More of Grandparents.

Sawyer and my Dad have this special bond. You could call it their "man" time or their "special" time, whatever you call it, it's there and Sawyer knows it. Our very first day at Grandpa K's house, Sawyer climbed on top of the counter and pulled out the blender, insisting that Grandpa start mixing up strawberries! I won't lie, I appreciate Sawyer's cuteness with it all, it saves me from begging him to make them. ;)

I love all of these pictures of Sawyer's face. He's just so excited! He had these for breakfast and dinner nearly every day...no joke!
We also got to spend an evening with Grandma and Grandpa Wall at Uncle Kelly's house. There's so much to play with there and the boys stay entertained the whole time (that's why you won't see Sawyer in these pics...he was 'busy').

Sorry about that pen Andrea! I guess Ruger was digging for something. Ruger loves his Grandma Wall...they're both pretty silly together.

I love seeing Natalie...she's about as close as I will ever get to having a baby girl. haha.

And Andrea...running from the camera again. Andrea and I grew up together...best of friends all through childhood....and THEN...I introduced her to Jason's brother Kelly...and before you knew it we became SISTERS! I love it when life works out that way!

OK, now I'm off to clean my house, because we are getting new windows today!!! I'm so excited!

Once Upon A Time.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl.

She was always happy and never let people get the best of her.

But then one day, that little girl grew up

and she had a little boy who she loved so much

and wanted desperately to protect him from the BIG bad world

where cruel people exist.

I'm not sure if those cruel people had mothers that taught them

too much or too little.

Whatever the case may be,

some of those people weren't quite prepared for

over-protective, defensive mother's like me.

So...to the boy with the cell phone camera, snapping pics in the gas station--

I'm glad that my little death-defying, deprecating, piercing eyes

spoke loud enough for you to hear my thoughts.

Maybe next time your mother will teach you better!

The End

My bag this week!

This week I'm carrying this diaper savvy clutch packed with

diapers and wipes inside...

This amazing purse that I inherited from my Mom's collection (oh, I'm in heaven).

This pattern has been one of my favorites! I originally designed this little number to coordinate with my Jumbo Glam Bag. But then I realized how stinkin' amazing the elastic works! You can cram as much or as little as you want into it and nothing falls out!

I have received wonderful feedback on this pattern. It's a super easy and quick pattern...perfect for gift giving and you can learn techniques with elastic and applique along the way.

So, hop on over to my shop for a fun little discount on this fantastic pattern! :)

Happy Monday!

To Grandmother's House We Go!

We are at one of our favorite places in the world...Grandma's House! I had to come to get my teeth fixed, I'm quite certain that my brother was having the time of his life torturing me in the chair. Lots of numbing and drilling, but now I'm good as new. Thanks Klint! ;) A quick pic with Ruger. Not sure we get too many of those together, because he's always, "too busy," as he puts it. His common sense is winning me over in every sense, but I'm lovingt his age all too much! And here's my mother. I love her too! And I have missed her so much! It's always fun to see my parents and just have a little time to chat and catch up.

And Sawyer. Hiding his face again. He doesn't like the camera anymore. :( Grandpa took the boys to McDonalds today for a Happy Meal and then off to the store for a new toys. Naturally they picked the exact same toy...oh well. They had so much fun though and my mom and I were able to sneak in a little shopping. shhhh....

OH, and I made some flower clips. I've been trying out various tutorials and such, trying my hand at other crafts in between patterns. This was a fun and slightly painful one, but well worth it. Happy Sewing!

The Darling Bag!

Pattern coming very, very soon!

To Be Better.

Have I ever told you that blogging makes me nervous? I fear that somehow I will offend someone or perhaps I'll portray things in a way that's not true. But recently I've decided I'll just rise to the occasion and let the worry subside. These past few months have been pretty incredible for my family. We've had our ups and downs, but amazing things (people) have happened to cross our path. We have come in contact with some pretty fantastic-ly ordinary people. People who have changed our lives for the better by simply being here. They've just been in our presence and have had conversations with us, making us laugh and cry and touching us with their sweet, sweet spirits. Our home life has changed as we've found happiness in just being.

