Swoon block #2

I am having so much fun with these swoon blocks, it's been awhile since I have been so excited about quilting.

My blocks are definitely not perfect, but they are good enough for me.  If I was too picky I would not enjoy the process. 

My birthday was earlier this week, we went to dinner with Casey's family to a favorite local Chinese restaurant.  The owner is this funny old Chinese man that talked to us for quite some time, then he played me happy birthday with a leaf, I was super impressed and wished that I had recorded it.  And then they brought out this little plate with this Chinese fruit on it, I can't remember what he said it was called, but it was delish, almost like a peach or a pear. 

Have I told you my friends that I keep finding grey hairs?   I never would have thought that I would be finding grey hair at age 32, oh well.  I guess I never thought I would have a 12 year old when I was 32 either.  Kinsley is going to be turning 12 in a couple weeks, holy crap!  I'm not sure if I am quite ready for the emotions of an almost teenager, they are already beginning to start :)

piles

Piles is what describes everywhere around my house as of late.  The above pile is a pretty one at least, a batch of dish cloths waiting to get the rest of their tags.  I have other piles, like dishes, and laundry, and toys, and piles on the kitchen island.  And piles and piles of cut out sewing projects.

I haven't been getting much done for the past two weeks, I have been sick with a cold turned sinus infection, I think I am finally on the mend though, still sick, but feeling more like myself.  So, this finished project makes me super happy.  Being sick and not feeling like doing anything but napping and playing Dr. Mario on the Wii kinda drives me nuts.  I like getting stuff done so when I can't I kinda feel useless.

I have some fun news! I get to sell my things at Fleaology on January 21st!
it's located at
Olson's Garden Shoppe 1190 W 400 N Payson, UT
10am-5pm

Fabric and other things

Recently acquired fabric that I couldn't pass by, it's by Anna Griffin and it's called Penelope.

I think that it may become a skirt because how awesome would that be to have a skirt with sewing themed fabric?

I've lost my sewing mojo.  Which is awful timing because I have waaayyy to much to do.  I have been getting bits of lots of things done slowly, but I have got to kick it up a few notches here soon or I am going to be in trouble.  You see all those shows that I am participating in I have listed in my sidebar?  Yeah.

I'm really grateful that our family is pretty much healthy, but sometimes I get a bit frustrated with the few things that we do have to deal with.  Sometimes it's hard to remember to do things daily so that my kids stay healthy and I get a bit overwhelmed at times.  Add a diabetic husband to that and at times I think I worry too much.

I just need to do my best and be grateful that it's not things that are more serious than what they are :)

The diabetes thing is a hard one though.

My new favorite breakfast is Greek lemon yogurt with homemade granola on top, yum!

We have way too much candy in our house thanks to Halloween.  I just ate a butterfinger after I finished my breakfast.

I'm off to see if I can find my sewing mojo!  I hope you have a lovely day.

patchwork

I finished up these patchwork tote bags a bit ago.  These were a happy accident.  I was starting to clean up my fabric area and I had a whole bunch of upholstery fabric scraps that I just couldn't bear to part with.  I added doilies and ribbons and lace to them too, I am happy with the outcome. 

I am busy getting ready for next weekend, I have two shows, Oh Sweet Sadie, and The Avenues Street Fair.

Today I am thinking:
Why every time we get Casey's paycheck is it immediately gone?  Seriously, what the crap?!
Being poor sucks, but hey we have lots of love around here :)
I'm glad our fridge and pantry are full of food, which makes me think of the delish freshly cut watermelon, I should eat some of that.
That my newly cleaned and organized fabric shelves are beautiful and they make me super inspired to sew.
I am making lasagna for dinner, yum!
It's kinda nice having the girls back in school, I think they like the routine, and I like that they don't argue and pester each other as much :)

I hope you are having a lovely week!

Stuff

This is a picture of my girls in June when we went to Snowbird and stayed a couple days with my family, and yes that is snow behind them.  I thought this was the coolest picture, it may not be the best picture, but I like it.  We almost lost this picture along with some others that we hadn't backed up yet.  

