Parrish Platz

That explains A LOT

2012-01-30T11:17:00.000+01:00

Poor poor Gram just wants to explain but can't figure out how to do it. She knows no one will ever understand...Cheesy, I know.

But aren't they cute? I love these kinds of dolls. I made this back in November and then sent it off to little Mimi for Christmas. The pattern is from mmmcrafts and she now has the Little Red pattern which she didn't have back when I got his one.

Grammy is made from linen, cotton and wool felt.

Wolfie is made from cotton and wool felt.

I had to order the eyes on ebay as I didn't have those sizes.

I always line my doll pieces that call for linen or cotton so the seams are nice and sturdy.

I just finished reading Incendiary and LOVED it. Really cool and unique book. I had read Little Bee by the same person and loved it. Loved it Love it. I had no idea what either was about. I don't like to read too much of the backs of books; I want to be surprised.

Couch Sewing Kit

2012-01-26T09:09:00.000+01:00

I didn't really need to make this but I kept seeing it all over blogs and loved the little patchwork. I didn't need a needle book which is what I was seeing here and there so I made a Couch Sewing Kit. That's where I mostly hand sew anything. I had all my supplies in an empty Tweezerman box but it was a mess.

The original needle book tutorial is from nanacompany.

The mushroom template is from the book From Felt to Fabulous. The grass holds my leather thimble. The bobbins are in the holes of buttonhole elastic (you know, the kind in kids pants to make them adjustable).

The felt pages are for needles and stuff. One side has a pocket for...I have no idea. Maybe embroidery floss if that's what I'm sewing at the time. I tried to think of anything I might need. Right now the pocket is holding the excess thread from the needles.

The scallop edges were made with these scissors. I had them make me a special listing for all 3 sizes (which made it a lot cheaper). I LOVE them. They cut through felt like butta.

My favorite part is the owl scissor holder.

The template is from the pattern Whimsical Woodland Sewing Set by Betz White.

The outside..

Outside is made with quilting cottons,

inside is one layer of cotton batting and one layer of Peltex (to keep it stiff because the weight of the scissors). All the felt is Holland wool felt from achildsdream.com

Lucky Star

2012-01-23T21:53:00.000+01:00

A little doll quilt made from the book Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts. When people started talking about this book on some of the blogs I read, I fell in love with this quilt which is on the cover of the book. I loved it so much that I made mine to look just like the one on the cover! Why change a good thing, right? I LOVE these colors together. Sooooo sweet (that was for you Mary A.)!

I made mine to be 17" square which is smaller than the one in the book. I also washed it afterwards.

Emily is about to lose a bottom tooth and one big chomper on the top.

Ava is still peeing herself all over my house. She IS potty trained. She just can't seem to make it to the potty a lot of the time. too busy you know. I keep thinking I can replace the living room rug and then she pees.

Jon is enjoying his last week of "time off after deployment" otherwise known as Block Leave.

I am reading the 2nd book in the Stephanie Plum Series titled Two for the Dough (I think).

I'm watching the Game of Thrones series and loving it.

I have stuff I made before I left for the States (so that means back in November/December) but just haven't gotten around to posting it. I think December sucked the life out of me.

We had our 1st snow (1st for me. the actual 1st snow was while I wasn't here so it doesn't count).

My 4 year blogiversary is just around the corner and so is my 500th post! Oh wait, I just looked and I already passed 500, 2 posts ago.

Happy 2

2012-01-20T13:22:00.000+01:00

I did it! I finished the 2nd chair-and-a-half slip cover! I'm sooo happy I made myself do it. You know why it sat in a box, partially done for over a year possibly two years? Fear! I couldn't remember how I had assembled the 1st one I did (why this post is called Happy 2. And you have to read Kelly's comment on that other post because it really was the nicest comment ever. oh oh oh, notice Ava in the other post? Holy cow she was ...thick). It's not like I had instructions:) I took apart the old slipcover and made pattern pieces out of it: easy. But getting it back together: not as easy as it looks. Not hard but I just didn't want to have to figure it out. That's why I like to buy other peoples patterns! Or have tutorials. I don't want to waste my time figuring stuff out. I got stuff to do people!

Showing you how it looks without the cushion and with the cushion. Just like the other chair cover, this one has a zipper in the back

And then with pillows! Now on to the couch...I brought up from the basement, the bolt of remaining fabric (all 30 yds of it) so I can wash it then put it away for another 2-3 years:) Just some useless info: I bought all this yardage for this project in the summer of 2005. I made the other chair slip cover January 2009. Kind of weird I did this one in January too. So expect the couch done In the month of January but not sure what year...

The girls with Papa J and Grammy Dar.

Everything is better when it's clean

2012-01-16T11:58:00.000+01:00

So where would you put this fabulous vinyl decal if you had one?? On your nieces* bathroom door of course! Kids these days are too busy texting and practising being indifferent to everyone and everything and hiding behind their hair trying to look cute so I had to help her out; she might forget! I made this on my FABULOUS Silhouette machine! I LOVE it and it's super easy to figure out. I have not tried to do my own design yet so that might be hard but so far I have made a banner and I made sparkly letter tags for everyone's presents. I then had to pack it back up and send it home. I did have some trouble with the vinyl and how it cut. I think I had the blade set to high because it tried to eat it in places. I lost the part of the N that connects to the A because of that. I took these two photos with my point and shoot since I broke my lenses and they are terrible! Not even focused!

*Bird, my niece, is really Jon's niece but we're married so I feel she is my niece. Can I say that? Or do I have to say she's Jon's niece?

Below is a little collage from our visit home this Christmas.

1. Uncle Steve and the girls tracking Santa Christmas eve (how cool is that website??)

2. Uncle Steve again (sorry Jules) with Emily at Disneyland on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. She was TERRIFIED.

3. Bird our niece with Ava sleeping on her.

4. Christmas morning at my parents house. Santa brought them the stuff in front of the fireplace. Our Santa puts some things out unwrapped for the kids to see 1st thing when they come in the room. Does anyone else do this? My dad did this for us and us kids loved it. One year (correct me if I'm wrong Jules) "Santa" put a tent up in the living room for my brother.

5. My sister, me and the girls at Disneyland. It was CROWDED. Never ever go the week after Christmas. NEVER. That is their busiest time of the year. I've been to Disneyland so many times I've lost count and have never seen it like it was December 27-28th. I still had the best time with my sister and her husband.

I have to point out the length of my bangs in the photo above. They were so long I could put them behind my ear. But since I got them caught in a round brush and spent an hour with my niece Bird trying to get the brush out with baby oil and conditioner and then just cutting the brush out then just cutting my hair out, I now have shorty bangs. Shorter than Emily's as in when dry they come down to mid forehead. It was awful! I would show a picture but I'm not sure I want to see myself in a photo with those bangs. I've been trying to ignore them.

*It was this kind of round brush. Not that brand just that kind of round brush (not this kind which I would have been able to get out). Not even my brush. Why oh why did I even pick it up??

Happy Birthday Ava Larue

2012-01-15T12:44:00.000+01:00

Ava turns 4 today! We already had her birthday party December 29th in San Diego so some of our family could celebrate it with her. The cake is this recipe. I changed it up so the bottom layer is not chocolate chip but peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips in it and I used boxed cookie mix and boxed brownie mix.

Cookie cutters

2012-01-09T03:10:00.000+01:00

I know this post is not very interesting but I wanted to show the dinosaur cookie cutters Mary A. gave the girls for Christmas. They LOVE them. We've used them on pancakes and pizza dough.

Thanks Mary:)

Also, these angel wings on the back of this chair. This was from the restaurant we ate at for Thanksgiving. How cute and easy is this?? I think I would do them to fit the whole back of the chair as opposed to one side.

We fly back home.

Sad to go.*

But SO happy to see Jon.

*I will miss you Target:(

oh, and my family too:)

Sketch

2012-01-02T17:14:00.000+01:00

My new e-reader cover! Why yes it is just like my other one but then I got a new case that comes with a light and it's bigger so I had to make a new one.. I've been meaning to make this new one for months and months. I finally did it. Yahoo! **I made this right before we flew to America and then my reader is now kaput. So I just got the Sony PRS-T1 (for $99 at Best Buy). I will now need to make a cover for that one. I love this new one though. LOVE it!

Happy New Year! I thought I would blog more since my Internet is faster here but that didn't happen. One thing that did happen is...Jon is home (as in Germany home) from Afghanistan!! For good! But I'm here in San Diego. Boo! Not boo to my family here but boo to us being apart for the holidays. I knew he was coming home early for about a month or two before but couldn't say anything for obvious security reasons and we already had tickets to San Diego months and months ago so no matter what we were going to be apart for Christmas. We did have a nice Christmas. The girls had a barbie Christmas. Wait till you see the ginormous vintage barbie house i scored at a garage sale just days before Christmas. I have already dismantled it and it's ready to ship out Tomorrow. "Santa" brought the house to my in-laws for Christmas morning and he also brought some new furniture (from Target) to my parents house for them on Christmas morning. Emily asked someone why Santa would bring a house missing some windows and doors. I told her Santa sometimes brings things other kids don't need anymore. That he switches out new things for old things and this is vintage (which went over her head)! Oh my god, I just found a picture of it by typing in "huge plastic vintage barbie house" into google! So here it is:

photo from thepinkpiggylux.blogspot.com.

I forgot to take a photo of it before taking it apart.

Ours is missing the flower beds and some other minor things. Is this not the coolest? I had the best barbie house ever. My dad made it and it was huge. It had so many rooms and carpeted it from discarded carpet samples and we used wood grain printed contact paper for at least one of the rooms walls. I loved it and wished we had kept it.

When it arrives home and I can get it back together, I'll take a photo of it with all the furniture. I might try and make curtains and put some carpet down.

