From the Weekend...

it was a busy one filled with lots of great times. I broke out a pair of my favorite shorts and went to a local yearly parade: Western Days! Normally, it is just me, my mom and X, but this year I was luckily enough to get to go with my boyfriend and his daughter! It was so much more fun and can't wait to keep this tradition up (especially since I am a parade fanatic).

Then we went downtown to the park where they had some rides (the line was way to long! Next year they should have more than one ticket booth!), ate some french fries, picked up some kettle corn and of course the kiddos got to play some games along with getting there faces painted.

The weather has finally started to warm up around here, so you know what that means... Slip'n'slide!!!

This summer is going to be amazing! A bucket list has been formed, snow cones are being eaten, s'mores galore, water fun, softball filled nights, BBQ madness, and so many more memories to be made!

A little bit more about me...

since I am sick, I have been able to catch up on some of my blog reading. (it also helped that I cut my blog subscriptions in half and can now really enjoy reading some of my favorite blogs again.) I saw this fun A to Z about me survey on One Pearl Button and thought hey, i haven't had a very productive week which doesn't lend itself to awesome blog reading content, so here we go...

A. Age: 27 and a half
B. Bed size: Queen and for a single lady you would think that was spacious, but when you add in a cat and a toddler who likes to spend part of his time in there you end up with maybe a quarter of the bed if you're lucky.
C. Chore that you hate: dishes, hands down my least favorite oh and probably vacuuming.
D. Dogs: totally awesome (i am a big animal lover) I have 3 max, barney, and archer
E. Essential start to your day: hot water with lemon, email, twitter, and Facebook (on the weekends coffee)
F. Favorite color: Right now Orange hands down!!
G. Gold or Silver: silver usually- but sometimes gold just works better
H. Height: 5'7" , but I like to wear heels to add some extra height!
I. Instruments you play: used to play violin in grade school and middle school
J. Job title: job 1: small-business owner/designer/illustrator (in progress) job 2: merchandiser for a department store job 3: sewing instructor,
K. Kids: 1 independent, funny, lovely, crazy 3.5 year little boy, Xavier also referred to as X
L. Live: in Idaho
M. Mother's name: Paula
N. Nicknames: Krazy KZ, MoMo, KZ JO, baby girl
O. Overnight hospital stays: Once just when i delivered X
P. Pet peeve: jeans that don't touch the ground when wearing high heels and hit mid-shoe (I like them touching the ground or above the ankle) also I never buy the first magazine on the shelf always from the middle of the stack & I can't stand it when someone else looks at it before me.
Q. Quote from a movie: From a movie--- dude, where's your car? or anything from bridesmaid's which was sooo funny
R. Right or left handed: Right for most things but left handed for others--
S. Siblings: half sister older than me
T. Time you wake up: 4:50 am on weekdays & between 6:30 and 7:00 on weekends usually
U. Underwear: umm, of course
V. Vegetable you hate: BEETS!! but i can grow them and make awesome beet pickles apparently
W. What makes you run late: not prepping before hand, but i hate being late so i am usually 10 minutes early.
X. X-Rays you've had: arm and teeth
Y. Yummy food that you make: chili, pizza, fruit crisps, banana bread
Z. Zoo animal: tigers, monkeys, and elephants.

Not a whole lot going on...

except I am busy catching up on a ton of computer work (think illustration, the member book for the magic valley modern quilt guild, and working on a few new tutorials) and my sewing as been a little bit on the slow side. I did manage to finish up the prom dress I was making and it turned out beautiful. Which made me completely happy.

Last weekend was the Desert Sage Quilt guild's quilt show. I didn't have any quilts in the show, but X was in his very first fashion show. He did a great job and was super cute (I can say that because I am his mommy!! hehe)! He modeled lounge pants and the oliver + s peacoat, I made for him. I think he may have caught the modeling bug since at the end all he could say was "That was awesome!"

Overall, the quilts in the show were a lot of fun! Some were more my style than others, but each to their own. I came away with a couple of good ideas for a few mini-quilts.

The biggest news of all is: I got a scooter!

 
Its totally cute and really helps me fulfill my desire to live in a foreign country (like italy or greece) and ride a vespa by the ocean on winding roads with flowers and yummy goodies like breads, cheeses, fruit etc. in a basket. I am in love with it and is the perfect mode of transport to get me to work and run little errands. I feel like I might need a whole new wardrobe to go with it!

