Clever Coasters

It was another crazy day at work today but I balanced it out with a really fast 5 mile run and some sewing. I could hardly wait to pull out my bend-the-rules sewing book by Amy Karol this evening. I bought it back in October when I was in Portland; Saw it on the shelf yesterday and decided to crack it open. I got inspired. After Lydia went to bed this evening I did the Clever Coasters project. We needed some for our bed-side tables. The project called for just two 5 and 1/2 inch pieces of fabric for a coaster but I wanted to use the leftover scraps from the quilt I made recently and I didn't have any pieces left that were that large so I got out my handy dandy calculator and came up with this design. The back of each coaster looks just like the front so I guess you could say they are reversible? The colors will go great in our bedroom. Going to try out my new coasters now. Until next time...happy crafting!

Block of the Month - Block 2

I spent the afternoon at the quilt shop. It was so nice to get out of the house for awhile to do some sewing. I finished Block of the Month #2 and when I finished with that I worked on this tote bag. The quilt shop was closing before I could finish but I was able to sneak in another hour this evening at home to finish it up. Lydia wanted to help so I asked her to model it for me. This is my first tote bag. It was easy to make. Thanks to Dawn for the pattern. Now that I know the basics of how to make these, I plan to play around with the pattern and make another with longer handles and a shorter body. This tote will be great for carrying books and craft projects when I am on the go. I try to take advantage of the free time I get like when I am waiting for Lydia while she is in dance class.

Valentine for a Friend

This is a valentine I made for a friend. Here is what is inside the bag... When you unwind the paper on the spool, you see...

The valentine was going to be delivered today but I did not know we were in for another huge blast of snow. We have more snow this year than we have gotten in a very long time. Ken tells me he thinks we got about 10 more inches today. He took this picture after he finished snowblowing the driveway. You can hardly see the snowman we made a few weeks ago because it's nearly buried up to it's neck.

The snow is up to the light post in our front yard!

And our mailbox is buried!

Happy 40th Birthday!

My husband has a Valentine's b-day. I think it's pretty neat to have one of those but quite honestly I always get jipped. My husband is one that doesn't multitask very well and therefore celebrating two different things on the same day is out of the question. So in the end, Lydia shares her chocolates with me.

Ken turned the big 4-0 today. He says he doesn't feel older. Interestingly enough to me, I do feel older. The fact that my husband is 40 makes me feel like I am not a kid anymore. We celebrated by going to the WheelHouse for some Pizza with my sister and her family. We are going to Cedar Creek Lodge for the day on Saturday to do some more celebrating and playing at the indoor water park.

So, the girlfriend I ran the Portland marathon with in October tells me she joined the Portland Fit to train for the Portland marathon again. Now she has me thinking I need to do another marathon. I had a feeling this would happen. The first one was just to prove to myself I could finish. The second one would be to confirm I really finished the first one because I still don't believe we did it.

Swimming in February in Wisconsin

My sister and I took our girls to the Wisconsin Dells last weekend for some fun at the Kalahari indoor waterpark. We live in Wisconsin so indoor is the best option this time of year unless you are a freak. Laurel, all of two years old, was brave and had no fear. I was probably the one most afraid on some of the slides I tried. It was nice to play and relax. As if I didn't have enough to do at work, I was offered a project that I could not pass up and it's in addition to my already full schedule thus the reason why I haven't posted in over a week. I feel like I have drain bamage from all the thinking. I would like to get to the quilt store this week to pick up the block of the month and I am looking forward to working on it soon.

Pink and Brown Card Swap Challenge

I have been playing around with that idea I got from Natalie for the pink and brown card swap this month.

The flower on this one needs a rhinestone but I don't have any at the moment.

My niece Laurel joined me for some crafting time yesterday. Look at that focus she has! She is an intense artist. :-)


Something unexpected and exciting happened to me today. It's always nice when that happens right? My friend Nina contacted me to invite me to go with her to see Matchbox Twenty and Alanis Morissette tomorrow at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. To top it off, she has some great seats right by the stage. Her husband bought her the tickets for Christmas and now he can't go so I am the lucky duck who gets to go in his place. That is if the weather cooperates. We had a bunch of snow dumped on us again today and it's supposed to be pretty white in Milwaukee tomorrow so we aren't sure if the bands will be able to fly in or not. The event could be canceled. We shall see. At first I passed on the offer but when I told Ken about it he asked me if I was "getting old or something". I thought "shuuuuh" and I immediately called Nina and told her I was going. :-)

The Purple Scarf is Done!

This afternoon while we were waiting for my niece to arrive Lydia helped me finish up the fringe on her scarf. She was happy to receive it and even commented that it will go really well with her lavender coat (gee, who-da-thunk?) and I am glad to finally be done with it! I started the darn thing in September. In the meantime, Lydia recently mentioned to my grandma that she would like a pair of blue mittens to match the hat she had made her. A few days later grandma had the mittens knitted along with a very long scarf to match! :-)

This is one of the projects I made last night when I got together with the girls. Thanks to Natalie for bringing such a cool project. I love this design. It opens up like so...
Natalie is soooo talented. I love the work she does. Because of this project and another card she brought, I have some ideas swirling in my head for this month's pink and brown card swap. I also now want to get a Cuttlebug for embossing. I used Natalie's last night for this project and I love it. I have a Sizzix that I am going to sell on eBay.