Back In The Swing

Trying to get back into the swing of things. Early mornings, schedules, homework, driving and all the other fun things that come with school starting (yuck). I take our son to school which is about 35 miles from our home. I am in the car about 3 hours everyday, Ugh! For three years I have done this with just a radio in the car and not a huge selection of radio stations in our area.For my birthday, I got a new stereo for my car. Now I can listen to Cd's and my i pod. Well, I plugged my i pod in and ...nothing! Something has happened to all the files or something like that. Don't ya just love technology! The one radio station that I did enjoy I now cannot get on the new stereo. I did go to the library and get some books on Cd and that's been really good. I don't feel like I'm wasting so much time just sitting. I do love the time I get to spend with Nick in the car (when he's not sleeping or has is headphones on) and I keep trying to remind myself to really appreciate this time we have together because I know how fast the next three years are going to go and then he'll be gone.
This is about the closest thing to craftiness going on around here! I love having a husband that likes to cook and make yummy things. He made this jalapeno jam the other day and since we have about a bazillion tomatoes I think canning those is next on the list!

A Little of This and That

Nothing crafty has been going on here at all. I need motivation! My sewing room is a mess and I can't make myself go in there and just start. So, since I haven't been up to anything new I thought I would share some old-cause it's all new to you, right?



This was a Christmas gift I made for my family a couple of years ago. I scanned photos and printed them out in sepia tones, sandwiched them between thin glass I cut to fit the pics, copper foiled the edges, and and ran a bead of solder around them. Soldered a ring to the top center and tied them to a wire tree I purchased (I think they were a Halloween item) from a local store with sheer ribbon. I love it and I think my family appreciated them also. It was a fun project to do.

This was dinner last night. Fifty pound King Salmon caught by my son when we were in Alaska. He was so proud when he found out that he beat my sister's prize winning catch of 47 lbs. Didn't matter to him that she caught hers in a different river and won the fishing derby in the town she lived in at the time! Nope, he's got bragging rights and he's gonna use them every chance he gets!
` Can't get much fresher than this!
We grilled some last night and had it over angel hair, garlic, fresh tomatoes and basil. YUM!


These are also in our freezer now.

Alaska is so beautiful, words or pictures cannot do it justice.

We just have a few more days of our summer left and then back to the dreaded old routine. We've been doing a lot of nothing. Hanging out on the back porch, reading, eating too much, but mostly just sitting and not feeling a bit guilty about it! That's what summer's all about, right!?!

Where To Begin

I'm not quite sure where to start it's been so long!

We have just returned from a wonderful vacation visiting my sister and her husband who live in Alaska. We had such a great time; there was paragliding off mountains, hiking to glaciers, sightseeing/wildlife watching, kayaking, salmon and halibut fishing and way too much eating. Mike,whom I have declared the Barbecue King of Alaska, smoked ribs and a brisket it was the best barbecue I have ever had. We have been researching smokers since we've been home. It was that good!

Our first day there we were having lunch in Girdwood watching people paragliding off a mountain and I jokingly said to my 15 year old son (we affectionately call him bubble boy because he would rather be in front of his computer than anywhere else) if he would like to do that. Never in a million years would I have thought he would say yes. You guessed it, he said yes and he was dead serious and never had a second thought about it, didn't even act nervous! Luckily I had pictures to take, so that kept my thoughts occupied! He was a changed boy on this trip! We had so much fun. He got a digital slr for his birthday, so our trip was very well documented. Yep, that's him, 3000 ft off the ground!

It was fun to actually see my sister's house. I can't even tell you how cute it is! When they bought it everything was white, not anymore. I'll try to post pics.

So now back to reality and figuring out what that is! We started a landscaping project before we left and it's almost done ready to be planted but that's where I'm stuck. I'm not sure what I want to plant. I could visualize the wall and stone edged bed but now I can't figure out what I want in them!

Here's the only new crafty thing I have to share. My sister had a bag she liked and wanted me to make one similar in some cool fabric. So here is a really crappy photo of the bag. I snapped it as I was packing it. Thought I'd get a better one with her, but didn't. I sorta made it up as I went using Amy Butler's Geisha Fans and Moon Dot Lime for the lining.




I suppose if I would do this a little more frequently, my posts wouldn't be so long! I guess that's more than enough for now!

