Thursday, August 29, 2013

Where did summer go? :/


Wow.. what happened to summer?  It flew by in a blur.  And someone lost his first tooth!


While on our "last hurrah before school starts" vacation to San Diego.. after walking around Sea World for 10 hours.





There it is..first one to come in..first one to come out.. sniff. I remember vividly the day he cut his first tooth.. Easter Sunday 2007.



Wow, it just goes by so fast.  

Luckily, we made it safely home with the tooth so he could stick it in the mouth of his tooth fairy monster. But what a fun trip we had.

Sea World.. A. is not so into riding rides yet, so Sea World was right up his alley with all of the cool animal shows and exhibits. The orcas were ready to come out and play.  So fun! A. got such a kick out of seeing them up close and learning about them, too.









LegoLand.. was nice.  The best part was Miniland USA.  The scale models of large American cities were really cool.  And A's favorite part, since he's not so into rides.  But in the words of my husband, "Did we just spend a small fortune so we could get in here only to shop at all of their kiosks and Legos stores?" umm..lol 



Mini SF..




Mini NYC..

There was even a mini Vegas strip and mini New Orleans complete with a Mardi Gras parade going on.  It really was cool.  And there was such detail!  In SF, there was a little Lego office man chasing his rolling office chair down one of the hills.  So funny.

And we had planned on the zoo, but decided to skip it and instead check out Balboa Park.  So glad we did!  So many museums there and so peaceful and beautiful.



There was even a model railroad museum, where I'm sure my son had his "mother-ship calling him home" moment.  He loved it.  LOVED it. As much or more than Sea World and LegoLand put together.  And it is only $1 for kids to get in!!!! ONE dollar!! As opposed to the catrillion dollars it costs for kids to get into both Sea World and LegoLand.  So worth it..  such a great end to our trip after spending the first couple of days in larger amusement parks dealing with crowds and lines.




It really was amazing.. scale models of actual railroads and towns.















He had so much fun there!  The best things in life often don't cost much at all..



And we couldn't leave w/o his smashed penny souvenir.  :)



Such a fun trip.. wish we could have just stayed another day or two.. He's just growing up so fast!




Oh, and in my last post, I mentioned how the summer was hi-jacked by the Mod GeoCruiser pattern.. well, it even invaded our quick trip to SD.  I got an email from Jina Barney asking if I could send her a snapshot of the bike I was making with the Gracie Girl fabric so she could include it in an email newsletter the next morning.  Luckily, I had one on my lap top and had taken my lap top with me.. I was able to get it to her just in time to go out in the newsletter about the Gracie Girl fabric line.  She also asked me if I could send her pattern info so she could distribute my pattern. ?? I figured she just wanted the name so she could mention it in the newsletter, but when I wrote her back asking what info she needed (as I am so green about any of this kind of stuff), she sent me a spreadsheet with the info they need.  Including bar code#, SKU#, etc.  Isn't this all crazy? If nothing changes, keeping fingers crossed and pinching myself at the same time, Mod GeoCruiser will be available on the Riley Blake site, too!  Oh my goodness.. it really did take on its own life!

As soon as we got home from our trip, when I wasn't trying to get our son ready for the first grade, I was finishing the quilt top, and lining up the quilting of it, so that it can be quilted and bound and off to SLC by Sept. 5th, so it can hopefully go to Fabric Fest. Honestly, I'm kind of worried about the quick turnaround.. it's going to be cutting it close.  Pat Roche, the new owner of Triangles on a Roll, is quilting it for me. As we speak.. so as soon as it gets back to me, I have to bind it as fast as I can, and get it back in the mail.  I hope it makes it! Here is a quick photo of the completed top.  Oh and before I get it back in the mail, I hope to get a really good photo of it for the pattern cover.  So I can then start figuring out how to have patterns printed up/where, etc. ?? I really know nothing about any of this.. Luckily, Beth and Nedra have been holding my hand through it and answering lots of questions!


And now.. someone is a big first grader.. all day school.. taking his lunch and eating in the lunch room.. big steps.  But it's going well.  No crying for anyone this year and he's loving school so far. :) (his tired eyes are still adjusting to getting up and getting out of the house walking to school by 8 a.m.)



And.. B is enjoying the cooler mornings.. when he's not hanging out on the tile in the laundry room, he can be found here. You can see he likes to drool on the door. ;)





That's what's happening here, as life zooms along in fast forward. Wow, huge thanks if you made it to the end of this post!  I feel like I have been neglecting my blog for ages.  But I hope to pay more attention to it soon. Just as soon as pattern is all done and wrapped up.  Then I hope to get back to blog surfing, too and hop around and see what everyone's up to!  

Time for school pickup.  Thanks for stopping by to visit!

xo

p.s.  Linking up to Really Random Thursday @ Live a Colorful Life.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

We have a loose tooth in the house!!

Remember a few months ago, several maybe..time sure flies.. when I let my freak flag fly and made the ugliest money-puking tooth fairy monster ever for my little boy? (Proof that I should never try to make a stuffed animal without a pattern, or at least a plan. ha! I should def. stick to quilting!)


Complete with a black eye? (using some of my late grandmother's buttons from her button jar..)



Inspired by this book?


I thought it deserved another post in celebration.. b/c we have a loose tooth in the house!  I was starting to wonder when it would finally happen, since many of his KG classmates last year had lost several teeth already.  Yet when he walked up to me in the kitchen and quietly said, "Mom, I didn't tell you when we were upstairs.. but.. I have a loose tooth," I kind of felt emotional.  Much the same as when I discovered he had cut his first tooth at 6 mo. old.  On Easter Sunday. I remember it vividly. Yay!..wait..what's that lump in my throat? Sniff, sniff. 

