Quilting with Mimi

Okay, because I don't have enough started (the most recent being my blocks, which I am going to make into a quilt for a very good friend that I've known since we were 3 or 4; and my sneak preview, which I really need to finish; not to mention the 250 sachets that I need to sew out of tulle and have finished by Monday for Renaissance Day at the Middle School - which I have not started), I decided to sew along with Mimi and Monica of The Happy Zombie. This is what I came up with.I'm not sure if I'll sew them together this way. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it either. But it sure is cute. I have some more squares to sew up, too. So I'll have some more blocks

Here's an up close look at them.

And, I'm so proud of myself, all the fabric was from my stash! Well, except for the Kona Snow. I had to go to the LQS to get some of that. Most of the fabric is Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt. Except for the red, that's Building Blocks by American Jane.

Remember that wonderful chocolate bar that I received? Well, there is a little spot of chocolate on the back of one of my Kona Snow squares! I was going to try to get it off, and then I thought, nah! When I see it, it will remind me of the wonderful chocolate bar that I received from the wonderful Rebecca.

Purple Room

Okay, here's the purple room. I'm not sure that you can really appreciate the true purpley essence of this room from the picture.

Three walls are the lighter color, and the one wall is the darker color. Goes pretty well with the quilt, eh?

A Pillow

I made a cover for Tessa's pillow. It's not spectacular, but it's better than the pillow that I covered! And it now matches her room.

Can you see the bling in the flowers? Cute, eh?

I got this card in the mail today from one of my Bad Girls. She drew it herself!

Is that not the cutest thing! And sweet! My gosh, what a sweet thing to do. She also sent me one of those yummy dark chocolate candy bars with the nuts and fruit in them. They are SOOOO good.

This week is fixup, clean up week, so we got rid of two mattress, one box springs, and 3 bunk boards (all twin sized) from our garage! WooHoo!

All in all, a good day.

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy

My Baby Boy is 15 today. How do they grow from 8 lbs 10 oz. to 6' and 173 lbs. in just 15 years?

He's doing really well - I'm very proud of him. His "girl" friend, which is NOT his "girlfriend", that he eats lunch with every day, called him to wish him a Happy Birthday. How cute is that! His grades are good, and he has friends. Not bad for being a Freshman in a new school.

Tessa made it home today.

A tad bit full of herself.

I spent all day cleaning her room - and it looks great. I'm pretty sure that if she doesn't actually spend any time in there, it will stay clean.

Carra and I got our plants planted. I bought some Columbines - my reminder of Colorado - some fuchsias, and a tiny little cherry tomato plant. Carra planted some Phlox and a California Poppy - she loves poppies.

Now we need to keep them watered so that they grow.

Still No Tessa

Well, Tessa called us and said that they might be in Florida until Monday. She said that the airlines had bought her a bathing suit, and the group were busy washing their clothes because they only had the one set of clothes, since their luggage made it to LAX.

We went to Home Depot and got paint for the accent wall in Carra's room. It looks good. Very purple. We also bought some plants so that Carra and I can start to grow some things. Of course, we didn't get them in the ground, yet.

This Week

The kids have been on Spring Break this week. Tessa went to Florida with her school. Wyatt and Carra have been home with me. We didn't do as much as I would have liked, but we did get some things done.

Tuesday

I did this - it's part my Sneak Preview. Truthfully? I want to redo it because the design pulls. I'm not sure I will - it takes 67 minutes to stitch out, and that's not including thread changes. I can't tell you how many HOURS I spent getting this design together. I wanted the Hamsa - I love that. It's going to protect me from the evil eyes in this town. (Laugh insanely) The side designs that I first had were freebie candlewicking designs - and I couldn't get them to read on my embroidery machine. So, after endless hours, and not getting the first design to work, I bought the new side design at Embroidery Library. It looked great. But, I couldn't get it onto my embroidery card, so I had to get out my embroidery machine memory stick. Well, not having used that before, I had to get that figured out. Finally got the design downloaded on the stick, and my embroidery machine said yes, it could read the design, and I got to stitching. Well, the machine got to stitching. I'm sure I was doing constructive while it was stitching. But, then I was disappointed with the pulling. However, I have a lot to do in the next couple of weeks, so I'm not sure that I will redo it. I think the Hamsa will still protect me, even with pulled stitches.

Then, in the mail, I got this little package.

This is from the Get Crafty quilt square swap. Don't you just love her tape? It is always so cute. These were the quilt squares that I got. Aren't they cute? They'll look great with the squares that I already have.



And to top off the day, we went to Home Depot and got Carra some purple paint for bedroom. Hosta Flower.

Wednesday

Dan took the day off and we went to Sea World San Diego. It was about a two hour drive. Not bad. Dan told us stories about Camp Pendleton as we drove through there. We enjoyed watching all of the shows.

My favorite show was the show that the dogs and cats and birds and pigs in it. I never knew you could train cats! Wow! Okay, I didn't get that many pictures of the shows because 1) I have a crappy camera, and 2) I was so busy watching the shows that I couldn't take the pictures too, and 3) I take crappy pictures. The last the kids did was go on a ride where they got soaked! We got Carra a new shirt, and Wyatt used a sweatshirt of his dads. But their pants and shoes were wet until we got home.

Then we went to Anthony's Fish Grotto on the water for dinner. It was very good - they had some GREAT calamari, and wonderful porter (I think it was Black Marlin). The ride home was wonderful - I slept.

Thursday

I took the kids to get their hair cut and then we started painting. Painting is so much fun.

Friday

More painting. We decided to do an accent wall, but will have to go back and get more paint to do that.

Tessa was supposed to come home tonight, but their flight was cancelled. The group was on two different flights and the Delta Airlines kids got home, but the American Airlines kids are still there. Her teacher and her husband and 15 kids are staying in Florida tonight. Wouldn't you hate to be that teacher right about now? We'll find out more tomorrow what's going on.

Off to Florida

Well, we sent our middle child off to Florida this morning at 2:30 a.m.

This was the only picture I was "allowed" to snap. It's a tough thing to let your child go off to the other end of the country. You completely relinquish control.

I must admit, the way she's been acting the last week, I wasn't even sure if I should let her go. Obviously she was anxious about going - which meant she took out all of her anxieties on her family. She had her phone taken away, and it still didn't stop her mouth from running when it shouldn't have been. Or stop the venomous poison that spilled out of it. I love that child, but I really wanted to harm her.

I've spoken to her and she made it there safe and sound and so far she's having a good time. They went to the Everglades and saw alligators/crocodiles (I can't remember what she said). I hope she has a wonderful time.