My "Studio"

Or maybe you would call it a sewing room.  Call it what you want.  I'll call it finished (mostly)!

We have this room downstairs that I have always used to sew when I'm not sewing at the kitchen table.  It has also housed our computer and office-y crap.  It has been called the office, the sewing room, the pit and other non-endearing names over the course of our living here. We had water issues when we moved in and finally getting that fixed has allowed us to use the room without wading in water after a rain.  But what we didn't fix was the mold problem we had...yuck!

In February we finally took that step too.  We had all of the drywall removed, walls and ceiling, moldy insulation removed and the room frame bleached.  Then new drywall installed and painted.  Mike laid the laminate floor to match the rest of the basement.

Let me try to convey to you how much I love my new room.

I LOVE my new room!!

It is so neat and tidy.  It smells good.  I have a space to do all the sewing and crafting I could ever care to do.  I can stand and cut out a pattern without bending over the kitchen table, Hallelujah! I LOVE my new room!

I thought for sure that I had some pictures of the mess of a room this was before.  This was all I could find. It was not much less of a mess than this but this was taken while my brothers were laying floor in the family room and hall.  Most everything was in this room from the family room too.

Check out my beautiful room now.  It is a plethora of Pinterest ideas.  It may not look all that neat and tidy in these pics but it was in use.  I was sewing and Maya was crafting.  Mike was even down here working on the threshold that my brother cut for the doorway.

My, my it sure is nice to have a place to do these things. My first project in my new room was a skirt for me.  Holy moly! Something for myself? Why, yes.  My pinterest addiction has opened a whole new world of wants and sewing/creating awesomeness.  I found this tutorial and pattern on Sew Mama Sew (a fave sewing site) and it looked easy and cute so I tried it.  No disappointment here.  Easy and cute!

I didn't have a top on my cutting table so I busted out my trusty card table and used it as a table top on top of the bookshelves to make my skirt.  That has since been fixed and now I have a nice firm surface upon which to cut and sew.  And of course my ancient cardboard cutting mat.  That old thing has been all over the place and used for much more than a simple cutting mat.

So, who gets the next item up for sewing?  Maya.  Simplicity # 5695.  No tutorial or online pattern.  Just good ol' tissue paper patten from JoAnn's.  My only modification was to make each tier longer to make the overall length of the dress longer.  My pattern is old and a size 4 is the largest.  Maya fits the 4 around but the length was quite short. With 3 extra inches total the length is perfect.  I even made tags. I have tried them before and didn't like the way they turned out.  I was trying to use cotton belt webbing. But then I found instructions for using ribbon.  Ha! Who knew?!

It's great for spinning.  Every dress or skirt Maya has ever put on gets an immediate spin.  The loft of the garment while spinning is the only true determination of like or dislike.

I suppose it passed the spin test.  And look at the super smiles I got from my beauty! Wow!!

Here is my favorite part of this little dress (aside from the fact that MY daughter is wearing it).  Check out the little vine hem detail.  Not part of the pattern.  Just a cute embroidery stitch on my machine.

No, I won't leave you hanging about my pinterest ideas.

#1. This is Maya's crib rail. This was one of the first things that I saw on pinterest that I knew I must have. We still had her crib.  It was handed down from her cousins and had been discontinued and deemed dangerous because of it's drop rail sides. I am so glad to get to re-purpose it.

#2 My cutting table was roughly based on this table. I don't have enough space for 4 shelves so we used two. Perfect! I am 5'5". If you are any shorter than this, this table is probably not for you. It is 36" tall. After cutting out at the kitchen table for all of my sewing life, this thing is a God send! My back has never been happier after cutting.

And this is where the "mostly"comes in.  I plan on making a curtain to cover between the two shelves and behind them.  I also plan on making a roman blind for my window but haven't had a chance to get fabric for those yet.  And I need to frame and hang some pictures for the naked wall.  Also ignore the dust bunnies and threads.  I need to vacuum.  I use my space.

#3 is my neatly folded fabric scraps.  Love! These were all wadded up folded neatly in the trunk you can see in the pic above.  It's really hard to see what you have when it's buried in a trunk.

