Jewelry From the Past Few Months

Picture jasper with sterling silver clasps












Sterling silver with amethyst Swarovski crystals










African jade with sterling silver clasps








Aquamarine with sterling silver accents and clasp








Green aventurine with sterling silver bead caps and clasp

Embroidery From the Past Few Months

Kitchen towels for my brother-in-law










My brother-in-law wearing his apron











Pillow for my sister-in-law










Quilt for my niece











Pillowcases for my niece











Quilt for a friend's little boy

Forget Plan B

I'm on Plan S. We've been "planning" to build a house for 7 years now. I was really hoping this would be the year. I've looked at hundreds of plans, measured rooms and counters in friends' and family's homes, drawn and redrawn plans. I'm working on Plan S. I've scrapped lots of plans, though, so it's probably more like Plan AG (having already been through the alphabet once). I thought I finally had The Plan. Hubby even cut a bunch of stakes and marked the corners of the house and rooms out in the yard so we could walk around and get a feel for the house. That's when we realized the dining area is too small and that it would be difficult to get large pieces of furniture up the stairs. Grrr! So it's back to the drawing board. I've been working on plans all day and I've got a couple more for him to look at when he gets home. Keep your fingers crossed!

Giveaway from Cap Creations

Cap Creations is giving away a $40 gift card. I found out about it at Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House. Click here to find out how to enter.

Embroidered Pillows

Here are some pillows I embroidered for my sister and her husband for their birthdays. I hope they don't see this before I mail them off!

$25 Gift Certificate Giveaway

Embroitique.com is giving away a $25 gift certificate. They have some beautiful fonts and font frames. Click here to enter.

Projects of Late

This mama's hands have been busy! It's probably more accurate to say this mama's machines have been busy. I've been working on some gifts for my friends and for my sister's friends. I'll be adding more pictures as I finish other projects.

Roses - these turned out very nice.









Seashells









Tea Set









Sunflowers













Bluebirds - I love the blue and white! Makes me think of Blue Willow dishes.












You may have to click on the picture to see the little ladybug on each hat. I was dying to try out this font so I bought these and embroidered them for some special little girls. Olivia chose red for herself. She got a green ladybug so it would show up against the red.




Ladybugs here, too.













Very pretty blue and white interior fabric. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but it's got flowers and butterflies.







I had a hard time deciding what color thread to use for this.








This is for wearing under the button-up shirt above.

Econobum One Size Cloth Diaper Kit Giveaway

Visit this website to enter for a chance to win. You must enter by Friday, Nov. 6, at 9:00 am CST.

Smartipants One Size Pocket Diaper Giveaway

Enter by October 30, 9:00 am CST, to win 3 Smartipants one size pocket diapers. Click here for details.

More Embroidery Samples

Olivia and I went to a tea party with some friends. I made bags for the girls and added Karen's name and some pretty fabric to a purchased bag.





Kitchen towel for a friend









Here's a bag I recently finished.












Close-up of the embroidery

Pearl Paradise Akoya Pearl Necklace Giveaway

Click here for details on how to enter. Pearl Paradise is giving away a 7.0-7.5mm Akoya pearl necklace.

School is (almost) in session!

We're about to embark on our homeschooling journey! I was thinking about waiting until next year and starting Olivia with 1st grade, but she said she wants to start kindergarten. We'll have our first day of school when Joe starts, which will be Monday. I plan to follow his calendar. I've been brainstorming and making lists of activities we can do. I found some recipes for play-dough, finger paints, and other good stuff. We'll work on writing (some letters need a little attention). We'll also work with numbers. She can count pretty high but doesn't recognize numbers after 10. I also want her to learn the coins. She's been wanting to buy things (she saw a Tinkerbell kite somewhere), so I'd like to take her to the store, let her pick something, pay for it - let her experience the whole thing.

Those are a few ideas I've had. She's reading a little - I think she's doing pretty well for her age. Today she was reading in her coloring book. She got stuck on "triceratops" but otherwise did well!

Breastfeeding Awareness Month

August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month and August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week. Baby Blues has always been an advocate of breastfeeding. Here is a compilation of breastfeeding strips. These are hilarious! At least I thought so.

Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries

Make that "several bowls" full of cherries. This mama's hands look terrible. They look like they belong to a mechanic. Kroger had cherries for $0.99 per pound. I think I bought about 10 pounds of cherries Monday. Then I sent Joe by to get another 8 pounds or so Tuesday. It seems all I've been doing for the past 2 days is pitting cherries. We've eaten quite a few and I made some jam. I ended up with 11 or 12 pints. I've still got a few bags of cherries in the fridge. I think next will be a pie.

Samples of my Embroidery

I've been playing around with my new embroidery machine. Here are some of the things I've done. The butterfly was my first attempt. I put it on an old washrag.





Mama wanted A's put on her pillow cases. I did 3 sets.








I made my brother-in-law some candy for his birthday and used this kitchen towel for wrapping paper. This was tricky because I had to do one line at a time. I'm gonna play with some free software that will, hopefully, let me program several lines at once.



I also put his name on a bath towel...








...and some flowers on a hand towel and wash rag. As it turned out, the flowers didn't show up too well against the brown towels.






The other day I bought some new designs that I want to use for baby quilts. I've started embroidering one - I'll be doing a little at a time as I have a few spare moments - and I'll post pictures when I finish. I plan to offer them for sale on Etsy.

Pearls!

Yesterday I added some jewelry to my shop, including some pearls. Here are a couple of samples. I was working on a pearl bracelet when my pearl reamer broke, so I've gotta order a new one. When it arrives I can finish the bracelet, make some more earrings, and make another strand of pearls. In the meantime I'll be working on other items. Click here to see what else I added.

A Few Pictures

Jesse is helping Daddy fix the vacuum.











Olivia is filling up her wading pool.











Jesse is looking out the window.











Olivia has been playing in the sand pile.

FuzziBunz Giveaway!

Win three FuzziBunz cloth diapers. See Two of a Kind for details on how to enter.

Jesse's 1st Birthday

Today is Jesse's 1st birthday. My little baby isn't so little anymore. We had his party on Saturday. I'll add pictures later - I've gotta get the ones two other people took. I've also got to reduce some that were taken with my camera. Here's one of the birthday boy I took this morning. He's such a handsome fella!

Wet Bag Giveaway

Soft Cloth Bunz is giving away two Planet Wise wet bags. Click here for details on how to enter.