Syncronized tooth brushing

As the boys got their bath tonight Rocky gave them their tooth brushes and it was hillarious because everything that Charmie did, Mardie copied.  I couldn't post most of the pictures, but I thought this one was worthy of posting as while Charmie is rinsing his toothbrush Mardie saw fit to make sure that their bath hippo's teeth got brushed too.

My boys and their Crabitat

I went to Myrtle Beach this weekend for a getaway with some friends, a pre-birthday celebration, and some relaxation.  While I was there I decided that I needed to bring home something for the boys.  Two new pets seemed just right.  So here's their hermit crab pets in their crabitat.  Charmie and Mardie are very excited.  Mardie is interested when he see's them crawling around.  Charmie loves his new pets whether they are moving or not.  He's slightly concerned with them when they come out of their shell to walk around, but since these crabs are very shy, that's hardly ever so he's super interested in just looking at them through the cage.  One has a yellow shell, it's closest to Charmie in this photo, the other has a brown and white swirl shell and it's in the corner of the crabitat closest to the bottom of the photo.  So far the yellow one is very active when we are not around but the brown one has been pretty still.  I'm a little worried about him, I hope that we don't loose him. . .

Bowl Hat

I often give the boys their snacks in these little bowls.  After Mardie was done he thought he'd experiment with it as a hat. 

Vesty

Here's my latest knit project.  It's from The Knitting Experience book 1, the same book I got the pattern for my Einstein coat from.  It's her Asymetrical vest. . . In the pattern one side is much shorter than the other and both are shorter than the back.  I liked it, but it didn't get rave reviews in my house so I added to the short panel to even it out.  Here's the finished project.  It called for a super bulky yarn and I wanted to use this beautiful rust yarn that my mommy got me, thanks mom, that was just bulky.  My sis suggested that I add a worsted strand with it.  In my usual fashion I wanted something more than just a plain vest so I used pinks and oranges in several values with some wine and brown thrown in for contrast. 

Here's the back.

reoccuring theme

I've made and adjustment to our daily schedule. . . Charmie is getting older and has a hard time going down for nap between 12 and 2.  He just plays and gets into trouble trying to go to sleep so I moved their lunch before nap and their nap to 2.  This has been working for the most part, but recently I'm noticing a reoccuring theme. . . Poor Mardie has a hard time waiting until 2 for his nap.  Here we are at 1:30 finishing up lunch and Mardie didn't make it.  With trying to get Mardie to adjust to no nursing before naps this is great.  He went down for nap without a fuss!

Ya'll made me do it!!!!!

I rearranged my sewing room/office and love it. . . We'll see how much when I need to access those lower storage bins in my closet and have to move my table out of the way, LOL.  This picture is taken from between the bookcases and desk in the opposite corner of the room.  It feels more spacious like this, I don't know why, other than the fact that I've separated the two areas of the desk and my sewing table instead of having them in an L configuration, they are now the two long sides of a U or another way to look at it is that my sewing desk and ironing board make an L and the other desk makes an I since they are not touching, LOL.  Anyway after seeing my friends take a whole new look at their space and redefine it I had to jump on the bandwagon. . . no new tables for me, yet. . . I definitely don't have the room, but I'm planning an addition that will make this space even better.  Stay tuned it's a joint project from Rocky and me.  (He doesn't know yet, but since I'm typing it here he's just gotta come through)


Here's another shot, from the corner by the door of the room. . . you can see the desk cabinet doors on the left to give you an idea of how this fits in relationship in the room.

Got Naps?

Cuddle time with Daddy

We all love Rocky's day off. . . here the boys get some quality time with Daddy.

Embroidery card

It came today and Thank God it works.  I had a scare.  I could write to it, but my machine wasn't recognizing it so I was freaking out.  I called the support line and the tech immediately said I needed a different card.  I explained that the Manufacturer assured me that this card would work.  She said that they just misunderstood what I was asking.  I was starting to really freak, but I kept her on the line and explained that it wasn't the reader/writer but my Embroidery machine that wasn't recognizing the card, she asked if I had the correct hoop size set.  DUH!!!! One simple change and voila I can now embroider designs I download from my PC :D!  I'm estatic.  Here's a test.  I decided to emblish my plain jane thread/scrap trash bag.

