Free toys

My oldest son Justin (20) found a need to buy a new car stereo. He seems to find this need every year or so. This time, he installed it himself at home. Robbie (9) was right there with him helping out wherever he could. In other words....getting in the way and asking a bunch of questions. Luckily, Justin didn't mind. Maybe Robbie will pick up a few hints along the way.


When the installation was done, Robbie had a new "toy" to play with! I let him keep it for 2 weeks. It was too large to keep around any longer!

He turned it into a monster cave...a store ( a way to get money from Mom)...a secret hideout...and a few other things I'm sure. I think it was a boat on top of his bed at one point too. Who knows, he has a great imagination.

Just like the old saying I always heard when the big kids were little ~ Why spend lots of money on toys, when all they want to play with is the boxes?


This counts as a homeschool activity too! He drew pictures inside and made up wonderful stories to tell Mom all day...for many days!

Chef in training

My chef in training seems to be a bit shy around cameras :)


Mandy (17) has been in culinary school now for a semester and a half. She has been cooking around the house for a long time, so she didn't need to learn the basics. She has no problem telling Mom what she is doing wrong though. Rotten child!

She likes to make garnishes. Right now she is learning about different sauces. I think she has caught on to Mom though...Mom just wings most of her recipes :)

Things that came in the mail

The UPS man stopped by last week and surprised me with the 2009 Crochet Pattern a Day calendar! I submitted my snake scarf for the 2008 calendar. SURPRISE!! They put it in the 2009 calendar :) I am October 7th...YIPPEE! There are many patterns contributed by fellow Crochetville members.

Then later in the week, the mailman brought me this goodie. Now, I knew this one was coming. I was just waiting for it to get here. I won this as part of a blog give-a-way. Forgive me for forgetting which blog it was from. I seem to be losing my mind as I get older. It doesn't help when you read 148 blogs daily. I love Bloglines . It really helps me keep track of my fave blogs. Of course those blogs send me off to other blogs and my list gets longer each day!

Anyways...this is the box set of the first year of Craft: . Craft: has been on my wish list for awhile now. I love the articles and the projects. We already made the play doh. Robbie (9) had fun making and playing with it. It is still squishy 3 days later. We store it in a ziploc baggie.

Name pillowcase

My niece Christine is turning 13 this month! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE!!!

Her room is done in green and blue. I decided to make her a name pillowcase. I clipped the edges of her name so they would fray as time went by. I think she will love it!

Fabric postcards

I have been looking at all the wonderful fabric postcards all over blogland and have been wanting to try my hand at them. We have a few birthdays this month so I decided to get off my butt and give them a try.


My SIL Ronda is a 49ers fan so she is getting that one. Happy 40th Ronda!!!! This one goes to Upstate New York.

Her stepdaughter is 20 or 21 (you think I would know this by now) so she is getting one of the road sign ones. Happy Birthday Stacey!!! This one goes to Georgia.

My son-in-law is a golf freak, so he will get the golf one. Happy Birthday Dan!!!! This one travels to Connecticut.

The other stop sign is going to my daughter's best friend Danielle in Alabama. Happy just cuz' Dani!!!!!!



For these, I just stuck with the basic cardstock back and zig-zag around the outside. Next time I want to try using binding around the outside edges. I am afraid the stitches might come loose in the mail and the card will get all raggedy before it makes it to everyone.


I have also decided to make fabric postcards for everyone for Christmas. That way for those who "only" get a card, they will still have a small gift.


I put a regular 42 cent stamp on them and sent hubby to the post office. He works right next store...so why not save myself a trip. The lady at the post office said they were the right size (I made them 4" X 6" ) and right postage. YIPPEE!! I did something right :) Now to keep my fingers crossed that they make it to their new homes OK.

Halloween quilt

My youngest Robbie (9) always wants one of anything I make. This month, he decided he just had to have a new quilt because I was making them for the kids next door. Every weekend he has been hounding me to see if I had finished his quilt yet. He picked the fabric from my stash and I decided to try making half square triangles. Without much thought or plan, I just stitched a bunch together. Then, I let Robbie help with the layout. Surprisingly, we were able to get a few designs out of my random cuttings.










I think this quilt will last him for a long time. It will take a few years for him to outgrow one this size.



I decided to use embroidery floss to make a few outlines of bats in the orange squares. I also used the word BOO because of course it works for Halloween and also that is his nickname that Momma gave him a few years back. Then I just added some random squiggly lines that are one of my machine's stitches. I used glow in the dark thread for the squiggles. I wanted to machine quilt the whole thing, but I need some more practice before I can get a handle on that. It was actually relaxing to hand stitch even the small amount I did. I might need to practice on a smaller quilt and try hand quilting....


I also let Robbie pick out the back fabric. We just used a sheet we found at Walmart. I actually like this color.


Full size view...

I love how colorful it looks in his room. He was so cute when I first gave it to him Sunday afternoon. He wouldn't let anyone else touch it. He wouldn't even use it while he was playing video games. Normally, he likes to wrap up in a comforter because he says his room is too cold from the air conditioning. He told me he wanted to keep his new quilt "new" feeling until bed time. How sweet!

Binkie clips

When our kids were little, they would always spit out their pacifiers and laugh! They thought it was a great game to watch Mom and Dad chase after their binkies. Just when you gave it back to them...they would either spit it out or toss it as far as their little hands could. Anytime we stopped playing their "game" they would scream until we played some more. Lil' monsters. I wish I had this tutorial way back then. I guess I need to make a bunch for our newest grandbaby...Nate. Then again, why would I want to stop Jess from having all the same fun her Dad and I had when the kids were little :)