Archive for June, 2008

A Little Summer Fun

Published June 29, 2008 boating , family , family fun , fun , kids , Summer 5 Comments
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We took the boat up to the lake this week, and hubby convinced E. to be his partner in “jumping into the water from up high”.  I stayed dry and attempted to capture the event on film, as the weather wasn’t too nice that day.

Here they are on the dock:
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And daddy dives in:
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E. spent a long time working up her nerve to jump. 
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And she does it!  (Notice daddy, AKA rescue swimmer, has put on a wetsuit…yes, the water was that cold.)
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And it was fun!
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WaHoo!  Way to go, E!  Here’s what she has to say about it  (she wanted to type, I helped with spelling):

DADDY WAS IN THE WATER WHEN I JUMPED OFF THE DOCK.  IT WAS FUN!

Another New Style

Published June 25, 2008 handmade , purse , Sewing 13 Comments
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I made this purse last week, and have been using it since then, trying to decide if I needed to make any modifications in the next one.  So far, the only thing I need to change is to make the center pocket a little shorter, as when my cell phone is all the way at the bottom, it’s a bit hard to reach when it’s ringing.

The front is accented by the pieced flap (this one is Amy Butler fabrics) which is bound in bias.  The bias binding is repeated around the edges of the bag itself. 

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Inside, there are three pockets, two larger outside pockets and a smaller inside pocket.  This design keeps everything organized.  There’s plenty of room inside for what you need without being big and bulky to carry around.  Here I have wallet, cell phone, keys and GPS.  The flap closes with a magnetic snap to keep everything secure.

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From the side, you can see just a peek of accent fabric.  I used nickel rectangle hardware on the strap, but future models will also have a slider to adjust the strap length.

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I’ll be making a few more of these this week to stock in the Etsy shop, so keep checking back!

My Favorite Thing…

Published June 16, 2008 family , kids , parenting 4 Comments
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…about my boy right now is these train tracks he builds.
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It’s his favorite thing to do right now, there’s a new one each day.  He just enjoys hooking the pieces togther, so he starts with one and then follows it around the room, making it longer and longer.  Sometimes the tracks come close to connecting, sometimes not.  It doesn’t bother him either way.  He will run the train baack and forth along his track, just turning around when he reaches the dead end.  The family has gotten used to stepping over the track any time they walk through the family room, and each evening I return the pieces to the basket where they’ll stay until the next morning, when E-Boy will get them out and set them up once again.

New Shoes Make My Day.

Published June 14, 2008 Uncategorized 3 Comments
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I ordered up some new shoes last week from Sierra Trading Post.  They were on sale, and the site takes Paypal payments, which was enough for me to click the “submit order” button.  As always, when I make an order, I checked the tracking number to see when they’d be delivered, and on Wednesday around 3 o’clock, positioned myself in the front part of the house to do the ironing (and watch out the window for the UPS truck).  When I saw her drive up and stop out in front of the house, I played it cool, though…I didn’t immediately run out the front door and tackle her as she emerged from the truck, rather I stepped out on the porch, said ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ and nicely signed for the package.  I love getting presents…even when I buy them myself.

Seriously, tell me I’m not alone in stalking the delivery person when I’m waiting on a package…you do this too, right?

Here are my new shoes:
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Yup, I fell for the Chacos.  Not that I’m getting rid of my keens, just I wear sandals a lot during the summer (and spring and fall) so a girl needs a few pairs.  The brown shoes are j-41, and I love the red details on them.  They’re made to be water shoes, but they look nice enough that I can wear them with skirts, too.  I’ve been looking for a pair of brown shoes for a while now, since I have a pair of brown pants that I’ve been wearing with my black shoes.  Luckily, I have friends who are very forgiving of minor fashion faux-pas.

 

Thirty-One

Published June 13, 2008 birthday , family 4 Comments
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This week, I celebrated my thirty-first birthday.  Hubby and the kids surprised me with presents and balloons at the breakfast table.  There really is an “H” in the banner on the wall, it’s just my photography that’s off.
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And, in one of the boxes was a brand new laptop!
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Yippee!  I’m loving how fast the new computer is compared to our old one.  This one just zips along!  Hubby did good, both choosing a present I love, and managing to pull it off as a surprise.  Thanks, honey!

And a little more sewing…

Published June 8, 2008 handmade , Sewing 9 Comments
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Here’s what I made today, a set of new pillow covers for our sofas.  The old ones were getting pretty grungy, I think I made them about 6 years ago.  These new ones really help freshen up the living room, they’re so fresh and springy!

I’m loving these Amy Butler prints!  I did some quick strip-piecework for the fronts, then used fusible fleece and quilted them for a nice textured effect.  Two of them have a simple envelope style back, and one has a zipper.  I was working with what was on hand.  The covers are totally washable, important in a house full of kids!

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I did it!

Published June 8, 2008 gardening , yummy 2 Comments
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I grew a vegetable!

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Yesterday, this little radish was the first vegetable to be harvested from my little garden.  And I sliced it and ate it on my salad for lunch!  I guess all my fear that nothing would sprout in my garden were unfounded.  It looks like I’ll have some tomatoes pretty soon as well.

And just for the sake of yumminess, here’s a shot of the chocolate-covered strawberries I made for last night’s dessert:

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Gadget Purses

Published June 5, 2008 crafts , handmade , purse , Sewing 5 Comments
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A friend of mine asked me to make her something like this a few weeks ago, so today I sat down and sewed it up.  Then I kept sewing and ended up with two more.  The idea is it’s a safe place to keep your cell phone/mp3 player/other electronic do-hicky.  You can clip it to the handle of your purse or diaper bag, or thread the strap through the belt loop of your jeans (I modeled this for my family while they were eating dinner, the concensus was I looked dorky like that, but if you’re cool, you can pull it off).

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I love the one made with Amy Butler fabrics so much I might keep it (if I can get over the dorkiness of wearing it on my belt loop).  The red-and-black combo came about because the only other zipper I could scrounge up in my sewing room was black, and…well, I was on a roll, so I had to use that black zipper to make one of these.

I think I deserve a merit badge…

Published June 4, 2008 Uncategorized 1 Comment

…for being a handy-woman.

Today as hubby was leaving for work he broke the door.  What I saw was hubby pick up a hammer and start to pound at the latch on the door between the laundry room and the garage.  He says he saw that it was broken, and he was trying to fix it.  Irregardless, the result was he had to go to work and leave me with the broken door. 

The problem was the latch.  The part that is supposed to pull in as you turn the handle so you can open the door no longer would pull in when the handle was turned.  So I went to the shed and got out the rubbermaid tub that contains various parts of doorknobs and locks (doesn’t everyone have a box like this?) and screwdriver in hand, set about to replace the latch part of the doorknob.  I even got my hands dirty looking for a piece just like the one that was broken, only not a broken one.  I found a likely candidate, put it in place, then replaced the handles and voila!  The door works again.  Bonus:  you no longer have to push on the door after it’s shut to make the latch catch.  That’s also one point in favor of the argument that the latch really was broken before Hubby took a hammer to it.

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