Hey, Ya'll!!  Hope your Memorial Day weekend has started with some fun! (it's Saturday!)  ...speaking of...I'm Super Excited to announce the Next Contest!  (Since I *heart* a good contest and giving stuff away!)  Doesn't it just give you tummy butterflies and happy goosebumps to mail away a surprise?  I love it.  So I admit, I get a total high off mailing you stuff I like to make.  Is that weird or self-serving?  Let's just go with it.

Ok.  Here goes:  Contest is for one bath-size towel (you pick the color), and a big appliqued letter of your choice, with the name written across it.  You can pick fabric (color/style, whatever, or you can send me your favorite fabric if it matches your bathroom (or swimsuit!)) too!  You can also choose to do someone else's name, and give it as a gift.  ; )


Here are some picture examples:

You must be following this blog, and leave a comment with your first name, and be thinking what you would choose!  Would you choose it for you or a child?  Last name, first name, or nickname?  Color?  Fabric?  Thread color?  See, this is why I don't embroider or monogram nearly enough-all the DeCiSiOnS!!

I'll pick a winner with random.org next Saturday, June 4th, post it, and if I can find your blog or email address, I'll email you too! : )

and Get This.  I just now googled "towel" to help me with some utterly cool post title involving Towel (but you got this instead!), and look what I found!  I could've just given you the link, but Towel Day?  Too cool!

Towel Day

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Towel Day
Towel Day 2005, Innsbruck, Austria, where, by his own account, Adams got the inspiration to write the Guide.
Official name	Towel Day
Observed by	fans of the author Douglas Adams
Type	International
Date	25 May
Observances	carrying a towel throughout the day
Related to	Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Towel Day is celebrated every 25 May as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams.  On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author, as referred to in Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The commemoration was first held in 2001, two weeks after Adams' death on 11 May 2001.

Origin:

The original quotation that referenced the importance of towels is found in Chapter 3 of Adams's work The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

“	A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with. Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)	”
	— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

And we just had May 25th (heehee)-we (Clyde Williamson and I) are on the same train of thought (mine is just arriving a little late..)!

So, get registered to win, and we'll have our own Towel Day! : ) 

ps-sorry I had to add word verification-I'm getting too many spam comments! : )

Need Colon Blow?

I was cleaning out the bottom drawer of the refrigerator looking for meat for kids' lunches..and check out all the cheese that was stopping up my drawer! (and my colon!)

A little too much, ya think?

So, after lunches, I have gotten busy!  I have worked on the girl scout bags for bridging-and I'm so happy with them!  They don't close permanently (like with the little cellophane baggies), so the girls can reuse the bags! : )

Their little girl scout bags! : )

I used two scrapbook papers, white for the tag, and pink tulle for the bow!

And then..feeling crafty, I made a new zipper pouch for my new purse!!  I got a gift card from Brighton, so I got a new purse with it on Sunday! : )  ..and I needed a new little insert for all my cards/bandaids/earbuds/gift cards/nail clippers/strips/lancets/alcohol pads/hair clippies/etc!)  Just for reference, here's my cute new purse:

I know.  I should've had it for Florida.

And here is the new pouch!  I was going for yellow, but a bright new mod floral will work too!

See, there's a teensy bit of orange in there! ; )

..and it kinda blends in better than my brown and ivory! : )

If you want to make a purse pouch:
1.  Find a fabric you love (interior design fabrics are thicker, and stand up 10x better!), and iron on stabilizer/interfacing to help it stay stiff.
2.  Get some matching thread and a zipper.  I chose green to go with the background of the floral.  You can choose a stand-out thread if you have mad sewing skills!  I also got a small roll of ribbon for the zipper pull.
3.  Cut your interfacing to your chosen size (mine was about 6x11), remember to include seam allowances!
4.  Iron the zipper and then iron the interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric.  I center these over the flowers' colors that I like (if it's toile, I center over a cute picture).  Cut out after it has cooled.
5.  Sew in the zipper to the tops of the two sides.  I first sew a line along the outside edge of the zipper, then another to top it closer to the actual zipper.
6.  Now, you are almost done!  Sew the three extra sides together, wrong sides together.
7.  I like to keep it inside out, and fold the bottom corners open, to make a "bottom" for the pouch, so it'll stand up.
8.  Turn right side out, and you are done! : )

*If you want it monogrammed, have it done before step five.  I've done it before interfacing (and it makes the inside smooth), and after (for a nice embroidery job).  Today, I did it after interfacing, and still used stabilizer! : )

Scrappy Flowers!

