BotM #2

So, I've been a bad girl. I have had this block to work on since Feb. 19th. It's due to be seen on Mar. 19th. It's currently Mar. 16th. And all that had been accomplished before today was cutting out the blocks. I'll be honest, the thought of fussy-cutting the center out was daunting. However, I managed it. This morning, I was locked into the kitchen, waiting for my son to wake up. Unbeknownst to me, he wasn't feeling well and was sleeping off his bug. So, I sewed up two rows of the block. Then after his Dad got home this evening, I sewed up the other row and attached them all together. Now all that is left is the sashing, which I cut out tonight.

 

That's pre-sashing. Actually, you can see part of the sashing in the bottom corner of the picture. 

My little boy has some sort of stomach bug today. :( Poor thing was running a fever and everything. I'm glad on days like these that I'm not a working Mom. I didn't have to worry with finding a sitter because he couldn't go to daycare. I didn't have to worry about how he was doing while I was away working. I didn't have to worry with getting into trouble at work because I couldn't make it in because he was sick. Today, we just learned how to launch a duck and we watched some cartoons and we ate M&Ms and ice cream. 

Barb from Bejeweled Quilts has this awesome barn button on the left side of her blog. It takes you to an accuquilt go! site that will give you a $1000 shopping spree with their store if your design is chosen. Now, I'm not a designing woman. I am just getting started on quilting. I'm not ready for the design aspect. I really need to learn my sewing machine first. However, I do know that I have several friends AND family members who sew and design many things. And who couldn't spend a full THOUSAND dollars in the Accuquilt Go! Store? And Barb is an amazing quilter. You can see some of her stuff here and here and here.

Well, it is getting late and I want to finish my block tomorrow. 

Don't forget about Sew Lux's Pinwheel Stitch Along. :)

My quilty goodness friends....

 

If you have some charms/fat quarters/layer cakes that you don't have a gazillion of and you want something quick and cute to make out of these precuts, head over to Sew Lux  and join in on this stitch along. :) It is designed to work with those pre-cuts that we all love so dearly. :) 

I'm generally a scared-y cat about such things, but I'm jumping in both heels first. So we'll see how this goes. :)

Crafty news front

This may or may not come as a shock to everyone, but I FINALLY learned how to use my sewing machine. I learned how to thread it and everything. Now, I'm FAR from a master at anything, but it's a start in the right direction. :) YAY! So I have some scrappy material, I'm going to do a 9x9 block quilt. And for those not sure what that is. There are 9 blocks and each block contains 9 squares of fabric. I have scrappy material and a powder blue sheet that I'm cutting up to make up the blocks, and I have this deep burgundy sheet that I'll be making the sashing. I think I'll stop at that. I'm not going to quilt these with this machine. I'm definitely NOT to that level. I'll get someone else to do that for me. I have my around the world quilt top that I'll be making next. Then I'll be tackling Lil Mr. V's GI Joe quilt. THEN I'll have to get someone to quilt all three for me. :) But it'll all be worth it. :)

I'm also still working on my crocheted granny square afghan. It's made out of this cotton yarn and it's coming along nicely. :) It's something else that will probably go in the living room or in Lil man's room. He's already grabbed it up several times today to rub it on his face.

Well, that's all that's going on here as far as the craft stuff goes. I work on things as I can. Lil man doesn't afford me much time to do a whole lot. He's one of those non-sleeping children. Naps are rare and short and bedtime is after I'm passed out and as soon as my feet hit the floor he's gibbering away at me.

Thimble Thursdays...Several things going on.

