty grocery bag just for you.  Happy day.

Love,

Andrea

how I love thee

Kettle Corn, my sweet.

The best, the perfect, the ONLY popcorn.  Yes, it's an odd obsession.  But it's true.

Try it and you will never go back to the microwave kind.

Directions for delicious kettle corn:

Take a big pot with a lid, turn the burner to medium and fill with 1/4 c canola oil.  Then put in 4 itty bitty kernels.  When they pop the oil is ready.  Dump in 1/4 c. sugar and 1/2 pop corn.  Put the lid on and shake it like a polaroid picture for 3 seconds.  Then wait three.  Then back and forth.  You get the picture.  Until it stops popping. Dump it right away into a big bowl so it won't burn.  You may want to shake on a little salt.  And you can leave off the sugar and just make regular popcorn. If you must.

I rearranged the furniture...

...just to watch the oscars.  Our TV was too far away from the cable outlet before.  I don't know what it is but I love watching the oscars.
I think it's for the gowns (of course) and the acceptance speeches!  I just love the idea that someone can achieve the impossible.  That moment when these famous actors (and etc) become vulnerable and share a little of their journey.  What it means to them...Dreams come true and all that....I love that!While we were watching I made this.  Ever have one of those..."I can make that!" moments?  That's what this is.  I have those moments a lot.  Less often I actually put forth the effort to try and make it.  You can find the real deal here.  She is amazing.  I have to admit I feel kind of like a thief just for making it!  I added some linen for more of a "casual" look.  My lil sis Rose made a really cute one too when she was here.  I just didn't finish mine until now because of the dreaded plague.  
Poor B,  I made him model for me....couldn't get a good enough picture doing the one arm thing!

Today I'm thankful for....making a dent in the laundry.  And that it didn't downpour on me during my nice little run this morning. 

favorite things

these dishes

watching the kids make their own dough creations....especially loving Chickie's mermaid

naked four-y bentley


And my only original recipe:Chicken Potpie--so good!
Boil one chicken breast.  In a seperate pan saute one chopped onion in 1/4 c butter until tender.  Mix 1/3 c flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon thyme.  Stir into butter and onion.  Then add 3/4 milk, 2c water plus 2 tsp chicken bullion, and 1/2 c cauliflower puree.  (To make cauliflower puree steam cauliflower and then blend it in your blender. You probably want to do this step ahead of time.) Let this mixture get bubbly and thicken.  Don't forget to stir! Meanwhile shred your chicken breast and throw into that water about 1/2 of a (16 oz) bag each of frozen corn, carrots, and peas.  Then stir in the shredded chicken and slightly cooked veggies to the mix.  Pour into a pie pan, top with a homemade or store bought crust.  Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes.  SO yummy.  Sometimes I like to serve it with cheese and apple slices. 

Maggie and Stella

If I had twin girls that's what I would name them.  And I wouldn't dress them alike.  Well, maybe I wouldn't be able to help myself sometimes.  I knew the cutest little twins whose names were Zoe and Pheobe.  They were darling.  

These are for my sweetest daughter Chikie and my sweetest littlest sister Clara.  

I bought a LOT of this fabric.  I had plans to make curtains for Chickie's room in our last house.  But then I didn't want to make them when I knew we were going to move anyway.  So I decided I'd make a quilt instead.  Then the quilt I chose to make called for 1/8th of a yard of 31-36 fabrics.  So I decided to make twinner bags for two darling girls and I still have enough left over to make Olivia a Weekender Bag to match!   

I don't think Clara reads my blog...but if you do--it's in the mail!  xxxooo happy super late birthday. XO drea

show and tell

Yay!  I made something!  This is the weekender bag by Amy Butler.  I used one of her fabrics for the main and a Joel Dewberry print for the lining and etc.  I just love Amy Butler.  Who doesn't?  I spoke with her briefly at Market and she was of course, delightful.  Her sewing patterns are really easy to follow.  Have any of you ever listened to the Craft Sanity podcast with Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood?  She is one nutty lady, I love it!!  And I found this interview with Amy Butler so interesting and inspiring!  

Now that I've conquered the bag I'm starting on the Single Girl quilt by Denyse Schmidt for Olivia!  I'm so excited!!! 