Festive Felt

2011-12-18T16:18:00.000+01:00

I made this little Christmas tree using this pattern but the inspiration is from the trees below. They are from Garnet Hill but they aren't on their website anymore. I used wool felt and a metal floral stick inserted in the tree to hold up the star.

The fabric watering can is from a German store and I got it on clearance! So cheap I sent Katelyn one too because I'm just that awesome!

Buck Bust

2011-12-14T14:37:00.000+01:00

I used the miniature mode again to show my new decorations. I found a store here that I'd never been in and now am in love! It's called XXXL. It's a home furnishings store like Ikea or Momax but more like Breuninger without the clothing. They had the deer in several different colors (apple green, pepto pink, etc.). But they only had one Buck Bust! I guess that's what you call him. He's velvety! They had to get him down from a display for me. He was only $9.99 euro. It was a steal I tell you!
I am loving these bright retro colors for Christmas. To me they are bright retro. Are they? I went to Target last night (hello love) and they have these colors there too.

num-nums

2011-12-09T12:52:00.000+01:00

This are yummy no-bake energy balls. I don't eat vegetables or fruits so I have to get some roughage from somewhere. The recipe and picture (because my camera sucks!) are from the blog smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com . I made these today in preparation for my long (this time 11 hours straight) flight.

No-Bake Energy Bites

(I changed up the recipe a little because the original has coconut in it. For the original go here).

1 cup oatmeal (I used "extra thick rolled oats wholegrain" not instant)
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter) I used Skippy Natural.
1/3 cup honey
1/2 chopped peanuts (I used the kind in the can made for ice cream toppings-pre chopped)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla (don't use more than this or you will only taste vanilla when you eat it. I made this mistake the 1st time..)

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated ( I used my stand mixer). Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy! Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

This is the 2ND time I've made them so I can really say they are awesome!!

Little Deers

2011-12-07T09:41:00.000+01:00

Our 2011

Christmas Cards.

The template is from Vol.25 I love her stuff!!! And she always has sales that are 40-50% off. (I always wait for her sales and they happen often). I added a couple of things to the template from some of the other "rooms" that come with the Seasonal Room Collection.

Trying to take Christmas card photos with the point and shoot. I used the "Miniature Effect" mode. I LOVE that mode! For some reasons the color is better (not on the girls faces but look at the sign!).

Reindeer caught in the headlights? See how grainy and blurry these are??

The antlers are from a dollar (excuse me, Euro store) and the Merry Christmas banner is from Landofnod.com given to me by Jocelyn:)
*
Emily got a hair cut after this photo! It's now above her shoulders in a bob. Sooo cute!

Little Forest in Red

2011-12-03T19:07:00.000+01:00

Remember this quilt? Well I have been itching to make it in another color and I finally did! The wall hanging version. I also washed it afterwards also it would get all crinkly and lovely. I don't usually like to apologize for the quality of my photos when they are bad but this is really bad. I have now broken ALL my camera lenses (so 3 lenses) except for the zoom. I can't use it unless I stand back 50 feet and my house is just not big enough to do that:) I bought another 50mm from my brother but that's being sent to the States so I'll have it when I get there but in the mean time, I have to use the point and shoot so everything is grainy and blurry. I took our Christmas card photos today and thank god the the photos don't need to be crisp and clear for what I'm doing because they are horrible!

This is a self portrait Ava did at school the other day.

She was really excited to show me and point out her boobies and her belly button.

I would post more but I literally have to upload one photo at a time. That gets pretty old quickly. I will most likely save everything I've made lately for when I get to America because pictures load a thousand times faster there! A thousand times!

Jogi-Bussi

2011-11-27T13:39:00.000+01:00

I love these gummy-marshmallow-ey little bits of heaven. They are my kryptonite. I can't stop at just one and would be upset if you offered me just one and didn't give me more. My friend Heidi introduced me to them probably a year or two ago and I love her so much for that:) I never noticed what they were called; I just knew them by sight. My German friend Connie is always saying, "mama bussi?" to her daughter (mama kiss?) and the other day when searching for my gummy's, I saw what they were called and just loved them even more. Silly I know. But my girls LOVE it when I say mama bussi to them. I can't help but repeat the things my friend says since I'm around her ALL the time. Another thing I find my self wanting to shout (for no reason) is "hin sitzen!!!". My friend is always shouting at her 2 year old to sit down while in her stroller. Oh that just made me think of my friend Jenny B who used to live here and would shout "Shasta neun" at her dog (Shasta NO!). That and hin sitzen run through my head all the time begging to be let out.

I guess bussi is Bavarian for kiss. When I said "my German friend" I should have said "my Bavarian friend" because she says she's not German but Bavarian like Texans are not American, but Texans.

I got this off Urban Dictionary (my favorite part of that site is when words are used in a sentence. Thanks Jocelyn for introducing me to that site)

BUSSI

German slang for a kiss - meant to make someone feel better when injured. It's mostly used to comfort children and is generally seen as a childish/immature word.

"aww would you like a bussi to make it feel better?"

So really this post has nothing to do with anything. I just love these gummy thingies and I'm not even a candy-type person. More of a Chocolate lover but these are darn good!. Has anyone ever seen them in the States?

Thanks everyone for your kind comments about Jon being over there and us apart. But I do get to go home for Christmas! I will spend Christmas with his family and mine and it will be awesome:) We're going to Disneyland again. Yay!!!

Pizza and Schnitzel

2011-11-24T21:57:00.000+01:00

Thanksgiving dinner is over and It's now bedtime here in Germany.

We went to a German restaurant with friends (6 kids total) and had salami pizza and the biggest portion of Schnitzel I've ever seen. It was one of the best Thanksgivings food-wise I've had in years. Usually the food is not so great and who really likes turkey anyway?

I have no decent pictures from tonight's dinner but I do have this of Ava after we got home. She LOVES peanut butter as much as Jon and I do. She brings me the jar with a spoon at least once a day sometimes twice. See her bangs? I cut them and immediately after thought, "oops". Then about two days later I caught her cutting them.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Albino Jerry Curl

2011-11-21T17:02:00.000+01:00

Stockings commissioned by Miss Mary A. They were a trade actually.

I had finished the albino Jerry-curled bumble back in October and gave it to Mary when I went to Stuttgart for my birthday. Nicolas immediately ripped one of the eyes off and I knew right then and there that he and Ava were soul mates. That is exactly what Ava would have done:)

Mary's was finished the other night. I really had a hard time with hers because of Clarice and I'm really not happy with how she came out but I had to get 'er done! I also went back and sewed almost everything down (like the eyes, Christmas tree spots etc.) so hopefully over the years it holds up. I was concerned she'd loose the eye or spots and never replace them (because really, who wants to mend things that you didn't even make?). I hope you like them Mary. I miss you!

Just in case anyone wants to know, the stocking shape is from an old McCall's pattern. The over-all design of the stocking (the blue, red gingham, etc. and placement of it) is from Pottery Barn. The island of the Misfits characters were made by finding images online (I also had help from Jessica) printing them out to the size I wanted. I traced, cut out and sewed them on. For the names, I sent blank pieces of white cotton to my friends mom in the states and paid her do it. The back of the stocking look exactly the same except for the decoration (characters) and they are fully lined. Here's links to mine, Ava's, Emily's and Jon's.

Made special for my baby's daddy

2011-11-14T21:12:00.000+01:00

As you may know, Jon is "over there" and has been for a while now. He will spend Christmas there. So I had to make him something extra special to remind him that we think of him constantly and will miss him like crazy. And I had to send it now to make sure he got it in time and of course he gets it in 5 days! Had I sent it in mid December he'd have gotten it in January. Anyway, this is only the 2nd Christmas in 19 years that we've been apart (the 1st was when he was in Korea). So of course I had to go with something Star Wars themed! He just got it today (but can't open the stuffers inside till Christmas morning) so I can show it off.

It's made based off of the pattern used to make the Chewie doll here. I used a regular full-sized stocking pattern, added the eyes, nose and teeth from the doll pattern (enlarged) and then made a ammunition belt based on pictures of Chewie from the Internet. The whole thing is wool felt and unlined.

Here's Jon from just a couple of days ago. It's already snowing there!

The song below makes me think of Jon there and us here.

I know it's not December yet but ...

"This is my winter song.

December never felt so wrong,

cause you're not where you belong;

inside my arms."

"Winter Song"

from Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T13:15:00.001+01:00

left: simplicity 5520 and right: simplicity 4944

On the left is the pattern I used for Emily's dress. On the right is the one I should have used but didn't discover it till just now. Boo. I had to alter the left one to look like the right one and I don't like making my own pattern pieces. Jenny's not good at it.

I used a black satin with flocked moons and stars from (I think) Joann fabrics from years and years ago. I lined it with a cheapy poly lining and then lined the sleeves with this really cool two sided silver and black fabric. I forgot to include a picture of the back but I did a faux lace up. Although Emily's hat is not really the best match for this gown, I had the worst time finding one. The one I ordered online was so terribly thin and cheap and then they had nothing at the PX. I found this at a German toy store. It had green iridescent feathers, green pom poms and thicker netting on it along with the tulle you see. I took all that off and just left the tulle and fabric flowers.

Ava's dress and hat are from a German clothing store (Takko. Yes, it sounds like taco.). During fasching last year they had costumes. Not bad for $20 euro.

One other thing:

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JON!!!!

Love you pooh shiv, you're the best.

10 years married, 19 altogether.

Chewie, Leia and R2

2011-10-29T21:42:00.000+02:00

I'm not going to apologize for the 15 photos of Ava. Because there is a crafting item in those photos! Look at this adorable Chewbacca softie from Pinterest! He was really easy to make...if you follow the directions. Which I didn't and he is actually Chewie #2. The first one is "the ugly twin". I won't bore you with the details but I will say that you should follow her instructions and make the back part with a seam and interface the whole thing (my instructions). Anyway, he's adorable and I love his teeth and ammunition sash the best. Which is made with black grosgrain ribbon and duct tape.

