fun with gifts

Christmas was good to the kids. It's been raining here which means we don't get outside much. So we have fun inside!

And of course, a shameless little plug for hubby's business. :)

Good reads

I've been published! Well, sort of. :) The latest issue of Hobby Farm Home magazine has an article on Etsy and I'm in it. Too bad we don't have that magazine locally!!(Grrrr) Does anyone have that magazine available to them at a local store? I contacted the magazine itself but they only sell back issues (once this becomes a back issue) in pdf form. I'd love to have an original. I'll be glad to paypal the cost of the magazine plus the shipping to someone who may be able to get me an issue! The above issue is the one I'm looking for- it's the Jan/Feb 2010 issue.

Also, does anyone want this?

I made it a long time ago and was going to applique some cute stars along the red strips and then quilt it. I thought it would be a fun, easy project. I haven't done anything with it though and just found it while I was cleaning my laundry room! It is made with flannel (from JoAnns I think) and has not been washed. It measures 35in x 41in. If you'd like it, just leave a comment here along with a way for me to contact you and I'll gladly send it to the first person that wants it!

***Update! Since I was mentioned in the magazine the company is sending me a free copy! Thanks to all who offered to get me one- but hey, I may take a second copy if any of you have already picked one up. :)***

Merry Christmas to All!

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6
Thank you Lord for the greatest gift ever given, your only son. Sent to die on a cross so that I may be forgiven and have eternal life with You. There is no greater love and no greater gift.
Enjoy your Christmas today- may it be merry and bright!

babies movie

Have you seen this?
Oh my gosh, I can't wait until April! This trailer made me laugh out loud- how funny is it that babies are the same all over the world? :) I love the part at the end where the goat is drinking out of the kid's bath and he doesn't even flinch. Gotta love little ones. This is certainly a movie I'm going to see.

friends

Quilting done today: zilch

Fun with friends today: tons

little new listing

There's a new little listing in the shop. See it here.

a few complete

I finished a few dishcloths for Christmas gifts and a few aprons. I don't have pics of the aprons yet because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. ;) Dishcloths like these will be available in my shop soon!

I also took a few shots of Mason's new blanket...

I was going through Gavin's camera the other day and found this. Isn't she a cutie? It was from hunting season and Timber is eating huckleberries.

Now I'm off to work on the Christmas present quilt. I made the binding the other day and I need to get it sewn on today. I only have 3 more days to finish it and it came out way larger than I had originally anticipated. I was going for "lap quilt" and it came out 75"x75". Well, at least the recipient will be happy!

in the last 24 hours.....

1. I made a blanket for Mason out of Organic jersey knit fabrics that are so yummy you want to eat them.....picture to come soon!
2. We had a bear incident. Well, not really an "incident" just the ol' neighbors calling to say, "By the way, there is a huge bear walking down Hobbs Wall (the dirt road by our home) just in case your animals are still out." (i.e. they may get eaten if they are)
3. I got some last minute Christmas shopping done.
4. Mason smiled for the first time!
5. Gavin set a pie on fire (yes, really... and that's a long story- we won't go there right now)
6. I got some Christmas sewing accomplished- yahoo!
7. My husband made a fantastic dinner.

And then there is, of course, all the regular stuff that goes into a 24 hour period.
I'm so glad that Christmas is almost here. :)

3, like this

Yesterday my little boy turned 3. I don't know where the time has gone. It seems like just yesterday and then so long ago at the same time. After everyone had gone to sleep last night, Gavin and I watched a few little videos of the kids from when they were babies. A couple of them made me think, "Wow, I don't even remember that." I am so glad we have videos of the kids to remember those special times.

"Mommy, I'm going to be 3, like this!"

I made an organic cake that turned out really well!

Nana and baby Mason
Opening presents
Timber Ann
Silly boy!