Glad that it is the beginning of a new week...

I have no idea why, but March has become one of the busiest months in what seems like forever. My project list is way out of control, I have been slacking in my workouts (totally making me grumpy), and I think I am just overdoing it. I did manage to make a lot of progress on the prom dress, I am making (which I am determined to have finished up in a week from today) and I think that it is going to be quite stunning when it is finished up. In between work and the prom dress, I finished up a the circle skirt for the class on Saturday along with finishing all the cutting part of my quilt. Believe it or not I actually started sewing it up (my goal is to have it finished up by the end of April). On top of all this X has been sick and has made it even trickier to get things finished up. This week is already shaping up to be a tough one and I am planning on staying up late to finish up a lot of sewing, writing patterns, writing some tutorials/blog posts, and getting a presentation ready for thursday night! Do you ever have those kind of crazy weeks, where you wonder why you took on toooo many things?!?!

My favorite day of the week...

wednesday, mainly because of criminal minds (aka my absolute must see, never miss favorite show) and because it means half the work week is done! So here is my little daily recap for today:

• went to work
• went to joanns (picked up another 5 yards of woven interfacing (sf101 shape flex, one of my most used)
• played with the puppy
• finished cutting out the cosmo bag from style stitches by amy butler and started working on applying all the interfacing
• ran errands
• made homemade pizza for dinner
• figured out a few projects and the rest of my schedule for the week

so all in all not a bad day and just the right amount of fun included! 

Sundays...

are usually really busy around here. I always try to get a few projects completed and other things on the weekend (like lifetime movie marathons and catching up with my favorite programs on bravo, you know the important things in life). On Sundays, I usually like to include doing a little prep work for the busy week ahead. Here is a glimpse of what is on my to-do list for the day:

• laundry (i usually only do one or two loads on the weekend and the bulk of the laundry during the week after I get home from work)

• cooking lunches for the week (this time I am making two soups- black bean & tomato. The soups are going to go into individual containers and into the freezer hopefully this will be enough for two weeks since I only usually need to take a lunch to work 2-3 times a week. I find that doing this really is helping me lose some weight along with saving time.)

• making some applesauce for the little man (its simple and I have a ton of apples in the fridge right now)

• blogging (trying to get a few posts ready and prepping for a giveaway)

• catching up on my blog reading (because I seem to always fall behind during the week)

• clean the bathroom

• workout (probably going to do the 30 day shred dvd or some yoga)

• sew (I have two projects that need to get done this week- a coat and ipad case. Then the focus is going to shift to getting my studio reorganized since my cats seem to be getting into everything, I mean everything...)

• get the valentine cards printed out, made, and ready to go (I took the photo last weekend! So now it is just designing and getting them ready to go out.)


• work on a few valentine goodies for the modern quilt guild meeting next month

alright, I better get started on this list so I can try and squeeze in a movie, too!

tgif...seriously

this week has been filled with so much, here's the highlights:
-work
-sewing (finished 1; 2 are in progress as of now)
-finished knitting my dad's neck warmer (finally)
-started a new scarf
-finalized the details for x's valentine card photo shoot (hopefully it will take place this weekend)
-came up with a few new ideas for the blog (new tutorial along with a giveaway coming soon)
-working out (level 2 on the 30 day shred and going to my first zumba class tonight- that should e interesting) One thing I am finding out is that I really enjoy jogging/running. I never really liked it before, but it is really becoming one of my favorite activities.
-kicked the coffee habit (almost most days I am not really drinking any coffee and replaced it with hot lemon water in the morning. The things I have noticed most are: higher energy level and I am not craving so much sugar).
-eating a lot less meat (this week I have really done well with that.

and because I don't have a ton of interesting pictures (I have been slacking on the photo thing). Here's one of Archer the newest member of our family a.k.a xavier's new puppy:

Random Updates...

-some sewing has been happening around here. Just enough to keep me from feeling like I am not getting anything finished up.

-this year, i can tell is going to be all about time management (something I am horrible at). My days are going to have to be a little micro-managed for awhile (xavier, work, sewing, teaching, working out, cleaning, getting my business off the ground, blogging, pets, etc) all have to find time in my day. I am making a few non-negotiables for during the week such as work in the morning, then working out, and xavier time (this is totally my favorite part of everyday spending as much time with my son as possible and will always be my number 1 priority) . Those are my must dos and I am trying to keep that in perspective. Everything else is going to have to be fit where ever there are openings in my schedule (sewing however is something that I always try to fit in every day even if it is just 15 mins).

