he's a sniffer!

so carter has now realized that flowers smell good. we walked around our house (as well as our neighbor's house) today looking at all of the different plants and sniffing the flowers.

let's just say carter got a little carried away sniffing the flowers... and moved on to sniffing bushes, trees, weeds, the grass, and the annoying little helicopters that right now cover my yard. i couldn't stop laughing! he just kept saying "look id ott!" (aka look at that) and he would run to the next plant and sniff. he would then turn, look at me and smile and give me a "whoa whoa!" and then run off to the next plant.

i was a little worried when we took a little nature walk in the back woods. this is where he sniffed trees and "whoa whoa"-ed every tree stump, pile of leaves, and pile of deer poop that he saw... but luckily he only "whoa whoa"-ed these treasures in the woods as opposed to sniffing them.

ok, i SWEAR i will get to sewing tomorrow... "so much time, so much time, so little to do... wait a minute, strike that, reverse it" can anyone name that movie???

rock collecting anyone?

so the family went camping this fine memorial day weekend at highbanks campground. as you can see clay had a grand ole time rock collecting. we brought home quite the collection! now this camping talk brings me to a few things...

FIRST- to get there we drive through leon and conewango... aka the amish towns. i just so happen to be incredibly curious about the amish and their way of life. i only knows bits and pieces about the amish... i want to know more!!! i know they do not use electricity (which baffles me!) but do they use natural gas? how do they wash their clothes or take a bath? do they have to light a fire to heat up water for such things? how do their stoves/ovens work? fire? can they use propane or some kind of gas for heat? i also have heard that they have a year or two at one point in their life where they leave and experience life outside their culture... where do they go? do they pack up, head off to the city and bar hop in skin tight clothes for a year and then decide to go back to amish life? how does this work??? does anyone know anything about the amish? i'm seriously amazed by them and want to know more!

these little peanuts (who by the way are NOT amish) are from left to right... carter (mine-20 months), grace (my niece-14 months) and annabelle (missy and boogs- 13 months)
they were quite the crew this weekend... just think what they will be like in 5 years! :)

SECOND- i have to say that the campground we stay at is so fabulous... it's great for kids and adults. there is a little store the kids can buy candy, smoke bombs, smores materials, and slushies. there is a great playground and a fabulous pool area that has a pool, kiddie pool, and spa. the campground is perfect for kids to bike ride, and there are little bike jumps all over the place (which we know my clayton took advantage of every single jump that he saw!) we stay in the cabins... 2 bedrooms, 4 beds, sink, stove/oven, fridge, a picnic table, and a really nice covered porch. now i'm certainly not trying to sell people on this place, i just had such a great weekend and i like to throw out suggestions when i can. if you're a boater or fisherman... this is THE place! the water is beautiful and you don't have to worry about catching e coli like you do in lake erie! by the way, carter LOVED the boat... i knew he would like it, but he LOVED it!

this picture is carter and grace... aka frick and frack... aka bonnie and clyde... aka trouble and bigger trouble! they are so much like brother and sister! they beat on each other daily... but i know that they will ALWAYS have each others backs!

there was a pretty good group of us camping this weekend... gerry, clay, carter and i, christiane, dave and grace, hollie, steve, seth and garrett, jen and heffay and madeja, boogs, missy, brendan and annabelle... this was our immediate group. in addition we also had our friends greg, meg, nick and julia, dave and nicky, and a few of their family members as well. there is nothing like camp fires, moon pies (ya know, the sandwiches you make in the sandwich maker in the fire... some people call them hobo pies i think), cold beverages, and lots of laughs. good gravy were there laughs!

annabelle and carter (no we did not match their outfits purposely!) who knew this wagon would be so flippin popular? between grace, annabelle and carter, i think there was a little on in that wagon at ALL times this weekend! :)

i will not bore you with any more camping details... i just really enjoyed my weekend... thank goodness the weather held up!

oh yeah, i really should have tried a little sunscreenhuh? DUH!

my mission for this week? i need to get a purse done for gerry's aunt, 2 bags made for a co- worker, and various teacher gifts for clay's school. he's not exactly a dream to have in class and since he is looping with the same teacher next year, i think i need to hook them up with something nice! any suggestions???