Hey, ya'll!  How was your weekend?  We began with a relaxing Saturday by the pool (in the spring, Clay has games on school nights), and stayed out all afternoon.  It was 85 degrees here!  We heated the pool just a little bit, but it was 78 before the heat..can you believe we were wearing coats just this past Monday?  Yes, really.  Arkansas is so weird.

Clay relaxing in the sun : )

I cleaned up the glass tables, put out pillows, and we already have big, scented blooms on the wisteria! : )

After an hour or so of sweating, cleaning..and getting shot at from behind and having my clothes soaked, I decided to join them. : )

She discovered the vest matched her swimsuit perfectly!

My littlest fish : )

She's a sweet sister, filling up her brother's inner tube with air.  It must have a hole since she filled it twice. ; )

Today, church, eating out, swimming, sewing, baseball practice, and dinner and evening on the deck.  Sweet Sunday!

I used my Gymbucks on Thursday, and got the kids some clothes.  One adorable outfit Mary Claire didn't like so I have to take it back, and another pair of sale pants-she loved!  But.  There was no cute shirt that matched.  So..I had to make one! : )  I do love a project.

I had gotten a plain white shirt (all solid knit shirts were $7.99 at Gymboree!), so I started by adding her name..

and a flip flop! : )  I just love it, and it matches.  I'd never used this applique, so I was super happy it finished out well!

Then..my friend Charlene added an adorable picture of a headpiece with fabric rosettes she made this morning on Facebook (she used to have a photo blog, but I can't find it, boo).  I asked her how she did it, and she gave me instructions!  WooHoo! : )  Sooo..I'll show YOU!

Heat up your hot glue gun (on low) and start with 2.5 inch wide pieces of fabric.  Fold them in half length-wise, and I added drops of hot glue to keep them steady.  I also added tulle to one strip like she did.

Tie a knot at one end, then twist the fabric as you go, and wrap in a circle (like a cinnamon roll..), and hot glue every inch or so.

Use the last inch to wrap to the back, and hot glue.  I didn't wrap mine tight enough and I could see daylight through mine, so I covered the entire back.  I just hot glued it all together to keep it secure.  Ugly, but you'll never see it again. : )

Repeat a few times till you have enough rosettes to make a hairpiece.  I added fabric leaves-just cut and fold fabric and hot glue.  I got tons of hot glue on me, hence the low setting.  (Have you ever melted your skin on the hot setting?  I have!)

Then, I cut a piece of felt the size of the hairpiece-total trial and error.  Pile the flowers on with some matching ribbon, sew it all to the felt, then hot glue to a french barrette, and sew on the barrette for good measure.

Here's the sloppy back.  ...It works! : )

And here's our super-cute outfit with matching flower bow that began with sale pants.  heehee

She tried it on and took her own picture-I think she likes it! : )

Ok, that's it.  Go make your favorite little girl a new rosette bow-extremely easy, and the messier the better.  Let your scrappy edges show! : )

I might be a Reject...but I have great friends!

Remember the crazy blinged-up sling we did for Mary Claire with a monkey and imperfectly-spaced rhinestones?  Well..my friend Jenifer had rotator cuff surgery a week ago, and we had to Bling her Sling! : )

For the first one, I just monogrammed it-very preppy with navy and hot pink-too sweet!

And then.  Before Bunco tonight, I loaded up a (really glitzy, sequined-appropriate for the occasion, don'tcha think?) bag with my iron, and blingy iron-ons and rhinestones! : )  I got to Candace's house (our lovely host), and heated up the iron.  (She can't really be without a sling, so we have to keep them close to her-she wore the monogrammed one while I blinged the rockstar one:

This is the only pix I got!  We were just enjoying the moment, and I never took my own picture!  Can you see the sequined guitar, the glittery Rock Star words and star, and wild rhinestones?  Perfect for a night out with the girls!

