Twirly Skirt

I love this skirt so much! It is called a twirly skirt, and you can find the instructions here at House on Hill Road.

The verdict? The instructions are clear and easy to follow, and as evidenced by these photos, the skirt is, indeed, twirly!


Best thing is, it only took me around a half hour to make it from start to finish. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! I think it took me longer to pick the fabrics than to make the skirt. I didn't decide to make it until 11.30 at night, and by 12.30 it was all done. So get yourself a yard of fabric and make a twirly skirt for a cute little girl in your life - or get a couple of yards and make one for yourself!

A bit of everything

Wow what a day - school started! WOO HOO!!! I am not one of those mothers crying as I drop my kids off. Oh no, I relish this time of year! And so do the kids - seems that they really DO enjoy structure and routine. Who knew?! Sofia started 2nd grade today and was up at 6 begging to go. We said go back to bed! Poor wee thing. I had stayed up late making her a special new skirt to wear and I suprised her with that at the end of her bed, plus new shoes and a new pencil case. And did she wear the new skirt? Oh no, she wore something different, but promised to wear it tomorrow. I will post a pic tomorrow of the skirt, plus where you can go see the fabulous tutorial to make one!

My boy, Coleman, starts Kindergarten this year. He has been counting down the days. He's been ready for...oh...about a year now! He was on the floor crying this morning when he realised that today was actually Kindergarten open house and I would be going with him. He was sobbing, "But I want to go by MYSELF!" Can you tell that there is not an ounce of separation anxiety with my kids?

Now onto something completely different, I have been asked a few times about how to make the monogram letters from my last post, and if there are any instructions. Well I am happy to report that yes there are, and you can see them in this issue of Cotton Spice magazine - the best online quilt magazine ever, and definitely the best value for money as it's all free! Just go to page 56 and you will see them in all their glory! There is another issue coming out in less than a month. I will be sure to post when it comes out so you don't miss it :)
I am sorry for not including that helpful bit of information earlier! I blogged all about it back here, but have to remind myself that new readers of my blog wouldn't know that!

So how many different subjects do you think I can cram into one post? How about another - my garden! I have had some of you ask how it's been working out, and the answer is great! We have been eating delicious tomatoes for the last month, and there are still plenty growing.
Next year I will triple the amount of tomatoes now that I know this whole Lasagne Gardening thing works! Plus I will venture into other arenas - like...gasp...flowers!

We managed to eat only one of the cucumbers I had grown. We have a resident woodchuck that seems to have a thing for cucumbers. I was also proud of my teeny watermelon that started to grow...... but I also have a little boy that seems to have a thing for teeny watermelons. He brought it in to me one day proclaiming, "Look Mum - we have a watermelon!" And it had a nice bite mark in it. He was most disappointed that there wasn't any red stuff inside. Not suprising since the whole thing was smaller than a golf ball!

So that's my mish mash of a post. I hope everything you have ever wanted to know was covered. I'm still working on world peace.

Yet another one...

Are you sick of my framed monogram letters yet?! My daughter was invited to a friend's birthday party and so of course I made yet another letter. I figure that I can only do it once per friend, unless, like the friend's mother pointed out to me today at the party, I just continue on with the names adding a letter per year. It was pretty funny! I had asked the mother earlier this week what colors her daughter would like. She said, "anything that your daughter would pick would be great!" So my girl picked two fabrics, and I think she did well in her choices. She also chose what kind of quiting I should do - she requested hearts and flowers. Perfect! Well the quilting isn't, but the theme is! Best of all, it didn't cost me a thing since I used what I already had, including the frame. Plus when you make a present, you're pretty much guaranteed that there will not be any duplicates!

New Friend!

Today was a great day. I got to meet Brenda and hand over her prize. But I'm the one who really won a prize, as in a new friend - Brenda is great! We got on like a house on fire. We could have sat in the library (where we met with our kids) and talked for hours and hours. Alas we had real lives to get back to, but we will be meeting up again soon, that's for sure. That is two bloggy friends I've visited with since Friday - Brenda and Stacy - hey anyone else want to meet up.... I could go for a record lol!!

And the winner is.....

Which, when you count down the comments to number 6, is Brenda!!! Woo Hoo!! I really wish I had one for each of you who commented. I feel so blessed to have read your comments and seen that every season is wonderful in its own way. It seems that even Summer has it's redeeming qualities!

I am doubly excited because Brenda lives in the same town as I do and we have been trying to get together but it just hasn't worked out yet. So now it HAS to work - if she wants her pressie that is...wink wink....

Today I went to visit a bloggie friend, Stacy, who lives in Boston. We have met before, you can read about it here. So the kids and I were super excited to go to her place. It was a great day. A nice easy drive with light traffic, which is amazing in Boston, and even the rain stayed away. We had a yummy lunch and just hung out. She put up with my rambunctious boys and my sweet girl, and made a delicious cherry cake dessert thingy - yum-o!

She also presented me with a gift. She had seen my cupcake appliques I made for my kitchen, and when she was vacationing in Arizona she found me another cupcake for my kitchen!
Isn't that the most thoughtful gift??? It is so perfect for me, and I will think of Stacy every time I look at it. Thank you again Stacy!!!

