two more seconds!

Summer fun

2009-07-14T08:29:00.005-06:00

Taking a quick break from all the summer fun we're having with Darci and her family to post a quick picture .... it's great fun to have them here and I feel like we haven't missed a day apart from each other - even though it's been almost 2 years since we lived right down the street from them. Gwen and Mason are getting together fabulously. Bees games, swimming, backyard BBQ's, fabric shopping ... we're cramming in the fun every day and will be so sad to see them leave again!

Guess the Babys Name Game, Round 2

2009-07-01T12:17:00.003-06:00

As most all of you know Marc and I are having a 2nd baby, another boy, on August 24th, 2009. Some of you remember with Mason we had a "Guess the Babys Name Game" where we sent out clues in order to make a game out of guessing his name. Marc and I have decided on a name for Baby #2 and are again keeping the name top-secret - except for these clues we'll send out weekly for these last 8 or so weeks of the pregnancy.

If you weren't around for the first round or need a refresher on what Masons clues were - here's the run down of Round 1 (the pictures we sent out along with the tie-in they had with Masons name):

Clue #1 - pyramids were built by the free masons.

Clue #2 - George Mason was from Virginia, and George Mason University is there

Clue #3 - the building is city hall of Mason, Ohio

Clue #4a - a strand of DNA to clue you into that ...

Clue #4b - these coding proteins spelled Mason Val Singleton

Clue #5 - these coordinates are to the Mason Crater on the moon

Clue #6 - Fenway Park has a W.B. Mason sign (though not in this picture ;) & the stats are for a baseball player named Mason from the 1800s

See how easy that is!!? ;)

If you want in on this round - leave a comment or otherwise send me your email address so I can put you on the official email list. I'll send you out the first email with the rules and the run down of how it all works.

And now for the first clue for Round 2:

Round 2 also has it's own Flickr set you can find here to see all the clues as they are released.

Good luck!

Fun Summer Morning!

2009-06-30T14:06:00.005-06:00

Summer is just flying by and we're trying to get out an enjoy it as much as we can ... despite being 7.5 months pregnant and the weather starting to get super hot. :) Less than 2 months left until the baby comes though so we'd better enjoy these last 1-child days.

We have an awesome park in our neighborhood that is right next to the lake - it's got great climbing toys and lots of soft sand to play in. Mason feels right at home at the beach when we go there.

We went today with my 2 friends and their 3 kids - Mason's best buds. It is so fun to have such great Mama's that are my best friends and have them have such awesome kids that are Mason's age, too. It works out so well. I love our little playgroup.

We played in the sand with all the sand toys and spent some time swinging and going on the slide and climbing the spiderweb. And running across the "plank" of the "ship" as Mason likes to call it.

And this is how I know that it's time to put the camera away, or at least stop trying to get any photos where he's looking at me - the Blank Stare.

We went to the pizza buffet after and then next door to our favorite shaved ice place for a treat - what a fun morning!

Yay for summer!

May Quilting Bee Blocks

2009-06-13T13:41:00.003-06:00

May was a big month for the 3 Quilting Bees I am in ... each bee had 2 blocks due, so that was SIX block I needed to make. I hate being behind but I'm so glad that all six of them are done and going in the mail on Monday!

It's an interesting thing making a block for someone else ... with the fabric that someone else has chosen ... you never exactly know if they're going to like it or not or what their tastes are or if there's a particular thing that they just HATE. I guess signing up for a quilting bee you kind of know that - and that's what makes it fun is getting a ton of different perspectives on the same general idea.

So the blocks I made for the month of May were:

For the Pieced Together Quilting Bee:

Allison's drunkard's path block:

Colleen's right angels & strippy squares block: (my favorite of the month)

For the Cottage Quilting Bee:

Carolyn's tree block:

Ashley Ann's rainbow scrappy block:

and for Sew Connected 3:

Quayandco's scrappy log cabin block:

Sunnynole's owl block:

You can click on any of the blocks for more details on each of them -- I had a great time making blocks this month - there was some terrific fabrics sent out!