Here is Emily wearing the Princess Leia costume back in 2008 when Ava was but a wee babe of about 10 months. The R2D2 is actually a phone I've had for years and years that of course does not work over here. Oh and Ava calls Chewbacca "Bock Bock". I guess that's not an easy thing to say?

Ludwigsburg Palace Pumpkin Patch year 7

2011-10-24T18:51:00.000+02:00

This years theme was Dinosaurs!! How cool is that?? And we went on my birthday and with good friends. The only thing that could have made it the perfect day was if Jon was there.

*for last year and all the years before, look here.

year 6

year 5

year 4 (here here and here)

2005, 2006, 2007 can be seen here.

I think Ava looks just like my brother in the photo below.

I'll have to dig out a photo of him pouting at that age.

Who has the coolest shoes ever?

Ava's crazy.

Crazy I tell you!

These are the other kids we went with. Nicolas, Annabel & Sienna.

If you can take your eyes off Ava's crack, take a look at that huge pumpkin!!

Thanks Heidi and Mary for some of the photos:)

Masks

2011-10-23T16:04:00.001+02:00

My sister sent me a picture of her Halloween name plaque in front of her house. It looks so good!

Yesterday was the Girl Scout Masquerade Ball. The girls made their own masks. They got them from the arts and crafts center here (I still have not gone in as I'm told it has a small selection of ugly fabric and notions) and I think they were done with a die cut machine and suede mat board. Speaking of die cut machines....I have saved up gift certificates (thanks family:) for a Silhouette Die Cutter. Anyone know much about it? Heard anything bad about it? Good?

Don't they look adorable?

I turned 40 a week ago!

I went to Stuttgart and to the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Patch for the big day ( I'll post pictures someday). How does it feel to be 40? The same as 39 and 38 and 37..except saying 40 makes me cringe. It really does sound (from a teenagers point of view) old. Of course now that I'm 40 it's not old to me at all.

Name Skeletons

2011-10-19T12:43:00.000+02:00

If you turn Bernie (the girls call all skeletons Bernie) clockwise you can see Emily's name! Where did I get the idea? Pinterest of course! There isn't really step by step instructions so I photographed some of the steps while I made the girls. Also, since Emily can't do cursive and Ava draws scribbles for her name, I had to write them. I cut the names out, while Emily did almost everything else. Ava did draw her Skeletons head:)

On white card stock I wrote the girls names in cursive. You shouldn't make them very big or you'll not be able to fit legs, head or arms in. Ava's is about 3.5" long and 1.25" tall when folded. Emily's is about 4.5" long and 2.5" tall when folded. I used a yellow calligraphy pen so you won't see it on the other side and it gives you nice thick lines. Just remember not to cut the folds:)

I had to show Emily how to draw bones and after showing her once, she was able to draw all the bones for Ava's (she did hers without me helping so her bones are not defined still cute though!).

I love them and I'll keep them forever and ever:) I was thinking smaller ones would be cute for Halloween cards.

***

*"Curated" digi page from kitschy digitals

Pinterest Inspiration

2011-10-17T21:06:00.000+02:00

Here's two more ideas I got off pinterest. The first is this fingerprint tree.

So then I saw this digi kit on Jessica Spragues "one buck Wednesday" (completely forgetting that this pin had a link to a free one) and thought the tree was perfect for this and it was $1!! So I printed it out to fill an 8.5x11 piece of paper and printed it on card stock. I had the girls choose which color stamp the wanted and told them they could only use that color so when looking at it you knew who's little prints were who's.

The 2nd project is this Halloween garland. I printed it in black ink (just the outline) on black cardstock. Because printers don't print in white:) But the black showed up enough for Emily to cut this out. She wanted it above my bed.

Farmers Wife Quilt Blocks: the 1st 20

2011-10-11T20:39:00.000+02:00

My 1st Farmers Wife Quilt blocks. Have I said already how much I love making these?? I'm addicted. I think it's because each block is different so I have to think up a new combo of fabrics each time. If you haven't already noticed, the two predominant colors are yellow and green. I may switch to another color combo soon. I only have so much green and yellow...

The yellow lady bug one is wrong. It was not supposed to have a border aroudn it but I somehow made it smaller than it was supposed to be and I was not going to remake it!

You're looking at a big girl now! Ava goes to "part time, part day, pre k". Say that 5 times fast! She goes to "school" 2 days a week for 3 hours each time. Luckily we only live 10 minutes away so I can come home and do stuff and not feel like I have to turn right around and go get her.And what's the stuff I do? What do I do with 3 hours of free time??? Clean out the basement. And go for long walks where I can walk fast and not have to hear one of my kids complain about me walking too fast or not have to push a stroller with 2 kids in it because that's the only way I can walk fast with them is if they are both in one stroller. I've been listening to Interview with a Vampire on my Ipod while walking.

Zombies and glow sticks

2011-10-09T19:55:00.000+02:00

My fellow San Diegan Venus, from happyfind, had cal-zombies on her blog last week and we HAD to make them! I LOVE pizza and I love Halloween so those two together equal awesome:) The weird looking mounds of excess dough are just that: excess dough Emily HAD to bake too.

The girls helped (and that tried my patients like you wouldn't believe!) but none of us eat veggies so we were super limited on face decorations. The next time we made them we tried different spooky shapes. Pretty cute huh?

Below is Frank attacking the mean horrible string from my sewing machine that is always antagonising him while he tries to sleep behind my machine. When I chain stitch blocks he swats at them when I push them through and he really loves to smack that little thingy that goes up and down at the top of your machine (what is that called??). He smacks it over and over and last night he got his paw stuck a little and you should have seen his face! He looked at my machine like it just insulted his mama! The next round of smacking was vicious!

Raise your hand if your addicted to pinterest? Hi my name is Jennifer and I have a problem...but! I actually make things I pin on pinterest! Like below (I could not get a good picture to save my life!). I put the girls in the bath last night with glow sticks and turned out the lights. They LOVED it! I got the idea from here. I have many more projects to share from pinterest.

DIY Lunchbox ice packs

2011-10-05T14:00:00.000+02:00

About a month ago, I saw this tutorial on kitchn.com and tried it.

Emily takes her lunch to school and needed cold packs but usually they are too heavy or bulky.

This looked perfect and after a month of using it, I love it!

Here's the tutorial and above is what we used in ours. I did not use food coloring because I was worried that if it did leak the food coloring might stain. So I just used dish soap that was pleasing colors to begin with:) And we added glitter although that was pointless (might be because of the color glitter we used; you can't really see it when frozen or thawed).

The girls added thin plastic toys.

And after putting them in the freezer, they look like below. I purposely froze the green one folded to see how it came out.

It was perfect to cradle her milks but I don't do that anymore. I just freeze it flat and line her lunch box with it. Then pile everything in.

I pack her lunch using one dish soap ice pack and two palm sized hard plastic ice packs She takes yogurt, milk and cheese so we need it to be cold all day. I pack it at 7:15am and when she gets home at 3:15 it's still cold but not frozen (the hard plastic ones from Target come back home warm). . The blue one did leak the 1st time she used it but not all over the place so I double bagged the green one and it help up till yesterday (about a month of daily usage). So if you're looking for an easy lunch box ice pack, this is it!

I was a little irritated when reading the comments from the tutorial on the actual site. It just seemed like a lot of those people had nothing better to do then slap down other peoples ideas.

The pros to this are that it's super light weight, stays cold for a loooong time, is still pliable when frozen and if it does leak like it did with mine, it takes time for it too ooze out of a small hole where if it was water the smallest hole will leak all that water out in minutes and be all over the place. There was no mess outside of her lunch box as there would be with water. So if you're looking for an easy, cheap ice pack alternative this is it! And I'm even thinking about making small ones for the airplane (under 3oz).

PB Halloween sign

2011-09-28T19:30:00.002+02:00

After two cans of black spray paint, 3 trips to the hardware store, 1 trip to the florist, I have this to show! Below is the Halloween Pottery Barn sign I bought years ago which we have hanging right outside our front every Halloween. Above is the copy-cat.

I had to (HAD to) make 2 because one dowel and one sheet of the wood cut in half makes two. I couldn't waste the other halves, right? I think I might like my version better and the only reason is because my broom is falling apart which is what made me think about making a new one. I like the sweepy part better on the new brooms.

I posted a tutorial here (and there is a tab under my header) in case anyone else wants to make one. But I warn you, it's not a very professional tutorial:0

*Julia and Jocelyn: these have been mailed out to you today! I hope you like them:) I had to send them space available mail (could be up to 8 weeks to get to you) otherwise it would have cost me about $50 each box! So hopefully you get them in time to hang up.

Ginny

2011-09-26T16:11:00.000+02:00

"Ginny went on a field trip" doll by eulenstern.

She went on a field trip all over my neighborhood!

She brought her lunch bag with some milk and pb&j sandwich.

I tested a pattern for my friend Susi over at Eulenstern.

She is going to have a super cute Owl pattern available soon too!

I loved making it and think she came out super cute! I want her outfit!

Uniforms and chickens

2011-09-22T09:33:00.000+02:00

Emily on picture day and then yesterday wearing her new "uniform" shoes! We came home from our summer trip to her not fitting in most of her shoes. New stuff with tags! Ava can wear them someday but it was still upsetting! Anyway, I searched and searched for something really cute yet rugged and found these navy blue suede Mary Jane's from Morgan and Milo. I'm not sure how I feel about the zipper flower but Emily won't let me take them off and she saw them before I could take them off without her knowing! The boots are Gymboree and a couple of years ago I bought them in 3 different sizes on Ebay so she can wear them forever! The pea coat and khaki dress are Gap. I don't know how many people who read my blog need uniforms for their kids but I'm always looking for cute stuff so I thought I'd pass it on!

