My first tied quilt

I finally finished my first tied quilt! It was much easier than I expected it to be. Even with my OCD making me stitch it from below so all my ties were straight on the stripes! I'm going to give to me new little nephew who is due to be born any day now. I'm feeling inspired to make another one soon. I love projects that I'm actually happy with them once they're done!
**UPDATE** My little nephew was born today!  He's so cute!!  I can't wait to meet him!

A new taggie

Sam has a cousin that I've teased him for years doesn't really exist because I've never met her. This "imaginary" cousin just had a beautiful baby girl named Zoe Rose. I wanted to send her something, so I decided to make a crinkle taggie. I sewed some plastic to the inside therefore not only does it have all the different ribbon textures to rub between her fingers it also makes noise to entertain! It was definitely a learning process, and there are some things I will do differently next time I sew on plastic.  For example use a zig-zag stitch, but I like how it turned out. The back is a cream corduroy that I just adore. I went a bit more romantic than I usually would for a baby gift, but I wanted it to match her beautiful name! So, Eowyn, I hope to get to meet you some day and congratualtions on your sweet little girl.

Peas and Carrot

If you've been following my garden posts, I had one lone carrot to actually make it. I've been waiting for 3 long months to pull it up and see what we got. If you know me, you know that waiting is not my strong suit. I like to peek. Well, today I got to pull up my carrot with high expectations...and this is what I found.

2 inches!!! Now you may be saying..."You're soil was too compact." Oh contraire, my soil is potting mix and compost. It's so lofty, it looks down on the other buckets. I haven't tasted it yet, so I don't know about flavor. Sam and I will nibble it when he gets home. So here is today's harvest from my shady patio. A baby carrot and some more peas. I have to say I've been impressed by my pea plants. I was about to pull them up last June because they peas were bitter and I figured that it had finally gotten too warm. They definitely want to live though. I went out the next day to commit pea carnage when low and behold it was covered with new growth. These are the first harvest from that growth and these peas are sweet again! Yum!

So now I'm getting ready to start my indoor seeds for fall plantings. Any suggestions? I'll do lettuce again, just not so many this time. Probably more peas. I thought about broccoli. We'll see how motivated I get. BTW, my lone pumpkin is oranging up quite nicely. Now it just needs some pumpkin siblings. We're are being re-roofed this weekend. I sincerely hope that everything survives.

Magical Floating Straw

You know your last drink was too sugary when you find this!

As I've most vocally complained about, I have an awful summer cold. My voice is cracking like a preteen boy. As a result I am taking Mucinex and drinking a lot. I complained to Sam yesterday that I feel like I'm on an all liquid diet! Anyway, when you are drinking a lot, you look for variety of beverage. However, upon taking my glass to the dishwasher this morning and finding the straw sugar-glued to the side of the glass (how did that happen??) I've come to the conclusion that I consumed too much sugar yesterday. So, to make up for that I believe by glass will look like this for the rest of the day...

Go Tigers!

After 2 weeks here, Spencer is headed out in the morning. His suitcase is a black Samsonite rolling case...not very unique. So I whipped up this felt luggage tag for him. Of course it has his name in the white section, but I'm not posting that on the internet!! Ü It's not perfect, but I'm pleased with my first attempt. I may make some more!

Spencer the Rocker!

Spencer has really enjoyed rocking out to Guitar Hero this week! He really gets into the songs. It's so cute!

Disclaimers on my camera work:

1. Sorry about the quality of the video, I took it with my camera & it was dark in the room (no video camera. if you want better quality videos, buy me a video camera!!! Ü)

2. I know it's sideways, but when I saved it up and down, it was so dark you couldn't really see anything. (once again, go with it our get me a video camera!! LOL)

3. I know it's 2 mins long, but he really starts getting into toward the end (there's even a foot change at about 1min and a half!) AND if you have good ears, he starts singing along toward the end too!

PS~If you're wondering, it's not him hamming it up for the camera either. He was doing it long before I got the camera out!

more Eclipse Pix

My friend Mandy took these pictures! Too much fun!

All the party goers over the age of teen!

Team Jacob (oh the poor misled)

Team Edward!

Marissa and I both called home while we were waiting for the movie to start. Mandy thought it was too funny and took a picture!

Eclipse Party

Eclipse opened last night, and of course I was there at midnight! Here are some pictures of the decorations and stuff. I don't have very many pictures because my camera battery died! GRRRR Thank you Sam for getting it to recharge when I could not.

Mandy found this awesome cake design! She did most of the work, I just frosted it. I love how it turned out!


Mandy's daughter Mia enjoying the cake and getting a black mouth in the process! She was so funny!


The party was a lot of fun. People wore their Twilight themed shirts and we wrote our Twilight names on our cup (I was Edward's Girl). There are a few pictures that I need to get from Mandy. Ones of all us girls being silly and one where I put on my Halloween cape and pretended to be Volturi! LOL Can't wait to see it again, as you know I will!

