Cold and not just the weather

Oh the lovely winter cold has hit our house. Once it gets in it plays merry go round, making sure to get everyone at least once. As Rob eloquently put it, I am patient zero starting the whole thing. We make up our own games, like please pass the tissues or who can cough the loudest.

This didn't stop us from putting up the Christmas tree last night. I promised this year I wouldn't be neurotic, I would let the kids put any ornament wherever they wanted. Usually my tree only has red, purple, and gold ornaments that need to be spaced out ( meaning no purple right next to purple and so on).

I kept myself at a distance from the tree and just handed the kids ornaments to put on it, this seemed to help me remain calm. Aries likes the clustered look. Pick up an ornament, put it on the same branch as the last three ornaments, and repeat. Damien likes telling everyone else where to put the ornaments and the fact that he can almost reach the top of the tree. Odyn would run to me, grab an ornament, and then throw it at dad.

The tree has already received several shakes, a couple oooooooo's & aaaaaaa's, and one hug. I think it may be our best looking tree yet (and I didn't even move things around). I am taking it easy today...I have a cup of tea, warm blanket, and crochet hooks in hand. Patient zero wants this cold to end today. I did manage to add some of my handmade Let It Snow garland to the shop (if there is a certain color scheme garland you want let me know).

*Linking with Faded Charm for White Wednesday*

Let It Snow

Last night I was working on a fun new garland for the holidays.

Now I don't know about you but I love the look of snow and not so much the actual snow.

So why not let the look of pretty snowflakes dance on a garland without that cold wetness?

Tonight I think I will work on more of these fun garlands and put them in my shop next week. So let it snow happy colored crochet snowflakes and yummy fabric snow.

Progress

This weekend was full of progress. My mom, her husband Eric, my uncle Robert, and I started working on the barn project by cleaning it out and getting ready for a tag sale Thanksgiving weekend.

It was great to start planning and thinking about where things will go. The conversations often started with thoughts of decorating, organizing, and construction to be done.  We got a lot accomplished in only a couple of hours. I think it's because everyone was so happy and looking forward to the future.

I also got two things crossed off my list. The first was Aries Modern Forest Dress. It was nice to sit in front of the sewing machine for an hour or two. The craft room has really helped and I sometimes think it's magic. I turn invisible to the kids when I am in there.

Before the craft room, I would just pick up something to start working on it and I would hear "Mom I need a drink" or "Damien is being mean" or my favorite "I need to go to the bathroom" (the reason it's my favorite is because it's solved with me saying "Okay go to the bathroom then"). Now with the new craft room, problems get solved without me.

Being in my invisible state I finished the Modern Forest Dress, which was cut to the patterns size 4. It only needs 3 small buttons in the back that I haven't decided on yet. At a point of no return I asked Aries to come try it on. She was excited and I was a little disappointed. Aries, being the peanut that she is, was swimming in the dress. Needless to say she won't be wearing it this Thanksgiving but maybe Thanksgiving 2011.

The other item I was able to cross off the list was Aries Quilt of Dreams. I have been working on this for a couple of weeks now. I really wanted to do the bias trim by hand only because when you get the quilt to this stage it's really heavy for the machine. So with pink embroidery floss in hand I finished the last edge Sunday night.

It's funny how things work out. I started this quilt before we moved into the new place and now that we are here it looks perfect. The pink in the quilt matches her walls, the turquoise to her bookshelf, and the yellow brightens the room.

Do you remember the first stages of this quilt? Oh the safety pins, there had to be at least 150 that I took out of this quilt. They did the trick though, keeping it all held together in place while it was being quilted. Now there are wonderful little pockets of quilting.

Aries is excited to snuggle up tonight in her quilt. She already took it for a test drive when she got home from school. Just long enough for us to take a picture.

If you want to see more pictures of the quilt I have put them on Flickr.

Thankful

I am thankful for this purple and pink sky that Aries proclaimed was made just for her.

I am thankful for getting some time to finish more dishtowels.

I am thankful for all the support in my adventures and my blogging buddies.

