Sitting on the Wall

I finished appliqueing my pumpkins on a wall and then decided that rather than finishing them as a small piece, I've put them away with several other Halloween items. I have a "Happy Halloween" panel as well as a frankenstein I appliqued a few years back. I also have a pattern to make a witch and a mummy. Frank has requested a pirate too. One of these years I'll finish my Halloween quilt, in the meantime, the project (as well as the pumpkins) will just stay sitting on the wall.

Working on the pumpkins got me to going again with sewing. I pulled out the "Color Me Happy" quilt top I pieced over the summer. This is the first "jelly roll" I've ever bought. It was fun to be able to quickly put something together and I like it, although I normally would mix up my fabrics more (this has like 30 coordinates all from the same line, so, one print is repeated in several color ways.) I decided to use the rainbow stripe I'd bought for the binding as a border instead (I think the stripe (picture on left) "pops" more than what I'd planned to use, scraps (picture on right) of the central colors strung together). Today I took the top and borders to the quilt shop and bought a turquoise to bind it it (Frank's choice after another customer suggested it (instead of the purple I was adding to an already purple-full quilt). I'm tring to decide if I should machine quilt this at home (it will be almost 70" square) or send it out or pay for a class at the local shop and then do it myself on their long-arm (you pay $50 for two training classes, then rent machine time by the hour). I enjoy long-arming myself, so, this would probably be the funnest option, but also the costliest. I'll have to think. I'm also trying to decide how to quilt it. I think I want to stitch all different words in the purple parts (like "happy, joy, live, laugh, love, etc). So, I need to brainstorm a list of words. I wonder what I'll quilt in the striped areas, they are 6" x 10". Oh yeah, if you are curious to make this quilt, it is SUPER SIMPLE!

Quilt Instructions:
Just cut your 2 1/2" strips into 6 1/2" pieces. You'll need five strips per block.

Then, from your background, you'll need two 10 1/2" x 2 1/2" pieces per block.

The finished blocks are 10".

Just make as many as you want and then set them out one up, one side-to-side, one up, one side-to-side (it lays out like a rail fence).

I threw it together very quickly and can see lots of other fun applications for this pattern.

Suzy :D

PS: I am sitting here smelling fresh bread (loaves and rolls) I just pulled out of the oven. I think a few rolls and some honey have my name on them for my bed-time snack! :D

So Much More than a Bread Box!

I want to show you a project that I'm quite tickled with. I should say that this is based of an idea I saw in Better Homes & Gardens where they made a docking station for all sorts of power items wuing a shadow box and a piece of covered foam. We liked the idea and played with several different ideas for housing it and then Tom and I both saw this bread box at the store. We saw it on seperate trips when we were out alone. We both thought it would work well for what we wanted.



Tom drilled some holes in the back (a big one for the power strip to go through, and several smaller ones for air vents). Then, he attached two rails (at an angle) to hold a small shelf. He cut the shelf to fit, added a finger hole and a few notches at the top for the cords to rest in. Total time spent, less than 45 mintues. I still need to find a fabric to cover the shelf with, but for the time being, I'm tickeled with it just as it is.


Now, all those blasted long ugly black cords are neatly contained in one location. When not in use (and even when charging) we can close the lid and know where they are, but have them out of sight. There is room for another power strip (should we need to add more docks). I like my bread box! :D


Go make one of your own and send me some pictures of your conversion.



Suzy :D

Family Fun

I was just closing down the many web pages I'd opened today and not closed and realized that I only seem to go to Family Fun on special days (like holidays); and that I should go there more often and set out to make every day a day of Family Fun.


Today I worked on a little row of Pumpkins (of my own spontaneous design). The faces are designed and ready to be appliqued on. It was fun and relaxing for me. I designed one pumpkin for each member of my family, then had my hubby and boys set down with their fabric pumpkin in front of them and a sheet of paper the same size for them to design the face for their pumpkin. It's much more random that I would do on my own, but it creates a fun snapshot in time. Just like a project I once did with a Jack-O-Lantern and instead of the "normal" face, I appliqued the face from the Jack-O-Lantern we carved on Frank's first Halloween. Now, I remember his first Jack-O-Lantern face forevermore. :D

