my little sweetie layout

Here's a digi layout that I did this morning while Gracie was watching Little Bear. She is truly my little sweetie! Everything that I used is from Weeds & Wildflowers Design.

God Bless!
di

An Ode to Aqua Net layout

And Ode to Aqua Net-

Oh, my dear Aqua Net with your extra-super hold
without you my hair couldn't have gotten so bold.

With my hair dryer & my trusty silver can
My hair reached the highest heights in all the land.

Beloved silver & pink shiny aerosol spray.
Those wild and crazy 80's....oh those were the days!

Oh, my dear, Aqua Net, extra-super hold,
My love for you is such the world has never known!

I just had to include a close-up of my mile-high hair-do. What would I have ever done w/o my crimping iron, hair dryer and Aqua Net in the 80's? lol This is another silly layout for my Book of Me. :-)

God Bless,
di

finally, some layouts!!!!

Here are a couple of layouts that I have finished this past month. I'm not doing that well this month with getting things scrapped! Hopefully June will be much better!

'Sushi 101' is about teaching a friend how to make California Rolls and 'OMG!' is about my first gray hair. lol A silly layout for my Book of Me album.

God Bless!
di

Happy Memorial Day!

Wishing everyone a wonderful day with their family and friends........

I have things dressed up here for the holiday....our dining room and a new wreath for my front door that I made on Saturday. We also planted some flowers in pots for my front porch. Hopefully we can work on our garden today! I can't wait for some home-grown tomatoes.....yum!

God Bless,
di

Family Favorite Recipe - Wheat Berry Salad

This is a fresh and wonderful whole grain recipe that we tried for the first time yesterday. Tori had to make this for a school project and I had a hard time not eating it all. It is so simple and absolutely delicious! I really enjoyed the wheat berries. They are pretty chewy and make a great cold salad. I have a feeling that I will be making this a lot this summer, along with tabbouli.....my all time favorite grain salad.

Wheat Berry Salad:

1 1/2 cups hard wheat berries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup tart dried cherries, chopped
1 scallion, white and green parts, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot combine the wheat berries and enough water to come 2 inches over the wheat berries. Bring to a boil and cook uncovered for 1 hour, or until tender. Drain and let cool. Toast the walnuts in a medium dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the wheat berries, walnuts, celery, dried cherries, scallions, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

This recipe is from the Food Network. :-)

God Bless!

di

new book & prayer spot

I picked up this book today after seeing it mentioned at a couple of Catholic blogs called, "The Rosary- Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary" by Karen Edmisten. I am really anxious to read the chapter titled "Making it Work". It focuses on how busy moms can find and make the time to pray the Rosary. Something that I really struggle with right now. Honestly, I am struggling with praying all together. I am going through a very dry time and I am hoping that this book will help me get my prayer life back on the right track. I also set up a little prayer corner in my kitchen. I put it in the kitchen because it is where I seem to spend the majority of my time! If I can find a few minutes here and there to read from a devotional then that will be the place I can easily go to for a dose of God's wisdom.

God Bless,
di

meet Sue

Here's my little kitty pillow that I finished yesterday. Abby named her Sue and I think it's perfect for this sweet pillow! I used the free pattern from Amy Butler's site and scraps from my basket. It was super easy and Gracie gave her a big hug when she was done. My older girls are asking for one, too!

God Bless,
di

sewing bliss

A happy sewing spot in my mud room with a basket full of scraps and my new thread holder on the wall!

Yummy Moda fabrics for a lap quilt in my living room!

Freshly cut t-shrits stacked up for a t-shirt quilt.......

Birdie the Kitty - in progress on my ironing board

Lots have been going on here at the cottage in my mud room...... I cleaned it up and organized it a little differently last night, including putting all of my fabric scraps in a big basket and out where I can see them. I decided to wash them all before I put them in the basket. I know that's strange, but I figured that way they were all ready to be used; no pre-washing required! So, if I want to go in there, grab some scraps and sew up something simple, it's all ready to go. No waiting for it to wash and dry first. Last night I also started cutting out the pieces for this cute little kitty (scroll down to almost the bottom of the page, it's called Birdie the Cat pillow). As I was cleaning, I came across a box that hasn't been unpacked since our first move about 5 years ago. It was full of unfinished sewing projects! Eek! So, I tossed out what I knew I wouldn't ever make and put all of the patterns back together. What a mess. I found the beginnings of a cute purse that I was making out of Coke patterned fabric. I guess that will be one of the next things on my "to-sew" list. Then I came across a old quilt magazine that I've had for years that has a super-cute and super-easy baby quilt in it. I have made a couple of them for friends who were expecting. It is just one, huge Ohio Star block. The lightbulb went off in my little head and I decided to make a lap quilt for my living room with that pattern. I instantly thought of all of the faboulous Amy Butler and Moda prints that are out there, among other companies. The best part, is that I knew that my local craft store was having their 45th anniversary celebration all week and had different sales going on each day. This was meant to be, because today fabric was on sale at 30% off!!!! How awesome is that? I needed 4 prints and I got them each at 30% off. That totally beats one 40% off coupon for Joann's. lol I came home today with some totally yummy Moda fabric from the Woodland Bloom collection by Lila Tueller. The best thing that I came home with today is something that I have needed for years and years but just haven't ever gotten.....a thread holder! It's already up on my wall and full of spools of thread. I think it looks kinda pretty, too! So, that was my productive day......so far. I'm going to finish up my kitty tonight and hopefully start cutting out the triangles for my quilt. I can't wait to start working on that but I'm making myself finish one project before starting on the next..... no more boxes full of unfinished projects (I hope!!!) Oh, I forgot to mention that I started cutting some of my daughter's t-shirts into squares! I am going to make her a t-shirt quilt for her birthday. That one will be on the back burner for a month but I wanted to get those t-shirts taken care of and out of the way. Should be a fun quilt to make! More on that one later.......lol

