Progress!

We got the new windows put in the front of the house last week!  It's amazing how much better the white vinyl looks than the old painted greyish-blue wood, and they look so pretty and new.

And the others.....

Today my friend Kelly is watching the kids while we put up siding, hopefully photos soon.  Daddy has the day off work, and then we're also getting ready for a yard sale tomorrow- can't wait to clear things out!

This carseat is reversible so we needed it for Andy since he's now just shy of 23 lbs. but still not one year.  It was very dirty and wouldn't wash clean.....

So I used the cover as a pattern, and used some nylon-ish fabric that I quilted to make a new one!  Not perfect, but it looks incredibly better.  He seems to think he's quite a big boy not in the infant seat anymore; and although he's heavy enough to not want to carry it, I miss taking it into the store when he was asleep!

A cosmetic bag for my friend Kari who's going back to Washington.

This was fun to make!

And what I have so far on the strawberry quilt.  I'm working on borders next, but for now it's time to do siding and get ready for a garage sale!

Life

We heard recently that life is what's happening while you're planning something else.  Here's a piece of our lives lately.  I seem to want the house and yard finished perfectly, and our lives to be completely organized; but have found that focusing too much on that is overwhelming.  I'm working on enjoying things as they come, and it's actually fun and less stressful!  We're working on it as we can.

I've made quite a few of these fun little totes for friends and such, and last week Garnett asked if she could have one in blues.  Since she used to live in Hawaii; after rumaging thru my stash and scraps, I decided to use the hawaiian print as the focus fabric and mix in some coordinating prints.

It's strangely put together; but it's reversible, and I keep getting requests for more or replacements to ones that get worn out!

The bottom is square, and the batting lining also gives it some shape.

And a smaller version for Kendra (her daughter).  The larger has 5inch squares, and this one has 4inch squares.

We've been having quite a spell of rainy weather, so inside is where we've been spending lots of time.  Since coming home from convention there seems to be lots of extra laundry to catch up on, and we left with the house a mess; so I've not been doing too much fun sewing.  But I sure have been enjoying some fun little people that won't be little forever!

And a big sister that will be gone to Kindergarten next year.

Andy loves this new toy from Grandma Jill!  It's a frog seat that has three cushy pieces that come apart, but he likes to sit back and swing his legs on the base.  And of course he loves to do it over and over when we laugh!  =)

Along with spring and summer, comes lots more work for Daddy.  We've very glad he has a good job, but he's sure been puting in a lot of overtime lately.  I sure am glad to have such a good father for my children, and friend for myself!  Last week Breanna told me "I'm sure glad you picked Daddy, he's a good one!"  =)

One benefit to so much rain, is that the ground got soft enough to remove the fence-posts in the back yard!  We took the rest of the fence down a couple weeks ago, but the posts were cemented in and didn't want to budge.

Since coming home from convention I've noticed the same thing- good watering of the soul makes it easier to pull out the weeds.  As for the yard, when the rain stops I'll have lots of weeding to do!  =)

Little cutie copying.

It was raining while they were working, but when they came in they were not only drenched- but very happy.

Nothing's quite as fun as helping Daddy outside!

We're going to have a lot of excavation work done, so the fence had to come down.  The yard feels so much bigger!  The fence was for the previous owners' dogs, but we wanted to whole back yard to be one area.  I took this photo out the kitchen window awhile back.  The change in seasons help quite a bit too.  =)

My little helper inside.  The poor kid has been teething since birth it seems, and his clothes are always soaked.  He's smiley and laughs a lot, though, so I guess they're not bothering him too much!  =)

Tonight when everybody else went to bed, I stayed up to cut out a new project.  After so many clothes and curtains and not-so-fun projects that had to be done, I was itching to quilt!  It may not get worked on for a while, but it was fun to dig into my stash for something fresh and new.

No clue yet who this will be for or exactly what it will look like, but I have some ideas.  Originally the strawberry fabric was for a table-runner, but then I made it into a skirt for Breanna- so the leftovers will be used in a quilt of some sort.  It's good to be adaptable, right?