My Sleepy Valentine

I am writing this late. I just washed a bunch of laundry (well... Mike washed a bunch of laundry and I sort of helped fold it) yesterday and I was looking at the place mats that I made last week just in time for our Valentine's Day dinner. Seriously, I finished about one hour before.


I decided I wanted to make these as soon as I bought the Alexander Henry fabric a few weeks ago. It took me just a bit of time to find the stuff I wanted to coordinate it with. The piecing was easy peasy! I just did 3" strips of the hearts, 2 1/2" strips of the pink and black, and 1" strips of the white. I sewed them all directly to the red flannel (I bought 10 yards of it on the last JoAnn's after Thanksgiving $.99 flannel extravaganza) that I was using as a thin batting. It gave it the perfect amount of quilting. I backed them in a nice rosy pink and then did a piano key stiped binding. They are cute. I only got three done, because I calculated 3" short on the black and white binding. Good thing the Van Wagoner family is only 3. :) The unfinished was thrown on the WIP pile and will hopefully be done by next year.

We had a great dinner. I was in charge of dessert and Mike handled the rest. Boy, did he out do himself. Mama Mia!


We had a beautiful salad, asparagus with Parmesan cheese, and steak (no, those are not salad plates, the steaks were that huge). I also rolled my very first sushi. These were just simple rolls... cucumber, avocado, and crab in a delicious garlic sauce. Yummy. And, mine don't look so bad... not good, but not bad.


Cohen didn't last very long. He didn't want anything we were eating, so he ate yogurt and chicken nuggets. Delicious. He was, however, quite excited about dessert. I made brownies, topped with ice cream and hot fudge. Of course, after all that food, Mike and I saved ours until about midnight.

This is Mike (sorry I put this picture up - your blog premiere) announcing dessert... look at the excited kid in the background!

He is now heavily concentrating on eating all of it.

The rubbing of the eyes.

So drowsy he can't handle it.

What was left of his dessert.

Mission aborted. He put up a good fight against his giant brownie. This actually worked well for us because Cohen's early bedtime allowed for a nice, quiet evening. We had a great Valentine's day. We didn't buy gifts, just sat around the table and enjoyed each other... oh, and ate WAY TOO MUCH.

We have a winner....

But continue to leave comments. Someday I'll be like those magic bloggers that can announce a freebie and 100+ people comment. Wouldn't that be great??


T... you are the winner!! Email me at lori (dot) vanwagoner (at) gmail (dot) com and send me your address. Also, because our son's have the same name, HE WINS, TOO!

Marshie is from homestarrunner.com. Homestarrunner.com was the first website (besides my email services) that I visited on a daily basis. I love it, still. It is so juvenile. How embarrassing? But, everytime I eat a marshmallow I say, "Sup, Fools?"

According to wikipedia...
Marshie is infamously - and intentionally - creepy. His commercials have featured non-sequitur rantings, disturbing close-ups, inappropriate sound effects, faintly desperate pleas and even a behind-the-scenes nervous breakdown. He also tends to announce his appearances by uttering hackneyed slang phrases such as " 'Sup fools!" and "Oh snap!" in a heavy-handed attempt to convince kids to like him. However, this technique is essentially nullified by Marshie's innate creepiness, leaving the acceptance he seeks safely out of reach.

Oh wait - maybe I shouldn't love Marshie so much... I promise, bribing you to comment was not my attempt to convince kids to like me. Eeeps!

Anyway, congrats T! Send me an email and I'll get you a little goodie.

Sup Fools? Marshie Here...

Look what I got in the mail from Adrienne. Aren't they just the cutest things. They are the softest little stuffed marshmallows I've ever seen. In fact, they are the only stuffed marshmallows I've seen. But anyway, they are great diet food! Chewing on them might actually burn calories. ;)

I've received a lot of good mail lately. I've been participating in the Sweat Shoppe Swap on Craftster.org. The thing is, you make 5-10 identical items and then you get 5-10 items from others. It is a crazy time, but so worth it. My loot is awesome!
I got this pouch, and this pouch, and these Valentines, and this tool case, and these cards, and this little robot and rocket ship, and a little crochet monkey face (sorry no pics) so far. I still have stuff on the way. Yahoo!

I also got this cutest little pear pincushion from Stacy's shop. She has a great free tutorial so you can make your own, but I couldn't help myself. This little red velvety fruit was WAY tempting. My picture is way junkie. Look at her shop for a better view. Thanks Stacy!


