Live from Tormville!

* Our * kid is so good at Angry Birds....

.....he can play it in his sleep

Project Life: Week 4......and a finished quilt

Week Four! 

A birthday, a traveling husband, snow, a trip to the zoo and a jamboree. 

I love that I can consolidate all these events on a two page spread and get a good feeling of what our life is right now.  In doing this project for just four weeks, I feel like I've scrapbooked more real life in four short weeks than I have in a long time. 

These are the days that matter. 

Man, it's hard to take pictures of page protectors. I figure by week 52 I'll have found the best spot in the house and the right time of day to best accomplish this. 

I made an executive decision this week. 

Week four has two Sundays.  Since 2012 started on a Sunday, I figured I could just scrap my weeks just as they are on the calendar.  

But I can't. 

In my head, weeks begin on Mondays, and so shall they from now on in my Project LIfe album.  Looking ahead to 2013, that album will begin with Monday December 31st.  (Yes, my brain bulldozes that far ahead. It can't be helped) 

So week four has two Sundays. No stress. 

I have a personal printer, and I've been using it for the smaller photos and the pictures I take towards the end of the week - but it seems to be printing my indoor pictures very dark - so the photo about our dog will be reprinted with my photo order this week. 

I dug out my square punch this week as well - I like that I have room for a photo and journaling on the same card. 

I included an 8.5 x 11 page protector again this week to include Mark's birthday cards and birthday hat. I'm not positive this will stay in here. If and when I get his birthday scrapped for his album, I may move these over, but I like that they are here for now so I know where to find them. 

On the flip side of that I put Wendy's artwork for the week. 

Mark's birthday - I printed both his candle pictures as wallets on a 4 x 6 print on my personal printer, Al's night for dishes - again, I'm liking that this project has me at least trying to get each of the kids in each week, a Saturday night jamboree and two boys looking out the window giddy about the snow. 

I carried my square punch through to this page as well - journaling about Brian's quilt/my January project - our trip to the Zoo and our new five year old in the house. 

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I'm going to blog my organization in a separate post to keep this one from being too photo heavy. 

But one more photo - I finished the quilt just after 11pm last evening - giving me a full day to spare. 

It is 14 rows high - my clothesline isn't tall enough to hang it full. 
And it is loved. Feels good to have completed a project this month. Now on to the next one....

Tippy has taken it upon herself to make sure I don't get sidetracked. (She's holding down the quilt while I'm tying it) 

Happy Tuesday!

*****

My husband made it home at 3pm yesterday
He's already talking about when he leaves again. 
We're in 'make hay while the sun shines' mode.  

 

while waiting for the sun to rise...

I'm waiting for the sun to come up so I can take pictures of....

• Project LIfe Week 4
• Brian's finished quilt - finished it just after 11 last evening, with a full day to spare

So this is my stalling blog - a picture of our daily. They enjoy Duplos and Legos every day. 

The "Brand New" Technique Tuesday Blog Hop

Hey!  Happy Monday!!! 

Welcome to the "Brand New" Technique Tuesday blog hop. 

Technique Tuesday's Stamping Techs are blog hopping again and this month we're delighted to be sharing some cool projects made with some of the new stamps that Technique Tuesday is debuting this week at the CHA trade show in California. 

For my blog hop, I had a lot of fun playing with the new Dreamy Daisy stamp set. I love daisies! 

The first project I created was a little envelope. I stamped the daisy image onto an old dictionary page and lightly colored it in before adding it to my envie. 

Fun - right? I'll be using that for my February mail something every day goal. 

The next project I got messy with was a little journal. I used some chipboard for my base and started adding fun. This time I stamped the daisy onto white cardstock so the colors would pop just a little bit more than they did on the dictionary page. What I love about getting a new stamp in the mail is seeing how many different moods and styles I can get out of just one image. 

I'm not one hundred percent sure what I'm going to do with this book yet, but it'll come to me. I filled it with a fair amount of pages.  Suggestions are welcome.  *smile*

No idea what I'm going to do with it, and yet - I can't wait to make another. 

