one shabby chick

Have you seen this one?

or this one?

Julie and Julia

Ok I saw the preview for this tonight and can't wait to see it! I've read both books and hello - Amy Adams and Meryl Streep - yes please!!

Just had to let you guys know! Off to watch Man vs. Wild with Will Ferrell!

Becoming Jane

I don't know how I had never watched this movie before today. I've had it for a while now and had even attempted to watch it once - but it was while trying to sew and I couldn't pay attention so I turned it off.

Ughh - what a tear jerker. I have to watch a more uplifting movie tonight or I will go to bed depressed!

No sewing today even though hubby got rained out and came home super early. I mostly spent the day with a big ice pack on my neck. I think soccer is screwing with my neck and it finally got bad enough to warrant a trip to the chiropractor. It felt better after I went but now is sore again.

I think I'm at the point where it gets worse before it gets better. At least I'm hoping that's it!

I have all my packs of fabric to mail for the quilting group (guess they'll be late now - sorry!).

And my squares for the scrap swap.

I did do some sewing yesterday - strips for coin quilts. 

I have quite a few now - I need to start turning them into quilts (and maybe a table runner for my kitchen!).

Doesn't it seem to take longer when you sew with scraps than with with yardage? I wonder why that is?

I'm hoping my neck feels better tomorrow...I really want to sew!!

So.Tired.

Ughh...Baby girl woke up a bunch of times last night crying hysterically. We have no idea what was the matter except she seemed to be scared of something in her room. She's scared of everything lately - I'm not sure why. It's not like we let her watch scary movies or anything but I guess when you are two, and everything is bigger than you, the world is a scary place.

So now I'm sitting here trying to inhale my coffee as fast as I can so my brain will function. I have a meeting for our homeschool group at 9 am and I feel like I can't even keep my eyes open. Hubby and I stayed up watching this movie - it was nice. I had heard rave reviews about it. I don't know...maybe you have to be in the right mood. I have this one too...I think we should've watched that one instead.

So here's a sneak peek of a present for my scrap swap partner. I had taped up her box and then was reading her blog and decided I needed to make something else for her.

So I made my own pattern...well, I based it loosely on something I already have. I'm pretty happy with myself. I'll share more after she gets her box (which I have yet to mail - this morning I promise!!).

Ok off to tidy the house before the meeting. Yesterday was spent buying all my ingredients for my compost mix but I'm not sure when I'll start on the process. Not today, I think I need a nap.

Oh, and later I have to figure out how to put the button on my blog for this site. Lucky thing a wonderful lady has already written a tutorial about it!!

Mrs. Darcy

So I just got finished watching Pride and Prejudice. Well, actually Pride and Prejudice and then Walk the Line. Now as I type this I'm thinking man, what a slacker...spent the day watching movies! But two great movies. I had never watched Walk the Line but we have it on dvd so I popped it in today. What a great movie/love story. I loved it. And of course, I LOVE any Pride and Prejudice movie. I love it in the end when he's standing there in his long coat. I almost thought about putting in this one but it seemed a little long for today. But I have to say Colin is my all-time favorite Mr. Darcy. He's just perfect.
The movie-watching was because I had to finish up make some bookmarks for the book swap I joined (which I think was supposed to be sent by April 1st - oops!) so I got out some ribbon, felt and embroidery floss and whipped up a couple.

The kids drew some the other day for her boys so that's finally done. It's packed up and ready to be taken to the post office tomorrow. Whew - another thing crossed off the list!

Since I was in the embroidery mood, I decided to make a little birdy on a branch like this one that flew into my house via catalog the other day. I have never done any needle-turn applique and I don't know if this qualifies but chenille is the perfect fabric to use since you can never see your stitches. This is the brown chenille tree branch.

I think I'll do the bird out of felt since it's so easy and doesn't need to have finished edges.

Then I practiced some more stitches by making a flower.

