Sixth Anniversary

Yesterday- April 29 was my 6th year anniversary at the City of McKinney.  Time flies when you are having fun.  Never thought this part time job (at the time) would blossom into such an incredible and growing opportunity for me. 

At the time, I just wanted a part-time job because Micaela was a toddler and in preschool a few days a week. 

Now, after several reorganizations, 3 bosses, it's a very demanding full time job where I truly believe I make a difference every day.... Who would have thought?

Ironically, I got to attend the Employee Service Awards Lunch honoring 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 year employees. (My anniversary missed the cut off date so I had to wait til this year for award). 

I have a long road ahead  --but at least I made it the first milestone and have an award to add to my shelf.

Girl Scout Earth Day celebration

Sunday, I was a speaker at a regional Girl Scout Earth Day celebration.  Here is a picture taken during the opening flag ceremony

 

The girls did a variety of rotations after my presentation, my favorite was when they decorated canvas reusable bags with hand prints.

Happy Earth Day 2014

Happy Earth Day! 

 

 

It's this simple ... 'Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the the trees".  Revelations 7:3.  This  artwork by Mary Engelbreit spoke to me long before I was officially in the "Earth Business". I have had this poster framed and on my wall in my offices (in Bonham, Dallas and now Mckinney) most of my professional career. It's not your typical office art, but it continues to be my mantra and inspiration every day.

 

Hope you have a great day!  

She's 9

We can't believe it, she's 9. So much is a blur.  So much is engraved in our minds.  Time really does go by fast when you're a parent.   Happy Birthday to our daughter. 

Happy Easter

 

We hope you had a blessed Easter.

I haven't posted a family picture in a while, so here's one of us yesterday after church.

Troy and I are still the same (maybe a little plumper) but our daughter sure is growing up, you can see she is past my shoulder now...

Thanks for letting me share.   

Bunnies

Happy Good Friday.  

Easter Sewing,,,,  These were born in my sewing room yesterday & today! 

 

I have been meaning to make and mail these all month and I took a day off today finally made them.  

 

I had a hard time getting them to look at the camera and stay still!

The backside has a pocket for $$ or a gift card and a cotton tail.  Once I got started making these, they really started to multiply!

Hope you have a blessed day!

Sweet Pouch Swap -- what I sent

I am finally getting back to posting.  It has been such a crazy month.

This is the pouch I sent to Jane in Australia.  She finally received it so I can reveal. I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  This pattern is by Embroidery Garden, a bit time consuming compared to the other simple pouches I make all of the time, but totally worth it.

On the back I appliqued a big J, I just couldn't let it be blank.  This is the Tuscan alphabet by Embroidery Boutique. 

I added a little signature with my initials and date in the lower right corner. 

The lining was the spool fabric. 

This was for the Sweet Pouch Swap hosted by Ros at Sew Delicious.  I love her swaps, everyone does some amazing pouches. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Sweet Pouch Swap- What I received

Here is what I received from Jane in Australia for the Sweet Pouch Swap.

Isn't the bag totally adorable?  She knew I liked red & black sewing themed stuff and added a cute Texas Applique.  She also sent some Australian magnets for Micaela's collection and some yummy treats, those Tim Tams were delicious! 

Thanks so much Jane, love it all!

 

 

Street Sign Zipper Pouch

Sometimes fabric speaks to me. When I saw this street sign fabric, I thought of only one person it would perfect for... The gentleman who's been a part of the Streets department at the City of McKinney for the last 25 years!

I have worked with this man for the last six years and I have never met anyone more dedicated.  I don't make too many zipper pouches for men unless I know its something very specific that I think they will like.

I got lucky and found cute fabric for the inside too. 

Thanks for stopping by...

   

Baby #5 Pillow

Here's a Fleece Baby Pillow I made for  Mom/Family expecting baby #5...

This family is super traditional and I really struggled with what to make because the family doesn't know the baby's gender and nursery theme is undecided.

This is my attempt at gender and theme neutral-- can't get more simple than this...

I like the idea of number pillows with last name....been wanting to make one of these for a while.



This was for our Girl Scout Troop Leader.  As you can see, the whole shower was green and yellow. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Dutch Iris

These are Dutch Iris I planted in 2012 on the south side of the house. 

Somehow, I don't really remember the blooms from the last couple of years.  I know I planted more than a dozen but this is what has come up so far and I am excited. 

Bird Nest

This is our front door wreath and we've just discovered a bird is nesting.  I've heard this is good luck, I am excited! 

First Bra Zipper Pouch

Daughter is turning nine soon so we are getting to that point. 

When I saw this fabric at my LQS, The Quilt Asylum, I knew I had to get it.  This is the Riley Blake Think Pink fabric. Fabric has push up bra drawings in white, pink and grey on light pink background.  The fabric is part of a Breast Cancer Awareness line. 

M is totally embracing the idea of a bra so this pouch was a hit.  The girl has more handmade pouches with her name on them than anyone I know. 

This could also be a "Save the Tatas" pouch for a breast cancer survivor and is available in my Etsy store.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Front Flower Bed Project

I've had a plan to expand our front yard flower bed for several years.  Finally this year I started.  This is progress over the last four months... from January, to February, to March and finally April 1st. 

While I really wanted to dig up everything and start over, I just don't have the time or want to make the expense so I decided to just add to the existing L shaped bed.

January: I outlined the fill in shape and started looking into removing all that grass from the roots.  The weather here has been so unpredictable that the good weekends I was busy and the weekends I had time for this the weather was horrible. 

February: I hired a landscape guy to start, he came and removed all the grass for me.  I thought I could take it from there.  It was bitterly cold that day.  Later on that month, I discovered a bag with about ten different varieties of daffodils I had not planted.  So in a moment of desperation, I planted them in the bed on Feb 22 because I had no where to put them.

