The force is strong with this one...

First off, I think the person that invented goody bags at children's birthday parties should be shot.  Well, ok, maybe not shot, per se...  Perhaps just kicked squarely in the nads.  Because, we all know it wasn't a woman!  ;)  The way I see it, I pay enough for the darn party, right?  Let's add on as many additional expenses as we can, please!!!  ;)  ANYhow, that said, after giving and receiving goody bags full of toys that get thrown out as soon as the kids aren't looking, I decided to spend a little extra, and hand stencil t-shirts for all of the attendees at Boy's birthday party this month.  Of course, given the fanatical obsession with all things Star Wars at my house, I obviously chose to stencil the Star Wars logo onto the shirts.  :D  Now, given how insanely busy the last week of school was, and the fact that Boy's birthday is right about that same time, in retrospect, I'm absolutely nuts. (You all probably realized that by now, though, yes?   Shock and awe! ;)  )  However, that said, I'd spent the money, and already washed the shirts, so I was bound to the plan.  No turning back!  Man up!  Rub some dirt in it!  Keep on truckin'!  (Get the point?  Good.)

So, I bought me some blank stencils, traced and cut out my logo from the stencil.  Grabbed me some metallic spray-on fabric paint (gold for the boys, silver for the two girls), and after lots of paper towels, several garbage bags, and  10 thickly painted finger tips, this was born:

Yes, it's a terrible picture, and for that, I apologize.  I made 13 of them and they were a HUGE hit!  :D  I was so excited to see the kids all want to wear them out of the party venue!  :D  (Pleeeeaaase don't notice the mess under the stairs.  It's the kids' hideout... Well, it will be once I get curtains for it!  ;) )

All in all, a smashing success!  Yay me!  ;)

~N

Laughin' and a-runnin', hey, hey; skippin' and a-jumpin'....

So... I had been promising the kids small stuffed animals for months, and their trip to Disneyland with their dad over spring break seemed like the perfect time to make it happen!  They didn't turn out perfectly, but they did turn out... ;) 

I free-handed the fish pattern, and printed out an outline of a hamster body for the hamster.  Unfortunately, when one views the hamster from the front, he is decidedly lacking in a set of legs.   LOL!  Something to learn for the next time, right? 

Regardless, they loved them, loved that they got to choose the fabric and help stuff them!  :D

~N

Great Googly Moogly!

Holy moly!  I've just discovered the Fat Quarter Shop!  It now officially ranks right up there with Fabricworm...  I've realized that I'm very drawn to the fat quarter bundles.  Don't you just love them? They are so fun and easy, and you can throw a few personal favorites in there for even more fun!  :)

While I realize I have a barely started baby quilt sitting on my project table at the moment, I'm already thinking about the one I want to make for my living room (brown/turquoise), my bedroom (duvet cover, thinking black/white/hot pink!), for my mom (purple/purple/and more purple!), my son (so many fun options! No decision yet!), and my daughter, of course (once again, so many fun choices!)!! 

This one caught my attention though.. Simply for all of the amazing things you could do with it!!

Summer House Fat Quarter Bundle, Lily Ashbury for Moda Fabrics

Delicious, huh?  I also found some beautiful brown and turquoise collections, one notably unavailable until this fall, but SO perfect for the living room! 

(And eventually, I will figure out how to convince blogger to let me post more than one picture!  I know it's possible!  Maybe I just need to whisper some sweet nothings and give it a foot rub?  ;) )

Anyway... Shall I reiterate that I have a major fabric addiction?  No?  Alrighty then.  ;)

~N

 

Well, hello there! :)

I seriously have a problem.  I am searching, loving and subsequently drooling over multiple fabric bundles at the moment.  I mean, I haven't been able to even GET to my sewing maching since my semester ended, and here I am longing achingly for MORE fabric!  LOL!  Hello... My name is Nikky.  And I'm a fabric-o-holic.  They need a 12 step program for this, I tells ya!