My children are growing and changing my world. I don't want to miss one second of my boys and their existance (all three of them). I know that I will have this little family of mine forever and all eternity, but still sometimes, it feels like that's not enough as time goes by so fast.

My husband and I went to the Visitor's Center last night and watched a video called, "The Restoration," done by our church. I hadn't watched the movie in a long time, but I was grateful for the opportunity to go and even more grateful for the people we were able to share the experience with. At the end of it, we were asked that as we leave, we ponder how we can be a little better and be a little kinder. That's all I've been able to think about is how can I be just a little better? All of my answers haven't come yet, but they will and I'm anxious to see how it all plays out. I mean there's room for everyone to be just a little better right?

Sewing Night.

A few nights ago I was able to host a fun little sewing night with some old/new friends and it was so fun to just get together, relax, and sew. The girls wanted to make the Halloween totes, so I was able to practice my teaching skills a little and it turned out to be a great beginning project. Thanks girls for such a fun night! Can't wait to do it again.

Coming along slowly.

Sooo...the consensus on my living room is that I need to add more color. After pondering your comments I came to the conclusion that I completely agree! :) Slowly I've been adding a little splash of color here and there. It's not done yet, but we're getting there.

I bought this bird cage at Ross and then spray painted it and covered the back with fabric. I want to put something cool in it, but I haven't found that "cool" thing yet. :)

And then I made some pillows as discussed in the last post...I loooove them! And I got the fabric at JoAnns (gasp!). I get a lot of emails from people who only have a JoAnns in their area and they get so frustrated with the selection there. So I've been doing a little searching there and thought I'd try and show you a few of combos that I have found and have come to enjoy, so then maybe you will have an easier time shopping there.

Happy Wednesday!

Edit: I posted this and then realized it's Tuesday! Haha, jokes on me.

Freshly Baked Goodness!

Grab those hot pads ladies because I have got a recipe for you!

This is one secret family recipe you won't want to miss!

Hop on over to the Moda Bake Shop for some Monstery Goodness from yours truly! :)

Our household is on a Monster kick and so anything with "sharp-white teeth" and a "big red mouth" are certain to be a smash-hit. This sweet pillow has a "secret" pocket for stashing goods and two handles to make for some awesome pillow fights!

Gauranteed to bring some yummy lovin' from your lil' monsters.

And maybe even make your night of trick-or-treating a little more peaceful!

Happy Halloween!

I'm Giddy!

Have you ever heard someone say, "Things don't just happen overnight!"? That saying is slowly ringing true to me...slooowly. I love sewing, but truthfully I love a lot of things. I love my family, I love my friends, I love working on our house, I love my faith and everytime I add something new to my list, I take a little bit more of my time away from everything. This leaves very little time for things to just "happen." Everything I do has to grow. My children have to grow and learn and nothing I do with them happens overnight. Sewing is grand but none of these designs happen instantly. I may sew the bag up in a few hours, but the whole process takes weeks or even months, because I have a lot to do, as does everyone. My point? Well, occassionally, really great things happen! Things that I've forgotten about because they "didn't happen overnight" and these things make me think, "OK this is taking a long time, but I'm getting there."

Click on the link below to see just what this crazy seamstress has been up to...

And I'm learning that if I keep my head in the game (the right game) great things will come (thank you HSM). They may come slowly, but I'm in no hurry, I have a lifetime to enjoy great things. I'll fill you in on a little secret though...there's more great things coming for you...soon.

_______________________________________________

Now, I'm on my way over to my Etsy shop to post those highly anticipated Halloween Tote Patterns. And because it's such a great day, how about we make that discount a little more discounted than usual? Yes? No? Let me know. ;)

Happy Monday!

Cleveland, Part 2

While we were visiting the Postons, we had the chance to go to the biggest park my children have ever seen, Preston's Hope. My children were in heaven! I lost Ruger at one point as he was just wondering and enjoying himself. A few of Roni's friends were able to come with their families and it was so great getting to know them all.

Gabbi found the sand to be quite tasty! Yummy!

Gunnar

You know who my hooligans are above and below.

