Made By Haigh

Things to do before I'm 30

2010-03-24T10:37:00.002-07:00

I saw a few blogs out there that had a list of 30 things to do before 30. I like the idea. Not sure if I can get the 30 or maybe I'll go further. Here is my list so far:

1. Give birth (should be easy since I am due May 7th)
2. Write a letter to each of my kids preferably on their bday to tell them how wonderful they are.
3. Loose the baby weight and get back down to 150-155.
4. Survive the Big Road Trip to WV, PA, and WI with three kids, a hubby, me, all in a Jeep liberty.

More to come...

Emily Who?

2010-03-05T10:07:00.002-07:00

Wow, it has been forever since I've posted! What a crazy couple of months. Throw in the usual birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and everything else and time flies.

One major event taking place in our lives is the soon-to-be arrival of our 3rd baby. Baby Jake will make his appearance in May. We are very excited and my daughter is dying for him to get here. Clayton can't wait because he'll be sharing his room. Let's see how happy he is when we move the kid to his room! I'll be nursing so he'll be in our bed for awhile. The kid does take up 3/4 of our house though and he isn't even here yet!

The timing on having Jake is perfect! His due date is 2 weeks before school gets out for the summer and I'll be able to take most of the summer off with the kids. YEAH! We are planning on taking a trip back east to visit family in WV, PA, and WI. Matt and I are both excited about this. We'll be able to see the entire family on both sides in one shot! It will be long and tiring, but so worth it!

When we did cross-country trip my mom was awesome and bought little things for us to do and play with. We would open new things at different spots/times on our trip. I really want to do the same thing for my kids. It was so much fun and really made the time fly by. I found a great tutorial for making a messenger bag out of cargo pants at Noodlehead. http://noodleheads.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorial-messenger-bag-from-cargo-pants.html I plan on getting little things like crossword puzzles, travel games, etc and wrap them up. I'll put a "don't open until ________" tag and then it will be spread out over our trip. After work I am heading to goodwill to find some pants. I should stop at home first to see what Matt has in the "To Donate" pile that never gets donated!

I also want to make this neat tic-tac-toe/connect the dots board for each of them. I'll post pics and maybe a tutorial when I do it. I am having a hard time sewing with plastic sheet. It keeps shifting. I'll have to think about it before I attempt again!

Water Your Wishes

2009-09-15T08:57:00.004-07:00

Many years ago I got a quilt calendar and fell in love with one of the wall hangings. I decided to make it into a quilt. The angel is watering an open heart filled with flowers. In the flowers is a little blue angel for my son Clayton. He was just a baby when this was made. The caption below the angel reads "Water the wishes that bloom in your heart". I need to redo that part.

In one of the borders are hand appliqued flowers. I love the look of them. One day I want to send this quilt out to get professionally quilted.

Wind Blown Leaves

2009-09-15T08:53:00.004-07:00

Here is a quilt I designed last year for a class I taught. I love it so much. I love the vibrant color of the leaves. I remember growing up in Wisconsin and watching the leaves change to these beautiful colors. In Arizona we don't get much of that unless you want to take a road trip to Sedona. There it is beautiful! This is a little bit of fall in a hot hot desert!

I am entering this quilt in a contest at http://www.quiltinggallery.com/. Link coming soon!

September!

2009-09-02T17:22:00.003-07:00

Wow September is here! This is usually the busiest month of the year for us. Lots of bdays (Dad 12th, Molly 21st, MIL 8th, BIL 9th), anniversaries (ours 8th, in-laws 8th), Awana begins (I wish we had a date for that...), a baby shower school in full swing....

This year we are in the middle of moving church locations. We started building a new building in the spring and it is soooooo close to being done. We were hoping for mid-July, then August, then mid-September, and now keeping our fingers crossed we'll be mid- to late-September. That doesn't make planning for Awana any easier! Still we are having leader meetings tonight and next week. Although next week will be at my dad's house since we will be w/o a church location (temp or perm) after Sunday the 6th!

My sister and her hubby are coming down for Labor Day and we are going to throw her a baby shower. I can't wait to see her and her preggo belly! I've made her two quilts and have to post pics of the second one.

Molly's bday is coming fast. We are going to take her and a few school friends to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Should be fun. The movie looks hysterical.

