Fall- Winter Catch Up

Well, I've totally neglected this blog and have a lot to catch up on.  I considered ditching the whole thing, but I really like having a place where I can look back and remember trips, events, etc.  So this post is just a photo dump from fall and winter '14-15.

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend

Our department "Chemistree"

Titus helping with a t-shirt rag quilt that I made for a friend's son.

Quilt pieces laid out

Completed!

Festive Titus

Festive Titus

Festive Titus

Nail art gift

Titus at Mom's house

Christmas with Brokaws

Christmas at Mom's house

New washer and dryer- happy 13th anniversary to us!  Our 32 year old washer finally bit the dust.

Target practice- Adam

Target practice- Josh and Adam

Target practice-Brady and Jesse

Target practice-all the guys

Target practice-Jesse

Target practice-Josh

More to come...

Random Photo Dump

Here are some pictures from the last few months that didn't make it to any other post.

Our poor car after a buck ran into us on our way home from Colorado after Thanksgiving.

Mirror gone, antler hole in the door, windshield busted- no injuries to people or canine :)

Just enjoying a nice day.

A rag quilt I made for my cousin and his wife.

Christmas card display

Christmas with the Brokaw family

Christmas at our house

Ellie, Ben, and June (nieces and one of our nephews)

11th Anniversary

Adam with bow and arrow

Josh's turn

My turn- classy outfit, huh?

Gun time

Baby llama- so cute!

Our neighbor's llamas

Some Christmas Decorating

I saw this idea on Pinterest (of course) and couldn't wait to try it.  We have a large picture on our mantle, but it fell a while back and busted the glass and messed up the frame.  We replaced it with the same frame which left us with an empty one that wasn't quite usable but not quite trash either.  I decided to use it for this project.  Basically, you just wrap a big frame or canvas with pretty wrapping paper and stick a big bow and ribbon on it.  I made this bow, but you could certainly just buy one.  The paper and ribbon are taped to the frame and the bow is stapled to the ribbon.  Cute, quick project! 

Yes, Josh and I collect S'mores ornaments.  I think the mantle is a fun place to put them since they're close to the fire :)

This is our 4th Christmas in this house but only our second tree.  We don't give each other gifts and we often travel for the holidays, so we don't always feel the need to decorate.  We prefer live trees; the Fraser Fir has become our favorite.  Someday I'll get around to making a bigger tree skirt.  I made this one back about 10 years ago when we lived in Oklahoma.  Also our Christmas trees never have a theme.  We just use our childhood ornaments that have meaning to us and add a couple of new ones each year.  Nothing fancy, just like us :)

More Rag Quilts and a Tie Onesie

My sewing machine has been getting a workout lately.  Here are 2 more rag quilts I made for babies of very dear friends. 
This first blanket was for Cassia who lives in Malibu.  I get to meet her this Saturday and spend a week in CA with her lovely family!

Smooth side

Rag side

This blanket is for Baby Silas who should arrive in early February.  We go to church with his parents and they also work at ACU.  This may be my favorite blanket I've ever made, but I say that often :)  I decided to try a brick pattern for the first time, and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. 

Smooth side

Rag side

Silas also got a tie onesie.  I love making these for little boys!  I use Rit dye and the stove top method  to color the onesies.  The stitching stays white and adds a little interest in my opinion.

I have more crafts to share, but I can't reveal them until they've been given :)

Sweater to Purse

My second autumn craft this year involved taking a sweater and turning it into a purse.  I've got several sweaters stashed away for repurposing, but you could always go to a thrift store and find some cheap ones too.  Of course I saw this project on Pinterest and I've been wanting to make one for a long time.  I basically used this tutorial, but I changed my dimensions a bit and used strapping for the handles.  I also added pockets to my lining for my iPad, cell phone, chapstick, etc.  I considered this a trial run because I have another sweater that I really want to make into a purse.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  You can see my one big mistake- part of my lining is showing the wrong side of the fabric.  Oh well- at least you can't see it from the outside.  This is why I do practice runs :)  Next time I'll make the purse a little bit bigger so my stuff isn't so crowded and make the lining a bit smaller so it isn't so baggy inside.  I did break 2 sewing machine needles on this project due to the thickness of the layers, so if you make this be prepared with extra needles!
I am linking this up to a Pinterest challenge on one of my favorite blogs: Young House Love. 

