Two more finished grocery sacks! I'm so happy with this pattern, so when Anna and Emilie's preschool teacher asked me to donate a couple for their annual school auction, I was happy to accept.

Speaking of bags, have you heard about Purse Week? I've gone back and forth, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to enter one. Umm yeah. Who doesn't like to sew something for themselves once in awhile? Go visit Christie at a Lemon Squeezy Home for all the details. How exciting!

Love,

xoxo

Football Friday

Go Eagles! My girls like to get decked out. And what better reason than to show our colors for our hometown football team? We are orange and black. My friend Nancy of iris*hill, who is the manager of Creations Gallery, made these awesome skirts and the hair bows and clips. Then I found the white jackets and had our local sports shop put the transfers on the backs. I love one of a kind! The jackets are fur lined so the girls LOVE to wear them. Plus we won the game!

Love,

xoxo

My Top Secret Project Revealed

Last June I had a top secret project that had nothing to do with sewing -- and it was SOOOO fun!

My local chamber of commerce was contacted by 21st Century Fox to find a local photographer who could scope out a filming site for them. And they thought of me! I'm not even a photographer.

I'm not sure what the movie is called, but it stars Steve Martin who is a bird watcher. I was to take pictures of wheat fields.

So for two days, I was a photographer. I took pictures and pictures and pictures of wheat fields. But in the end, their jet was too big to fly into our tiny airport. I can't wait to see the movie though.

I just thought of it today because I finally cashed my check from 21st Century Fox. It was hard to do because it was just so cool to have a check from them.

Have a great day!

Love,

xoxo

Another Teaser

I got absolutely nothing creative done this weekend. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned my house. Is there such a thing as fall cleaning? Either that or it's late spring cleaning. So I thought I'd make it up to you by giving you a peek at Honey Sweet. Hope you like it!

Love,

xoxo

Yummy!

Here's how I got my kids to eat their supper last night:

The cake recipe is Chocolate-Almond Souffle Cake from the September issue of Rachael Ray magazine. This one is really similar.

For the frosting, I mixed a half stick of softened butter with a cup and a half of powdered sugar, a little cocoa powder and then added just a bit of chocolate milk and 1/2ish teaspoon of vanilla. Heavenly! It made lots of frosting -- plenty for the cake. And no food left on the plates last night, either. Yay!

Love,

xoxo

Oh Yeah!

Love,

xoxo

A Bag for Everything

I convinced the girls' preschool teacher to let me make a "grocery bag" this year. The past three years, we've been collecting paper bags each time we go to the grocery store and she uses them to send home papers and art each preschool day. I made it exactly the same size and it folds like a grocery bag. I had to say that it wouldn't upset me if it gets paint or whatever on it. (which it won't)

So yay! Back to my reusable grocery bags. This is a big relief. Oh and it's fully lined with a reinforced bottom. I'm thinking this might become a pattern or tutorial.

Love,

xoxo

First Day of School Blues

Don't worry though. Only blues for the mommy. Well we started school here two weeks ago, at the end of August. But I'm still not used to it. How can I be the mommy of a first grader? He was just my little baby days ago! That's not the end of it. I have not one, but two preschoolers! Of course preschool is just two hours, two days a week. So I am running somewhere everyday. I thought summer was busy!

Of course, you're not here for the kids, but for the sewing, right? Have you seen the tutorial from a Lemon Squeezy Home for a lunch bag? It is just so cute! I made one for Nathan as he takes his lunch this year. I made a couple of modifications so that there are two interior pockets to hold ice packs. Then I tried out iron-on vinyl for the first time ever. Pleasant surprise! It makes the cloth quite similar to oil cloth. It's not too expensive either! I used it inside and out and even on the bias tape so that the whole bag is wipeable (oilcloth is not washable.)

So cute!
And in his favorite fabrics: John Deere outside and Farmall inside.

Oh last but not least, I got a note today that strikeoffs are on their way!

Love,

xoxo

a Dozen Quilters

A little over a year ago, I started the online quilting bee, A Dozen Quilters. It has been such a fun year of projects as we each participated in making a quilt for each member. But for next year, we've decided to change it up a bit.

So, we decided to have a charity theme for our next year, which begins October 1. Each member is in charge of a month. And each month the person in charge chooses a project and a charity. For example, the one in charge could choose to make pillowcases for the Million Pillowcase challenge. And then we will make the project and donate it. It's a new challenge, but we all feel like we're up to our ears in quilts right now!

Anyway, a few of our members need to opt out next year for one reason or another. So we're looking for a few new faces. Would you like to be in our group? Please e-mail me. Even if not, you can still play along each month and show your finished project with a linking tool we will attach to the posts!

Hope to see you over at a Dozen Quilters.

Love,

xoxo

Sam Turns 5

Anna's friend Samantha turned 5 yesterday. We scrapbooked for the first time. Gasp! I know, it's just not my thing. But it sure made a cute picture. The girls thought that was a lot of fun.

I also made Samantha the dress for her pretty American Girl doll, Lannie. This doll is Anna's, but Lannie was adorable in it too.

And here's Anna and ALL the dolls ready for the party.

Happy Birthday Sam!
Love,

xoxo