Cousins Reuniting

While in Missouri for the weekend we were able to reunite Micaela with 5 of her cousins that were all born within a 12 week time span.  It was fun to see how grown up they all are now that they are seven!  All the kids looked at the camera, smiled, sat still and had their hands in their lap!  Look at the difference!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July from my family to yours!

We started the day by attending the Hometown Parade in Beautiful Historical Downtown McKinney!  Be safe everyone!

I'm back!

Yikes, I did not mean to be away for 10 days plus! 

I had to attend the Keep Texas Beautiful conference in San Antonio all of last week and then I blinked and four days have gone by!
Can't believe it's already July 2nd!

Trying to be a hip Mom

This weekend we went to the Allen USA Celebration on Saturday.  This is a huge event in our neighbor city that draws 75,000+ people.  We went last year and loved it.  This year the big band before the fireworks show was The Bangles! I listened to The Bangles all through high school and loved them, I was so excited to share the music with Micaela-- our 7 year old.

I tried to prepare Micaela for the concert by downloading their most popular songs off iTunes so she could become familiar with them.  She loved Walk like an Egyptian, Manic Monday and Eternal Flame. 

When the concert started she begged me to take her closer to the stage. Trying desperately to be a hip Mom, I walked Micaela all the way to the stage to see The Bangles up close. We had to tip toe around thousands of people to work our way to the front.  In the end, we got about 15 feet from the stage.  Here's a picture snapped by someone in the crowd,  that's Vicki Peterson above our heads.   (you can see we are pretty close). 

Micaela was so excited to be so close but I burst her bubble when I had to say no when she asked me to put her on my shoulders. No way I could handle 50+ lbs!   I am hip but I am not that strong...lol.  Thanks for letting me share!

Micaela sews again

This weekend we were at the fabric store and Micaela asked to buy fabric to make a dress.  After much discussion, we settled on some smocked fabric that could easily become a dress.
Here she is sewing the single straight seam along the back.

Here she is during her fitting...  She wanted the dress to be strapless.  I am a mean Mom and said no...lol. 

Here she is ironing the straps--- remember she wanted strapless.  Not happy, but is thrilled to get the opportunity to iron.   

The finished dress. After much discussion, settled on v straps that attached to the dress in the back (she did not want them to tie). Had to bribe her to add ric rak. Embellished with yo yo and button (nuts about yo yos these days).

She looks too grown up, what are we going to do!!!  Nine dollars on fabric, very well spent!

More Sewing Room Artwork

Here is my second artwork addition.

Hard to tell in the picture, but it is 20 inches wide and 12 inches tall.  I have had this idea in my head for several months and finally got around to making it. 

Here is a brief tutorial on how I did it:

• I used a 12 x 20 oval embroidery hoop that I purchased at Hobby Lobby.  I spray painted the oval black. Before I spray painted it, I removed the screw so that it would be silver.
• I cut the sewing machine out using my Cricut Expression 12x24" mat and the Heritage cartridge. I tried several sizes before I settled on this size.  I backed the black fabric with Thermo-web and cut it out using the flip feature.
• When I placed the black sewing machine on the red dot fabric it needed a little something so I decided to mat the sewing machine cut out using white fabric. The single layered fabric turned out to be too transparent so then I backed it with heavy interfacing. I had to cut that out manually because it was too thick to run through the Cricut.
• I did not intend to stitch the project at all, but the fabric didn't seem to stick on the edges.  I did a straight stitch on the white layer and then zig zagged on the black layer. 

• After all of the stitching and adding the heart button, I hooped the fabric, trimmed and glued the fabric to the inside rim of the hoop and held it in place with clothespins to dry.   

Here is how the completed hoop looks on my wall. Thanks for stopping by.

New Sewing Room Artwork

Allow me to share what Micaela drew for me the other day. 

In case you can't tell, it's a sewing machine.  The heart item in the lower right corner is scissors-- I am told.  Isn't this adorable!  I had to frame it and hang it in a prominent place in my sewing room.  Love that girl!  Here it is on my wall above my shelf with my shrimp glasses full of buttons. 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are having a great week!

Owl Needlecase

Eeek, I did not mean to be MIA this last week.  I made it to the Needlecase Exchange at my LQS, Quilt Asylum (last Monday) and the rest of the week flew by!

The Needlecase exchange was fun,  in all the excitement and rush, I barely took photos of the needlecase I made.  I made this owl...

This is a duplicate of the owl I made back in April, the wings open up to hold needles and the pocket holds scissors and other small accessories.   This is an In the Hoop pattern from Embroidery Garden.   I love this grey and pink color scheme.  It's hard to tell in this picture--  the pink fabric has a needle and thread design.  The recipient was a new lady that I had not met before and she was very happy to get my little owl so that was fun.

As I mentioned last week was nuts, during the week I was preparing for three workshops I was coordinating and hosting at work..... Composting, Rain Barrel Building and Firewise Landscaping, chaufering Micaela to art camp and I am getting prepared to go to a conference for a week with work so I have been busier than usual.

I've got some fun projects I am finishing up and I am looking forward to posting them in the next week or so...  Stay tuned, thanks for stopping by.

Oreo Sculpture

Micaela is attending an art camp this summer.  Last week they created with clay..  Today she came home with a 'plate full' of sculptures.  The frog shaped business card holder for me and the 'vase' are quite lovely but my favorite is one of her dog Oreo.

Here is my favorite of all the masterpieces.  Do you see the resemblance?  We do!

She is so proud of all of her creations. 

Thanks for stopping by... hope you have a great day.

