WIP Wednesday!

Here it is, another Wednesday!  How has your week been going?  Let's see, I can barely remember Monday for some reason-I think it was kind of a lazy day.  Yesterday, my hubby stayed home because he wasn't feeling well Monday.  Took the kiddos to the partnership yesterday, let them play for a while, came home with some tinker toy-type toys and some counting worms with activity cards.  I think they'll really enjoy them.  Anyway, having the extra person home really threw me out of my routine.  So, now I'm trying to get back in it!

I finished my fall quilted table runner-yay!

I am hoping to start on the Halloween one this week.   Need to order some black quilting thread. 

Here is the other project I'm working on:

It will be a crochet lap blanket.  Eight more strips to go! 

I cannot wait to see what everyone else has been up to!  Linking to Freshly Pieced's blog.

WIP Wednesday!

This week is going by wonderfully, and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to stay home with my children.  This life of staying home with them feels so much more fulfilling.  Don't get me wrong, we  still have some bad moments and some "what were you thinking?!" moments, but overall, I am very happy with my decision to stay home.  Hopefully, our finances will be happy too; guess we'll see.

The weather has started to cool down here; which is probably helping with my inner joy.  The kiddos and I have been playing outside more; that is definitely good for all of us!  I would love to get some weeding done but our yard is garden spider central this year and I just haven't felt like dealing with  them.  We've also seen more snakes this year.  Well, maybe about the same as last year but this year they have been closer to the house.  I do not do snakes.  I'm terrified of them.  I've taken huge steps this year-I have gone to the serpentarium twice.  Once was at feeding time.  I still can't go into the little boxed in area of snakes at the pet store.  I can go near the glass at zoos and serpentariums, but not pet stores.  I think I feel like their tanks are less secure.  I will not go in to my brother-in-law's house for that same reason.  I believe he has 8 snakes?!  No thanks.  Anyway...

We planted some seeds: various beans, lettuce, carrots, and some herbs.  The lettuce has sprouted but I can't ever seem to get it to grow past this first stage.  Most of the beans have sprouted.  No carrots, but they take longer I think.  No herbs, but it's probably too cold for them.  I WILL learn how to successfully garden!  Planning on taking the boys to the farmer's market today.  Last year they had some delicious apples, so I am kind of hoping to see them again this year.  I would love to find an orchard nearby to take them to, but I think the closest is still a few hours away.

Switching gears...

WIP WEDNESDAY

I have found that having various projects in the works can be nice to switch things up, but can also start to frazzle me. 

I am hoping to get my orange yarn in today to finish the orange kitchen towel with the black stripe shown in last week's post.

I've also started crocheting a blanket but need the orange yarn (and black) that should come in the mail today.  I made this blanket for my cousin.  At first I was a little bothered by the size-it is more of a lap blanket than full afghan.  But, I think it will be a good lap blanket or I could always add more to it.  We'll see.  I was really happy with how the colors popped against the black.  I don't have much done so you'll have to wait to see as it progresses. 

I've got my fall table runner together and have started quilting it.  I finished the first set of diagonal lines and have started doing the other set.  SO far, no bubbles.  The material seems to be a little puffier than I would like.  But, after the start I had with it on Friday, I'm not complaining!  It seems I have to learn the same lessons over and over.  1) Don't try to start something if you are already frustrated and not able to focus completely.  2) Read up on necessary steps before jumping in.  I was irritated Friday so decided starting to quilt the table runner would be a good idea.  NOT.  My 2yr old woke up during the process but I continued on in my quest, even though I knew better.  I couldn't install the walking foot (not focused because it was actually easy) and when I ran my project through to do the first and second diagonal lines, the backing shifted drastically.  Well, that put me over the edge.  I thought the walking foot was supposed to keep that in line!?  After I calmed down, I did some research and found that the walking foot does not work miracles.  I learned about taping the back down and pinning galore.  It made a hug difference!  Now this table runner isn't perfect but so far I'm happy with how it is looking.  I'm using YLI quilting thread and so far I like it but don't have anything to compare it to.  I think fussy cutting the leaves distorted my squares a little (all operator error).  I think having a clear template would be much easier, will have to put that on my list.  So, what do you think?

 

Finally, my last WIP for today is a Halloween table runner.  I started cutting squares out last night but think I may make it a little longer:

 



Alright, time to try and squeeze in some school work before the munchkins wake up.  Have a blessed day!

Work in Progress Wednesday!

Happy Hump Day!  Although, yesterday definitely seemed like a Monday so I'm a little thrown off! 

