A Trip Down Memory Lane
This weekend I visited my hometown in Clarksville, Tennessee. My little sister SuiKim had recently moved there…an excuse to see the little ole town I grew up in. My other sister Yanni met me there so we could have a sisters weekend. I moved away from Tennessee 13 years ago and probably made it home [...]
Highland Park Arts Night
I’ve been meaning to post these photos for a week now! Here is the finished quilt that Siri’s class made for the Highland Park Art’s Night. The kids did such a great job. Here’s the post about it. This quilt will be up for Silent Auction at Highland Park’s Art’s Night on April 8th. It [...]
The Oscars
This is probably the first time I have been excited to watch the Oscars. That’s partially because Anne Hathaway is hosting and because I’ll be rooting for The King’s Speech. It’s a beautiful film. It’s probably the most beautiful film I’ve seen in a long time. Josh will be rooting for it too. So there [...]
Quilting With Kids
Tuesday, I spent the afternoon in Siri’s first-grade class making a quilt with the students for the Arts Night Fundraiser. As it turns out, even first-graders can quilt…and quilt well! Turns out that making a quilt has all kinds of math applications too (shocking! educational AND fun!). We looked for patterns and shapes (parallelogram, anyone?). [...]
Valentine’s Day
Just dropping in for a second to report our very, merry Valentine’s Day. Seriously, my kids made out like bandits…I swear it could have been Halloween! Both were happily going through their candy /valentine cards after school today. I think Flissa tried every sucker and opened all of the Fun Dip a child could eat [...]
Love Nest Flag Quilt – Free Download
After a weekend of quilting, I finally have the Love Nest™ Flag Quilt instructions for you! It’s a such a beautiful quilt (if I do say so myself) and the flags make it fun and modern. I’ll be making a second one this weekend (both girls want one). In fact, Siri liked it so much [...]
And Here I am
And here I am on a Friday night, aimlessly clicking on blogs—blogs of people I heart, designers, artists, and so on…caught in that maddening cycle (that somehow always involves several visits to Facebook and Twitter) of being too tired to leave my computer but not tired enough to stop the endless, nonsensical journey through the [...]
Our New Year’s Eve
Josh had a work trip in Moab last week so the girls and I followed him down there for a little holiday. We were planning on sunny, warm weather—a get-away from the cold of Salt Lake. Unfortunately for us, a storm blew into Utah, and it was just as cold in Moab as Salt Lake. [...]
Reversible Ballet Bag Tutorial
I woke up this morning and ached for a bit of sewing. Just a little. I just wanted a quick little project that would brighten my two little girls’ day. Here’s what I came up with: Using the samples I have from Love Nest™ (due out Jan 2011), I made both Siri and Flissa a [...]
A Chicken Thing
I’m so sad that the weather has turned. There isn’t going to be many days left to chase the neighbor’s chickens around. Well, I should re-phrase—for my children plus cousin to chase the chickens around. I don’t dare pick them up. But as this shining photo shows, Siri isn’t the least bit afraid. In fact, [...]
A Quick Hello
Just taking a quick moment to say, “hello.” We’ve been busily switching around rooms in the house and I’ve been finishing up some great new projects (still hush-hush, I”m afraid. I’ll be sure and let you in on the news the moment I can!). In the midst of the chaos, Josh and I managed a [...]
Love Nest Samples
It’s happy day when fabric arrives at my door. Today it was samples from my Love Nest™ Collection for Northcott™, which should hit quilting shops in January. You may recognize this collection from it’s Scrapbooking Glitter Pad debut at Hobby Lobby a year ago. Siri and I went through the samples trying to decide which [...]
A Sunday Drive
After church this morning, the girls and I headed up into the mountains for a Sunday drive. Our mission was to gather a few autumn leaves for art projects. There may have been much singing of Defying Gravity on said drive up the mountain. Yes, the three-year-old can belt it thanks to a certain episode [...]
Breakfast Outing
We landed at the Blue Plate Diner this morning—our favorite breakfast spot. It seemed like a great way to start Labor Day. We may have indulged (pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, and, um, shakes) and will now be forced into food-induced comas for the rest of the morning. The girls will certainly take advantage of this and [...]
How to Make a Butterfly Chandelier-Free Download
I made this fun little chandelier for my girls’ room a month ago using my Back to Basic’s digital line. It’s been a cute addition to their room, and it was pretty easy to make. Check out the tutorial below. Want to cut it with your silhouette machine (or any other machine that cuts Illustrator [...]
New Beginnings
Ahhh, the first day of school. A little bit sad, but a whole lot of happy. Siri woke up this morning and started getting herself ready (a minor miracle) saying, “I don’t want to be late to my first day of school!” We celebrated with Banbury Cross Donuts and (me) trying to walk it off [...]
Fourth of July Weekend
We love a small town Fourth of July. In Minnesota, we always went to Stillwater for a beautiful old-time Fourth of July with friends on the St. Croix River. A little tip off from friend Deena sent us this year to Huntsville, Utah. On the actual “4th,” we visited the Golden Spike Monument for a [...]
Gigantic Marshmallows and Moose
We’ve been camping the last couple of days roasting ridiculously large marshmallows (My husband says they throw the universe out of balance. My mother-in-law suggests jumbo-sized chocolates and graham crackers should be sold to match these. I think a brand-new box of baby wipes should accompany them.). On the campgrounds, look what we spotted this [...]
A Lazy Saturday
We went to Lagoon (a Utah theme park) and are now recovering. I love theme parks, but a day of rest is necessary afterwards. So today, we are still in pajamas and creating all sorts of disasters. The girls got out the scrapbook stuff and created their own “books” this morning. I’m also planning on [...]
Happy Birthday—Free Download
It’s just a silly, little thing, but worth it for the birthday girl! Print out silly faces of the birthday girl (or boy) and place a birthday hat on their head. Add a toothpick and you have a very fun (and thoughtful) birthday cake (even when your birthday cake is having a landslide problem. Next [...]
Old School Fun-Paint and Play in a Cardboard Box
I bought a dresser last week and, of course, the best part is that it came in a box. After playing with it for a week inside, we dragged it outside to paint it and let the neighborhood play in it. They get to use their creativity and it’s free…man, I love a good box! [...]
Sew Important
My mom was recently in town, and she gave Siri a sewing lesson. It reminded me of when I started sewing at the ripe old age of five years old by my mom’s side (I’m sure not unlike the way Siri was sitting by her in this picture I managed to capture). The amazing part [...]
Funny June Weather
After a few beautiful days, we got this yesterday: Someone needs to explain this weather to me. Today I put in my herb garden. It was freezing and the wind was crazy. Silly me for trying to garden! If you haven’t signed up for the facebook page yet, there’s still time to get the free [...]
A Busy Morning
I always wonder were my days go. So this morning I had camera in hand while we did our “stuff.” Sure, not a typical day for us in some ways (Siri was home from school because she’s had a fever the last couple of days and we didn’t want to infect anyone). And super typical [...]