One: getting a photo of oneself is not an easy task
Two: one should always clean one's mirrors prior to attempting to take a photo of oneself


Three: one should always be sure one's shirt is clean before attempting to take a photo of oneself

Well--here I am.

I've lost 11.2 pounds and am returning to Curves on Monday.

He SAID IT!!

Hubby helped me clean up my sewing area over the weekend.

(I told you he's a cleaner)

I think he now "gets it".

He looked around and felt totally overwhelmed at first but then dug right in.

I organized, boxed and labeled.
He vacuumed and sorted.

We folded the piddly little stash I have.

It's embarrassingly small.

Not even a diaper box worth-

-but someday....

then he said it....

" We might need to get you some shelves."

That was it. One sentence.

But it was an acknowlegement that summed up all that I have been trying to accomplish down there with my 17 year old Kenmore boring straight stitch sewing machine.

I don't know if my fabric obsession will ever be completely understood but my ability to sew and need to do it has been acknowleged and even accepted!

In his defense,

up until now,

my life has been a lot of starts and not so many finishes--

so I think I have now proven how much I enjoy starting and finishing sewing projects!

Big steps in this house!

You can see a bit of my tidying in this pic.

My sweet fabric basket from Jodi holds my bobbins and seam ripper.

I also toss whatever I need to take upstairs with me for hand sewing in there so it's portable.

So...

fresh off the sewing table is an apron that I zipped up for Pumpkin.

I made it from a tea towel and used this quick tutorial from A Spoonful of Sugar.

As you may notice, it has a stain already.
She wore it yesterday and wiped her hands all over it.

Apparently this is what you do with an apron.

"you do it all the time mom"

I guess I do.

Oh well. I made it to be used.

This is the one I'm making for Bubby.

Almost done.

Maybe hubby will let me buy a little more fabric...

you know...

to fill the shelves?

* Hee Hee *

Saving my pennies...

I {heart} the grey.

My dad's favourite colour was grey.

Possibly because he was colour blind...

but still,

since his passing grey has a special place in my heart.

The polka dots make my heart race!

Fabulous!

If this is the future it will be worth the wait!!
Make Life... by Sweetwater

Take a peek!
You can win some too!

Sicilian Sausage Pasta

Ingredients:

8oz extra-broad egg noodles (1/2 pkg.)

2 cups ripe cherry tomatoes or tomates coursely chopped

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

1 clove minced garlic

1 tbsp. crushed dried basil

1/2 tsp. salt

pinch of black pepper

parmesan cheese to taste

3 grilled Oktoberfest sausages

Bob Evans Wild fire BBQ sauce

(or your favourite sauce for grilling)

Skill:

1. Cook pasta in boiling salted water for 7 minutes.

Meanwhile cut cherry tomatoes in half

or chop large tomatoes

(the dish pictured above used chopped large tomatoes--it is sooo much better using cherry tomatoes)

2. Heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat.

Saute onion and garlic,

until onion has softened. (5 minutes)

4. Place sausage on BBQ or grill to heat.

When nearing their finish,

brush lightly with BBQ sauce.

Slice sausage and set aside.

3. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil to onion mixture.

Stir occassionally until tomatoes soften. (3 minutes)

Add hot drained pasta and sausage.

Toss until well blended.

Serve immediately sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

adapted from Sicilian Pasta by Chatelaine Magazine 1995

________________________________________________________________________________

This meal is incredibly good!

and best made with cherry tomatoes

from your neighbour's garden!

(thanks Vic)

It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

My kids eat it well too!

Enjoy!

These are the shoes...

These are the shoes...
after hours of shopping, decided to try;
and were so thrilled to spy.



These are the shoes...
that we had to choose
white or black.
We had nothing to lose.




These are the shoes...
we were excited to buy.
We went to the cash to stand in line.




These are the shoes...
we thought were so neat.
But once home, we realized,
had only the receipt.


These are the shoes...
my hubby paid for
and in the end
got left at the store.


These are the shoes...
I called in frantic panic!
I'm sure Customer Service
thought I was manic.


These are the shoes...
almost put back out on the floor
to be sold once again
at the store.


These are the shoes...
that caused all the ruckus
but in the end were worth the fuss.




Because...

These are the shoes...

that FIT!

Pretty Little Dresses

Here it is!

Done and in it's new home between Pumpkin's huge walk-in closet doors.

This pattern was a gift to me from Vanessa at V & Co.

and now I'm hooked!

Her tutorials are so easy to follow.

I bought the frame at the Sally Ann for $2

and in true V & Co. fashion

spray painted it within an inch of it's life

to bring it to it's shabby white perfection.

This project totally took away the fear of trying something new.

Thanks V.

I'm so pleased I could burst!!

so...

It was supposed to be a little hole.

"No big deal."



The city owns the first 10 feet of our property from the road.
You hope that all the problems happen within the first 10 feet.

This was not the case.

I got back from the salon to find this man

(not hard on the eyes--however--not the point)

in my basement "studio"
with water on the floor running towards my quilt I have laid out for piecing.


"Hi" he says.

"Hi?" I say.


He was doing this.
I think it's going to be expensive.

I hate expensive.



So um....

It never ceases to amaze me...

you dig up all that dirt from the same place,

and then when you put it back in it doesn't fit?

Maybe it's because they buried my TREE in there!!

(see the place where my shrub USED to be)

What a mess.

I think we're going to need LOTS of grass seed!

