update, amy butler fabric, and ear tubes

so i took my kids to my school for the dreamgirls music review/talent show last night. they loved it! carter was dancing, laughing, clapping like crazy, and flirting with the girls! clay on the other hand was atypically quiet... you could tell by looking at him that he was observing EVERYTHING and trying to take it all in. you must understand that this school is BIG... the kids are in high school and are BIG... and unlike his rural eden school, the number of black people at my school is BIG! after a while clay looked at me with utter seriousness and said "mom, you know what i have realized? you, my brother, and me are the only white people here". very matter of fact he informed me... i found his matter of factness interesting. he didn't say it as if it were a big deal, or weird to him (which is must have kind of been... it's not like eden is all that culturally diverse). he was just letting me know. it was his observation. if only everyone could be so matter of fact and unbiased in such situations!

on a sewing note, i made these amy butler wallets last night. i didn't have much time by the time i got home and got the baby in bed... by the way, aunt wendy loved her bag and wallet! i just ADORE this fabric. i used every last scrap that i could. so now i have a cute wallet to match my cute purse. and there is an extra one... i have an idea of who it might go to... :)

well tomorrow morning we are off to the hospital for carter's surgery. he is getting tubes in his ears... we have to be at children's hospital at 6 and his surgery is at 8. wow... that's EARLY!!! i can't wait for it to be over so he will not have to be on antibiotics ALL THE TIME!!! so says some prayers that everything will be fine... any suggestions, stories or advice on ear tubes is greatly appreciated!

fort stead

so i have actually been doing a little something productive the past 2 days... sunday i spent an hour or two cutting things out. i cut out gerry's aunt's purse and a matching wallet, the 2 purses a co-worker ordered, two amy butler wallets, and a few other random wallets as well. last night i even started making aunt wendy's purse! it feels good to get back in the saddle again!

on another note, this past friday night i was apparently absolutely exhausted... i fell asleep snuggling with clayton on the couch around 9:00. i woke up a while later and told clay to go right up to bed. he got up and i immediately fell back asleep on the couch. when i woke up a while later to go to bed, i found him sleeping on my living room floor...

there are many details here which amused me. 1. he created this structure silently... i slept through him building it! 2. look at the end near his feet... he brought his truck circle rug down from his bedroom and put it at the "entrance" to his fort. 3. he has his "punkyouter"* (computer) next to him (notice the anal retentive placement of the mouse) 4. he has his "punkyouter" case on the other side of him, just in case he needs to take his business on the road with him. 5. then you have his rocking chair set up with a book in case he feels the need to do some light reading. finally, 6. his clothes for the next day are neatly folded and waiting for him on top of his "punkyouter".

why is my kid so weird??? i think he gets it from his dad!

well, i have plenty of sewing to do... you can guess who i will be spending MY evening tonight! :)

* as a speech therapist, i NEVER encourage kids to say things the wrong way. i have always yelled at family members who encourage the kids to say words wrong. but... clay has spoken so precisely since day one! this is his one and only word he doesn't say right, and i have to admit... IT'S SO CUTE!!! every wednesday night at dinner i ask him what special he had in school that day because i love hearing him say punkyouter... ok, so i'm a hypocrite!

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! :)

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!!!