Ozark Hills 3rd Annual Shop Hop

Well, today I went into the local quilting shop looking for a good backing fabric for a Pledge of Allegiance panel I have. Well when I went to check out, she told me about this Shop Hop they were doing this weekend. You go around to 6 different quilt stores in the area and get your "passport" stamped. Then your name is entered into a drawing for some pretty cool stuff. I'm wondering if it would be worth it for me to go and try to win something (because 1. I'd probably want to buy something at each store and 2. I'm not sure if I wanna drive around by myself to areas I know nothing about because Tom might be too busy Sat to go with me).

As for the #1 reason, I bought another stencil and a cute "Little Red Hen" quilt pattern on top of the fabric at the first place! LOL I'm such a sucker for cute things!

The Prizes are:

*~* Grand Prize *~*
$300 in fabric and/or supplies (Consisting of one $50 gift certificate from each of the six participating shops, redeemable at the issuing shop.)

*~* 2nd Prize *~*
Choice of Prize Quilt Kit from any one of the six participating shops. All Prize Quilt Kits will be entered into the drawing.

*~* 3rd Prize *~*
Gift Basket

Plus, all participating customers will receive a free quilt block pattern at each store.



Ugh Decisions Decisions!!!

Devil's Ivy

Ok so I went to Lowes yesterday and finally picked up a plant for my big container. I bought Devil's Ivy (or Golden Pothos) because I always remember my grandmother having this plant and it's clippings in water in her house. In doing research, I found that it is one of the plants that NASA found helps to improve indoor air quality!

I will be doing some clippings here soon so if anyone in the area is interested I'll give you a few.

The Fabric Is Cut!

Ok, so it took me 3 days to cut all the fabric up into the pieces. They are now ready to sew together into squares. YAY! More good news: I found my power cord for my sewing machine! I am so relieved! Anyways, here is the next picture and an idea of what the squares will look like. Since I had two different colors of the character profiles print, I am going to make two different squares.

If it's not one thing...

...It's another!

Well, I have come to my second set back. I forgot that I had not packed my sewing machine cord (with the foot petal attached to the cord...one piece) with my sewing machine. I had accidentally left it connected to the power stripe when I was packing my sewing machine in a box. I was probably distracted in the middle of it by the kiddos. I ended up packing it in a different box and now I can't find it! Ugh! So I'll just continue cutting the material up and unloading boxes. Hopefully I'll find it soon.

On top of that, my parents are coming to visit next week and then the inlaws the week after. It will be good for the kiddos to see their grandparents (and good to get a little help/break from them). I just hope we get over whatever funk is bothering us. The kiddos have runny noses and I have a sore throat. I figure it's related to allergies because when I check out our HEPA filter (which I had put in 2 weeks ago) it looked like it had been in there for 3 months! Plus the we were around a house with a small dog and that might have caused some of it too (Gabriel had a runny nose on the way home). Although he wasn't allergic to dogs when we had him tested, maybe he has acquired a new allergy?

Mom's an Army

borrowed from Joan Baumann

Mom's an Army now!

When Dad's away Mom's the Commanding Officer.

When Dad's at home, Mom's the Executive Officer, coordinating and executing actions for the Command Team.

Keeping track of the kids, she's the S-1.

Collecting neighborhood news and relaying it to Dad she's the S-2.

Making plans for the family and training the kids, she's the S-3.

Stocking food and supplies for the family, she's the S-4.

She answers all the family correspondence and makes appointments for Dad, so that makes her the Adjutant.

Worrying about the family budget makes her the Comptroller.

Paying the bills and accounting to Dad for the paychecks makes her the Finance and Accounting Officer.

Looking for a new place to live when we move, she's the Billeting Officer.

Assigning us chores to do, getting us fed, bathed and put to bed; she is our First Sergeant.

Serving food and doing dishes, she's on KP.

Carrying small children, she's an ammunition handler.

Driving the family to all our appointments, she's a duty driver.

Cleaning the house and making beds, she's an orderly.

Cooking like a queen when she goes out with Dad, she's a soldier's lady.

Doing all things well all the time, she's a true "Big Gunner!"

Gosh, Mom's a whole darned Army!

Latest News

Well, some things have changed here. Tom was told instead of him being pushed to the next class, he is now in this one. So he's going to be busy with this classes work and taking 2 classes for his major. He can do it though, it just means our weekends are not as long. So we might only be at FLW until December. It all depends on if the next unit's COL lets him finish his masters here and take the extra shorter schools he wants to. I kinda hope he is able to do this because it would push the time longer and there will be more of a chance for Gabriel to finish Kindergarten at one place. If not, at least we'd be moving during Christmas break so that he won't miss too much. He was told that I have to have the baby after Oct 15th that way he can be given some time off (as if I have any choice in when it will happen).

Well, my first appt here went pretty good. I found out alot of my "problems" were results of the Braxton Hicks contractions. So now I have to keep a better eye on them. I knew I had had a few, but apparently I've been having more than I thought. Apparently I was either ignoring/not realizing the others. Other than that, everything is good. As of my last appt the baby was head down. Now as long as she stays that way and doesn't decide she wants to be like her older sis and be breech (I don't want to have to go through a Version again).

Future Projects With the Other Wizard of Oz Fabric I have

Here is the fabric for the other quilt I plan on making in color.

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Not quite sure what I'm going to do with this yet.

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I have 2 panels of this so I plan on making a large tote with the larger squares and maybe wall decorations with the smaller ones. On the other panel, I plan on making the same large squares into pillows and the same as above with the smaller ones.

Wizard of Oz Update

Sooooo....I realized today that I had only ordered 2 yards of the backing instead of the 4 that I meant. Oh well. I am just going to make this a smaller lap quilt. I have color Wizard of Oz material I got for a second one for her that will be quite a bit larger. I guess it will be a good starter.

Wizard of Oz Quilt

Ok so my camera's card finally decided to work. Here is a picture of the fabric I have so far. I am just waiting on getting a craft table from Lowes (because they have a 6 ft table cheaper than a 5 ft table Staples had) and another one I found when I was ordering the rest that hopefully will match. As soon as I get the table I am going to start cutting the fabric into squares. This is my first quilt that I am going to attempt to make. My mom LOVES the Wizard of Oz so I will hopefully get this done before Christmas! It would have been a good birthday present too, but I don't think I'll get it done in a month and a half. Especially with 2 kids, but Gabriel is starting school in a couple weeks which will give me a couple hours when Katheryn is taking her nap during the day to work on it. Who knows.

Quilt

Ok, so I realized yesterday that I didn't order enough fabric (1/2 yard too short in 4 different patterns). So I ordered it yesterday and it should be here tomorrow. One is on backorder though. I am going to be getting a 6 ft craft table so that I can have room to work. As soon as I get my camera acting better I'll get the first pictures up!

Crafty Group Start Up

So I was talking to Becky, our neighbor across the street and she is wanting to start up a craft group where us ladies can get together and crochet, knit, sew, etc. She was also thinking that we could find some charity organizations to donate our crafts to. Kids welcome! Which is a big plus for me! This is cool because I was going to start quilting (gonna make my mom a Wizard of Oz quilt for Christmas...I'll post progress pictures as soon as I start). So it will be a good motivator for me! I might take turns hosting this since we have a ton of kids toys in the house. If anyone reading this is interested let me know!

Amanda