I may need to open an Etsy shop to pay for this!

what would I sell?

vials of dirt,to start, I think.

I could wrap them in vellum

tie them with a grosgrain ribbon

and charge $9.99 for them.

what do you think?

Felt Artistic

My real life friend Heather is awesome!

She was the inspiration to get back into crafting

and she encouraged me to start a blog.

She also inspires me daily with her creativity

and she's a fabric shopping buddy :)

So she's all around FABULOUS!

She also has a fabulous ETSY shop!

Felt Artistic

Heather is celebrating 50 sales in her shop

and is giving away lots of fabulous felted goodies!
See?

And a pair of her oh so cozy Fingerless Gloves

in your choice of colours!

She's so talented....

So do you wanna' win?

Go check out Heather's blog!

Getting there...

so far...so good.

Hexagon Love

**inspired by this tutorial

Plain??

My 4 1/2 year old is complaining about her wardrobe...

again....

She is not generally a complainer.

But if you consider that she wants to look her best,

stand out from the crowd just a little,

and have a feminine aire--

I mean, really,

she's just a pint-sized teenage girl!!

Or woman for that matter!!

She just wants to be girly, really.

this I understand.

so thanks to this tutorial,

and a whole 8 minutes to make

she went to school yesterday looking chic!

She was REALLY happy!

serious "owie"

Should have stopped for a pedicure on the way to see the Doc...

Just a pulled ligament but

no activity for 4 weeks.

4 WEEKS!

I have kids....

Some activities you just can't stop.

Curves, on the other hand,

well...it will just have to wait!

Today was Pumpkin's official first day of school.

Oh it's been a rough one FOR ME!!--

I'll tell ya'!

Our bus route is small and so instead of a bus they are picking her up in a big 15 seater van.

This means she needs to be in a booster seat.

Let's just say that the poor bus driver doesn't seem to know how to use a booster seat!

Oh the terrors of watching your baby say bye bye and not knowing if she will be buckled properly when it's time to come back home.

In true P.M.S. (Paranoid Mother Syndrome)

I phoned the school and the matter is resolved.

(thank goodness)

Today reminded me of my dad, however.

Pumpkin had visited the school library in the morning

and you know,

that girl is desperate to read.

She came home, not full of tales of her first day,
but of what story she thought the pictures of this book was telling.

She has a wonderful imagination and is most happy when being read to.

My dad always said,
"If you can read and write, you can do anything!"

I believe this to be true.

He instilled that love of books in her from the very first gift he gave her from his own heart...

The power of the written word.

The love of books.

FINISHED!!!

Finally!!!

whew!

Just in time to send it to school with Pumpkin....

She needed to take a blanket or towel for quiet/reading time

and me being me, I couldn't bring myself to give her

a store bought blankie...

nope...

I wanted it to be special

My inspiration came, believe it or not, from this...

the ceramic tile in our entry way.

I've always loved how this tile was laid

and I knew that I could incorporate something like this

with felted wool as I could stretch and pull as need be.

I cut up 4 different thrifted wool sweaters.

the mauve ribbed was pure cashmere

the pink and dark purple were a cashmere/wool blend

the red was a wool/angora blend

and the stripe was pure wool

they all felted beautifully

and considering all the squares I cut it came together really quickly

Especially using my 5 and 10 inch "square it ups"

from Jodi's Etsy shop

Pumpkin is so happy with it

I think it made her first day at school really special.

p.s. speaking of Jodi and her blog Pleasant Home.com

Help me, help you...

she's doing a giveaway for a "Gobble Gobble" Layer cake--

so do me a favour

come on,

pretend you like me,

and go visit her blog

HERE

and in your comment let her know I sent you

then we'll both be entered!!

thanks

and good luck!

What do

one apron book,

2 1/2 yards of your choice of fabric,

6 half yards of Christmas fabric,

10 fat quarters,

and one yet to be revealed fabric goodie

have in COMMON?

How about these 4 fabulous fabric shops?

Give up?

go to

but before you do,

do yourself a favour and

take your socks off...

Otherwise those suckers are gonna'

blow right off your feet!

It'll be like losing them in the dryer but

worth it!

I think I have Back to School A.D.D.

This is not an actual diagnosis by a trained professional
however I am aware of Crafting A.D.D.
which runs in my family

and I think the gene runs strong....

Remember my "project" ?

Well I've still got that to finish before Pumpkin heads off to school
um... yeah...
5 days and counting

But I had to interrupt myself to do this project--

ALSO for Pumpkin's Back to School extravaganza
and wardrobe re-fashion
(read, there's a hole in her jeans and I don't want to buy new ones)

oh,
and the lunch bag I plan on making

and the hair accessories....

yes.

A.D.D.

If I could just finish ONE of them!

These are almost done and they were quick and fun!

I used this tutorial because it was really easy to follow.

minus the Pellon's, of course.

I'll feel better about sending my sweet Pumpkin

out into the big bad world of school

if I send her with some handmade goodness

*grin*

Do you know where "Simply This or That" went?

You know....

My favouritest blog in the whole Bloggerverse?!

Simply This, That and the Other?

Well she moved!

I know--I was shocked!!!

Well actually I kinda' knew...
*giggle*

Now she has a new home that's better than ever!

It's a sweet home,

a lovely home,
an inspirational home,

A

click away!

you'll be glad you did!

Especially if you like this guy!

He's from a shop called Folkart Gatherings

he's the prize for a GIVEAWAY!