March: I planted a few perennials in between the bulbs and decided I really wanted a stone border.  I also trimmed back the roses in the original L flower bed, removed 2 of 7 bushes and removed a lot of the "Mondo Grass"-- that had taken over the bed-- what a pain in the backside.  I've decided not to ever plant the stuff again. 

April:  On the 1st, I had my landscape guy come back and add the stone around the edge.  We also added a half yard of compost to amend the soil.  Now it's starting to look like something.  You'll be seeing lots of progress in the coming months...

Daffodils 2014

If you have read my blog for a while, you know I am into growing Daffodils. 

The obsession started in 2009 when I started a program for the city where kids would plant daffodils at their schools. 

Since then I have become involved with the Texas Daffodil Society and I am trying to grow many varieties.  Here are some I should have labeled, with stakes-- you know I am kicking myself because I can't find my diagram where I noted what each one was as I planted it...

Flat Makayla

Flat Makayla's Adventures with the Fipps Family in Texas.

Flat Makayla was made by Micaela's 3rd cousin "Makayla" from Missouri. We'll be taking her to as many places as we can over the next few months.  Here she is in San Antonio at the Alamo.  

And here she is with Davey Crocket. 

The Hemisphere Tower of the Americas.

The Torch of Friendship in Downtown San Antonio.
 

Thanks for stopping by. 

**Refer to Flat Stanley Children's Book to learn about the 'flat' concept.

Sweet Pouch Swap

I am participating in the Sweet Pouch Swap for the third time.  My partner is Jane in Australia, her favorite colors are purple and green... and she loves owls.  Here's the fabric I have chosen.

 

Here is a sneak peak of what I have made....  As soon as she receives, I will reveal.  Thanks for stopping by...

Luggage Wraps

This may be my new addiction.  Quite simply, luggage wraps so one can identify their suitcase amongst a sea of black pieces.  I wish they were faster but that satin stitch edge takes a long time and uses a lot of thread. 

These are quilted with a coordinating fabric on back side and fun colored Velcro.  This could start a new addiction with colored velcro which is available in a rainbow of colors.  This particular same was made in Green themed fabric because it was for a friend that is far greener than me who spoke at one of my seminars last week.

Look how cute it looks!  I see more of these in the future.  Hope you are having a great day!

Mardi Gras

We went to Mardi Gras in Shreveport, Louisiana this weekend and had a terrific time.  One of my dear friends lives in the historical district of the city and the parade passes right in front of her house.  We literally drove there and back and were home in 24 hours.  I had not been in more than ten years and hubby and daughter were newbies!  It was especially fun for them.

I tried to explain, the "people are different", "people on floats throw beads at you", "lots of Cajun food" but nothing could have prepared them for....

Parade Vendors.. Look at all this cheesy Mardi Gras stuff.  These carts were going up and down the street. 

Parade Tailgators.  I have many pictures of people like this but this one is my favorite.  Notice the beard matches the gold, purple and green stripes in his hair. 

Here is one of the floats, there were around 50!  It was after dark and very hard to photograph, these pictures do not do the floats justice 

Daughter and Hubby had a great time.  Micaela weighed an extra 10 lbs with all those beads around her neck, poor T had her on his shoulders for quite a while. 

Here we all are after the parade was over and we were checking out our loot indoors.  Look at all those beads.  PLUS, We had an additional 3 bags of stuff...  Micaela of course wanted to keep every single bit of it, who knows what we'll do with it when the newness wears off. 

Hope you had a great weekend. 

Oklahoma University Zipper Pouch

I am adding to my university zipper ouch collection in my Etsy store.  Here is a new one for my Oklahoma Sooner friends.   It's hard to believe there are so many Texans that attend/attended Oklahoma schools... Not sure I get that..

 

The lining on this one is white with black dots, I think it looks cute.

I searched high and low but found the perfect charm for this one.  Look at this darling little stagecoach, I asked my Sooner friends if they approved and I got a thumbs up!

This bag is available in my Etsy store at this link.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/179918863/oklahoma-university-ou-sooner-zipper?ref=related-18

Travel for Work

Spent a couple of days in Austin this week.  I got to do some work with the Keep Texas Beautiful organization at the Texas Municipal League offices. 

It was a cool place to be even though it was work!

My Daffodil Plan

My Daffodil Plan is off to a good start. I planted about 20 groups of daffodil bulbs randomly amongst the front yard grass. The first two bulbs popped up overnight one day last week and are blooming now... many more are coming. So nice to see them amongst the dormant grass.

 

I am going for that Daffodil Principal - Wye Mountain, Ark - Keith Kridler's home in Mount Pleasant  sort of effect.  It's going to take me a while but you gotta start somewhere!

First Daffodils of 2014

My first three daffodils of the year have popped up around our front yard tree.

If you follow my blog , you know I love daffodils.  These particular ones are the first ones I ever planted in December 2009.  It was when I started a program for the city called Daffodils for Schools, we planted daffodils in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. 

Spring is almost here and I am totally ready!   Have a great Monday !

Spring is almost here!

We had a gorgeous weekend in McKinney.  Micaela unpackaged a kite she got from her cousin for Christmas and flew it for the first time ever with one our little neighbor friends. 

 

Look how pretty the sky was/is!

 

She was in awe that it flew so high.  Shame on us for not having done this years back.  Hope you had a great weekend.

 

 

Valentine Zipper Pouches

Here are a few other Valentine items I made for gifts last week.  These are all made with Surrounded by Love fabric by Deb Strain for Moda

I love how they all turned out and the ladies that received them, seemed to like them as well.  Hope you are having a great day.