to the rescue!

Cleaning club at my place yesterday.



Messy bedroom- stuff piling up on all the surfaces, furniture in need of rearranging, dusty ceiling fan and cobwebs in the corners...



We got the surfaces all cleared, the blinds and corners vacuumed, ceiling fan and doors/doorknobs cleaned, and rearranged the small bed and got rid of one of the little tables. Later in the afternoon I got the dust ruffle put back on and clean sheets on the bed (these were in the wash during cleaning club).





And a finishing touch of some fresh flowers from the yard, which actually are a sampling of the color palette we want to bring into this room soon. We're tired of the subdued blues and greens and are going to be doing red and orange in there hopefully before the summer is over.





I just know that if I had made the decision to clean up my room on my own, It would have taken me all day (instead of just an hour!) and I probably would not have rearranged or brought in flowers. I just love cleaning club for those reasons- we all marvel every week at how much we get done and how much more fun it is to work together.

Thank you so much Rachel & Shannon for helping me get my room back! I love it! And it is truly a gift to have your help making my home more functional for my family. THANKS!

my new painting

We just acquired another wonderful piece of art from our pool of amazing local artists. This is an oil painting done by our very talented friend, Sarah Cook.

What is so special about this painting (aside from it being unbelievably beautiful!) is that it was painted just for me. I gave Sarah some ideas about subject matter and color, and she created something far more amazing than I had even hoped for! I am very honored to own this piece and to be able to say I helped inspire it.



It's going to hang in our dining room, and will be one of the first things people see when they come in our front door. It looks really awesome against the green walls in there, but I haven't hung it yet and couldn't wait to share it here, so I took these photos with it sitting on the mantel. I just know that getting it up in the dining room will help me get motivated to finish up in there- we sort of stalled out after we did the walls.

Thank you again, Sarah! I am deeply thankful for your talent and your friendship.

delinquent

–adjective
1. failing in or neglectful of a duty or obligation; guilty of a misdeed or offense.
2. past due; overdue.


This is the only appropriate way to describe me in regards to the Treasure Box, pictured above on our lawn this morning, after only 7 months in our possession (which I am completely horrified to admit). I am happy to say it is now on it's way back to Minnesota, and my only excuse is that this year has dissolved before my very eyes. Sorry, Tammy & Ava! We think about you often and love you a lot, though our procrastinating nature sometimes betrays us.

i-spy quilt

I've been gathering a few more fabrics, nearly ready to start cutting and arranging. I do want to say thank you to all the folks who sent some fabric to me for this project! If you click on the photo, you can check out the notes on the Flickr image about where all the fabrics came from. This is going to be for one of Lyle's holiday gifts, so hopefully there will be some in-progress photos soon.

in the mail

It's not every day the mail can make you smile like this. I think it's pretty cool that my sister paid for their plane tickets, but we get the credit for the "vacation"! Pretty good deal!



It looks like I need to get in gear with the Treasure Box, though. We are clearly taking much too long for Ava's taste! We'll be moving that up to Top Priority for sure.

"THE TREASURE BOX IS HERE!!!"

I just had to use all caps to try and convey the level of excitement in the kids' voices when they came in from the mailbox on Friday. We have had a little break from the Treasure Box, with the gift giving of the holidays and our visit to Minnesota in February. So they have been wondering when it would show up again and were SO thrilled to see the package. They recognized the size of the Postal Flat Rate Mailer, and then my sister's return address was the confirmation that it was indeed what they had been waiting for.



A little bit of something fun and special for each of them, and a sweet treat as well (Lyle nearly choked trying to eat a chocolate lady bug with the wrapper still on! That guy is a chocoholic.)







