Victory is MINE

Ah, sweet, sweet victory!
Yesterday BOTH of my babies took naps at the same time, in the same room! Amazing!
Now, for any of you that know the Scott kids you'll know that sleeping is not a strong trait of theirs. At all. Layton didn't start sleeping through the night until after his 1st birthday. He sleeps pretty well now in his own room, with an occasional bad night.
Timber sleeps with us and was taking naps on our bed during the day. We just got her crib set up yesterday and I decided to try it out. She will still be sleeping with us at night but I'd like for her to sleep in her crib for naps so that she can start to get used to sleeping in it. It is my goal to have her sleeping on her own in her crib by the time she is around 8 months old. She and Layton will be sharing a room so both of their cribs are in the bedroom next to ours. So I laid Timber down for her nap. And she slept, and slept and slept. Pretty soon it was time for Layton's nap. I went in and laid him down, snuck out of the room and 5 minutes later did the happy dance in disbelief that both of my "not so good sleepers" were actually taking naps together! Astonishing! Thank you Jesus! or maybe I should say "Praise God!" (those were the words that came out of my husbands mouth when I told him that the babies were taking a nap together!)
So, here's to VICTORY and babies sleeping together, in the same room, at the same time! Yahoo!

Quiltin' away

Boy, these past few weeks have been a blur. A blur of fabric, and thread and a needle going up and down.
I have been working on 3 quilts this week and just got the fabric in the mail for another baby quilt I'm going to put together. I'm trying out this new design that I thought up while pondering jelly rolls and how to use them. **Side note** It's pretty bad when you spend your spare time thinking about jelly rolls..........moving on.
I'm going to try and start the baby quilt next week- we'll see how it turns out!
I find it very hard to keep my quilting focus when I don't have access to the material that I need. Living in small town nowheresville, I do 90% of my fabric buying online. So that means that when I don't plan ahead, and later decide to back a quilt in a fabric that I do not have, I have to order the fabric and then wait and wait and wait for it to come in the mail. It certainly would be nice to have a quilt shop in this town!

Go Raw: Breakfast at the homestead

Breakfast at the homestead.............yummy. Some organic cereal with raw milk.....some raw milk yogurt with organic blueberries. We try (and succeed most of the time, with a few slip ups) to eat as healthy as possible. We love our raw milk. It not only tastes WAY better than anything you could get at the store but is so incredibly healthy for you. And store bought milk is so expensive! In our area, it is more expensive to buy organic milk at the store than it is to get healthy raw milk at the dairy. Why would anyone pay more for something that has been killed by ultra pasteurization and homogenization? Instead of going on and on in this blog about it, I'd invite you to do some of your own research, starting here: http://www.realmilk.com/ You may be surprised at what you discover!

To me, it makes so much sense. If you just think about it, people did NOT used to eat they way we do now. All the processed foods, refined sugars..........dead food (I'm not talking dead like animal dead, I'm talking about food that has been "killed" in the processing process!) Dr. Weston A. Price did some great research in the field where he visited groups of people in other countries that had not yet been touched by western civilization. Their health was astonishing. If you'd like to read more about Dr. Price and his research you can find tons of great info here: http://www.westonaprice.org/

Gavin and I were discussing it the other day, why don't people look into what they are putting into their body? What we eat is what keeps us alive. People can't survive without nourishment. So why "nourish" your body with something not good for it? You wouldn't eat at McDonald's everyday would you? (Maybe you would- ewwwwwww) But most people would answer, "No." And if you asked, "Why not?" they would probably reply by stating that eating McDonald's every day is not healthy for you. Good call. But are they looking into all the other things they eat? The "Healthy Choice/Lean Cuisine" meals in the freezer section? The granola bars down the cereal isle? The pesticide laden vegetables and fruits? The vegetable/canola oils that turn rancid when heated? The boxed foods with MSG in them? Just throw it in the microwave and you're good to go, right? It really just makes me want to yell, "COME ONE PEOPLE, WAKE UP!" Don't you care? Be selfish! This is a time when it's o.k. to be! Care about yourself and your body enough to do some investigating of your own! Your body will thank you for it!

O.k., rant over! :)

Small Town Wonder

Funny story. Ya know how everyone in a small town seems to be related? Well I guess it's true. I just found out this morning that a very dear friend of mine is actually a relative (by marriage.) Before I was married, I worked and lived at a horse ranch. The woman and her family that owned the ranch lived on the property as well. She and I became great friends. She was like family to me- and now I find that she really is family.............

My dad's aunt's brother is the father of a lady that is married to my friend's husband's brother.

