July Travels and Tie Dye

My summer has been busy! Since I am a teacher, I have been a stay-at-home mom this summer.  That said, since I am a teacher, I cannot handle chaos or hours on end without something to do.  My kids seem to be the same way and cannot handle idle time.  So, our July was full of many trips....

We went to Rehoboth Beach over the 4th of July, we also went to Lake Tobias, Mt. Gretna and the North Museum.  I highly recommend any of these places. More photos of our August travels coming soon!

In July, we also celebrated my daughter's 7th birthday.  Not sure where the 7 years have gone, nor where my baby has gone, but time marches on as they say!

Emily wanted a tie dye birthday party, so we had one.  Unfortunately, I was involved in the activities, so I do not have many photos :(

These were my supplies for my first attempt to make chocolate covered strawberries. 

These were the finished product....tie dyed chocolate covered strawberries! 

Delicious! 

Sidenote.... do NOT make ahead of time.  I made this mistake and they turned to mush. You need to make them and eat them on the same day or the next day at the latest.  I used white candy wafers from Wilton (bought at Michael's), melted the chocolate in the microwave and rolled them in colored sugar. So easy and so pretty in the end!

We also made tie dye cookies. Ironically I do not have a picture of the finished product.  I am trying to get better at this!

I enlisted the help of my mom to make these delicious vanilla cookies. I found the recipe in the July edition of Martha Stewart's magazine.  I actually bought the magazine for the sole purpose of these cookies that were on the cover!

FYI.....my cookies did NOT turn out like these. I am determined to figure out why!  I may be making spider web cookies for Halloween to figure it out! But, aren't they pretty?!

These are the vanilla cookies.  Can't you smell them?! They were delicious and so easy to work with!

I also made cupcakes (from scratch, I might add) from my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook that she got as a wedding gift.  They were really good, also.  I can say, I will not buy a pre-packaged mix anymore.  They were so easy to make and tasted really good!

And here is the birthday girl helping out...with her, oh so helpful brother!

Finally, I made a Happy Birthday banner from a tutorial that I found on Moda Bake Shop (access tutorial here). Of course, I had to modify it and continuously play with it as it was made, but my daughter chose the fabrics.

I hand stitched the letters onto each pennant using DMC floss and a simple backstitch. 

 Once again, I did not take a picture of the finished project. I admit, it is a major downfall of mine!

But, here is the finished party!

Tie Dye Bliss!



Until next time, take time for you!

Colleen

Flicker...now what?!

Well, after a year, I finally joined Flicker.  I made a name for myself and uploaded a few photos......now what?!

Any suggestions about how to use Flicker and what is it for?!  I just know that everyone is on it! 

I admit that I am just beginning to get technologically savvy for Blogging.  I am always truly impressed by other people blogs, and photos on their blogs, and how they make photo mosaics, and how creative everyone is, my list can go on and on!  Anyone know where I can get more information or a tutorial on how to be so creative with photos and blogs?! 

My creativity at this point involves using Google images!

Until next time, take time for you!

Colleen

Where have I been?!

Well, hello everyone!  You may (I only have a few followers, so probably not) been wondering where I have been!  In interest of time and confidentiality, I let work get in the way of life for the past few months.

I have made a decision today to think more about myself and to say "no!" to others. Many of you may be thinking that I am the meanest person on Earth for even thinking this, but I am so stretched to the max that I am unhappy....all the time. I am determined to enjpy myself and my family and to be happymost of the time!  All of the time would be a ridiculous concept to even entertain!

So....below are a few things that make me happy....enjoy!

Sunflowers!  Aren't they just the happiest flower ever?!  I have some mini ones growing next to my patio.

Sitting outside on the patio relaxing and....

drinking a cup of tea or.....

having an ice cold beer (especially Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat...yummy!)

while reading a book. 

All of these things I prefer to do alone and try to do first thing in the morning (well, NOT drink the beer) before my kids get up.

Above all, my favorite things is.....

my kids.  Look how big they are both getting! This photo was taken a few weeks ago at my cousin's rehearsal dinner. Both of them were in the wedding....

and, of course, my husband!

Until next time, take time for yourself!

