The Marathon Begins

I decided I wasn't going to get anything done if I didn't just finish ol' Harry Potter so I stayed up until 2:00 am this morning and endured. WHAT AN ENDING, EH? It didn't end like I thought it would, but I am very pleased. It was a great read. Then I stayed up another hour thinking about it. Of course the house was SO QUIET and I was sure some masked man was going to come through my closet and get me. Either that or a giant snake. I finally fell asleep watching HGTV "Design on a Dime" reruns.


As you see, I kept my promise of getting baby Greta Mae's quilt finished. Yesterday was a holiday (in Utah we celebrate the Mormon Pioneers coming to the state on July 24) and my MIL had a barbecue. Dinner was running late, so I stitched and stitched while it was Mike's turn to read the book. I think it is one of my favorite blankets so far. The linen type fabric was nice to work with, and there was minimal patchwork, so it didn't get monotonous. I decided to use one solid fabric for the back and I am glad I did. Initially I wanted to make small patchwork on one side and the more solid linen, strip of patchwork, and embroidery on the other. I am glad I simplified and went with one solid piece.

Now that it is packaged and on the its way to Scottsdale, the marathon of other projects must begin. I've made myself a schedule with start dates and deadlines. I can't believe I worked for two years as a project manager. Haha! I've been dealing with deadlines so lazily.

I'll leave you with some fun photos from last night's Pioneer Day celebration. Cohen dared to finally hold a sparkler, but got over confident and gave himself a nasty burn on his neck.


We celebrated at my in law's house with cousins, Aidan & Perry, and Great Grandma Latteier. My FIL, Dave, escaped to the backyard, but I found him.

Have a great week!

It is Harry Potter's Fault!

Because last weekend was unofficially declared National "Read Harry-Potter-Until-Your-Eyes-Can't-Take-It-Anymore" weekend, I figured I need to honor the holiday and participate. HOLY MOLY. I'm not done yet, but MAN has Miss (Mrs?) Rowling done well for herself. I love it so far, and probably will continue loving it until the end. How sad that it is over. Mike and I are sharing the book, so I have to be patient for my turn. I fully expected him to take it on the bus with him this morning, but he left it. I had to physically make myself (I wish I had a wand) clean the house before I started reading. Luckily there was a SpongeBob marathon on TV today. **I can't believe I just admitted that** Anyway, I read myself to a -sort of- stopping point and vowed to finish binding Baby Mae's quilt before I picked it up again. (read: yeah right!)

Cohen's party was fun and he successfully turned 3. With the friends party, and 2 sets of grandparents and good neighbors, we've been celebrating for 4 days. He thinks he is pretty darned special.
I have accomplished one thing today (besides 100 pages of Potter), and successfully removed some toys from his room to make room for the new ones. I had no idea we've been to McDonald's that much. Sheesh. I threw away so many dumb Happy Meal toys. NO MORE! We sat on the floor in his room and he got to decide what to "give away" or "keep". I caught him once sneaking through the donation bag to pull out a Shrek toy.
We've had a great weekend. I can't believe my baby is already 3. Sheesh. Time flies. Now, back to my regularly scheduled crafting (read: Harry Potter reading).

Unexplainable Slump

I am not sure why I've had trouble doing the things I love lately. Perhaps it is because I've been busy doing everything else. It has been a busy few weeks. I am grateful for busy weeks, but I just need a good day of crafting.

I've got a few swaps going on. I am again part of the Sweat Shoppe Swap 10. Sheesh! 10 - I'll tell you this swap is like a drug. You make 10 little things and get 10 even better things in return. It is wonderful. I'm offering pillows again. But, I'm making the recipients choose between Halloween and Christmas themes because I've got a major stash of these fabrics.

