Just picked this up the other day at the store.

A total and complete impulse buy.

How could I resist the colors!

So bright, fresh, and lovely, all with the promise of Spring right around the corner.

So basically I’m a sucker for bright and shiny objects?

Someone let BH&G that their marketing dept. should get that raise…

For me, all it took was leafing through a few pages and I knew I was buying it.

Sucker.

But there is a really sweet little quilt in there that I really want to make.

And I think I have the right fabrics somewhere in my stash to make a yummy little slice of pin cushion cake for myself.

How fun to have that tasty little treat to put your pins in.

And the little stuffed mushroom, well it’s just too cute for words.

And of course I plan on making all of these, along with my other projects, in my spare time.

Fool.

What can I say, I have fallen victim to the magic of this magazine. I can never resist it’s pretty charms.

Lately…

-with the plethora of visitors we have had these last few weeks, we finally got to see how easily we could accommodate overnight guests (thanks Anne and Dale for being such willing test subjects!).

-even though every one has been taking a turn being sick, it looks like we are on the other side of it.

-bought a book the other day entitled “Say Ahhh! Finley Pig”. Finley loves it when we read it to him. Now Dylan is calling him Finely Pig.

-I have been at my sewing machine almost daily, either doing small projects or mending jeans, shorts and pants. It’s been heavenly.

-I have been to the Dr. 3 times in four days, all for Mathes and Finley. Croup for both of them, a burn on Fin’s hand, and an infection in both of Mathes’ ears. And despite all of their maladies, they are both still happy, sweet, and not one bit cranky. Go figure.

-Dylan had a great time at the Prom and looked so handsome in his tux. And how did we get here so fast?

-As crazy as it has been these last few weeks, it’s still been very peaceful around our house.

-getting our lawn back is going to be a big project. Stupid, vicious, goathead thorns.

-I want to make pickles again this year.

-Finley is such a little talker, a total drooler, and wishes with all of his little boy heart that he was feral. He just wants to be outside.

-we were supposed to plant our seeds in the little starter pots for our garden two weeks ago. Maybe next weekend? Slacker.

-I still like surprises.

-my sewing table is already piled high and overflowing with fabric and other bags of craft stuff. I need to get those cabinets in here. Pronto.

-I am trying my hand at a few “upcycling” clothing projects. I will post if any of it comes together the way I want it to.

 -I bought some new fabric at my local fabric shop, only to discover a few days later it was by Amy Butler from her ‘Daisy Chain’ line. I love Amy Butler. Still no ‘Heather Bailey’ though.

-my project for today is sewing a little bag for three of my kidlets.

-I have made three crayon rolls based on a tutorial on another blog and I really like them. Cute idea.

-thanks to tax time, we have a new vacuum. So far so good Mr. Dyson.

-we decided to wait until next year to put new flooring on the main floor. Hence, the new vacuum. Also why we are looking for a good carpet steamer too.

so, what’s new with you?

Ok, so I have already had this for about 9 months now, but only recently have had the time and place to really use it and put it through it’s paces so that I felt like I could talk about it with some kind of knowledge. Last June I bought a new sewing machine in an effort to end the frustration I was constantly facing with the lesser sewing machines I had owned before this. I was at my limit, and I no longer wanted to even attempt any of my projects, so after some discussion with Craig I went ahead to try and find a better option. After a lot of research all over the internet, reading many, many reviews, and several long question filled discussions with my very knowledgeable sister-in-law and mother-in-law (both long time owners of sewing machines from the same company), I settled on a Viking Husquvarna.

I chose the Platinum 770 and I was able to get a screaming deal on mine, only paying 1/4 of the retail price with shipping and everything (woo hoo!). I have love, love, loved! every single minute I have spent sewing on it, and my only regret is that I waited this long to get one of these dream machines. It sews through 6 layers of denim like it was butter, it has endless stitch options, it goes all the way up to a ‘6′ in stitch length, and it has so many options and accessories to make my sewing life easier, I don’t even know where to begin. The only drawback I have found as I have used it is the reverse button is really tiny, awkwardly placed, and not all that easy to use (for me anyways). But other than that I love every other thing about this machine, and the reverse button is just an inconvenience, not a horrific tragedy. I also love the many different presser feet you can buy too, it’s amazing what is out there for this machine, the sewing possibilities are incredible. I love this machine so much that I wish I could buy one for each of my sisters, sisters-in-law, my mom, and any one of my friends and family that like to sew. It’s just that incredible of a machine and has made that big of a difference for me when I sew now.

Of course, another happy thing for me is that I have my sewing stuff set up in it’s own room, and I can now close the door and lock my little ones out if I need to so they can’t get into everything like before. It has made my life so much easier to be able to leave my sewing out, and ready to pick up on any project in a moments notice and then leave it again whenever I need to without having to put every single thing away. But I also love that my kidlets can come in my sewing room while I’m working on a project and just sit quietly in front of the fireplace and read or play while I work on a project. Ok, so they aren’t always that quiet, but it’s still a far cry from my previous sewing situation. I really am loving this, and I cannot wait to get the white cabinets up so I can arrange all of my fabric and notions in them and actually see what I have in my stash instead of accidentally stumbling across it by blind chance. Not that it will stop my from buying new fabric, I mean where’s the fun in that?