We had so much fun today, shopping at Hobby Lobby, lunch with little Ethan at Jose's (we were so hoping for Doug to notice we were there-Jen even "checked us in" there for a free dessert!  but he didn't notice till this evening.), and blinging, and Bunco.  Precious moments with friends are SO worth the time (and the hair washing, at least ten clothing changes, getting out of slippers, forgetting the chocolate cake calories, and braving the chilly cold!).  Thank you, God, for friends and honesty...

I emailed my "paragraph" that I intended to send into Bethany Christian Services to my friend (yeah, that preliminary application I sent in last night?), and I asked for her honest opinion.  I won't quote her, but I laughed!  She said she was glad I loved kids, but I might be moved really low on the list! : )  She said, "they don't make loving, peaceful, caring kids!"  "Don't you remember Mary Claire's colic??" (ha-yes!  I also remember ALL of my kids having at least a month-long bout with that crazy "illness" that drives you over the edge with panic, worry, and hair loss.  It is NOT fun.  But we made it through!  I think I meant to convey we couldn't handle drug-withdrawal babies.  I did complement it with my desire for any race (biracial included), and my insurance company's acceptance of all pre-existing conditions.  But, that wasn't enough-we'll be last on the list (if we get any further!  Ha!).  I LOVE a friend who can give me what I need-honesty included!  I love that we know each other well enough to ask, and to give those hard words.  Even if I don't get a baby due to my stupidity, at least I can be thankful for knowing why! : )

I gotta get you a picture of this game my friend Susan got for Ethan-we've been playing it most days.  It is murderous and hilarious all at once.  It's called Smashed Potatoes (by Play-doh):

You make these little potato people in these forms, then you start on the bag of potatoes.  Spin the spinner, and move along little dinner plates.  If you land on the Mash spots, and your playmates land on the green squish spinner spot, they get to mash everyone (on Mash spots) into french fries, waffle fries, scissor them up, or chop them with a green knife!  (you can also choose not to butcher your playmates, sweet afterthought).  If you die, you go back and get molded into a new potato.  So, you are back to square one plate one.

Ethan laughs hilariously when he gets to chop them up, but they have faces, and he just cuts them in two!  My job is the potato-maker.  He likes to have a small army of at least three of each color, at the ready.  I really love the game, but can you imagine being the inventor-lets cut up the little kids' potatoes!  (bahahahaha..Evil Laugh)

I love the game, would totally play it a million more times, and might even get if for another little boy, but girl..probably not!  She might cry when her sweet little purple potato gets the ax.  (and mine wears a bow)  Sadness.

Can I add that we just checked Mary Claire's blood for her midnight check (I know it's only 11:30, but we are tired, People!), and get this: she was 100!  First.  Time.  Ever.  We are real Rock Stars!!! : )  Sometimes the stars line up!  About every 6.6 years?

Green Things

Ahh...a day at home (mostly!).  Ethan had his first day back to school, and Clay spent the night with Gigi last night.  Mary Claire was home with me.  By 9am, she was a little fidgety and wanted to call a friend.  She had company and they played well till 2:30!  I made use of my time-there was so much to do, and I'm not done.
I did lots of laundry, put most of it away (except for upstairs).  I cleaned my desk, checked to see if all my bills were paid.  And, I realized I'd never gotten a mobile phone bill, and it was due today!  I didn't know exactly how much it'd be, but I didn't want it late.  I paid a few more dollars that it was the past two months (online), and called it good.  I don't want to pay a hefty late fee-that's wasted money!
Then, I finished cleaning the back of my room, put away the wrapping paper (so I'm slow), and worked on some monogramming for a friend.  There were two blankets, both so precious!  I'm super happy with them.  I'd say I'm slowly getting better.. (or it's those amazing new fonts and appliques that I've gotten!)

isn't it just scrumptious? : )  And it turned out so much bigger than I thought it'd be!