I am thankful every day for the beautiful children that the Lord has blessed Gavin and I with. I can't imagine my life without them!

christmas kid craftiness

I'm a Christmas tree freak. I must have the perfect tree. I don't care if it takes 6 hours cutting open trees at the tree lot to get the perfect one. I'll do it. This year though I tried to not be as compulsive about it. We took home the first tree we opened! But, there were no huge holes in it (which is a huge no-no for me and trees) and everyone's mouth dropped open when I said, "That's fine, we can get that one." I also decided to not be so demanding when it came to the decorations. Really, I like my tree to look a certain way. This year I threw all that out the window and decided that I was going to have a tree that the kids "made." They were going to make all the things to go on it and with the exception of the lights, they were going to decorate it. So last weekend, we started crafting...

The cranberries got strung but most of the popcorn just ended up in our bellies rather than on the tree...

Little hands doing good work....

This is what happens when the ornaments are left to dry within reach of a 21mo old... notice the gingerbread man and Santa are missing something?

And this is our end result... Not too shabby is you ask me. Maybe the kids can decorate more often!

Giveaway winner!

Um, yes, I forgot about the giveaway results.......oops. Sorry about that! This weekend has been crazy!

So I went to random.org and Mr. Random chose entry #16....
Chris said...
Hi I'm new to your blog. A friend suggested I stop by..:) SO please enter me in the drawing. I am a homeschool mom of 10 kids and love to sew! I enjoyed looking around your site, I'll be back to visit again! God Bless

Congrats Chris! I'll be emailing you to get your info so that I can send you the layer cake! :)
Thanks so much to all who entered. After the first of the year I'll be having another giveaway so if you didn't win this one, don't worry, there will be more!

growing up, rain and leaf blowers

Not blogging on a regular basis has left my mind racing. Isn't that weird? I sit awake at 2am nursing Mason and thinking of the things I'd like to share on my blog. That's pretty pathetic!

But since I have a few things to share and not much time to share them I'm lumping them all into the same post.

First, Mason. I am so in love with this little boy. I know it's normal for parents to love their kids but I think that I love him more than any other mommy has ever loved her little boy. I'm sure you'd all agree (wink.) He is growing up so fast...and he's barely a month and a half old. He's already grown out of his 3 month old Carter's sleepers! Yikes! I'm really trying to savor each moment with him since I am 99% sure he is my last little baby.

Second, rain. I'm thankful for it today. Yes, I really did say that. Most Del Nortians (is that what we would be called?) aren't ever thankful for the rain. We get so much of it that it's more like, "Oh no, the rain has started. Well, kiss that sun goodbye for the next 3 months because we won't be seeing it." But it's been cold here. And I mean cold. It has been about 27 degress on a regular basis taking Wyatt to the bus stop. Gavin worked in Gasquet this week and it was 19 degrees on Wednesday morning. For us, that's cold. Maybe even record breaking cold for our area. So with the rain comes warmer temperatures.

Third, leaf blowers. Layton loves any and all power equipment. How could he not? He's a little boy and daddy has a lot of it. He was helping in the yard blowing the maple leaves into a pile on a "yardwork Sunday afternoon."

And lastly, even though it wasn't in the title post, a little gift that my SIL gave to me for my birthday that is now in bloom. It's so nice to have some fragrant blooming flowers in the home while everything outside is frozen!

giveaway time!

As promised, I'm ready to do my giveaway! I'd love to be giving away something handcrafted but since I haven't even been making anything except for the necessities (i.e. Christmas gifts,) I don't have anything to give away in that respect. But how about something that you could use to create something of your own? Like FABRIC!!! :) Mmmmmm, fabric. Words don't properly express my love for it.♥

And just in time for Christmas- a Layer Cake of the new Mary Engelbreit Christmas fabric, The Caroler!