Craig was released this afternoon without needing surgery (hooray!), it looks like it was not Appendicitis. And while they aren’t 100% certain, the Dr. said it was most likely severe viral intestinal gastroenteritis. Yep, it’s as fun as it sounds. So Craig is home now, happily drugged to the gills with Lortab to relieve the pain, and on strict orders to stay on a clear liquid diet for 48 hours. So all meals will consist of lots of Jello, broth, juice and popsicles for now. And a huge ‘thank you’ to all of you for your kind words and offers of help, they were so appreciated. I am grateful for them, and also grateful we didn’t need to call on you since everything turned out for the better after all. I was feeling so stressed and worried about it, I have never seen my husband in that bad of a state, so it’s nice to see my Craig feeling so much better now and resting comfortably at home. Just feeling relieved and very thankful.

Well, the crazy at our house never stops. We just said goodbye to my awesome cousin Anne and her husband Dale and their 5 kids after a very fun filled visit. It has only cemented my desire to live right next door to her. They were lucky they left when they did though, since Ciel, Mathes, and Craig all got really sick. As in “puking your guts out, burning up with fever, totally feeling like dying” sick. I know, sounds like all kind of fun over here. Ciel and Mathes were on the mend by this morning, Craig however was markedly worse.

He had left the other “fun” symptoms behind the night before, but he had moved on to “stabbing, excruciating pain in his abdomen and side. By this afternoon he was in so much pain he could hardly talk and he was doubled over. After a quick call to the Dr, I set Dylan up to watch the kidlets and I drove Craig to the ER. After several blood tests and a Cat Scan, they still weren’t sure what was wrong, so after 5 hours they admitted him overnight to be observed and they will assess him in the morning to see if it’s Appendicitis, or maybe something else. I had to leave him shortly after he was settled into his room since it was almost 11pm by this time and I was worried about the kids.

I needn’t have worried. Dylan not only had everything in hand, but each of my little ones was sound asleep in their beds after being fed their favorite dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread. Which was also neatly put away in the fridge, and the table was cleared and cleaned. Dylan gets a giant gold star. A sparkly one. With ruffles. And glitter. And his name emblazoned across the front in fancy cursive writing.

So, I won’t know anything until tomorrow, but at least for now Craig is having his pain monitored, and they can keep him drugged to the gills so that he hopefully gets some sort of relief from the horrific pain. And don’t worry, the loving, caring, understanding and sympathetic wife that I am, I made sure to tell him that he’s a total faker right before I left. Hmm, must be love.

I bought a small craft iron several months back thinking it would be useful, and I also bought a small tabletop ironing board so that I could set it up on my sewing table and have the little iron at hand when I needed to press a seam open or anything like that as I worked on a project. I bought a pink ‘Darice Craft Iron’ at my local fabric store, and paid $10.49 for it. I later saw the ‘Clover’ brand craft iron at Wal-Mart for $9.96 and it was almost identical to my ‘Darice’, so the price seemed comparable to me. I like it’s compact, small size, and it has been really convenient to be able to press anything I might need right at my sewing table, but the iron has no temperature setting control so you have no way of raising or lowering the temperature yourself. I still like it though, it does the job, and I think it was worth getting for what I use it for. The only real drawback is that it’s so small, cute and pink, my kids keep taking it when I’m not looking, they to them it;s a toy, a little iron for them to play house with. The good news is that the cord detaches from the iron so they can’t plug it in since I keep the cord hidden for just this reason, so they aren’t tempted to try and plug it in and end up burning themselves. So all in all, a good purchase, and I thought I would pass it along in case anyone else had been considering one of these.

Speaking of sewing…

The ’sew mama sew’ blog had a link to ‘this site‘  for an immensely cool looking bag/purse you can sew yourself with only two fat quarters (one for the outside and one for the lining). Seriously, Rae has got incredible talent. Did you see her toddler backpacks? Yep, adding it to my list of “I want to make that” too.

I read over the instructions and they didn’t seem killer at all, in fact the whole thing seems to be pretty straight forward, and looks like it would be a really fun project to sew. Some purse/bag patterns give me a headache just reading, let alone actually sewing, but this one looks different. I like different. And I am loving that fabric she used, I’m ready for Spring!

If I can get a few minutes I am going to try and make one of these, and I even saw several options at the fabric store today that would be perfect for this. Darn, I’m going to have to go back to the fabric store…again. Such a hardship, I know. I will just have to make the best of it and spend lots of extra time in there pouring over all of the delicious bolts of gorgeous fabrics. I know, it’s going to be tough, but I think I can manage.

