Productivity?

WE PASSED OUR FINAL INSPECTION.

(It actually happened earlier in the week…sorry for the delay in posting about it.) 

Let me tell ya somethin’ about my husband.  He doesn’t lolly gag.  At all.  Ever.  Nope – not one second.  Which, I must say – is why we were able to get the house built so quickly.  From when we started actual construction to now has been about 6 months.  I suppose builders go quickly – but I think most owner-builders are much slower.  In fact – I was speaking to a lady today who did the same thing as us…only it took them 18 months!!!  Of course, the pay off has been that my hubby has been averaging 3-4 hours of sleep per night for the past 2 months.

ANYWAY so we passed our final inspection and he came straight home and started packing.  Good thing I had started to sort things already!  He has been moving a bit over each day….and tomorrow I get to start unpacking.  (Most the of big furniture he’ll move this weekend….the fabric won’t be moved until sometime next week.)  He figured I should have something to do while I wait on the phone guy and the gas man.  Don’t worry – there is much more than this picture shows.  I figure I have enough to keep me busy from 7am to midnight.  (I’m NOT joking – this is the time window the gas company gave me!  I sure hope they show up before midnight.  he he)

So I never showed you some of the finished results.  Heck, I rarely showed you in progress pictures either.  Oh well, too late for that!  So what should we examine…  First – the stairs.  I think they are beautiful.  And I’m glad – cuz they were a constant headache.  Okay, maybe not constant (that’s me being “Melanie”dramatic as my husband likes to say) but they did cause their share of grief.  All’s well that ends well, eh?

And now, the shower.  I think I like the shower.  I for sure like the way it looks, but I’ll admit I am a bit concerned about keeping it clean.  When sorting through things I never found our squeegee thingy.  Guess I will need to buy a new one!   And you can see a little peak of our tub.  Can’t wait to use that!  (and yes, for those of you in doubt, I used our last tub quite often.  Very relaxing!)

Certainly the next 6 months and beyond will be filled with projects getting the house nice and cozy.  For now, I’m just thrilled we will have one house to live in….and I’ll have my husband back!

Quilt Market

Secretly companies must have a requirement that either you are super tall or super cute (or both) to design fabric and patterns.  I fit into neither group – so they won’t be calling me anytime soon!

A general overview seems appropriate at this time….especially because one of my friends actually said before I left town “Don’t let your arm get too tired from all the quilting this weekend.” 

Quilt Market is not a time to actually quilt or sew or anything of that sort.  Quilt Market is a trade show for the fabric industry.  SO – who is there?

Fabric companies showing you all the new lines.  (This includes booths by fabric designers showcasing their fun prints!)  Pattern designers with samples of all their wonderful patterns.  Notions companies show-casing new gadgets.  Sewing machine companies, iron companies, soap companies that have special quilting friendly soaps, embroidery designers, embroidery computer software companies, etc. etc. etc.  Basically anything and everything that you can use or possibly need that is related to the sewing world.


Time for a couple fun pictures, wouldn’t you say?!?!?

Anna Maria Horner‘s booth and me with Anna herself.  I got one of her books, signed and everything. And I have to say that she is SO unbelievably sweet. After 3 days of me stopping by her booth to admire everything, she still was very nice!  Notice however, that she is taller than me and just super super cute.

Amy Butler‘s booth and me with Amy.  She is also very kind, very beautiful and VERY tall.  Let’s see if I can help you understand how short I truly am.  She had to bend her knees to squat down AND lean over and she still is a whole head taller than me!  Yep, I’m short.  That’s okay – when surrounded by such talent, I don’t mind. 

Additional pictures are in my flickr album.  I was honored to meet Jessica Jones, Sandi Henderson, Heather Bailey, Patty Young, Paula Prass and more!  There are pictures of booths and pictures of me with many of these fantastic ladies.  And let’s not forget  the fun I had with Linda and Cindy.   I feel like I must continue this post…and yet I have a feeling that my family might like to eat tonight, so you can examine my continued shortness via flickr. (And in the few cases that I wasn’t significantly shorter, the super cuteness can be seen.) See you again soon!