Our computer got some nasty virus last week, which had appeared to have made ALOT of things on our computer to have disappeared.  Luckily, the place where we purchased our computer from was able to recover everything.  And now our computer is virus free and happy :)  And now we have a better antivirus program :)

I have been super busy with alot of things.  Craft Lake City was this past Saturday which was fun and I took zero pictures.  We have been camping which I also took zero pictures.  By the way, camping is not for me :)  I have been doing a TON of sewing and not taking pictures of that either.  I have had extra time since not having a computer for a week, and I realized that I liked it alot.

Anyways, this past week, I have been thinking alot about how much time I have been spending online, and truthfully it is WAY too much and I think it has been making me unhappy and super over stimulated.  There is so much fun and inspiring things online, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

There are way too many unread things in my google reader, and I think I just may mark them all as read, and I am going to go through and unsubscribe to a whole bunch of things, it is time for some simplification in my life, I want my time back, I enjoyed this past week without a computer, and my goal now is to spend alot less time on the computer and alot more time focusing on being with and taking care of my family and creating :)

Getting back in sewing mode

I am trying to get back into sewing mode.  I have been taking a break for a few weeks, but now I have to get to work, I have shows coming up and things that I need to stock up on.

It's grey and rainy here today, the rain smells lovely, I usually like rain in the summertime, but I was a little disappointed at the weather today.  Casey had to drive to Bear Lake for work and I had the thought of going with him and spending the day at the beach, the kids would have loved it.  But the weather wasn't the best for hanging out on the beach :( 

I've been cleaning and organizing areas of the house, on Saturday we had a yard sale and made a bit of money and got rid of alot of stuff which always feels good.  

My brother redid our tile by the backdoor.  It was white and I hated it, I would clean it and then two seconds later it would be dirty.  So now it is a tan color and it looks so much better and I won't have to be bugged by the dirt because I won't be able to see it.  :)

The girls are still getting use to spending so much time together :)

I swear when something in our house breaks, it tells everything else to break soon too.  First it was the furnace, then the swamp cooler, the toilet, and now our washer is leaking.  The joys of home ownership :)  All that aside though, I really do love my home.

Nutella makes everything delish.  We've been eating pretzels, graham crackers, and  smores with it, yum!

Now I must go start a new sewing project and maybe wash the dishes.

What have you been up to?

Right now

 Right now I am happy that my herbs are growing beautifully, and so far the garden we have planted is doing well.

And I am admiring my new orange flip flops.

I have kindof been taking a break from my usual routine.  I know I haven't been blogging as much.   I haven't done nearly as much sewing, I just haven't been feeling it.  I have done a few sewing projects, and started projects, but then I just don't feel like finishing them at the moment.   I have been going through areas in my home, finding things to get rid of, my family likes to have a yard sale every summer, so I am getting ready for that.  It feels good to go through things.  I have plans for changing up my bedroom, and there are areas in our home I have been wanting to paint.  Who knows, I may even try to tackle the storage room (it's a disaster).

I guess I am in need of changes, I have felt it for awhile now.  I think our home just needs some freshening up and organizing and I think I will get my sewing mojo back after that.

And since the girls are out of school I really need to get around to making up some sort of chore chart like I have been wanting to do forever. 

Enough ramblings for now, I hope you have a lovely weekend, do you have any fun plans?  We are going to be spending some time with my family in the mountains, the girls are excited.

Yep, it's turning into a food blog

It's not really turning into a food blog, not that that would be a bad thing.  This was my delish lunch, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to eat, and this Jicama I got in my Bountiful basket was staring at me.  I have never tried Jicama before, so I googled Jicama recipes and found this one.  I am so glad I tried it, cause, YUM, it just tastes so fresh and crunchy, and YUM!  Now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of the Jicama, cause that thing was huge and I still have half of it left.

Things I did over the weekend:  

I went to the Blogger's quilt market meet-up.  It was fun, but really hard for me to put myself out there, I am so shy, it was a good thing I knew some people that came, it helped.  Maybe I will share the one pic I have of the whole thing if I can convince myself that my face doesn't look fat.

