Out in the yard

Nothing too crafty going on around here!  We've been spending a lot of time working outside, enjoying the beautiful weather.  Luckily I have my #1 helper with me!

The one thing that grows the best in my yard is mint.  Don't you love the little tags?  Head here if you would like some for yourself! 

This probably seems really weird, but this is the first few shovels of our very own compost!  Isn't it beautiful?  We live in the land of hard sticky clay soil.  It begs for a little compost mixed in every year.  We started our compost bin several years ago, but never took any out until now.  Aside from a half decomposed avocado shell, it looked great!!

Hope you all have great plans for the long weekend.  Our schedule is pretty full, but I'm hoping to fit in a lot of relaxing!  Stay safe!

One Trick Pony

It seems my creativity is limited these days to zippered pouches.  Here are four more I made for teacher gifts for the last day of preschool.  They are all the same - lemon print with small sunscreens inside.  I'm sure teachers always get the same stuff every year, but I figure who can't use another zippered bag?  Sydney was excited to hand them out and they were well recieved. 

Oops!  Sorry for the long break.  Here's what I've been up to...

Making cards for thank you's, birthdays, mother's day and graduations.  This seems to be the only picture I took though!

A very fun weekend of shopping and eating with the girls!  This was only the first day!

Enjoying the first of many beatiful veggies from our CSA.

Enjoying the beautiful weather with my girl.

Eating way too much ice cream.  I'm pregnant during the summer, what do you expect? :)

Be back soon!

Raffle Starts Today!!

Head over to the Healing Maggie Grace to enter the raffle today.  Among the fabulous prizes is a book I am published in, Pretty Little Presents!  Can't wait to see who wins (secretly crossing my fingers it's me!)

my small part

A heartbreaking story with a miraculous ending.  While praying for my dear friend Teresa, I've been working on this picnic quilt to donate to the Healing Maggie Grace Raffle that some sweet ladies have put together.   

Please visit the Healing Maggie Grace blog frequently and if you can please buy a ticket or two or three to help Teresa as she continues to heal.  Isn't this what is so amazing about our blog community?  Coming together to help someone we call friend, even though we've never met.  I love it!

Multiplying Pouches

I seem to have an overabundance of zippers.  Odd, I know.  I can't pass them up when I see them at thrift stores or garage sales.  I remember making a fleece vest for Sydney when she was a baby.  I was so proud of myself and how inexpensively I had produced a wearable garment.  Until I went  to buy the 7" seperating zipper the pattern called for!  So now in my quest to never buy a zipper retail ever again, I snatch them up second hand every chance I get.  My last score was a gallon size ziploc full for $2.  How could I pass that up? :)

Anyway, all that to say that I had too many zippers and needed to use some up.  Hence the multiplying pouches.

I've made a few to give away for prizes at our knitting group...

And a few for myself to use (the other one is already in my bag!)...

And three for baby use someday (a diaper & travel wipes container fit in here)...

And there will probably be more.  I've learned these are much faster to make it you do several at a time.  With all this practice zippers hardly even seem scary anymore! 

Wedding Quilt

Some close friends of ours got married in March.  Do you ever struggle with gift giving at weddings?  Should you stick to the registery, give something personal, or just give up and stick some cash in a card??  I decided that since we were close friends I could forgo the registry list and do something personal.  Plus both the bride and the groom are in their 30's and well established, so I wasn't worried that they desperately needed that cake pan I was going to buy them.  So I made them a quilt!

(Sorry in advance for the bad photos...this was just moments before I shoved it in a box and walked out the door to the wedding!)

The design was inspired by about 10 different quilts I found on flickr.  I knew it needed to be modern, and I wanted the blue/brown combo somehow.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and they liked it too!  That's always the scary part, isn't it?

My sister was kind enough to quilt this for me on her quilting frame.  And she even hand sewed the binding for me!  She did an amazing job - I love the free form swirls.

So, did I make this all with stuff I had on hand, saving me tons of money on a gift?  Well, no.  But I'm pretty sure I still spent less than I would have on a store-bought gift and hopefully they will enjoy it much longer than that cake pan.