I’m short

Fall Quilt Market 2008 was a ton of fun (and the reason I have not been posting).  I didn’t get back until late late late last night.  Today I’m playing catch up on business, emails, laundry, food, moving and more but honestly what I really want to be doing is sewing.  So much creativity!  So much inspiration!  I will post more about it later, I promise. For now, I leave you with this one picture to give you an idea of how the last several days of my life was spent….meandering my short self through over 2400 booths in Houston.

Did I mention….

So I really don’t have time for a well thought out post right now… although I do have a lot on my mind. But I did want to mention that I have EVERYTHING for sale on my website. The more that you buy – the less I have to move. A great deal for everyone involved! Now, back to sorting and packing – getting ready for the move, getting ready for a garage sale and getting ready for Houston.

PS Aren’t the silly faces so funny? Taylor cracks me up with his “stick out tongue, insert finger” approach. And please take note of the layering of Kyle’s clothes. That cracks me up too, although I’m not sure why. But when I look at this picture, it just makes me smile!

Very Close

We are so close to having the house done.  (Well, done enough to live in, that is!)

The glass door and wall that will enclose the shower gets installed tomorrow.  And the bathtub should be installed either today or tomorrow. (Right now it’s sitting in our bedroom) On the list for tomorrow as well is the installation of the bathroom vanity tops.

My wonderful husband has the front landscaping done. He has moved over 8 tons of rock, one wheelbarrow load at a time. What a great guy! The plants will all fill in once they grow up and it should look pretty nice. Do you notice the addition of the roof tile? We were really unhappy with the way that area of the house looked – adding the tile seems to help. The lights are up – the house number is posted.

And of course, the kitchen.  I have to show you the kitchen. I love it. Yep, it is definitely safe to say that.  I am in love with the kitchen.

The cook top.

The double oven.
I never thought we could afford one….we just got a GREAT deal on it!

The sink.
I don’t think I like the faucet. Oh well. It should work for a while.

The island.
Man, I need to get the handles put onto the cabinets.

Okay – so we have a few things left, but we’re getting really close! As you can see from all of the photos, everything needs cleaned as well. The amount of dust is unbelievable! 

Charisma

Death warmed over.  That is basically how I’ve felt that last few days.  Not fun.  I’ll tell you what is fun, though.  Charisma – by Chez Moi. It is beautiful! One of my customer‘s brought this line of fabric to my attention. I fell in love!

I knew I needed to make something out of it – but what, oh what should I make? Well, something for Haley of course.
I used the Sew Baby Easy Pieces Jumper as the pattern. Haley requested that it not have buttons at the straps – and it fits over her head just fine with the straps sewn in place, so I figured I’d leave them off for her. She has to wear leggings under it – so if I wanted it to be a true dress, I’d want to add another row of the 5 inch blocks to the bottom.

The pattern was very easy to read and follow.  You use a part of a charm pack and a coordinating fabric for the center tier and straps.  This picture is not a close up, but you should be very proud of me – I even top stitched in a matching thread.  (Usually I’m too lazy to change it from white!) So there you go, another super fun project with Charm Packs! LOVE ‘EM!

PS Carly is having a giveaway on her blog. Go leave a comment and enter for a chance to win a cute wristlet made from the Charisma Fabric!

Take it Easy

You feel badly for my sons.  I just know it.  I don’t blame you, I feel badly for them too.  What can I say?  It’s just easier to make cute girly things.  Simple as that.  I do try to make things for Kyle and Taylor as well.  I finished up this pair of pants early this morning.

There is, of course, a story behind it.  This print is such a boy print. It’s hard to find boy fabric.  That is for sure!  So when Kyle saw these bolts arrive, even he was excited and requested that I make a blanket for him out of it.

Well, in case you didn’t know this, we live in southern Arizona.  Um….we don’t need more blankets.  Ever.  Ever again.  Seriously.  I’m sure that I will make more blankets and quilts – but it’s just for pleasure because we certainly have all we’ll ever need.  I didn’t want to make a blanket with it.  What should I make?

A tradition in our family is for the kids to get new PJ’s on Christmas Eve.  I already decided that I am making my kids PJs this year.  It’s one of the many things on my list to finish before Christmas. (Which is something like 10 weeks away!!!!)