Sweet dinosaurs, oh how I love thee.......

Yesterday Ava and I went for a walk in our neighborhood. There is a yard that has 10 chickens in it and the girls love to see them. And FYI, chickens are gross up close. Some of these have places on their bodies with no feathers (like an open sore) and you can see the skin! Like I'm staring at a chicken breast.

Next up "droll-training". She may be potty trained but she still drools!!!

I have set aside my sister-in-laws quilt (I'm waiting on the backing fabric), continuing blocks for the Swoon quilt, Emily's costume (in my defense I'm waiting on eyelets) Mary and Nicolas' stocking (I'm waiting for the return of the names embroidered on the cuff) and countless other projects to start the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along! I made 7 blocks yesterday. I. LOVE. THESE. BLOCKS. I can't say why exactly but I love making them. I will post them soon but I need to post about a little pattern testing I did!

little curtains

2011-09-19T20:50:00.000+02:00

My semi-new curtains! I bought the fabric ages ago from superbuzzy but never actually made them in to proper curtains (I had them pinned to the rod). The curtains came with the scallop hem and holes in the top for the rod but it was too wide for the window so I had to cut off the holes and make a casing for the rod to go through.

Ava playing on my bed.
I love the light in this room.
Unfortunatly I had the ISO set to 800 so they are really grainy.

More Swoon

2011-09-16T10:00:00.001+02:00

More Swoon blocks (quilt pattern by Thimble Blossoms).

And here is something to keep your kids busy for HOURS!! Crayola Window Markers.

I have to say though that it sucks cleaning it up but it's so worth it. They love being able to draw on a new surface and stand in the kitchen window. The best thing to get it off with is one of those Magic Sponges. They tend to get hand prints all over the sill and wall next to the window so the Magic Sponges get that off.

What's new:

Jon is on R&R and in the States visiting his mom.

Piggy, the kitty no one believes we have, has been missing for weeks now.

I had a dream last night that I found her.

Ava is fully potty trained and almost completely potty trained for nights (that is solely her doing not mine).

Ixnay on the uttyslay ostumcay

2011-09-09T21:34:00.000+02:00

Emily's costume in the works. I have been wanting to make her a witch costume forever. A cool witch costume not a short slutty witch costume. When did Halloween start meaning dress in whatever as long as it's the slutty version? And why are there kids versions of the slutty versions?? Slutty fairy, slutty angel and so on. I think, if I have time, I'm going to make myself a Harry Potter Hogwarts robe and buy a tie and scarf. I will for once walk around with the girls dressed up when they trick-or-treat.

And it won't be the slutty version!

This used to be one lens. One lovely lens.

But Ava ripped it apart.

Who knew you could rip a lens in two? Who knew??

Dumpling

2011-09-04T20:47:00.000+02:00

Print from here. Frame is Ikea.

Red bowls, white cake stand and different color stacking bowls are Martha Stewart.

The blue scale is from a German store here.

Dumpling pattern by keykalou. It's freeee!

It's the cutest little thing and I love how it's finished on the inside.

Having fun with the camera.

Ava today letting her rubber snake enjoy the air while I was driving. I truly love that Emily & Ava love all toys. Not just girl toys and if anything they lean more towards boy toys (dinosaur's, dragons, castles, animals, snakes, etc.). I think it's fascinating actually because we didn't steer them either way. At least I don't feel like we did...

Swoon, faint, gasp (not in that order)

2011-08-27T19:00:00.000+02:00

A giant block for a new quilt.

The pattern is Swoon by Thimble Blossoms and let me tell you, that (swoon) is exactly what I did when I fist saw this quilt!I have already made 3 of these blocks out of different blues and greens. It's sooo pretty! The blocks are 24" squares and there will be 9 total making something like an 80"x80" quilt. .
*the fabrics used above are: Denise Schmidt for Joann's (the floral) and Happier Cottons (the stripe) by Riley Blake.

I took this photo at the San Diego Zoo just to show how pretty it is. That is the polar bear exhibit (what gave it away?) with a beautiful building from Balboa Park in the back ground. We visited the Zoo 3 times while home and Emily went for one week to the Zoo camp. It really is the best Zoo.

And one thing we did while visiting was see Shrek the Musical (this is the best of the photos) It was really cool but very very long. They sang about everything. It got to the point where you're thinking, "no don't do that! Now you'll have to sing about it!". There must have been 50-75 songs during the whole thing. Bleh. I do realize it was a musical...but still that was a lot of singing.

And this is so weird: our weather was 97 degrees yesterday and today was 60, windy and rainy. Yesterday I had on shorts and flip flops and was so hot I didn't want my girls to get near me and today I had on pants sneakers and a hoodie. Crazy!

pinterest + me = love

2011-08-23T19:07:00.004+02:00

I saw this print on pinterest and had to have it. It goes perfect in my room, right? Here's more from this guy's series.

And whilst browsing pinterest, I found this and really really laughed out loud. I LOL'd! Oh my god and this one! Emily just did this earlier and I of course had to say that's why I tell you to pick them up! I actaully don't wish that on anyone. Ok, one more.

When I was at my sister-in-laws house I saw these cookies on crafterhours. I might have thrown my computer, knocked over one of my kids and pushed wheel-chair-bound Grammie out of the way trying to get to the store to buy the ingredients. I might have done that. And smacked a baby and shaken a kitten.... These cookies are that good people! They consist of just two ingredients: Oreos and pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough in the toob. You wrap the Oreos in the cookie dough (not the easiest thing to do) cook for about 10-11 minutes at 350 degrees. Sooo soo good. The really cool thing about these is two-fold (did I use that right?) : you get two cookies in one and because the dough is premade you can cook two a night like I do:) Or when at my sister-in-laws I would take orders after dinner and make that many.

Random photos of me with my girls at Uncle Steve's fire house. I know lots of moms have the problem where you are never in any photos because no one ever thinks to stop and take one of you! When we travel I have to make Jon (Hi Jon) take photos of me and the girls so they know I was there:)

As you can see blogger and I are friends again. I had to upload one photo at a time and to Picasa 1st. And to answer Kelly's question from the comments of my last post, I always have to upload to Picasa 1st now that we live here but I couldn't even do that yesterday.

One more thing. We're potty training here.

And FYI, I will be throwing out my living room carpets in a month or two.

I'm crying over here!

2011-08-22T16:45:00.000+02:00

I have been trying ALL day to upload to blogger (same thing yesterday) and no luck. I don't know if it's my Internet or it's happening to others. The picture above is the only thing I was able to load.

I got these really cool nail polish pens from the Del Mar Fair (now the San Diego County Fair but you can't make me call it that!) and I love them! They are so easy. I know they look like my 3 year old did them but I still like them and if I practised I'd get better, right?:)

I'd show you the other hand but stupid blogger hates me!

Did I mention it's hot? Like Africa hot. The humidity is just unbearable I want to cry. I have 7 fans going and am thinking of getting another...I sent the most awesome-ist fan back to Germany from the States but it's not here yet. Boo. This fan is truly the best thing ever.

Strawberry Tunic Ottobre 3/08

2011-08-14T08:28:00.001+02:00

The Strawberry Tunic.

I made this before I left for America so about 3 months ago! I lost my sewing and posting mojo while in San Diego. Anyway, this little knit top pattern is from a much sought-after Ottobre magazine (3/2008). I finally got this issue on ebay after months and months of waiting for someone to list one. The fabric is from Joann's but purchased on etsy. I love this style top on the girls. Love it. The pattern instructions though were not that great. I had a hard time with the neck binding and will have to make it smaller next time. If you've ever sewn from an Ottobre magazine you'll know that they give very little instruction and even less pictures. But I'll make it again.

Jon's sister Jessica with the girls.

This past April when we went home on emergency leave, Jon's sister asked me to frame a bunch of photos as a surprise for their mom when she got out of the hospital. I hung stuff in her room too but this wall was my favorite. I also framed this print and this print for each of the bathrooms.

Pappa J and Grammy Dar paid for a week of Zoo camp at the San Diego Zoo as a gift for Emily's 6th birthday. She loved it!!! Also above is the quilt I am in the process of making for Jon's sister, Jessica. I started it while in San Diego on their Brother sewing machine. It aint no Pfaff that's fo sho! But it did the job. I still have to add borders and quilt it. The fabric is Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hooey and the quilt pattern is Little Ones by Thimble Blossoms. I convinced Jessica to redo her bedroom (after starting the quilt above) so we got new curtains (pink) and I framed this print as a present for her (the blue and pink version which matches the quilt. I swear it does. That blue and pink are in the quilt!).

Isn't jet lag fun? The girls (I suspect Ava woke 1st and then woke Emily) woke me at 2:30am two nights in a row now. Lovely:) So both nights I've been awake from 2:30am to about 11am or so then napped. But I have the hardest time keeping Ava awake after that. Oh how I love that child (strained smile).

Does this count?

2011-08-02T07:10:00.000+02:00

Does this count as crafting something? I didn't think up the design and I didn't tattoo it on myself but it's art and new and I've got nothing else. I do have stuff actually that was done before I left for the States but I keep forgetting to post it. And shhhh about the tattoo. My parents don't know about it.

A visit to my sister's. We went to the drive-ins (a 1st for the girls).

They went swimming with uncle Steve and aunt Jula.

And went to the fire house to visit uncle (fire fighter) Steve.

And went swimming some more. It's all about uncle Steve isn't it? While they LOVE my sister they adore him.

And then we flew home to San Diego. Boo. Did I just call San Diego my home?

Six

2011-07-28T00:07:00.000+02:00

Emily is now 6!!

We had a birthday party and for the 1st time we were able to have my parents and sister at one of the girls birthday's.

She opened presents

The adults put on their mustaches

My dad scaring children with the pinata on his head after it was beat to death and relieved of it's contents

We had the best cake!