Also for anyone reading this that may be in a quilting bee -- I started a new group on Flickr specifically for Quilting Bee Blocks - that is, any block that you make for someone else from fabric that they send you. If you're in a quilting bee right now please join our group and add pictures of all the great blocks you've made. We've got a great collection of blocks so far and also a master list of all the different quilting bees that are out there right now - there are lots of them! If you aren't in a bee yet, it's also a great place to post that you might be interested in joining one and seeing what bees are going to be starting up soon.

Spring is fun!

2009-06-01T09:46:00.003-06:00

I've been slacking on posting about day-to-day stuff here, which really is what this blog started out to be. As one of my good friends says - she blogs for selfish reasons, to have a record of her family and kids and all the fun things they do. I usually am pretty good about uploading my iPhone pictures to my Flickr (hello emailing straight from the phone to Flickr easy-peasy!) but then the pictures just sit there and I NEVER seem to get the pictures from my hard drive over here anymore. I figured it was time for a big post catching up with some of the fun stuff we've been doing in May. (And is it already June?!)

Riding bikes:

Going to 31 cent ice cream night:

We got season tickets to the Bees (minor league baseball team for the Angels) and have been going to lots of baseball games. Marc takes Mason a lot just the 2 of them. Their favorite way to get there is the Trax (light rail). Mason LOVES riding the train.

Going to the library.

Eating out when it's too hot to cook:

Having popsicles or ice cream on the front porch every day after naptime.

Summer rainstorms with rainbows after:

Backyard bbq's with cousins:

Swinging on a big-boy swing for the first time:

Eating out in our backyard almost every night:

This was a big one - going bowling for the first time! (More about that later)

Getting a new t-ball stand, reading the instructions to Daddy:

Going to the quilt store with Mama (not his favorite errand):

Relaxing in the pool:

Going to the baseball game with friends:

Last chance!

2009-05-31T19:59:00.002-06:00

My website's host was having problems today so Plum Pear Apple was only available intermittently. Because of this I'm extending the giveaway to be open through tomorrow night. (Open through June 1st). Go leave a comment for a chance to win a cape!

Sunday Stash: LQS Edition

2009-05-31T14:02:00.004-06:00

Went to one of my local quilt stores this week and they happened to be having something going on when we were there --- a bunch of demonstrations, sales, giveaways ... it was great. I got a few charm packs from a 30's line that I can't remember the name of ... the 2 charm packs are the same line, but they're shop-made so they didn't have the name of the line printed on them. But it's fabric that I've wanted to buy ... and since they had a demonstration of an easy charm pack quilt along with free quilt instructions - seemed like the perfect time to buy it. I also got a ton of that turquoise and orange fabric because it was on sale for 3.00 a yard. The turquoise charger came from a different store but it was also on sale and I wanted it for my sewing room.

New Capes + Giveaway Day!

2009-05-27T07:04:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted anything about capes in awhile ... yup ... still doing that. It's going great still. It's almost been a year since I officially opened Plum Pear Apple -- who would have thought I'd still be doing it a year later and have made almost 500 capes?! It's insane!

Go visit my Superhero Capes shop at Plum Pear Apple for your chance to win! Or read more about Giveaway Day below.

One of my favorite sewing websites is the shop and blog Sew, Mama, Sew. They had an International Giveaway Day in the fall a few months ago where they invited people to do a giveaway on their different sites and then Sew, Mama, Sew compiled a giant central list that you could surf through and enter different giveaways while discovering tons of new great blogs. It was fun and a huge success, so they decided to do another one. I joined in this round and am taking the opportunity to giveaway a cape (of course!) as well as debut my new product - Ready-to-Ship capes.

Most of my buisness will still be custom capes, but I'm going to try out these premade capes to see if anyone is interested in buying something that can be shipped to them right away, instead of having to wait for a custom cape that can take over 2 weeks depending on my production time right then. These premade capes are great for me, too, because I can make a whole boatload of them when orders are slow to have in inventory, and then just sell them as I go.

A few sneak peeks of what the Ready-to-Ship capes will be:

They're still made by me with the same high level of workmanship, but they don't come with an initial on them & you don't get to customize the different fabrics and colors.