I am also doing a Pringles can swap. You shove as much as you can in a Pringles can, and that is all. Both of my partners are from Utah. One is Suzie whom I've known for 10 years now. She's a real, tangible friend. Not just someone I met on the Internet, so I feel like the pressure is on. I met Suzie's sister Aimee on the bus while going to do weekend work in Grand Teton National Park (Near Jackson Hole, WY) as housekeepers. The bus would pick us up on campus and take us to Jackson where we'd work Friday night, Saturday and Sunday doing whatever the resort was short staffed on. The job stunk but the pay was okay for poor college kids AND... best of all, we escaped the Ricks College Honor Code for the weekend. Anyway, Aimee and I were friends at first sight and were pretty much inseparable (except when she sneaked away with Bill-Greg-Dave for a smoke - haha). Anyway, Suzie is fabulous and she makes great clothes. She makes great cookies and she may have kissed my brother, too. :)

I've got 2 dates to the Craftster Homecoming dance and I've only just started their gifts. But, after I finish a baby blanket for Hayley's new little one, I'm on it full-time. Well, as full time as the little man will let me be anyway. Speaking of, he turns 3 on Friday. He wanted a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party with lots of cake and presents. Silly kid. I'll try to post about the party.


I did just finish this great blanket for Ryan and Emily. At the stage in the photo, I was laying it out to see how the strips fit together. I didn't get a finished photo because I was finishing it on the way to the party. It was well received. It turned out really cute. The piecing was all random. I just sewed a whole lot of 3" wide strips of various lengths together and then turned that into a 40" square blanket. I really enjoyed making it because I loved the color pattern.

I need to get my projects finished before Friday because I've got dumb ol' Harry Potter on reserve for pick-up at Borders. After Saturday, I'll be no good for a few days until I find out what is up with Snape. Haha. Maybe I should get a book on tape so I can work while I listen. Hmmm.... I'll explore that possibility. The movie premiere last week was fun. It was crowded and their was a lot of anticipation. The movie itself was just okay.

Cohen just found a squirt gun and is shooting my back over and over. I am soaked. I better go.

Old Toys, New Tricks

Whew. Our apartment is sooooo hot! Our air conditioner just blows the hot air around so I feel like I am back in Carson City playing in our sagebrush backyard. My family moved to Carson City in 1983, right after I turned 5. We lived in a rental on Agate Drive for most of my time there, until my parents sold their house in McCall, Idaho (where we moved from). They built a new home up by the college and we moved in during December of 1987. Before my father could even finish the basement, we packed up and moved again to St. Anthony, Idaho. My poor mother...living in a junky ol' 1200 square foot rental with 5 kids while they tried to sell that house. Then, to finally move into a dream home that was more than twice the size of the rental house, only to be told that she could only live in it for eight months before she would move again. (Whew...what a sentence)

Anyway, the reason I brought up Carson City is that in 1986 my older sister received a Fisher Price weaving loom for Christmas. My mother, who is the queen of sewing, had made her own fabric in a textile class in college and is very fond of weaving. So, she bought my sister a weaving loom and a few rolls of Red Heart and off we went knitting loads of hour-glass shaped pot holders and blankets for Barbie. After a few months, and no more acrylic goodness, the weaving loom found it's way into the closet with the rest of the misfit toys.

Well, here it is 20 years later, and my mom still has the loom YAY! I don't even know what triggered the memory of it, but I think she was quite pleased when I asked about it. (Through all of our family moves, thanks for keeping the good stuff, Mom!) So, while having a nice visit with my favorite Gardiners, I figured out how to get the thing going. It has a few broken spots, but it works. YAY!

I had one skein of this great hand spun wool yarn that I didn't know what to do with. So, I threw it on the loom and got going. It was quite fun and took me about 3 hours to weave a long and skinny scarf.
Too bad it is hotter than Carson City today so my finished scarf just hangs with the others on my hook. I can't wait for fall.

I'm off to finish the organization nightmare that is my fabric. I bought some shelves today so I can be right up with Nicki when she returns from her trip.