-my studio is a crazy mess right now- my two cats have taken it upon themselves to tear it apart... which is leading to a major re-do moment. My bedroom just went through this mass upheaval yesterday, the new rules in my areas are nothing can be on the floor (mainly because we have a new puppy and two cats) and everything has to have a spot or be used if not it has to go (now I know most people do this, but I thrive in more of a clutter infused environment so this is a BIG deal to me and can create a little bit of anxiety). So my studio is also going to go through this sometime this month, but I imagine it is going to take a lot longer than the 6 hours it took me yesterday in my room.

-I love rainy gray days (always more productive on days like that) so this weather for me has been awesome.

-I dyed my hair yesterday, time for another change (I am beginning to appreciate all the changes that have been happening lately- I think they are for the better!)

-I am going back to being mostly vegetarian (only meat 1-2 a week) I don't really like it that much anyways. Plus I am going to try and eat as many fresh veggies and fruits as possible along with cutting out processed foods... tough work but I really need to put this effort in and focus on getting in the best shape of my life.

-redoing my whole "look" and also getting back into my fashion obsession (like that ever really left), but I am focusing on taking more fashion risks and just styling my looks a lot more. (more on that later in the week; say hello to a new blog feature!)

- So far 2011 looks like it is going to rock.

The week in a recap...

Once again I was a bad blogger this week (extremely determined to do better this week), so I am working on several posts today so that even  if I get busy something will get up here on the blog. I seem to have so many things going on and the blog sometimes gets pushed to the back even though it is one of my favorite things to do! Anyways here was my week:

Monday- work from early morning (I am talking 5:30 am) until early afternoon (around 1:30) followed up by hand out writing and then an evening hanging out/playing with my little guy. I also managed to work on some knitting and a few other random things.

Tuesday- work same as Monday, finishing the final handout for my Quilt class that was supposed to be on Tuesday night but was canceled and rescheduled, a quick trip out the Quilt barn and then spent the evening hanging out and playing with the little guy.

Wednesday- work same as Monday and Tuesday, had a migraine napped for a few hours in the afternoon and then again in the evening. Woke up in time to run to Macy's and pick up a dutch oven (I got the red 5.5 quart from the Martha Stewart line, simply the best thing ever) and watched criminal minds and spent the evening playing hot wheels with X.

Thursday- work in the morning then, went to the post office and my business license arrived (totally awesome!!!!) and then went to a tea party at my friend Tara's amazing house (seriously, she has the best taste and decorating style ever! Her pineapple upside down cake was divine and the tea sandwiches were so yummy. We read magazines, chatted, watched a little martha, followed up with some Tori and Dean. Thanks again, Tara for the great afternoon! Then I spent the rest of the day with X and we had some french fries with a whole lot of fun!

Friday- was work in the morning, followed by a road trip to Boise to see my grandparents and cousin. It was a wonderful afternoon and I drove home in the first snow fall of the season. By the time I got home it was the kind of snow that is just big flakes and no wind and is simply falling. It was so beautiful.

Saturday- was sleeping in just a little, followed by morning activities (playing in the snow followed up with hot cocoa with whip cream and sprinkles), then grocery shopping, some knitting, a trip to Micheal's and then made to different kinds of cookies to go in the freezer overnight before baking. I ended the day by making broccoli cheddar soup in the dutch oven, catching up on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (I think Lisa and Kyle are my favorite from that group of ladies) and worked on more of my knitting.

Too many things to fit in a day...

this week has been so busy, here's a little recap (and sorry in advance for no pictures since I am totally being lame and forgetting to take any...):
Tuesday- work in the morning, then I spent the afternoon finishing all the prep for my quilting class that was later that evening. Went out to the quilt barn to teach my 1 of a 6 part class on Beginning Quilting. (this is one of the classes that I teach through CSI Community Education Program). The class was a blast and I went over the basics tools and terms along with teaching Block 1 (it was a pinwheel!) All the students seemed very excited and they made excellent progress with the beginning of there quilt.
Wednesday- work in the morning and afternoon, then I made "bat" chicken pot pie (I used a bat cookie cutter to cut out the top of the crust), then I spent the evening catching up on google reader, drinking tea and watching my favorite show Criminal Minds.
Thursday- work in the morning, the afternoon was filled with errands and the evening was the monthly Modern Quilt Guild meeting. We talked about all kinds of quilty goodness and ate some wonderful treats.
Friday so far, work this morning, dealing with a bunch of crazy wasps and getting ready to cook some dinner, then settle in with a movie.  I was planning to try and get some sewing in this afternoon but that didn't happen so tomorrow is the day! (at least an hour or so...)

