i have to say...

the "big" snow

Today seemed like a perfect pumpkin carving day, not only because it is 2 days away from Halloween, but also because it is cold outside.  Brrrrr!  The kids ended up with 3 handsome, laughing pumpkins and I ended up with a bunch of roasted pumpkin seeds.  I am pretty sure that I got the good part of that deal.

We had expected a foot of snow, but the storm passed us by, for the most part.  We did get a few inches and that made for some good fort-building material.  Aubry was surprisingly diligent in stacking the walls of her tiny fort.    When she wants something, she goes for it!

The boys were, well, boys and spent some time throwing snow at the garage, just for fun.  The used up a good patch from the lawn before their arms got tired. Now our garage looks like it has polka-dots on it.

I have officially finished my quilt and next week I will be here with pictures.  It is good timing since the baby is coming this weekend. 

There's nothing like the last minute, is there!  :)

cookies and a snowy day

Yesterday I tried Terri's yummy apple cookie recipe.  The kids liked them and weren't even aware that they were healthy (I used whole-wheat flour).   I am not above sneaking good stuff into my family's food. 

Today I am hoping to start machine-quilting my baby quilt. I sure wish I was one of those crank-em-out types who could get these things done quick.  right now.  i'm done. It's funny how running a fabric store makes it hard to find time to sew.  Silly, eh?

According to the weather forecast we are going to have heavy snow today.  The kids are crossing their fingers that this is true.  The boots, mittens and scarves are all still packed away so I may be crawling up into the attic to retrieve them.  It's worth the effort to secure some free time for myself while they pelt each other with snow balls.  You have to take these opportunities where you can find them!

I hope your day is a good one!

fallish things

fall just wouldn't be fall without:

caramel apples--hard to eat, but oh-so-good

apples in general--i still have a pile waiting to be sauced

buttery, yellow sunshine in the afternoon

crunchy walks

chattering teeth in the morning while i run

hot chocolate after morning lessons

sweaters in the morning, t-shirts in the afternoon

my desire to knit something even though i have failed at this numerous times--can i sew a pair of socks?

the face that tells me she doesn't want to wait until after lunch to eat her caramel apple:

have a lovely fall day!

even if your pile of leaves is small....

....enjoy it! 

Rake it up, stand back and make a run for it.

Have a great weekend!

possibilities

I've been playing around with Photoshop for a few minutes each day and I love it!  Simply awesome!

Well, simple is probably not the word for it since I have no idea what I am doing, but I can sense the possibilities.  Yes, that's what I meant to say.

Isn't that what life is about?  Possibilities?

The picture on top is the "after" picture, the picture below is the "before".  I think that the "after" picture is more visually interesting.  The colors make me look.  Since I have stared at the picture for so long, it is hard for me to gauge whether it looks fake or not.  That comes with time, I suppose.

I have decided to start a newsletter for Fresh-Squeezed Fabrics.  You can sign up on my sidebar.  So far I have one subscriber--ME!  The newsletter is another area of possibility for me since I have no idea what I am doing, but a desire to try it out.  The letter will be low-volume--you won't get an inbox full of emails from me, I promise!  But I will surely let you know when new items arrive and when I am having a special sale for my customers.  Don't miss out!

Have a lovely day!

dream cars

While we were driving in Colorado Springs this weekend I noticed that we were driving directly behind my dream car: a '65 Mustang convertible in the loveliest shade of turquoise.

"Hurry up, Honey!"

Of course, my hubs was willing oblige me by stepping on the gas so I could get  a shot of this dream-mobile.  Can't you just imagine driving around on a bright, sunny day in this beauty?  I would even let my hair down to blow in the wind and I would worry about the tangles later:

After a while we came across this little cutie.  No, this is not a dream car for me, but I couldn't help but smile when I saw it.  We waved at the family in the car when they noticed we were photographing them. 

It's a BMW:

When I was in high school I thought it would have been the height of cool to tour my Southern California hometown in a Nash Metropolitan. 