Go visit my blog at Plum Pear Apple for your chance to win one of these capes, and then go visit the Sew, Mama, Sew blog for a list of hundreds of other giveaways!

Fabric found.

2009-05-22T14:35:00.002-06:00

So happy I finally found some of this today at IKEA:

So I can make something incredibly cool like this:

Or this:

Love them! And so easy to make! I've got tons of friends that are pregnant or just had kids - so this may be my go-to baby gift for the next few months. Apologies if you're one of my pregnant/just had kids friends for spoiling the surprise. They're just so dang cute!

Oh It Is Only A Novel - the return!

2009-05-14T19:37:00.002-06:00

Did you know that my best friend Darci and I have an online book club? If you're new to my blog than you probably didn't, since after the crazy holiday season and then both of us getting pregnant we kind of fell out of our usual 2-book-a-month pick and review routine. But this month we're back with a joint book pick - a book that looks to be really, really good (better than Twilight? Some are saying .... )

Come join us over at Oh, It Is Only A Novel and see what we picked, read it with us this month, and then come back to discuss it!

Doll Quilt Swap

2009-05-04T09:37:00.004-06:00

On Flickr there are tons of swaps that happen each and every month ... crafty swaps, fabric swaps, quilting swaps .... I've been watching the Doll Quilt Swap off and on for a few months now and finally decided to join in this round (Round 6!).

Basically you sign up and are assigned a random partner. The best part is that you keep your partner secret so no one knows who is making a quilt for them! You are able to specify a few of your quilting likes & dislikes so your partner has something to go on. It's so fun to watch the group pool once the pictures start rolling in to try to guess which quilt is being made for you!

I was really lucky for my first time participating in that I received an AWESOME quilt from Kerri at MayaEliseBoutique. She did an AMAZING job putting it together and ended up making something that I just love. I actually had seen it in the group pool and even commented on it how much I loved it. Little did I know that it was going to be coming home to me. I literally squealed when I opened up the mail a few weeks ago to find it in an envelope with a return address I didn't recognize!

Isn't it so pretty? It's now hanging up in my sewing room so I can look at it and enjoy it every day.

She made the cutest label for it ... she printed on material through her home printer a little label she had made in Photoshop! It's so cute!

This is the quilt that I made for my partner. They have yet to receive it in the mail so I can't spoil who it is yet! I had been seeing and loving those darling fabric buntings everywhere so that's what I was inspired by. I really like the way it turned out and I hope she does too.

I used cute cute fabric from the line Bubblegum Basics. It's very bright and springy - I think! Here is what the back looked like:

I had such a fun time with this swap and can't wait to participate in another one!

Happy May Day!

2009-05-01T13:43:00.004-06:00

Who knew May 1st - aka May Day - would be such a fun day? First I got a text this morning saying to peek out on my front porch -- so Mason opened the door to find this darling little potted pansy sitting on our stoop - from his cute friend Addy. Then I just went out to get the mail to practically trip over this darling tin filled with surprises for Mason and yummy treats for me - some of which have already made themselves to my belly (I'm looking at you, peanut m&m's!) All from sweetheart Aubrey. Thanks you guys!

I can totally get on board celebrating this holiday - May is really the beginning of spring in my mind and then it's summer! I have a feeling it's going to be a great one this year! :)

Some Handmade Gifts

2009-04-23T09:38:00.005-06:00

I started making Darci's daughter a doll blanket for her Christmas gift ... then it got moved back to a belated Christmas gift ... then it finally made it to her for a birthday gift ... hey, it was on time for her birthday! And I also made a doll to go with the quilt.

I used the Black Apple Doll Pattern found on Martha Stewart. I'll tell you - that is one fidgety pattern. If I had to do it again (which I may never) then I'll enlarge the pattern a LOT more to make it easier to fit all the appendages in when you have to stuff everything inside to sew her closed. Her arms and legs were so frustrating to attach, consequently her legs are a little off centered and her arms hang a little too low. Oh well, hopefully Gwenie won't mind!