How was your week? Did you get anything finished up? 

Happy 4th!!!

So far it has been a pretty laid back weekend after a very busy week. Hopefully, I will be to stay awake to see the fireworks tonight. Last week was filled with some work, projects, and a ton of activities. X finished up his swimming lessons last week (it was a ton of fun and he keeps on practicing all that he learned) and we went to a birthday party on Friday. X picked out a fun post office truck for his cousin and I made up another one of these:

I actually made this two weeks ago, but have been keeping it a secret until after the birthday party. This is the 12 month size of the Kai's Shirt from the Weekend Sewing book by Heather Ross. This time I made a few adjustments to the pattern; like adding interfacing to the placket, the pocket size, and the order of sewing it together. With the adjustments the sewing time was slightly quicker and I think the placket will hold up to wear a lot better. Overall, the only thing that I find really interesting (in a good/bad way) about the pattern is the sizing. It really is a large shirt with not a whole lot of difference between the sizes. On one side this is great- it will get a lot of wear, but on the bad side it is a something that will have to be grown into and on children that are fairly skinny it will appear pretty baggy. I do really like making the shirt and hopefully I will be teaching it sometime soon at The Quilt Barn (I just need to find a date that works). 

Before heading to the party, I made sure to have enough time to make a quick stop at The Quilt Crossing (I wanted to pick up another charm pack of Plume, they also had some yardage, which I might get a little the next time I am up there. I am planning on making a quilt for my bed and incorporating a lot of solids along, but I might need some printed yardage for the backing). Of course, a few more fabrics found there way into my shopping bag:

A couple quarter yards of Neptune by Tula Pink, some Amy Butler, and an Alexander Henry Halloween Fabric (I am planning on a Halloween pillow with black piping around the edge). The next stop was Joanns Superstore (I actually really like the Joanns in Boise, they have a larger selection of things and aren't very rude compared to our local store). I try to buy most of my fabric from independent shops, I tend to only buy apparel fabric and notions from the big companies, plus the coupons are really helpful for the notions (this is just my shopping philosophy):

The mat and rulers were 50% off plus they had a coupon for an additional 10% off sale and regular priced items. So that added up to a ton of savings! The mat is actually a rotating cutting mat (8" x 8"), a 4.5" x 4.5" ruler  (this will make square up my wonky star pieces a lot easier), a 2.5" x 2.5" (I really like this size), and the new Threads magazines (they always have interesting tidbits. 

Saturday was sort of a lazy day but I did end up going to the 2nd Annual Twin Falls Quilt Walk. I went last year and it was alright but most of the stores were closed, making it hard to view the quilts. This year, it was much easier to see the quilts and they had a couple of booths set up on the sidewalk from different shops. I met up with one of the ladies from the quilt guild's that I belong to and we had a lovely lunch (x was also there and he got to ride around in his stroller) and then went to view all the quilts. I didn't have anything in the quilt walk, but there is always next year. The weather was nice and it was a fun little adventure to start the holiday weekend out with.

As for the rest of the day, I am going to try to catch up on a little bit of pattern writing. This upcoming week, I am going to be spending a lot of time with my serger and sewing machine (making underwear for the little guy since potty training has gotten underway, insert a big WHOOO-HOOOO there). My sewing projects are piling up, so hopefully I will make a small dent in that list along with a bunch of pattern/handout writing. Are you working on anything fun this week? 

Have a happy and safe 4th!

Just a few of the things I am working on right now

I have sooo many works in progress right now, it is kind of insane, but I am making dents here and there on the list. Of course I added new projects to the list, but who doesn't do that when you have a list full of half-completed projects. So for the first thing I am working on:

 These are little guys are going to become stamps for shirts for x. (as a side note they are sitting on my mouse pad- I took some leftover fabric (from Heather Baileys Pop Garden Collection), some fusible web and ironed it right on there. It sure was an easy way to use up some scraps!) Anyways back to the stamps, I drew up some basic boy kind of motifs (an arrow, a funky diamond that in my head is going to look awesome, and a lightning bolt) on some extra linoleum blocks I had lying around. Next up carving them plus this is a great project for doing downstairs while watching x. 

