Weekend Away

Thank God for back country roads.

Swap done check

Better late then never. Finished up my doll quilt for the swap. Not super happy with it. Happy that I completed it, though with quilts in particular I am a little more of a perfectionist then in my normal sewing life. My triangles didnt line up the greatest. Though if you squint you cant tell *smile* I am happy with the binding. I have a large stash of vintage bias binding so I grab some wide taffeta and went loose. My partner is a great quilter, so I am sorry that they don't get a better quilt, made to their level. Hopefully they will take pity on this little wonky quilt and love it as their own.

Woo hoo

Oh McDreamy how I have missed you.

Yea for Grey's Anatomy... nuff said.

Collect as you go

I am notorious for being a collection starter. I start to collect things but only get so far until I turn my attention on a new collection.

Case in point, I have started to collect trivets. I think though this is a collection I will continue, at least until the wall is artistically covered. Heck for $0.50 a trivet, its a collection I can afford!

Please pay no mind to the ugly control on the wall, the joys of renting you cant move things!

The Name Game

I have been tagged by Elea. You must take your middle name (mine is Ann) and with each letter tell something about yourself. Three letters, heck I can do that!

Apples

Love them. Everything about them. Love to dip them love to look at them love to smell them. Apple pies, apple cider, and apple butter yum, can’t get enough of them!!! Fall is my favorite season because of the apples.

Novice

I think I will be a life long novice and I am happy with that. I am self starter/learner. I didn’t grow up around craftiness, though my sister and I are both very musical/artistic. My sister is amazing at drawing/painting. I don’t have that talent anywhere in my body, and I have finally accepted it! I am novice but I am bound and determined to keep shaping my life the way I want, I find the knowledge I need and go from there. I am cooking, baking, and gardening more. I love photography (check out the new technique I am trying) and try new things all the time. I am happy that I am not an expert at one thing. I like to have my fingers in everything I figure it makes me well rounded and I can be more flighty that way! I cant concentrate long on one thing so being a novice fits me well!

Non-traditional

Goes hand in hand with my novice status I suppose. I am a border hippie to my husbands dismay. I am energy conscious; I try to be green where I can. I am not hyper over it though. I still use plastic bags but we reuse them CONSTANTLY, having a dog helps that! I want Leila to be surround by “traditional” June Clever things. Not the whole pearls while vacuuming (well unless she wants to I would be cool with that) I want to bake cookies with her. Have her eat healthy wholesome dinners as a family. I want her to know how to garden, can, and be a “homemaker”. I want us to have afternoon tea parties wearing old dresses and hats. I want her to have the opportunity to sew, knit, embroider. And if she doesn’t take an interest in it I will be sad but I would never push it on her. I want her to be her own person. I am not a very high strung mom, Leila gets dirty, she likes frozen waffles, and a cookie now and then won’t kill her. If she is happy I am happy. She sleeps in our bed and I don’t have an issue with it (my husband on the other hand, well that is a whole different story), I breast fed and my body weaned Leila, otherwise I would still most likely be breast feeding her if she wanted. I watch TV, I am hooked and it isn’t educational in anyway I love “reality” TV, it is my guilty pleasure. I am that person who picks and chooses what fits her lifestyle. I can’t really be categorized because I am a little bit of everything. It drives some of my family nuts, but most have accepted me for who I am. Plus since I am a pretty easy going, go with the flow chic I think I am living the best of the life I don’t stress about fitting in, I am who I am no labels attached.

Whoa for three little letters, you found out a lot about me!!!!

Thanks for the great vibes

::Great Coffee::

::Great Patio::

::Great Entertainment::

::Great BFF::

::Great Chore::

::Great Amount of Cherry Tomatoes::

::Great Thank You Gift::


:The Greatest Apple Cider, EVER::


Thanks everyone for your positive weekend hopes for me!!! It must of worked, nothing beats away a work week blues like spending the entire day with my BFF and her family. Lots of garage sales, antique stores, and coffee was drank. It was a perfect day, weather and company wise. And the best part, we get to do it all over again this week!

Crummy day

I am glad its Friday. Long week, ending with a teething clingy baby. And a dog that is serious need of obedience training makes for a very long trying week. So all you get for a Friday's post is pretty pictures.

Cute plate found at the thrift store

My loot from the scrap swap. Thanks Beth!

Some great vintage squares I scored on eBay

She is walking up a storm lately. And yep that is a frozen waffle, only thing that seems to keep her happy. Problem is the dog also likes them and keeps taking them out of her hand which then she screams and cries because for her it is the end of the world.