Yes, I was strange as a teenager.

Now I think these cars look perfect for transporting a gang of clowns, the circus kind.  My pick of colors was pink and white at the time, but turquoise and white looks nice too:

Some dreams are best when they don't become reality.

What I drove in high school was a powder-blue Volkswagen Squareback that felt like the tires were going to pop off when I went over 45 miles per hour.  Dang, that was a fun car as long as I stayed off the freeway.

What about you?  Are there any cars that make you smile when you see them driving by?

sewing seeds

***Edited to add women's skirt tutorial links.  Thank you for directing me to these, ladies!

Back in May we collected lots of beautiful handmade skirts and new pairs of shorts for my friend Kimmie's daughter to take to Costa Rica and distribute.  The organizer of that missions trip has asked Kimmie if we can collect skirts (no shorts needed this time) once again for a trip coming up in November.  Even though this is late notice I felt that since the organizer asked, we should see what we can do.

"Sow the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you."---Hosea 10:12

This time the mission will take place in Temuco, Chile and will focusing on ministering to the Mapuche Indians.  None of the people are taller than 5 feet, so we can focus on smaller sized items for women and children.

If you would like to  help, please leave a comment so I can give you the address to send the items to.  The final date for collecting skirts is November 1st, so we will need to be quick on this one!

Here are some links to skirt tutorials:

Twirly Shorts

Tiered Skirt Tutorial

Easy Skirt Tutorial

Lazy Days Skirt TutorialTwirly Skirt Tutorial

Drop Waist Skirt Tutorial

Women's Swing Skirt

Maternity Skirt

Well, that's the scoop on skirts! 

I hope you all have a blessed day!

oh my goodness....

I have been cutting fabric like a mad-woman! 

That is not a complaint, but a successful sale makes a person busy, I tell ya! 

My fabric area looks like a tornado passed through ( the above picture is a "before" picture, and even that is messier than I like it to be) and is waiting to be cleaned up.

My new Elements is calling my name:

This weekend I can play around with that a little bit. I have no clue how to use it, but I figure that jumping in and using it is the way to go.  I even bought The Missing Manual to help me along.  It weighs about 3 pounds and is quite large, but I am. going. to. do. this.  Period.  Someday I am going to be as good as Sandra.  Really, spend some time on her blog and check out her pictures. Simply stunning!

My quilt top is close to being finished:

All I need are some borders and a backing to start the quilting.  The baby is due soon, so I need to get to get it done next week. I love working on smaller quilts because they don't seem as daunting as large ones.  Much more do-able, if you ask me.

Have a nice day!

sometimes you just have to have fun...

...by making caramel corn at 10:00 in the morning.

I am not quite sure if this picture looks appetizing or not, but let me tell you, this is the best caramel corn EVER!  So crunchy and buttery and fattening.  Yum!

Occasionally I like to break out of the we-have-to-be-responsible "mom" mode and just have some fun with my kids.  As soon as the popcorn starting popping, they were surrounding me in the kitchen with smiles.  Apparently this was a long-needed break for us.  Life doesn't have to be serious and healthy all the time, you know.

I suggest letting the kids eat this all at one time, otherwise you will be snacking here, snacking there, all day long, until you realize you have eaten about 10 cups of caramel corn.  Not that this is from personal experience or anything, I simply want to issue the warning.  Just in case.

I hope your day is sweet!

a cold fall weekend

Oh my gosh, it was cold this weekend! We had to dig out gloves and hats and jackets (why are they all too small!?!?) before heading out anywhere and even those didn't help much.  Could it be because just last week it was 80 degrees?

We went on our annual leaf hunt at the riverwalk.  Aubry improvised and used her hat to collect leaves since we forgot bags.  She also held her Chex Mix in there.

I love to photograph my shoes:

This is what everything green in our yard looked like all weekend long:

Still covered in ice this morning, with some fog to help things out.

Hello, Mr. Sun, where are you?