I stopped the pumpkins faces in order to make a tote bag from the pattern I stumbled on My Many Colored Crayons (I was looking for a crayon roll tutorial - I found one I want to try at Skip to My Lou). I made this bag for Frank in well under an hour. He wanted to be the Transformer, Bumblebee for Halloween, but I've been quite sick for the past few weeks and couldn't make the costume happen for him. Today we were at Wal-Mart for the fusible for the pumpkin's faces, and we found the Transformer fabric which I got a yard of. I saved a piece for half a pillowcase (24"x22"), then cut the rest up and threw the bag together. It was a happy comprimise for both Frank and I; he had a trick-or-treat bag that he'll get to use again and again (we try to use fabric shopping bags) with the character he wanted, and I was able to make him something he enjoys. He also likes this bag because it "Transforms" from a little roll into a big bag he can carry stuff in. :D

Okay, I've totally been rambling without much thought. I'm listening to some Abraham via Esther Hicks on my iPod Shuffle, while typing, only half-thinking about either task. I'm tired. I think I'll rest.

Suzy :D

PS: We decorated pumpkin brownies today... I know the boys enjoyed all the sweets! :D

Vacation Wind Down

My road trip with boys is winding down, and as is so often the case, I'm looking forward to resting once we get home. I've definitly learned some things about coming "back home", where we have so many people and places we love to be with and see... namely to make a list of things to do and then to cut it in half! Also, to next time tell people "we'll be here at this place on this day, if you want to see us, please come to us!" We've traveled nearly 1,000 miles to get to Arizona, and once we got here, we kept driving, a lot! Not fun!

We have had fun... here's a great picture of the boys with their life-long (literally) friends at the zoo. They were all together again for the first time in four months (a VERY LONG time when you are two and (just turned) five!)

Suzy :D

Time for Reflection and Celebration

Frank celebrated his fifth birthday today. I could dwell on how fast time goes, but instead I'd rather say that we really enjoyed Frank today. Saturday we had some family over and a little party and we did the same thing today. We're going to do it again for the next two weeks while driving home and visiting friends and family. Tonight I sat watching him, wondering, as so many parents do, what kind of man he will become, and feeling sure that I'll be delighted with him.

I also decided that when there is a birthday in a family, all children under like five should also get presents along with the birthday celebrant. Poor Jack just couldn't understand why Frank kept receiving gifts and even though I had presents for Jack, they weren't the same or as fancy. Tom and I felt so bad for the big, gloppy tears Jack was crying by 5:00 pm... he wound up being rocked to sleep by his Daddy because he was so sad and tired. Why is it that often when one person is very happy another is very sad?

Today my grandparents came to visit. They were with me when Frank was born. They had three children, eight grandchildren, and now have twenty-five great-grandchildren. Frank was the tenth great-grandchild and is the only baby they've ever seen born (of course my GM saw her three, but GD didn't... just Frank.) I like to think this gives them a special bond. They actually waited for him to be born for about a month... they drove from WY to AZ, parked in our driveway and waited... playing Pinochle often... this was a very long time for them to be anywhere. They are usually only gone from home a week to ten days. I am still so grateful that they were there for us! Here's a picture of the boys with "Greybeard" (my Grandad, their Gread-GD). While they were here today, we surprised GD with a little gift (he turns 78 in exactly one week). Also, we got a card for Frank from GD's sister, Adeline. She turned 80 today... Frank was her BDay present on her 75th! :D

At bedtime, Frank got ready by himself - quickly! We think he was worn out from the day. I laid down next to him in his bed and told him about the day he was born and how we named him. He was delighted and I was so satisfied and pleased. As I was telling the story I mentioned he was all snuggled under a quilt I'd made him (on his first night with us) and I paused to go get the quilt. He's still snuggled under it and sleeping now. :D

Suzy :D

An Introduction to Me and My Family

I just wrote to a new lady that I've been emailing, she and I are trying to plan some time to get together, but she wanted to know a little bit about me. Here's what I wrote... I think it's an interesting Time-Capsule-Like shot of my life.

Next week Frank turns five (on Monday) and then Wednesday we leave for a two week trip home... to Phoenix, Arizona. We moved up here (to Rock Springs, Wyoming) at the beginning of the summer after trying to get a job in Lander/Riverton for about eight months. My husband and I are from Phoenix, Arizona, born and raised; we love the desert and our home, but decided that we wanted to get out of the "concrete jungle" that Phoenix had become (especially the crime and pollution). So, two years ago we started looking at the places where our family lived for a new place to settle and raise our boys... we knew we wanted to be near family, we just had to decide whom we wanted to live near and what area. Last summer we came to visit my GP's, Uncle, Aunt, and Cousins family (all in Lander). We kept extending our visit and just didn't want to go home. So, when we got home, we started trying to figure out what to do for a living. My husband was a Marine for 13 years and then went into the high-tech field of IC Chip production. He didn't really love it, but the pay was good. So, the fact that he's now retraining in a much more relaxed job is a great thing for us... even though we took a 45% pay cut to come to a comparable cost of living place (thanks to the Oil Boom!) I feel like I'm starting over again financially as well as location wise.

