one shabby chick

A few favorites

New passport wallets for the shop:

An iPad mini cover for a fun swap:

a custom iPad cover:

and this sweet smile.

Hope you are having some favorites of your own lately too!

Choices

Lately it seems like life has been about choices.

Do I choose to sew or go to the beach with my family (I know, hard choice)?

Do I spend time reading my Bible or do I blog and browse the internet?

So as you can see, I have been choosing my family and Bible over sewing and blogging.

Not that I'm done with blogging....and I also thought -  as soon as I write this, I'll probably have a ton of things to blog about - lol!

Boy how I wish there were more hours in the day! But there aren't and it's all about balance. And right now my family is taking up the majority of time and I'm totally fine with that.

As soon as I finish this post though, I plan on spending some quality time with my sewing machine. I have a design idea that's been brewing in my head for a while and I'm itching to get it on fabric.

All the family time hasn't stopped me from accumulating fabric.

How beautiful are these bundles from Westwood Acres?

Love those feathers!

And aren't these fun? - Riley Blake blenders.

I also got some pretty bundles from Fresh Squeezed Fabrics.

That yellow Essex linen is so pretty!

And I have bought a few things on Instagram.

Who can pass up a great bundle of Chocolate Lollipop? Not me!

And some oop AH charms and fat quarters from Katie!

I'm slowly working on my stars - most of the fabrics are from Indian Summer by Sarah Watson.

Fabricworm, Westwood Acres and Sew Fresh Fabrics all have it in stock - go get some! It's really cute!

Hawaii Fun

My cousin was just here for a visit and I thought I'd show some of the fun pictures of her trip.

yep - they slid down this...

(I couldn't go on the hike cause I had soccer sign-ups for AYSO)

and one of our toothless girl :-)

Sew days

We had a great Sew Day for the Oahu Modern Quilt Guild on Saturday.

If any of you are local and are interested, please send me an email or check out the FB page here.

I didn't take any pictures of us actually sewing but I did snap one of Melanie, Mai, Sarah and I at the very end of the day.

 

I've finished a few bee blocks.

These two Paris themed blocks are for Charise for the Ringo Pie Bee.

And this guitar is for Melinda (also for Ringo Pie).

I'm slowly crossing off that big bee block to-do list!

I sewed this simple patchwork top up (as soon as these fabrics came I had to cut them out and play with them).

Now it needs a backing and then I'll throw it in the to-quilt pile.

I'm working on some more knife cases for my dad for his knife show this weekend. Can't wait to show them to you!

I whipped up some key fobs today too.

These are so fun to make and great for using up scraps.

I ordered a fun new toy which came today - a new lens!

I'm pretty excited to learn how to use my camera more too!

I also made a laptop case for a custom order - it has an adjustable/removable strap too.

Think that's about it for things on this side of the world right now...hoping to get a bit more sewing in this week but my cousin is visiting from TN so I may be forced to take her to the beach instead - life is so hard :-)

Friday

These last three weeks have been SO busy!  But I have gotten in a little sewing time - yay!

I just updated the shop with a few camera straps:

and passport wallets:

I have a bunch of bee blocks to work on too so I need to get those done before I work on "fun" stuff!

Tomorrow is a Sew Day for the Oahu Modern Quilt Guild! Can't wait! And Sarah just moved here so she'll be joining us too!

I already met her this week as she and her husband came to Hubby's soccer game in town and then we all went out for Thai food. So excited she's here!

I'll be spending today at a home school conference (and spending money on books instead of fabric - bummer!).

I did see this great sale in my email - Michelle Patterns has all her sewing patterns for only $5 this weekend!

I love her patterns and this is such a good deal!! Go get a few!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

A new week

I miss camp - isn't that crazy?!

It was such a fun time and so much work leading up to it and now it's just flown by!

(one of my favorite photos of camp - makes me love him even more) :-)

(all photos by Schyne Photography)

I wore myself out completely and finally got out of bed today.

So no sewing going on over here!

But I did get a gorgeous box of goodies from Fabricworm that I can't wait to dig in to and I have quite a few quilt tops that I need to quilt up!

Plus all this time off from sewing has made me want to jump back in - always a good thing.

I also have a new fabric shop to tell you all about but I'll save that for a post of its own!

Where I've been (and where I'll be)

Last weekend and (this weekend) Hubby and I had the opportunity to help out with a Spring Break Youth Camp.

We go to a Calvary Chapel church here in Haleiwa and this was a combined church camp with all the Calvary Chapels on the island - it was SO fun!

(yep, that's a raw squid - they played squid football)

Last weekend was Senior High and this weekend will be Junior High.

So that's where I've been (and where I'll be this weekend too).

All photos by Schyne Photography.

Family first

I know my posts have been a lot more sparse here this year.

I'm trying to put family first and concentrate on them more than anything else.

Which has resulted in lots of bread baking :-)

And here are the links to those amazing breads I keep making:

Bretzel bread

Bagels

Dinner Rolls

I do love blogging and being here so I am really going to try and make it more than once a week or every couple weeks!

Plus I have been sewing so I have lots to share.

But first, let's have a winner on that last giveaway, shall we?

#59 - Samantha!! Congrats! I'll be sending you an email shortly!

OK, now on to sewing.

I just finished this quilt up today and the binding tonight so tomorrow I can sew it on and finish it up!

I love this quilt.

I used all my white and blue Heather Ross fabrics and a Kona grey (can't remember which one off the top of my head - a dark grey).

I wish I had made it bigger since I have no idea what to do with it (and there is no way I am giving this away unless my sister has a baby).

Binding fabric:

And I finished this top:

As soon as I got this FQ bundle of Carnaby Street and saw it next to the Michael Miller Mirror Dots, I knew I wanted to combine them in a quilt.

And this is the result.

I also sewed a little zip pouch for a friend:

and practiced my paper piecing on a Sew Ichigo strawberry.

 

And I got a wonderful surprise this week!

I was listed in Honolulu Magazine's Best of Honolulu Issue!

Been a pretty amazing week!!

Happy Birthday Mi Amor

Today is Hubby's birthday.

He's 39 (we are the same age - I turn 39 in August).

I know I gush about him a lot here and on Instagram but he's really pretty special.

He's my best friend, my soul mate.

He's an amazing father,

a wonderful provider and leader of our family

and one of the most un-selfish people I have ever met.

(yep, we know how to do cake-smashing right - lol)

Plus sometimes he's just a big kid.

I love you babe - I pray #39 is the best year yet......

So....

Guess I'm not totally back to normal.

Actually Hubs has been home a whole lot since it's been raining which means no work right now.

(he took the kids hiking after school today)

Not that I'm complaining - I'd love to have him around all the time (well, you know for a little while at least - no work means no paycheck).

But he's heading back to work tomorrow and we've slowly gotten back into our routine.

I did re-arrange my room and finally sat down and did some sewing today.

The new set-up feels a little different (think it's just cause I'm facing a different way) but I LOVE our new bed set-up. So much so, I kinda just want to hang out there all day :-)

I have some FUN things I'm working on right now - camera pouches and a bunch of paper pieced blocks for bees. Will post photos when I take some with my "real" camera!!

I also have a tortilla soup recipe to share and a giveaway!