This is the blanket I made in my alone time last Friday. It turned out pretty good and was a hit at the shower. I guess because I come from such a handmade family, I thought that is what you do. I forget that not everyone uses their free time to make things. I love the "where do you find the time to do this?" comments. I MAKE TIME TO MAKE THINGS. I got all of the fabric at JoAnn's. I hand stitched around the flowers and then did the binding with my machine.

I know there aren't a lot of you out there that read this thing, however, for those of you that do I have a little trivia. If you know where I got the title of this post from, I'll make you a prize and send it to you in the mail. Just post a comment with your best guess. Heck, if no one gets it, the best guess will get a prize in the mail. You all have a week! Good luck!

Moments of Silence

I just feel I need to make mention of the horrible occurrence last night at one of my favorite places in Salt Lake. An 18 year-old gunman shot up Trolley Square last night. You can read more about it here.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of the families of those who where murdered and to those who had to witness such an awful event.

I'll post my wonderful Valentines Day placemats I made in the safety of my own home last night tomorrow.

Alone. ALONE. Alone.

I am so wierd. I long for quiet moments when I am alone and I think I will get a lot done. Mike is off playing with his buddies and Cohen is already asleep. I have great plans to finish a few projects. However, I am watching What Not to Wear, eating Oreos and Milk, and checking email. I have a baby blanket that needs a little more work and it needs to be done before 9:00 am tomorrow. YIPES! I don't know why I can't just buckle down and get the projects done. But, I am much more productive when I have to multitask. Okay... I'll go finish the blanket. I think i am going to cheat and machine bind it. I've already hand stitched the rest, but it is crunch time. Plus, the recipient can't sew or quilt. Will she really know the difference? I'll post pics by the end of the weekend.

I got soul but I'm not a soldier

For a lack of a better title, now you know what I am listening to. My office has been so empty lately, that I decided to ditch the earphones and just turn up the speakers. Woo. I love it. However, when our box salesman came in I got a little nervous and embarrassed because I was listening to "Why Me Lord?" by Johnny Cash and he asked if I was in a sad mood today. Haha!

So, Mike just called to let me know that the wireless high speed Internet is installed and working. Yahooo! We've been mooching free Internet access from the University of Utah for the last four years or so, and suddenly we were shut off. What the? Okay, it wasn't sudden and we figured it was bound to happen. You see, the U is so nice and lets all enrolled students have access to their network for F.R.E.E. It is dial-up and it is always extra slow because I am sure there are quite a few kids using it, but it was FREE. So, the key to getting access to the free Internet is to be enrolled in school. Whelp, that disqualifies us right there on account of I graduated December 2003 and Mike graduated December 2005. We've just sort of been waiting for it to happen. One day while trying to log in, I got the "You no longer have access to this network." Oh well. It was good while it lasted, plus we got an extra year out of it. I am sure we'll eventually adjust to our new $40/month bill. Eek.

I am excited, though. I won't have to do all of my uploading of piccies from work (I'm sure my boss will be stoked about that, too) and I can sit and read your beautiful blogs at home in the wee hours of the morning (between the gym and work when all I can hear is snoring) while eating breakfast. I wake up at 5:05 am every day so I can meet Genell at the gym. I've been doing this for the past 2 years and I love it - although I love it more during the summer than winter. My favorite time of day is when the workout is over, I am dressed and showered and I can sit and eat my breakfast with towel around my head. It is about 7:20 am.

Although I am used to my schedule, yesterday I was soooooooooo tired. I had to leave work about 3:45 pm because I was literally dosing off while trying to format Supplement Facts labels. It just wasn't working. I went home and hurried to clean up Cohen's train set and then turned on HGTV and promptly fell asleep on the couch. I woke up just after 6:00 pm and wondered if it was morning. I then put dinner in (one of my 30 premade meals - veggie lasagna) and fell back asleep watching Design on a Dime. Mike and Cohen rolled in just after 7:00 just as the oven timer went off. We ate and then put together puzzles then put Cohen to bed. I kept falling asleep while Mike was reading. Mike had to wake me up to put me to bed and it was only 9:00 pm. Sheesh. The alarm went off at 5:05 am this morning and I was all better and ready to go. I was just so tired.

