Ta-Da

We went from this broken down cabinet that we had to redo, with gorilla glue and some brackets to keep it together to this.

All set up and ready to go. I did sew a few pieces of fabric together so I could say that I did sew in the barn already. After we finished the cabinet today I had Donny drill a hole in the top of it so I could run my foot cord down through the top because it wasn't long enough to come out to where I needed it to sew if I run it down the back. Now it goes down the middle and I can have it come out as far as I want it to. I might go back out there later tonight.

This is the newest member of our family. Mom's new puppy. He is pretty cute.

Moving In

It started yesterday when I loaded up the kids with stuff and sent them to the barn. Yep we were moving in this week end. This mess is mostly in the barn. I have put some fabric and other things away so we could move in more. Nick did more today. Butch emptied my beanie baby bookcase so it could be moved out there. Then the handyman was coming over to fasten cabinets to the wall. After Shawn and the handyman moved the bookcase out to the barn I was out there with Donny to show him where I wanted them fastened in I looked out the window in time to see Shawn and his girlfriend, Jamie moving my sewing machine cabinet across the deck. And then it happened...............................my cabinet fell apart! After they picked up the pieces and carried them into the barn. Donny was trying to figure out a way it could be put back together. We think he got it with a little luck and a lot of gorilla glue. I will know tomorrow. Two hours later I found out that Jamie had Shawn sitting on top of it so she could give him a ride which probably would have worked better if they would have unlocked the castors so they could have rolled across the floor But no they didn't so she just drug it which pulled all of the fasteners out of the wood. It kind of P--sed me off because the cabinet is not that old. True I didn't pay that much for it but I don't want to replace it yet. I wanted to sew tonight but that will have to wait till tomorrow now.

More Barn News

Nick and the 2 kids from Hell went out to the barn tonight to help me put the last cabinet together. Big mistake!!! We did get the cabinet together but I had to send the 2 little ones back in. I did not want to get my head bashed in with my hammer or my eye put out with a screw driver. Nick did help me with it and he did a lot. My big board ironing board will go to the right of this one. My uncle Henry made my big board for me. I want to have a stand of some kind built for it so I can put my fridge under it. Gotta keep the cans of Coke cold some how. {or beer}

It looks good where it is at and yes I can get into the big cabinet. My butt still fits between them. These two cabinets add lots more room for the stash. I think I will have to paint the insides because it is bare wood but that can wait for warm weather.

Mom got me the three drawer units for christmas 2 years ago and they fit in there very nicely. I will use them for some smaller things like velcro, elastic and that kind of stuff.

My new cutting mat fit on top and leaves me room to stack my parts when I cut them out. The only thing with this cabinet is that when you lean on the front of it, it tips forward so I have to have the handy man come and attach it to the wall. I wonder how long it will take him to get that done. I have to do something with the big crack in between the doors too.

Isn't this the cutest little night light you ever saw? One of my secret sisters got it for me and I saved it just for the barn. The kids and I am going to start moving some things in tomorrow and I hope I can get some son help to move my sewing machine cabinet. I don't think that the kids can help with that. It is way too heavy for them. They can carry books and fabric though.

What A Great Deal

Can you believe this? My mom was shopping at Wal-Mart the other day when she found 2 of these cutting mats on the bottom shelf under a bunch of other stuff. They were marked down to $13.00 half price. She didn't buy them! She was telling me about them and said that they looked like some one had walked all over them and asked me how you could clean them. I told her you could use a dishrag with soapy water and if it didn't come off with that it probably wouldn't come off on the fabric anyway and what did you mean you didn't buy them? Well she went back on Sunday and they were still there, this time she bought them. They came clean with soapy water so now we both have a new cutting mat[she gave me one as an early birthday present] They are 22"x 36". It will fit on the top of the cabinet that I bought to use as my cutting table for in the barn. I needed a new mat cause I have my old one almost cut in half. I have had it a long time I like these ones that are pink and yellow because it is easier for me to see on when I cut.

I am almost ready for the retreat. I did some shopping today and I still have a little to do but I have to figure out what else to buy. I plan on getting some of the things sorted out tomorrow and the rest on Thursday.

