I'm Sewing Again!!

It's been a long time but I'm back at my sewing machine again. WOOHOO!! Boy does it feel good. I forgot how soothing is for me. It really is a stress reliever. I whipped up something fast today, trying to get it done before I had to leave for class, and totally forgot about what I really wanted to do. I made some placemats with the intentions of quilting them, and forgot to do the quilting part. They still came out really nice though.

The back of the placemat is just plain brown.

 

Score one for me!

 

 

~Tootles!

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!!

From our house to yours!!

Winter Break!!

WooHoo!! So I'm out of school for winter break, along with the kids, and I'll be out till Jan 13th. I am too excited about that, my brain could really use a break. I've been super busy getting ready for Christmas though (as I'm sure most of you probably are as well), and then my baby celebrated her 7th birthday Friday before last. I have a project on the table for Justin, the plan is to get it finished before I go back to school. Oh, and we have a new puppy that's giving me fits, his name is Max. We're a big dog family but we rescued Max, who's a Yorkshire or Silky Terrier depending on who you ask, from my mom. This little dog is like having a little baby in the house, he's all over the place. The picture below is a bit fuzzy, and he really looks like a Chihuahua in this pic to me. He had just come from the groomer's getting his hair shaved down super low because he was matted terribly. We tried to keep the shirt on him so he wouldn't shiver too much, but he tore that thing off. It lasted about two days and I can't find anymore in his size. On to a different subject, Justin has graduated from the Bear level in the Cub Scouts onto the Webelos level. Yeah for Justin!! Anaya is a Daisy in the Girl Scouts, super exciting for her, and she'll be selling cookies soon. They start on Dec. 24th, crazy to me with the holiday and everything, but I'm told they always do it that way. And we're not allowed to sell door to door, didn't know that either. Alani is our super reader, reading a new book every couple of days. I love, reading is fundamental! Anyway, that's what's going on in our little world lately. Will be back shortly.

~Tootles!

OMG!!

Oh My Goodness!! I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted. Things have been so busy in my world. I'm still taking classes to become a Special Education Teacher. I'm doing various things with the children's schools, as well as their extracurricular activities. I'm actually on my way to take a nap before we go to church this evening. Just wanted to stop by and say hello to everyone. I did manage to sew something while on break from classes. I made a cute fall wall hanging. I'll have to come by and post a pic when I get it hung up. I need to first go by Hobby Lobby and get a dowel rod for the back of it. See you all soon.

~Tootles!

Surprise!!!

Hello everyone! As you know my husband is an Army soldier and was deployed not too long ago. Well, I've been asking him repeatedly if he'll be coming home for RandR. The children and I really miss him and really want to see him. He would reply that it's just too hard on the children and so he would just do his full tour without coming home. He called us on yesterday and of course we were happy to speak to him, it's been a few days since we last spoke to him. Again I asked him if he was coming home, and again he said he didn't think it was a good idea. He then asked me to go look in the garage closet for a book of his and he would call me back in 5 minutes. Okay. So we hang up and I head for the garage to get this book of his. I open the door, and there my husband is, in our garage! What a pleasant surprise!!!

~Tootles!

First Day of School!!

Hey everyone, long time no blogging!! Been busy as a bee over here in my world. Something had to take a back seat, and unfortunately blogging and crafting was it. I'm sure we all go through the busy spells at times. Anyway, today is the first day of school for my babies. It feels like our summer has been cut in half, but they did get out of school the end of May so I guess it's time. My oldest will be going to middle school. I am so nervous for her so I've been praying night and day. She wants me to take her this morning and will be riding the school bus after today. Poor baby said she didn't get to sleep till almost 3 this morning. Those first day of school jitters are something else. Meanwhile, my son who is very excited to go back to school has changed his mind about walking and would like me to drive him as well. This of course will make the baby very happy because she really doesn't like walking to school. So, that's a quick note on what we're up to over here. Now I must go make sure the children keep it moving or they won't be leaving on time.

~Tootles!

Tank Dress Giveaway!!

Hey everyone, I'm going to have to come back another time to tell you all about our trip to NY. We had a fab time! Today I want to tell you about a giveaway over at ruffles and roses. She has made this cute little tank dress for the summer and if you use the link to go to her blog, you'll find out all the info for the giveaway. Good luck!

~Tootles!

Road Trip!!

Today was the last day of school. The children gave their teachers little gifts, had their yearbooks signed, and end of school year parties. Now we are packed and ready to go to NY tomorrow. Talk to you all soon.

~Tootles!

Friday Night Sew In Results

Good evening everyone! So yesterday was the Friday Night Sew In, and out of my two lists of things to -do I managed to get two baskets done for two of the children's teachers. I have one left to do. What a shame! But the children and I had a blast watching our Friday night movie. We watched the movie 17 Again with Zac Efron and Matthew Perry. Very funny movie, we actually watched it twice. Anyway, below is a pic of the baskets I made up for the teachers. I'll fill it with a few goodies and let the children give it on the last day of school this Thursday. Hope you guys got to get more sewing done than I did last night.
Oh, I had to take my cutting mat back to the store today because every time I made a cut, the cutting lines will come off. What good is a cutting mat without the cutting lines to guide me? So once again I am without a trusty mat. Adding that to my wish list.

Now I'm off to see what the other FNSI participants worked on last night.

~Tootles!

Friday Night Sew In

Hello everyone! Tonight is the Friday Night Sew In I was telling you all about yesterday. While watching movies and eating pizza with my babies, because today is also family movie night, I have a few projects on my list to sew up. I actually have two lists, a to-do list and a want-to-do list. I will start on the to-do list first because school is over next week and I want to put some baskets together for my babies' teachers.

