The Week and Lessons Learned

Happy friday! Except hubby may be working Sat and Sun. :( Oh well, at least it is supposed to continue to be nice out. My older son's first dentist visit went extremely well. He did not seem to be stressing about it, more excited actually. He kept asking when his appointment was. Before we went in, he said he was a little nervous. The girl that did his teeth was amazing with him and had him laughing. His xrays looked fine and the dentist said he had beautiful teeth. Yay! Let's hope it stays that way. We took the younger one along too so he could see, even though he has another year and a half before they will give him his first cleaning. After C was done, little H climbed right up in the chair, ready for his turn. So, cute. I am definitely glad he had such a good first experience. I remember dreading going to the dentist as a child.


This week the boys have been doing a lot of pretend remote control play, mostly flying helicopters and planes. While we were visiting my family over Christmas, my Poppop took us out to the flying field he uses for his model airplanes. My husband flew the airplane a couple of times and C got to try for a minute and even got the plane to do a loop-de-loop. My dad has a flight simulator program on his computer and the boys are always asking him to fly it. My dad also has a smaller remote controlled helicopter that they thought was awesome. So, for Christmas they got remote controlled trucks and my husband got a remote helicopter like my dad has. The batteries on the trucks were dead when we got home (they were apparently left on the whole 11 hour drive home) and one has a broken control that we need to fix. They love when my husband flies his helicopter in the house (he enjoys it too) and so while he is at work, they make up their own. They use random toy steering wheels and bike ramps, basically whatever they find, as remotes for their planes, helicopters, motorcycles, etc. It is so cute to watch and I know my Poppop would be so tickled to see them doing that.


We got a little bit of yard work done the other day, there is still a lot to be done. This weather is making me want to go ahead and plant my bulbs and get the early spring garden started but I think I need to wait a few more weeks, just in case. In the meantime, there is plenty of prep work to do to the yard and I can start seeds indoors in just a little while. I also saw somewhere (probably Pinterest) cutting the top off a 2 liter bottle,filling it with soil and planting carrot seeds in it. That way the kids can watch them grow. I'm hoping to do that this weekend.


No finished projects to display. I only have 2 days to finish the table runner for the quilt challenge. I have the squares and inbetween strips sewn. I just need to add the side borders, cut out backing and batting, quilt, and bind it. My friend's bag is still waiting on lining and straps, but I am hoping to get to Joanns this weekend as well.


I would have to say my lesson learned from this week is being satisfied with what you have, specifically fabric and skills. I received a Connecting Threads and a Keepsake Quilting catalog in the mail yesterday. Looking at all of the amazing fabric and threads inspired me but then I began to feel frustrated because I do not have such an extensive collection from which to choose. I also see all of the quilts and want to do them so badly but in reality, a lot of the designs would probably be too difficult for me. I also need to work on the quilting part-I have only done it once. So, I started to get frustrated but quickly realized that those are things that will come with time. I need to focus on what I CAN do and what I already have on hand. I need to pick projects that I am excited about and that can challenge me without being too advanced. Most of all, I need to ENJOY what I am doing or it is not going to come together. Just my little philosophical thought.


Have a great weekend!

Monday, Monday

Good Monday morning, back to the routines.  Well, not really.  Hubby is home today, so not sure how the day will go.  Sometimes, I'm actually more motivated to get stuff done when he is home and sometimes I am a complete lazo.  :) 

He worked Saturday so the kids and I were complete couch potatoes and watched tv most of the day.  I finally got to see "Tangled" and really enjoyed it.  My older son was kid of pouty about watching it (I think because it had a girl as the main character), but despite that, he enjoyed it.  When my husband got home we tried a new place in town called It's a Forkful.  It is kind of a build-it-yourself place with rice, pasta, burritos, and salads.  I was really excited about it because in town we have mostly fast food and larger chain restaurants.  Overall, I was not totally crazy about it-it was good and a nice healthy alternative, but I think I prefer another local place, Your Way Cafe.  They have delicious sandwiches and salads.  Anyway, we went to a frozen yogurt place afterwards, Sweet Frog, and it was very good.  So, overall, a fun night of trying new places.

Sunday we went to church.  The kids were a mess!  lol.  Ours seem to be the least behaved, hence why we sit in the back.  They are not terrible kids, they are just full-blooded boys and have a hard time sitting still and being quiet for that long.  I am amazed watching how quiet and still the other kids are.  Oh well, ours are a work in progress :)  Thankfully, our church is very understanding and really a great group of people.  After church, we unloaded a carload off at Goodwill and did our grocery run.  We have been trying to make healthier choices, but unfortunately it has raised our grocery bill.  Although, part of the increase comes from a lack of discipline on our part :)  I am REALLY hoping I can get a garden to actually grow and produce this spring.  Our dream is to someday have our own farm, but for now learning to grow things is my main focus.  We do not eat that unhealthy in general, we are just trying to increase the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially when snacking.

So, I just found a weekly quilt challenge that I think I want to try.  The challenge is to do a square in a square in a square.  The project can be any size, it just has to be completed in a week.  At first I had an elaborate plan for a table runner but have since come to my senses about what I can actually accomplish in a week.  I am now thinking about doing a set of potholders, but still feel like I am taking the easy way out.  Oh well, it will be good for me to practice quilting on a smaller scale and maybe my projects can become bigger as I go.  You can find all of the details at Persimon Dreams.  I am pretty excited about and now just have to figure out which fabrics I want to use...

I started out last week planning on keeping my sewing and crochet plans simple and to limit them to a few things on my to-do list at a time.  HAHAHA, this year seems to have taken off which is awesome and I am not complaining.  I just need to get on top of it! 

Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  It is supposed to be in the 60's this week here.  Crazy.  I prefer having actual seasons but cannot complain about the nice weather.  :)

Have a great day!

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!

Happy Monday!...got a good bit of crafting and life done this weekend, although it's never as much as I would like. I am currently working on a custom order, so my table runner project has been pushed back. Here is a sneak peak though:

I also started some seeds (well, hopefully started them) in a little greenhouse. I'm hoping they will actually grow and be ready for planting in the spring. Then, I hope they survive and actually produce! But...I'll cross that bridge when I get to it! Pictures to come!

Finally, I thought I'd share a treasury created that features some fellow teammates from the NC Triangle Team on Etsy, created by brandywinedesign. It has some beautiful soft pinks-perfect to start your week off right!

Hoping Tuesday can bring about the motivation that Monday has lacked! Have a great night!