He looks decetively happy here….but see the tear coming down his cheek? I don’t remember why he was so ticked at me, but he decided he needed to go hide in the coat closet. Being the sweet boy he is, he couldn’t help smiling a little when I tried to take his picture.
100 Photos: Number 3
sigh…..I’m not even keeping up on two pictures a week, am I?! I’ve been taking more pictures, though, just not posting them. I wish I could say it was because of my extreme embarrassment about what a poor photographer I am (tis true), but it’s really just because I have felt so lazy about blogging lately. I love reading blogs, I even like having a blog, but writing posts, not so much! There, confession time.
Anyway, it’s Stash Game time at Sewing Mamas, which means you get points for fabric sewn up and lose points for fabric bought. So I should have lots of sewing to show you. I never did post my Christmas sewing, or even completely finish the advent calendar! Once I trim the threads and add a hanger of some sort (and the last pocket!), I will finish up the tutorial. There’s always next year, right? I did order some yummy fabric lately; don’t have a pic yet, though.
Oh, and check out the new button in my sidebar! With three little boys at home, a month of boy’s sewing projects sounds cool to me!
Last year, a lot of the bloggers I read were involved in online quilting bees and they looked like fun. So when I had the opportunity to join one, I jumped at the chance. The button for our group is in my sidebar and I just mailed out the first month’s blocks yesterday. I was hoping to take pictures in better light, but never got to it.
March is my month, and since time seems to be flying by as usual and I’m very indecisive, I’ve been trying to figure out what I might like. The blocks below are some of my ideas. We’re only sending one fabric and the rest will be from the other participant’s scraps. I still have to decide what fabric I’m going to send. Last months was the Alexander Henry bird fabric that is in the center of both the blocks I made. And it sounds like we’ll be getting February’s fabric soon! It’s fun and isn’t a huge time commitment, so it doesn’t become a huge draining thing you need to finish!
1. Baby Log Cabin Quilt, 2. Kerri’s blocks, 3. american jane quilt, 4. quilt block for Rita, 5. double hourglass~ all quilted!, 6. close-up, 7. Fin!, 8. String Pieced, 9. scrappy x is progressing like a champ!
I really hope to improve my photography skills, but it’s far to easy to just get busy and forget to take pictures. A little hard to get better at something you’re not doing. So when I found this, I thought it would be perfect. No huge demands or expectations and only 100 pictures….that I can do. The basic premise is, choose a theme and post 100 pictures that represent that theme in this coming year. There is a Flickr group to share your photos and more information on her blog. Inspired by Lisa and my own musings, I think my theme is going to be “Ordinary Days”. Kind of a broad, undefined theme I suppose, but it’s the things I want to capture in our days that I wouldn’t normally think to photograph. I’m excited to see what I end up with.
..just in time for a nothing-going-on January weekend. Through Monday take 20% off any of the maternity skirts in my shop (not counting the custom spot). Just mention my blog.
I was thinking quilts, but evidently that applies to blog themes too. And crazy me decided, why not just pick a new one with no making sure it wouldn’t totally mess everything up. As in, watch my entire blog roll and side bar disapear. Pretty good trick! I guess it was all a bit stale anyway. Nothing like having it all go “poof” to give you a fresh start. Oh…but I just realized I did have my old blog open still, so I was at least able to get some screen shots. That should help a bit. Who knows if I will keep this new theme and I will definitely put up a different header. Sometimes I wish I was blessed with some nice graphic design genes!
My original post was going to be more along the lines of, hey, I’m back from my long and much needed blog break. And about how very lazy I’ve been feeling…and being. I have finally been feeling more inspired the last few days and am excited to start work on a new quilt, once I get a few projects with a deadline done. I’m working on one that I can’t share yet…nothing too exciting, like an amazing book deal, or being published, or any of that cool stuff. It’s just a gift, and although I don’t believe the recipient reads my blog, I would hate to blow the surprise. I already did that at Christmas. I was quite sure my DH never read my blog, but sure enough he did and the fudge surprise was ruined. It still tastes good, though!
I have had plans for the last few years to make a quilt for our king size bed. But fear, too much to do, and my little 3/4 size machine (please tell me I can still do this!) have been holding me back. But I think I am ready to go for it. I have a wee little stash of Katie Jump Rope fabrics I’m planning on using. I haven’t decided if I should use all of them, or if I should incorporate any other fabrics (besides sashing, etc). I feel very incapable of choosing fabrics….I get so jealous of the beautiful combos I see on Flickr and Etsy, but I don’t feel able to do the same. I can’t decide if I should include the yellow or not. I’m leaning towards yes.
I put together this gallery with some beautiful quilts…I’m thinking I will go with something similar to one of these (in pattern, not in fabrics), unless I come up with something I like better. Any favorites? I want to love this quilt for a long time so I’m having a little commitement problem! I feel like an ignorant Flickr user…I wanted to put together a mosaic of these quilts that I could post here, but I can’t figure out how…can anyone help! And now I think I’ve asked for help about 5 times now….so I better go before I scare you all (all 3 of you 
away.
Hope you had a Merry and Blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of the Savior. We had a lovely Christmas, even if we were still a bit under the weather. We got blasted with a nasty cold last weekend, hence the lack of blog updates and general laziness. We’re feeling quite a bit better, now, thankfully. See you in the new year and hope you are able to enjoy this time with family and loved ones.
I got a package in the mail from Hillside Bakery today. I had traded some fabric with her for some fudge. I have traded with her before and her fudge is amazing…I don’t usually even like fudge! I had begged asked politely if I could have a small sample of peppermint bark. You can see what she sent in the picture. Besides the fudge, which will be going under the tree for my DH, she sent a ton of peppermint bark and two chocolate dipped pretzels too! If you have anyone left on your list who you are struggling with ideas for (or maybe for you?!), you really can’t go wrong with Lisa from Hillside Bakery (okay…maybe if the recipient is on a diet you…but it might be fun, anyway). And no, this mini-advertisement wasn’t part of the deal. I was just amazed by her generosity and thought she deserved a little public praise. Oh, and I don’t actually know for sure if it will still arrive before Christmas; you’ll have to check with her. She also has a bath products shop, which looks lovely too.
In case you aren’t sugared out, these are really good. You could make them into pumpkin bread, but unless I get a good head start, my kiddos (and I) do not enjoy the hour long wait. Besides, I can never get quick bread to bake all through without burning the edges! This recipe comes from a camp cookbook…they aren’t super healthy, but they are yummy…and they do have flax seed in, so that counts for something, right?!
1 1/4 c sugar
1/4 c honey (I used Agave syrup, because my honey was crystalized and I didn’t feel like taking the time to un-crystalize it!)
1 c canola oil
4 eggs
2 1/3c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
15 oz pumpkin
1/2 c flaxseed, ground
Beat the sugar, oil, and eggs. Gently stir in remaining ingredients. I added a tsp. or so of vanilla too. It makes a generous 2 dozen muffins. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for about 15 minutes. If you want before baking, top with a large chocolate chip. Or go for it and just stir a bunch into the batter. This time, I showed some restraint. As you see in the picture, Happy Boy did not…he was the chocolate chip thief.