Sorry for the absence this week. On Monday I had to leave too early and had some errands to run so I wasn't able to post on here. Plus I was still unwinding from graduation and finals. YAY! I'm all graduated. Now on to getting my Bachelors degree, but first, summer break. I haven't had one of these since I was in high school. And trust me, THAT was a VERY long time ago. 1AM Tuesday morning, my son wakes me up having a severe asthma attack. Since his dad works thirds and had the car, and we were out of his albuterol (only used when he was sick, which he wasn't), I had to call an ambulance to come and take us to the ER. The doctor there didn't like how he sounded even after 2 breathing treatments and a dose of steroids. He admitted him overnight. So we head up to the pediatric floor where they put him in a croup (spelling?) tent. He has never slept anywhere overnight other than home in his bed or mine, so needless to say, he didn't sleep and when baby doesn't sleep, Mommy doesn't sleep. His Daddy came as soon as he could from work and spent the night/day with us. It was pretty scary. And I'm so grateful that I have someone to stand with me during such times. BUT, Lil Mr. V is home and he's doing better. He's definitely sleeping better because his neb treatments make him so hyper, then he crashes and sleeps pretty hard.

Now on to the crafty goodness.

So I found some tomatillo plants that Cassie had been wanting to find. And since knowing such a hard time she had been having with it, I bought them for her. The store didn't have many and I was afraid that they would be out. It feels good to do something nice and unexpected for someone. And it really makes the feeling better when they are genuine in their appreciation. And she's such a nice person, giving and giving to so many people, that it's nice to give to someone else for a change. :) Well, she got her plants today. She already had a little bloom already! I hope she has LOTS of fruit so she can make her salsa verde. She said she would let me have a little once she got it made. That's awesome too, because I like salsa verde.

I stopped by our lone fabric store today. I got some remnants and pieces to make my niece some of these for her birthday. I also want to make her one of these but I'm stumped by the book board. I'll find it, it will just take me a little while I think.

I got a camera finally! Yay! So I'll be able to take some pictures. Even BIGGER YAY! I'll have to take some pics of the fabric I got from our little local fabric shop for my niece's birthday present. I might take some tomorrow when I have better light and add it to the post, or even make a separate post later on in the day for it. We'll see.

So what new crafty things are going on your way?

Thimble Thursdays....Patterns

I'm still working on my crocheting and my cross stitch. I've slowed down on those as this week and the first part of next is finals and I've been hitting the books pretty hard. So, I've not been tending to those as much as I would have liked. However, I do have this summer off so I'll be able to accomplish more. On that note, I found some rather interesting patterns the other day at the salvation army that I liked. There is this skirt pattern that is really nice, and I figured that would be something to make for myself. And for those that know me, pick yourself up off the floor. Yes, I know I don't wear skirts, generally I don't LIKE skirts, however, sometimes there is a need for a skirt and I'd like to have one if I need it. Also, found a nice suit pattern. Which I will need a few of these for when I'm teaching. And last but not least there are these flare pant/hoodie type of pattern straight from the 70s. I showed it to my Mom and she was all about making them. (a memory of her youth) So there you have it. :) OH and I will have my bag cut out by the next Seams To Me meeting on the 4th. :D Anyways, good times are ahead!

So, do you guys have any good craft projects you're working on?

Thimble Thursdays

So, it's Thimble Thursday in Tracy Land. Of course the original reason for this blog was because of my desire to learn how to sew and to get back in touch with my crafty self. And I have. In my search for things I can toss I ran across all my old craft supplies. Granted, it was taking up a rather large space in one room. I COULD get rid of it, especially since I hadn't used any of it in years. But, I just joined this awesome sewing circle. And we're more than just sewing. We're all those crafts. Cooking, baking, quilting, sewing, crocheting, knitting, you name it, we have it (pretty much!). And so I didn't want to give that stuff away when I could MAKE something out of it. And since we've gone down to only one income, it would be better on our holiday and birthday budgets if I could make most of our presents. So I took inventory of what I had and I decided that there were several presents there that I could make. A few that I was going to make for the house to increase it's homey factor, but then that's just me. Like there is this cotton worsted weight yarn that I have in white and a pretty yellow/blue. I'm going to make a throw for our living room out of that. I also have this rather chunky yarn in bright pinks and purples and I have that figured out for someone. I have a few cross stitches that I want to make for other people. So since I found my stuff, I've worked on one of the cross stitches and some of the crocheting. I taught my niece how to crochet. She's decided that she's making her Mom a lap throw. She came with me to my last meeting. She's an artistic sort of person, so I'm glad that she's learning how to do stuff like crochet. She wants to learn how to sew. So I had some excess grey false suede material that I'm going to teach her how to sew a pillow out of. And after that if she's still interested in learning how to do stuff, I'll teach her how to cross stitch. I have a few things I want to make for her for her birthday. Which it will be easy material. I just have to get my sewing machine out and the right fabric to do it in. Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. Hopefully, I'll have my new camera soon and I'll start posting pictures of my projects as I'm working through them.