                                                       

Yes, with a photo-shoot already under my belt for Feb...this month sure is looking up!  

PS

I heart February!

O Christmas Tree

We've been sick.  Super sick.  Which has caused me to slooooooow down.
I've been making yo-yo's.  A lot of them.   Into garland for our tree.  I'm all out of red fabric. I better go shopping!
Unfortunately it only covers about 2/3 of the tree.  Oh well, it'll be an ongoing project.  
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

here's to hard work!

OK  I hope you guys are going to be really excited. 

 I meant to give some sort of heads up.  But once again it looks like this may be coming out of left field.  And I appologize in advance for hardly taking any interesting pictures!!  If you look really closely at the picture above you will see me in the reflection.  Yeah, I was super lazy in the photography dept the past couple of days.

Last Thursday I headed out for Houston, by myself, to International Quilt Market!!! I was doing research for a possible little online shop.  I had the cutest idea ever.  Really.  I did.

 

 I also brought along with me my finished portfolio!  I know, I've stopped talking about it.  But I never stopped working on it.  I kicked it into high gear back in August.  I was obsessed.  A woman with a mission. 

 I shopped it around to different fabric companies. I got a lot of positive feedback.  People loved my use of color and I kept hearing again and again how original it is.  That was huge for me.  The best compliment I could get for sure!  Originality is golden.  And sometimes it's so hard to even know if you are or not.  So out with the good news already right?!! I got a couple of offers on my line!    Actually, my first offer just felt like home. I LOVED them and was very excited.  I had to leave immediately and go cry.  

My new friends, designers Tula Pink and Holly from Urban Chicks insisted I keep showing it and I'm glad I did.  It was great to get so much positive feedback from other companies even if many of them didn't have room for anyone new.  I have heard that it can be pretty brutal.  Overall it was a great experience.  I met the cutest girl Bari of Bari J designs.  She was also pitching a line.  I just checked out her website! Wow!  If she made the same decision as I did it looks like we both may be at spring market together!  I have a lot of editing to do.  I over designed for sure!  We all want options right!  I had 17 different designs and 6 color ways!  I will be cutting and editing that down to about 6 and 3 respectively.  And something totally new may even emerge in the mean time.  

So between that and Lindsay Jane Photography, I've decided to hold off on my shop idea for now.  I know I'll be super busy for a while.

I have to leave you with this quote that I heard at Market.  "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is often dressed in overalls and looks a lot like work."  Thomas Edison

I'm grateful for these opportunities and for all the hard work that lies ahead!

Bedtime Beethoven LIVE

Have I mentioned before that Olivia LOVES classical music?  When she was a baby my great aunt Jean got her a set of bedtime music Cd's.  My favorite was Bedtime Beethoven.  She has been listening to it every night for almost 6 years now.   Whenever I dare listen to the radio, flipping through the stations thinking, "Why bother!"  She yells..."Wait!  Go back!"  It's always to the classical station.
Thursday night our local symphony orchestra came to our little town's amphitheater and gave a free concert.  Never mind the rain!  Never mind staying out past bedtime!  Did I actually say that?!!  Yes! Bedtime is a big deal for me  because my kids are monsters without adequate sleep.  BUT, I figured it was worth it for this kind of a cultural experience.  Being outside was a great way for us to be able to enjoy the music.  Not having to worry about getting all dressed up and sit still.  No way I could have normally taken Bentley to something like this if it was indoors.
It was great fun!  A little wet, a little tired, a little bit more cultured!
Speaking of really great free things;  we made these fun kitties from a free pattern at wee wonderfuls.
MEOW!  I hope everyone had a great, safe weekend.

progress report

Remember these?  Well just a little update on my progress.  It took forever to take out all of the staples, nails, and etc.  But I actually found it rather relaxing, sort of like knitting, what with all the repetative action.  I also scraped off a ton of flaking paint. So now I think I have a whole lot of sanding to do.
I'm kind of wanting these for outside chairs.  I'm not sure if that is the best idea or not.  Still mulling over color ideas.  Black?  Or find a seat cushion fabric first and then pick based on that?  Yeah, that's probably my best bet.

Day 27: finished project

Cute coasters for silly Bucket Party at our family reunion are finished.  It's one of those white elephant gift games.  This project is also from this book.  Can you tell I'm loving it?  Although, it takes me a lot longer than it does her.  But maybe because I never make just one.  