And as usual, to win, all you have to do is leave a comment. I'm not going to force you to "follow" my blog just to have an entry (I've always found that silly) and you don't have to blog about it to get an entry (although if you wanted to, that would be nice) and you don't have to share some story or tradition or anything like that (unless you want to) - you just have to leave a comment like, "Oh, I love this fabric, I'd love to win!" not "Pick ME! I'm the best!" and PLEASE leave an email or something for me to contact you because I'm not into tracking down folks to give them something.

Contest will close this Friday Dec 11th at midnight. The winner will be chosen using random.org. The Layer Cake will be shipped to the winner via USPS Priority Mail the following Monday.
Good luck to you all!

December's Quilt

December's Quilt of the Month is my Flower Boxes Quilt. Yep, I saved the best for last. The colors in this quilt are so terrific and the traditional patchwork is lovely. This quilt has really grown on me since I made it. I like everything that I make (well, almost) but I've really taken a liking to this one in the past couple of months! Here's the listing with all the information.

Today is also Giveaway Day on the Sew Mama Sew Blog.

I'm lame. Somehow I missed it so I didn't get to officially participate. I did get to enter a bunch of great giveaways though. If you'd like to also then you can click here. But missing out on doing a giveaway makes me a little sad so I'll be hosting one here next week! Follow my blog or just check back in next week to see what you can win!

Black Friday Sale

While everyone is out shopping in the ridiculous wee hours of the morning tomorrow I'll be sleeping (or at least trying to sleep- the word "sleep" with a newborn in the house is pretty much non-existent) But if you're like me and you'd rather shop from the comfort of your home via Etsy then stop on by my shop this Friday and take your pick of ANY quilt in the shop. Purchase it and I'll give you 35% off of the quilt! (Refunded via PayPal) 35%?? Really? Yep. Just in time for the holidays and the cold days! Wrap up with a warm quilt!

rainy days

It rained here yesterday and so we spent the day indoors doing things like playing with trains, coloring, oohing over Mason and taking pictures. Once Gavin got home the little kids got to go outside for a bit to get some fresh air. Timber has a new raincoat that her Grandma bought for her and while it is adorable, it's still a little big. It's more like a raindress. The good thing is that she'll be able to use it for this winter and next!

Um, Mom, I can't really see anything...

Oh, wait, there you are!

Yep, just me and my purple raindress!

My little guys!

Baby lovin'.

going raw- for your health

I came upon this fantastic article a while back titled, "10 reasons to drink raw milk" and thought it was something that certainly needed to be shared! It's from the Nourished Kitchen blog which is all about eating right. Here is the article for you to read: http://nourishedkitchen.com/10-reasons-drink-raw-milk/ And don't worry- it's not really long but is full of great insight!

Raw milk has been in our fridge for almost 4 years now. I don't know how we lived without it before that! We once were able to get it from a local dairy here but now must order it from a dairy in Fresno, CA, Organic Pastures. Their milk is superb and can be shipped directly to your doorstep (in a frozen state.)

You owe it to yourself and your family to look into raw milk and see for yourself how beneficial it really is. Maybe there is even a dairy near you that offers organic raw milk from pastured cows! Check into it.

If you can't get raw milk then organic, pasteurized, non-homogenized milk is your next best bet. Organic Valley and Straus are two companies that offer it and I'm sure there are more.

After that comes regular ol' organic pasteurized, homogenized milk.

And after that I'd just recommend water. Don't even waste your money on non-organic milk. You're essentially paying for whitish, high calorie water pumped up with plenty of antibiotics and hormones and I'd bet that you can get good, clean water from your tap for free. Unless of course your water is flourinated.......... but that's a whole 'nother topic!

photo sharing

I obviously have been slightly busy lately and I haven't been able to blog much.....or really at all. 4 kids is a lot of work but I'm loving it! Here are a few photos to keep all the wolves at bay! :)

Out like a light!

I can't figure out why Timber always has to have a dirty face in photos but apparently she does!

Layton hammin' it up!

Mason is already going to work with daddy fixing the plug on the chipper!