alittlesweetness

not the norm

Orange and Green!  So, not the norm for me!  I joined the 3 X 6 Mini Bee on flickr and have color requests other than red, pink and aqua.  Imagine that.  I was surely not prepared for green and orange, so I went a looking.....oh, dear....poor me...had to buy a little fabric.  Plus, I thought it was great stash building for anything I might make my boys in the future or for swapping or other bee's or whatever.  And it's already growing on me!!   

I came across Ruth's Sewing Room on Etsy where she is selling 2 yards of Katie Jump Rope for $6.99.  I thought it was a great deal so I snatched some up.  A couple of these are smaller amounts.  She has a few others that are sort of odd amounts of fabric for like $5.  I don't think she has a lot left, but I asked on one fabric that was in one of her pictures, but not listed in the shop and she had just a 1/2 yard left.  It was the orange flowers.  So, if you're interested in some KJR, head on over! 

Other excitement in the house today....

Star Wars speeders in space made with cheese.  mmmmm!

 

C-ya!

Tasha 

today i am.....

....doing this:

 

hopefully I'll get it done this week and then I'll list the pattern in the shop!  so far I like her.  :)

some goodies!

As I ran in to JoAnn's for a couple little things last week, there was this ONE AQUA BOX for $2.99 with my name on it...well, I saw my name on it, so it was mine.  I didn't know what I would use it for but it was too cute to pass up.  It sat on a shelf for just a few short days until I came up with an idea!  Embroidery!!  It actually perfectly fits my floss box in half of it, and then the other half is perfect for fabric, transfer pens, scissors and such.  I printed off a little label and WA-LA! an embroidery box! 

 

Here's the inside:

The wooden box that holds my floss was given to me by my very talented mother.  My mom is seriously the QUEEN of all QUEENS in Motherland.  The list is never ending in her amazingness as a mother, homemaker, wife, friend and person.  The last several years she has been going around to thrift stores and antique stores, collecting old tattered boxes.  She brings them home, sometimes just barely hanging together and full of yuckiness, and gives them new life!  She sands them until they SILKY smooth and refinishes them in various ways.  This one she did in an Americana theme, which was my previous decorating theme before my Red and Aqua started about 2 years ago.  (It's been a very slow redecorating process!)  Anyway, so she gave the box to me.  When I started embroidering I knew the perfect thing to store my floss in. 

 

I love how the lid slides on and off.

 

Anyway...I love my floss box!!  And my new embroidery box to store things in!!! Yay for cute boxes!!

I am equally excited about a new pattern I have been wanting to try for some time.  Camille from Simplify, did a $5 sale on it so I finally snatched it up!  Thanks Camille!  

 

And another thank you to Fabric Supply on Etsy, who along with my order, sent a little surprise of Japanese scraps!  I am delighted!!  Thank you! 

 

Yay for sales and suprises!! :) and I can't wait to cut into some KJR aqua ribbons!!! 

My baby is eating wipes, gotta go!!

Tasha

oops! but a good analogy on life

Last night I was making cookies, yes, again, my son begged me, so I did.  So I got through the first couple batches just fine, with fabric and bees on my mind.  :)  When I popped that last batch into the oven I couldn't wait any longer to quickly go through my stash to see what I had that might work for my beehive in the 6 X 3 Bee.  I became immersed into fabricland....not that my stash is much of a "land", more like a tiny anthill, but I was definitely NOT thinking about the cookies in the oven.  Although the kids were nearby the kitchen, our beeper is quiet and they had electronically noisy things going.  As I was coming downstairs, I smelled the problem and was definitely REMINDED about the cookies in the oven.  So, as I was pulling these:

 

I was burning these:

Yes, those are suppose to be sugar cookies!  Like these:

At least we got a couple good batches!

This little cookie burning made me think of life as humans.  Sometimes we get burned, sometimes we burn others....it's a sad deal for all, even for others outside of the immediate "burning".  (It wasn't just me who didn't get the cookies, it was the whole family, even though they didn't do the burning.)  But hopefully what we can strive for is a new start (more cookie dough!).  If we forgive ourselves for our mistakes and forgive others for hurting us, we can enjoy life again.  We don't have to live with hurt feelings (black cookies), forgiveness can take away our yucky feelings (yucky cookies) and hopefully we can partake of renewed relationships (yummy cookies).  Maybe even with icing on top!