I hadn’t planned on making Kyle 2 pair of jammmies – but my first attempt ended poorly, I decided it would be best to make another pair – a “trail pair” per se, so that I would be sure to get the fit and everything correct on his Christmas pair.  So this is actually the trial pair of PJ’s and he LOVES them!  The first attempt is being re-cut into PJs for Taylor.

I opted to use the pattern from Olive & S.  I have made PJ bottoms for the kids before, but I really just wanted to test out the pattern.  Only the pants from Kyle’s set is from the Bedtime Story Pajamas.

I messed up my first pair.  I didn’t reverse the pattern piece when cutting out the second leg – so the back and front didn’t line up (duh!  Why I didn’t think of that when I cut it out?  I don’t know.)  I have no plans to make the kimono shirt.  If my son was still 6 or 9 months – it would be different….I might even be able to pull it off with my 2 year old, but my 6 year old just wants a regular shirt….thus the appliqued red shirt.  I also opted to do a rolled hem on my serger for the pant legs – mostly because I am lazy and it is faster than making a binding. 
I suppose I’ll mention that all the patterns are all on sale on my website. (But all of you knew that already since you get my newsletter, right? he he )  If you use the code PATTERN when you checkout, you’ll get 10% off. Sorry, that ended. Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll know for next time! What Christmas gifts do you want to make this year?

PS. Yes, the Portabellopixie Patterns from Sandi Henderson have arrived and are in my shop.  THEY ARE AMAZING!  And yes, the 10% off works for them too.

Oh the Drama

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to make Haley a nice fall outfit. Well, it’s done! And it is super cute.

My girl is a girly girl. She likes pink. She loves princesses. She wants to have her nails painted and her hair fixed just so – and Lord, help you if you do it wrong! Due to her girly nature, I thought this fabric would be perfect. Cute little witch – lots of pink – still halloweenish.

I made the skirt in about 30 minutes. It is really easy – two skirt panels and a waistband. The apron was just a “wing it” moment – and I now realize I should have gathered it a bit due to the fullness of the skirt. Oh well. I had this shirt on hand – so I cut out a little witch to applique. I really want her to have leggings to go under the skirt – but I haven’t found the right pair yet.

ANYWAY – back to the drama. So I make her the skirt and I just love it! I gleefully show her the finished product.

*STARE*

I prompt her, “Haley, what do you think?”

“Well, Mom, I don’t need so many clothes.”

Still hopeful, “Do you like it?”

“Mom, I don’t like witches. I like princesses.”

After going round and round, I FINALLY convince her that this is a PRINCESS WITCH. Now she likes it. She likes it so much, in fact, that I’ve already had to wash it twice. She wore it to show daddy at the house (and got it dirty) – into the wash it went so she could wear it again the next day (surprise surprise, my princess got it dirty again), wash it and wear again today.

PS this totally counts for my Finished Friday post…okay?

A quick house update

Thought I’d share some progress with you….

We have carpet! It is GREAT. We love it. The kids can also come hang out for a bit longer since they can now safely relax on the carpet. Perfect!

We installed the laundry room counter ourselves. Aren’t you proud? I have to take the iron over to the new house b/c turns out to finish the end of that counter top, you literally iron on the laminate piece. Who knew! (My iron hasn’t seen much action here lately anyway..it’ll probably be glad to be in use again! he he) The sink is just sitting in place at the moment. Our plumber will properly install it (and the faucet we found…marked down from something like $119 (or $139) to $25!!! woo-hoo!)

More pictures to come. The kitchen counters will be installed Friday or Monday!!! MUCH sooner than expected. Things are quickly wrapping up! Lots of little things to do still. Our philosophy at this point is this: First finish everything that HAS to be done for the final inspection. Then we can worry about the other projects we want to finish – hopefully we’ll have time to finish several before we move in.

Beating a dead horse

So – none of you probably care…but this is the new and improved picture that shows the WHOLE intersection. (It’s a real aerial of the intersection I got my ticket at.)

SO – if you PASS the bright yellow line after the light turns red (added for illustration purposes only…not there in real life) THEN you are running a red light because you are legally entering the intersection after the light turns red. On this particular intersection (the one I got a ticket from) there is 50 feet between the painted white stop line and the legal intersection… quite confusing…right?  Hopefully you can understand it better now that you can see it. Of course, your state law may not be the same.

I will be quiet now about the traffic school stuff!  Onto other things!