Gereral Conference Printables for Children October 2011

How to get your little children to listen to at least some of General Conference this weekend? I have no idea... but these printables are pretty cute. I'm not sure if they will really work on my kids, but perhaps I'll try. I admit that in the past I've sent the kids outside to play on General Conference weekend so that I can hear a talk or two. But I think they are getting old enough now that I can expect them to sit through at least one session.


Conference Bingo HERE


Coloring Ties HERE


Conference journal for kidsHERE

My favorite General Conference tradition... pie at my in laws Saturday night after the Preisthood session!

What is General Conference? Find out more HERE.

Sewn, not painted

No doubt you've seen a lot of the chevron design across blogland lately. Most of the pillows and rugs I've seen have all been painted. Well...I do much better with a sewing machine than a paint brush.

Personally I think it was just as easy, if not easier than taping, painting, drying and then sewing. I finished my pillow in a day. If you look closely it's just a bunch of half square triangles. FYI I stared out with 3 inch squares and by backing it with batting and some simple straight line quilting it will be sure to last longer in my home with 3 children.

I backed it with a fat quarter of Bliss flannel. The kids have been fighting all week over who gets to lay on the new pillow, but right now they are at school so it's all mine.

Adventures In Crochet

My mom and I have started taking a little crochet class once a week. Here's a pictures of my first work in progress. I'm totally loving it! I could really see myself spending many mindless hours in front of the TV making dozens of Christmas potholders :)

Here's a bit of crochet inspiration for you...




amigurumi elephant, baby blankets, flowers

New Blog Design

What do you think? In case you haven't noticed, I am not great with computers. I've taught myself how to do this blog from trial and error. I've learned a lot through tutorials online and I'm totally thankful to all those cute-free-blog websites out there.

I had to change up my blog again, something about "exceding bandwidth"... whatever that means. So, here's the new look. Not sure I like the header to one side like that but I'll have to play with it more later, kids are due home from school in 20 minutes and I've been on this computer ALL DAY!

Update: Ok, I think I fixed a few things that were bothering me (at least my header is centered now). I'll continue to work on it some more but for now I'm worried that it's just boring. Perhaps I need to just walk away for today.

Little wooden spools

I found myself browsing a sweet little antique shop the other day when these little wooden spools caught my eye. The owner of the shop had a whole basket full... 1$ each. I could have grabbed the whole basket but I was feeling frugal and rummaged around until I was happy with 5 little wooden spools.

I brought my little treasure home, cleaned them up, dug out some scrapbook paper and little scraps of trim and ended up with these...




They make me happy :)


I was inspired by these from Nanacompany...


...so pretty!

Well I finally did it. I've been saying I'm going to do it for almost a year. I quit my fun little job at the quilt shop. The little job that I looked forward to every Wednesday and Friday evening. The little job that gave me a reason to put on some make up and a new outfit. I needed to. I need to be home with my children in the evenings. The boy started 4th grade today and P started 2nd, and this evening I'm on my way to meet C's new preschool teacher. Last year homework was piling up and things were getting really stressful around here. For some reason it never seemed like it was just Wednesday and Fridays. Sometimes I'd need to fill in an extra shift, sometimes the weekly shopping needed done... some weeks it seemed like I was gone every night. Quitting is a sacrifice for me. I like to work and I like to quilt. But I'm not bitter or angry. I am excited for this school year. I am excited to be around more for the kids, excited to give my mother and mother in law a break from watching the kids, and excited to have some Friday nights to spend with my man ;) One more year and C starts Kindergarten... it will go way to quickly.

P.S. When I got home the night of my last day at work my husband and kids made me this cute cake. I love my family!

P.S.S. The quilting and sewing will continue, as well as the blogging... I've accumulated way to many projects working there the past 4 years.

Ruffles

Aren't ruffles on a quilt adorable? They make this simple little quilt look so sweet and soft.



My super cute quilt model did a great job helping me display this quilt top for pictures this morning!




I have a handy little foot for my sewing machine that will ruffle the bottom fabric while sewing it to the top. This quilt took me no time at all to put together. If you can get your hands on a ruffle foot for your machine I highly recommend it.

I also found this FREE pattern on Riley Blakes Cutting Corners blog this morning. Love the little ruffles in the center of the squares!



I'm thinking about using this cute little stack of Halloween fat quarters with this pattern. What do you think?



Ruffled strip quilt pattern - Gathers & Giggles by Sew Much Ado
Halloween fat quarters - Matilda by Cosmo Cricket for Andover Fabrics