The hardest part of moving is that we left a LARGE circle of friends in Arizona, as well as my Father-In-Law and my Aunt, both of whom we are close too. One of my friend's birthdays in October 5th and her husband is helping to fincance my drive home so I can surprise her on her birthday (which she's figured out but I don't think she's planning to tell him that!)

I've always thought it would be neat to do what you do with homes... buy, fix, sell, but it's just never happened for me. Presently we're living in an apartment (which we are paying for with our retirement money) because our home sale in Arizona fell thorugh (on the day of closing back in June). We are eagerly awaiting a new buyer for our home (which is in Mesa, Arizona).

I worked for 10 years (basically as an admin assistant, then for a year as a professional photographer). Then, when I was pregnant with Frank (by soon-to-be-five year old) I quit and have been a SAHM since - although it seems I'm seldom "at home", we keep quite busy between social, educational, and family visits, I'm always out doing "something" with them.

That's funny about the "knocking back a beer" because while Tom (my hubby) wasn't alcoholic he did drink A LOT. His old friend Jack (Daniels) has ruined his stomach, so now he'll have an occassional beer or as a luxury a mild Jack and Coke from time to time. Just this year I decided to learn to drink wine... I needed to relax and red wine suppose to be very good for you. Mostly, I've found I enjoy Arbor Mist, which I understand is like kids' stuff, but since I've never drank, it's enough for me. ;D

When I was a new mom, I decided I needed something "just for me", not as a "mom" or a "wife", but a hobby of my own. I've sewn since I was five and made a few quilts, which I enjoyed, so, I decided to focus on that one hobby and have been quite passionate about it.

What else? We don't watch a lot of TV... actually we sold our TV before we left and presently don't own one. We do spend a lot of time on the computer (me working on pictures and surfing and my husband playing shooter or builder games and surfing). My husband likes to build movie prop replicas and he belongs to a professional costuming group ( The 501st Stormtrooper Legion) where he goes around dressed as Darth Vader doing charity work, raising toy donations which he then delivers to sick kids. I love this thing that he does and we are eager to start doing it again, although he's got to "recruit" a few stormtroopers to work with him for a better impact. He founded the group in Phoenix (Dune Sea Garrison) seven years ago with three other guys and when we left there were over forty members... that was hard to leave so many of those friends behind, but... oh well! Life moves on. Like I said, we are both eager to start costuming up here.

Well... I know there's more about me to learn, but, that should give you something to chew on while still leaving something for us to talk about!

I just realized that I didn't write about Jack... he's my curly-haired-monster-boy... who loves trains and pretending to be things (presently Superman is his favoirte thing to be followed by Buzz Lightyear and a Dragon).

Like I said, an interesting snapshot of our lives. Perhaps you've just learned a little tidbit that you previously didn't know about me!

Suzy :D

Life in the Universe

My favorite science class ever was in college... called "The Search for Life in the Universe". The whole class was about the probability of intelligent life existing elsewhere in the Universe. (That's assuming we have intelligent life here on our planet!) Growing up, my family always looked to stellar objects as things of interest, so perhaps this class just continued that investigation. In any case, any time I see a news story about astronomy related topics, I stop to read it. (That and Egyptian / Pyramid / Mummy stuff... I always read that too.) Now, it's not like I get subscribtions to magazines, or constantly look for this stuff, but, if I happen to see it, I always stop to read it. Also, it's one of the interesting, "happy" topics that come across the newswires, besides that, I enjoy it.

Here's one I saw yesterday: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds: Computer models provide specs for 14 different planet types.

I think it's interesting to ponder the idea that we are not alone in the universe. It's such an enormous place with so many possibilities. I wonder if it will be in this life (as in life on this planet) or in another after-life that we will become aware of and interact with the other sentient-beings that must exist.

Suzy :D

PS: There are some AMAZING pictures in Space.com's Image Library. Take a look! :D