And composting books for me! Perfect timing. I love the treasure box!

treasure

We received our treasure box back from my sister and niece the other day. I am so pleased to say that this has become something we all look forward to very much! The kids get so excited about picking out goodies to tuck in the box for their cousin and aunt (and their pets!) and they just love when the box arrives back at our place, brimming with thoughtful little presents and handmade cards and pictures. We feel such a connection through this- not only when we are packing or unwrapping the box, but also whenever we are out shopping and take a few minutes to pick out some special little trinket. And when we see and use the items we have received around the house. We think of my sister and her family more often and more regularly, and with a sense of sharing and giving. This is really invaluable to me.



This time we were the lucky recipients of some really cool stuff. A piece of jewelry for each of the girls, a shirt for Lyle, several packs of silly putty (always a hit!), and a variety of other little things. For me was a lovely chunk of fabric yardage as well as a large printed fabric panel, some yummy looking seasonings for apple cider, and the biscotti featured in my photo yesterday. (Which is absolutely divine, let me tell you. Go check out that website- they have some great stuff listed!)

We have already begun stowing some items into the box for it's trip back to Minnesota. And now that we are back to living in an area with really great local stores, it's going to make the shopping part even more fun.

midmorning snack

scraps!

I got my Scrap Swap package in the mail yesterday, all the way from Australia! This was my first public swap (I've swapped lots of times with people I "know" online, but never joined up for a larger swap like this one.) and I was a bit nervous but excited as well. I think I am the luckier individual in this particular exchange, because my partner, Hila, went above and beyond in the presentation department for sure.



Such a pretty package! And candy too! Mine were just random shapes and sizes, stacked up and sealed in a ziplock bag (yawn). Thank you so much Hila- I will be thinking of you when I put these scraps into use!

squash cubes and treasure

The time has come once again for me to make baby food. Lyle has had a few tastes of some easy things- banana, avacado. You can just mash those up and give it to him. But I think he is ready for more, so I've started to make some purees for him to try out. He has had a bit of carrots, sweet potatoes, and now squash. He is still in the tasting stage, and doesn't actually consume a lot of food when we offer it, so the ice cube trays work perfectly for freezing the puree. This is butternut squash, and we also now have a stock of sweet potatoes and green beans in the freezer with these.



It's really quite an easy process, making baby food. Just cook the veggies, strain if necessary (for those with skins/shells like beans and peas), and puree in the blender. And the little cubes are so nice because I can thaw out just one right now and then when he starts eating more I can grab 2 or 3, and even give him options. I just pop them into a bowl and set it on the stove top between the burners while I am cooking dinner, or into the oven/toaster oven for a few minutes to get them thawed and take the chill off. You can also put them into a bag or bowl with a seal and stick them in some hot water for a few minutes. We don't use a microwave for our food, so you just have to allow a few extra minutes to prepare.

Here is a great site I refer to for questions about making baby food.



On a completely separate topic, I wanted to mention our Cousins Treasure Box! My sister and I are sending little treasures back and forth between the kids just for the sake of keeping the cousins in touch and pampering each other. I found this adorable little faux alligator case at the thrift shop and it slides into a Flat Rate box just like it was made for it. So we can load it down as heavily as we like with fun treats and surprises and it only costs $8.95 to ship. We have had one round so far and I think it is going to be something we will all enjoy for a long time! The kids were thrilled to open it up when it arrived back at our place this week- we got fabric and a game and a coloring/activity book and some fruit snacks and some soap and a book and some artwork by Ava... it was fabulous! The best part is that we are thinking about each other more often and the kids are getting involved in scouting for treasure to send to their cousin and aunt.

fancy pants (with tutorial)

So I got this pair of pants in a swap. They are Gap Long and Lean jeans, in one size larger than I wore pre-Lyle. So I was stoked to be getting them for this last phase of my weight loss- to hold me over until I can fit back into my old ones (hopefully by the time the cold weather rolls around!)

Problem: the previous owner apparently has legs significantly shorter than mine.


This is not really surprising, since my legs can easily be described as freakishly long. A fact that makes me wonder WHY I did not make sure the pants were the "long" length before engaging in the swap. But I am blaming it on that deceptive name- Long and Lean.