Veggies are good

Here is an interesting fact about me, for about 3 years I was a vegetarian. It was a choice I made in high school and defended for a few years to my meat and potato loving family. So for those few years unless I wanted spaghetti o's every night for dinner I learned to cook on my own. Thanks to a good friend in high school my first Christmas as a vegetarian she gave me a vegetarian cook book. To this day it is my most used cook book. The best recipe that came from it was, Miniature Mexican Frittatas. It was a favorite among my friends and is still one of my favorite meals to make.


Lately Leila has become a pretty picky eater. She wont eat meat unless it is hidden so I have brought out the trusty vegetarian cook book to make sure she is still getting all of the nutrients she needs.

I dont know about you all but I LOVE taking pictures of food, dont know why but I really enjoy it.

And look she actually likes it! Score one more for the vegetarian cook book.

Mini Mexican Frittatas

1- 10oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 cup cottage cheese, drained
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese ( I usually skip this part)
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp snipped cilantro or parsley

Salsa
Sour Cream

In a medium bowl combine the spinach, and all of the cheeses. In another bowl stir together the eggs, milk, cumin, and pepper. Stir into spinach mixture. Stir in the cilantro or parsley.

Spoon mixture into 12 lightly greased 2 1/2- inch muffin cups. Bake uncovered in 375 degree oven for 20-25 mins. or until eggs are set. Let stand for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups. Server with salsa and sour cream.

A note on the sour cream, I have used both dairy and non-dairy sour cream. Both are really good with this!

Everything gets in the way

So the craft clean sweep of '07 was a bust this weekend. Mainly because I let everything else in the world get in the way! That shouldnt be a surprise though I would imagine. The cooler weather this weekend got me in the baking mood and I whipped out my 500 cupcake recipes and got to work on a muffin (go figure!) I made a whole wheat peach muffin. It is a little too wheaty (??) for me but Leila loves them and really that is all that matters to me.
I love the new platter I found at our local antique shop. For $7 I think it is one of my "best buys" I love it so very much! I got a little glass dome as well (the technical word is missing in my vocab right now) that after the muffins are gone I am planning to make a fall display. I am think acorns and some figurine. Once I have it all together I am SURE I will have a picture posted. But for now to celebrate the slow arrival, since it will be in the 80's again soon, of fall I bought some cute little pumpkins.



Seriously for a $1 total they are the best investment for fall decorating. Plus the baby ones, at least for me, seem to last forever! Looking at them gets me so ready for fall and apple cider. My craving for pumpkin pie has already set in for sure!

Fingers Crossed

On a total whim (since I didnt have any photos of my newest in-progress work)
I applied for Art vs Craft. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Photo from: 1. Fingers Crossed / Picture of the Day ~ 5/17/07

I'm obsessed I think

I have recently(within the last few minutes) become obsessed with Fisher Price Little People vintage sets. I dare you to go on ebay and see how many different set you remember! I personally had the brown house which I had to immediately call my mom to see if she finally did her threat in and threw out all of our old toys. For once I hope she didnt because I want to wash it up and give it to Leila. Plus I need to have a reason for bidding on all the little furniture and people!!!

Time to get real (again)

I feel overwhelmed. No idea why, change of the season change of our hard times I say. I have determined the overwhelming feeling is from the wanting to do so much. I have a million ideas in my head and not enough time/energy to do it all. It is frustrating, unbelievably so.

With Leila and spending so much time together while Ken is at work I want to always be doing something (its my nature) but you can only walk around a small neighborhood so many times and when you dont get paid for another day roaming the St. Vinnies is depressing especially when you find something you want and cant get. It is torture and my motto is out of sight out of mind.

So I have been turning inward. I am bored with the furniture, and its arrangement. I see these amazing homes floating around the web and I want one of those homes so I have been dreaming of new arrangements. Before I start to turn our living room upside down though I need to focus my energy on the worst/messy craft area EVER.

Well maybe not the messiest but pretty darn close. I think a main reason as to my lack of sewing besides having too many ideas (a burden that I NEVER thought I would have) I have no place to sew, well, besides the dinning room table which I promised Ken I would stop doing. So hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have a new outlook due to a new clean crafty area.

Well, unless this great weather wins me over and I milk it for all its worth!

psst: like the hole in the chair? It was an extra to our very old dinning set, first mission after the clean up is to create a slip cover!

