Runners and new projects

 This is one of the Halloween Table runner that I finished yesterday.  This one will not be posted on my store.  It already has a home.  I was playing with the material.  What do you think?

 I loved the witch material.

 Now that the Halloween table runners are finished I needed to start on a new project.  It has been sitting in my sewing room for a few months now but I honestly just haven't wanted to work on them.  In my mind I had this thought that they would be hard and way too time consuming.  I had to remind myself that it wouldn't be that hard or time consuming.  Not much different than the sleeping cushions I covered a while back.  I figured now was a good time to get working on them.  The two above are the first two that I had covered in muslin.

 Here are the rest still in their plastic.  We have six chairs and six cushions.  My original goal was to have them done before Christmas.  The longer I am pregnant the more I want them done.  I love our chairs but they aren't very cushy.

 Here are all six.  Now they aren't finished yet.  I still need to hand sew the opening shut.  I'll work on that tonight.  Then I will buy zippers and pretty material and cover them again.  When I was in my sewing class it was recommended that when covering a pill to cover them first with muslin or cheaper material and then put a zipper in the outer material.  That way if they get dirty you can unzip it and wash it.  The muslin helps protect the cushion.  As you sit on them and use them and time goes buy they might break down.  I really don't want a mess every time I wash the cover.

Do you remember what my table looked like a few days ago?  I could barely see the table under all the material and tools.  Now look at it.  I'm sure I could cover it again.  It isn't like I don't have the projects or the material but I need to be able to use the table.  My husband is yet again on his way home from Texas today.  I also would like to take pictures of my other two Halloween table runners so I can post them.  I have pictures I could use but they aren't much better (as far as setting) than the one at the top of this post.

So now I need to alter a pair of pants for a friend's son and then I need to clean off my table and find my Halloween decorations.  Have a great afternoon and a wonderful weekend.  I'll share my new posts as soon as I can get them up.

Proof...

I am offering up some proof that I have been sewing lately.  I realize that for over a week I kept saying that I was going to get things done and then I would get tired and do nothing during Yana's nap time.  Well Here is the proof.  As you can see from the one closest to the camera I have one with binding all ready for the finally and last step.  I have another one sitting on my machine ready for the ironing before the final step.  Then I just need to cut the binding for the last runner, sew it on, iron and finish it.  I hope to get this done today and get at least one of them posted by tonight.  One of these is not going to be posted.  It already has a home but I will send you pictures so you know what they all look like.  I got more creative with these than usual.  It was fun.  Hopefully you all like them and don't think I'm just weird.

Sewing!!!

Ok.  After a week or so I finally go some sewing stuff done.  My three Halloween table runners are now sandwiched and await to be free motion stitched.  I set up my sewing machine at the kitchen table so I plan to work on them more tonight after my girls are in bed.  It has been good to get sewing again.

I think I'll leave my sewing machine set up in the dinning room for a few days so I can sew even when Yana isn't napping.  I would really like to get them posted by the end of the week.

Other than that today has been good.  We had a nice rain storm this morning and it was so nice.  After lunch Sarah went to a friends house to play for a couple of hours and that is when I got to work.  Yana is sleeping peacefully and I'm getting stuff done.

Later tonight the Young Women in my ward will be coming to my house to work on sewing pajamas.  Later I'll bring down my Singer sewing machine so I'll have two for the young women to use.  It should be a lot of fun.

I hope that you all have a great afternoon.

A first...but not the last...

A first....well I am due in December and I learned with my second child Yana that it was good to be prepared.  So while pregnant last time I started freezing meals so we would have good meals all prepared that just needed to be popped in the oven.  Most of these were meals that I bought prepared at the store.  Like Lasagna, and Voila, corn dogs and such.  Things that were easy to cook and took little effort.

Well this time I am trying to be prepared as well.  I'm working on eating things in our freezer that need eaten in order to make room for meals to be put in.  This time, however, I would like to make our own meals.  It should be cheaper in the long run and healthier.  So today when we went grocery shopping I bought enough supplies to make two pans of Tater Tot Casserole.  You can find the recipe here.  I used the 2nd way.