Emma

The Gomer and his wife

Princess Hannah

And well, what can we say...it was a long day. No wait, this pic was before we left. Ha! I just remembered that! Sorry, too lazy to put these in chronological order. :)

Preschool and Cleveland Part 1

Oh wow, I still can't believe this guy is 5! Because of our shocking turn of events last year with the hearing aids, we decided to keep Ruger in pre-school for one more year. So again, we have his "first day of preshool pics. " Isn't he a little stud?

Did I say little? I meant BIG stud! Look how tall he is? I mean, yes, I'm short, but he's still so tall! Dad had to work this day, but we had Grandma W. in town to snap pics for us. Ruger is looooving his new preschool. So much, that I can get him to make his bed, brush his teeth, and do his chores without even a whimper before school. Which makes me love his preschool too!

Ruger attended exactly 3 days of preschool before we headed off to Ronis. We had a blast with the Postons and will do it again in a heart beat (notice I said will)! We woke up every morning, showered, sent the kids off to school, and then sewed or shopped the day away. We spent little time primping, because we felt it was a waste of valuable time...and what's the point in a west-coast girl even trying to fix her hair while visiting the east coast (not to mention the fact that I'm attempting to grow out my hair so I can be Velma for Halloween)?

Between the 2 of us we made 6 pairs of pj bottoms, 4 bags, a camera strap, a diaper savvy, 10 halloween totes, an apron, some flowers, a halloween wreath, 2 wallets, a Thomas costume, and patched a pair of jeans in the two weeks I was there. Sewww worth it! I remember taking about 20 pics while I was there, but when I came home I had 240...some were of leaves and some of feet....I'm assuming that someone was comparing our new cameras (she got a Nikon and I got a Canon...mine's better). haha! Oh yes, this photo is real...sadly! We made this mess over and over again, but what fun it was!

And because you kind of sort of got to see the bag I've carried for three weeks, I am going to do FREE U.S. SHIPPING on everything in my shop for one whole week! So hurry, hurry! Happy Monday!

The wife is BACK!

I have determined that when someone doesn't blog for three whole weeks, that means they're having lots and lots of fun! I have pictures to share and new designs that we hashed out and we even planned out the booth for Spring Market 2011, but all of that has to wait because I haven't seen my hubbie in three looong weeks, I'm still catching up on sleep and jet lag, I owe hours of conversation to my mama, a primary program to finish writing by Sunday, many errands to run, calls to make, OH and mile high packages to mail because my poor shops have been so patient waiting for me! :) But once I'm done with that I will hop right back into the blogging scene.

And I'm sorry about my lack of email responses, but to answer a few questions:

1. I will be posting my halloween tote patterns soon.

2. I will go back to my bag of the week soon (I didn't realize that would be missed).

3. And yes, I am THRILLED with my husband at all for the magnificent work he did on our basement! He is amazing and I'm loving him more than ever for his hard work! I've been living in 2 bedrooms and 1 bath of our house for the past year and I'm so excited to almost be converted back to our 5 bedroom, 2 bath space...I'll keep you posted with pictures!

I came home to a detailed car (thank you nieces and nephews), a stinkin' clean house (thank's Ranee), an advance on the remodel (love ya Jason), and a super cluttered sewing table (thank you self)! I consider myself to be the happiest and luckiest woman in the whole wide world! Now I'm off to finish my to do list, so I can have my Friday night date with Jason! Thanks for putting up with me! I love you all and please let me know what you're up to! I will also be reading blogs again soon....sorry friends!

While the wife is away the husband will play

So as you you might be able to tell, this is not Tiffany. This is her husband having a little fun while she is away. I thought it might be fun to post my activities during this weekend (seeing how it has been the only time I have had off since she has been gone). Tiff, I hope you enjoy.

This is going to be the doorway to the future master closet.

This is the new doorway.

What's next?

I cut open another new door.

I had some hired help and took down another wall and

then I started to put it back together. Pictured above is new wiring for outlets and lights.

Holes in the ceiling for recessed lighting with wires run.

A light (not finished), but you get the idea.

Insulation in the walls to improve energy efficiency.

Then comes the Sheetrock.

And more sheetrock.

Well that was fun. How was your weekend? This is the first time I've ever written on a blog before. Thanks for taking the time to enjoy.