Colleen



Lancaster Quilt Retreat

What types of things do you need for a quilt weekend?!

A suitcase full of clothes?!  I think NOT!  How about a suitcase for all the fabric and projects that you need! See all of my fabric neatly folded and organized according to project! Oh, if only my house was that compact and organized!

You also need notions....

These are a few of the notions that I took along. Of course I forgot the most important thing for a quilt weekend.....my cutting board! Oh, well!  There were plenty to be shared and I survived!

What did I work on while I was there?

 

Emily's peace sign quilt from Lizzie BCre8tive!  It is almost finished, but I didn't take a picture yet.  I will post that later! These are the fabrics that are being used.....I purchased them back in November from Byrne's. They are beautiful batiks!

Hopefully, after this weekend I will have more photos of projects that I have been working on!

My to do list for February is......

1. Finish my son's Spiderman quilt

2. Finish my daughter's peace sign quilt

3. Make a mug rug for my quilt guild's exchange

4. Continue to work on my friend's baby quilt.  Her baby is a month old already!

Til next time, take time for you!

Colleen

Failedor Thwarted.... Resolutions...Already!

Well, it is February and I have no idea where January went!  The month flew by and I have no idea where it went! One of my New Year's Resolutions was to sew at least twice a week.  I have sewn only one weekend since the new year!

The aforementioned plan sounded great...and do-able.....until I found out that I have to start my dissertation now. I was planning on taking the semester off, sewing, relaxing and spending time with my family until September BUT.....I have to start the process now. I have to have the first 3 chapters completed by May 1st! May 1st!  Needless to say, very little sewing will be geetting done between now and then!

On the plus side......I spend Marting Luther King Jr. weekend on a quilt retreat in Lancaster with my mother-in-law. It was fabulous!  We had so much fun! Imagine being at a Bed and Breakfast behind an Amish farm in Lancaster county surrounded my quiet and snow and no cooking or cleaning-up...just 2 days of sewing! I made 2 quilt tops... a spideman one for my son and the beginning of one to use at our house. I promise to post photos as soon as I have time to download them from my camera! I also have almost an entire quilt top completeled for my daughter.

I have so many things that I have been looking forward to beginning and completing, however I fear they will have to wait for some free time after May 1st. On another positive note, I will be going quilt shopping with my mother-in-law this weekend and am looking forward to finding some fun and festive spring fabric to brighten everything up around here!

Til next time, take time for you!

Colleen

Christmas Countdown

Here I sit at work trying to NOT be the Grinch...

when all I can think about is getting ready for the holidays. We are doing the Christmas countdown in my classroom for my students to understand the concept of time and calendar...yesterday I realized that Christmas was next week!  NEXT week?!  How did that happen?!

I have had many good intentions to start getting ready for the holidays...

ingredients to make cookies are bought...

ingredients to make candy are bought...

ingredients to make Rice Krispy Treats are bought....

but not one things has been made!

Working full-time and a part-time job once a week really cuts into my fun time! I have not sewn anything or done anything remotely to get in the Christmas mood lately.

My son, Jack, turned 4 on Monday.  We had the big birthday party this weekend and that has monopolized everything lately. Who in their right mind has a baby that close to Christmas?!  Oh well, the best laid plans often go astray!

So, after I teach my final class tonight for the local college, I will be going home and completing my Christmas cards and start my plan for getting festive!

This is what I am going to start working on for my daughter for Christmas. I LOVE LizzieBCre8ive's stuff! I am making the Peace Sign rug in pink, purple and aquamarine. Won't she be excited?!  Hopefully I will at least get the top done!

Happy Holidays!

Oh, Cnristmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree!

This weekend we went to Linvilla Orchards to buy our Christmas tree.  It took us a few hours to find the right one. Some were too tall, some were to skinny.....

And yes, my husband brought the electric chainsaw with him to cut the tree down! Many people were very jealous of him eventhough they said he was "cheating"!

Finally, we found the right tree!!!!!

And my husband used the handy dandy electric shainsaw to cut it down!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our house, but we are not there yet.  This wekend we have my son's 4th birthday party, so we are currently in party planning mode......hopefully I will get some sewing projects done this week. Hopefully!