I think it is weird that I didn't make anything yesterday. A day without crafting seems so unfulfilling. However, obviously, I needed the sleep. But I did make this cute little guy on Monday night.


It is a surprise for Lori. She doesn't know it is coming (unless I just blew it). She's had quite a few past weeks. First her grandfather passed away and then she fell down the stairs and broke her foot the day after her husband went out of town for the week. Poor thing. The picture doesn't do this little man justice. He is brown and pink with a yellow beak and eyes. If you look closely, you can see my reflection in the (his) right eye. I love his crazy eyes. I got the idea from browsing your blogs, adding a cute pic to my wists, and then having Ginny make me one for the owl swap. I guess he could be a pincushion if he wasn't so cute.

I think I've yakked on long enough, even though I have so much more to say. Tomorrow I'll post from home now that I don't have to wait 20 minutes for one picture to upload to flickr. YEAH, again!!

Simple Gifts

I love decorating and crafting for Valentines Day. I don't know if it is the colors, the candies, or a naked cupid flying around, but I just love the decor. I'm not super big on the acts of Valentines Day. As a young single woman, I always thought it would be such a great day when I finally snagged me a nice mate. I would be showered with gifts, flowers, and a delicious meal. Now that I've snagged my mate (how horrible does that sound?), I am more concerned about using the money to pay ahead on a bill or saving up for that new muffler (blech - I hate car troubles) that I've always wanted.


My friend Lindsey and I got together a few weeks ago and made these for all of the people that we love (Kim - close your eyes. I have a pack of these at my house that I have yet to bring you). They are a very simple project. The instructions are as follows:

1. Gather Supplies
A. Staz-On Ink in desired colors
B. Sheets of small tile (they are glued to mesh for easy laying. I got mine at Home Depot)
C. Rubber or Foam Stamps
D. Clear Sealer (I used a spray by Krylon)
E. Magnets (make sure they are strong enough to hold tile)
F. Glue gun and sticks
2. Pop tiles off of mesh backing and wipe clean with damp cloth
3. Stamp away ensuring that each layer dries before the next is applied.
4. Spray with clear coat. I'd imagine something like Mod Podge would work, too.
5. Glue the magnets to the back.

EASY PEASY JAPANEASY!

We wrapped them up in tissue paper and put them in cellophane bags. I added a bunch of confetti to the bags to add a little color. Then, I tied them up with pink and red mini rick-rack. I gave some to my mom, my MIL, grandma, my sisters, and a few friends that I cherish. I also kept a few for myself of course.

Who needs diamonds?

I think I took the "no baby" news well... don't you? Haha. I went on a little binge yesterday after work. I thought I'd stop by JoAnn's on the way home because I needed about 1/2 yard more of the camo skull fabric for some swaps. But, you'll never guess who I saw while browsing the isles...

I was so happy to see two of the beautiful prints that I have been coveting from your blogs for so long sitting happily on the shelves. I am pretty sure they were excited to see me, too. They had their arms open, and I had a 50% off coupon, so it was fate. Yahoo!


They are so beautiful that I don't even want to cut them up. The hearts will be such cute, and yet nontraditional, Valentines Day pillows. I bought a few yards, so I'll probably make a Valentines Day purse for myself, too. And maybe some headbands for my sisters and nieces, and... and....

On the sale table I found this weird cotton (polyester??) lacy stuff for only $1/yd. It is machine washable and everything, so I think I'll make a simple A-line skirt out of it. It will look so cute over a dark brown satin. So cute I can hardly stand it!


Then, this red and white stuff was looking rather appealing on the shelf too. So, I grabbed a couple yards of that, too. And the gray and charcoal corduroy was 70% off so I jumped on that. It is a great combo and I would like to make some pieced pillows or something. But they don't really match anything I have, so I'll be scouting out my friends decor. Do any of you have any need for something red and gray?


And then, I just bought this weird green stuff. The stripes are actually green and navy, not green and yellow. When cut into strips (I made a headband last night) it resembles those horrible square ties from 1982.


Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I haven't fabric binged in a long time and boy did it feel good. To keep with my resolution to not just buy fabric because it is a 'good deal' I had a project in mind for all of these before I got to the checkout counter... except the weird stripey green. However, I justified all 2 yards of it by making at dinky little headband when I got home. Haha. I win. Fabric really is my best friend when I need it to be.