Then, I cleaned up that machine, and traded it out for my sewing machine.  I had been looking at Ches' poor office chair pad.  It's pathetic really.  I guess I've just been too busy to do anything about it, but with the clean workspace, and all the blinds open, the sun, no one to (currently) care for..I just decided to recover his chair cushion!
To the amateur (like me, ha!), it might seem like a small task, but it took a really long time.  I kept having to make changes, round the corners, make the hanging ties (4!), to get it just right.  I'm really pleased with it now, but I do it in love.  Ches is so good to me, and he deserves a decent chair.  Here are the afters:
(notice the lack of befores?  Embarrassing.)

I'm sure you don't know, but our theme is pale turquoise/chocolate giraffe-mine is the same print.  Our office drapes are the chocolate with turq. dots (the opposite).  Will we ever be back in the office?

So, after all the sewing (and then more cleaning!), I organized my magazines, and vow not to renew any subscriptions for at least 6 months, or until I've read all the bagged ones I haven't even opened.  It's sad.  And I love reading, love decor, love new recipes, and love those little questionnaires that tell me what to improve on, ha-but really-I'm so behind.  Maybe that's why I still have tons of lime green?  I'm working on that. : 
(I found my Pottery Barn furniture guide and fabric samples under a stack of magazines!)

So, then when I found out Natalie had piano at 3, I ran her home, then we went out (to spend Mary Claire's tooth fairy money!).  I'm soo glad the tooth fairy remembered to come on the first night-sometimes she's super-forgetful, or her wings are broken, or her wand is being repaired.  We don't have the best tooth fairy.  Anyway, she came through, and we shopped.
Mary Claire also learned the value of a coupon today!  She had five dollars to spend, and the little "Dress Designer" kit that she wanted (a glorified notebook with heads and shadow bodies, 6 tiny markers, and some dress ideas) was $6.99.  Since we had the coupon (always!), it was 40% off, and she left with change to spare. : )  Yay, coupons!


Then we got some groceries, dropped off some pants to be hemmed (the girls in our family seem to have short legs..), and came home to start dinner.  We had yummy chicken enchiladas and black beans (love them!), and Ches said I should make them more often!  Except that the kids don't eat them so well, and I just don't believe in making them a separate dinner.  How will they ever learn to expand their palate?  I mean, I don't make weird foods.  They are normal (chicken, cheese, tortillas-not liver or cow tongue by golly!).  We are going to have to make snack less cool.  We usually have a dessert for bedtime snack (or ice cream, go-gurt, cereal, crackers, popcorn, etc.).  Maybe if we switched back to fruits and veggies, they'd eat dinner better.  (maybe?)


We also started another game of Monopoly-it's in season around here!  Even Ethan wanted to play, bought property, won money at Free Parking, and paid some rent (sad face).  His whole goal was to have green money (twenties), and own green property, and he finally got the chance.  He bought North Carolina, and was ecstatic!  Sometimes just being with kids is enough to make you appreciate the tiny things! : )


I put away all of the Christmas tree ornaments (most have their own boxes = time consuming), and Ches took down the tree.  I wasn't looking forward to the job, but I'm so thankful it's done.  I love January for it's cleaning and cleanliness.  I love a clean slate and fresh emptiness.  Now, to put away the kids' trees, and all the other red and green stuff!


What are you cleaning?

Contest Winner

Sorry, I didn't post last night!  It got kinda yucky, with the come-back of the throw-up.  Blech.
So, anyway!  Our winner is The Mom! : )
She will get a sweet kitchen towel with this embroidered: Love, Joy, & Peace, Galations 5:22.  I'll post a picture as soon as I'm done! : )  I have a new Love applique I'd like to try anyway.  Should be fun...Congratulations! : )

It's done!!! Yay! : )

Things Under the Bed

Sky-blue pink is our word for that amazing, unusual color that we sometimes get to see at sunset-you know, that beautiful color right after the sun drops down and you see the sky meet the pinkish haze?  Well, tonight we got another gift: an orange-y blue.  It was a great sunny day, but it gave way to surprise showers/thunderstorm this evening, and then we had an awesome sunset: that orangey color!  I tried to get a picture of it, as it was quickly disappearing, but it was proving impossible.  This is the nearest one I could get, but I can only say it still doesn't do the live show justice.  You just had to see it.

And then, guess what I found under my bed!  It is starting to be a nightly thing, but I forgot he was down there, and he's just so darn cute.

