wandering...

Hello!  today I thought I'd share some pictures I took while wandering around Portsmouth, NH.  I think it was the first time I had ever taken time with my boys to just look at the tugboats & other sights to be seen there.




isn't this mural fantastic?

we made a stop at the Portsmouth Fabric Co., of course ;)




I've never eaten here, but my kids love the name of this restaurant :)

I have eaten at The River House - if you are ever in Portsmouth you must try their seafood chowder.  Best.  Chowder.  Ever.

I'm linking this random tour of Portsmouth, NH up with Cindy - what randomness do you have to share?

on the side of the road...

I saw these giant wood carvings while I was out driving the other day, and couldn't resist pulling over and snapping some photos to share with you all :)

Happy Really Random Thursday!

Fall randomness

here are a couple random photos I took at the fair:



I seriously love this pink tractor!



Forget the pony rides at the fair, my boys rode the camel :)  While they were enjoying the ride, I spotted this fantastic sign hanging on the fence:



it makes me chuckle every time I read it :)

ever since I tried chocolate covered bacon at the fair {heavenly!}, I have been wanting to bake brownies with bacon in them.  Have you ever tried this?

Speaking of baking, I tried making pumpkin lasagna.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.  It kind of left me wanting it to be better, because you could tell it had the potential, know what I mean?  Melting some butter onto the pumpkin layers when I reheated it helped, maybe that is all the original recipe is missing to be fantastic.  {is there anything butter doesn't make better?}  Not sure if I will try again to make it better, since I'm the only one in the house who will eat it.

Now that fall is here, have pumpkins invaded your kitchen, too?   If you have any good pumpkin recipes, I'd love it if you share.  I'm on the lookout for some new ones :)

I'm linking up to Random Thursday!

banishing the ugly saggy old boobs

 You know something?  This has been a really hard post to start for some reason.  So how about I just jump in with the pictures, ok?  :)



This, my friends, is a rice sock.  An ugly, old, stained, came-home-from-the-hospital-twelve-years-ago-when-my-son-was-born, been-used-a-whole-lot-since-then rice sock.  Once upon a time there were two rice socks.  But my dear son attacked them with yarn and scissors and only one survived.

Rice socks are great.  They are all socky and filled with rice and you heat them up in the microwave and drape them over your body and they sooth away your aches.  I like to wrap mine around my neck when I'm achy from a bunch of sewing.

What does this have to do with ugly saggy old boobs, you ask?  Check this out:



that is a picture of my wonderfully helpful doorknob modeling my rice sock for you so you can see how wearing it around my neck causes the rice to fall down to the ends, making them rather large and plump with those knotty things sticking out. 

The problem is, those round, plump ends are sitting on my chest making it look like I've got a second set of boobs.  Really ugly, saggy old boobs {the rice sock boobs that is, my boobs are just fine thank you}.  And those knotty tassel things sticking out make it all rather obscene.

Anyway, I went on a quilt retreat in May and because of all the sewing I'd be doing, I wanted a rice sock to put on my neck if I got all achy - but I didn't want to be walking around looking like I had two sets of boobs. 

Sooooo, the night before I left I was madly sewing this:



my new rice sock  :)   I used a blue flannel from Joanns.  The vintagy floral is so pretty, don't you think?



I sewed across the rice sock, forming four sections, so the rice can't all fall to the ends.  No more saggy old boobs! Just soft, pretty ache relief.  :)

Edited to say: If you are interested in how I made my rice sock, check back in the next week or so.  I'm going to make another and will take pictures and share how I made it.  Together, we can banish ugly saggy rice boobs all over the world :)

I'm linking up to Really Random Thursday!, TGIFF, Whoop! Whoop! Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts, Submarine Sunday

Looking back on April

Here is what I spent April sewing:

 

 1. Easter bunnies for my sons  2. Rainbow Flying Geese Quilt.  3. My first ever Sashiko!  4.  I joined a charm swap, also a first for me!  5. pom-pom scarf  6. 9 and 1/2 ugly {on purpose} string blocks