After lunch I put everything on the counter and got to work.  It didn't take too long but now I have two pans of Tater Tot Casserole.  Each one is a meal and leftovers or two dinners for my family.  I think I'm off to a good start.  Tonight we will be eating Shephard's Pie (click here for recipe) and I have enough to make an extra while I'm at it.  So by the end of today we will have 3 frozen meals.  I'm liking this. 

Now I just need more meal ideas.  If you have good recipes that you think would make a good frozen dinner please feel free to share it.  I'm looking for more ideas.

Cool Clouds

We just thought that the clouds here yesterday morning were pretty cool looking.  I remember after we first moved here not really knowing what tornado clouds looked like and asking my husband if these were them.  He was at work in his basement and had no idea what I was talking about.  Now almost 2 years later he finally knows what I was talking about.

 I love clouds.  The only problem is that here I have to worry about what might come with them.

I hope that you all had a great weekend.

He's coming home!

Ok when my husband has to go to Texas for work I don't generally tell anyone other than family and close friends.  I'm kind of paranoid that way.  I don't want anyone to know he isn't here at night.  Well he is on his way home and we are so excited.  It has only been this week but we really miss him while he's gone.  He should be here in just a few hours and I'm sure he is going to get attacked by Sarah and Yana.  They have missed him so much this time.

Having him gone for a week or two at a time really makes me feel for those whose spouse is gone for a whole year in the military.  I don't know how I'd fare without him for that long.  I'd probably have to move my in laws in with me lol.  Well anyways I just wanted to share the exciting news that he is on his way!

Have a great weekend.  I'm sure we will.

Thinking ahead....

I know that I still have a little over 3 months until this baby is due and another six weeks after that before the doctor normally gives the go ahead for a person to start exercising again but I'm trying to find a goal to set.   Right now I live in Oklahoma and they have the "Oklahoma Freewheel" every year.  I think that would be really cool to ride it.  It is usually over 400 miles.  Each year varies a little in distance and always in location...or at least that is what I understand.  It is a week long bike ride.  It takes place in June.

The other thought I have is to train for a half marathon.  I ran one last year in Idaho close to Halloween and realized that I should have trained a lot better/more.  I would like to do better. 

So my questions are these:
1st are these crazy goals? (keep in mind I tend to do crazy things)
2nd Which should I do first?  The ride is in June.

My thoughts are that if I train for the free wheel and jog on the side then I will lose weight and get back in shape without beating my body up with a lot of running with extra weight. 

Any thoughts or advice.  I can't start training until the new year but I'd like to start planning and setting up a schedule and.... don't tell my husband but I'm going to try to convince him to do one or the other with me or both and this gives me time to work on him.

Table Runners

Well I finally pulled out my tot that I keep my sewing stuff in....the one that holds my store items.  I found that I had two Halloween table runners and a fall runner left from last year.  I decided to re post them for you.  Check out these links to read more about each of the runners:

Ziz zag table runner
Halloween Table runner

Fall Corn on the Cob runner

I have two new Halloween table runners coming soon.  I have the tops all finished I just need to sandwich them and then go from there.  I am thinking maybe tonight after the girls go to bed.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a great afternoon.

Catching up

Last week kind of got away from me before I realized that I hadn't blogged all week.  Sorry about that.  I'll recap a few things and share pictures since I finally put them on my computer.

While Grandpa and Grandma were here my girls decided to put Yana's diapers on her head and run around.  It was pretty cute and funny.

I admit that I sometimes put diapers on their heads when they are babies...not the pull up kind but my girls had fun.

 Yana is in this "I can dress myself" phase.  See how well that worked.  She puts them over her head and then around her waste.

 Sarah has been in swim lessons for 2 weeks.  My girls are fish and can't seem to get enough swimming.

 She is really good at floating on her back.

 Here is Yana at swim lessons.  Entertaining herself.  Poor kid wants to swim but I can't let her out of her seat or I'll have to chase her all over the place.

 Sarah actually loves to swim under water.  She is really good at it.  One of the reasons for the swim lessons is to help teach her to swim with her head above water.

 Yana at the office.  She loves to pull the doll stroller over to the coffee table, sit in it and look at books.  It is so cute.

This weekend, since we couldn't really work in the yard, we worked in the garage.  My husband made me a quilt rack.  He's been telling me about it for a few months and now I have it.  I love it.