Korby and I are both uber obsessed with patterns these days, whether it be crochet, or sewing, or making bows, or fun stuff with embroidery floss. We’re both hooked. There is no hope for us. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

We have been firing emails off to each other containing different patterns we want to buy or have already bought, and I had accumulated a list of several I was determined to buy, but had not yet taken the plunge. Korby decided to take matters into her own hands for one of them, and she went ahead and bought this skirt pattern….

I love this skirt pattern. But what’s not to love? It’s got ruffles, lots of gathers, a petticoat, a classic design, and is simply gorgeous to boot. And you have so many choices in fabric to create one of these, the possibilities are endless in making one of your own.

And Korby, the generous soul that she is, has so very kindly shared this pattern with me. I wonder if I can somehow kidnap her so we can go shopping for fabric together. I love shopping for fabric no matter what, but it’s always so much more fun with someone else there to help with the picking out of the fabric and decision making process.

And Korby, just you wait. I have an evil plan that involves buying and sharing a gorgeous pattern with crochet and sewing in it. Bwah ha ha ha!

Here are some of the pics of my day cooking Thai with Amy. And by “with” I really mean mostly standing there and watching Amy work her magic. I helped out a few times chopping and slicing here and there, and I tended to the butterfly shrimp when it was cooking in the hot oil. Other than that, Amy was doing all of the work.

On the menu for that day was-

Waterfall Beef

Green Curry (w/chicken)

Butterfly Shrimp (w/ coconut)

Stir Fry (Thai style)

Sticky Rice

Steamed Jasmine Rice

(sweet) Sticky Rice w/ mango

Marinating the steaks with the ’soy sauce with mushrooms”. It’s good stuff!

The big white bowl is full of sticky rice. It has to soak in water for several hours before you cook it.

Here is the sticky rice pot and bamboo steamer basket. Several times while it was cooking, Amy removed the basket and gave it a few expert tosses to turn the rice for even cooking. She was totally pro, it was second nature. I can only hope when I try it by myself next time that I don’t end up tossing the sticky rice onto the floor in the process.

Stirring the sticky rice to release some of the steam before putting it into the baskets.

 Amy explained that you are traditionally supposed to pack the sticky rice tightly into the baskets. Those little baskets fit way more rice inside than you could guess.

Then you just put the cover on and they are ready to eat whenever you need them. Amy said the baskets are called “Dipcow”, and I am sure that I just totally butchered that, but I’m only spelling it how I heard it pronounced. And I apologize to those of you cringing in horror at my ignorance of the Thai language.

The butterfly shrimp coated in panko and coconut, and ready to cook in the hot oil.

Gracen kept begging me to sneak her just one more shrimp, she loved them! And they were so easy to make.

Slicing the grilled steaks for the ‘waterfall’ beef.

This meat was insanely delicious as is, but even better once it was made into ‘waterfall’.

For dessert, Amy mixed some of the steaming sticky rice with a sweetened coconut milk mixture, covered it and let it sit for a while. It was ready to eat as soon as dinner was done.

This was the only picture I was able to get of our dessert since everyone scarfed theirs down almost as fast as it was dished up. The (sweet) sticky rice was served with sliced fresh mangos on top and a drizzle of more coconut milk on top of that. Seriously, one of the best desserts I have ever had.

As she cooked, Amy talked about all of the traditions involved in some of the dishes, and told me stories of how certain things had come to be. It was so interesting, and made the meal that much more fun when you knew more about why things were done a certain way. I tried to write down everything as she did it, so I am hopeful I can somewhat duplicate the dishes Amy so masterfully prepared.

I tried to get pictures as we went, but it was so busy in the kitchen that I didn’t get nearly as many as I would have liked. The Thai peppers she used were incredibly tiny, and amazingly hot, but imparted the perfect flavor to each of the dishes. The green curry was really green, and nice and spicy. The waterfall beef was my favorite, and even better when eaten with the sticky rice. And the sticky rice was to be eaten by the handful, no spoons in the baskets, just grab what you wanted. My kids loved that, because of course it’s more fun when you eat with your hands!

Amy, thank you again, and again for all of the fun and incredible food, we are so happy we got to spend the weekend with you and we’re already looking forward to your next visit, hopefully soon!

My friend Amy flew in from Texas for the weekend. She and I spent the entire day in the kitchen while Amy showed me how to cook real Thai food. Amy was born and raised in Thailand, so she is definitely qualified to be the one doing the teaching. I was trying to be a good little helper. I think I was helping. I hope I was helping. I’m pretty sure I was hindering.

I will post pictures soon, I’m too tired right now. But I will tell you the food was insanely delicious. And I am so excited I learned to cook so many new and wonderful dishes. Amy, you rock. And I have found a new love in sticky rice. And coconut milk. And mangos. And special soy sauce. Who knew there was a special kind of soy sauce? Everyone else but me I guess. And it rocks.