Day 24: Kindermat

Today has been filled with Kindergarten preparations.  First, there were the shots (insane screaming and kicking included).  Then there was school shopping, Kindermat cover making, and well that's about it.  But all that took all day...pretty much.  The little mat cover was such a hit Chickie contemplated sleeping on it at bed time.  But after a comparison she determined that her bed is indeed, more comfortable.  It's two am and I'm still awake. Curse this 30 days of blogging.  Who's idea was that anyway??  

So I haven't ran in like, for-ever.  It's amazing that I don't weigh 500 lbs by know.  I think I probably have lost weight.  Although I wouldn't actually know because my pretty pink scale is packed away in storage land.  Probably have managed to stay the same size because of the constant running around all day and night long.  I'm feeling a bit ragged at this point.  But good ragged, as items on to-do list keep getting crossed off.  If this is incoherent, well...it is 2 a.m. what do you expect.  I have to go find my sleep mask now, or as I like to call it... the blanket for my eyes.

another self portrait

Seriously, I'm so in love with this bag that I made for myself, I was contemplating marrying it.  But then I realized that I AM it.  It's really just Really Happy Me made over in a breezy summer bag. (I'm like the prince from Enchanted, "What's not to like?")  This is how I feel when I watch my husband eat corn on the cob. Seriously, it's the funniest thing in the world (ask Rose, she knows).  He can eat a whole cob without coming up for air!  It makes me laugh.

 I made the flower using the book I got in Asheville. I made it out of a pair of Chris's old sweats (they shrunk before their time, so the fabric was still nice).  The awesome button is from my beloved trench coat (it was the extra one).  I actually made this flower last week but it fit this project perfectly!  Doesn't it just make you want to grab your suit and head to the pool.  That's where I was headed earlier today when these pics were taken, and although you can't really see it, I'm equally in love with my fun new cover up.

And look...I'm all yellow on the inside!  Who knew?  I do love yellow.  I invented this pocket on my own. I'm so proud of myself.  It's perfect!

So does this make you wonder what you would look like if you did your self portrait in a bag?

Do you want to hear something interesting?  OK good!  In my color class at BYU one of our exercises was to draw our self portrait using only shapes and colors (abstract, get it) and then choose a class mate and do theirs.  The freaky thing was that they looked alike.  For example, the hot guy in the class drew his picture and me and another girl both picked him to draw and all three abstract drawings of that dude looked alike.  Same colors, same shapes and they were all put together in pretty much the same way.  Cool, huh!

FYI:

I got the pattern from this book.  But I added the flower and pocket myself.  I got the pattern for the flower from this book.   The only think I invented all on my own is the pocket, and  I based that off of my favorite pocket in one of my other bags.  So I kind of copied that, too.  If any of you make it let me know! I want to see pictures.

I'm thankful for today!

Cookies, What a great way to start the day!  Why haven't I thought of this before? Well, it actually started with a spinning class.  And when I walked in (late) everyone cheered.  That was my first clue that this day was going to be awesome.  Really, everyone in that class likes to scream their way through the pain.  So any old excuse will do, even me.  Chris likes to make fun of them.  But he doesn't know what he's missing.

So back to the cookies, Mandee and I had to make something yummy in our newly finished aprons.  We used this pattern.  So cute and fun to make!

Plus it's reversible.

Aren't we cute?!

I love this picture!  So sweet.

Outside is always the most fun.  And today was such a gorgeous day.
Bentley went digging.
Chickie struck it rich and found gold.

Then after nap/work time...off to another friends house!  That's so unlike us! Two outings in one day.

Little Riley, so cute and about to turn four!

Time sure does fly.
Chickie found fossils.  Or apostles, she was a little confused as to which one it was.  But apparently it was an Apatosaurus.  And she was much too busy digging to give me much of a smile.

The best part about today is that Chris is coming home! Yay! Now I will be able to sleep again.  Good thing it's only been a few days.

coming clean and going without a pattern

Does anyone else have a major case for spring cleaning?  I have been organizing everything. Thank goodness.  Some closets were getting dangerous! But it's not only physically cleaning that I feel myself driven to do.  I feel the need to come clean about a few other things.  And since this is just ranting and revealing, I am going to post some pics of the presents I talked about here just for prettiness.  These projects are from this book.  It's nice having a pattern, knowing that you have the materials you need, the steps you need to take, and a pretty picture of what it will look like in the end.  But more on that later.