 It holds four quilts and it has a shelf.  I haven't decided what to put on the shelf yet.  I'm thinking Russian dolls or something.

 I should have split the two middle quilts up so you could see them better. 

Sarah just loves this quilt rack.  She has told me several times today how much she likes it and that it is so pretty.  I can't agree with her more. 

Well that pretty much should catch me up on everything. 

This week should be interesting as well so I'll do my best to keep you posted.  Have a great Monday.

It was good

How was your weekend?  Ours was pretty good.  My in-laws were here so we got to spend some more time with them.  We decided on Saturday since the weather was beautiful that we would buy the brick to finish the other side of garden.  My husband also filled the holes in our room above the windows from the curtain rods.  Now I just need him to hang the rest of the pictures.

My girls got to play with our neighbor's kids.  They had fun riding bikes together.

Sunday we went to church and then after the kids went to bed we got out the electric cars and had fun playing with them until the batteries died.  It was a good weekend.

Other than that not much else happened this weekend  This week, however should be interesting.  Today Sarah's friend is coming over to play during nap time.  So I wont be sewing much today.

Today was the first day that Sarah decided that she didn't want to go to school.  She was too excited for her friend to come over and thought that if she didn't go to school her friend could come over sooner.  She is glad that she went though.

While I was dropping her off we were reading in "The Friend".  It is a magazine that the LDS church puts out for children.  It has good stories on all sort of topics.  Today we read about how to be a good friend and about keeping a journal.  I'll be honest...I haven't kept journals for my children at all, ever.  But I had this feeling that I should start.  So while grocery shopping I bought two little notebooks and when Sarah got home from school I had her tell me about her day and I wrote it down for her.  I think this will turn out to be a good thing.

Well I think I'm starting to ramble.  I'll type at ya later.  Have a great Monday and a wonderful week.

Halloween runners

It may not be Halloween yet but I have started on the Halloween runners for this year.  I have the tops of two done and another layout planned.  They are really cute.  I may even have a couple left over from last year that I will be posting again.  I don't know if you remember but I was kind of late last year in getting them posted before October.  I'm trying to do better this year. 

My goal is to get them all posted over the next week or so.  I'll take pictures soon so you can see what they look like.

Have a great afternoon.

Now posted

The frog quilt is now posted on my store.  Come check it out.  Click here to see it Idaho At Heart.  I took some pictures of it on my daughter's bed.

It is a super cute quilt and would be a great addition to any home.  The holidays are coming up and birthdays are year round.  Let me know what you think of it.

Frog Quilt finished!!!

My frog quilt.  I finally finished it.  I think it looks pretty good. 

 Here is the quilt.  It is 64" by 74 1/2".  It is a patchwork pattern called "Color Maze".  I found the pattern in the February/March 2010 Quilt magazine and really liked it.  I didn't want to use flowery material so I went with Frogs.  I found as many froggy themed bolts as I could and got started.

 There are 8 different blocks in this quilt.  Seven of them are froggies.

 I free motion quilted this on my sewing machine.  It is all cotton material with a cotton batting.  The back of the quilt is actually a sheet that I bought at Walmart so there are no seams.

If you would like to see the progression of this quilt check out these links :Quilt on the frame and For starters

It has been a very fun quilt and I'm glad for the experience of it.  I will get it posted on my store as soon as I get some pictures of it on a twin bed...after my youngest wakes from her nap.  I also need to add up the costs and decide how much I'm asking for it.  I will get it posted by tonight so keep checking back.  I'll add the link once I have it.

4 of 4 purses finished

Well I finished all the purses and am going to mail them off today.  Here are the pictures of the finished products.  My girls insisted on being my models.  They had fun.

On these ones I added a pocket to the outside as well as the inside.  My mother in law had me add one to her's as well.

I added up the time that I put into these 4 purses and it came to just over 10 hours to finish all 4 purses.  I'm sure it would have been a little less without messing up.  I seemed to like to pin the wrong sides together and then have to repin them.  I forgot to sew things to the outside until after the two sides were sewn together.  Little things like that add up in time.  It was fun and they all turned out really cute.  I will be heading to post office soon to get them mailed off.