Holy cow, that was confusing! :) Maybe this makes it easier... my great aunts brother is the dad of my friend's husband's brother's wife. O.k., still confusing! Hopefully you get the jist of it.

Anywhoo, it is just one of the perks of living the small town life; you find out that the people you love really are like family. Pretty neat.

Thought I'd include a few pics from "life at the ranch!"

The Sweet Things of Today

Today is beautiful outside. Windy, but beautiful. There are so many sweet, lovely things about life here at "the homestead." Thought I'd share just a few of them with you.............

A sleeping princess in our bed! We co-sleep so it's her bed as much as it is ours! Yes, that's a dirty shirt of mine next to her. A sleeping baby allows for some sewing time today.

Raspberries! Lots of 'em. I can't wait until these sweeties are ripe.


Blueberries! Or as Layton refers to them, "Blues." When these are ripe there will be no keeping him out of the berry patch.


Iris. What a beautiful sent they have. I'm blessed with a husband that enjoys gardening as much as I do. These iris were his even before we got married.



A view to the top. Sun shinning through a huge Maple. It's out front of our home and wonderful to lay under in the summer- just watch out for the chicken poop on the ground!

What Sundays are Made Of

It's Sunday morning- 6:56am. I've been up since 5:45 with my 1.5year old. Which is totally normal. He's a country kid in every way and that includes his sleep- Early to bed, early to rise. That's o.k. though because we're an "early to rise" family.
I'm excited about today! It's Sunday! We've got all kinds of great things to do today! We'll start off with a nice breakfast, head off to church, then come home and start some gardening and I'm going to rearrange our kitchen. We're getting rid of our microwave- finally. We never use the thing (because of the horrible things that it does to food!) It's only used when my folks come to visit and my mom wants to heat up water for her instant coffee. So, it's outta here! One less huge thing to clutter up our itty bitty kitchen!
Tomorrow we're having a family celebration to celebrate 3 birthdays and Father's Day (a little early) We're buying the birthday folk their own tree. It is so nice to receive a living gift, in my opinion. Or of course, something handmade! I'm not so into the Wal-Mart gift card. So, today we will also go down to the local nursery to pick out a few plum trees.
All in all, a great Sunday! Hope yours is great too!

Wednesday

It's hump day. I guess most people call it that though if they have a job outside their home. There really is no hump day for me. Kids = 24/7. You other mommies know what I'm talking about! My oldest has already started his summer vacation so I now have 3 kids home all day.
I did get some quilting in today though. I worked on my Homespun Pinwheels quilt which will be in my shop around the first part of July. I also started a little doll quilt. I think it's going to be really cute. I've never made a doll quilt before and am not sure how it will sell but I'm going to give it a shot.
I have made a decision to not sell quilt in my shop that I personally wouldn't want to keep. Everyone has different styles of what they like but realistically, I don't want to get stuck with a bunch of quilts that I don't personally love. Especially considering the time and money I put into just one quilt. I do have a listing in my shop for a custom quilt and hopefully that will allow me to design and sew a quilt for someone else that may not particularly be a style that I would enjoy in my home. I'm actually excited about the custom slot because it will give me a chance to create something that I may not have otherwise!
Happy Quilting!

My Favorite Quilt

This is one example of the quilts I have made. This quilt took me 7 years to finish. Yeah- that's a little while! This quilt won an honorable mention at the AQS (American Quilting Society) online competition and is entered in the 2008 California State Fair!

Blog, blog, blog

I'm a blog-a-holic now it seems! You can check out my other blog here and check back in on this one daily to see what's new!

First off, lets talk about Etsy. Have ya heard of it? No? This is a site you can't live without! "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade." Yep. It's awesome. I shop there all the time now. If I need a gift or need something for my family or for myself, Etsy is the first place I go to.

I also sell on the site. You can visit my shop anytime- 24/7! I carry handmade quilts and other items that make great gifts!

Secondly, let's talk about quilts. I love them. I love creating them, sewing them and displaying them. I love other people's quilts too. Any quilt is a favorite of mine! I love quilt shows, quilt stores, quilt books and ALL things fabric.
I wish that I had the time to hand stitch my quilts like many women did back before there were sewing machines but I don't have that much time on my hands. Old quilts fascinate me though. I know how much time goes into making a bed sized quilt on a sewing machine. I can't even imagine sewing it all by hand. I have so much respect for the women of the past that took the time to create such masterpieces! Bravo!
Hand stitching is important to me but since I can't hand stitch the entire quilt I hand stitch every binding on my quilt. It's a link to the past for me that I want to keep alive instead of allowing everything in life to become computerized and modern. Don't get me wrong, I adore my sewing machine. There is just something very special about using a needle and thread and your hands on a small part of each quilt!