I have also made progress on a couple quilt WIPs, but they aren't very photo worthy yet.  Soon, I hope :) 

One new quilt was started in April, completely by accident.  No, really, I had every intention of finishing at least two quilts before starting another.  Then one day I was cleaning up my sewing room, and I was thinking it would help clear out my closet if this layer cake wasn't just sitting there unused.  I had that sucker cut down to 5" squares and was turning them into HSTs before it hit me - I just started a new quilt.  Oops   ;)

6 random bits for Thursday

1.  this is the prokaryotic cell model {made of cake!} that my son made for his science class

He does the daily reading, questions, vocab work etcetera at home, and once a week goes to class to do labs with other children.  He has a fantastic teacher {completely volunteer} that I love to pieces!  This is the first cake he has ever baked by himself, and it was delicious!  the recipe came from my vintage Betty Crocker, of course :)   the gummy worms are the flagella, and the rainbow sours are the DNA.  I'd like to think I have rainbow DNA, it sounds so happy, don't you think?

2.  I very much dislike using pins.  I avoid them as much as possible when I sew.  But this week I had a project involving a charm pack of Dream On, some sweet flannel, and five yards of pom pom trim that I just couldn't do without pins.  It took an hour and a half to pin one very long seam, and when I was almost done I noticed the fabrics don't line up in a huge way and I need to take out all the pins and start again!  let me tell you, that one hurt.

3. 


I want to make stuffed bunnies for each of my sons for Easter.  Like every sewing project I touch this week, these are having problems too.  I was supposed to trace the bunny template, then flip and trace it facing the other way.  I didn't flip.  I did two sets before I noticed.

4.  I sewed the binding on my batik geese, but didn't make the binding long enough.  Of course I had it mostly sewed on by machine before I noticed.

5.

I had a great shoe shopping day!  I found these super cheap on clearance.  There was only one pair left, and it fit perfectly! 

6.  I think I finally have both working e-mail and internet again, yay!  {I was without a connection for a little while, and the e-mail has been an ongoing problem for what seems like ages now}

lets go see what randomness everyone else is sharing over at Random Thursday, shall we?

Goodbye, 2012 & Hello 2013

After seeing mosaics and year in review posts all over blogland, I decided to look over my 2012 finishes, too.  I'm glad I did because it didn't feel like I accomplished much, and taking a few minutes to look back through old posts reminded me of several finishes I'd almost forgotten.  You can see all my 2012 finish posts by clicking here. 

Some of my favorite makes are



this patchwork quilt from scraps {donated to the church youth group}



and this quilt for Hands2Help



These pillowcases were a big hit with my parents :)   I think I need to make myself some pillow cases in 2013.  The DP quilt in the background of this photo was one of my favorite finishes of 2012!



I cut into some of my precious Meadowsweet, too :) I have plans to cut the rest of it in 2013

Since the New Year is usually a time for resolutions, I decided on a quilting resolution.

I hearby resolve NOT to finish my WIPs! hahaha!  :)

Happy January!
PS I'll post a Deck the Halls wrap up post tomorrow.  thanks to everyone who linked up & posted buttons on their blog to spread the word :)

a public service announcement

there are two events starting tomorrow I thought you might like to know about, if you don't already

 

I always seem to miss FNSI, so I'm glad to be able to participate tomorrow night.  Basicaly, head over & link up your blog now if you want to join the fun.  Then get comfy and sew, sew, sew!  On Saturday, link up what you worked on.  There might be a prize involved.  I'm going to bribe my kids with a movie so they will let me sew :)

 

 

 

The quilt I'm taking to Festival isn't a new finish, but it has never been on my blog.  Stop by tomorrow to check it out :)



random 10/11/12

 

The other day I took my boys to the park, and all the lamp posts had knit cozies on them!?