Tomorrow hubby is doing overtime at work, which normally would be horrible, but I am just thrilled that they are finally offering some overtime again that I will be pushing him out the door! Since rain is forecast, I think the kids and I will cuddle up in bed and watch a bunch of movies we borrowed from the library. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Soon....

Just letting you know I'll do the drawing tonight around 9ish Eastern Time, so there's still time to leave a comment! See you all soon :)

100th Post Giveaway!

This is it folks, post number 100. I also realized that this Friday will be the one year anniversary of my blog, so it's a double celebration! I was trying to think of something to make to give away, and though it is still Summer, my mind was on Fall, so here is what I ended up doing....All the fabrics I bought in Utah, and the background is my current favorite fabric in the world, a gorgeous Kaffe. I bought 1.5 yards of it, which if you know me is amazing as I usually just stick to fat quarters. It started to rain while I was taking the photo, hence the tiny water drops on it, but I will remove them before I send it to you. Unless you particularly want them:)

Instead of my usual machine quilting, I did some big stitch quilting in different colors. It was so much fun - I want to make myself one now!So all you have to do to be in the running is leave a comment on this post, and tell us all what your favorite season is and why. Mine I think has to be Fall, as I hate the heat of Summer and the cool crisp air of Fall means you can put on sweaters and feel all cozy. Plus it is just beautiful here in New Hampshire with the turning of the leaves. And of course, the holidays are so much fun - Halloween and Thanksgiving. Oh and one more - school finally starts again. That may be the best thing of all about Fall ;-) Talking of Fall, can someone tell me why this is happening under our maple trees? I thought it was Summer. Plus some our other leaves are turning yellow and orange. Way too early - but I say, bring it on!

Today has been dreary and rainy but I love that kind of weather. We went to the library and checked out a bunch of DVD's, came home and the kids and I snuggled up in bed and have been having a movie marathon. For lunch I decided to be the mother of the year - look what I made us to eat... THAT, folks, is grilled PB&J with sliced bananas and chocolate drizzled on top. Oh yes it was delicious! I was a popular Mum for a while there at lunch! It was the perfect rainy day treat. But I digress.....

Because this is a double celebration week for me with the 100 posts and the one year anniversary, I will put some extra things in the package - maybe some felted wool and little goodies. Whatever I find around here that I think would be fun for you to play with!

Thank you everyone for making the last year of blogging thoroughly enjoyable. I love reading all your blogs and do so constantly. It may be a slight obsession. I love your comments, they make my day each time I read them. Thank you thank you THANK YOU! I will draw a name this Friday, the blog's anniversary!

Almost at 100....

100 posts that is! This post is number 99, so to celebrate post number 100 I have made a little something to giveaway. So to keep you going until post number 100, here is a tiny sneek peek....

Onto other things, we are now back home in New Hampshire and back to real life. I thought you'd like to see how my hubby survived for six weeks without us, and nothing will show you better than the fridge as I found it...before.... and after.... I suppose this accounts for his 25 pound weight loss while I was gone! He really did - all his shirts are baggy and loose on him. It's as if someone came along and just cut 5 inches off his stomach - amazing! He is keeping it up, too - a great inspiration! The fridge is full but alas the cleaning fairy didn't come to work while I was gone, so I still have some cleaning up to do (especially in and around the fridge!) But all in good time. This is what has been taking up my time this week - and today the last in the installment arrived. Is anyone else as addicted to this series as I am? My friend Irene in Utah turned me on to these books and lent me her copies of the first two while I was there. Of course I had to order the other two and the third was waiting for me when I got home, and the other which was just released on Saturday arrived today. So my kids will be orphans for a couple of days while I get through all 700 plus pages! Totally riveting - I must know who Bella chooses - Edward or Jacob - and if you know, don't you DARE tell me!!! And if you have no idea what I am talking about, and enjoy a good love story - go and get these books! They have made the first book, Twilight, into a movie which comes out in December. Yes I will be standing there at midnight first in line lol!

Now, I must show you my latest aquisition. Since I came home with a whole lot of extra fabric......things needed to be re-arranged to accomodate said fabric. I needed something to put it all in. And not just another box - I wanted something decorative. I was thinking of the lovely decorative boxes at IKEA which I am kicking myself for not buying in UT while I was right there in the store. (We don't have one in NH, but there is one in Boston). So I went to Home Goods and saw this lovely creation. I fell in love with it but it was $40 and I just didn't want to spend that much. Then I looked closely at it and noticed one of the hinges had come undone - a simple fix with just a couple of screws. I showed the manager the poor broken door and she said I could have it for $20! So as you can see, it came home with me. It now houses my Kaffes, felted wool, and new patterns. And it took me 2 minutes to put new screws in the hinge. I think it was worth the 2 mins of work to save $20! It doesn't really match anything in my living room - the cupboard is very shabby chic and everything in my living room has very clean lines and I have a lot of wooden objects. But I don't care - I love it!

So I hope to become a regular blogger again. I think this is the longest I haven't blogged. I think I just needed a week to pack to get ready to come home and then a week to unpack and settle in. The jet lag was awful - we were sleeping until 11 in the morning. Horrible. But I'm back now! Do you remember how sick I was on the carnival ride in my last post? Same thing on the plane back here, the entire flight. Blech! Lucky there were beautiful views outside...

Don't forget to tune in to my 100th post for the giveaway!