So let me tell you about the pic below. As you know Earth Day was a few weeks ago. Well my children are still talking about it because they are always thinking of things they can do to save the earth from man's destructive habits. So when Earth Day rolls around it really gets them going. In an effort to reduce our use of paper products, we have put our last roll of paper towels on the spool and once it's done will begin using cloth napkins. So below are a few of the cloth napkins I sewed up earlier this week.
That's just the beginning. I will attempt to make some re-usable snack and sandwich bags. Yes I know school is almost over but we still like to carry snacks around, and with us going to NY we will definitely need them. I am not trying to spend all my money buying food from the street vendors. Some for the childen's experience, but not much.

It's not too late to join the FNSI, just click on the link down on the left and sign up. You could win a cool prize, and get some projects finished as well.

~Tootles!

Rain Delay and Friday Night Sew In

Today's field day at the children's school, and tomorrow's as well, has been postponed till next week because of rain. And when it rains down here it really rains. The children were disappointed to say the least. This makes for a very busy week for me coming up with volunteering at the school on Mon, Tue, and Wed; Thurs being the last day of school; and our trip to NY on Fri. I'll be driving by myself with 3 children to NY, a 15 hour drive. By myself. With 3 children. For 15 hours. Pray for us! LOL.

Anyway, so this will be my last weekend for about 2 weeks to get some sewing time in. Tomorrow is the Friday Night Sew In with Heidi and Bobbi as well as family movie night. So my plan is to sew some items while eating pizza and watching movies with my babies. Big Fun!!

If any of you have some sewing you want to catch up on, and want a chance at winning a few prizes while doing it, go to Heidi or Bobbi's blog and sign up for tomorrow's Friday Night Sew In.

~Tootles!

Giveaway

Twiggle box is offering a chance to win a $40 gift certificate to any CSN store. Go to twiggle box blog for more information.

~Tootles!

From shirt to capris

Tomorrow is field day at the childrens' school and I was asked if I could make sure Anaya wore shorts for this day so she could participate in the activities. Anaya wears a skirt or dress 95% of the time, always with shorts or leggings underneath. She only wears shorts to go to bed or to the pool over her swimsuit. So I decided to follow this tutorial to make her some capris. I made a pattern using these shorts that are a bit too big in the waist along with these capris that are the right length but too snug in the bum (why are my pics sideways?). I then took one of dh's old and holey t-shirts

and made these cool looking capris for my lil angel to wear on field day.

Re-purposing is so much fun, and the best part is she loves them!I tried a little reverse applique and made what I thought was a flower. LOL, like I said she loves it, so I'm good.

~Tootles!

Re-purposed shirt dress

Hello everyone! Okay, so remember I told you guys I wanted to use the material below to make this dress for Anaya? Well it's finally finished, and I must say the pleats gave me the hardest time. Here's the back of the dress,

and here's the front. It looks really cute on her and has lots of twirlability.

I can see me making more of these but would have to find an easier way for me to do those blasted pleats.

~Tootles!

Hapy Mother's Day!!

~Tootles!

Time to play!

School's over for me so this weekend I get to play. Of course life gets in the way of my play time with so many other things to do that I'm going to have to play in spurts. But this is the t-shirt and material I will be using to make this dress for Anaya.

I'm going to have to make my way to the store while I'm out and pick up some fabric for the cute chunky bow. I don't see that being a problem though, you know, fabric shopping and all. I'll come back and post the finished products for you all when I'm done.

~Tootles!

School is coming to a close

and I am so happy about that. I took my final exam in Music Appreciation today, and I have my final in Am. Hist. II on Thursday. I really don't like that class and have been struggling with it for some time. I'm praying that I pass the final and pass the class so I won't have to retake it. I really don't like that class, I can't say that enough. Anyway, in anticipation of having free weekends again, in between spending time with my babies of course, I have a new project in mind. First I want to show you all a pic of the desk and hutch I bought at a yard sale the other day for my sewing room/closet. I should've took a pic of what the closet looked like before this, but just imagine the black totes from the bottom pic in place of the desk and hutch with my sewing machine on top of it, and me sitting on another tote in front of it to sew. Remember all my sewing goodies are in storage in NC. So this is my new sewing room. It's actually a closet but I love it more as my sewing room.

Okay so now here is the project I plan to work on this weekend for my baby, I am so excited too. I fancied up some socks for her and made a few headbands, but I haven't really gotten into my sewing since we moved here, and I'm having symptoms of withdrawal. I must sew something, soon. I already have some fabric on hand and an old t-shirt just begging to be re-purposed. Will show you all the finished product.

~Tootles!

Blue Monday

Good morning all. It's been a long time since I've done a blue Monday post, but here it is.
This is one of the gifts Alani got for her birthday yesterday, a Blue Nintendo DS. She actuallly received it at her un-birthday party on Saturday. The look on her face was priceless when she saw it, as she and all her friends squealed with glee saying ' ohhhhh!!!'. LOL, it was too funny and rather suprising as Alani doesn't show much emotion. Have a blessed day!

~Tootles!

Happy Birthday Alani !!!

Good Morning Everyone. Today is my baby's birthday, yeah!!! Alani is 11 years old today, can you believe it? I can't. My she's grown so fast. We had an un-birthday party for her yesterday at the bowling alley and she said 'it was a blast!' She had 5 girlfriends from class party with her, a few little friends for her lil sis and bro to bowl with, and my friend and her husband stayed and bowled with me. It's so funny to see my once extremely shy baby, who's only started peeping her head out of her shell in the 4th grade, play and laugh and really enjoy herself with her girlfriends. It's really good to see because we've only been at this school for a few months, and it hasn't been all peaches and cream. But she seems to be handling things very well and it showed yesterday. I just can't stop smiling, thinking about all the fun those children had at that party. Anyway, just wanted to share. Have a blessed day!

~Tootles!