Half chocolate/half vanilla with half peanut butter frosting and half butter cream/cream cheese frosting.

The kids played in the bouncy castle

And we ate bad-for-you-food

Aunt Jula (what Ava calls her)

Emily beautiful even with a mustache. I wish I could say the same for myself:)

Me and Ava

Singing Happy Birthday to Emily

Having fun in the bouncy castle before the party

Keychain Clutch

2011-07-16T00:44:00.000+02:00

Another keychain clutch from this keykalou pattern. This one is mine. It holds my very small, very old cell phone. Or I.D., chap stick and other small items.

The girls in Grammy's front yard.

Is anyone else in love with Bruno Mars as much as me?

I LOVE this song (this is not the video; I couldn't find one. just the music ).

Teacher Gifts

2011-07-08T04:32:00.000+02:00

End of school teacher gifts given before we left.

Diaper wipe holder for Emily's teacher.

Below is the gift for the teachers aid. The diaper wipe holder is "totally my own design" actually I made by tracing and copying the construction of a store bought one. The tiny key-chain clutch pattern is by keykalou. I accidental cut the Velcro to big on the tiny clutch. ooops.

My babies.

Emily put this mini castle together all by herself. She followed the pictures with no help.

Eating cheesy poof balls.

It was 101 degrees today.

Twice in one week

2011-06-28T21:00:00.000+02:00

I have stuff to blog about but things keep coming up. Like food poisoning. Really bad think I'm dying, trip to the ER, food poisoning . My 2nd trip to the ER since being home. 1st was Strep and only one week before. Then the day after the food poisoning ER visit we drove to Disneyland for two days. We had already reserved the rental car and hotel so we had to go! And it was hot and crowded and truthfully not fun. But we might go again for one day this time instead of two and just adults, no kids, no wheel-chair-bound Grammy.

Anyway, above is a large Ditty Bag (pattern here) made from a linen bought on etsy.

It was made for Jenny B for no other reason than I saw the fabric and thought of her. We went to London several years ago and it was fabulous!

Baby Binky Bunny

2011-06-23T06:54:00.000+02:00

Baby Binky Bunny & Mini Quilt.

The other half of baby Mimi's present.

Binky Bunny is made from linen and wool felt. His diaper is flannel.

She's just chillin', catching some rays.

The flight from Dallas to San Diego. Ava passed out finally after crying.

This and That

2011-06-16T06:00:00.000+02:00

Random stuff I had going on before I left for America:)

Basket Case Quilt made from Dream On by Moda fabric.

This label I made many many months ago and forgot to show it. I used my Pfaff to do it. Look at the Frankenstein stitches on that binding! Oh how I hate to hand sew!

One day I got out all the quilts I had made and machine sewed labels to them.

a long time ago I found these to child-size folding chairs at the thrift store on base. I have already recovered the red one in a certain red riding hood vinyl and will do the yellow one soon. I'm just not sure if I want to leave the chairs as is: mustard and ketchup or paint them white? or what? I guess I should show the new fabric before I ask...

Remember when Emily was to spend a week in the hospital?

I had made her a Hello Kitty pillow case to take with her.

I am starting a quilt tomorrow for my sister-in-law out of the Sherbet Pips line.

Emily was diagnosed with pink eye the day before we flew to the states.

Ava threw up the night we got the states.

I am now sick with a bad sore throat that has lasted tooo long. Yay!

but I'm here and I have eaten at Wiener Schnitzel so all is good:)

oh, and I saw Bridesmaids. I'm not sure I've ever CRIED that much from laughing.

Juice Box

2011-06-11T21:07:00.000+02:00

Juice Box quilt pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew.

Baby sized quilt made for baby Mimi's 1st birthday. It's not as cute as I thought it would be be but I still like it. Jocelyn (Mimi's mom) is a red & black girl and Mimi looks so beautiful in red so it had to be red:)

I'll post the 2nd half of this gift when it arrives at their house.

Chinese Princess

2011-06-04T21:33:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the picture overload that has nothing to do with crafting:)

It was so beautiful yesterday evening so I made the girls quickly put on their princess dresses and go outside to take photos. I did not add sun flare to these. I used an action for a tiny bit of color and a tiny bit of haze to the ones that were closer up. Other than that the haze you see in these is straight out of the camera. It was really beautiful out.

Winner!

2011-06-01T12:34:00.000+02:00

1st let me announce the winner of the passport sleeve!

#1 Sylvia

Thank you Sylvia for stopping by my blog:) I'm happy this will go to a good home.

Send me your address in an email and I'll have this out to you soon!

Thanks everyone else for leaving comments:)

Jenny H: I wish I had my bangs hair sprayed back in my photo! I'm sure you looked female at least. I had my hair all pulled back in a ponytail that you can't see, so it looks like I have very short hair and my name is either Chris or Pat and you're not sure if I'm male or female. I did have a driver's license I LOVED but it expired. I will cherish it forever..

The above tissue holder was the 1st project for my student (she didn't make this one, this is just to show what we did) and the Baby Binky Bunny was her 2nd. That's right, I'm teaching beginning sewing! I'm teaching a teacher actually! I'm teaching Emily's teacher Keeley to sew. She is super excited about sewing, wants to learn and she catches on quick. All things that make a perfect student:) Next she'll be making pj shorts for her baby, Roman.

*I could not find the tutorial for the tissue holder. Darn it! When 1st looking for one I googled pocket tissue holder and found one that had that piece down the front. I ended up making it a tiny bit smaller because the 1st one I made was too big (the 3rd picture down).

Just because I love my blog friends...

2011-05-30T10:01:00.000+02:00

Today is a giveaway!

The reason? I don't have one...

Want this super cute passport sleeve?

Leave a comment telling me if you like your passport picture. If you don't have a passport, then do you like your driver's license picture (I guess if you don't have a passport you wouldn't be wanting this passport sleeve. I think this would hold my kids shot records as well:))?.

My passport picture: I look like an androgynous tennis player.

My driver's license: Magda from There's Something About Mary. For some reason I look wrinkly and tan.

I will keep the comments open till Wednesday morning about 8-9am my time which would be about midnight (Tuesday night) California time. Did that make sense? I hope I calculated that right..

*passport sleeve made from this pattern.

*I will ship internationally

*I have no idea if other passports (other than American) are shaped different and would not fit in this sleeve. Measurements are approximately: 3.5" wide x 5" tall.

So not me

2011-05-27T21:23:00.000+02:00

This fabric is SO NOT ME but it's my friend Connie's most favorite print (or any animal print really). She has a 1.5 year old named Lily and when I saw this fabric (it's waterproof, bought on etsy) I got excited because I had been wanting to make her something but I don't have any animal print fabric. Connie has had a very bad couple of months with her husband being down range and BOTH her cars pooping out on her. I think this cheered her up a little:)

Oh Ava Ava Ava. How can you be so cute, so evil, so sweet and so funny all at the same time?

I'm going back to San Diego for the summer!

Me and the girls will spend the summer enjoying our family and helping with Jon's mom as much as we can.

I need some book recommendations...

thought bubble

2011-05-22T18:49:00.000+02:00

What they're really thinking....

Why are those fake tattoos the hardest things to get off? And everyone assumes after seeing the same one on your child for 3 months, slowly getting grungier and grungier, that you don't wash your child. I googled it and one person said to apply packing tape then rip it off. I tried this and it didn't work. It did however make Emily cry and she's now hair-less on her forearm.

These are 6 pillow cases I made my sister to go with the fabulous quilt I made her. Oh I'm not done with her room! I'm going to make a cozy for her TV out of this fabric and matching pj's and maybe little curtains over the painting with a pull cord so she can open it like stage curtains. And what else...slippers! Maybe a house for the kitties. Or a little doll bed with a miniature replica of this quilt for her kitties.

Tree Carving

2011-05-16T11:26:00.000+02:00

An embroidered pillow for my sister and her husbands Anniversary.

Happy Anniversary Steve and Julia!

I completely copied this idea from this seller on etsy. I was going to have this seller custom make one for my sister but since I sew and embroider I wanted it to be made by me. I think this makes an excellent anniversary or wedding present so if you don't sew, you can have this seller make one and the price is not bad at all! I will eventually buy this other pattern to make a "family tree" for us.

The fabric is linen and completely (front and back) interfaced with iron-on interfacing. I used prepackaged brown piping and pearl cotton embroidery floss. It also has a zipper at the bottom so you can take the pillow from out and wash it. The pillow measures 16"x16" (the middle panel measures 8"x10").

And above is a picture of it on her bed! Correction: above is a picture of it on the wonderfully beautiful spectacular quilt I made her! Toot Toot!

Girl on a Swing

2011-05-08T08:56:00.000+02:00

I had been wanting to make this "girl on a swing" mini quilt for some time so when I had left overs from a quilt I'm making as a birthday gift, I knew it was time. Although I'm not sure red was the best choice since there are red apples sewn along the bottom of the tree and some in the tree. But you can't see this because I used red scraps! ooops. I like it though and now I have this out of the way I can move on to other things I feel the need to make but really don't need them.

I have a ton of old labels from starting about 10 years back. I just couldn't ever decide what I wanted so I have some for when I used to make cat houses and other cat things, one for things made for the home, 2 for costumes, 3 for babies/kids and some simple ones with just my name. I was thinking of what I could do with them and decided after I had made this mini quilt that I would sew these old labels in to things like this. When I don't want to waste one of my new labels (the mushrooms) but I want it to have a label to show I made it. I don't want my girls to be looking at my stuff some day when I'm gone and wondering if I made it or someone else did. If I was giving it away it would have a new label but this is going on the wall and no one will see the back unless they look. I'm going to take down my mini quilt clothes line and sew old labels on all of them! How exciting! Just kidding, I have a life:)

I just finished reading The Winter's Sea. And LOVED it. LOVVVVVED it. It's about Scotland and Jacobite's and love. I'm now ready to start the new Sookie book!!!