i did it... i cut into the amy butler fabric!!!

i finally cut into my fabulous amy butler fabric last night. i made myself an adorable little purse... i LOVE it! i lined it with canvas to make it a little sturdier... i think tonight might be the night that i make the matching wallet! :)

pennsylvania is an interesting place!

so i had a very interesting saturday and sunday... ***WARNING*** this has absolutely nothing to do with crafting or sewing in any way, shape, or form. frankly, i just had a really good weekend and though i'd share! :)

laura was at my house a little before 6am on saturday morning so we could get on the road for our trip to maryland. after mapquesting, asking the bride, and asking my other "traveling" friends, we decided to take the "short route" to maryland. i was told by my girl amy that the route we were taking was "less than 6 hours".

so we set out... full off coffee and conversation. next thing you know we (woopsie) missed a major exit which would have sent us on our "short" way. well, 47 minutes later we realized that we had traveled a titch beyond the 9 miles we were supposed to drive along the southern tier expressway. we stopped, bought a map (why didn't we have one to begin with??? good question) and i bought a highlighter to mark our alternate route (and laura thought i was crazy to highlight the route... i can't help it! OCD). our alternate route looked like it wouldn't be too bad... it was straightforward. we were taking route 15 almost the entire way! well, route 15 goes through every strange little backward town in eastern pennsylvania. let me tell you, it was an experience. we saw some "interesting things". what kind of "interesting things" you may ask??? well let me tell you...

this for one... so we are driving happily along in a sweet looking little town. there were all kinds of old restored buildings along the road with different shops, restaurants etc. next thing i see is BAM!!! ok, call me incredibly immature, but just like farts never stop being funny, either does the word nipple. especially when it is on a huge sign on the side of a building... that houses old people! i had no choice but to blow a U turn and go back to take a picture. laura wanted us to get out of the car and pose, but i had to decline... i'm immature, but i couldn't stand the thought of some old lady looking out the window with a sigh thinking "tourists mocking our home again..." with sadness. so i took a picture from my car and we drove on... laughing hysterically for hours (literally) and sending it via text to our friends and family.

another interesting observation in eastern pennsylvania was an overabundance of "adult" stores... i mean like seriously, we saw at least 25 of them! no exaggeration!!! the most entertaining of them all had to be "wild bill's" which was located right next to a house of amish people. there they were, in their yard, working... right next to wild bill's!!!

what else... on the way there, laura and i stopped and ate at every available occasion... the best place ever had to be...

SHEETZ!!! i'm not sure if anyone has ever had the privilege to experience sheetz, but it was my first time. let me tell you that it was an amazing experience. you step into what you think is a simple, every day gas station... but then you see the lights, colorful carpet and the TOUCH SCREENS!!! you get to play on the touch screens to order whatever delicacies you would like. let me tell you that their macaroni and cheese was FABULOUS!!! yeah, that's right i ate macaroni and cheese from a gas station! it was quite possibly the most delicious macaroni and cheese EVER!!! if you are ever driving past a sheetz... try it out. you will not be sorry!

there were other various strange people... a rather strange woman in rite aid that had a hard time deciding whether or not we could use the bathroom, random people walking across or along, or in the middle of the highways (yeah, there were a few!) and just a myriad of others that cracked us up at the time, but i can't recall right now. oh yeah, and laura was asleep when we passed the sign for the "landing strip family restaurant"... insert giggle here. oh yeah, and we saw a sign for "bald eagle"... another giggle for those of us who are immature :)

our "shouldn't be longer than 6 hours" trip ended up taking us 9. needless to say we missed the ceremony :( but we did convince the limo/bus driver to come back to the hotel and pick us up for the reception! the reception was beautiful! kasey looked fabulous! her husband (who we were meeting for the first time) was so sweet... and his 3 boys were adorable! the little guy was dancing like it was nobodies business! i taught him the kid n play kick step, the brush your shoulder off, and i'm not sure of the name but i had him adjusting his tie before he broke it down. he was the entertainment for all! too cute... the food was delish, and there was bottled coronas! the coronas made us feel like we were actually on vacation, not just away for the night! we had a great time and it was totally worth the drive.sunday morning we chowed a little breakfast and got back on the road. this time we went the way we were supposed to go on the way there and made it home in 7 hours this time. i still don't understand the "less than 6 hours" crap. i think they all lied! :) the ride home was less interesting... i must say i was happy to see my home sweet home.