Sunday Sewing

We've been so busy on weekends lately.  Yesterday we had the afternoon free and guess what Micaela wanted to do?  Sew!  I liked to sew when I was young but, I don't remember bugging my Mom to do it quite as much as Micaela bugs me.  LOL.  I might need to put a padlock on my fabric stash cause she's bound to get into it sometime.

Micaela wanted to sew yet another pin cushion, aka little square pillow to fill with walnut litter.  She has like 6, one for every season and some of her favorite themes. 

She begged to use my Janome machine instead of hers, claiming better lighting in front of the window.  Maybe we'll move on to pillow cases this week.  Hope your weekend was great.  Tonight I hope to post pictures of my Needlecase Swap at the Quilt Asylum.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Cup Cozy

I am not a fan of coffee but I do like hot chocolate/cider in the winter.  When I saw this coffee cozy on Pinterest, I thought it would be fun and easy to make some for friends and family.

Source: kimberlykesti.typepad.com via Martha on Pinterest

I followed the tutorial by Kim Kresti on her blog and decided to use some strips of fabric I had left over from the pleated pillow a few weeks ago.  Here is the completed cozy flat.

And here it is on a cup (please pardon the dust on my shelf).  I think it turned out pretty cute.  I look forward to making more of these.  These will definitely be teacher gifts next school year.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back to sewing

This week we've had a lot of rain and since I couldn't spend time outdoors, I decided to catch up on some of my sewing projects.   I've been wanting to make a sewing caddy for a while and finally got around to making one.  I used some of the same fabrics I have used throughout my sewing room on other projects, mainly the Sew Now, Sew Wow fabric from Alexander Henry I used on the sewing sewing stool, lamp, cornice and embroidery machine cover. 

The picture is not great, it was raining outside and had very little natural light.  I sorta followed a  tutorial for an ironing board caddy by Sew4Home featuring one of the other fabrics I am using in my room Half Moon Modern by Moda.  I am happy with the way it turned out, now Micaela wants one for her machine.  Thanks for stopping by.

Dallas Children's Theater

We've been back from the valley for more than a week and were busy with end of the school year festivities the first week.  To celebrate the end of the school year my friend Kristi and I took our daughters to see "Diary of a Worm, Spider and a Fly" at Dallas Children's Theater over the weekend. 

The show had great music and was very educational because it profiled not just the worm, spider and fly but also the monarch butterfly, bee and ant.  We sincerely loved it, this was our first time at DCT and we will definitely we back for more shows.

Here are some pictures of the girls with the spider, fly, bee, butterfly, ant. and of course the four of us. 

  Hope your weekend was great.

Cover Ups & Wraps

I have embroidered about 20 of these cover ups in the last couple of months, some for gifts and quite a few orders.  These cover ups are available in sizes from 2-4 toddler to misses so I have made these for lots of friends and family for gifts. 

 Here are a couple of variations...  This one was for our three year old neice. 

These were for two of Micaela's friends that turned 7 this spring.

One of my friends had me make several for teen girls. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Mom's 70th Birthday Celebration

Mom's 70th Birthday celebration was this weekend, we traveled to my hometown of Mission to be there.  Here are some of my favorite snapshots from the party.

The three of us with my parents, I love this picture.

We had two bands for the party...  Mariachis (Mexican tradition) during dinner and another band that played a variety of types of music for dancing.  Here's Micaela dancing and twirling with my Mom and Aunt.  Micaela loves to dance, just like my Mother.

My parents dancing.

Micaela and Troy dancing with Mariachi band in the background!

The cake made by my Cousin Lucy

 Thanks for letting me share. 

Wind Farm in Raymondville

The last few times we have driven to the valley on Hwy 77 we have noticed a windfarm in the distance as we approach Harlingen.  This time we had a little extra time and got off the highway to take a closer look and explore.   

We were in Raymondville-- I've heard of Raymondville my whole life but never really been there. 

 Here we are standing right under a windmill, they are giant.

 There was many windmills under construction. 

It's hard to appreciate how large they really are.  These are pictures of one that is in the early stages of construction.  The blades are very long, you can see Micaela and Troy standing next to them.  The blue circle is part of the base, it was large enough to walk into. 

Here's an article about the project.  http://energyrenewalpartners.com/renewable-energy/sem-massa-pellentesque-massa/.  It was a very cool little side trip on our way Mission.   Thanks for stopping by.

Picking Limes

We are in my hometown of Mission visiting my family for Memorial Day weekend.  While here we will be celebrating my Mom's 70th Birthday.  We had a pre-party party for some of the out of town family last night. When my brother and his family arrived, my Mom gave the girls (both 7 years old) a task to keep them busy.  Here is Micaela and Alyx (brother's step daughter)  picking limes to make lemonade.  

This is one of my Mom's beloved lime trees that produces thousands of limes year round.

Using a stick to reach the limes that are too high.

Here is Alyx counting the limes... I think she is going to grow up to be an accountant because she counted and recounted.

Here are the girls virtually inside the tree reaching for more, you can tell the circumference of the tree is like 20 feet.

The girls picked about 70 limes in about five minutes and there was hundreds left on the tree.

Hope you are having a great Memorial Day weekend, thanks for stopping by.

Hollie in McKinney today!

What a great morning in downtown McKinney, welcoming home our American Idol contestant Hollie Cavanagh!  Parade through Historical Downtown McKinney.

Great parade and incredible concert - that big voice sounds even better in person.

Our Mayor Brian Loughmiller presents Hollie with city proclamation declaring May 26, Hollie Cavanaugh Day.

A street to be named after Hollie.

Hollie during concert, thousands of people in Historical Downtown McKinney.

Great job to the City of McKinney and McKinney Main Street for this wonderful community event. We're so proud of Hollie!  All photos courtesy of McKinney Convention & Visitor's Bureau.
www.mckinneytexas.org/hollie