Gotta love a Give-Away!

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What's better than getting a fun red & white checkered box in the mail on a random Saturday? In my life, up until lately, I could honestly say that I never won anything except "honorable mention" in a poster contest at the library in the second grade :) I have to say that I am lovin' all the giveaways that go on here in "bloggie land' on a regular basis! My partner in the last apron swap I was in, Paula, offered this darling cup cozy and yummy tea as a giveaway to honor her mother's birthday.....and I won! Yippie! It's seriously adorable! Thanks so much Paula!!!! All I had to do was leave a comment on her blog! I also won a fat quarter bundle of Halloween fabric during the Fall Flirty Apron Swap . There are people giving away things like Kitchenaid mixers, sewing machines, Cricut machines and the list goes on and on! But you can't win anything, if you don't join in :) This last week I registered to take part in another Flirty Apron Swap and there is a wonderful giveaway that was just announced over there. And here's the great part : You don't have to be part of the swap to take part in this giveaway! So if you would like a chance at winning totally cute patterns for awesome aprons and more from JamieChristina.com , head on over there and leave a comment! (but I'll be honest, I hope it's me that wins!)

An Apron Home Run!

 My sister in law told me that after seeing everyone's aprons at Christmas, she wanted one. She is such a sweetheart and is always so generous and caring. I am blessed to have her in my family! So I asked her what she would like the on the fabric. She said, cake, wine or hearts. The color didn't matter. Guess what I found? Fabric with cupcakes, wine glasses AND hearts! I love it when that happens! She said she likes ruffles, so I chose Butterick B4945. I flipped the inner facing to the outside and cut it out of the polka dots (you know I have to add polka dots whenever I possibly can!). She likes blue and she has dark brown hair, so I think this will be too cute on her! I feel like I hit a home run on this apron for sure :) I hope she does too!

Grab this!

 Today I made this cute "Grab Bag" from a free download pattern available over at  allpeoplequilt.com. They have some really cute free patterns over there! I needed a fairly simple pattern to use for our upcoming "Crafty Chicks" sewing event at Branches (my church home) on Saturday the 29th. I wanted to make it at home first, so that I can see how long it takes to sew and see if the pattern would be friendly to those who haven't sewn before. I used this bright orange Robert Kaufman fabric. I love that there are 6 pockets inside! All in all from cutting to finishing, it took me 2 1/2 hours. I think I'll have the ladies download the pattern and cut out the fabric before they come as we only have 3 hours to complete these bags. I'll have the ladies use fusible fleece instead of batting and cut the fabric with 5/8" seam allowances instead of the 1/4" seam allowances those crazy quilters (and I mean that with the utmost admiration for their crazy skills) seem so fond of. Hopefully that will make the project easier to handle and I will tweak the pattern instructions a tiny bit. There is one part of the instructions that isn't necessary at all (in my humble opinion :) The handles may be a bit tricky for first timers, but other than that, I think it's a totally cute project and I can't wait to see how they all turn out. I'll post pictures after the event!

Monkeys, Snakes and Polka Dots

 Today was a beautiful 70 degrees and the sun was shining. A perfect day to take the little monkeys to the zoo :) I "borrowed" my two oldest grandsons and my daughter and her little one met us at the zoo. We brought our lunch along and ate outside (which the boys all love to do). It's such a joy for me to see my grandchildren playing together! They were especially excited to watch tiny orange monkeys chase each other around and run and jump long distances and swing upside down. Caleb said that they must be brothers. I think he's right :)

We saw a HUGE boa snake. Usually they are content to sit coiled up in a warm place, but this guy was very active and seemed (frighteningly) interested in our every movement.

And you can't go to the zoo without a ride on the train!

After I got home, I had just enough time to finish this 1/2 apron. I used this same fabric for my daughter's apron that I gave her for Christmas. I fear that I may end up keeping this one for myself. We'll see :)

Apron Progress :)

 Here are the first 4 aprons that are ready for my etsy shop :) I feel like I"m making progress although I was sure I'd be farther along by now. I do have 5 owlies 1/2 way done, so that counts too right? Anyhoo, I also have my artwork and logos done for the shop and my fabric labels are being made. So I'm guessing maybe another 2 weeks and I'll be able to announce that the shop is open for business! I'll have a special offer available to those of you who are "followers" of my blog :) I guess it's a good thing that I have to wait unitl January 17th to get the info on my Flirty Apron Swap partner, so that forces me to remain focused on getting more aprons done before I get involved making the swap apron.

She Bangs

What is it that makes us women constantly want to change something about ourselves? For the past 8 years I have been perfectly content to have shoulder length hair, no bangs. Then I wake up yesterday and in a moment of temporary insanity I decide that I need bangs again. Really? Now I wish I was like the Barbie I had when I was a little girl that had a magic button in her belly that you could push and pull on her hair and it would magically "grow"! I feel like I have fuzzy caterpillars on my forehead! *sigh* I even googled to see if someone made hair extensions to correct "bang remorse", but alas....now I have to wait it out. It'll grow, right? At least it's hat weather :)

On a completely different note - I signed up today for the Flirty Apron Swap! It should be great fun and I don't have anything else to do right now anyways....:)

It's Scraptastic!

 If you do any kind of Scrapbooking at all you've probably heard of Becky Higgins. A few years back she came up with a system of scrapping called Project 365 or now it's called Project Life. Her 365 kits became a "must have" for busy scrappers and even those who didn't really want to scrapbook in the traditional way. With her system, you just take a photo or more each day, slide them into divided sleeves in a scrapbook, add a journaling card and BAM...you're done. And at the end of the year, you have a pretty good look at your daily life for that year. Well her kits sold out and there was no way to get any more. So my daughter and I decided that we would make our own. I love the way they came out, but the only problem was that they took a long time to do. Kinda defeats the purpose :) But I'm still glad I did it.

This year, right after Christmas I went on Amazon (they are handling orders for Becky Higgins Project Life) and found that the new kits were available! The entire kit was $52.99 which is cheaper than what I paid for my binder and all the pages and stuff I used on my version!  So I quickly ordered mine and it came yesterday! I looked today and they are all sold out again. You could always buy the binders and the photo sleeves separately and make your own or maybe they'll have more available soon. Turquoise Binder Amber Binder Ring Photo Sleeve Protectors 12-Inch-by-12-Inch, 10-Pack, Multi Pack As for me....... I'm just so excited to get started! I'll be turning 50 this year and welcoming 2 new grandchildren, so it's a neat time for me to have this special year in one binder.  No more taking an hour or so to decide on what background paper I want to use! I even read where one woman is leaving hers out on the kitchen table so that the hubby and the kids can write on the journal cards and be a part of the project too. I love that! I'm going to ask my kids and grandkids to contribute too. I can't wait to see how it all turns out by the end of the year!