well, i think that is about all i have to say right now... sorry for assaulting your eyes for so long :) comments are more than welcome here!!! ***HINT HINT!!!***

i love this amy butler fabric!!!

so i have been looking at this amy butler olive geisha fans fabric for quite some time now. i dont know what it is, but i just LOVE it! tina is a big fan (and purchaser) of amy butler's fabulous fabrics. i always stare at and adore her purchases, but for whatever reason (unbeknownst to me) i never purchase them myself. well my wonderful partner in crime bought me this coveted fabric!

i picked it up at her house yesterday when i stopped to borrow a dress for kasey's wedding. by the way, tomorrow morning at 6am i will be hopping in the car, with my crazy girl laura, to drive to maryland for kasey's wedding. you might remember that i made an adorable brown and turquoise dress for kasey's niece to wear for the rehearsal dinner. i sure hope it fit ok! :)
so i'm pretty excited... laura and i have road tripped to cleveland before and i don't think there was a milllisecond of silence the entire time. i'm sure this time will be no different! neither of our husbands really wanted to go to a wedding where they would know no one... so we are each other's dates. i'm very happy to represent our girl's weekend group at the wedding... no one else can make it because they have all either had babies recently, or are going to have babies very soon. laura and i will have to fill in the void for a mighty fun group of girls... it's a big responsibilty, but i think we will achieve that goal! :)

anyhoo, back to that fabulous fabric... i'm so excited to have it now that i just look at it and rub it everytime i walk past it. i'm not sure what to make out of it... a purse and wallet? a tote bag? should i venture into a dress (from an actual pattern)? anyone have any suggestions? i feel like it is million dollar fabric and i don't want to mess it up! help!!!

tina is FAMOUS!!!

i just want to give some props to tina over at polkadotbug.com for her appearance on tv yesterday! i do admit, i couldn't stop giggling as i watched... but hey, that's just what i do. it's how i roll. the kids and i were outside playing and grilling (i grilled for the 2nd time ever! last time i did hamburgers, this time i did polish deer sausage... it was really good! i didn't even overcook it to death!) and we all went inside to watch tina's television debut. clay was almost as excited as i was. as soon as her face came on the tv he excitedly yelled, "hi tina!" this made me giggle even more believe it or not! i think she did a great job and i'm so proud to be her partner in crime! :)

click on this link and check out where it says buffalo blogs crafting blogs and you can see her fabulous interview! :)

quick fyi, ok there are 3...

so fyi #1... if you click on the "my flickr pix" link on the right hand side of this blog, you are sent to my flickr site which has pictures of everything i make. if anyone sees something they like, get a hold of me. i can also customize almost anything i have made.

fyi #2... if you go to channel 4's website (buffalo's channel 4- aka wivb) and you look at "buffalo blogs" you will find both tina and my blogs under the craft blogs... how exciting huh?

fyi#3... tina will be on the 5:00pm channel 4 news today (buffalo people) for her blogging... how exciting!!!

store bought flowers and new shoes! :)

so mother's day and the indie market are over. i must say that mother's day was FAR more impressive than the market. i think we all had very high hopes that people would flock to the market after a nice sunday brunch with mom... but unfortunately that did not happen. the turn out was quite sad i must say. nothing against mary stephens who runs the market, frankly she is amazing! she is an adorable little peanut of a girl that has 2 kids (which i NEVER would have guessed), makes amazing stationary, and organizes and runs the whole market! anyhoo, the attendance was not what we had hoped for... although it was a perfect time for me to try out some new beers at the pearl street. though i am typically a fan of the blue-eyed blueberry blonde ale, i now also enjoy the don cherry. i also discovered the street brawler stout... i'm not typically a stout drinker, but i saw the word "chocolate" in it's description and got sucked right in. it was DELICIOUS!!! ok, ok, enough about beer (i never thought i would ever speak those words!)