(the tooth there on the left..the first one to come in..will be the first one to come out..)

Don't get me wrong, I was super excited for him, it's a big milestone after all, and I gave him a kiss.. but as soon as I kissed him, I had the unexpected urge to turn around and cry a little.  Very soon he'll have big, giant slightly-too-big-for-his-face-big-boy-teeth, meaning he's officially a "big boy". Time just flies by so fast, and this whole motherhood thing is full of one bittersweet moment after another it seems... Mixed with lots of laugh out loud moments of course.



I had to laugh when I found this photo.. I had forgotten about his note that he wrote to stick in its mouth asking for WAY too much tooth fairy money.  He was asking me the other day where the paper was that he put in the monster's mouth.. and I had forgotten all about that!

Honestly, it looks like a little kid made it.. to be in a horror film.. not my best "wingin' it" work. Quilting..I should stick to quilting..haha

He told me tonight when I was reading to him that he wanted to use the monster for all of his teeth that he loses. He loves it.  *swoon* We'll see if he still wants to use the monster when he finds out it doesn't puke $100 bills. haha


If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and wipe a tear from the corner of my eye.. I might just be a blubbering mess when the tooth actually falls OUT!  ;)

xo.

sniff,sniff.



Thursday, August 8, 2013

Dusting off the Cobwebs..

Now, here's the story.. all about how.. my life got flip-turned.. upside down..  are you singing the Fresh Prince theme with me? ;) This will forever be the summer that got hi-jacked by the Mod GeoCruiser.  

The pattern has gone through about three different re-writings and versions, and is finally FINALLY turned into an easy to read pattern with lots of re-drawn diagrams, from what the first draft was.  Which was more like a novel.  ha!  From 16 pages to just SIX! :D  So much easier to read and follow, and more streamlined. This pattern writing stuff is HARD!!!!

Plus, when I started, I wasn't so up to date on computer programs, or our computer wasn't up to date, I should say.  Seems like we had the oldest version of everything.. not as computer savvy as I'd imagined I was.. so I've been on a crash course with that, too!

That's why my blog (and my house..and my life in general) has been gathering cobwebs the last few weeks.




I finally tested out the pattern myself, and it went together so fast, and easy. Especially using Triangles on a Roll to make all of the hsts!  By the way, Triangles on a Roll just recently rolled out their revamped and updated website.  I loved using their product.  Each roll makes 800, too, so the roll will last for several projects.



You just pin your two six inch wide strips together.. make sure you pin right sides together..or you'll have to take it apart and repin..woops!  Pin the paper on top, and follow the arrows, cut them apart and remove the papers.. :)



You can have a whole stack of them done in no time!  It made hsts, which are kind of a chore for me, fun to make.  And they are all exactly the same size.  Plus, I think I can cut the yardage requirement for the main bike fabric almost in half b/c there's not so much waste.



This one is made out of Riley Blake's new line Gracie Girl by Kassidy and Lori Holt.  It will be available very soon I think, if not already.  When I emailed Riley Blake asking about it, Jina Barney emailed me back and asked if she could take this quilt to Fabric Fest in Las Vegas in September to be in the Quilt Fashion Show. WHAT??  Someone pinch me!!!! Um.. SURE!  So this one was a little stressful to make.  I still wonder if I've made the right fabric choices, she was so nice and sent me the ones I wanted to make the quilt out of. I hope she will like it and still want to take it to LV.  And I hope my points match well enough, and it turns out cute and not hideous, and oh my goodness.. I can't believe it!

At first I thought, oh no.. maybe the gray numbers and pink numbers together have made it too busy, but it's kind of grown on me, and I love the cheery pink.  Then I thought, oh no, the white background is such a big swath of white, if I make the outer borders out of white too, that will be a TON of white..  so I've decided to border it with the green on the bottom and the bright pink around the side and top edges to kind of frame it out.  



I love all of the Gracie Girl prints, but most especially the clocks.  I think the clocks are going to be the backing of this one. These are just a few of the prints, there are three different colorways and additional prints.


So .. that's why I've been MIA and neglecting practically everything in my life lately..  But very SOON this pattern will be all done, available for download on Craftsy or Etsy, or also on the Triangles on a Roll website (I'm going to print out some paper ones too), school will be starting up again (A will be going all day this year) and I won't know what to do with myself!  I'm sure I'll be able to find something (sewing..) :)  And hopefully one day soon I'll catch up with my bee blocks.. I'm so far behind..  But then.. maybe I should do some laundry first.. :(  

OH, and I wanted to share Winter Creek Cloth's August news.. you can find it in their most recent newsletter but here's a bit of it.. They are participating in the Fab Shop Hop for August. You can read about it and find the link below.. Head over there if you feel like shopping or checking out their new Precuts section, where they will have custom bundled precuts.  Fun!


SALE, SALE, SALE!!! August 19-23! Mark your calendars or follow us on facebook or Instagram for a reminder. We will be participating in the Fab Shop August BLOWOUT SALE which means great prices on lots of new markdowns so be sure to come by and check out the SALE section between August 19th and 23rd. We will announce daily deals on our facebook page every day that week AND for our wonderful newsletter readers we have an additional goodie, enter the coupon code AUGSALE at checkout for an additional 10% off all sale items all week long! AUGUST 19-23 BLOWOUT SALE!!!
The Fab Shop Hop begins today, August 1. If you don't know what a Shop Hop is, it is an awesome event sponsored by the Fab Shop designed for you to hop around from shop to shop discovering new shops by finding a hidden bunny on each website. There are lots of great prizes to be won for finding bunnies. Go to fabshophop.com for details and to sign up and begin hopping. Be sure to come by and find our bunny hiding in the new arrivals.
xoxo

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