#4 is my little Mod Podge fabric clock (roughly again) from Make it and Love it (one of my fave crafting sites)

Easter 2012 - Nothing to Smile About

You've heard me rant before about the whole, taking Maya's picture situation.  It has only gotten worse.  Now instead of the sad and melancholy face all we get is the fake smile.  I have tried to explain that the fake smile does put something that resembles a smile on her mouth (and makes that super cute dimple show up) but that her eyes are not smiling.
Today she was looking so beautiful in her Easter frock.  So after church, we wondered on over to the neighbors yard for an impromptu photo shoot.  More like imprompt-poop.  Gaaaaa! I would think that at 5, almost 6 years old that there are lots of things one could think of to make one smile.  But apparently I am dead wrong.  May I present exhibits A-G. A and B were taken on our porch before we left for church.  C and D were taken in church after our service.  C had the potential to be a great pic but after just one I knew it was hopeless and I didn't want everyone there to see me growling at my daughter to behave.  You know, growling makes for wonderful responses to pictures, ha! Then there are E-G in the neighbors yard.

A 

B

C

D

E

F

G

Really? Really Maya? Sigh...

I can't just leave it at the bad ones.  There were a couple of salvageable ones but only a couple.

Exhibit H and I:

H

I

Stinking rotten! 

No matter what the picture situation was today, we enjoyed our Easter with our family.  Who could ask for more? After all, it is Easter and my child is here with me.  My heart is full to overflowing.  Hope you've enjoyed your day too!

Luke 24

1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.

Public Service Announcement

Yea, I know...It's been a while.  But I'm just gonna pretend that I haven't missed a day.  How about all 3 of us pretending that too because what I have to tell now could potentially save someone some serious agony.

K?

Moving on...

Last Thursday I kept my friend's kiddos while they went to see Allison Krauss.  Now, I would love to have seen Allison Krauss but....wait, that's not what this is about.
We had a great time while they were here.  We made individual pizzas for dinner. (that's always a hit!)

Then I safely loaded the kids into the back of the 4-Runner, rolled down the window and drove them < 1 mile to the neighbors farm. Contrary to the looks on all of their faces they were having a blast, unrestrained in the back of the truck.

We went there to see and bottle feed this new calf, Smokey.  It's momma had twins and she abandoned this one.  The owners are hand raising it.  How sweet is that??

 There are also beagles at this farm and poor Smokey played second fiddle to the pups.

After playing at the farm for a bit, we came home, got a deep clean in the tub, jammas on, hair and teeth brushed and then I remembered I had bought each of the kids a glow stick wand.  That's when things turned ugly...

(I bought one for A too, the cute blondie in the dress above, but forgot to take it to the farm with us.  This is hers.  Her Dad told me to just keep it after "the incident")

I busted out the glow sticks to cheering and applause.  I broke and shook them to get them glowing good and bright.  Then I attached each of the hard plastic things. Maya had a flower, G had a butterfly and E had a sword. His hard plastic piece was the handle for the sword.  The girl's pieces were on the top like the heart in the pic above.

They were playing and whooping it up in the play room when E ran into the living room, holding his sword high.  He proclaimed that I was to be a mean monster.  I needed to chase him back to the play room where he would protect the princesses with his sword.  How could I resist?  So growling and stomping I chased him to the playroom.  Just as I stepped in front of the door, through which was coming lots of screaming and laughing, it happened..

Maya held her wand firmly and cast a spell on the mean monster.  What a spell that was! The hard plastic flower flew from the end of the wand and bashed me in the eye. Yes, I said, "bashed me in the eye"! I screamed, Maya cried, Mike freaked out and poor little G & E were piled in the corner wide eyed and scared to death.  I heard/felt a pop when it hit.  I was sure my eyeball had ruptured.  I felt it in the back of my head it hurt sooooo badly!!!!!

I ran to the living room at which point I nearly collapsed.  I fell to my knees with my hands over my eye and my head on the couch sobbing.  Mike went and confiscated the hard plastic pieces from all the sticks and checked to see if the kids were alright.  I on the other hand was still a wreck and afraid to take my hand from my eye.  When I was finally able to gain a small bit of composure I pulled my hand away to find it full of [GRAPHIC ALERT] watery blood. I thought for sure it was the contents of my eyeball. Mike turned an ugly shade of pale and got a little wobbly. Between the two of us, we were able to get me up out of the floor and to the bathroom mirror.  What was in my hand was blood from the gash over my eye and tears and not the leaking contents of my eyeball.

And then there was the dark/blurry spot in my field of vision.  Mike kept asking over and over, "can you see? CAN YOU SEE?".  Well, yes, I could see but with a slice of my visual field kinda blanked out.

I was leaving the next morning to go to a Women of Joy conference with my girls from church.  So I mulled over going to the ER or not.  I chose not. The gash was small and stopped bleeding quickly.  I am a RN and who is worse at taking care of themselves than those that provide health care to others...the old "do as I say, not as I do" adage is so relevant...

(the culprit. Photo courtesy of Julie)

Throughout the weekend we had fun making light of my "bad eye" and spoke pirate-y a lot, Aaarrggh!  And the dark/fuzzy spot went away, mostly.  Strangely enough, it was worse in the dark. 