now on to mother's day. i'm a firm believer in the fact that there are ALL kinds of mothers. those to pets, to students, to friends, to other people's children, to yet unborn children, to husbands... you get the picture. i hope that every mother out there had a fabulous mother's day. i myself did... although for some reason, carter decided to sleep in until 8:30 (which he never does) even though i had to be up at 7:00. figures doesn't it? well, i was then given a few of the best gifts ever. clay had planted me some flowers in a chocolate milk carton at school ALL BY HIMSELF... he told me repeatedly that HE did it, not the teacher (god bless her by the way)! he also had made me a fabulous little pinch pot with animals stamped on the side (yep, there was an elephant on there!), as well as a short poem that read as follows...

mommy

clayton

fun

prite (pretty)

tucing (talking)

sewing

ticling (tickling)

i love you mommy

mummy (which he pronounced with a strange accent)

i was shocked to see he wrote talking and sewing... who ME? ha! kids are too funny! what's that saying... out of the mouths of babes? i also was given a STORE BOUGHT BOUQUET!!! can you believe it tina? i then recieved from gerry a fabulous lilac tree (there is one at our house that was planted in the wrong spot long before we moved in that grows like crazy but has NO FLOWERS!!! isn't the whole point of a lilac tree the fabulous smelling flowers?) i also received the best footwear EVER! i am typically a fancy, high heeled, more sexy sandal wearer in the warmer months. my new shoewear is VERY atypical for me...

i have laughed at people in crocs for the past 2 or so years. i have snickered when i saw people put them on their little boys (which i did just last week... got them camoflage ones- they LOVE them!) and swore i would never wear such ugly things. then i tried on my sister in law's crocs a while back. i loved how they felt on my feet, but still mocked her for their ugliness. i bought my mother in law some for xmas and she adored them too. when she would be at my house i was finding myself wearing her crocs around. well, i have to say that i am now a very proud (and extremely happy) owner of adorable pink crocs. funny, now i think they are not only comfortable, but cute too! so mock if you want, but i love my crocs... i want more now! :)

mother's day!!!

so tomorrow is mother's day. i would just like to wish a fantastic mother's day to all the moms out there (whether your "child" is human or animal), as well as those mothers to be!

do you know what else tomorrow is??? yep, the indie market! i made up for my week long procrastination today... ok, the procrastination was longer than a week. so what if i was up until (let me look at the clock) 1:00am finishing? i got stuff done didn't i?

anyhoo, i got a few more bags done, as well as some more wallets. now that i think of it, yesterday i was able to squeak out a few more belts too that i never took pictures of.

well, it is bed time. i will be up early to get my junk together for the market... and hopefully be showered with love and adoration (and maybe gifts!) from my loving boys. i will report back after the market and let you all know if it was a success... i sure hope it is!

once again, happy mother's day to you and yours... :)

suburban vs rural life example 1

so tina was bragging about, i mean showing, the flowers that she was given by her husband and daughter. well i wanted to brag about, i mean show, the flowers that clayton got for me... ok, ok, so tina's are beautiful, store bought sunflowers in a cute fancy vase (she probably pronounces it like "vaaahz"), while mine are lilacs, hacked off of my mother in law's trees in her yard, and stuck in a dry wall bucket. tina's are surrounded by nothing but the glorious sheen of a wooden table, while mine are surrounded by a garden hose that leaks. oh life in the country is so grand! :)

no sewing tonight for me... i'm awfully tired and have quite the headache. besides, i wouldn't be me if i didn't procrastinate until the very end! 3 days until the market!

ps tina- you know i'm teasing you right? you are fancy though... you DO have a fancy schmancy lemon tree in your dining room! i wish i were a fancy schmancy girl! :)

ever feel like smashing your machine with a sledge hammer?

so i finally got back into making some bags tonight... (and by the way, i have just realized that i start just about every blog with the word "so")

i started with this pink and black polka dot bag... simple and easy. no problems... flew right through it! it had been cut out already and just needed to be thrown together.

and then i started on the black and white bag... i have realized that if i spend one evening cutting bags out and having them all set, i get a LOT more accomplished. therefore, last night i spent an hour or 2 cutting out a TON of new bags. i already have a stack of cut out bags that need to be put together, and now add to it the pile i cut out last night.

well, i decided that i wanted to try a new design for a bag. i didn't even try out a muslin prototype or anything like i usually do... i just folded the fabric and cut how i saw the bag in my head. i must say that i enjoy the design... now, i'm not exactly in love with the way i did the handles, but oh well!