Here are a few things that I would like to try to get done this month:
Finish Olivia's second quilt
Start the blue and yellow quilt for my babysitter's neighbor's (Pam) bday
Make something for my baby-to-be
Organize some of my fabric.

I would like to do these projects buying as little fabric as possible. I think I can do it with the exception of Pam's quilt. I may have to buy yellow...

Happy September!

Didn't Clean the Bobbin Case!

2009-08-29T11:24:00.003-07:00

I had to borrow a sewing machine while mine was in the shop. Turns out the bobbin case was never taken out and cleaned under. After I was done quilting I turned the quilt over and noticed that a tons of fuzz from under the case was on the back of my quilt.

I opened up the the machine and cleaned it out. It was nasty! Can you guess where my label will be?

Sweet Quilt for My Sweet Niece

2009-08-29T10:48:00.007-07:00

My sister is having a sweet baby girl in November. I am so excited to have a little niece finally. I have an adorable nephew from my other sister and now I'll get a niece. My sister doesn't like pink so coming up with quilts that had little pink and that were still girly was fun.

I fell in love with the Katie Jump Rope fabric from Moda and was so excited when I found a charm pack at a quilt shop. I paired each charm with an off white to make 2 half-square triangles and put each set of HST together to make diamonds. The back and the border are Soiree by Moda. I love the polka dots!

Below are pics of the quilting I did. I am getting a little bored of meandering and straight stitching. I decided to branch out and tries loops. I LOVE IT!!!! For the border I did curved lines with circles along the way and a circle in the corners.

Overall this quilt is a hit in my house. My hubby loved it so much he said I should keep in case we have another one soon. If I kept every quilt I made and loved we would have to have 10 more kids!

All done

2009-08-27T21:04:00.003-07:00

All done! I love it!

Friendship Swap Update

2009-08-25T11:33:00.007-07:00

I got my swap partner!! I am so excited! I checked out her blog. Oh, she is so talented! Her quilts are beautiful, I love the colors! I almost feel like mine isn't good enough for her!

On mine I wanted to do something artsy, which I never do! I went into my scrap bins and pulled out a stack of blue for the sky, a yellow for the sun, a whiteish for a cloud, and green for the grass.

For the quilting I meandered in the sky and spiked to look like grass blades

After it was done I embroidered vines and put a bunny and flowers on.

I'll finish it up in the next couple of days and post a pic!

Blogger Background

2009-08-24T10:39:00.005-07:00

And here is a great website on how to make your own background.... http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/blog-secrets/144-how-to-make-your-own-background.html

For now I am using some of the free ones from:
http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/
http://www.sassyfruitstudios.com/
http://www.delightfuldots.blogspot.com/
http://www.leeloublogs.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

New Look

2009-08-12T21:37:00.002-07:00

I stumbled on this site: http://everydaymorgan.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/make-your-own-blog-header/ and learned how to create a banner. I love it! Now my blog feels personal! I thin I'll keep playing with it but for now this works!

Drop Dead Diva

2009-08-10T09:36:00.003-07:00

I loved last night's episode of Drop Dead Diva (Lost and Found, ep 5) : "Deb is only 24 but faces Jane’s 32nd birthday on the horizon. When she takes on a pro-bono case for a man who was wrongfully incarcerated and freed 10 years later, she realizes she has lost of eight years of her own life. Kim and Grayson must defend a man who created a website for married couples looking to cheat. "

Grayson and Kim have to defend a guy who's website it set up to assist married men or women in finding someone to have an affair with. The owner of the website is being sued by a wife who was recently left after her husband had used this website. At first I was really worried about the case that Grayson and Kim had and I was worried that the writers were going to make it all about how silly people are over "something so little as a broken marriage". I was very pleased that Grayson did not like his client or what his client did. I liked that he was disgusted by him. It seems like everywhere you look on TV marriage, monogamy, and fidelity are mocked or belittled. I was pleased when Grayson said that he believes that we are made to be monogamous and he planned to always be with Deb. He was upset that her death had ended their relationship and his dreams of their life together.