Oh yea... Hi there!  LOL! I know it's been eons...  I was ridiculously sick for almost 2 months, and since my semester ended, the sudden loss of the constant stress hormones has sunk me into a bit of an energy lull...  It was only last weekend that I started cleaning my place in earnest and began to catch glimpses of my sewing machine again!  Besides... I'm starting to get the sewing 'itch' again...  Maybe I just need antibiotics, tho... ;) Hee-hee!

Annnnyway, it's not like I haven't gotten SOME projects done since our last chatty-chat...  Just didn't blog them, I suppose!  I made stuffed animals for the kids to take to Disneyland with them, I've done some serious mending, I made party invitations and I hand stenciled 13 t-shirts with the Star Wars logo for my son's 8th birthday party favors.  To name a few!  :)  Go me!!! 

I might try to get some pics up on the sooner side, but only if you're super duper nice!  ;)

*cough, cough*

Wondering where I've been? 

No?

Well, *cough* on you then!!  ;) 

Here's a hint...

Soooooo miserable.  Sooooo tired of being sick.  SOOOOO tired of coughing!!

Can you hear the violins?  :P

I covet...

Amy Butler, Soul Blossoms

'Nuff said.

~N

Suckin' on a chili dog, outside the tasty freeze...

So... NOW I've been commissioned to do another baby quilt for a girlfriend who just had her first baby boy, and check out these beautifully delish fabrics! 

(Yes.  I've already acknowledged that I seeeeriously need to work on my photog skills!  And yes, using something OTHER than my cell phone would likely help alot! ;) )  

These lovelies would be three custom bundles from Fabricworm.  I do so love me some fabricworm! :)  Their custom bundles are truly fab, I gotta say!   I may be checking out some possible additions in some different prints, (between the multiple bundles, there be an awful lot of polky dots!) but I really need to get a hold of a few more solids and figure out a binding/backing!  I'm thinking either a basic log cabin or the Sweet Daisy pattern from Red Pepper Quilts for this one.  (If you get a chance, be sure  to spend some time at Rita's blog...  AMAZING.  Inspiring.  Makes me wanna quit everything and just quilt! :) ) Any thoughts? 

All I know is that I'm ITCHING to start this one...  Darn this party lifestyle of mine though!  ;)  I promised my friend that I would make a point to not only start, but finish it once school got out this summer, but I cannot wait to cut into these!  :D

~N

An electric word "life", it means forever, and that's a mighty long time...

So... after much soul searching, personal turmoil and machine quilting fear, I finally started and subsequently completed my very first quilt this year...  I made it speeeshul for my very best friend's brand new baby girl, and while it was begun several months before the baby shower (with the BEST of intentions to gift it at said baby shower), it did not get completed until Miss Ella was about a month old.  Yea, yea.. I gots mad excuses...  Don't even try me!  ;)  Although from what i understand, for a first quilt, that ain't too shabby!  ;)  My bff simply told me that she wanted it orange...  The rest was up to me.  Um... Orange, I said?  Orange?  OoooooKkkkkkk...  Hmm...  So, off I went, mi madre in tow, to the fabric store to choose the appropriate citrus tones to make this thing work!  I modified a pattern from a book that was loaned to me, and off I went into the unknow abyss of my first quilting experience!

All in all, I think it turned out fairly well...  Momma luuuuurrved it, so I suppose that's all that matters, yes?  ;) 

And, for those of you thinking, "wow, her lighting/picture taking/location choice SUCKS."  Well...  To you I say...  Well, I say you're right! LOL!  The colors aren't quite true in this picture, but I promise it's puuurrty!  :D  And, I would like to offer up a special thanks-a-roo to my darling co-worker who is hiding behind that quilt, holding it up so I could take said crappy photo!  ;)

Needless to say, quilt #1 has been declared a success!  Onward!

~N

If you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter!

Whew.  What a weekend/Monday.  I tells ya... I need a weekend to recover from my weekends sometimes!  Busy weekend, baaadd Monday.  Seem to be on the upswing, though, thank heavens! 