Then I awoke Monday morning with a migraine.  Now, I do get a migraine from time to time.  And I take a medication that is "off label" used for migraines but I take it for it's intended purpose and think that I get the added benefit of it helping out with my migraines.  I forgot to take all my meds with me over the weekend.  So I could 98% contribute the migraine to being without my meds all weekend.  I took Maya to school then came home, took my  Rx med and some migraine meds.  When I woke back up, my vision was all wonky.  I don't usually get visual disturbances with my migraines except for light sensitivity so I freaked out.  I called my doc; out of town this week.  I called my eye doc; out of the office this week.  What the heck, man?!!  So I called Maya's eye doc and they got me right in.  (Love you Drs Whittington & Whittington. You will be my new eye doc!!!)

Dr Hall checked out my eyes.  This is what he said: I have no rips or detachments (thank you, Jesus).  I was probably having muscle spasms due to the impact. And/or I had a floater that got shaken from it's usual spot and I could now see it because it is in a new place.  I do have lots of floaters.  He said that you get used to them when they stay in one spot and you don't really notice them.  But if one gets moved around you will notice it for a while until you get used to it being in it's new spot.  He dilated my eyes with some super duper dilator that kept me dilated for 3 days to relax the muscles.

Today my black eye is almost gone and is more like a lovely shade of yellow.  My pupils are just about the same size and my vision is almost 100%.  I still see my newly placed floater occasionally but nothing like I was seeing.

I said all of that to say this...DO NOT attach the hard plastic pieces on these glow stick wands.  Glow sticks are fun and pretty.  I love them.  The big ones that make up these wands are awesome.  I would have never guessed that that little piece of plastic could cause this kind of damage.  I thank God that it was me that got hit and that Maya was the one that hit me.  If the same thing had happened to one of the kiddos I honestly think it could have blinded them.

Easter 2011

Yes, we did celebrate Easter around this house.  We also celebrated Easter at my sister's house where I left my lil camera that I had taken pictures with on Easter morning and didn't retrieve it until yesterday.  So we'll just pretend this post happened a couple of weeks ago.
To kick off the Easter celebration we participated in a couple of Easter egg hunts.  The first one was at our church where baskets and kids were flying at the word "GO".  I don't think that Maya got hit by this one but it was close.  Even if she did, it didn't leave a mark and we would never know otherwise because she is one tough cookie.  Unless she is seriously injured or in big trouble she doesn't cry. The other hunt was at school and I didn't take my camera...

Happy as a clam to be sitting next to her daddy.  She loves that he has started going to church with us.

The bunny showed up and left this pile of goodies for Maya.  She went straight for the Magic School Bus World of Germs kit.  She is ever so excited to get some nasties growing.

Maya loves critters! (stuffed animals)  She prefers smaller ones that she can hold in one hand easily.  Bananas is the little monkey in her left hand.  He is super cute and she takes him everywhere.  Speedy is the little hamster in her right hand. (they are Ty Beanie Ballz. just FYI) The Easter bunny knew how much she loves Bananas and found him a friend.  Maya could not be happier about her new round buddies.

Several attempts were made for a family pic without much luck.  I really hate myself in pictures but I'll share this one anyway.

We didn't color eggs this Easter but I found this video on the old blog from Easter 08.  Check it out! It is oh so cute and I did shed a tear watching and listening to that tiny baby's voice.
Hope your Easter was grand!  Like Maya says, "Mom, Easter is not all about eggs and bunnies, you know?"

The "Jolly"

Our back yard is the rain drainage system for our neighborhood.  Yep, nice, I know.  It's not something we or any kind of developer decided on.  This was God's creation.  You see, we live in the arm pit or elbow of our road.  The road runs by the front of the house and then curves around and goes by the side also.  It's kind of hard to explain but if you've ever been here you know what I'm talking about.

When it rains hard we get the run off from the road coming from both the front and the side down into the "jolly".  Our back yard is not a real steep incline from the woods to the house but there is definitely some elevation change. Therefore, the water runs into the yard and flows down into the woods and into the gully, or um, "jolly" as Maya so cutely refers to it.

In the woods there is a big 'ol cliff that the water runs over creating a waterfall that is oh so fun to play in.  But getting down there is a bit of a challenge.  It's steep and I would guess a 15-20 foot drop over the side of the cliff.  And the water only runs over when it's been raining hard enough for our yard to be said drainage system meaning that its wet and muddy along the sides of the gully and not so easy to traverse. 

