one shabby chick

Craft Hope

As soon as I saw the post for Craft Hope's new project I knew I wanted to be a part of it...

My sweet Bela turned 10 on the 23rd and we had a family party for her but on Sunday she had a few friends over to celebrate too.

So I got some white pillowcases and fabric markers and they each decorated a pillowcase. I showed them the blog posts about it and they all were very excited -(can you see my kitchen is still only partially re-painted...just ignore that).

I loved seeing each girls' personality in their pillowcases....

and Baby Girl made one too:

and then Little Bro got in on the action with an underwater-themed pillowcase.

I want to sew up a few to add in as well and then we'll get them sent off - there's still time if you are interested in joining up!

A good laugh

Are you in need of a good laugh?

(I had to add a picture and this seemed good for a "laugh" post)

GO read this - hopefully you will think it's as funny as I did - I was cracking up reading them all!

Sewing again

It's been a while since I've sat down to sew (unless you count Saturday morning when I broke 3 needles trying to make Baby Girl's soccer shorts a little smaller).

I honestly wasn't feeling it....but I put an audiobook on my ipod and just started sewing. My to-do list is a mile long!

I started working on a market tote for my Urban Home Goods partner...

*I added some fusible fleece and a band through the middle and quilted it - it's not in the pattern but it was easy to do.

And just to show you that I still have plenty of fabric after my de-stash:

and my munki munki drawer (with a little Heather Ross in there too):

I also got a few birthday presents in the mail (had gift cards to Amazon and Hawthorne Threads):

I have to read Mockingjay soon before my son steals it away to read it!

Packing orders

I think I will be doing quite a bit of it today and tomorrow - thanks everyone!

Just added some Munki Munki/Heather Ross charm packs to the shop too...and that's it - whew!

Now I need to get back to fun things - like laundry!

Just popping in

Wanted to give you all the first heads up that I'm doing a bit more de-stashing and have some hard to find fabrics I'll be listing too (Lush, HR, Urban Chiks)....

Trying to fit all my fabric after re-arranging my sewing room and realized I just have TOO much!! I just started adding fabrics so it may take me a while!

long day

Had a wild day of running around and ended up with a flat tire at Costco - but the good news is I have two new front tires....and we didn't have a blow-out on the freeway or anything.

We are heading up to a friend's surprise 40th birthday party later...

I made her this (I was going to make her a different one but life got the better of me):

I had this top already sewn together (you can find the pattern here) and basted so all I had to do was quilt it and bind it.

(can you tell how enthusiastic my 12 year old was to hold this for me - he kept blaming the wind!)

And I actually did the binding by machine....

Still have to practice a little more (and I do love how the hand-sewn binding looks) but it only took a fraction of the time to machine-sew it and I just had no time this week.

OK have a great weekend - we have a full one - soccer and a birthday!

My heart is full to overflowing

These are all by Marina....can't wait to get a few blown up and put on the walls!

Update on Baby Mason

So last night I took dinner over to Baby Mason and his mom and dad...yep, they are finally back home!

They were in San Diego for about 2 months (before and after his birth). He actually recovered remarkably fast and got discharged a couple times but had to head back to the ER twice for different complications (one for formula allergies and another time because his picc line was clogged).

But they are finally home and doing well. He has to have another surgery in November but that will be here.

I am also finally sharing pictures of a custom baby quilt I recently made....

The shower was this past weekend and since the mom-to-be (Hi Kelly!) reads my blog I didn't want to post photos of it before the shower.

Her sister contacted me about making a quilt and mentioned she loved Heather Ross' Far, Far Away 2 line.

I hadn't had a chance to play with that fabric yet so I used a couple of those prints and went from there.

I wasn't sure how to quilt it and ended up doing big loops across the quilt - I like how it turned out.

Today is the day

We are starting school....we were going to start yesterday but over the weekend I decided I needed to do some cleaning and so yesterday was spent re-arranging my bedroom and the living room (and part of the boys' room). Everything is put back in its place (mostly - need to fold all my fabric) and we are heading into the "school zone" now.

Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments - dealing with a situation right now (not my family or anything) and it's always so good to remember God is in control and I am so blessed with my wonderful husband and family.

Had a fun birthday weekend - couple of lunches with family and friends and then a date with hubby on Sunday...just what I needed!

And here's the winner of the little quilt:

#21 - Nicke

Congrats! I'll be sending you an email soon!

OK off to start the school day and try and sew up a soccer banner later...

tomorrow

Off on a date with Hubby for my birthday and El Dia de Las Madres.....

Be back tomorrow with a winner :-)