Typical me. 

(the polkas were made with green acrylic paint and an old Heidi Swapp mask)

Be sure to check out the blogs of everyone taking part in today's blog hop:

Tanis

Ashley

Charlene

Daniela

Tobi

Laura

Sharyn <------- you are here

Kris

Jaclyn

Teri

We love reading your comments and we will be having some random draws for prizes. From the comments received on all the blogs we will pick one lucky person to win the Flurry stamp set.  We'll pick another lucky commenter to win the Missing You by Ali Edwards stamp set. 

You don't need to comment on all the blogs to be eligible to win, but the more comments you leave - the more chances you'll have! 

Comments must be posted by midnight on February 2nd. The winner will be announced on February 3rd on the Technique Tuesday blog. 

Thanks for stopping!! 

Happy Monday!! 

 

 

An evening jamboree

Uncle George, Todd, Jeff, Curt and my brother Kevin
click the photo to see it larger 

I called Uncle George yesterday morning and said - I dunno, George. Greg left for Chicago - the kids keep acting like they're sick, and I just don't think we're going to make it to the jamboree. 

And he said, Sharyn - you need to make time for yourself too - so make Allan babysit the sick kids and just come out by yourself for a bit.  And bring your camera.

And so I did - picking up my sister-in-law Shannon along the way. 
Was very much worth the trip.

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As for the kids - Mark's fever finally broke. It took three days.
Wendy has a fever, then she doesn't, then she does, then she doesn't.  I actually think hers might be a sinus infection - she went through a whole box of kleenex yesterday.  I'm going to try a few home remedies on her today and then debate hauling her to the doctor tomorrow.

 

how to put the batting into a tie quilt

I'm still making progress on Brian's quilt. I have until Tuesday midnight to finish it in order to meet my January goal. 

So today - since we've moved onto plan B - I've made progress. 

The first thing I did was lay it out on the floor. To know this house is to know that I have exactly two floors that I can fit a quilt on. The kitchen floor or the living room floor.

The living room floor was kind of busy. We're doing a lot of Plan B's this week. 

The next step is to lay the 'batting' on top. In this case, my batting is an old blanket. I've been picking up old blankets from garage sales for years for exactly this purpose. 

The guts were a little bigger than the quilt, so I cut it down to size, making sure to cut it to the seam allowance, not to the actual edge, to help prevent bunching in the middle. 

Now to roll the batting into the quilt. I learned how to do this from Granny Pennala, and it's the only way I've ever done it. starting at the bottom/open edge - I begin rolling up - about two rows at a time. 

I roll up, and then tuck the backing underneath. 

I make sure to keep it nice and even on both sides. 

Roll it again, and again, tuck that backing (the red flannel) underneath

It feels like a big pocket envelope as the steps continue

This is how it looks at the end of each fold. Fold, tuck the backing under, make sure it's straight - repeat. 

And just keep going as many times as needed to get all the way to the top. 

Completely folded, now it's time to reach into that pocket and begin unfolding. 

When I reach into the pocket, I grab the corner, making sure to grab the batting and everything and start to pull it back out. 

This next part Granny did a little differently. She would pull the entire quilt flat and then begin tying. Me? I start tying immediately while I can still easily reach. I tie that corner that I pull out almost instantly. 

I then go on to tie that whole top row. In my opinion, it helps to keep that batting in place and is a lot easier to access than when the quilt is all flat on the floor. 

When I run my ties - I run the yarn the whole length of the quilt and then tie one at a time - starting from the open end. Often I'll tie the first one to hold the yarn so I don't accidentally pull it through. 

Then I tie, and cut, tie, and cut, tie, and cut.....

And just like that, the whole top row is tied before I even finish unrolling the quilt. 

I'll then go about six or seven squares down both sides, again - to keep it all in place. 

At this point, I was able to easily fold it all up and put it away in order to make supper. I don't have to worry that my batting went astray when I left it because it's tied in all the important places. 

I can also finish tying it when the softer living room floor is cleaned up. 