We cleaned up our yard a bit, it looks alot better, but there is still alot of work to be done.  We really need to get our garden planted, but I look at all the weeds and feel overwhelmed.  

We have finally started to have nice spring weather here and I couldn't be happier, it makes me really want to finish getting the yard cleaned up and the patio cleaned off and to eat every meal outside.

How was your weekend?

Here's what I know

 First I know that this pizza was the best pizza I have ever made. It had wheat crust too!  The secret was brushing the crust with olive oil and baking it for a bit before adding the toppings.  Toppings on Casey and my pizza included; caramelized onions, orange pepper, artichokes, and olives, delish!  The kids are a bit boring, we have one that will only eat plain cheese, and the other two had pepperoni and olive.

Now I want to make pizza again! 

Other things I know:

This blog may have more food posts soon, that is if I ever get back into my blogging groove.  

I'll be honest, I haven't really been feeling it lately.  

I am falling in love with cooking again.  I can make some pretty darn good food if I do say so myself.

I have sortof been obsessing about feeding my family healthy, I think it has been paying off though, we haven't been sick in quite some time.  The occasional cold maybe, but nothing major.  Casey even seemed to be coming down with something and I think we may have averted it with the help of essential oils and some cayenne pepper.

Even though I could still make a few more things for my shows this weekend, I am not going to do it.  I made some bags today that still needs their snaps, but after I do that I am done.  I have too many other things to do this week.  I got a call yesterday asking if I would be in charge of decorating one of the teacher's doors for teacher appreciation week, that has to be done on Friday.  We are having two birthday parties for Sage this weekend, one on Friday with friends, and one on Sunday with Family.  So that means I have to clean the house too :)  Good thing it is not in too bad of shape. I do have a ton of laundry though.

I still have to get some details together for Sage's party with friends too.  Is there ever enough time in a day?

I say no.

Let's see what else do I know?  I think I have lost a little weight, maybe because of the obsessing about healthy food.  I was able to put a pair of pants on that awhile ago I couldn't.  Casey and I need to start working out regularly.  We do good for a bit and then don't, it's a cycle.  I really want to lose about 15 lbs. or so, plus it just feels good to work out.   Have I told you it has been probably since last year that I have purchased cereal?  I am pretty proud of it too.  Most of it is just not healthy, too much sugar.  The only cereal I have bought is bran flakes and all bran, mostly to make muffins with, although I bought a box of bran flakes last week to make muffins and my kids ate it all before I was able to make the muffins they were intended for.

Which leads me to, sometimes I can't believe how much food their little bodies can eat.  Alot of times it is more than I eat.  Growing children I guess, piglets I say.

I am rambling on and on today aren't I?  

Even more things I know;

I can't stop listening to Waking Up by One Republic.  

We got our tax return back and I purchased alot of fabric, I'll share pictures soon cause I can't resist a picture of pretty fabric. 

We probably have to buy a new furnace, I just don't feel like dealing with it.  We have been using space heaters for the past month, luckily it hasn't been too bad and there has been times when we haven't needed them on.  I guess since we did get our tax return and have money to either fix it or get a new one I should get on that huh?  Stupid furnace.

The Mall of America with my Mom and Sisters was fun, interesting but fun.  You see, I am the oldest of six kids, then my two brothers are the next oldest, and then I have three sisters.  So I sortof feel like I didn't grow up with my sisters and I am not use to the drama that they have.  Although I can see that same drama in my three girls, oh what am I in for when they are older?

That's probably enough ramblings for now, I have probably lost your interest by now, so thanks if you have read this far :)

So is there anything you know that you feel like sharing?

Hi

So, I haven't felt like blogging. I have felt like cooking things instead, and not taking pictures of it. I did take a couple pictures. I made Strawberry freezer Jam the over the weekend because we were running low, I sweetened it with agave nectar, yum!

I made an apple pie (baked in a paper bag), along with applesauce, and apple juice. We got a case of organic fuji apples a couple of weeks ago and they are yummy. Fuji apples are my favorite, they are crisp and just the right amount of sweet. That pie is now gone and I think I may make another, with fresh made whip cream it is so delish. Now we also have a case of oranges and I really want to make some fresh juice.