Now, don't think that just because it's slippery and muddy and not all that warm that I'm not gonna put on my most loose fitting and tread-free Cr0cs and escort my daughter, one handed because the other is full of flowers that she has picked along the way, down to the fun of falling water at the bottom of the jolly.  After all, she did just say,"Mom, let's go explore and enjoy nature".  Yes, that is exactly what she said.

This stinker is so full of sass these days.  Not in a bad way really, but just this; hand on hip, smirky face I'm the princess of everything attitude.  She mostly saves this for us and is pretty normal outside of home, mostly...

She tried to stay out of the water but it was more than any 5 year old could stand.  So we danced in the drips.. 

..and splashed in the puddles.

She found this wonderful little "stage" as we were making our way back out of the jolly.  She did put on a little show.  Fisher was not going to be left out of all of the pictures.  After all, he was on his first hike after his surgery and wanted everyone to know he was back to his old self. 

Dad was waiting for us when we emerged from the woods, camera in hand and jealous that he hadn't been home in time to explore and enjoy nature with us.

What I Learned this Week

How dang exciting is this??  A carnival! Yes, I said carnival!
My friend Julie over at From Inmates to Playdates hosts this fun lil gathering every Tuesday and I threatened to participate many moons ago. So, without further ado, this is what I learned this week in no particular order or significance.

*If you are away from blogging for a bit it's not so easy to sit down and get back at it.  But when you do it is so much fun!
Maya was on spring break two weeks ago.  Don't think for one minute that I would be able or desire to sit at the computer and not devote my undivided attention to the one who I don't get to spend nearly enough time with during school.  Neither she nor I would have much fun with that. Not to mention that she thinks that anytime anyone is using the computer she believes it should be her.  Then I was sick as a dog and busy on top of that last week not leaving myself much time or again, desire to sit here.

*When your daughter's birthday falls so closely to Easter and Mother's day finding time for a birthday party is a little difficult.

*When you're 5 and you have cousins with birthdays close to yours, you can kinda ride in on their birthday party train and pretend it's yours too.

*When you're 5 there is a lot more to a birthday party than just having the family over for cake.

*When it's your 5th birthday and your mom leaves to go away for the weekend with some of the "ladies", Dad will probably be more upset than the birthday girl.

*The Women of Faith Conference is AMAZING! Spending the weekend with a bunch of wild and crazy and above all Godly women that I love is a blast.   Even when or especially when there are things hanging from the rearview mirror that should be neatly folded and packed in MY bag. HA!

*Having a fever at the age of 40 is the pits and I don't know how anyone can function like that.

*Wednesday night is a great time to go shopping if you have to go to W@l-M@rt.

*Granny was one hot lady when she was cooking Sunday dinner on the wood burning cook stove in August. (more on this later)

So, what did you learn this week?  Leave me a comment or even better, link up at From Inmates to Playdates and join in on the fun and leave a comment there too!

T-Shirt Quilt

In all of the renovation going on around here I have discovered a pile of unfinished quilts.  4 to be exact.  One is Maya's 100 good wishes quilt.  I have all of the squares sewn into strips but the strips still need sewn together to make the completed top.  That sounds so simple but it's really not.  I'm surrounding each square with sparkly fabric.  I'm scared to cut the long strips and am not sure where to go from here.  Once I get the top done I am sending it to someone who knows what they are doing to back and quilt it.
Another is a quilt that I started when I still lived at home (yes, a very long time ago).  Part of it was sewn by hand before I had a machine.  It is all together but one square...and I have lost that square.  I do have some coordinating fabric that I think I'll throw in there just so I can get it finished.
Next is an appliqué butterfly quilt that I bought the fabric for before Maya came home.  I haven't cut one piece of it and I've lost the pattern, nice.
Last is my t-shirt quilt .  We were at a music festival years ago and someone had the coolest quilt I had ever seen.  They were runners and had made the quilt from all the t-shirts they had collected from races they had run in.  I loved that idea!  So, I started saving t-shirts.  Shirts that we bought and then didn't really like.  Shirts that we out grew, or, uh shrunk.  Shirts with some special significance. And shirts that we stopped wearing because they were wearing out and I wanted to put them in the quilt.  For at least 15 years, probably more I have been stockpiling t-shirts in my cedar chest.  Finally I had enough to put that sucker together.

Here it is lying on our king size bed (yes, we do have to turn sideways to get down either side of the bed in our tiny room..but we sleep well, ha!).  This quilt is huge and I love it! It is backed with the backs of the t-shirts.  I didn't put anything in between because it is so big and heavy already and I tied it.  I am still trying to decide if I want to put a binding around the edges.  It's all sewn together around the edges though so it's ready to go even if I decide not to use the binding.  It's gonna be the best beach blanket ever!