I used felt for her hair and added pigtails even though the pattern didn't call for them - Gwen always is wearing pigtails. :) I embroidered her face on and then gave her little bows in her hair that matched her leggings.

The quilt was lots easier in comparison and was fun to put together - because I used a bunch of 2" scraps and made it a little rainbow-y.

On the back of the quilt I used long strips and made another rainbow:

And then bound it in some rainbow-y fabric that matched pretty well with all the colors. There was also a little pillow with matching pillowcase, you can see her resting her sweet head on the pillow here, all tucked in with her quilt.

It was also Darci's birthday recently (um, in January) and I made her a few quick little things to throw into Gwen's package.

A little stuffed owl, a felt needle book & a mini little fabric basket filled with fabric! Thanks for letting me steal that last picture off your Flickr, Darc!

Another Sewing Update

2009-04-22T14:37:00.002-06:00

The past few weeks have been sewing, sewing and more sewing. Partly because I'm crazy and got myself into three different sewing bees, a charity project and a quilt swap - and partly because I am participating in the Oh Sweet Sadie! Art and Gift Show this weekend in my neighborhood.

I'm so excited to be doing Oh Sweet Sadie! -- Utah has a ton of boutiques and art shows but this one really is one of the best. This weekend it's in Daybreak in the Destination Model Homes. If you are local you should come by! It's on Friday from 9:30 am - 7pm and Saturday from 9:30 am - 5pm. They've got awesome vendors with lots of great crafts, clothes, home dec items and more. They've even got a playroom for the kids! You can look at their blog for more info and directions.

The month of April was my month for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee. That meant that I went and bought enough fabric for a quilt, and sent it out to the other 17 people in the group. They are all making me great quilt blocks and mailing them back to me so that I can finish them all into a quilt. I choose mostly red and yellow prints with a little blue mixed in.

It's been so fun getting blocks back already from everyone - I can't wait to get this quilt made!

Here's a few of the quilt blocks I've been making for everyone else over the past couple of months.

For Katie:

For Viv:

For Stephanie:

For Sew-Do-I:

And for Sara:

That last block is called a Spiderweb block and it was SO challenging for me. It was my first experience with paper piecing, which is basically where you sew your material onto a template that is printed onto a piece of paper. It was easy once I got the hang of it but made me really nervous, especially since I was doing it for someone else. Darci and I were sewing ours together on speaker phone the whole time, going step by step so that we could understand it better together! It worked out great!

Check out how the whole quilt is going to look once Sara gets all the blocks from everyone. It's going to be so neat!

Lastly, the block that I made for Project Improv. You can read more about this awesome charity project at Jacquies blog.

I choose the red/aqua color scheme to make a block to donate to the project. I love these 2 colors together and can't wait to see it in the finished quilt that is going to be donated.

Catching up

2009-04-20T12:02:00.005-06:00

When I go for so long without blogging I just keep putting it off and putting it off and just never know what to come here and write? Do I try to catch up on all the stuff I missed? Do I try to do separate posts on everything or one big post? Do I just start over and go from here on out? Who knows, I still don't have it figured out. But I wanted to record a few random things we've been doing lately ... I haven't gotten any pictures off my camera in about a month so most of these pics are crappy iPhone pictures ... it's just too convenient that I can snap a pic on there and immediately email it to my Flickr account!

Easter: I made Mason a tie because he has no dress up clothes. It turned out pretty cute but next time I make one (if there is a next time) I'll enlarge the pattern because it shrunk up a lot and was almost impossible to get over his head.

I made Mason's little friends some felt carrots and eggs for a little Easter surprise. Actually we had them over to stuff the carrots themselves - so cute. Then I sewed them up and put the tops on and stuffed the little eggs with some goodies.

I made the pattern for the carrots up on my own (though there are plenty online available) but the eggs I used a tutorial found here.

I made both things completely with my huge bucket of felt scraps, as you can see here:

I knew keeping all those scraps would come in handy! Now what to do with the other 3 garbage bags full of scraps ...