It's Done!

It's done! I got this bag done this morning, it's for my mom for her birthday. I didn't get it started until last evening cause we had to go get one of these, much quicker and easier for guys than girls, one stop shopping! It was a surprise when he decided to go! He has become quite the social butterfly lately. Anyway, finished the bag up this morning. Love those quick, instant gratification projects.
I used the Metropolitan pattern from Indygo Junction. I thought the instructions were pretty good, a little vague on a couple things, but it could be me. I tend to over think and over analyze pretty much everything. I got the fabric for body of the bag the from Etsy and the top and handles from here.

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A Closer Look

Here is an up close view of the High Street Messenger Bag. Like I said yesterday, the bag went together much easier than I was anticipating. Because there are so many pieces keeping them marked with masking tape was definitely a must. Linds took it to work yesterday and said she had so many complements on it! That's always nice to hear!


Here is peek inside the bag. There are three zippered pockets in the bag (that may have been where some of the dread was coming from before I started the bag). I just followed each step of the directions very carefully (not that I don't always do that!) and it went pretty smoothly. I had only done two zippers before these.


Off to clean the sewing room up. I need to start on a bag for my mom, her birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks.

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Lots of Catching Up!

Spring break, Easter, sick, husband gone six weeks (eek!), driving to school, daughter moving back home after 5 years (eeeekkkkk!!!). OK, so just a few things changing and happening since my last post!



I wanted to share the cute little chicks my mom made everyone for Easter. She hand felted them from roving. She also made everything else you can see in the background. She always has the table set so beautifully, but of course I didn't get a picture of that.

It was a relaxing break, didn't do much of anything. Then I got sick and had to play catch up on everything I hadn't done over break and while I was sick. Not so relaxing!

Bill who has been home since November, everyday, all day, helping cook, drive (our son goes to a school 40 minutes from our home and I drive him to and from everyday), and just being here had to leave last Sunday for six weeks. Just got used to having him around and now he's gone again. This has been our lives for the last 24 years. He is in the environmental business and travels a lot! No fun. We miss him!

Our daughter, who has lived away from home for the last five years, has decided to move back home to save some money. She has been renting a little house but her roommates have moved out and it's a little pricey for her to stay there by herself. She has decided that she wants to save up and move to Nashville. We moved into this house about a year and a half ago, so she has never lived here. She also needs to move into one of the last rooms to be redone (meaning I haven't done it yet and need to get motivated, and since it was the last room, it ended up being the room that everything that you don't know what to do with went there). This will be a big change for us all. A good change, but still change. We celebrated her 24th birthday yesterday.
Here she is with all her birthday swag that I made for her.
Amy Butler Wide Leg Lounge Pants, Madison Bag, and High Street Messenger Bag. I think she loved them all, and the best part of her moving home is they'll be here for me to borrow! I made the lounge pants and kept the length they called for in the pattern (for me I had to whack about 2 inches off the bottom for them to fit), She is 5'10" so I was hoping they would be long enough, and they were!
I was dreading making the messenger bag there were 36 pieces and it is lined with canvas. but my machine buzzed right through all those layers like it was nothin'!

I made these butterflies, they were a lot of fun to make. Quick and easy. It made it look springy even though it didn't feel like it (yes that is a fire in the fireplace).




I guess that's enough for now, sorry for the long post, will try to be a bit more regular in my posting.

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Madison Bag

I've just entered my Madison Bag in the U-handblog's Amy Butler Monthly Contest . Now, I've had this bag done for a few weeks now and I knew I wanted to enter it, so why do I wait until 9 p.m. the day the contest ends to try and get a decent photo, figure out flickr and how to upload photos and all that good stuff? I guess that's just the way I roll.

Oh well, here's the bag.



I used Amy Butler's Madison bag pattern and Amy's Lacework for the exterior and Full Moon Polka Dot for the lining. It was a fairly easy bag to make. I had a little trouble stitching the lining around the top of the bag. I got a new sewing machine for Christmas (I'm such a lucky (spoiled) girl, thanks Mom and Dad) and I love it, except my old machine had a free arm (?) that made it so easy to get to awkward spots, and this machine doesn't have that. Other than that I love this machine! The bag was a fun one to make and I think it's got such a cute shape.