sewing inspirations, quilty aspirations

I found these quilts on film in the fridge. I can't believe how much I love them. I've been drooling over her website all day. I think I love all the white she uses which I think makes the colors pop out more and it just has a cleaner simpler feel to it. I also love how the backs are never solid. Its typically a simpler pieced back. She also pieces her binding which I think is gorgeous. I seriously recommend you go to her site and go through her quilts. I feel inspired.

So I wanted to make a springtime post.

We've really had some gorgeous days but I keep thinking about the newest blooming trees that I don't have a picture of yet. I know it's silly. I'm so affected by the weather around me and just love it. I know you all have your own gorgeous blooming trees around you but some how I always seem to think nothing could be so perfect as this.... til I drive down the road and think the same thing some where else. So instead I'll tell you about Jackson's best friend/little brother/baby doll,that he carries by his eyeballs.

Stinky baby

When I picked Jackson up from the ChildWatch at the Y today they told me they smelt him so they thought he'd pooped. When they went to check him he shook his head saying "no nope no GAS." and he was right. I won't place blame on the side of the family this comes from but you know who you are.

Maybe its the news, maybe its my friends' successes, I'm not sure but I'm feeling a strong need to learn how to save money the coupon way. I've had bad experiences before, leaving the store feeling dumb with my stack of printable coupons (I had printed like 30) but only bought one bottle of honey. I have recently been re-inspired. I just subscribed to my local paper. This is what my desk looked like during naptime. Notice the open 1/2 gallon ice cream. Chocolate is how I deal with stress. I'm terrified of getting burned again. If people have great advice as to how to get started and conquer fears let me know. Special thanks to Robyn and Jeni for their inspiration. Now wish me luck!

I can't decide

So I wanted to make Jackson his own bag for church. Maybe I'm selfish but I didn't want to carry his stuff in my bag anymore. I thought a messenger bag would be a cool masculine bag. After I finished though I thought...but does it look more like a purse? So you tell me does it look like a bag for a 2 yr. old boy or does it look like a 2 yr. old boy is playing with his moms purse?

What does boredom do to you?

So my husband is amazing in oh so many ways. When he gets focused on something it takes a lot to pull him out of it. (I know all of the family is nodding their head in agreement right now.) The problem is he isn't always focused on what he needs to be. Today he learned how to read barcode. It is such a useless skill I don't even know what to say but...."wow sweetie! amazing!" oh jackson...behold your future
but look what I did out of yesterday's boredom.
and yes its a copy of her idea but a million times less cool. i did it for the ymca auction out of random supplies i already had which i was happy about. i'm sick of my boredom habit costing me money!

Go to the Tennessee Aquarium

I know these pictures don't do it justice. But seriously, you should go. It was a million times cooler than I thought it would be.Oh yeah, I touched those! and fed them shrimp.

You know how you go to the zoo and everything just sits there. The aquarium is not like that. Those penguins were constantly diving and racing and swimming. Way fun to watch.

They were laying down looking up at the aquarium.

It is so fun b/c they have several volunteers sitting around at random points to tell you neat interesting details. We loved it! It was gorgeous inside and out!

Reading

So since I've finished school I have once again picked up reading as a hobby. It was just put on hold for... I don't know 7 years or so. I've seen a couple other blogs where they list what they're reading and I always like to look for ideas and so forth. So I thought I would start posting books as I finish and I can leave a few thoughts as to whether or not I liked it. I don't know if y'all care what I read but I do care what y'all read so if anybody wanted to let me know about some good reads either leave a comment or keep your blog updated with good books.

I just finished And Then There Were None. It's a classic mystery. I've never read mystery books. (not even goosebumps when I was little) Generally I'm just not a fan but when you put the word classic in front of anything I'm intrigued just because it has stood the test of time. I loved this book. I have a habit of checking the last page just to see how many pages are in the book and I accidentally saw something that kinda gave it away but I was constantly second guessing myself throughout the book. It's very clean if you don't mind murder. The other book I finished this year was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. It is also a classic. It has two main characters Anna and Levin. I liked reading about Anna and mostly about Levin but sometimes it had several chapters of crazy boring stuff about Levin. It is long and took me like 8 weeks to finish. While thinking about these I thought I'd just mention my favorites that I've read last year or so. I'll only mention my absolute favorites and so my top recommendations. I read Harry Potter (of course), Twilight (of course), Gone With the Wind, like 4 Jane Austens, Uncle Tom's Cabin, These are My Words, Jane Eyre, and John Adams by David McCullough. So most of you won't care but maybe somebody does so there you go.

Projects

So I wasn't going to post this. It's kinda embarrassing how much time I manage to squeeze in to sew. Here are my excuses.

1. I'm project oriented not detail oriented so none of these things look fabulous up close. only from a distance.

2. My husband often works late and long hours.

3. I'm not much of a TV person, especially if Brent isn't around.

4. Jackson is an amazing sleeper. 12-13 hr. nights plus a 1-2 hour nap.

5. Jackson has started enjoying movies more. I really try not to sew while he's up but I'm not perfect and its easier to get things done like cleaning now because he can play by himself better than he used to. So I kinda feel guilty about his one now that I put it in writing.

6. I only have one baby. So y'all pray that we'll have another so my sewing machine can rest again.

With no further ado here are my most recent projects minus the laundry bag I made Brittany. (I forgot to take a picture. mainly because I was finishing it in the car as we drove to her house on her birthday.)

growing big

my how things change