We also had a little neighborhood Easter Egg hunt for just 30 or so of the kids around here. Mason had a blast running around the park and getting eggs into his basket!

Also opening every egg as he found it to see if the candy inside was worth eating right then (Reeses peanut butter eggs, Hersheys kisses) or saving for later (Smarties, jellybeans).

"Mason, is there any candy in your mouth!!?" *swallowing* "No, Mama!"

I've also been super busy with capes, sewing, and my online quilting bees and swaps. This is my month for one of the bees I'm in (which means I sent out fabric to 20 people, who are now making and sending me back quilt blocks) which is super fun and exciting to get the mail everyday. It's going to be a great quilt! But that is a post in and of itself, so that one will come soon.

A little catch up feels good!

Sunday Stash: Orange & Turquoise Edition

2009-03-29T10:06:00.003-06:00

This past week we went on a road trip to Arizona ... there is nothing Marc and I like more than to get in the car with a vague idea of where we are going and a map and a week or so away from life to just go somewhere ... not a lot of people like doing this or can stand long amounts of time in the car - but we love it. It's interesting and exciting and we always discover little hidden places and have adventures and tons of fun. I'll do a real post about the trip in a day or two but today it's all about the FABRIC!

One of the places we took a side trip to was Sedona, Arizona. We managed to find both an amazing hidden restaurant (aptly named The Hideaway) and a not-so-hidden but amazing fabric shop! The Quilters Store Sedona was so cool! The women there were kind and very interested in me - a young(ish) girl coming from Salt Lake who wanted to make a stop at their quilt shop on her vacation with her husband and toddler waiting out in the parking lot. I could have spent lots more time there, but I was starving and just wanted to take a quick peek.

It was a very organized store with lots of selection. They had fat quarters of most of their fabrics - which I love because I don't have to wait in line to get fabric cut.

I've been wanting to see the new line "Fresh" ever since my BFF Darci showed it to me online the other day -- and I was so happy to see that they had it! I was drawn to it even before I knew what it was because of the bright oranges, greens and turquoises ... and the prints are so pretty. This line looks 1000 x's better in person - it just doesn't do it justice online.

I got a big selection of the greens and oranges and turquoises and blues ... but today for Sunday Stash I'm just showcasing orange & turquoise - because this is the beginning of a new quilt I have in the works for Baby #2.

Fresh is the 3 prints on the left (the circle/diamond print is my new favorite!) then there is a Soiree print and a Katie Jump Rope print. Can't wait to get more colors and prints for this quilt!

Diminished: week of mornings day 7

2009-03-16T10:09:00.001-06:00

The state of the pantry is dismal. A reminder that it's Monday, and I have tons to do this week. Starting with going grocery shopping so that we have enough food to last us until next week when we go out of town.

no, this: week of mornings day 6

2009-03-15T10:05:00.003-06:00

I was trying to get a picture today of that stack of mail there in the background ... to say that I was excited that Marc was going to take Mason today to breakfast like he does every Sunday morning and then to get the oil changed in my car and run some other little errands ... so that I would have a few hours of uninterrupted time to work on my quilting bee blocks (that's what's in the envelopes) so I could get them all mailed out this week since we're leaving on vacation a week from today.

BUT ....

I bought Mason these little craft pom-poms the other day so he could have something to play with while he's "helping" me in my sewing room - something that were all his and that I didn't have to be constantly worrying whether he'd ruin or not or stick himself with a pin or play with the rotary cutter or something. He LOVES them and carries his little sack for them around with him all the time now.

So when he saw me setting up my envelopes to take a picture this morning, he dumped out his pom poms in front of me and said "no, this".

Ok then, I guess you're getting a picture of pom-poms.

chores: week of mornings day 5

2009-03-14T10:26:00.003-06:00

Saturday mornings are chores day. I clean a different room in my house every day but there is just something about waking up on a Saturday morning and giving the house a good once-over that is satisfying.

