FIELD TRIP (otherwise known as a vacation)

We were lucky enough to get to go to Gatlinberg, TN for a Army Strong Bonds retreat. We had a lot of fun! We road the trolley down the mountain to Ripley's Aquarium. Military discount there ROCKS BTW!

It was the first time we had road the trolley so that was pretty exciting! 

What was really great about this place was all the tubes! 

They really put you RIGHT in the middle of the exhibits face to face with penguins

And even sharks!

Avery loved climbing in the tubes mainly and seeing the penguins swim ALL around him. :)

What is REALLY great is that this trip happened to fall during a time when we are studying fish in Science right now! What better way to learn than to be up close watching and even touching the fish! 

And then, I went camera nuts. I loved taking pics there. I just couldn't help myself!

Hope you enjoyed the pics and here is a pretty cute one from the trip :) Merry Christmas!

Pookie needs a haircut lol

Nicey Jane Purse

I love this. I made it for myself, and now have come to the realization it doesn't really go with ANY of my outfits! I really love this fabric, all from my LQS's: That is Nicey Jane you are looking at!
It as a nice pocket in there too!
I am thinking about either selling it or giving it to my sister for Christmas, not really knowing if she will even like it......
What do you think?

A special birthday quilt for a special birthday girl!

For Reagan's birthday in January, my friend Sara made her a birthday quilt
I decided since my girls share a bedroom, that I SHOULD make Elsa a quilt too. I wanted it to be similar but not matchy-matchy. My daughters are two distinctly different little personalities, it doesn't make sense for everything to match.
Colors that remind me of Elsa....

Elsa is sunny. Happy. Friendly. Playful.

I thought a yellow, orange and pink combo would suit her well.

And luckily, Sara had saved the instructions for the quilt she had made Reagan and was happy to fork them over to me. :) (or at least I think she was......)

I had A LOT of yellow and pink fabric. Orange? Well, we all know how hard it is to find a good orange fabric.

So here is my creation, I'm calling it "Citrus Summer"

Oh, and by the way, this would be my first time free hand quilting. Boy is it tiring! But I got the hang of it, and can't wait to do it again!



And I made this little tag for the quilt to mark the occasion. :)



This was such a fun quilt to do! Especially knowing it was for my little stinker.

For her and her Daddy's birthday, we are renting an RV and going camping! So, *SHHHHHH* She hasn't seen it yet! ;)
Until next time,

Father's Day at our house

Have been searching for my SD card and FINALLY found it again! So I have decided to share a couple pics from our father's day. :)




The kids and I painted a grilling apron for Daddy! He certainly loved it!

New cutting table and need some ideas!!!

So I finally got around to taking some pics for you of my cutting table!


It has some great storage areas!


And FINALLY plenty of room to cut my fabric!! YAY!
Back story: Me and the hub found this gem and ANOTHER great table (will show later) for 40 bucks! SCORE! But it was awful heavy to get into our van and into the house! You know where the table originally was living? Well, a couple had it, the guy worked at Kinko's, they apparently were going to trash this, and he grabbed it up and brought it home for his wife to use for scrapbooking. Well, they were moving, and since this thing is horribly heavy, decided to Craigslist it. Hooray for craigslist finds!!!

Here's where I need some help. I am not a fan of the "giant greyness" of it. It is like the same material they use on cheap counter-tops. Which I'm cool with. But I would at LEAST like the sides to look nice! Any suggestions for covering this beauty up?

McCall's M6022

So I have been trying my hand at sewing clothes. So far, I have issues with some things. Like sometimes it takes me reading a certain paragraph of a pattern about 50 times before I know what to do. Or the fact that I often over complicate simple things....
So I have been collecting up patterns for clothes for my kids. I found McCall's Pattern M6022 which I think is super cute and pretty easy!



But in comes me to over complicate simple instructions! And viola! I have screwed them up! lol

Maybe I should just break down and take a freakin sewing clothing class!

Anywho, to show off what I managed to at least get done

E's- DS fabric from Joann's and some red pin dot I had left over.

Made my own bias tape for clothes for the first time. I think I did pretty well at that. And the gathering is fun.



Then R's top is yellow and white polka dot and Retro Floral Tile by Joann's as well.

I really liked the DS fabric and the Retro Floral Tile. They seemed to be very good quality fabric. Is Joann's raising it's standards? :) I hope so.

Oh. Forgot to mention that these two adorable little angels TORE off the bows I had sewn on these tops. Yeah. I was a little perturbed.
Until next time

Finally!

We are all moved in our new house!!! (I'll share pics later!) And I have finally stopped running around like a chicken with my head cut off long enough to get started on my SEWING ROOM! YAY! I have been searching online for sewing room ideas and the one room that gave me true inspiration is this little gem:

Needless to say, I have a long way to go. But I just love the colors and cheerfulness of the room, and of course, I love how it reminds me of the 50's era. Reminds me of my great-Grandmother :)

So, I was perusing my way through Lowe's paint department the other day, waiting on the Hub and my Mother in law who was visiting (little did I know, she was picking out a housewarming gift for me

The Bissell Steam and Sweep Hard Floor Cleaner! Which I LOOOOOOVE so much! And needed even worse! Yeah, my dream come true, hardwood floors THROUGHOUT my house and nightmare in cleaning them! ;)

But I love this little machinery. It works GREAT and she even bought me a few extra cleaning pads! I love how with the steam cleaners you can just throw the pads in the washer! YAY! HALLELUJAH!

She also bought me a lovely knockout rose bush for one of my front beds and gave me some pointers on rose care. Which is great because I am pretty sure my Mother in law is the Rose Queen. I mean she has full healthy rose bushes all over her yard!


Where was I??? oh yeah. So, meanwhile waiting in the paint department of Lowe's and I got a little curious to see what miss colors in paint they have. If you don't know about this area, ask the paint guy. SERIOUSLY.

So I am looking in there and what do my eyes come upon but THE color I needed for my sewing room! YAY! And here's the kicker. Originally, this gallon of paint was $26. Yeah. I got it for (drumroll please) $5. yep. I spent $5 to paint my sewing room. Oh but wait, I didn't paint it!

My hero came swooping down and began painting furiously.
I am totally in *LOVE* with this color and the man also makes my little heart go "pitter-pat", especially when he's being this adorable!

I kind of miss this now that it's been painted over but at least every time I look at that wall I will remember that little message and smile :)
And this is the other man in my life, being naughty. Yep, he was trying to play in the paint. Stinker. :)
So that is all I got for you, for now.

What do you think of the color? Any great storage ideas you would like to give me?

Today, I spent the day organizing my room, and my husband picked me up a few (large furniture) pieces that will be shown soon I promise!
Until next time!