now, the wrinkle in my sewing plan... i was having some serious thread tension issues. i must have threaded and rethreaded my machine 47 times! i was getting so frustrated and impatient with my machine that it made me stop and wonder how it is that i deal with kids all day long at work (and then at home too)! i was clenching my jaw so tight and swearing like an osbourne (as in ozzy's family... ever see their show??? they swear a TON! well, the joke made ME laugh... anyone else?) anyhoo, this bag should have taken me less than an hour, but it ended up taking me well over 2 hours. i will let you guess who was not very happy... here is a clue, ME!!! so the bag does not yet have a snap in it... that will have to be done tomorrow when my patience returns.

4 days until the market!!!

by the way, my college roommate mo had a baby boy today... vincent john siftar! YEAH! :)

gotta bounce...

no sewing last night...

so i got NOTHING accomplished yesterday... but for a good reason. i had to take my sister in law into the hospital to get herself checked out... she is 7 months pregnant and was not feeling too fantastic. she didn't want to go, said it was from carrying her daughter aroungd, blah, blah, blah. turns out she was right. but i made her go and get checked out anyway... better safe than sorry right? turns out the baby is doing great (little tre- he is going to be david martin the third... i told her i would call him tre, short for tres) and she is fine too... just a little necessary rest :)

also, i just have to pat myself on the back and let everyone know that i went to weight watchers yesterday and lost 3.6 pounds this past week! i'm so excited! yeah me!

well, tonight it's crunch time... indie market is only 5 days away!!! i have some SERIOUS work to do!

wallets and belts!

so i am always lecturing tina about trying out new things instead of stocking up on what she does so well... and here i am, making new stuff! i absolutely LOVE this wallet pattern! it's so easy and i think pretty darn cute!

gerry and clay went out turkey hunting for the weekend (insert country-hick joke here). i was flying solo with carter and wanted to spend the day sewing today. my niece tori was singing the national anthem at the buffalo bisons game today, so carter and i went for a bit. tell you what, she sang AWESOME! it was awfully chilly though... we left after an hour. when we got home carter was exhausted and went in for a nap. as he napped, i sat down at my machine and rocked out 4 wallets while i watched "mona lisa smile". once i put the boys to bed for the night, i whipped out 2 more wallets and decided to try out some belts.

when i had purchased the wrong size d rings (WAY too small for purses) i had to find something to do with them. i decided to try out some simple ribbon belts... if i had a little girl i would put one on her!

so even though i had a very unproductive friday and saturday (too busy recuperating from jay z on friday, and too busy reminiscing about the jamboree in the hills on saturday) i made up for it in a few short hours on sunday. now i have some SERIOUS bag making to do this week. i have a few sweet fabrics for bags that i really want to get done.

7 more days until the indie market! why do i always wait until the last minute???

oh yeah, ps, tomorrow is my first week weigh in at weight watchers... i think i did pretty well this week. after i got over my hunger angst that is! we'll see what happens!!! :)

last night was FABULOUS!!!

so this has NOTHING to do with sewing... but last night i went with my friend keri to see jay z and mary j blige at the hsbc arena. now don't get me wrong, i appreciated winning free tickets, but the radio station tickets were AWFUL! luckily, keri had a hook up... one of the teacher aides at her school worked there and got us down onto the floor!

i must say (even though i may be a bit biased due to my obsession with jay) it was an EXCELLENT concert! mary j sang her dang heart out with a mix of old school classics and some of her newer hits. and then there was jay... my goodness he was fabulous! he did every song (or at least a part of every song) that he could squeeze in. being down on the floor was sweet... if only we could have gotten close enough to get a good picture. i'm not going to lie, i'm AWFULLY tired today... but it was well worth it! keri and i had a great time... we ate and consumed a few beers at the pearl street (where the indie market is held) before the concert, then had a few cold ones afterwards as well. it was a fantastic time, loved hanging out with an old friend again ;)

well, tonight will be completely unproductive... the only thing i plan on doing once the kids are in bed, is watching what not to wear (LOVE that show) but i MUST get some stuff done this weekend for next sunday's market. wallets and purses need to be produced asap! why can't the days be a little bit longer???