Hair Cuts

First of all I'm suprised that these shorts still fit.  I made these for them when Mardie was 3 months old. . . something's not right about that picture, but it's making me want to make them some more shorts.

We cut their hair. . . I couldn't get them to cooperate.  Mardie was really mad at me for putting any clothing on him at all and Charmie picked up on his mood.  We're probably going to cut Charmie's a little lower in a few days.  We cut their hair with the same guard but since Charmie's hair has so much texture and curl it's much longer than Mardie's.  We'll whack his down two more guards and it should be about right.

Charmie Builder's House

Charmie and Mardie both love Bob the Builder.  Here's one of Charmie's house creations.  He's getting much better at stacking these blocks up. 


Here's a better angle of the base.

Done for our date!

Rocky and I have had the blessing of my parents to watch the boys on Monday nights so that we can get a date. . . This is our 2nd one and it's been awesome to know that they are safe yet "forget" them and just be with Rocky. 

Here's the sweater ya'll.  I was hoping to have it done for this date night and luckily I finished it up just in time.  I was literally weaving ends as Rocky was putting the boys into their carseats to go over to my parent's house.  It's has a relaxed fit.  I did no ribbing so the hems at the neckline, waistline, and sleeves have a gentle roll.  I won't be washing this puppy in the machine any time soon!

Here's a better shot of the sleeves and bottom.

Puzzles Puzzles everywhere!

I love it when I find out something new about something old. I've had my sewing table for a few years now. Since before Charmie was born actually. My latest addition to the space it gives is an extension table for my new sewing machine so that I can sew larger objects easier. Upon adding my extension table I was running out of flat surfaces to work on though. You see I had my sewing table always open, and on top lined up my embroidery machine, my sewing machine and then my serger and spool rack. . . that doesn't leave leftover space, and with the use of my extension table I really didn't have enough room. I don't want a new table, just the one I have to work, so something had to go!
Rocky is going to mount my thread rack on the wall. . . but when I remind him he's not able to do it and it just doesn't come to mind for him otherwise so on my desk it sits. When I'm sewing I use both my sewing machine and serger so moving one of them off the table really didn't make sense either. My embroidery machine is the one that has to kick the curb but where could I put it? I've been vainly searching for a case but since it's deeper than a sewing machine it wont' fit hard cases that I've found and I didn't want a soft case for "storage". With so many people using this room I could imagine something falling onto it or being dropped onto it and damaging it.
I forgot I have a large cubby space on the right side of my sewing desk that I had put my binders of patterns into. . . I used to put my serger into this cubby, but never my sewing machine. I tried it and IT FITS!!!!!
I'm so estatic, now I don't have to buy a case and it's close at hand for when I need it. Yeha!
Now if I can just get that thread rack mounted. . .
sewing table closed

right side open with embroidery machine! :D

And the anticipation builds. . .

Here I go again having a long stint between posts and it's eating some people up, you know who you are! It's been a good couple of days to do other things. . .Well to be honest I did finish up a long knitting project, that I REFUSE to post due to the fact that promptly after finishing it, I decided to felt it a tiny bit and of course didn't do it by hand or use a test swatch so I ended up with a child's sized version. . . It was a shrug, very generous sized, but now it's barely a tube for my arms and it only comes past my elbows. I'll have to see if it fits my 7 year old Niece.
Anyway I've been using this time to sell things on ebay and make a little $$ to buy some supplies. I've logged way too many hours on ebay.com, amazon.com and half.com researching and obtaining books on quilting, sewing, serging, sewing machine presser feet, my embroidery blank memory card, and some other accessories. I'm getting ready to play. I'm waiting on some more deliveries this week so I'm kind of stuck until they come.
So I decided to return to another craft that I have supplies in abundance for, my knitting. I pulled out some stash yarn that I had gotten from my wonderful sister months ago. Moda Dea Cache Gypsi print. It's a bulky thick and thin 3 ply with one of the plys being a metalic thread. I'm drawn to metalic lately for some odd reason. I designed the pattern myself and started last Thursday. It's coming along so I'll be posting it soon. That's all for now, I've got to get some sleep before the boys wake up!

Well I'd like to know where, you keep the notions?