This is why I love fall

We took a walk yesterday, a perfect mid season afternoon. Leila was given this amazing dress from my grandmother for her first birthday. It is straight from Mexico and almost too pretty to wear. Once she can no longer fit into it, I will be framing it along side one of the many (I mean many) photos I took of her in it. Here are a few of my favorites. I also for the first time in awhile took out my SLR, man I have missed that camera! Goal this year is to buy a digital SLR. The last photo is how our walk ended. Her sound asleep, well until we got up to the apartment and the puppy had to welcome her home. Ah well, it was precious while it lasted!

My Wish

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.

But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small, You
never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,

But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,

This is my wish
I hope you know somebody who loves you
may all you dreams stay big.

--Lyrics by Rascal Flatts

Remembrance

1. Sept. 11 2005, 2. candles for 2, 3. Candle Colors., 4. The Candle, 5. Candle Light of Life, 6. candle light dinner.JPG, 7. CANdles, 8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/maya0520/602308392/, 9. Candles, 10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/maya0520/602042199/, 11. Light a candle for a cause, 12. Candles in Roman Cathedral, 13. Candle Prayers, 14. candle in the wind, 15. Candles in Church St Pierre of Montmartre, 16. Hotel Candles, 17. Candle night, 18. Candles at St. Stephens, 19. Candle night, 20. Žvakės Candles, 21. Candles and Candles and Candles, 22. candle night, 23. Candle lit, 24. Candles of Peace, 25. Ikea Candles

At 18 years old I never would have imagined that I would experience such a day of terror, one that will remain in my mind for the rest of my life.

I may not remember what I wore that day, or what I had for breakfast.

But the images, the moments with others, the feeling of disbelief and great grief will always remain.

I wasn’t personally touched in a way as though I had lost a dear family friend, but I was touched in the way that I lost fellow brother and sisters who just like me were living their life day to day in this great country.

I lost my security, but not my faith. To day is a day of remembrance for me like everyday other day. I am blessed, and I begin each day knowing that I am blessed to have another day to spend it with those I love.

It's official

Fall is finally poking its head in to say hi. People have been posting proclaiming (yea) that fall had arrived in there backyard. Not true for us, well, until yesterday morning when I took the dog out for a walk and was greeted by the yellow leaves from a neighboring tree. I am so glad. I love fall. Scratch that, I love the inbetween of summer and fall, it is perfect weather. Not too hot, not too cold. Perfect to walk with out a jacket on and you dont work up too much of a sweat.

I know people in warmer climate states always ask me, how do you stand the cold? I don't mind it because I always know that days like Sunday will always come around and in the dead of winter I hold on to those days. Besides in a state with changing seasons you never get bored with the weather let me tell you!


The weather like I said was perfect so Sunday (the only day Ken was home this week) we went for a walk to my aunts house. They dont live too far and after a mighty hike up a tall hill we were there. For a puppy date. Our dog hasnt really had a chance to play with other dogs in awhile and she really needed it. My aunts dog is a little more domineering but Kelly took it fairly well and soon enough they were chasing each other around the yard. It was a great way to spend a late afternoon.



Kelly had a great time, and tired my aunts puppy out in the end (Kelly-beagle). I love seeing her run. Ken and I desperately want to get a house, a big reason is just for a yard. I foresee many more puppy dates before the weather gets cold so hopefully that will sustain her through the winter.

In other great momentous news, Leila took her first actual more than one step, steps! She walked from my aunt to me (so a total of like 4 steps). I have never been prouder in my life. Leila at 15 (approaching 16) months she has been pretty stubborn with walking on her own. She likes to walk and will hold on to just one of my fingers but as of yet she has refused to walk on her own. I am so excited that she will be walking fairly soon, and always scared out of my mind! She already gets into so much trouble now she will be a triple threat when those little legs can run!




We had a great weekend one where you got a lot done but it was all gradual and didn't feel rushed. I got some house work done, started getting some real progress on my doll quilt, and spent time with family. Really what more could a girl ask for?

Me traditional?

I finally started work on my quilt for my most recent secret swap. My partner has requested something on the lines of traditional. I thought it would be a challenge but once I found the fabric a pattern was soon to follow and magically it all came together I think.

First a pile of triangles

That I really like to hang from the light fixtures

Set out the design matching up the coloring till it is just right

All sewn together (yea!)

I love doing doll quilts. I cut out all of the triangles on a separate day but I pieced them all together and sewn the front all in a night (half during nap time half during quiet play time). I am pretty thrilled about the traditional look of it and for the most part it all lines up (not completely but enough that I am satisfied). Now for the backing, probably will keep it pretty simple for traditions sake. The colors arent the most traditional "fall colors" but to me this screams fall. I guess I have a little traditionalism in me, who knew?