B is for Brokaw

My first autumn craft this year was a big B.  The stuff for this project had been sitting in my craft room for over a year- oops!  It's just a big letter cutout from Michael's and yarn that I thought would look cozy.  This project took a lot longer than I expected.  I had no idea that wrapping and gluing yarn would take so long!  I like how it turned out, but there were a lot of curves that made things a little tricky.  Here it is on our front porch bench with the pumpkin from our garden.  It will probably end up living on our fireplace mantel at some point.

Crafts- The Monk and Eliana's Rag Quilt

Do you have a mom that saves everything you've ever made for her?  Well, I do.  When we were packing up Mom's house, we found a few treasures that I made back in middle school.  I thought you might need a good laugh on this Monday, so I'm going to share my childhood craftiness with you.  I have to say that I really enjoyed art classes growing up.  I was absolutely horrible at everything, but I enjoyed the process.
This first project is from 6th grade.  I noticed my mom had a need.  She would often take off her rings when baking and didn't have a dedicated place to put them.  When pottery days rolled around at school, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for Mom- a ring holder!  Now, I have no idea what caused me to think a FACE would make a good ring holder, but I did.  Mom was supposed to place her ring over the nose of this masterpiece.

Problem #1- I made the nose too wide for Mom's rings.
Problem #2- I painted the face pink which made Mom think it was a mouth with a tongue sticking out.
Problem #3- It was hideous!  Why did I ever think Mom would want to display this in her kitchen?  And what is this supposed to be anyway?  A face with 2 legs with 3-toed feet.  What!?!  

Moving on to 8th grade.  Same teacher, same pottery technique.  Let's see if I improved at all.  This time around, I thought Mom needed a cookie jar.  My vision was to make a chef jar where the head with big chef hat lifted off of the body and the body was where the cookies would go.  Well, I ran out of time and didn't get to make the chef's hat.  So I gave Mom this bald man cookie jar that we affectionately call "The Monk."  Doesn't it look like one? 

Seriously, what was I thinking?  I gave my Mom a monk cookie jar!  As we were packing up her house, we found the wrapped pieces labeled "Monk head" and "Monk body."  Haha!  I convinced her that she could throw these treasures away.  Of course we had to take pictures first, but then they went in the trash.

Now let's jump ahead almost 20 years and see what I made last week.  I promise, I'll stay away from pottery!
Josh's sister, Christina, is pregnant with our 2nd niece.  She is due on my birthday!  Christina is married to Brady, who is a talented musician that runs a business making custom cases of all sorts.  (http://www.bradycases.com/)  I knew I would be making a rag quilt for little Eliana (Ellie), but I wasn't happy with any of the fabric I saw in Abilene.  So, when we were in NM, we made a quick stop at Joann's.  I was trying to match the nursery colors (brown, pink, and green) but was having a hard time.  Then Josh sees this fabric and says, "How about guitars?"  I said, "For a baby?  I don't think so.  Wait!  Yes!  Absolutely for this baby!"  It was perfect!  The colors, the theme- seriously perfect!  So we picked out some coordinating fabrics and went to check out.  Mom stopped off to check out the remnant stash and found a cute flannel cupcake piece.  It ended up being a better match to the guitar fabric than the one I already had, so I bought it too.  I couldn't wait to get started on the quilt.
Here's the finished product:

Rag side

Smooth side

Close-up of fabrics

I would love to give pottery another try someday, but for now I'll stick to sewing :)  I wonder if this is why my mom taught me how to sew?  Maybe trying to refocus my creativity?  Hmm...

Bless all of you moms out there who truly treasure your kids' "art."