God Bless!
di

His Holy Name - Sovereign

Another page for my His Holy Name mini-book.....

Sovereign-

How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.

2 Samuel 7:22

His Holy Name - Protector

Here's my latest page for my "His Holy Name" mini-book.......

Protector

My rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge....
Pslam 144:2

quilted tote w/ crayon pockets

This was my project for today! I was so excited to actually START and FINISH something in the same day!!!! lol This is a pattern that I couldn't resist. The first thing that I thought of when I saw it was Gracie taking it to church on Sunday's and coloring during Mass. She loves to color and hopefully this will give her a little something to do instead of climbing all over the pews. :-) The pattern is from Clothesline Quilts and it was easy to sew together. The hardest part for me was doing the machine quilting for the body of the tote bag. I had ever machine quilted before, so I just kind of winged it and ended up with some wrinkles in it. I kept telling myself that it was a little bag to hold crayons and it didn't have to be perfect, Gracie would love it anyway. lol And she sure does! I can't wait to try this out this coming Sunday!

Did I forget to mention that this cute pattern for a quilted tote bag that holds crayons actually makes TWO totes???? How fun is that? The second one went together really fast since I knew what I was doing. I also finished the top a little differently. I rolled in the top edge and zig-zag stitched it, instead of folding it down once and then sewing it down with a straight stitch. I really love these fabrics too, but I'm a sucker for anything that's pink and green! (a true sign that I'm forever stuck in the 80's!)

God Bless,
di

p.s. Gracie was so thrilled with her 2 totes. At bedtime last night she brought them both into her room and put them in bed with her. I asked her if she had to sleep with them that night and she smiled at me real big and said, "Yep!". So I let her. Hey, you have to pick your own battles with these stubborn little ones and that was not a battle worth fighting! I quietly pulled them out from under her after she was sound asleep. lol

God Bless!
di

summer sewing has begun!

Well, I haven't been on here in forever. It has been a very busy month. April always is for us since we have 2 birthday's back-to-back. Yep, Chris and I are almost birthday buddies. lol What a way to spend my birthday! In the hospital having a baby. It's the best present I've ever gotten!

So, now that things have calmed down a bit I have been able to work on some projects, like sewing some summer clothes for Gracie. I bought 6 super-cute prints a few weeks ago at Joann's and I'm just now starting to sew them into clothes. The pattern above is McCall's M5303 and it was really easy to sew up. If I had uninterrupted time, I could have easily made the top and pants in one day. But, that's never going to happen, so I made the pants one night and the top another. You can click here to see the pattern that I used. When I'm done she will have 6 pairs of capri pants and 6 halter tops that should mix and match pretty well! I'm also wanting to sew her up some fun skirts. I have my eye on the Edith Twirl Skirt and I have a feeling I will be ordering it soon. I just love this skirt!!!!! I did pick this pattern, The Lucy Skirt by Bananafana, up over the weekend, because it was just too darn cute to not buy. lol It looks super easy and should be fun to make with different ribbons and such.

After going to the quilt stores over the weekend, I realized that fabric can be just as dangerous of an addiction as scrapbooking paper is! It is all so beautiful! The colors and prints! Wow! It could be very easy to spend a lot of money. But, part of the reason why I'm sewing clothes for Gracie is to save money, so I need to be careful. The prints from Joann's were on sale for $1.99 a yard and are normally $5+ a yard. Now that's a good deal!

God Bless!
di

whew.

Okay, it has been an interesting past few days! My wonderful and beautiful tween daughter opened up her own Google account (while logged in on my Google account!) and deleted me! So, I couldn't get into anything Google related, like my blogger page. I tried to keep a positive attitude about the whole thing and even tried to restart my blogger page, but it just wasn't working out. And, I just kept thinking of everything I've already shared here and that it was all going to be lost (not that I have any followers or know if anyone actually reads my humble page here!). Very frustrating! So, after thinking about it for a bit I decided that I was just going to have to use her sign in and such to access my blogger pages and just deal with it. Now the funny part is her screen name, which is very obviously a teen's name and not an old-fashioned stay-at-home mom's. lol But, that's okay. I'm still the same, just under an alias now. lol So, all I can say now is "whew." (while wiping my hand across my forehead!) Thank goodness. I'm back!

God Bless!
di