Kim played a woman who had only seen a mother who had many marriages/boyfriends and was wary of marriage. I loved the end when she told her client that she believed in "the sanctity of marriage". Sanctity of marriage!! So often you only hear that term from conservatives or being said snidely. Here was a tough, professional woman saying she believed in the sanctity of marriage, one man and one woman for the remainder of their days!

All in all I love this new show. I love how Deb-now-Jane has a heart and is learning to see things through other people's eyes. It is all about finding the justice and the good in people.

Friendship Bag Swap

2009-08-04T17:12:00.003-07:00

I've signed up for a new swap! I love swaps! It is so much fun to get a name, to read what she likes to do, find out what she likes, and then start to put together something for her! The gals over at The Quilting Gallery have put together a fun Friendship Bag Swap here. Deadline to sign up is August 20th. We'll each get our swap partners name and then we make a little bag about 5" big. Gonna be so cute!

If you want to join, hop on over to http://www.thequiltinggallery.com/!

Enjoy!

Old Red Barn Co Quilt Along - New Border

2009-06-20T10:48:00.003-07:00

While I LOVE the yellow fabric with puppies, elephants, and baby chicks it just didn't feel right on the outer edge of this quilt. I cut it down from 4" to 1 1/2" and added a red border. Looks much better. Some of the puppies and elephants are still showing too! I was goign to use the yellow fabric on the back, but I think I might save it for another quilt.

Old Red Barn Co Quilt Along

2009-06-18T10:57:00.005-07:00

I've been following the quilt along at Old Red Barn Co and love what some of the ladies are doing. I decided I was going to use up some of my fat quarters for a baby quilt rather than yards of fabric for a big quilt. Since I didn't know at the time what my sister's baby was going to be I decided to make it kinda boyish with some really cute fabric I got while camping in Williams, AZ (see close up on bottom pic). I figured that since i have a girly quilt started at home that a boy one would be ok. This way I can keep one or the other for other people who have babies.

The quilt along has been fun and I love reading the comments and checking out other people's websites. Really some amazing and talented woman out there. Check out these:
Quilternity's Place
Teeny Tiny Quilts
A Stitch and a Prayer
Sugar and Spice

And many more here.

French Twist, Half Down

2009-06-18T10:51:00.003-07:00

Molly loves to have her hair half up/half down. I hate just letting her go to school with it just hanging in her eyes or just being held back by a headband. I try to pull it back and do something with it or at least add a bow. the last couple of days I have been doing a French twist/roll across the top of her rather than down the sides. It looks really cute and she loves the side pony. the second time I did this we did a reguar twist the whole way down rather than letting it hang down like it is in these pics.

Watermelons!

2009-06-18T08:45:00.002-07:00

When we left for camping last Thursday our watermelon plant was blooming. We came home 4 days later and found several of these:

Now this one is the size of a football. We've been home for 4 days. I can't wait to eat our own melons!

Deal or No Deal

2009-06-09T10:41:00.002-07:00

So moms seem to be in this save-on-everything craze. Man, more power to ya. I just don't think I can do it. I mean I CAN do it, but i don't want to hunt around and run around town to say pennies. I think it is awesome awesome awesome that people can do it. My buddy Christa is amazing. her goal is to feed her family of 4 by only spending $100 on groceries a week. At first I thought, ack, no big deal, easy peasy. Then I thought about us. Matt and I typically spend $10 a day on lunch for the two of us while at work. We order pizza 1 or 2 times a week ($25 a pop). Right there that's $100. Doesn't even include 7 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 5 dinners! I admire Christa!

I ran accross this website today online http://www.5dollardinners.com/. Such an awesome idea! I find stuff like this and get really inspired to do it. I do it for about 2 weeks and then fizzle out. I just am so exhausted after working and picking up the kids from school and day care that making dinner and stuff isn't at the top of my list (laundry doesn't even make it in the top 100!!). I need someone who is gonna kick my butt and make me stick to it. Hubby is too nice and cares too much about me that he is willing to just order pizza so I can take it easy. How about I quit to stay home and clean and cook. I wish I could afford it. Maybe if I have twins, right Christa?!

Quilt Along

2009-05-28T19:28:00.002-07:00

Been feeling kinda blah around here. So I read about a quilt along over at Old Red Barn. Debating... Should I? Shouldn't I? I have a billion things I want to do, but I know have 3 day weekends all summer.... I have a few friends that are asking for quilts and this looks like a fun, fast, and easy one. Plus there is a random drawing for a Janome. Goodness knows I need a new machine... I think I might just do it. I know my chances are slime to nuttin' but who knows! The contest gods may shine a light down on me!