Hard to see, isn't it?  Here's a closer shot of my stowaway!

Normally, he's down near the bottom with his feet hanging out, and after he falls asleep, we can just pull him out.  Well.  Not so easy tonight!  I had to totally pull his arm and then pull his body out.  It didn't go so well.  He cried, and it was sad.  I finally got him upstairs and into bed, and then he was asleep and silent!  Bless his little heart.  I just love him too much to tell him to go to bed when he sneaks in there! : )
Ok, here's him from the front-sound asleep.

So, while he's sleeping away, I was sewing. (Yes, in the same room!)  I monogrammed some fabric,

cut out all my pieces, and made Mary Claire a pump pouch (for her insulin pump!).

I bought this fabric the other day, and I'm planning to make a dress that matches it.  I just made the pump pouch first!  I like the fabric even more the more I work with it. : )
I'm sewing again tomorrow with a friend!  She's bringing her serger to play with.  I bought some turquoise polka-dotted seersucker to make some little ruffle capris.  I'll take some pictures!  I also got some 2" ribbon to make matching hairbows, and I have a shirt for her to wear with them, and I'll make a sash to go on the shirt.  It's a shirt I got from Kelly's Kids this spring, but I ordered the next size for her to wear next year!  It's perfect-no iron, and you can add any sash to make it match your pants.  They are on sale 30% off right now-check them out! (if you can't find your daughter's size on the link, you can choose one from another line like the lemonade line, and just take out the sash it comes with.  MC already has this one, and this sash, but I wanted the next size in the shirt!)

Will she USE the backpack?

Bible Study today was great: like a big reunion!  We all hadn't seen each other in a while-well, maybe at church, but it was good to see everyone.  We had a couple girls that hadn't done b.s. with us before, but I'm glad they came!  I was proud of myself: no crying.  I just didn't go there.  Did I not share enough or was it that today was a medicine day?

I started a special project last night: a "string backpack" (I think the real ones are nylon with satin rope/trim).  I worked all day yesterday to get the font onto my computer, so I could digitize Mary Claire's name to put on it.  I don't know how it takes me so long.  It takes 30 times longer to digitize a font, design a name, and save it to a memory stick (for the sewing machine) than it does to sew the name!
So, I started with these:

I couldn't decide which flip flop fabric to use, but Mary Claire wanted the pink!
So I cut four rectangles (figured what size I wanted the backpack, added in seam allowances and the top gather for the ribbon), and then worked on the monogramming.

I

I'm the super-slow one, the machine is fast.  So, then I sewed the front/back of the back pack together, and sewed the lining together, then sewed the inside to the outside.  Confusing?

Ok, so then, I put button holes in the bottom to hold the ribbon, and the top for the ribbon to gather it.

Then, I ran the ribbon through the top, and left long pieces on each end to tie to the backpack.  Mary Claire was at mom's, but Ches went to get her (how I had time to finish up!).  I waited to tie off the ends after I tried it on her!

I thought it turned out pretty well!  She liked it, so yay.  Except now she doesn't want to go to camp tomorrow.  Boo..  We have a JDRF photo shoot tomorrow on the Bentonville Square at 9:40-right in the middle of camp.  It was supposed to be at night, but it got moved to day.  I would send her to camp, but I think the pictures will turn out really well.  We got a sample from the Tulsa JDRF office, and they are nice.  They make me cry, but nice.  I'm going to try to get a copy from the print shop.  I might get the price they are giving to JDRF, woohoo!  Let's see if I can find a sample..

It says, "I wish they would find a cure so I don't have to prick my fingers anymore."  I'm guessing Mary Claire will get decide what hers says.  The photographer is sending the pics to a printshop-so I think that's who will do the writing.  I'll show it to you when it's done!
Anyway, that's why Mary Claire is missing girl scout camp.  Again.  She said she'd go on Thursday and Friday, so I'm hoping she even gets to use the backpack!
All right, all's quiet here, so I'm taking my cue.  Hope you have a great day tomorrow!  I'll try to snap some pix at the photo shoot.  Ethan will want in on the action, so I may not get to be the one taking pictures...