And the almost done shirt goes to.....

2011-05-06T19:36:00.001+02:00

And the shirt goes to: Crafterhours !!

Send me your address and I'll get the shirt in the mail to you on Monday:)

I want to see a photo of it when you get buttons on!

All of your comments were very interesting and funny! I'm glad at least one person (mrsc1345) admitted she does it every time. because I do too. I got the idea for the pee question because I wanted to ask a question but not a normal one like who do you most admire, etc.? So after an hour of thinking and searching the web, I got up to shower and as I was stepping in I thought, I have to pee. I always have to pee when I get in. Hmmm...that would be a question I would really want to know the answer to!! Because for some unknown reason it's considered gross to do so. Does anyone know why? Personally I think it's grosser to "pop-a-squat" somewhere where there are no toilets. That is a situation where you are most likely going to pee on yourself and you can't wash it off! At least in the shower..ok, you get the point

Thanks everyone for answering that embarrassing question! It was fun for me to read:)

from random.org:

There were 10 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

crafterhours
margaret
sylvia
mrsc1345
venus
vicky
leigh
christhequilter
eve
mb

Me and Ava at Märchenwald amusement park about 20 minutes away. It's for kids about 2-6 years old. After 6 years old it's probably boring.

Music Class Bouse Giveaway!

2011-05-04T13:19:00.000+02:00

Oliver + S Music Class Blouse Giveaway!

BUT!!!

There are no buttons or button holes-you have to do those yourself!

Size 6

(I accidentally wrote size 5 on the post where I originally posted this)

Measurements when laid flat are:

arm pit to arm pit all the way around: about 27-28"

hip is about the same

shoulder to hem: about 15.5

see here how it fits my almost 6 year old.

Fabric is Denise Schmidt Hope Valley in sage green.

The fabric was pre washed and then washed again after I made it.

Rules:

All you have to do it leave a comment on this post!

And tell me (so you have something to say) if you pee in the shower. I do. But if you think it's gross, then I obviously don't! Gross!

I will leave it open till Friday May 6th at 7pm my time (Germany time)

I will ship internationally.

~Good luck!~

chickadilla (and when it rains..)

2011-05-03T09:08:00.000+02:00

Another Ditty bag by Keyka Lou. This is actually the 1st one I made. I made the turtle one after holding this one in my palm upside down thinking, this looks like a turtle on it's back. I don't know what the fabric is except I think I got it from fabrics galore on etsy. And for size reference, it holds a pack of tissues, cell phone and chapstick. Probably a little more like I.D. cards too. I love these bags!

*Chicadilla (the post title) is what Ava calls Quesadillas.

I had to show my latest accident because when it rains it pours:) Yesterday I was carrying in a huge flat awkward 40 pound box (that had unassembled lawn furniture in it). I tripped over a brick and went flying. I landed so hard I could see out of the corner of my eyes, my feet fly up behind me. I hit my thigh as you can see above (although you can't really see how bad the bulging bruise really is) and my other knee slammed into the box too. I slowly got up and went and got the neighbor to bring it the rest of the way in. I wanted to cry sooo bad but I didn't want to be crazy lady next door sobbing and pathetic. My whole body is sore and I feel all of my 39.5 years:) That's it though. No more injury posts because I'm done getting hurt!

Oliver + S Music Class blouse giveaway next post. I swear!

Pity Party

2011-05-01T12:34:00.000+02:00

You're invited to my pity party! Jon is off playing in a sand box for a year (gotta be kind of vague) and I haven't cried yet. Until yesterday. When I sewed through my finger. That hurt unleashed other hurts and it just wasn't a good day! The girls are driving me crazy, I have things I have to deal with that I don't want to deal with (setting up the satellite dish is something a guy should do) and just other random crap. I know I'm one of thousands who are going through this type thing but I just want to throw myself a pity party and act like I'm this is only happening to me:) I did talk to my BFF in California for 4 hours. That's right 4!! And I felt so much better:)

FYI, that needle went pretty deep and I had to manually crank the wheel to get it out. I screamed the loudest, longest, creepiest scream I think I've ever heard. I have read in books people saying things like, "I heard a scream and then realized it was me". I always thought WTF? How do you not know you're screaming? Well now I know. And I have some advice: never (or just be cautious when doing this) yell at your child while sewing. Or don't turn your head to make eye contact with the child you're yelling at while sewing.

Easter morning. The Easter Bunny left their baskets at the back door. We woke Emily up and told her to check if the Easter bunny left baskets. She checked the front door and was confused when there was nothing there! We told her to check the other door. It was so cute seeing them oh and ah over what was left for them.

The girls received super large dragons and dinosaurs and fairy wings. Ava got a Shaun the Sheep cup and bowl set while Emily received two used DVD"s. Shhh don't tell her they are used. I'm so glad she's oblivious to that kind of thing. Or maybe she knows and is thinking I'm a cheap mo fo but is to kind to say anything. This is only the 2nd time I've put Emily in a dress for Easter and I'm not even sure Ava's ever worn a dress!

Just wanted to show what spring looks like at our house. And this picture wasn't even the worst day! Emily puffy-eyed, scabby and snotty. Oh and wheezy. And coughing fits till she throws up.

Turtle Zip

2011-04-28T17:51:00.000+02:00

This is the Ditty Bag pattern by Keyka Lou made into a Turtle! I basically just made hexagons, top stitched them on some green cotton and made the bag the rest of the way just like the pattern instructions except added legs, head and a tail. He is a little like another one I've made in the past....

Thanks for all the comments about the Oliver +S shirt in the previous post-they made me laugh:) I will definitely do a giveaway so the 4 or 5 people who wanted it can enter the giveaway on a separate post. I just need to know if it's ok that if you win the shirt, you'll have to buy your own buttons and make your own buttonholes. Ok?

Music Class

2011-04-26T18:02:00.001+02:00

Music Class Blouse pattern from Oliver + S size 5. Fabric is Denise Schmidt Hope Valley. As you can see, there are no buttons on it. I made this months ago and it's just been hanging, waiting for buttons but I'm not sure I even like the shirt so why waste time with buttons? I probably won't even put it on the girls. It's just not that cute. Maybe it just needs the buttons and a good press to the seams or maybe it's just the wrong fabric? Or I have it paired with the wrong thing? Anyway, it would be good made from a white fabric for her school uniform. The shirt has everything I love (except gathered cap sleeves) pin tucks & a peter pan collar so
I should love it!
ohhh, I know, I should have a giveaway! Can I do that with clothing made from Oliver + S patterns? I'm not selling it.. so I should be able to, right? I just checked to see what number post I'm on and this will be #446. I thought maybe I could wait till post 500 but who knows when that will be?? What do you think?

Family time

2011-04-20T19:45:00.002+02:00

Here are some random photos from our visit to San Diego.

There's no crafting in this post so skip it if that's the only reason you visit! Which is totally OK. But I feel I need to warn those that don't really want to see boring family photos:)

Right to left:

Jon, me, Jon's mom, Jessica (Jon's sister) with Ava on her lap, Glenda (Jon's aunt) with Emily on her lap and Bird Jon's niece (Jessica's daughter)

Bird and Emily. Bird is 15 and as I like to tell anyone who will listen, I saw her come out! And she was truly the most beautiful baby right from birth. I can't even say that about my own!

Bird, Emily and Ava

One of the day's we went to the Zoo. We took the tour bus which is the best way to see the Zoo. Then you go back and walk the places you want to see. We've been going to this zoo since I was little (at least once a year and sometimes more when we had season passes) and I think I've only done the tour bus two times. I will be doing it each time from now on!

One of the funniest pictures ever of Emily & Ava because it says so much about these two. Emily trying to have a nice time and Ava sneaking in and ruining it. That sounds harsh but it's soooo true! Ava has to get in on everything.

When in San Diego we visited Jon's mom twice a day in the hospital.

The girls would get restless and had to find ways to entertain themselves. They even fell asleep a couple of times.

A girls best werewolf

2011-04-17T07:52:00.000+02:00

The Bear Carrier from Oliver + S, Little Things To Sew book. Which is holding Emily's Transforming Werewolf. This is the coolest doll! As you can see, he transforms from a lumberjack to a werewolf!! The girls love him...loooove him! He's not super easy for little hands to transform but they love him.

They just ask me to do it;)

As for the Bear Carrier, I used Heather Ross, Far Far Away 2 fabric and a pastel polka dot for the lining.

Picture of Bear carrier from the book and Transforming Werewolf from here.

No place like home

2011-04-14T19:01:00.000+02:00

Lots of beach pictures from our visit home.

This is La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Children's Pool

You may have noticed the seals in the beach photo (4th row up). This is La Jolla Children's Pool which has been taken over by seals. Here's what I found on the web:

Originally designed and developed as an enclosed beach for children to play and swim at, this popular, man-made cove is now inhabited by hundreds of harbor seals, which can be seen lounging on the beach day and night. Controversy surrounds the future of the pool as some community members feel the seals should be expelled and the cove should once again serve as a place for children to swim, while environmentalists argue that the seals are protected by federal law and are entitled to their adopted habitat.

They have been there forever! I remember them in high school so it's at least been 20 years.

We're back from our trip home. The flight was the worst yet. Ava was at her worst of course so there was no sleeping on the plane and lots of irrational behavior:)

This is Ava:

I want to lay down.

I dropped my toy.

My butt hurts.

I want to sit up.

Emily's touching me.

I dropped my toy.

I want a pillow. Not that pillow.

Where's my bottle?

I want daddy!

I dropped my toy.

My tummy hurts.

I want to take a bath.

I dropped my toy.

I want to get off the plane.

I want mommy!

No, I mean daddy.

I dropped my toy and you're not picking it up fast enough.

and so on...it never stopped.