I love what Gordon B. Hinkley said about forgiveness:

"A spirit of forgiveness and an attitude of love and compassion toward those who may have wronged us is of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each of us has need of this spirit. The whole world has need of it. The Lord taught it. He exemplified it as none other has exemplified it."

Peace, Love and Happiness.  :)

Tasha 

6 X 3 Bee

I've done something I have never done before!  I'm actually pretty excited about it too!  I joined an online Quilting Bee on Flickr.  It's called the 6 X 3 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee.  There are 6 groups and I'm one of the Beekeepers.  Hopefully I'll be a good one!  :)  For the Bee, each person in the group makes a quilt block using the colors and theme that each person has requested.  I requested red, pink and aqua (so shocking, i know.) and in a woodland theme...it's for Ava's room.  I make the blocks in the pattern of my choosing.  I decided to test out a few patterns I haven't made before, so the first was trying the Wonky Star.  It's been very popular and a tutorial is HERE.  For my test blocks, I used fabrics that would match Ava's room, so that if I needed extra squares to add to the ones I get in the bee I would have them OR I could use them for a little wall hanging or throw pillows or something!

 

I had fun adding a couple of my own fabric designs into the blocks.  Unfortunately, Little Red is a little blurry.  The below star has some of my pink Sprouts and Mushrooms fabric.  I had fun making them and I think they turned out cute.  Not sure if this is the pattern I'll use for the bee, but it likely could beeeeee!  BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

 

Yesterday, I also made chocolate chip cookies, which is a frequent food around here.  I got pictures of the dough, but that's it...the cookies got eaten too quickly for a photo shoot.  mmmmm. 

 

I use the Nestle recipe and we are happy with it.  The only change I do is that I use half margarine, half crisco for the butter portion.  The crisco helps them not go flat.  At least in my experience of cookie making. 

 

This week I plan to get lots of embroidering and fabric designing done!  I'm sure I'll need more cookies to help me along.  Well, chocolate will work too.  Have you tasted the new Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with Dark Chocolate!????!!  You must. 

Tasha

Happy 2010

I can't believe how super fast 2009 has gone by.....even though at times it seemed so slow.  Weird how that happens.  My baby girl was born in February and I feel like so much of my year revolved around the  anticipation for her arrival, the recovery phase and the adjustment period of having 5 children, that I am thrilled to have actually made it through.  It felt slow at times, especially since I did experience postpardum issues.  I wished so much at times that time would just jump ahead so that I could feel back to normal.  And at the same time I wanted to cherish her as a tiny one.  But between the two, I wanted time to go by.  Sad I know, but it's the truth.  I love where Ava is now...almost 1!  yay!  She's walking, saying "Hi", growing teeth and hair and being entertained by her brothers.  I'm doing so much better, the postpardum issues have improved so much, and my art has been such a wonderful help for me.  I am happy to have opened an Etsy shop, and that I have the opportunity to be creative.  This is the newest illustration now in my shop.  It's the 2nd in my Simplicity Series, called Gardening Day.

New Year's Eve was a great time spent with some of Pete's family.  We enjoyed yummy food, funny conversation, a game with drawing (yay!), and played the "Cat Dog Game" with the kids.  The game is one my parents always played with us kids on New Year's Eve when I was growing up.  Candy is hidden, 2 groups are formed....Cats and Dogs, and team captains are assigned.  When you find a piece of hidden candy, you have to either bark or meow, depending on which group you are in.  Then you have to keep barking or meowing until your team captain comes over to where you are to collect the piece of candy.  It's a very noisy game because everyone is either meowing or barking constantly.  Our groups actually changed what animals they were and I don't remember what they were, it was just noisy.  The kids loved finding the candy though!  :)  At midnight, we did poppers and had some Sparkling Cider.  I may be forgetting some details, but all in all....a great time!  :)

For now, my hubby is ready to head out the door to do some errands, so I seriously better get off this computer!

HAPPY 2010!   :)