So what are some of the projects you're working on? If you're not working on something, what do you want to do? Or what kind of craft would you love to learn? Gardening? Pottery? Jewelry making? The sky is the limit!

Blog plans

Ok, so I'm going to start working on theme days. Mondays will be "Money Mondays". This is my accountability of spending as well as my diary of becoming debt free. Tuesday will be "Reuse, Reduce, Recycle Tuesdays". This goes in with my new take on frugal low key living. It's also my take on getting back to basics and reducing my negative impact on the Earth. Wednesdays is "Wednesday Hearth" this will be baking and gardening and all other of homemaking stuffs. Thursday is "Thimble Thursday" this is where I'll be posting all my crafty goodies and projects. And Fridays are "Food Waste Friday." This will cover other wastes as well. Things I can't reuse, reduce, or recycle. Hopefully there won't be much here. So I hope to see you on this trek of mine. If you have any input, please by all means, tell me, and I'll be sure to answer or respond as best as possible.

Food Waste Friday

This week we had a little food waste. I had made some homemade chicken gravy. I have learned that it doesn't hold up well in the fridge. So it was chucked. As well as some sour cream that the remnants went bad before we had our fajitas last night. Thursdays are the leftover day. And we had plenty of bells cut up, so I made chicken fajitas to use them up. For my first bunch of fajitas, I did rather well I think. I have a goal of spending 75$/week for groceries, and so far we're sticking to that rather well. Now this does NOT factor in how much Mr. V spends. Because he buys those energy drinks sometimes and he will buy something for his lunch if he doesn't feel like eating what I've sent with him. So, as far as the grocery bill goes, we're in budget.

As for sewing news....I got a really pretty burgundy outer cloth shower curtain and some interesting striped sturdy cloth for a whole $1.99. I think I'm going to make my modified Tiny Happy Bag out of that. I want more organization in my bags. I hate carrying a purse and a diaper bag and etc etc. I feel like a bellhop. So I'm going to create 2 pockets in this bag, one for a couple of diapers and some wipes and maybe a sippy cup and small toy. And the other pocket will have pockets to hold my spare car door key and my wallet and a cell phone. And I'll have a loop with a small carabiner to hook my keys. There will be a few things loose in the bottom, but nothing like otherwise.

Hippity Hoppity Easter's on its way....

That's right, this Friday is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter. Saturday there is a HUGE Easter Egg hunt at the city park. Lil Mr. V will be able to go this year and enjoy it so long as the weather holds up. Speaking of, the weather has be absolutely amazing! Right now, we have our windows open and a great breeze is coming through the house. I wished summer felt like this. I'd have an almost zero electric bill during those months. But this won't last long, and it'll be very hot and stagnant and it'll make me weep. To get ready for Easter, lil man and I are going to be baking and decorating Easter themed sugar cookies. I'll also be decorating some eggs for him to hunt around the house. We're supposed to be going to Mr. V's mom's for Easter dinner tomorrow night as well. So we're going to be doing some of those things. I thought about making some Easter cupcakes. I still might.

Yesterday, Mr. V and his friend G mowed the yard. It took a while, but it IS the first mow of the year. So all the rest should be faster, though not as quick as with a gas powered mower. But it really does look so much better. So that's a purchase I'm happy with. We'll see how I feel in the middle of August when it's hot as blue blazes.

Onto sewing news...I think I know which crib quilt I want to do first. I want to do this for my friend who's having a baby in August. I'll have to find a way to get it backed and batted. But I KNOW she'll love it. Her gramma was a quilter and she has all her old quilts. Anyways, that's all that's going on in the land of Tracy.