Jon was in a different row so of course when I would tell Ava no, she wanted daddy. We didn't want to bother the other passengers so we'd switch seats. Well, after we would do that she'd then want the other parent, the one not sitting next to her. She'd throw a huge fit. It was awful. I wanted to spank her butt sooooo bad but it would have made things worse for so many reasons.

Oh and after getting off the plane and taking a 10 minute shuttle bus to our car, the ticket machine won't take my debit or credit card so I can't pay our car-park bill and leave. Jon and I get in a huge fight and after me getting back on the shuttle to get money from an ATM at the airport, getting on the shuttle again and finally getting our car out of the lot, we have a 2 hour drive home. Yay!!!!!

And in case you're asking, yes, I had checked to make sure they took Visa/Master card before committing to this particular car park so the card should have worked but for some reason the machine couldn't read 3 different Master cards!

Now we have horrible jet lag and we're all cranky and irrational!

Pure

2011-04-05T19:36:00.000+02:00

Here's the quilt I made my sister! The fabric is Pure by Sweetwater for Moda. The quilt pattern is Flowers in the Garden by Sweet Jane on Etsy with (from what I remember) a 2" border then a 7" border. The size is 102"x102" (roughly a king size). The shams are extra fabric left over from the quilt with some borders added to make it a standard size sham. I also added piping and the back of each sham is a flap with ties.

*Emily is wearing the cutest top from Target!

Jon's mom is home from the hospital and doing as well as expected. She was finally diagnosed with stage 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme (I think I have it right). It's brain cancer and inoperable. She's undergoing radiation and will start chemo pills today. We will be leaving next week and it's going to be hard.

We were able to get to the beach yesterday so I'll show some pictures of the girls later. We might get to the Zoo or Sea World; a request by Jon's mom. Well see...

Bunny Bunting

2011-03-28T17:51:00.000+02:00

I made these peep garlands ages ago and have been waiting till we are closer to Easter to post them. They are from this template. I used twill ribbon for the yellow and an organza ribbon for the pink. I put the eyes and nose on with brown acrylic paint and a pencil eraser just like the tutorial called for.

I sent the pink one to a certain someone who loves pink and loves Easter decorations.

Hi Mary:)
*
I visited Joann's yestderday. I bought a ton of pearl cotton embroidery floss. I love that stuff! I had only about 5 skeins from a year or two ago and needed more. I really like the way it looks. I also bought pom pom makers from Clover. Last night I made 4. The instructions on the package were awful. Really bad and vague. By the 4th one I figured out how to make them fuller and to tie the middle string tighter, etc. They are so cute! I want to do a garland for Bird (my niece). I'll post them someday.

Don't Forget....

2011-03-25T15:43:00.000+01:00

Thanks for all the nice comments about Jon's mom:)

No knew updates except they postponed her radiation treatment and didn't tell anyone why.

A post I had saved for while I'm gone:

The 2nd in the "Emily Speaks" series. She's brilliant isn't she?

Maybe this should be on the back of the front door for those days I start to walk out the door without a bra.

That's never happened by the way. But there are people with big mammies who do forget!!!

The girls at the store know who I'm talking about!

A couple of weekends ago we went to a birthday party. The weather was so beautiful and with the sun behind Ava she just lit up like an angel:). So the sun does shine here!

This is one of the days she had a blow out. She went under the slide and wouldn't come out. She had that distant, simple-minded look and I couldn't get her attention.

She was busy moving property:)

When I looked it was coming out her back. I had to change her clothes it was that bad!

Daisies

2011-03-24T15:43:00.001+01:00

No crafty stuff. Just a picture of Emily from her Investiture Ceremony for the Daisies. I said I would post a picture of her in her uniform. And bowling with her troop.

So surprise! We're in San Diego for a while.

It all happened fast and I didn't want to post until we were here and until Jon said I could because this concerns his mother.

Last Monday (the 14th) we turned in Emily's passport paperwork to have it renewed. Well that night, we got a call from his sister that Jon's mom was in the hospital with a brain tumor. Can you believe that???? Of course this happens when we have no passport for Emily!! So long story short (sort of) we were able to get a Red Cross Message requesting Jon to be at his mom's side. Jon's Command ok'd his emergency leave so that left us with getting Emily an emergency passport. That is a very long story about people who can't do their job because they suck! But we finally got an appointment in Frankfurt this past Monday. We drove up there, got the temporary passport and that night (Monday night) we got tickets to fly Tuesday morning! Talk about an OMG moment! I was running around my house like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get ready to leave our house at 4:30 the next morning to drive to Frankfurt airport.

The flight was rough (10.5 hours to Dallas then about 3.5 hours to San Diego). Ava was bad to us but good to everyone else! Meaning she was irritable and pissy and needy but didn't scream and try to run around. She's past that stage now I guess. She wanted to take a bath several times on the plane. That was funny.

So about Jon's mom..we're no totally sure what's going on as we just got here and the Dr.s have not been the best at communicating with Jon's sister who is now her mother's caretaker. She has a mass in her brain and we're not sure if it's cancerous but it's stage 4 Glioma something-something. I thought only cancer had stages? But the Dr. wouldn't confirm it's cancer. So who knows. She does start radiation today.

We will be spending our days at the hospital and trying to get in some shopping and visiting of other family members. The weather is beautiful and I'm very happy to be home with my family:)

Och Aye!

2011-03-19T11:11:00.000+01:00

I have been meaning to show these since Christmas. A stocking stuffer for my sister. As I've said before, my sister and I love everything Scottish and the Outlander series. I made the cards here through this Stay Calm generator, saved them then uploaded them to Kodak Gallery. I did a set of 6 all in different pastel colors. She sent one to me in a package so that's why there's writing on this one!

The back of the card.

I made some really funny ones for Jenny B but forgot to take a picture of those before I sent them.

They are an inside joke so really might only be funny to us! I'll show them when someone emails them to me.

Ava pretending to sleep during our tax appointment.

Ava wearing the hat out on a very windy day. I think it's a wee bit big and will need a chin strap.

Reversible Bucket

2011-03-13T17:40:00.003+01:00

The Reversible Bucket Hat made from the Oliver + S book, Little Things to Sew. For both fabrics I used quilters cotton and the interfacing is Stacy woven interfacing. I made a size L because both Emily's and Ava's head measure 20.25" and the Large is supposed to fit approximately a 21" head. I liked the way the pattern went to together and thought it was easy but I'm basing that on my own skill level and can't really judge what's good for beginner's and what's not. How do they determine that anyway? I have tried other hat patterns a loooooong time ago and they never ever came out like they were supposed to. But those were patterns from the major companies (McCall's, etc) they were always homemade looking and usually way to large. I knew this one from Oliver + S would come out. I did! Because it's O+S and their patterns are truly the best. I'm just saying...

Thanks everyone for the get-well wishes. I did not feel better till yesterday evening and Ava seems fine but has had 4 major diaper blow-outs (up the back of the shirt) 2 were while we were out and then once in the bathtub. That was disgusting. And trying to get her to say whether it came from her butt or mouth was like talking to a....3 year old!!! I finally had to smell her mouth and then knew it came from the other end.

True that!

2011-03-11T16:23:00.001+01:00

I just had the roughest week! After my last post (last Sunday) I went to bed and woke up at about 1am with stomach cramps. They were (and the repeated vomiting) so bad by lunch time that I asked Jon to come home so I could go to the clinic. I got some anti cramping and anti nausea meds that helped tremendously but I'm STILL recovering. STILL. Holy cow this has totally wiped me out. This is when it sucks to have kids. You still have to take care of them! The things you don't think about when contemplating having kids...And then Ava got it too. Chocolate milk and hot dogs...something I don't ever want to see mixed together again!
I haven't even been able to email much or comment on other blogs. waaahhhhh!

So the only thing I've been able to do while laid up on the couch is the above poster (more on that in a minute) embroidery, and watch movies! I finished Downton Abbey on Itunes and watched Sense and Sensibility on DVD. The one with Kate Winslet. I had never seen that one before and I own it! And I LOVE period movies! I loved Downton Abbey!!!

So anyway, about the poster above. I made this from one of my favorite quotes by Emily. It's modeled after this guy who is now selling his prints at landofnod.com too. I plan on doing a series of them for the kitchen or bathroom. I did this in photo shop and still have much to learn. I just figured out how to squash or stretch text! I need to learn how to space things..is there a ruler or guide thingy in CS5?

Art Wall

2011-03-06T12:27:00.000+01:00

A while ago I saw this "art wall" and thought how cool that would be in our kitchen since we have a huge blank space above the kitchen table. I've seen this before many times but it took this picture to make me want to do it NOW! Hardware available at Ikea.

Emily drew this picture of Ava a while back. How funny is this?

I think it's funny that this is how Emily sees Ava!

German Alphabet fries. I don't know if they sell the alphabet fries in the states. Do they?

The girls LOVE that they are letters.

I shop waaay more on the economy now than in Stuttgart. It's probably because I have my German friend Connie to tell me what's good and to tell me how to make stuff when I can't read the instructions! Also, the commissary here does not sell fresh chicken anymore! Only frozen chicken.

Thing 2

2011-03-04T13:11:00.000+01:00

On the way to the bus stop this morning.

*look at those eyebrows!

This week at Emily's school was Read Across America week and Dr. Seuss's birthday.

Monday: silly hat (Emily wore a pirate hat)

Tuesday: bring a stuffed animal (she brought a T-Rex dressed in barbie clothes)

Wednesday: silly socks (she wore purple socks with silver stars)

Thursday: wear green (the only green thing she owns is a hoodie Jon got her in Ireland)

Friday: come as your favorite Seuss character (Emily came as Thing 2 as you can see!)