 

 



 

 



 

I just had to share the strangeness with you :)

 

 

I have one more picture to share from the Deerfield Fair.  See that pumpkin with the trophy next to it?  It weighed 1843.5 pounds, a world record acording to the sign. {!}

And the cooler fall temps were made a little nicer this week by the first eggnog and cranberries of the year :)

I'm linking up to Really Random Thursday

Go ahead and share some randomness from your own life in the comments if you like :)



Random - Sept 6th

This giant blue crab is outside an area children's museum, on the edge of a park.  See that claw on the right hand side, the one raised up a bit higher?  My kids have to squeeze inside it so it looks like the crab has got them and get their picture taken every. single. time. we come here.  Someday I'll be able to put the photos side by side & watch my boys grow up in the crab's claw :)

Right now, Septemberfest is going on at one of our favorite stores, the Kittery Trading Post.  Basicly it is a week-long sale, but they have demos and events happening throughout the week for free.  {I'm always on the lookout for cheap entertainment}  Anyway, they have had a pool and kayaks set up on their lawn in the past, but I thought it was for demos.  But no, it's for trying out the kayaks yourself!  We all had a blast!  By the time I got in, that big pool was feeling pretty small with four people in kayaks, it was more like bumper kayaks!

that's my Really Random for this week :)  What have you been up to?

Really Random Thursday... on Friday morning

How awesome is that sign?  I love it! :)   It makes me wish I had a Granny Square quilt to go with it...

you've got to smile at a shoe-shaped house :)

I'm not sure these things count as random, though, since we were at Storyland in Glen, NH - great fairytale fun is everywhere at Storyland.  :)

My boys, their father, my Dad, and I had a blast riding swan boats, giant cukoo clocks, antique cars, and all sorts of fairytale inspired rides, but one of the big highlights was definately finding these:

Fried Oreos!!!  if you ever get a chance to try them, do! they are fantastic!  my boys love them so much, they had me take their picture beside the fried oreo sign :)

I tried to get a picture of the inside, so you can see the Oreo, but they were all blurry.  I took three pictures, then I just couldn't wait to eat them anymore :)

I'm linking up to Really Random Thursday - which was so kindly left open for late partiers like me :)

Fugly Fabric & Happy Valentines Day

First things first, head over here for some hillarious Downton Abby Valentines cards {the last one is my favorite}

ok, now that you're back, it is time to announce the winner of the Fugly Fabric! 

Can I just say, Wow!  I had a mental image of myself as the 'wallflower' at the party when I was linking up, because I thought my post would be a lonely one.  I honestly didn't think anyone would want the fabric I was offering up. 

So when I checked the final count this morning and realized I had to get my sons to listen to 53 jokes and agree on a winner, I was a bit worried  :)

But they settled rather quilckly on CarrieM's seagull joke!  Congrats CarrieM!

Thank-you so much everyone who entered!  We had a lot of fun learning new jokes.  If you haven't read through them, you really should  :)

The long-time favorite joke in our home was this one:

knock-knock
who's there?
interupting cow
interupting co-
        Moo!

also fun is the interupting pig, the interupting frog, the interupting car, the interupting thunderstorm, & my favorite, interupting silence.   :)    {the possibilities here are endless}

This was my first giveaway, and it was a blast, thanks to all of you!  And a big thank-you to Lucy for hosting the Fugly Fabric party!

get out your Fugly Fabric!

I'm bringing my Fugly Fabric over to Lucy's blog on Tuesday, are you?

November small blog meet-up

Hello Quilters!  It is Small Blog Meet over at Lily's Quilts today!  And guess what?

My Janome has been getting some R&R this week, so I really don't have anything much to share :)

Should I share a little bit about me instead?  Ok, here you go:

Sock Monkeys creep me out, they always have.
I really love {}'s.  I don't know what they are called, or how you are supposed to use them, but they are a lot of fun :)
Some of the best things about this time of year are pumpkins, cranberries, and homemade soup, don't you think?
I love rollercoasters, but I'm terrified of the ferris wheel - sad, but true :)
I enjoy snowshoeing, and we've already got enough snow to give it a go!
I make a great Alfredo sauce.
I didn't like sewing when I was a kid, now I wish I could spend all day sewing - a bit silly, isn't it?

Well, if you are still reading after this bit of nonesense, you are very sweet, and patient.  Please leave a comment so I know you were here, I'd love to pop on over to your little corner of blogland, too.