My last post was a little odd.  If I don't blog for a while I feel the need to prove that I have indeed been doing something. So I list it all.  

And the thought just occurred to me that maybe it's a bad idea to post pictures of other people's children without asking. I usually feel free to talk about anything I've done with Mandee because it's all her fault I'm blogging in the first place. And she has a blog of her own.  So beware friends, if you have a blog you are fair game! Hmmm, is there a blogging ettiquet class out there? If so I need to take it.

Well, at least some of this is about to stop anyway.  One little last post of "look, I promise I've been busy."  And then we can all go on under the assumption that if I'm not posting, it's not because I'm lazy but the exact opposite. 

I think I may be the only person who uses blogging as my own personal "do something" police.  I'm one of those people who really, really loved school. I loved having projects with rules, deadlines, and of course, the almighty grade. 

 I have had issues with being productive in the world ruled by myself.  Until now. Now I have all of you to report to.  I'll admit that it is a little confusing at times. Not really knowing who my audience is. It's mostly friends and family who really don't care about what I'm making.  But I secretly aspire to the likes of other craft blogs.  At the same time, I really like to talk about church and other personal things like ballroom dancing and random antics about my friends looking like cartoon characters.  These subjects may annoy serious artsy craftsy types. So I guess my best bet is just to let myself be my most important audience.  Isn't that always true?  Aren't we the ones who ultimately give ourselves our own grade.  And aren't we probably our own most critical judge?

And while I'm at it I want to come clean about something else that I have hinted about before.  I finally have a serious art goal again that I'm very excited about.  All year I have been working on designing my own fabric line!  It is so fun. I'm really enjoying it. I've been taking it relatively slow, working two hours 6 days a week.  But now I've got what I think are my final drawings and I'm working on color and fretting about doing repeats.  Today I talked to a real live human being from a company that I'm interested in working with.  I wanted to get a clearer idea of what point I need to get my work to in order to send it in for consideration.  That alone made me very exited. At this point I'm ready to work a little more and push just a teensy bit harder.  This means that I probably won't have a lot of evening time left for my little sewing projects for the next little bit. Hence, less reporting, but more working.  

This past week I have been making color wheels out the wa-zoo. If that's even a thing.  It made me feel like I was bettering my paint mixing skills, but at this point I'm really anxious just to dig in deeper regardless of my current skill set. I want to get Adobe Photoshop and a good textile book to go with it.  Neither of which come cheap.  And I'm anti-credit card debt, so I'm considering a yard sale. Last year we cleaned house! So to speak.  But we did have a much better location and all that stuff from our old dance studio.  In retrospect we probably sold things for too cheap.  I keep thinking, maybe I could sell hotdogs, and pincushions, and try to convince my whole neighborhood to do it, too.  But maybe that's a bit much.  I don't want to get distracted by things that seem like they are helping with my goal, but are in reality doing the opposite.  It is difficult not having "the rules" because there are none for this.  It's difficult not having anyone with experience to talk to.  It's a little scary not having a pattern, because when I don't have a pattern things turn out a little iffy.  See here and here.  But I guess when I think about it do things with out a pattern quite often.

But I cannot tell you how exciting it is to have drawings on my desk right now with post it's stuck to them.  I never take my artwork to this level of completion. I finish a painting and there are parts that didn't turn out so well. But my usual reaction would be, "Oh well, at least it's done!"  So it's very exciting to think I am going to work and work and work on these 15 or so drawings until they are perfect. And then after that I'm going to do them again in a few more colors!  In all honesty. I feel like myself again. I love having a big creative goal. I love being a mom and I don't want to ignore my kids. But I need this too. And luckily, there is time for both of these in my life. Just less down time is all.  But it's worth the sacrifice!

hmmm, all this talk about cleaning reminds me of this and this and this. Who was I kidding we all know I love to clean.  (I just happen to equally love making a mess!)  Right now I'm doing a little of both.  That's why unchartered territories are so exciting.  I'm thankful for not having directions, but having a definite path. I'm thankful that this weekend is going to rock, spiritually speaking!