Emily's teacher wore a Thing 2 costume also! Sooo cute! The blue hair clip was the closest I was going to come to blue hair:)

*This was super easy to make. I found a plate the right size for her hoodie front and traced around it on white felt, cut out the circle, then cut it in half. I sewed it on the front with a big basting stitch so It can be taken off after today. I played around with the font in WORD (I wrote Thing 2 in many different sizes, all Century Gothic bold) I printed then laid the paper on the circle till I found the best size. I then cut around each letter on the paper leaving white all around it. I laid each letter on black felt and then cut out each letter exactly, cutting off the white. I then glued each letter on the white circle. I positioned the 2 over the zipper and cut it in half then glued it down.

Coated polaroid keyfob

2011-03-01T09:50:00.000+01:00

For Jocelyn's birthday, a Polaroid painting of her family.

No, it doesn't look anything like her but I think it's adorable!

And it does look like baby Mimi and her husband Mike.

The painting was done by this etsy seller.

Someday I will order one of the girls.

Two key fobs, the wee sheepy one for her and the skulls for our spare keys.

Thank you Corinnea for starting that trend at the store:)

And finally a wet bag for all baby Mimi's blow-outs, etc. It's made from a coated nylon-something. Rip stop. Maybe that;s what it is. Anyway, I had always meant to make myself one when the girls were smaller and of course never got around to it. the coated stuff is from here. to make it I went on etsy and looked at all the wet bags for sizes and how they were made. Then just made a rectangle (lots of tutorials out there for zippered bags) and used french seams. I didn't line it because it's already lined with a rubbery fabric.

Totally Girly

2011-02-27T08:42:00.000+01:00

*the inside of the skirt and my new tags!

A long time ago (about a year or so?) I saw this skirt on etsy. I wanted to buy it for my Emily's BFF, Emilee (for her birthday). But i didn't for one reason or another. Anyway, I stumbled upon the pattern to make it myself and almost (just almost) peed my pants in excitement!! Emily's new friend Cheyenne just had her birthday and she's really girly so I thought this would be perfect!

The really cool thing about this is it's made with no-fray nylon chiffon. It feels like a nylon slip. Really soft but snags on my roughed up cuticles! The chiffon is from this shop and it's sooo cheap! It's 54" wide and $1.69 a yard! I bought 3 different pinks, 1 yard each. I used almost all of it. I made each ruffle a double layer so it took a little more than normal. I also made the size 8 because I had trouble understanding the ratio thing. I don't do math. I.don't.do.math. So I went with the size used as an example in the instructions because it already had the math done for it! As it turns out, it is the perfect size for Cheyenne and even though Ava and Emily are smaller than Cheyenne (just shorter) it looks good on them too. I bought 3 different blues to make Emily one too. She requested blue but when I made this one she said she doesn't remember telling me she wanted blue and how about we do pink!

I had fun taking and editing these photos of Ava. She was really good at taking direction! I know it's odd I have my watermark on each photo so it looks overboard but I hadn't intended on grouping them in twos when I did the watermark. Just needed to explain myself..

I used Florabella Actions: morning glory with some sweet haze on top. The pictures are kind of my ode to this photographer. She has really really inspired me.

I'm into labels

2011-02-26T08:42:00.000+01:00

Look what finally arrived!! After 5 weeks, my new labels are here. I think they are perfect (aside from the really bright green on that one mushroom). Jessica (who designed the logo) helped to make them the right size for a label since the full logo was out of the question. These are from fancyweaver.com in Hong Kong. The prices are the best @ 200 labels for $60 (I ordered 200 small labels and 200 big labels). The big ones are for...big items! Duh. Like quilts and ...other big things and the small ones are for clothing and bags and softies, etc. The only drawback for me is they took 5 weeks (actually longer but I'm not counting the back and forth when working out the design with them. So the total times was actually almost 8 weeks! If you live in the states, the shipping time will be less because I had mine shipped to my military address then here.

The above photo shows the backs of the labels.

The quality is awesome. So thick and professional looking.

Have I mentioned that Emily is a Daisy? She's a Girl Scout Daisy!! I haven't taken any photos at her meetings or events because they didn't really have uniforms..until now. Not this dress! She wore this to the Boy Scout Ball last night. The Girls Scouts were invited as "escorts". Sounds wrong, doesn't it?

I bought this plaid taffeta dress at the PX on clearance for $4 !! I didn't buy it for this ball, I actually got it just because it was $4 and one day one of the girls might need a nice dress and I might not be in the mood to sew one. When I sew on all her patches I'll take a photo of Emily in her "uniform".

You have to look at this website called My First Dictionary. It's really funny!

Year 3

2011-02-25T08:38:00.000+01:00

It's been 3 years since I started this blog!

Three years ago today Ava was 6 weeks old and Emily was 2.5 years old.

A lot has changed since my 1st post!

I had a lot to say about being grateful, etc. but I'll keep it simple since some people skip the reading!

Today it was sunny! But mother chuckn' cold! Like 25-30 degrees cold. Emily and Ava have colds and Emily's cough is back. But since it was sunny, I made them go outside for a few minutes to take some pictures.

This hat Emily is wearing is mine but I think she looks so beautiful in this color so occasionally she wears it. She takes my breath away.

Doesn't it look like Ava is holding the camera in the photo on the right?

Maybe she'll make it her face book profile picture.

All photos were processed with Florabella Color & Haze Actions: Milk & Honey with milk haze turned off.

blogiversay digi stuff:

Font is "Chalkboard" from dafont

Frame from: mscraps birthday bash blog train freebie: scooty's designs free

Chalkboard "paper": http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=333

bunny from: minitoko and it's free

Have a nice day!

2011-02-22T14:34:00.000+01:00

I almost forgot I have a blog! How can that be?? I'm not even doing anything exciting.

It's TOO COLD HERE! And the sun DOESN'T SHINE HERE! So we know I'm not outside!

But enough complaining. I wanted to show off the cutest poster ever! I saw this on someone else's blog (I don't have the link anymore since we reformatted my computer) a loooong time ago and had to have it. The funny thing about this poster is where it comes from. This is the store and it's in England. You have to click on it to see the name and then come back:) Some of my coworkers already know this story but I'll tell it any way because it still makes me laugh at my own stupidity.

I was at work on a very boring Thursday night and remembered this poster and wanted to see if it was still available. Well I couldn't remember the name....only the 1st part. So I stupidly typed "p***y store" in to the search engine ON THE WORK COMPUTER and hit the search button. It took about 2 seconds to realize I just tried to search for a "p***y store" on a government computer and how was I going to convince everyone that I wasn't searching for porn???? I almost had a heart attack trying to cancel and get off the Internet! No one showed up at the store and as far as I know, no one filed a complaint (who knows how much they monitor those computers??). What an idiot huh? Another funny thing was when I called the store and the lady who answered said the name of the store like it was nothing in a British accent. I would have been giggling and turning red EVERY time I answered the phone if I was her.

I cut Ava's hair (yeah, I cut it. I was lazy and didn't want to take her to get it done professionally) about a week ago and all the curls are gone. Remember this picture (scroll down to the curls and back fat)? There goooone!! I wonder if she'll have some later..

I meant to post this picture of Mary's cake pops in Nicolas's hands but I forgot. Sorry Mary! So here they are. She did the most amazing job! Seriously Mary, you really did me proud:)

And how she brought them to his school was even cute!

Shower Gift

2011-02-17T19:08:00.000+01:00

My sister asked me to make a baby shower gift for a friend of hers.. and this is what I suggested.

I'm telling you people, this top is EASY! I used the left overs from the yard I made Ava's top out of. So you can get a 5t and a 12-18 month size out of 1 yard!

The pants are Bed Time Story pj pants.

I did a lettuce edge hem on the sleeves, pant hem and shirt hem with my serger.

Below are two things I have saved to my computer and I thought I'd share.

Inspiration corner from odeedoh. I want to do this!!

I LOVE this pillow! It's from Landofnod.com. I could so make that for the girls room!

I'm listening to the The Generals Daughter on my IPOD and reading the Fall of Giants. I read The General's Daughter years ago and loved it. I never saw the movie with John Travolta because I just figured it was bad. I like listening to it on audio except the guy reading it is annoying. He reads it like a guy from the 50's. A guy who would say "see ya later doll". Oh I know, he sounds like the guy from the Twilight Zone. Hard to explain and no I don't hate the way all books are read, there have been many where I really liked the readers voice. But there have been so many where i do a lot of eye-rolling while listening.

I borrowed the Fall of Giants for my ereader from the army online library. How cool is that???

Kokeshi x 6

2011-02-15T13:46:00.000+01:00

*look away from the dust and don't judge:)*

Jon's new Kokeshi dolls from me for Valentine's day (the 3 on the right) The 2 farthest left we got in San Diego at an antique store (it's in Ocean Beach and they have a ton of that vintage Pyrex stuff that's all the rage). The store is one Jon and I LOVE and always visit when we visit home.And the one in the middle (in yellow) is from my sister-in-law Jessica.

I had to show the boy kokeshi doll! He's got a wedgie and boobies!

This was a rare day where I caught the sun for about 5 seconds because

the sun does not shine in Schweinfurt:(

I think everyone is having a horrible winter and can't wait for sun

(you heard right, I said I can't wait for the sun!). Am I right?

Mary: my 1st guest blogger!

2011-02-13T13:22:00.000+01:00

My friend Mary Allen is my 1st guest blogger. She doesn't have her own blog and I want everyone to see how fabulous she is so I'll post her stuff here and she can be my guest!

She made this valentines card for her son Nickolaus to take to school using this kit. Mary had NEVER used photo shop. Never messed around with digital scrap booking and had never run actions on photos and look at this!!! I am so impressed and so proud of her!!! If you were here Mary, I'd slap you on the butt and say nice job! Bravo! Well done:)

The really cool thing about this card is that she will cut slits in his hand to hold a real lollipop!

I love it Mary! I know you will inspire others to do this too!