What a Difference a Few Hours Makes.....

Donner Lake - Wednesday, July 13

Taken at 10:56 am

Taken at 1:42 pm. 

We left the beach shortly after this picture was taken because thunderstorms were blowing in and it was too windy and cold!!!!

High Altitude Training

Today was my first high altitude training run here in Tahoe Donner.

 It's ridiculous how beautiful the scenery is, but running is HARD. Too many big hills and not enough oxygen!

Hole in the Wall

AKA... the cupboard beneath the stairs (which the Harry-Potter-adoring children LOVE the idea of). We are finally moving forward on the plan to build cubbies under the stairs to house shoes, backpacks, Mama's purse, etc. It was very, very fun cutting the holes. Although once it was done, Darryl said, "I don't really know how to build cubbies..." To which I replied, "That's OK, we didn't know how to build bookshelves last summer!" Always by the seat of our pants.....

 

They're dying to get in there. 

A little perspective

Burlap Bags

A while ago, Jill and I saw the cutest bags in a coffee shop and I wanted one. They were made out of burlap coffee bags and lined with really pretty floral fabric. The price was pretty steep so I decided not to buy, but my brilliant sister suggested that I could make one easy peasy (and probably could find the burlap bags on the internet). Well she was right -- I could and I did. These two I made for the kids' teachers for an end-of-the-year thank you gift.

........The NEXT one I make will be for me!!!!!!!

Springtime Flower Girls

I bought this fabric awhile ago and couldn't wait to make something out of it (I still have a lot left - expect to see more of it eventually!). Apparently Madeline felt the same... she was really excited to have her own girly, flowery tote bag. She picked out all the coordinating fabrics and even help in the design of the bag. Although she was much too busy playing Lego Star Wars to help Mama sew it together, she was very pleased with the end result.

Hail and Patchwork

The last day of winter and we were treated to a crazy hail storm that lasted for about 10 minutes resulting in a not-very-springy, and not-very-Santa-Cruzy, look outside...

In spite of the frightful weather, I finally finished my patchwork pillow!

Mismatched buttons seemed to work with the crazy patchwork

(and besides, I didn't like any of my matchy-matchy ones).

It looks really pretty on our bed.

Another recent project that's turned into more of a collaboration with Angie is this bag:

I made it a few weekends ago, wasn't thrilled with the way it turned out, and gave it to Angie.
Now she has added the tassel and the buttons on the appliquéd heart and turned it into
something totally unique and really beautiful!

Beautiful springtime cards

Fabric scraps, card stock and my sewing machine . . . voilà! Lovely spring-y greeting cards that I love.

Looking for more ideas for the bins and bins of fabric I have. I checked out 6 sewing and quilting books from the library yesterday, so stay tuned!!!

Presents for Baby Quinn

Here are the super cute onesies I made for little Baby Quinn. (The top secret surprise I couldn't show you last week!) As to the worries that Q won't have anything with his name on it -- don't worry, kiddo, I'll embroider your undies if you want me to. Yes, his auntie is firmly wrapped around his sweet little finger!

Weekend Sewing

I have just about burned myself out on sewing, but I finished a couple more projects this weekend. And one more that is top secret because it is a gift for someone, but SOOOOO cute -- I can't wait to show you! Here are the ones I did finish...

Our pretty firewood carrier (Darryl would like me clarify that, in the above picture, the pretty carrier is being held by my very handsome firewood carrier -- just so there's no confusion)! I made it out of really durable indoor/outdoor fabric with dowel handles following the directions found here: http://sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/741-noel-home-sturdy-stylin-firewood-carrier. It's a fast and easy project that turned out great!

The other project was a silly, but very necessary one. Miss Madeline has told me on numerous occasions that she was sad she didn't have a minky baby blanket like I've made for many babies (Logan, Rosie, Quinn...) and so.... drumroll, please..... Maddy's baby blanket (2 weeks before her 8th birthday!)

It even has her name on it (which I did to compensate for my boneheaded cutting mistake that lead to the one block of 9-patch. Oops.)

Hope you had a good weekend!

Pockets and Hearts

I had a number of projects cooking all at the same time AND I was waiting to finish them all up before posting any pictures.... First, I made bedside organizers for the kids. They enjoy staying up past bedtime and reading books by flashlight, and clearly, they needed someplace to put said books and flashlight. I got the initial inspiration here http://sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/400-bed-caddy but changed ours quite a bit in the end. (Still love those gusseted pockets!)

I was excited (intimidated) to learn how to sew buttons and buttonholes using my new machine, but as it turns out, the buttons the kids picked out were too big. So I had to learn how to sew buttonholes without a cool, one-touch button on my machine. Hopefully they won't fall apart -- they are really wonky and crazy, but functional (so far). I did sew on the buttons with the machine and that was slick.

 The other project that has completely consumed me recently was making crayon hearts for Valentine's Day. In another burst of organizing, I discovered a shameful amount of broken crayon bits and off-brand crayons. I decided to get the kids involved (ha ha) and make something for their friends and classmates. We (mostly me) melted the broken bits and pieces in our new heart-shaped mini muffin pan. In the end, the pan ended up looking nearly as lovely as the hearts themselves....

That's it for now. Next on the docket is a firewood carrier, favor bags for Madeline's birthday party, Valentine's tea towels.... I sure I'll think of some more!

Embroidery - finally!

Sewing Projects

Peacock Bag

Madeline's tiny bag (matches her skirt)

 My tiny bag

Bean Bags! (To hold down pattern pieces while cutting fabric)