The girls made a fort in their room over the weekend, they even slept in it. After I took this picture Casey came home and helped them remake it even bigger and better. That is pretty much all they did over the weekend was play in the fort.

There has been crafting but no pictures of it. This morning we had a scare with the furnace, we thought that we may have to get a new one, but after it was fiddled with, I guess it just needed reset. Cross your fingers that was all it needed, we can't and don't want to buy a new furnace at the moment :)

Oh, and I found out about Swiss Days, I am an alternate, so if someone drops out, there is a chance I will still get in. I'm not sure how I feel about that, I think I would almost rather just have had a yes or a no answer. Then I could at least know if I need to prepare or not, oh well.

That's all for now!

This week

Remember this scrappy table runner? Well, it's been sitting patiently waiting to be used, and I just haven't used it so I decided to list it in my shop. I am quite happy with my shop as of late, I have it well stocked and I have been selling a few things which is has been helping out with our finances a bit :) I am very grateful for all who have been making purchases.

Yesterday I was working on upcycling some ties, I had some bits left and decided to make some hair bows with them, here are some of my faves. I think they are so cute!

Currently, I have about 6 different projects in the works, does anyone else do this? They are not small projects either, they are very large batches of things. I think I get stuff cut out and then I am sick of it and have to move on to something else until I feel like going back to a project.
Here's what I have going at the moment:
receiving blankets
bibs
kid's aprons
girl's bags
tie necklaces
dish towels

And as I said they are in large quantities :) Sometimes I think I am crazy.

Now onto another subject. I have been finding myself enjoying cooking again. Once upon a time before I decided to turn my sewing hobby into a business, I use to cook wonderfully delish and healthy meals. Participating in Bountiful Baskets has helped me to do that again and I am loving it! Plus, we get to sometimes try new things that we may not have tried by ourselves.
This last week some of the new things I tried were: Mangoes (I don't know why I had never tried a fresh mango before, YUM!) and we also got to try sunchokes, we had them in a stir fry and I quite enjoyed them, to me they sortof taste something like a carrot and a water chestnut.

This weekend I hope to get some projects finished, maybe drag Casey to a Diabetic Expo, and just hang out with my family.
I hope you have a nice weekend!

Grateful

Today I am grateful for many things:

The beautiful sunshine that has shone on our weekend, it's been a beautiful weekend here. As I sat on my front porch this afternoon getting a good dose of vitamin D, I caught a glimpse of spring, birds singing, sun shining, I didn't even need a sweater, it was lovely.

I am grateful for essential oils and am amazed at their healing powers, I have seen it with Sage.

I am grateful that Casey and I got a night to ourselves this weekend, I always love spending time just Casey and I. I love him.

I am grateful for leftovers from said above night out, they are yummy :)

I am grateful that even though Casey likes to go on "mountain drives" aka four wheeling in his Subaru, that even though he got it stuck in 2 foot deep of snow in a ditch, that him and my children were safe and so was our car. And it just so happened that Kinsley was with her biological Father and had forgotten a pair of shoes she needed, and he was driving to come pick them up just as Casey called me to tell me he was stuck. I am grateful that Morgan (Kinsley's biological father) volunteered to help out. Because I wasn't very excited about locating my Dad's Suburban and trekking up the mountain myself. I do not like driving my Dad's Suburban that thing is a beast, so I would be especially nervous driving it up the mountain :)

I am grateful for quite moments to myself to gather my thoughts and putter about the house straightening things up and working on projects.

I am grateful that my back feels a bit better than it did a few days ago, and I can putter about and get things done.

In general I am just grateful, life is good :)

Blahbabty, blah, blah, blah

This picture really has nothing to do with this post except that I needed something to laugh at, and this has got to be one of my favorite pictures ever. Jade, in the cow costume was saying moo, and apparently knew how to milk a cow :)
It was taken in 2006 at the Children's Museum , man my girls are little in this picture, they grow up so fast. Anyways...