My kids and I (well mostly me) decided to do our first theme on oceans and sea life.  I got a few things from our local partnership and was pretty excited.  It did not go as planned.  I pictured a calm, learning experience where we played with the toys and I taught them all kinds of new things about the ocean as well as seamlessly incorporated math, early literacy, social studies, etc.  Instead, the boys were fighting over stuff (go figure) with the little one (H) destroying things and the older one (C) tattling.  C was using pieces of a gear set to make a gun, I'm sorry it was not a gun but it was still going to shoot something at the bad guys , to paraphrase C.  I was pretty frustrated and feeling like I was going to fail them.  But, after thinking about it I realized a couple of things: 1) It's going to take time for them to get used to doing more of these types of structured activities as home, and 2) While there is a set of Core Standards in NC for Preschools, it's not quite as vital I jam pack his growing brain.  It's still more about expanding his horizons and experiences.  So basically, I just need to keep doing what I've always done but on an all day level.  I need to make sure he has plenty of enriching things to do, create, and play with and make sure I keep my focus on him.   I'm not trying to brag, but I'm almost positive he could go to kindergarten this year and be fine.  While that takes pressure off me, I can't help but feel a little worried that I won't be as good as a preschool teacher.

Moving on to MY school plans (currently taking education classes at a community college but hoping to get into a masters program for teaching)-I am completely intimidated about teaching.  I'm not sure why this huge chunk of anxiety came over me about my future abilities as a teacher.  Maybe it's the amount of school work I have to look forward to, maybe it's the thought of being responsible for so many young children's learning, maybe it's the intimidation factor of having excellent teachers in the family.  Whatever is causing it, I don't like it!  For now, I'm just going ot keep pushing through my school work and see where it takes me.

Phew, now to the purpose of the WIP Wedneday post!
Here is the orange and black crochet dishtowel that complements last week's WIP:

I ran out of yarn last night.  Just ordered some more-hopefully it's the right orange!  Thinking of starting a brown and multi-color one in the meantime because I am that impatient.

 

Here is my fall table runner that I eluded to the other day:

I've got about half of the rows sewn together.  I was going to try to sew it by hand but just don't feel confident in my capabilities when it goes beyond embroidery or cross stitch.  I have a green fabric that matches the red with the leaves for the backing but am not sure if it would be too drastic of a color change as the binding.  Guess we will see.

 

 

I will be linking up to Freshly Pieced's blog where Emily from Mommy's Nap Time is a guest blogger.  Be sure to check out what she's got in the works as well as other crafty bloggers!

 

 

I had a few nice Etsy suprises yesterday:  I sold my small gingerbread pillows:

 



I'm very excited and hope the buyer loves them as much as I do!

 

I was also featured in a treasury by a fellow teammate from the Quilts and Heirlooms Team on Etsy:

Hmm, well I don't know how to get the treasury to show up so please click here to check it out.  It's a really cute back to school theme!  And if anyone knows how to get the treasury to display, please help!

 

Well, hope everyone has a fantastic day and let me know what you are working on!

 



I'm Back! WIP Wednesday

It has been a LONG time since I've posted.  So, here's the quick update:

I quit my job working in a lab for the city to go back to school to be an early childhood teacher.  I got a new job working at my sons' daycare because they would pay for my education.  I lasted almost 6 months there before I finally had enough.  Bad management, lack of support, etc.  It was not the kids AT ALL.  Which brings us to today.  I decided to quit work last night; today is my first day as a stay at home mom.  What I should have done was give my two weeks notice or even let them know yesterday when I left that I wasn't coming back.  But, I didn't.  And while I feel guilty for going about it the wrong way, it wasn't worth the trouble and hassle.  I feel more guilty for leaving my coworkers to more stress and for leaving the kids and their families.  But, it's time to move on.  For now, I'm going to focus on school and my boys.  My older son is 4 so I'm going to  look into doing preschool at home with him.  Hopefully in January I can start a Master's program in teaching.  So, there it is in a nutshell! 

So, now, I'm hoping to get at least a little more time to put back into my Etsy shop.  We'll see!  Here is what I am working on: 

It will soon be a kitchen towel in black and orange.  I'm hoping to do a range of colors, specifically fall and holiday right now.  Also, hoping to make matching washcloths! 

Feel free to link up your WIP blog posts-I look forward to seeing what everyone is up to!  Also, be sure to check out Freshly Pieced's blog to see what she and other talented artists are up to!