That Method cucumber all surface spray is my FAVORITE. I love the way it smells and cleans. I use it on everything: countertops, bathrooms, walls, floors, furniture. Now everything smells cucumbery. Yum.

week of mornings: day 4

2009-03-13T09:08:00.001-06:00

Dishes washed & my reward for doing so. What? A pregnant girl can have whatever she wants for breakfast as long as it's washed down with vitamins and OJ, right?

breakfast, uninterrupted: week of mornings day 3

2009-03-12T09:15:00.001-06:00

week of mornings: day 2

2009-03-11T09:24:00.002-06:00

Mason loves to paint and it's just easier sometimes to cover his whole little table with a big piece of butcher paper and leave the watercolors + paintbrush out for him.

A Week of Mornings

2009-03-10T09:41:00.008-06:00

If you haven't heard of the website (or the book, or read about it online, or seen them on Martha Stewart ...) A Year of Mornings, you are missing out! From their website:

3191, A Year of Mornings began on January 1, 2007 as an almost daily photo conversation, in blog form, between two friends that live 3191 miles apart. It lasted the entire calendar year ending on December 31, 2007 and was followed by 3191, A Year of Evenings which ended on January 15, 2009.

They took beautiful pictures and posted them to their blog every morning (and then last year, every evening). Their pictures were eventually turned into a book which is wonderful eye candy and a great coffee table book.

My best friend Darci and I are going to do the same thing - but on a much smaller scale - A Week of Mornings. Here's my first entry and visit Darci, at Just a Peek, for hers. Our only rules are that we both take, edit and post a picture within an hour of waking up & that we can't cheat and use our iPhone cameras - good cameras only. :)

A Quilt Swap

2009-03-02T18:55:00.006-07:00

As if I needed something ELSE to keep me busy ... I've joined an online swap for Doll Quilts - Doll Quilt Swap 6. It's basically a swap where you are assigned a partner who you then scope out, figure out what they like, and then make them a doll quilt/mini quilt to mail them.

We all received our partners this evening and I'm so excited for who I got. It's someone I already know a little through blog land and I can't wait to make her something. It's a secret swap so you don't know who your partner is until they send you your quilt in the mail and reveal themselves!

I've been surfing around Flickr all day getting inspiration for what I want to make my partner & also letting my partner know what I like (tee-hee). There are so many beautiful quilts out there that people have made - I didn't have any trouble finding tons of inspiring images.

Can you tell I'm in a rainbow kind of mood? I kind of need it after the crappy week I had last week and this long winter that seems like it's never going to end. I can't wait to get started on this project and then get my quilt in the mail to see who had me!

Sunday Stash: Green Edition

2009-03-01T21:14:00.003-07:00

Thanks for everyone's kind emails and comments about Newton. It's getting easier every day but it's still so weird to not have him here by me. Every once in awhile I'll get a thought of "oh, I need to let Newton in" or think I see him out of the corner of my eye and then get sad when he's not there. At least Mason has stopped asking me every few minutes "are you happy now, Mom?".

I decided to join in this week in the "Sunday Stash" meme. It's fun going around to different members of the group and getting a little peek at different peoples fabric stashes. Everyone usually just shows one or two great fabrics they currently have in their stash - and it's a great way to see new fabrics you may not have seen before!

I LOVE this green pair from Denyse Schmidts' line "Katie Jump Rope". It's an oldie but a goodie for me -- and it seems like everyone and their dog has these prints in their stash but I just can't help it - green always has been and always will be my favorite color.

The plaid one reminds me of golf shorts -- I would love to have a pair of shorts in that print to wear when I go golfing!

I was doing a bunch of sewing today and had my new Orla Kiely cup close by with my standard lemonade inside. It kept getting condensation on the outside from all the ice and getting my sewing table wet - so what else could I do then reach into my scrap pile and whip up a cute little coaster in just a few minutes?

It seriously took me just a second to make and it turned out SO cute. I can see making a bunch of these for a cute and personal housewarming or birthday gift.

The top is some orange flowers and the bottom is some green polka dots. Technically it's reversible, too!

I just cut 2 squares about 6" x 6" and sewed them up on 3 sides, turned them, then stuck some batting in between, folded in and stitched up the opening, then did some crazy zig zag quilting to keep them together. SO simple.