Do you ever have what seems like a million things to do, but you wake up and know instantly that none of it is going to get done?
That is me today. And I hate it.
Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat, so I gargled some water with cayenne pepper in it, which works awesomely, and I will continue to do that until my throat no longer hurts. But last night I also started having what I can only describe as a pinched nerve in my back. Every once in awhile it happens to me and it makes it very painful to turn my head or really do anything. Basically it sucks, and all I can do is wait it out. If I was rich I would try going to an acupuncturist , but I don't have the funds for that. So instead I am using some essential oils and taking it easy today and probably for a few days. Sometimes it takes a couple weeks for me to get totally back to normal :( I even remember having this happen as a child.

Too bad I just finished reading the Hunger Games series of books, which by the way was awesome, and I can't wait until the movie comes out. I'm kindof at a loss as to what to do today, I am so use to being busy busy all the time that when I can't really do much, I don't know what to do. (that sounds funny)
Does anyone have any suggestions of books to read, or any good movies? Maybe I can send Casey to the library later today. I can probably get him to cook dinner too :)

shaky, nervous, excited and scared oh my!

So, I just got home from taking my application to the post office. My application to Midway Swiss Days. This is big people. Like a show that I am guessing will be at least five times what my biggest show is. And I thought my biggest show was big. I tried many times to talk myself out of it, I had many excuses. But I made myself do it. I told myself you only live once, and you know that if you don't try at least once you will be sad. So I did it, and now I have to wait and see if they think my stuff is cool enough to be at Swiss Days. If I get in I think I might pee my pants a little. And if I don't get in then I guess I won't pee my pants, and that will be okay.

And just in case, I am going to start preparing like a mad women because that is what I am for applying :)

fabric, a sneak peek, and a confession

I couldn't help but to purchase some Ruby Star Rising, I absolutely love this fabric. I mean seriously, view masters, transistor radios, and tea pots? Here's where I purchased mine.

It's killing me not to be able to show you this quilt I have been working on. I think it is my favorite quilt I have made so far. I just have the binding left to finish on it. But I can't show you it until after I give it to my sister who is having a baby boy who will be named Preston.
I guess I am just going to have to be patient and wait until after the shower, it's going to be a few weeks. It's the cutest thing ever though, I promise, my girls even want to keep it for themselves.

Here's the confession part of the post:
I spent my entire evening (cough cough, like 4 or so hours cough cough) last night looking online for anything to do with American Girl dolls. You see, Santa brought Kinsley an American Girl doll for Christmas and now for her Birthday she wants more outfits for it. The thing is, that Santa had a really hard time forking over the $100 for the doll and $28 for one extra outfit, Santa doesn't even want to mention how much it cost to get it shipped.
Now maybe you are thinking hey, that Vintage Fern girl knows how to sew, why doesn't she just make clothes? Well, I will make some, but the thought of sewing little tiny clothes from a pattern makes me want to pull my hair out and say bad words. I told Kinsley I will make a pillowcase dress and some skirts and a tutu, and maybe a few other simple things, but that is as far as I go. Enter spending my entire night online searching through tons of listings on Etsy, googling 18" doll clothes and tutorials, and searching local KSL ads. I was also looking into crochet patterns, I have an aunt that has awesome crochet skills and I think I may ask her to crochet some things. In the end, I ordered a couple outfits that Kinsley had picked out because Nana (my mom) wanted her to find something for her Birthday that is coming up next month.
And then, through my searches on KSL, I found this cute shop online Daydream Doll Boutique.
They have well priced cute things, and I spent forever deciding what few things to get to go with what I will be making for her. I feel like kindof a dork, but I am super excited now about making a few things and getting everything put together for her Birthday.
I may feel like even more of a dork in April, my Mom is taking my 3 sisters and I to the Mall of America, and guess what store is there? The American Girl Store, I will probably get just as excited to go look in there :)

Updates

This the extent of Christmas decorating that has been done around our home, courtesy of Jade.
We are hoping to be able to go pick out a tree today.

I have been able to get the house cleaner, yay!
And I finished these necklaces for the girls for Christmas, I love them.
We also found a new to us car, the exact one that Casey wanted, which there wasn't many to be found, I guess everyone wants a Subaru Forester. Now we just have yet another payment a month, ugh. It is a very nice car though, and I think we are set for vehicles for years to come.