On Monday I'll be able to sew the bottom shut and call it done. 

Life is good. :) 

I love Pinterest

We're in stranded mode over here.  Greg left this morning for Chicago - Allan is on call for work - and the babysitter-in-training is the one that's sporting a fever and feeling miserable today. 

So all my plans for today are a bust.  Wedding shower this morning - nope. Snowfest - ain't gonna happen. Jamboree tonight at Uncle George's - looking doubtful. 

So. Plan B. I told the kid's we'll decorate for Valentine's Day - for the first time EVER! 

Last night I was inspired by the garland on my Valentine Pinterest Board, and cut out a bunch of x's and hearts from felt. This morning I sewed them all together and they are hanging over my kitchen sink before lunch. 

I jazzed my version up by zig-zagging just a bit on each heart. You know - for heartbeats. Get it? 

Yeah - we're shack happy. 

After lunch I'll start putting the guts in Brian's quilt. 

 

hello weekend

This is a daily part of our day.  
Tippy's favorite part I think.  When my husband finishes reading bedtime stories to the boys and heads out to the garage to do some carving - our 14 year old border collie starts bouncing around the kitchen in anticipation and stays less than a step behind my husband - no way letting him go out without her.

Greg is leaving for Chicago this afternoon - so Tippy is going to mope for a few days.

------

As for us?

I went to Costco last night intead of today because we have a bug going through the house. Mark is on fever day 3.  I have a feeling I might be stranded for a few days.

But we're holding out hope that we'll all be well at the same time at some point - still hoping to go to Snowfest. But we agreed - if we don't get there this year - then next year for sure.

 

January Project: corduroy quilt

One of my goals for 2012 is to complete on project a month. This month it's this special request corduroy quilt for our 6 year old.  "heavy" he says. "I want a HEAVY blanket"  

Like his mother. 

Yesterday I finished sewing the rows all together, and last evening I got the back sewn on. Today I'm hoping to rummage through the crawl space and find a batting. 

I'm so glad that I included the pockets. I think there are six of them total. They were also his request and he'll have fun with them.  And don't mind that my corners don't match up perfectly.  This quilt is made of all different types of corduroy - Wide Wale, Normal Wale. Thin, Thick. Pants, yardage, shirts and jackets - all repurposed to bring this together. The red (formerly a jacket) was actually a little stretchy. It's okay. When I tie it it'll be hardly noticeable. 

As for the backing - a twin size flat flannel sheet that I had picked up once upon a long time ago for exactly this purpose. 

It feels good to be using up some of my craft hoard. 

He slept under it already last night. 

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As for today?

Sick kid. Mark started running a fever yesterday afternoon. Fever, hacking, bellyache. I have a lot of possibilites for the weekend if we're all healthy, but if we have sick kids - well - we'll just have to decorate the house for Valentines Day or something. 

And finish a quilt, and get a head start on the February project. 

Wingin' it is our thing. 

Ten Things

ONE

A sneak peek of February's Studio AE

TWO

I had seen a glasses holder sometime before Christmas and asked my husband if he'd make me one. It came in the house this week. I'm loving it. 

THREE

I really do like our new percolator. It makes good coffee

FOUR

24 days and counting with no chocolate. *pumps fist* 

FIVE

On track with Brian's quilt. Yesterday I ironed the seams, today I'll sew the rows together

SIX

I'm happy that we renewed our membership at The Henry Ford. It gives us an option for something to do during this snowless winter. 

SEVEN

I love my yellow vintage pencil sharpener. We had been going through one sharpener after another when I finally gave up on all the new models and bought this classic on Etsy. Love it.  I love my pencils needle sharp. 

EIGHT

Happy Sigh. I couldn't decide which print I liked the most, so I got a bit of each of the Retro Kitchen line. Brian's quilt is my January project - these fabrics are my February project(s).

NINE

Also for February - bumped into this Months of Letters challenge last evening and it's so me. My heart raced a bit. Yes, I'll be partaking. 

TEN

Considering taking the kids to Snowfest 2012

Happy Wednesday!