I got a great deal on some sewing machine feet for my machine from a local eBay retailer and wanted to have a home for them. I've been looking for something functional yet pretty to keep my sewing machine, embroidery machine and serger accessories in but couldn't find anything that I liked in the store. I have a few compartmentalized tackle boxes but they loose functionality when the things that I need to store just don't all fit into the same size case. I took a couple of ideas from things that I saw and made this up: It's a book style case, with 4 pages, and 86 vinyl pockets of varying sizes. I'm not currently planning to take this anywhere so it's not as though it needs to be super secure, but if I travel with my sewing accessories I will do it in style!


Here's a shot of inside the first two pages.

And here are the back two pages.

It's hard to tell that the accessories are in vinyl pockets, I guess I did a great job eliminating glare with my camera, but if you look closely you can see that there is stitching outlining the accessories.
Here's a matching zippered pocket for things like my pencil other marking instruments, and a few notions/accessories that I don't mind rubbing together. Now if I could just figure out how to make a sewing machine tote that was as sturdy as the commercial ones I'd have a matching set!

The new bike

Rocky and I decided to get Charmie a dirt bike when he was old enough to balance on a two wheel bike. . . Well that lasted less than a year until we found this one.  Here's Charmie's new/used dirt bike.  He's so excited about it, he was helping Rocky wash it.  Mardie was excited too, but he is too little to get the whole "washing" concept.  We decided he could come out and play after the washing was done.
He would have been smiling more, but he's really cold. Rocky ended up finishing up the washing and sending Charmie in to get dry.

Mickey Mouse

I was in the office either checking email, or sewing or on the phone. . . I can't remember when Charmie comes running in asking for his pants.  I explained that he didn't need them, but I would get up and get them in a minute. . .

Here's his solution for the getting of the pants.  He showed up literally 3 seconds later wearing his undies on his head.  He'll hate me later for taking this picture, but I couldn't resist.  He's just too cute!

Quilting, my next new thing!

Well after getting my new sewing machine and being tempted by friends (you know who you are) to quilt by seeing their creations I decided to try my hand at making a thing or two.  I've tried quilting before, once or twice when I was much younger and never took it up as a hobby to continue.  That may have been because I was doing it all by hand.  From the looks of my house as I type this post I can't be taking this up now, I've got some major cleaning to do today when I wake up!
 

But here it is.  My first wall hanging quilt.  I made the design myself.  From the size of the over all piece and interior components to the bead work.  I'm very fond of beads :D.  It measures 39"x21.5".  I used metalic thread to quilt with though you can't see that from this picture.  I used decorative stitches in two areas though once again you cannot see that from this picture.  I guess I should have taken closeups but it's so late at night.  I just wanted to get it posted.  Blog pressure.

I've got a few lessons learned from this second/first quilting venture. 

• Try decorative stitching out on a sample quilt, or small area, it's a bear to rip out of a large area if you decide it's to fussy.



• Beads left uncapped will find a way to spill EVERYWHERE! So put the cap on when not in use.



• You can never pin enough for quilting.



• What looks good on paper, doesn't always look good in fabric, especially when the paper is black and white pencil drawing and the fabric is full color.



•   Finally, quilting is much more fun when you can share.  Thanks J and K for all your tips, hints, and encouragement.  I couldn't have done it without you guys!
  

My new trash can

Now you see it!

Now you don't

I know it's simple. . . basically a muslin bag with a binder clip to attach it to my sewing table. No rocket science here, but I needed something for all of those little bits of fabric and thread I generate while sewing. I didn't want a large trash can I am trying to REDUCE clutter! And since I won't be putting any food or liquids inside a fabric bag is perfect. I have this thing for my serger that catches the clippings that's a fabric bag and it gave me the idea. This one is about 5 times the size of that one though and it's accessable whether or not I'm using my serger. I used the rest of the muslin scraps from making my serger cover. I didn't see a need to embelish it. It's invisible most of the time when the door is shut. It's just what I needed. :D

 

Mardie is still a messy eater

So I decided to use some flannel that I had to sew them some bibs.  The fabric was sitting in my stash, unused, I originally intended it for diapers.  I sewed a few dipes, but decided I'd rather buy them than sew them.  Maybe now that I'm liking sewing again that will change.  I used fold over elastic for the binding on most of them (black), one has fleece binding (red) and three are serged on the edge with wooly nylon (blue and green).  I really like that method and will have to find some other things to apply it to.  I used my metal snaps. . . I'm wishing I had a snap press.  I may have to do some research or buy a snap setter for my metal snaps. cuz this was way too hard!