Spent most of Sunday (only interrupted by aNOTHER birthday party) working on the banner for J's softball team.  Opening day is Saturday!  The parade is gonna be so fun!  :D  The girls ride in the back of a pick-up truck and throw candy to the crowds!  :D  I've already put in about 8 hours on the banner, but it's coming together!  In this pic, it was all just laid out for scale and design, not sewn on... I have quite a bit of sewing left, but thankfully, Thursday is a holiday!  :D

Oh, and the whiskers are still a work in progress...  Lol!  I'm thinking white yarn? 

And in case you were wondering? Yes.  The banner is HUGE.  ;)

School is...  Well, school is.  LOL!  This is a really complex unit and I didn't do as well as I would have liked on my last couple tests.  I didn't do horribly, but not as well as I would have liked.  But, onward and upward, yes?

~N

Once upon a lily-pad...

Tonight is my daughter's kindergarten play!!  I'm sooo excited to see her perform tonight!  It's the same play her brother did last year, and same general character, though she has more lines than he did!  She's done so great at memorizing her lines and is SO excited to be on stage! 

These sorts of events are part of the many reasons I love my kids school!  Yes, there are reasons I don't as well... (see previous post re: lice! ;) )  But the program itself is truly wonderful and my kids are very lucky to have such a wonderful group of teachers and parents supporting them!

Wish I could figure out how to stop these kids from growing up, though... 

~N

Ugh.  What a day.  I'm exhausted, overwhelmed, and subsequently, depressed.  I have WAY too much to do, and nowhere near enough time to do it!  I wasn't going to post today, but I thought maybe if I wrote some stuff out, it might make me feel better?

A.  I got the lowest scantron score on my last lecture exam that I have gotten in the entire two semesters that I've been taking Anatomy and Physiology.  I'm crushed and soooo disappointed in myself.  The only way for me to get an A on this exam is if I got almost full credit on the written portion, and I highly doubt that is the case!  I know it sounds silly and ridiculous to freak out over a B like this, but I have only gotten one B on an exam since August of last year and this is no time to start THAT trend.  Yes, I am ridiculously burnt out on school at this point, but I know that I am capable of doing much better than this.  So, I am desperately awaiting the posting of the scores, so I know how it went.  I check the class site about 15 times a day!  LOL!
B.  There has been recurrent lice problems in my kid's school.  In my daughter's kindergarten class, it's been one particular student (who I do feel terribly for, given the circumstances, but I'm livid with her mother!), and since parent aides have been banned from checking the child (due to aggression and threats from the parent toward the other parents), only teachers and the office staff are now allowed to check her.  Which I am willing to bet doesn't happen much, given how busy they all are.  Well, after getting it from this child once, we went through the outrageous amount of work to get rid of it (at both houses) and we've been clean for weeks, though the poor child is still being forced to wear buns to school every day.  Come to find out that they are allowing the costumes for the kinder play to be worn interchangeably between my child and the two other children (which includes the poor thing that has been infested for weeks) that are this character in the play. So yea.  Thrillsville.  I am so high-strung and stressed out right now that I have no idea what I'll do if she gets it AGAIN.  I might just go off the deep end.
C.  I somehow managed to volunteer to make my daughters softball banner.  From scratch.  And I now have a week and a half to get it done before opening day. 
D.  I also managed to agree to take over the 1st grade paper quilt job.  I got sent home another stack of construction paper to work on for April. 
E.  Homework, studying, more homework, more studying.  (See A.)
F.  My job.  Too much work, not enough staff.  (I'm sure that's pretty standard for everyone, though!)
G.  I am not getting enough sleep.  Purely my fault, I do realize this.  But it definitely does NOT help the situation.
H.  The darn rain will.not.stop.  I am so ready for spring and sunshine!  I have friends that love winter, love this weather and to them?  I apologize for what I'm about to say...   PLEASE STOP RAINING!!!!  PLEASE BRING ME SPRINGTIME!  Pretty please?  With sugar?  AND cherries?

Sigh...  Not sure if I feel better or not, but at least I tried!!  Hoping that some hot soup and a few more hours might bring me out of this funk...  Thanks for listening!