We took Sage off the antibiotics, she was calling home every day from school. I think in part from the nausea, and I think she was just wanting to be home, maybe taking a little advantage of the situation :) We have been giving her acidophilus and cranberry extract, and her tummy is feeling much better. Today she stayed at school the whole day for the first time in probably over a week, so that makes me happy.

That's all the news for today!
I hope you are having a lovely day and are more ready for the holidays than I :)

A bit of honesty

To be honest, I haven't felt like blogging for a long time. There has been lots of singing performances for Jade, all my shows, plus the regular day to day stuff to take care of :) I haven't had the time for blogging, and second, I am having mixed feelings about blogging at the moment, I love it and hate it, at moments I feel like I am just talking to myself. It takes alot for me to put myself out there whether it be online or in person. But I love being connected to other crafty people like me too.

And if I am about honesty today, here is a picture of my living room right now. I have been so super busy for months getting ready for shows that I can barely keep up with everything else. Thankfully my last shows are this week and I am all ready for them, so I can finally play catch up and maybe even get a Christmas tree up :) Oh, and did I mention that we have to go car shopping? Fun right? ummmm no. Casey came home from work yesterday and said, the car smells like it is burning, I think it is the clutch. So we had it checked this morning and sure enough it is, and it will cost more to fix it than the car is worth :( So goodbye car, it's been a good 11 years that you have served us well. This time last year, we had to buy our van, I think it is tradition now, let's just go car shopping around Christmas time, it's the perfect time right? Ha, ha. Should I mention the bills we have from Primary Children's Hospital too? We had to take Sage for some tests, she has been having reoccurring bladder infections, and our doctor referred us to Primary Children's. All the tests we had to do look fine, they just want Sage on a low dose of antibiotics for awhile (which I am having mixed feelings about and I think they are starting to give her an upset stomach, poor thing ) and then we have to get her checked every month for 3 months, just to make sure she doesn't get one again. But we ended up having to pay most of the bills because we hadn't met the insurance deductible for Sage yet, and man, hospitals charge alot!

If you have even stuck around to read this, that's probably enough honesty for the day :)
Hopefully this hasn't been a downer post, I just really have nothing else to blog about at the moment, no exciting crafty project, I need a break from sewing sewing all day long :)
We really are doing good, I am grateful that Casey has a job and that I can make some extra money selling my things, and I love my family and am grateful for them.

Maybe I'll be back soon with pics of Christmas decorations!

Stuff

On Saturday, I participated in Bountiful Baskets for the first time. Basically it's awesome how much yummy produce we got.

I also made this ginormous fabric yarn ball out of bits of fabric I was sick of looking at, some of it has already been made into potholders.

I know I have been missing in action around here, I have been crazily getting ready for shows. Next weekend is the BIG weekend in which I have signed myself up for 3, yes I said 3 shows. Yes, I am crazy and I am wondering what the crap have I done to myself. I know it will work out though, but until then, I am going crazy :)

This will probably be my last post before Thanksgiving, so Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope yours is spent with Family eating lots of yummy things!

Crazyness

Do you ever feel like life is spinning around you? Like there is so much to do that you don't know where to begin? Basically that's my life at the moment. Busy running kids around to activities, helping with homework, doctor's appointments, phone calls, dinner, clean the house, visiting teaching, and amongst all that, I have a ginormous list of things to get done for my upcoming holiday shows. I'll add actually getting myself up in the morning because my body just hurts from doing so much :)

I do have a pretty pile of pot holders though :)

In full production

I am in full production mode here, I am currently working on the largest batch of dish towels I have ever made, over 100, man it's alot. I have such a long to do list to get ready for holiday shows that start in a month. I have a list of most of the shows in my sidebar, there will still be a few to add :) I feel like things haven't been too exciting around here, as I have been busy doing other things, and haven't felt like blogging much.

I will be taking a little break this week, we are taking our computer in for it's cleaning today and it will probably be gone for a few days. A little break from the Internet will be good for me, and I will hopefully get more done :)

I hope you have a lovely week!