I think I'll applique it as a circle onto a quilt when I'm done. The bird I'll just leave in the embroidery hoop and hang it on the wall.

And because I just can't resist...my little cowboy umm, sorry I meant Indiana Jones (he's in this game).

And I know it's Star Wars but somehow they plugged Mr. Jones in there to promote this game coming out soon.
Oh, and our boys can't wait until Sunday - Mario Kart comes out. We had to go and pre-order it. They are very excited...almost as much as Daddy is :-)

Why yes, I am crazy...

I realize that it is only the first week of November and I should be thinking about Thanksgiving and then Christmas but I like my Christmas season to last as long as possible...especially when the only thing Christmasy about Hawaii is when it rains. Our leaves do not change colors and no snow falls here (at least not on this island). We do have gorgeous red sunsets and clear blue water (with enormous crashing waves in the winter) as our trade-off. And the warmest we have to dress is in jeans and a sweatshirt (and this is rare). So...I have to make my own Christmas magic and this means decorating my home so it feels like Christmas. Which I have already done. Which makes me slightly crazy. At least this is what my mother and husband tell me.
The reason behind this Christmas in November is because I decided to rearrange my sewing area. So I can see the tv while sewing. Since this is really important and I am planning on making lots of gifts this year (and apparently watching lots of tv while doing it). So...there is a small closet in our bedroom that is actually a staircase that leads upstairs. But it is boarded up at the top and we don't use it. So I store all my Christmas boxes there (I had ten boxes, not to mention about 5 bags and various other small boxes). It's nice to have the extra storage area but if I use it I need to keep the door area free and that takes up too much room so I moved everything out and arranged my sewing area as such so there is no access to the door (unless you move a bunch of stuff around which I don't want to do in 2 months time).

I realize this story is boring and long - sorry!

Since all the Christmas stuff is out now and the new storage area requires going up and down a ladder with boxes (something else I did not want to do twice in just a few weeks), I decorated the house...whew! OK the story is over now!

I did scale down a bit and have boxes to take to the Goodwill (of mostly crap that I don't know why I bought - probably beacuse it was cheap). I'm sticking to handmade Christmas things as much as possible.
I buy things from a local artist every year. She does wonderful work and I have quite a few of her things. She sells them at local craft fairs. These are a few of her items below:

I have done some tole-painting in the past and have a few things I made as well. I'm not sure if I'll make some things this year. I have only signed up for one craft fair and it is at a women's dinner our church has every year. It's small but I usually sell some things. I may sign-up for another one that is close to home. I need to start making things instead of just making lists of what I plan on making.

In school news, we are reading about bats in science and found a couple of fun links (via our science book). This is a cool puzzle link that they loved and it has different puzzles and levels of difficulties. Also this article is pretty interesting.

In blogland, I'm loving the Sew, Mama, Sew blog this month...have you seen it? Lots of great ideas, tips and tutorials!! Great for a handmade Christmas!

And I can't wait for these patterns to come out next year - the whole concept is so adorable!!

I want to scale back this year for Christmas since the kids always get a bunch of plastic crap that finds it's way into the garbage or Goodwill bag too soon. I want to get one or two quality items for each one and that's it. Which is hard since I am definitely a consumer. I've warned them they are only getting a couple of presents since let's face it, they don't NEED anything. We have a home, food, beds and they all have toys. They are living the good life compared to most of the rest of the world. I realize that they are children and it is so fun to get presents (I,for one, love presents, both giving and receiving) but junk is junk and I'm over it. Someone had posted a great list of links to various handmade/unique toys on their blog but I can't remember where I spotted it. I'll search and post it if I find it. Enough on my rant....

Baby Girl is totally into our little nativity scene. I saw this about 3 years ago and thought it was perfect. The kids can't break it and the little people are so cute. She loves carrying around Baby Jesus.

** I found the blog..it was on Angry Chicken's blog back in August - great piece on toys and lots of great links!