Under Construction

2009-05-23T17:07:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to change my template around. Please bare with me while I try to figure out what I want. So much fun!!

Matching Gardening Tools Tutorial

2009-05-23T14:53:00.009-07:00

Part two of my Mother's Day gift was garden tools that not only matched each other, but match the fabric of the apron as well.

The kids and I went in search of a small shovel, small cultivator, a spoon and a fork (I mostly use spoons and forks in my squarefoot garden). I found a two-pack of forks and a two-pack of spoons at the 99 Cent Only Store and the shovel/cultivator at Wal-Mart for $1 each.

Supplies needed:

Gardening tools with smooth handles

Mod Podge, matte

Foam brushes

Rotary cutter/mat or scissors and measuring tape.

Here's what I did:

1. I measured the circumference and the length of the handle. Mine came to approx.

3" cir and 4" length

2. Cut a rectangle the length of the fabric by the circumference plus 1/2". Mine was 4" (L) X 3 1/2 (C).

3. Using the foam brush, put a line of mod podge down the back of the handle. Place fabric on that line and smooth it out. Keep putting down glue around the circumference of the handle until all fabric is glued down.

4. Apply another coat of mod podge to the top of the fabric. Let it dry for 15-20 and add up to 5 layers allowing it to dry in between application.

5. Enjoy using them!

Tip: if you are making more than one tool measure everything first. Taking the largest measurement cut a strip of fabric the largest length and then cut down from there. I think for all 4 tools I used less than half a strip of 4 1/2" fabric.

Between the apron and the tools I used 1 yard of fabric.

Garden Apron Tutorial

2009-05-18T16:00:00.008-07:00

My mom and I are hooked on Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. So for Mother's Day I wanted to make something that would be fun and useful in the garden. After looking at many patterns and pics online and comparing it to my Home Depot apron I made this apron and a tutorial to go along. Feel free to sharing this tutorial by linking back to this post!

Click here for the tutorial. Happy Sewing!

Coming soon...

2009-05-15T09:19:00.002-07:00

Tutorials!!!!!

They would be done already but I can't find the cord to hook my camera up with my computer. Instead I have been taking pics with my camera phone and emailing them to myself because, you guessed it! I can't find that cord either. I would love to blame the kids, but I think that was all me...

Tutorials to come:
Changing a Word Doc into a PDF!
Gardening Apron with matching tools
Tubetop/undershirt

Pink and Green Swap Take Two!

2009-05-15T08:59:00.006-07:00

Man what an extremely extremely busy last 2 weeks. Last Wednesday was the awards night for our Awana group at church. That takes alot of work on my part. The Wednesday before was our Awana Store/Auction and I was busy spending a couple hundred bucks (of someone else's!!) purchasin stuff for 70 kids to buy. It was so much fun but hours and hours of work. Now that is all over I can def relax! My appologies to Sarah at Blue Castle and Lyz at Modern-Day Jane for taking so long to post!

I joined Sarah's fun pink and green swap. I love love love love swaps. I love to shop for them and then get them. My swap partner was Lyz. What a cute box of stuft I got from her. She sent me:

Mary Engelbreit magnets and a magnetic writing pad, totally needed!!

6 hand made book marks,the one below is my favorite!

Little Women, this is one of my fav movies that I keep meaning to buy!

Hershey's Bliss Dark Chocolate, so needed last night!

Pink and Green Wind Spinner, looks great in our backyard!

Thanks again to Lyz and to Sarah!

Emily

Prettiest Pic Ever

2009-04-27T20:35:00.002-07:00

Our house finally sold. One year and 2 offers falling through. Half the asking price. But it is gone! PRAISE GOD! We can sit back and relax. We were considering forclosing in the next few weeks if it didn't sell. God always comes through like this. Why do I doubt!

100 Top Tutorials

2009-04-19T19:20:00.002-07:00

Here are the top 100 most downloaded/checked tutorials of 2008:
http://thelongthread.com/?p=2021

This will keep me busy!

Blitz it!