Where does the time go? I always have good intentions of doing my blog every couple of days and even though I am not doing much I never seem to have time to do it. Maybe its all of the books that Aunt Mary gave me to read or the quilt sample I am working on for the guilds retreat. Maybe I am just lazy and don't do it because then I would have to sign in. I don't have a clue! So anyway I have all the books read and the sample almost done, I only have to put the sashing on the sides yet but I made a mistake and cut the parts a 1/2" too small so I had to rethink what I was doing. It just made me sew more parts together before I cut them to lenth. It still works out the same. I spent a whole week playing with a 50lbs of sand. I can't say what I made yet as it is a suprise for all of the retreaters. I think they are cute and I hope they do too. Tomorrow Butch and I am going with my stepdaughter to see Brittany at school. It is our first time to visit her. I hope I remember to wear my other coat. I don't think I want to visit Ohio State with a big M on my coat. We have most of the gifts bought for the retreat but not done up yet, good thing I have another week before it. I can't wait cause it is a lot of fun.

Leapster Bags

Wow it only took me 1 year and 2 months to get these done. Can we say a little slow? We got the kids leapsters 2 christmas's ago and I was going to make these bags for them to keep them in along with their games. Well sometime after christmas I got Nick's done and wasn't exactly happy with the way it turned out and put off doing the other 3. I got bored 2 weeks ago and decided to finish them. The only thing I did different was I squared the bottom corners and I liked them better. Gabby really liked hers and put her leapster in it right away. I put a pocket on the front with a velcro flap for things they don't want to lose.

The back of the bags have pockets for the games. I made them all different so the boys couldn't fight over them. Nick has since outgrown his leapster and saved his money and bought a Nintendo DS so he can use his bag for that.

Next oldest of the littles is Ryan. We went to his pinewood derby last saturday and his car won 1st place in his age group and 2nd place over all the kids. Way to go Ryan.

After the pinewood derby we went to a pizza house for his birthday party. Ryan is 8 now. It doesn't seem like he should be that old yet because he is so little. He is a lot smaller that Nick.

Looks like an old fashioned hay stack but it is a stack of fabric shavings where I squared up some triangle squares. 296 of them I thought I would never get them done. When I cut my squares from the last post I cut them 4" instead of the 3 7/8 that the pattern said to because I don't like to cut the odd sizes. The only problem with that is then you have to square the up or they won't fit. I did get them all trimmed and I also got the sample blocks done. I really like how they turned out. I hope every one at the retreat likes them. I can't show them yet because the retreat is a mistry. I am now working on the next step and it is going well. I am liking this quilt more and more as I work on it. I can't wait to see every ones fabric choices and how their quilts turn out and I hope they like what we picked for this year. I spent part of yesterday ordering some of the goodies that we get for all of the ladies that go to the retreat and I think that the gifts are going to be good ones. We still have some to order and to pick up but I will do that next week.
Today is Butch's birthday and the littles and I had a small party for him. [ we sang happy birthday to him and had cake and ice cream] I haven't gotten his gift yet. He wants a new movie so I will let him pick that out.

Getting ready for our retreat

Here it is, all of the parts for our retreat quilt. These are the parts for the whole quilt top which is around 76"x76". I am using civil war repo's. I know that some of the others are using fabric from their stash and that is what I was going to do but I decided to treat myself to these fabrics because I have wanted a civil war quilt for a long time. Now I am getting one all I have to do is get it done. I still have to do my presew but that is not hard. None of this quilt is hard but I'm sorry I can't tell you what it is yet, it is a mystry quilt. We do this every year and everyones quilt turns out different and they are always very pretty. I can't wait!

My step mother found these pictures of me in my dads dresser when she went through his things and gave them to me. This one is from my Junior year. I look a lot different now.

This one is from third grade. I used to like mom to put my hair in a bun.

This is from 2nd grade. This used to be one of my favorite dresses. There was one other picture but that is one that I will not show on my blog. No I won't. I have no idea why these pictures were there and not others. I can't ask dad he won't tell me anymore. The lost albums were found at grandma's house when we cleaned it out. They have been lost since dad took them from mom after they divorced and we didn't know where they were till then. They were all of the pictures from when we were little. [a long time ago] We also found the albums from dads second wife and some from the third one too.