one shabby chick

sigh...

House is clean and fairly organized.

We had a busy weekend and it was nice to straighten up today and get organized.

The Lanikai fair was great - thanks to all who came out!

I have some things left over that I'll try and get in the shop - haven't taken pics yet so I plan to spend the rest of the day doing that.

I'll pop in here and let you know when it's all up.

I am doing one teensy little fair more...ha ha! It's just an evening one at a Marine base  - a fellow crafter invited me at the fair and I thought - why not?! It's just one table too so I won't have to bring my tent or anything like that.

I think the only thing I'll make more of are the crayon wallets since those sold out.

We had our last soccer game of the season yesterday - we won 4-1! Hubby's team won too - here we are after via Instagram...

Saturday

First up was soccer pictures.

Our team name is the Flying Unicorns - I had to be very diplomatic to get five 5 year old girls to decide on a name together.

Someone got a haircut this morning too.

Then I spent the rest of the day sewing.

Trying to ignore the dirty house {and piles of clean laundry}.

Made up a makeup bag and purse for a friend's birthday:

Sewed up some quilt backs:

And quilted this little one:

I also started on a couple blocks for the nephew quilt too but I'll have to take pictures tomorrow - it's too dark now.

Soccer and a review

Trying not to be too upset about Sunday and our big loss. I am really happy for Japan and all that it means to their country.

But seeing as how I'm a HUGE soccer fan, I can't help but be sad for Abby and the rest of the girls. They worked so hard for four years and to have it so close and see it slip away...

But that's soccer for you and I will cheer for them next year at the Olympics and in 4 years in Canada too.

Now back to some sewing...

I made these two blocks for Jo for Busy Bees.

She wanted starburst blocks using this tutorial - they are a little trickier than you think (although since I JUST now read through the whole tutorial I think my error was in the trimming - Note to self: read through entire tutorial before trying a block!!)

And I'm working on a little tutorial using my Go! Baby Fabric Cutter.

I have to say, I was pretty excited when I found out I was getting a free one to review. I had seen them popping up on other people's blogs and was having some serious envy issues.....

And now I have my very own from Accuquilt.com.

I had a hard time deciding which dies I should choose.

When I looked through the dies, I was looking for ones I could use for applique. And after I sent back my email with my 3 choices (I chose the Holiday Medley, 2" squares and Alpha Baby) , I immediately regretted choosing them.

But now that they are here, I am so glad I chose them and wish I had chosen another "shape" die instead of the 2" squares. It's just so hard to get precise shapes when using scissors (and drawing them yourself) and these come out great every time.

I had a little trouble with my squares not lining up right but I think I need to go back and read the instructions carefully (are you seeing a trend here? ha ha). I really think I'll be using the shape dies a lot more than the square die anyway.

The Go! Baby is really easy to use. My five-year-old is totally into it and wants to help crank the fabrics through (although she needs a little help). I heard her tell someone today, "My mom got a new sewing machine but it doesn't sew fabric. It cuts it."

I like how crisp the letters/shapes are cut out - I ironed fusible webbing to the back of the fabric and ran them through like that (with the paper still attached).

I keep thinking of all the cool things I can do with them - baby blankets, tree skirts, Christmas stockings, table runners.....

It's a useful tool to have - I've liked seeing all the different dies people have chosen and the different projects they've made.

I'll have a little quilt tutorial for you tomorrow....

pillows

More pillowcases today...

Finished up the final three and now they are all washed and on the beds.

Such a quick project and they add a fun touch to the beds.

I also finished up some pillow covers for a soccer buddy of mine.

Four 18x18 pillow covers. {She wanted the fronts plain and just a little accent of Nicey Jane on the back}

Poor hubby has now gotten the cold/flu. And my other little guy is in for 6-8 more weeks of "minimum" activity. Guess those collarbones take a long time to heal. He has to avoid any type of activity that could cause him to fall...with nine-year-old boys that is just about everything!

I'm so excited about the game tomorrow...can't wait!

finally

Finally feeling better.

Not sure if I mentioned it here but I've been sick for a few weeks...cold, cough, sinus infection - finally got some antibiotics last week and today actually felt semi-normal.

And what did I do? Why sew of course!

This quilt was finished up earlier this week but I needed to make a little label for it.

I used an iron-on transfer and put a little border on it. I'm delivering it tomorrow along with some burp cloths.

We have an x-ray tomorrow for the little guy's collarbone. He's doing great and seems back to normal - we'll see tomorrow how it has healed.

I sewed up a little custom taggie - spaceships!

And then I started on a fun project for the house - pillowcases.

I have been wanting to make these for a while.

I just used fabrics from my stash - whatever I had yardage of.

These are for the two oldest - Bela did not want a "matching one" for her quilt.

This is for the little guy.

These are for our bed.

And I have three more in the works - two more for our bed and one for Baby Girl.

They are so fast and look great - I used Ashley's tutorial (only I serged the edges instead of doing a french seam).

Need to wash them all first and then get them on everyone's beds.

And in case any of you haven't heard - USA is in the final - YEEHAW!!!

Oh...and look what I got in the mail today:

Fun, fun, fun!

I have a few ideas/projects to share with you once I have a chance to play around with it.

Fried

Oh man, I am so sunburned.

Yesterday Hubby played in his semi-final soccer game. They were the underdogs. After an EXCITING game plus two 10 minute overtimes, they won in penalty kicks. Way more exciting than one of my games!

Then I had a game later in the afternoon with no subs so now I'm quite toasty. And a little dehydrated.

I did finish up my Pretty Little Pouch items for my swap partner this weekend.

I started quilting the first block I made and just wasn't too happy with how it was coming out. I cut it in half and made a little pouch out of it which I liked way more and am sending it along with these two pouches since they all match well.

Hope my partner will be happy.

I have a few custom things I need to work on this week - camera strap, pillow and a tote.

I'm also going to make a quilt for a friend of ours. Her mom's blog is here and is so encouraging to read and it just causes you to put things in perspective and to realize what's really important in your life.

Her favorite colors are blue and red so I'm trying to think of the perfect pattern to use.....

WOOOHOOOO

Spain won - and made it to the finals! Yeah! I'm so excited...

And my friend had her little guy yesterday - remember this quilt? She is in CA and he'll be having surgery on his heart later this week - if you think about it please say a prayer for him...his name is Mason.

(and I'm sure she'll love that I used this picture - ha ha! I stole it off Facebook)

Happy 4th

Hope everyone is having a great day - we are heading up the hill soon for some bowling and fireworks......

I just had to share this video - this is kind of how I felt when Spain scored the other day :-)

Soccer withdrawals

I think that's what I'm going to have after next week's final. I'm waiting for Hubby and the kids to get back from the Bay so we can watch the Spain/Paraguay game.

I was not as crazy as hubby and did not get up at 4 am to watch the pounding of Argentina by Germany - I watched it around 7 instead while they all headed down to the beach for a quick swim.

And I have been sewing....

Working on a big custom order of 6 quilts:

Finished up the girls' curtains:

A little bag for a little friend's birthday:

and I received the most gorgeous pillow from Amanda for the Pillow Swap:

We are having a family dinner tonight to celebrate the little guy's 8th birthday and one of his friends is coming over to spend the night.

Tomorrow we are going to our annual bowling/fireworks display at the nearby army base.....

Hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July!

What I've been up to

The World Reacts to Landon Donovan's Goal @ Yahoo! Video