Eclipse Party

I just finished designing an invite for my friend's upcoming Eclipse party! I love how it turned out and I got to learn a new photoshop skill in the process. Gotta love youtube tutorials! What did we do before the internet??

Taco Soup

We love taco soup! We eat it all the time. It's something we generally have everything on hand for it...however, I recently went to make it and I was out of beans!! BLASPHEMY! I quickly rememdied that, and here is the result!


I love how pretty it is and it's good for you! It's extremely versitile too. We once put less water in it and entered it for a chili cook-off. We won hottest chili which made us laugh b/c we were cooking for a venue with children, so we didn't make it as hot as we normally like it!

Taco Soup

2 cans kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
half a bag or so frozen corn
1 cup salsa of your choice (we like Pace Hot)
water to make it soupy

Heat to boiling. Turn down and simmer until ready to eat.

Possible Toppings:
shredded cheese (cheddar or mexi blend)
sour cream (we use fat free, I actually prefer the flavor)
black olives
crushed tortilla chips
chopped cilantro
jalapeño slices

Ok, so I've never actually tried the last 2 toppings, but it sounds good (well except for the cilantro, YUCK!) Enjoy!

Baby Shower Pix

Here are the promised pictures of Marissa's baby shower. I think it went well...I had a lot of fun. I decided to collage everything, b/c it was a lot of pictures. The first is a summary of the games. We played the how well do you multitask??? The players had to hang clothes on the line while holding a baby that was having a "Mommy can't put me down or I will scream bloody murder day!!" I especially love how Wendy put her baby in the bag Kangaroo style. In the end Rissa's sis-in-law Jennie had the fastest score...Congrats Jennie! The other game is always popular. It's the match the baby event to the candy bar name. The prize is the candy bar. Yum!

Here's the food table. We had a salad luncheon. There was Brocolli Salad, Asian Chicken Salad, Pasta Salad and Cookie Salad! So yummy!!

Enjoying baby Ethan. On of the best things about a shower after the baby is born is that you get to hold him! He is so beautiful and a snuggler! I especially love the picture of just his face. So precious!

Lastly, you can't blog a baby shower and not show her opening the presents! I love her facial expressions! Congratulations Marissa on the new addition to your wonderful family!!

Baby Craft

As promised, here is the craft I referenced last week. It's a cute doggy rattle made from a sock! I got the idea from Homemade by Jill. I love her blog!

I'm super pleased how the face turned out. It's the first time I've tried satin stitching. Now, I have lots more socks...additional ideas?

BTW, I did get the extra blue off his face...don't you just love the Tide To Go Pen?!?

Shower Cake

It's 2:30 in the morning, but I'm finished so I'm blogging it. Somehow this cake ended up looking more like a birthday cake to me than a baby shower cake when all was said and done. I think it's the shade of blue frosting...way brighter than I was going for. Sam has forever ruined the bear for me too. He calls it a Grateful Dead Bear...there now it's ruined for you too! BTW, after I took this pic I decided that the tops of the scallops didn't look finished, so I added a large star at each top point. It turned out really pretty, but my new pictures didn't...all blurry. Did I mention that it's 2:30 in the morning! LOL Anyway, this is my very first tiered cake and I think it turned out pretty good. Happy Born Day Baby Ethan!

Baby Shower Memory Game

I finished making the memory game for the baby shower this weekend. It's the first time I've used the Stampin' Up! I'm Here stamp set. Don't you just love the little feet?!?

Newest Invite

Here is my newest card. It's an invite for my girlfriend's baby shower. This is the first time I've used SCAL, a computer interface, with my Cricut Machine. I love the effect of cutting out the pinwheels!

crafting update

FYI, I did make something last night. However, I am giving it to my friend Marissa for her baby shower, so I can't post it yet. Blame her for following my blog (Hi Rissa!). So, hold tight, there is something super cute coming.

Blick

Being sick sucks...just in case you were wondering.

Dear body,

Why can't you get sick the winter when normal people get sick??? Why now when I could be enticing early aging and skin cancer at the pool? My Hawaii tan has faded thanks to you...by the way, I'm having less than pleasant thoughts toward you right now. Thoughts that would make my mother's hair curl. Don't ask, you probably don't want to know. So, if you could please comply and get over yourself, I would be much obliged.

Sincerely,
C

Just Jenny's Crochet

Like the look of crocheted items, but don't have the skill/time to do it yourself? Like funky designs? Find yourself pining for those winter mornings now that it's 95 degrees outside? Then welcome to Just Jenny's Crochet!

Jenny is a super talented mother of 4 boys! Crocheting her creative and girly outlet. I never get bored looking at all of her creations! Her boys are super adorable too! Today she announced monthly GIVEAWAYS! You can click here to enter! Good luck!

Garden Update

Ok, so here's what the plants looked like when I took them from the little pots I showed you earlier and put them into the ground. They are so small!! Then, keep going and see how everything has exploded!!

Whirled Peas

I've really been pleased with the peas...We picked our first ripe pod earlier this week and ate the peas raw. So sweet!! I also love how pretty the plant is!