2009-04-11T16:35:00.002-07:00

Today I set aside time to Blitz-It. Basically I made a list and stuck to it!

Replace garage lights
Patch hole by garage door and put in a door stoper
Fix downstair's toilet
Take apart pool
Patch hole in master bath
Patch hole in Mol's bedroom
Paint all patches
Fix kids' shower curtain.

Matt fixed the garage lights and supposedly fixed the toilet (still seems off to me...). The pool we couldn't do because it was raining all day. All patches are done and drying, will paint later tonight. I am heating up the hot glue gun now and will fix the curtain when it is hot!

I even had some extra time and finished Mol's Easter dress and started the cover for my aunt's mixer. Whew! I did some cleaning and organizing in my sewing room. Clayton and I hauled one of the big shelves upstairs (hence one of the needed patches) and I now have a bunch of stuff on it. Starting to look pretty organized to me!

Duck Tape Dummy

2009-04-09T10:29:00.006-07:00

My sister Olivia and I made Duck Tape Dummies (aka DTD) this past week. I've been wanting a dress form for along time, but just never wanted to spend the money on it. Livy's brilliant idea was to make DTDs. So I did some research and found the best method ever at Mimi Goodwin's blog : http://myraida.blogspot.com/ check under Tutorials on the right hand side. The video takes awhile to download and it is long, but you have to watch it all. Her hubby shows you how to form it over all your curves. Mine looks great! The first pic is of it "naked" and not stuffed. The second one is stuffed and clothed.

I found out the measurements are correct to mine, but she is perfectly round in the tummy. Almost looks preg! So I am going to try to cut up a seat cushion to see if that helps even her out.

2 funny things:
1. I saw that several people were naming theirs so I decided to name mine Ms. DreamSpank. According to a Facebook quiz I took, that would be my stripper name! hee hee

2. I keep walking downstairs at night and jump just a little because I think someone is standing there watching!

Pink and Green Swap

2009-04-05T20:08:00.004-07:00

Long time ago I was really into doing swaps. I think at one point I was doing 4 at a time! Man did that get expensive, but it was so much fun! I recently started thinking that I would like to jump aboard another one, but didn't really know where to look. Then, lo, and behold, Sarah over at Blue Castle decided to host a Pink and Green Swap. I was so excited because I was in the pink and green mode: Molly's Easter dress is green with pink flowers, I just did an all pink quilt, and I am making a green and white quilt. This swap seems to meet my needs for green and pink.

My swap partner is Lyz. Hi Lyz! I already have some ideas on what I want to send, but I guess I can't post that here in case she is looking! I'll take a pic before I send it and post after she gets it. I am excited to do the swap and excited to see what type of things Lyz likes.

Happy Swapping!

Yumy Lettuce

2009-04-03T10:03:00.003-07:00

Our 8 leaf lettuce plants are going crazy. I have been having salad at least 2 times a week. I love it. When we pull some off I swear the plant doubles the amount of new leaves overnight! I've been dying for lettuce wraps and I am thinking that I'll let it grow like crazy this weekend and we'll have them on Monday or Tuesday.

I got a new widget! I've been following this blog: http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/. She has created a widget to show off your love for Square Foot Gardening. Get your own here.

Enjoy!
Em

Phase One and Square Foot Gardening

2009-03-30T18:43:00.004-07:00

Well, Phase One of sewing room redo is done. I've painted both book cases and put fabric on the one. I am hoping that the amount of fabric on my shelves is at least MORE than half my fabric. I think I'd be embarrassed if it wasn't even a dent in my stash. So here is the photo of my sewing room closet sorta-after:

Now onto my Square Foot Gardening!!

Matt and I started to garden at our new house (like 80% of the nation started this year!!). We had no room at the old place, so we said, and now we have plenty. My father-in-law has a huge garden and sent out a book he bought over 20 years ago. Squarefoot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, squarefootgardening.com. Really awesome book that kept making me think "duh, why didn't I think of that!"

So now our plans are to SFG instead of just picking an area and plant everything we have there. My dreams of grandeur are like the dreams I have in my sewing room. Who knows where we'll end up ;)

Our garden (pre-SFG) is going strong with tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, garlic, cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, lettuce, and 2 carrots (out of the whole package). Garlic and potatoes are supposed to be harvested on the 15th. We are excited. I am afraid that are huge garlic plants will mean itty bitty bulbs of garlic. I hope not!