I did not want to embarrass my family members or myself by walking around in high-water flares with that nice worn-in, frayed edge sitting 3 inches off the ground- but the top part of the pants fit me SO well. So I decided something had to be done. This calls for sewing! I will not waste a pair of well-fitting jeans, even if only the top half is well-fitting. **(hey- check out those shoes I got at the thrift shop for a quarter!!)

My original intent was to cut off the very bottom to even them out and get rid of the thickness of the hem, and then to add a fabric band to make the length correct for me. And you could easily use these instructions to do just that, or you could start with a pair of pants that were too long for you too, and make them the correct length.

What I ended up doing here though, is making capri pants. After thinking about it for a few minutes I decided I'd get a lot more use out of them right now (how often do most people wear jeans in June/July in the desert?) because by the time I really need jeans again, I am hoping these won't fit me anyway. So, on to a bunch of pictures and some instructions. I am really pleased with how these came out, and I hope the instructions will be helpful to someone out there!


Step-by-step instructions:

Trim pants to desired length. You can just cut off the hem if you need to lengthen,


or cut off a longer piece if you are shortening. Mark one leg with a pin and trim. Place cut piece on top of other leg and use it as a guide for cutting second leg.

Next, take one of the chopped off leg sections apart using a seam ripper. Really you could trim to the desired length first (which I did in the next few pictures), to avoid ripping any extra. Jeans have very sturdy seams! What you are making are pattern pieces for cutting out your fabric. This photo shows the front and back piece of one leg, with the seam area pressed flat.

Then, working on the top edge of the front and back pieces, trim 5/8" off. This will allow for the overlap in the seam to lay flat when you put the fabric together with the jeans.

Now cut the piece to the length you would like your finished fabric cuff to be, plus 5/8". I made mine 3 and 5/8" to allow for the seam and still have a 3 inch cuff. So here are my pattern pieces, all trimmed and ready to go. These will be different for each pair of jeans, and will ensure that you keep the line of the pant leg flowing properly by substituting the exact shape of the section you cut out of the pants.

Now, pin your pattern pieces with the lower edge along a fold of your fabric, with right sides facing out. Try to keep the grain straight, but don't stress over it too much. You will need to cut 2 pieces of fabric, on the fold, from each pattern piece.

Here you see the front and back fabric section for one leg. The lower edge of each of these is the fold- so the top edge has 2 thicknesses, right side facing out.

Pin the front to the back at both ends, preparing to sew them together.

Stitch, using the same seam allowance used on the original pants. Mine were 1/2".

Press seams open. I know you really don't need a photo to describe that, but here it is. Lookie my ironing board cover! Still going strong!

Next, pin fabric to bottom cut edge of jeans, right sides together, making sure the front and back are in the right position and lining up the side seams.

Stitch, using a 5/8" seam allowance. I remove the extension table on my machine in order to fit the pants leg over the arm.

Almost finished! Press with seam allowance toward fabric cuff, so that the jeans material is laying flat inside the leg.

Top stitch close to seam, through fabric cuff and seam allowance.

And, if you want to make them nice and finished so that your seam allowances won't show when you are out on the town, turn the edges under to form a point and hand stitch in place. To be completely honest with you I only did this on the one for the photos. I was too impatient to do the other 3 because I wanted to take pictures! I'll get back to it soon and finish them up.

Here they are complete! I really really like how they turned out. Oh and I forgot to mention that my fabric is a vintage bedsheet that you might recognize from a few other projects in the past year. And there is a lot more where that came from, so keep watching for it!

needle roll

Here is a knitting needle roll I finished today. This is for a swap- the mama I am sending this to is sending some clothes for me! Hooray! I love swapping.

This needle roll has a slanted row of pockets to accommodate short and tall needles, and a smaller row of pockets at the bottom for crochet hooks, pencils, double pointed needles, and shorter needles.