~N

Instead of asking him how much of your time is left, Ask him how much of your mind, baby...

So, I have a confession...  And I'm willing to bet that this will not come as a surprise to many of you, but it's become a dominating force in my life over the past year or so.  I am utterly addicted to fabric.  Shock and awe! (I almost just typed "sock" and awe! hee-hee!)  Yea, yea... I know many of you sew-y, quilt-y, craft-y folks out there are in the same boat, I know it's nothing new or unexpected, nothing out of the ordinary.  But here's the rub!  (you ready?  rub a'comin'! ;) ) I gots no monies!!!  LOL!  Well, ok, very little extra monies each month to invest into my hoarding tendencies.  AND, here's rub #2! (rub a-dub-dub)  I gots no TIME! So, I finally eke out a little extry of the cash persuasion, and purchase that delicious yumminess that is some gorgeous fabric...  Then it sits.  And sits.  And sits.  And I tell ya, I'm ITCHING to sew right now.  It's killin' me.  But I don't have the time!  LOL!  Boy is in basketball, girl is in softball and Girl Scouts, and I have school two nights a week!  So, when I do have time to finally sew, I sit there and have to decide between sewing, and doing my homework/studying.  And while I hate it, sometimes (well, almost every time) I make the responsible decision and do my schoolwork...  Gag.  ;)   Cry me a river, right?  ;)

I suppose you could say that I'm "building" my collection that way, yes?  I tells ya, though.. I have a baby quilt, 5 million apparel projects, several purses and several bajillion other projects sitting in my stacks upon stacks of supplies.  And yet...  I want more!!  I wonder if there is a 12 step program for this? :D

~N

That sneaky Winky!

So, my eldest was assigned the lofty task of designing and creating a "Winky" trap for his 1st grade class.  Winky is the resident leprechaun at his school... And Winky is VERY mischevious!  Every year, the first graders build traps to try to catch him!  No one was successful this year (again!  Sheesh!), but we sure tried!  If you can't tell, his father and his power tools got involved here... LOL!  Although, in this process, E learned how to use a nail gun, how to sand, and did the bulk of the painting!  His father did the actual sawing, and I did the actual hot glue-ing, but other than that, he did ALOT.  It was a HUGE hit and we've decided to try to catch the tooth fairy with it next time he loses a tooth!  :D  We promise to "catch and release" though...  ;)
~N

P.S. For the record? The trap really works!  There are two pulleys on the cross bar, and the "pot of gold" is filled with fishing weights (painted gold, of course!) so that it weighs enough to hold the cage portion up! :D  And, yes, his parents had a bit too much fun with this project.  ;)

P.P.S. Pleeeeeease ignore the raging mess in the immediate vicinity!  Goodness.  I really need to clean up my craft area!!!

Wrap your mittens around your kittens, and awaaay we go!

Good morning, o' joyful internets! And how are ye this fine, feathered morning (afternoon...  whatevs.  ;) )? :P Funny... I get so inspired by all these wonderful blogs out there in internet-land, that I get all bajiggety and excited, then I waffle a bit (blog yes?  blog no?  who has time?  do I have time?  can I keep THIS one up?), then I FINALLY decide to commit, and then (whew! stick with me! almost there!) I find myself opening ANOTHER blog. :P Yes. I have blogged before. This is merely another incarnation of my inner blogger. Will I keep THIS blog up? Hmmm... Perhaps. One can never tell where one will go when one feels the need. ;) There are so many unfinished blogs out there... Seems a shame to add another one! But, clearly, I'm not all that concerned. ;)

So. Uh... Er... What now? ;) What? Me? Oh. Yea... Um... Single mom. Full-time worker. Part-time student. "Stop me before I volunteer again" kind of attitude. Which translates directly to "BUSY". But 'tis ok. I do it to myself, right? ;)

So, anyway... Here I blog. You are most welcome to follow my journey if you like... After all, who doesn't prefer company on a trip?  :)

~Nikky