Back to my sewing room I go!

My Sewing Room

2009-03-27T08:25:00.005-07:00

My sewing room is a mess. Messy, messy, messy! It is the room where I just toss (literally) all my stuff in as I am walking by. To make matters worse, there is no door on that room. We bought it as a foreclosure and it was missing the door. A year later we still haven't put one on. Don't know why.

Our church is moving from the current location to the new church property. This was the week we had to be out. I asked the Pastor's wife if there were any bookshelves I could buy for my project. She said there were 4 and I bought them all up!! The green ones will be stripped and painted. The 3rd one is leaning but will be perfect when we use the staple gun to put the back back on. The last one is in perfect condition and just needs to be wiped down. The shorter ones will go in the walk in closet in my sewing room. I think the good tall one might go in my bedroom for my books, not sure on that. The leaning bookshelf will either go in Molly's room or in my sewing room to hold baskets of tools.

My sewing room will go from this:

To something like this:

Well, maybe not quite this good! I am working on getting my fabric folded like this and I finally have bins to do the Scrap User's System here. I love this technique and have been paring down my heap of scraps into squares and strips. I've even made one or two quilts using my scraps!

My friends at work gave me a desk that they used for years after someone else gave them one (it is in the middle photo in the set of 3). It is L shaped and the keyboard tray can be lowered. That is really nice because the sewing part is now level with the desk. makes quilting easy!

To Market, To Market

2009-02-22T10:45:00.003-07:00

No I didn't buy a fat pig, but there were some for sale!

Yesterday was Momma's Organic Markert (MommasOrganicMarket.com). My best bud and her sister-in-law run the market and we did a booth together. I ran it while she ran the market. I met some really great people and had a good time. It did make me realize though that there are some extremely talented people there and I am nothing in comparision. I did sell some of my Swiffer pads, my reusable sandwich bags, and my make-up bags. I will be updating my Esty shop (go here) today or tomorrow.

I am hoping to be there next month, but not sure if I will because of Spring Break. All four of us, amazingly, have the same time off. That will be a nice treat!

Have a great day!

Heart Hair

2009-02-13T13:24:00.007-07:00

This was our first attempt at a heart for Molly. I think it turned out pretty good and it was fast.

Here is the second one we did. She LOVED this one! we flipped the pony up instead of down, wrapped ribbon around the hair and came down. After she went to school I had the bright idea to use bobby pins on sides of the heart to keep it from sliding around

Last but not least here is a double heart. I liked this one. But I did the top one wrong and it looks like a pretzel. hee hee.

Her teachers and all the girls loved her hair. I am sure Molly felt like a princess! She is after all!

That's Amore!

2009-02-13T13:12:00.003-07:00

I love doing Valentine's Day with my kids. They get such a kick out of making/ signing their cards. For Clayton we just bought a pack of Transformers cards. For Molly we made butterflies and lillies. She is learning to write and loves to draw hearts and butterflies. The back of her Valentines were decked out with drawn hearts and butterflies.

I think I made DH happy this year. I said I don't want anything or Valentine's Day and that I don't need cards for my bday or anniversary (unless it is a big one). I hate that people fee obligated to spend too much on a card. And I always feel like it is a necessary thing not a thing they want to do. I totally prefer spur of the moment cards. Shows lots and lots of thought! So I think I was named best wife ever because he is forever off the hook!

I don't really care for Valentine's Day now that we are married. It was great at first, but we are so sickeningly romantic together all the time that who needs a specific day? ;) This year again I will make homemade heart-shaped pizza (who needs Papa John's???) for all of us. Kids get a kick out of it and it is Valentine's Day related. I really don't want to be out tomorrow night fighting the lovebirds for a table!

Maybe it was skill?

2009-02-03T09:55:00.003-07:00

Matt wasn't at home, on his futon, eating chili. The Steelers won. Maybe the game did have somehting to do with skill.

The Fate of the Super Bowl Rests on One Man

2009-02-01T12:56:00.002-07:00

Sorry, Kurt. Sorry, Ben. That man isn't either of you, it is my hubby! Apparently every Super Bowl that Steelers have been in my husband has been at home wearing his jersy, waiving his terrible towel, making his chili. That is the only way the Steelers win. Has nothing to do with the players or coaches. It is all Matt.