Okay, so this technically belongs in Tuesdays in the Garden, but I forgot I took a photo of it. In my quest for figuring out how I am going to mark where things are in the garden (last year's Popsicle sticks and duct tape labels sucked decomposed and broke off), I found some awesome more permanent ones online and thought, "I can make those!" Enter the metal stamp & die set along with some metal (the above is just a tester but it says cucumbers) I am going to be busy hammering out all the words and then rubbing with some acrylic paint. This way the word are clearly visible.

 The bunny bowling project for x's easter basket is coming along, they now have faces and

 have ears and some shape. They are now cozy upstairs waiting to get some interfacing in the ears and followed up by sewing them together and getting some batting in them along with some rice so they stand up nicely. 

 I picked up some new magazines, how I love reading magazines, probably one of my many crazy addictions. (from left to right: Shape- I love this magazine and in my quest to lose weight it helps me stay motivated; Threads- a must for garment sewing and techniques, I learn a ton from every issue; Cooking Light- this is the first time I have picked this magazine up, my cousin loves it and my mom found $1 off coupon, so I thought I would give it a go!) 

 Some knits I picked up at Jo-Anns. (I also picked up a pink, red, and brown yesterday along with some elastic and some gray serger thread.) These are for some upcoming projects and for some patterns I am working on.

 Some new fat quarters: (from left to right) one for x' quilt, one from moda's authentic for a shirt or pants trim for x, and some anna maria horner for a clutch for me (Sorry for the blurry photo I am having issues with blogger's new photo uploader thing) 

Working on a muslin for the Study Hall Skirt pattern from Anna Maria Horner. I have already picked out the final fabric for it but I wanted to make a test to see how it fits first. 

Of course I have other random projects going: some pillowcases for the pillowcase challenge, some pants and shorts for x, another skirt for me, a zig-zag quilt for x, some pot holders, and a cat tepee for Bentley. I am going to try really hard to get more of these crossed off in the next couple of weeks.

This week has been what I feel as unusually busy for me or maybe I am just feeling more like my old self, moving forward in this new chapter of my life, and actually feeling like getting out of the house and doing things. I have also been reaching some of my goals and being more productive in a bunch of different areas of my life which is going a long way in boosting my mood. Hopefully this keeps up!

This Morning...

I took photos of this pillow I finished yesterday:

*front

 

 

*back 

 I am so in love with it, especially the hot pink piping around the edge.

This is how I am rocking it this morning with my broken glasses (I think I must look like this most of the day in front of my computer, well when I am not chasing xavier all around):

Look closely and you can see the side of my glasses is missing, from the front it makes them very crooked:

 yeah, super goofy but I think I hear something going on with x:

wonder what he is up to?

yeah this can't be good... I better check this out, hold on a minute... alright I am back, remember the orange scarf:

here it is all knitted up and waiting for my mom to crochet some flowers for it, then it will be finished. (for some reason crocheting and I have not become friends- I have a feeling this isn't going to change for sometime)

this is also waiting for some crocheted flowers:

well, I am to take the chicken stock off the stove and get it into the fridge and then I am off to go fabric shopping with my friend Becky. It's going to be a great afternoon!

New Beginnings with a Hearty Helping of Cinnamon Rolls

waiting to be baked...

my life has taken some unexpected twists and turns (basically a 180 from what I thought would be my life) over the course of the last few months and I finally feel that I am getting a grip on things and moving forward. I guess when one door closes another opens, so in trying to be positive, I am going to be taking it a day at a time and not worry about what the future holds. This also means that the blog will be getting back to being more personal and not all projects with total randomness thrown in for good measure because I am finally feeling like myself again.

my new favorite outfit and my little man hanging out in the studio

Alright, here's to moving onward!

Wednesday

X and I spent some time in the studio this morning... I actually got a few projects started before he started getting into everything. Here are some of the highlights from this morning:

the main part of the studio is cleaned up from a mess of projects...

found my paint palette, now to clean it up and start a new painting

X's latest project

working side by side

carving a rubber stamp for the valentine cards this year (I stopped sending out Christmas cards, instead I send out Valentine's, which include a photo of X, working on a concept for that)

yepp, working hard here

carving....

yes it was a good morning, hope that we can do this again!