Counting Down

22 days to Summer Vacation!

I don't usually count down the days at the end of the year, but this year has been a difficult one, both professionally(challenging class, too many IEP meetings, etc.) and

 personally(family illness, jury duty, family deaths)!

I can't wait to see June 2nd.  I have a few days of break then it's back to the books as I have science class for a week the second week in June. Two days of a reading conference in June, a week of language camp to help with in June,  then two days of class in August.  Whew!  I'm going to be busy, but a different busy with more free time thrown in.

My motto to finish the year is the following:

I will not yell in class.

I will not throw things.

I will not get mad.

Because I am the teacher, I am the teacher, I am the teacher!

Not Much Sewing Here!

Life has been so busy lately that I haven't had time to sew at all.  My sewing room door has been covered with plastic the past week as the basement walls get finished, so I haven't even been allowed in.  And, I've had parent teacher conferences which takes a lot of time.  So, I'll leave you with photos of the grandkids who have been around some lately......

Payton, 10

Cael, 7

Nate, 4

Chance, 18 mos.

Grayson, 14 mos.

Clara, 9 1/2 mos.

We just can't get enough of them!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I celebrated my birthday in February.  It was quite uneventful.  We did have supper out one night.
But, I got a FANTASTIC birthday present from Bud......

That pretty pink cover is the cover for my new.......

iPad2!!  I have wanted an iPad since I first read about them, and Bud listened to me for a year and knew how much I'd love one for my birthday.  I haven't had a lot of time to learn all about it, but I'm working on it.  

What a great birthday present!

Party Hardy!!

Saturday evening we celebrated the upcoming marriage of a friend with a bachelorette party.     Here is the bride-to-be, Susie.

She had an interesting drink container, but this being a family blog, I can't show it!

We started out with drinks and appetizers.

Then we moved on to dinner at a very nice restaurant.

The food was great, but the company was better!

Now, we're looking forward to the wedding reception!

Weekend Work

Along with the grandkids, a few adult kids showed up this weekend too.  They came to help work on the basement.  We have been in the process of finishing the basement since October.  It has gone slowly, and Bud is getting REALLY tired of it. I haven't taken many photos along the way, but I'll try to give you an idea what it looks like.

Our house was built in 1947, back when a basement was just a place to store canned goods, junk, and hang out in case of a storm.  The floor was perfectly tilted toward the drain, as it should have been.  The ceiling are fairly low too.  We then put on an addition in 2008/2009. This addition included a room in the basement with taller ceilings made to finish.  Along the way heat runs have been put in helter skelter.  We moved a few, but couldn't move some.  Hence, we are working with low ceilings and sloping floors!

This is part of the new room.  The TV will be hung between the two closets.  Cael set up shop trying to SELL us sodas from our fridege. (It didn't work.)  

 This is the same room from the other end.  We plan to have the toys and play area at this end along with the treadmill and a table and chairs.

This is the kitchen area just off the new room.  

They were busy hanging cabinets today. And there's a sneak peek at the new bathroom/laundry room.

This room which is currently the "catch all" room, will become my sewing room. To the left of this room is my current sewing room which will just be storage when we are done.

The stairs are causing us some serious debate! The basement floor is tiled, and the kitchen floor which the stairs connect to at the top is tiled.  So, I'd like to tile them so everything is matchy, matchy.  But, Bud feels like the stairs have too much give and the grout would eventually crack.  The second choice is to put oak stair treads with tile around the outside and along the top edge.  But, Bud thinks the depth of the step will be a little off so he should take them apart and basically rebuild them.  The kids think we should put linoleum or laminate flooring.  Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks for the help, Tasha, Kyle, Trina, & Tanner!

A Busy Weekend!

WARNING: Photo heavy post!

Our weekend started off Friday night by picking up two grandsons.  They go to school in a neighboring school district and can ride the bus to Tasha's so Bud picked them up there.  Payton had asked to come and spend some time so we asked Cael to come too.  Ice cream is always on the menu.

Clara stopped by to have some too!

Grandpa is known for feeding all of the grandkids their first ice cream.  They expect it when they come.

Saturday Grayson wanted to stay, so we met them in IC and brought him home with us. It was nice enough to swing on the porch and show us how he can walk now!

And Clara stopped by to play on the porch too.

Spaghetti was on the menu this weekend.

At one point Payton was lose with the camera!

And a good time was had by all!  

Some big kids were here too.  Find out why soon.

A Wallhanging for the Borrowers

Are you familiar with the children's chapter book, "The Borrowers?  I'll give you a short summary in case you're not.  A teeny tiny family lives in the floorboards of a normal family's home.  They are very creative about what they use for furniture, etc.  For example, a cardboard matchbox is a bed.  Anyway, it's a cute little story and many of my fourth graders love it.   What does this have to do with anything???  Well, you'll get it in a minute.

I purchased this kit on clearance at the Fons & Porter Quilt Shop when I was there this summer.  

I should have looked at the pattern and fabric more closely.  

It is VERY small.

The fabric is dated.

It's done.

And that's the best thing I can say about it!

I'm sure it would look nice between the floorboards in the home of the Borrowers!

A Late Birthday Present

My niece, Brittany, and I share a birthday on February 24th.  Since we were both focussing on her Dad, (my brother-in-law) before he passed away, we didn't do our usual birthday dinner out.  I also didn't have time to make her a gift.  She told me she would like a purse that had room for her Nook, a baby bottle, and a checkbook.

Again, I  had a pattern that I hadn't used yet, and it seemed to be the perfect size.  

Not only do Brittany and I share a birthday, but we share a favorite color....purple!

I changed the pattern to include the pockets for the Nook, bottle, and checkbook.

I hope she likes the purse!

Happy Belated Birthday, Brittany!

Spring Table Topper

I've had this pattern since last summer, but it just hasn't been on the list until now.

I wanted a table runner that had Easter/Spring colors in it to replace my blue/white one.

So I made the Scrappy Stars table runner on the right. 

I just dug through my fabric and made a truly scrappy table runner.

(Why do I always see mistakes when I look at photos when I thought it looked fine before?)

It looks nice on the table with a dish of Easter Eggs.

I'll count this as finish #5 for my 11 in '11 challenge.  You can see my other projects here.

A Few Small Projects

Last weekend I did have the opportunity to do a little sewing in between working on report cards. (Which I should be doing now!)  I went into the sewing room to finish a purse I had started for my niece and to work on catching up on my squares for Piecemakers' Club, but I didn't have everything I needed to finish the purse.  So, I got sidetracked digging through the fabric to get rid of some, and  I came across two placemats that had raveled along one edge, but still had some good use to it.  I ended up making these two pillows.

Then I finished up a cover for a high chair that had been sitting around.  It will go into the camper in the hopes that some babies come to visit us while we camp this year!  Next, I repaired a vest I had decorated for a friend a few years ago.  Some of the letters were coming off.  And then I made three taggie blankets for three new babies.

Not sure what a taggie blanket is????  Well, the first time I saw one my daughter had made it, and I thought it looked crazy!  But, babies LOVE them!  It's just a small blanket with tags sticking out all around.  The tags are different lengths and textures.  Babies love to chew, suck, and drool over them!

And finally, I made a small wallhanging, but I'm not quite done with it, so no picture yet.  I'm going to finish up report cards today and hope to sew this afternoon.  But, its a beautiful day out so the yard is beckoning me.  What are you up to today?