I am thankful for my children who keep me on my toes.

I am thankful for a husband who notices when I need a break or who helps me without being asked.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, what are you thankful for?

~~Linking with Vintage Inspiration Friday :) come join the fun~~

Giveaway Alert!!!!

Remember when I told you that you could possibly win my Dream dishtowel?
Well you can win so much more! Rikrak Studio is giving away $800 in prizes and yes my Dream dishtowel is included. 

There is multiple ways to enter and 5 different prize packs. So head on over to Rikrack Studio before December 2nd 11pm EST an enter!!!!

Good luck everyone!

Football Vs. Decorating

This weekend while the hubby tried to watch his football game without screaming, turning red, or stomping his feet I was busy trying to clean up, decorate, and paint somethings.

I bobbed and weaved whenever I went in front of the TV. He sat at the edge of the couch gritting his teeth and sometimes saying "Oh come on!!"

While this was going on I was trying to hang a cup rack that I just painted and my iron rooster hook that got a fresh coat of white paint.

I heard "I will get that once the game is over". I tried but decided to wait for him.

It wasn't a long wait. The man, who just before the game started, said "I'm glad I don't get upset like I use to at football games." decided that his team didn't get the privilege of him watching them. He needed to help me decorate so he could calm down.

So decorating won this time but I am sure that this was a once in a lifetime thing. Oh and by the way team, he didn't give up on you, he kept checking the score throughout the night :)

Birthday Wishes

I do believe that this weekend is a special blogger friend's birthday!!!! Andrea from The Art of Staying Up All Night asked for participants to help celebrate her birthday and well I had to get in on it.

So to celebrate your 27th birthday Andrea, I wrote the top 10 things you must or mustn't do for your birthday.

10. You must wear a party outfit because birthday suits are not allowed.
9. You are allowed to shake presents and guess but don't shake the envelopes and try to guess if there is money in them.
8. It doesn't matter how old you are, or will be, the Happy Birthday song will end with you smelling and looking like a monkey.
7. You must see what celebrities share the same birthday with you ~ Wait you shouldn't have to do that since it's your birthday so I did it for you.... Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Kimmel, Gerard Butler, and Steve Zahn.
6. Your too old for birthday spankings and a pinch to grow an inch - consider it assault now.

5. You must get balloons filled with helium, and one for each year.
4. When everyone has left you must pop balloons and make silly helium voice noises.
3. Cake - some love it, some hate it ... everyone must have a piece on their birthday
2. You must blow out all your candles - your never too old to do this - and make the best birthday wish you can possibly think of.

1. HAVE THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!

Make sure to stop at Andrea's blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!

Craft Studio :)

*First thing I need to say is thank you, thank you, thank you!!! All the wonderful comments about my barn shop really made my day. So thank you for making me smile and for wanting to share in my adventure.*

A couple of days ago I had you all play a guessing game. I promised that I would not keep you waiting long and I hope I didn't. The picture that you saw was part of my craft studio!

Rob and I worked on it this past weekend. I painted the room, including the chalk board paint, and organized all my craft supplies. Rob hung the giant shelf, put together my desk, and put the molding around the chalk board. I have to say I am glad it is finished.

We were going to put down new flooring but decided to wait for now. Good decision cause I don't think I could take little fingers getting into my supplies anymore. The kids are only allowed in the studio when I am in there, which works out just fine since most of the time they just want to color on the chalk board. 

Walking into the studio is a happy feeling. I try to surround my space with things that inspire me, colours that I love, and things that melt my heart  (my first ever mom's day drawing from Damien or my signed copy of Alicia Paulson's book).

Taking pictures in the studio is a little hard only because there is a very small window that gets little natural light. I know that I will be adding lamps and work lights since most of my work will be done once little ones are asleep. 

I feel very lucky and thankful to have this space. The space I had before was a closet - literally. My dear sewing machine can finally stay in one spot and not have to be dragged back and forth to the dining room table. 

I'm sure tons of wonderful things will be coming out of this studio - I already have 5 dish towels I need to add to my shop :) Hope you enjoyed the tour!