This year we are going to my parents' house and having tacos. Cardinals are gonna win!

New Business Cards

2009-01-31T18:58:00.004-07:00

My best bud Christa ordered business cards for me a few months ago to go along with my etsy shop. I was soooooo excited. Then I had to go and change my email address because I was having issues with tons of junk mail. Thinking nothing of it, I changed it. I just recently realized that I needed new business cards. So I spent some time at VistaPrint.com. I love the stuff I am getting. Of course they offer a ton of free stuff for you with your logo and info. Problem is that it costs to ship and I was greedy!!! After adding just about every free thing there was my shipping was about $20! I guess $20 isn't bad for all that, but I didn't want to pay more than $7 for shipping. So I had to cut most out. I am down to labels, a pen, a few sheets of stationary, and bus cards. Maybe next time...

New Books

2009-01-25T02:12:00.000-07:00

It seems like the last two months have been really great for getting crafty books. My favorite is Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. My mother-in-law gave me a gift card and a generous stranger gave me an extra coupon so I was finally able to buy this much-drooled-over book! I have made several of the items in here (Bird Ornaments and Cutting Corners) and plan to make the Little Bits quilt for my son for his birthday. I am in love with this book. The cutting corners was really fast because the quilting was a continuous line quilting. Made me think "Duh! Why have I never done this before!!" It took me all of 30 minutes to quilt a baby size one. Next I want to do a continuous line in a circle. That involves a compass and I don't have one... yet.

My next favorite book is the Button Girl one. I love all things buttons and my friend really hit it home with this one! Merry Christmas to me! The same friend found Learning to Quilt and Machine Embroidery in her stacks of books and gave those to me as well.

The last one I received was the 24-Hour Quilt. Really nice, basic quilts to do fast fast fast. I got this one from http://www.paperbackswap.com/. That is a great website! Sign up and tell them haighfamily1 sent ya over!

Christmas Presents to Make

2008-12-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

I love this scarf idea. My friend has some eco-friendly jersey cotton that she bought and never used so I think I am going to make up a bunch of them for her to sell at her farmer's market that her and her sister-in-law started/run. I think I'll make my kids each one out of fleece. We'll see if they actually wear them. If I make a pink one I know Molly will wear it. Clayton will only wear it if he won't feel embarrassed. When did he go from 2nd grade into highschool???

Smart Way to Do Hair

2008-10-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

I am a working mom. Molly is NOT a morning person by any means! So doing hair before school or church is not always easy. It dawned on me today that I should do her hair roughly like I plan to do for the next day and then the next morning take apart half of it and redo. It keeps the part down the middle (or wherever we decide!) and goes back up faster and easier than if doing it from scratch.

Tonight we did one I found on a blog (all I've done so far is from other people's blogs). The little girl had 4 brais in front. The middle two crossed over to make an X on the back and then they are pulled into pony tails. Molly and I decided we would put curlers in the main ponies so it will give it some oompf tomorrow.

On a Roll

2008-10-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

Molly has been so patient with me doing her hair! I love it.

While my side roll is nothing like my mom's (she did a French Roll), I like what I did.

I divided the top section into fourths and put them into loose pony tails. Then I rolled one side down until I reached the second pony. I combined those and rolled them down to the main pony tale. I repeated the on the other side and then did a twist with the rest of the hair.

It keeps it out of her face which is nice for her.

Lady Bug Bags

2008-10-01T17:02:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of the lady bug bags I am making for my sister's wedding in two weeks. I have to make 3 of these and 4 different ones for the boys. She is having a kids' table and each kid is getting a bag filled with fun stuff to keep them occupied. It is going to be fun!

First Hair Attempt

2008-09-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Here is my first attempt on doing Molly's hair. It starts at the top and criss-crosses on the way down. It would be better if she would stop squirming! I found great pics and directions here. I've seen it at other blogs but never thought to make 6 pony tales and then braid and cross....

Our First Post

2008-09-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

I am starting this blog as an online journal for me and my kids. Miss Mollu is 5 and Mr. Clayton is 7. Growing way too fast!