Down to the Wire

    Welp folks, we're down to the wire over here again. August 31. Meeting my monthly goals on the last day of the month should be pretty embarrassing, huh? (And by early August, I clearly meant, AUGUST. Right, La!?)   But in all fairness, we had a busy month-and a wonderfully celebratory and crazy month! First, we celebrated Handsome's birthday and our anniversary! Then he surprised me with a trip to Clearwater Beach, FL so we traveled and ate and sat out by the water and had many adventures per usual.
Then he started school and we recovered from our trip! and now I'm prepping for another trip to go home to see my parents and meet their puppies! In the midst of all that, I've been sewing and filling out job applications! Sooooo, instead of boring you with lots of info about THAT, I'll just show you some of my fave pics from August!   Here are Mr. RH's birthday presents! Two from me and one from the bloodhound.   

 

I'm quite proud of the next two actually. Not because they are photographic masterpieces, but because I got my big 102 pounder into my car and drove her thirty minutes to her pet resort (aka the boarding kennel) all by myself.  She isn't a "jumper." Usually my husband lifts her in to vehicles, but she neither trusts me to lift her, nor am I particularly able to lift a squirming beast. Thus, coaxing her in was quite a feat. And settling her down once she got in was no small task, but as you can see, she eventually relaxed and started soaking up some sun! 

Left: Sniffing everything and wandering around.
Right: relaxing after realizing that there are no new people smells in the car and that she might be in for another 12 hour car ride (but that is a story for another day).

 And these last are of paradise. All taken from our vacay. LOVE the beach, and we live in a "landlocked" state, so it is not very often that we get to go to the sit near the shore. It was a blessing and a really sweet time.

Most of those are pretty self-explanatory, except the second one of the dolphin is Winter! The dolphin who lost her tail and is now the star of a major motion picture called Dolphin Tale. It is a pretty sweet flick, similar to Free Willy, and I'd recommend it to you, except I don't recommend movies with Ashley Judd in them. (Again, a story for another day). 
More Later, but who knows when later will be.... *could be soon with so many stories for other days, huh? Ha! 

Meeting Goals: Photo Dump Cop-Out Post.

Yikes!! So I haven't posted since the 1st of June! But getting this photo dump completed today keeps me on track to meet my (slacker) goals for 2012!

....

These little angels are my parents newest family members. I haven't met them yet, but I DIE over the cuteness. I have to get home to meet them before they get much bigger. 

This was a beautiful scene on my way home from work the other night. 

I'm participating in this Hexy Modern Flair (MF) quilt along. It is my first time paper piecing and this is my first completed flower! I have made a few others and have some progress on basting, so it will take a while, BUT I'm enjoying it!

We finally have a yard! (First time in our marriage... and in my adult life). SO we planted a garden and I finally found this little lovely a few weeks ago! It was delish!

I made this Pinterest inspired wreath for the 4th of July! It has been on our door all month. I think it is coming down tomorrow, because I'm ready for something a little less THEMED.

Ok, that is it for now. Back soon, in early August to share a few surprises!

Y-O-Y-O-WHY?

So lately I've been asking myself a lot of WHY questions and thought I'd share them with you. (Don't worry, none of them are super deep and thoughtful. Just funny things about my little life).   Why do I like starting the washing machine, but hate taking things out of the dryer?  and Why do I hate loading the dishwasher, but like unloading it?   Why does my Big Baby need a human to stand with her while she eats her breakfast and dinner? Why have I been moving from one injury to another the last few weeks?
Why do I want to go to Starbucks EVERY single day?
Why do I like starting books so much more than finishing them?
Why do I think workout clothes are so much cuter than regular clothes?
Why am I still thinking about adopting the cutest little dachshund we saw at a tractor supply store a few weekends ago? Why do I not like cutting up fabric for projects?  Why does chocolate come into my thoughts at least four times each day? Why do I like vegetables more than fruit? Why do I like homemade soup more than almost anything else for dinner?  Why am I obsessed with the NBA right now? *And when did this start?* *GO HEAT!*
Why would I still be thinking about a blog redesign when I'm terribly bad about posting consistently?
Why did I write a WHY post? Hmmmm.

 (P.S. I've been singing Y-O-Y-O-Y-O-WHY, Oh Why, Oh Why to the tune of Ole-ole-ole-ole. Where does this stuff come from in my brain?)

Photo Dump!

 So May has just about come and gone, and I haven't posted. I'm sure you aren't THAT surprised. But because one of my 2012 goals was to post at least ONCE every month, I'm throwing this one in at the last minute.  These are a bunch of photos from my phone that show you some of what I've been up to and have been enjoying the past month.   Here is my new girl! She is our "BIG BABY" bloodhound. She weighs a solid 102 lbs and is 4 years old already. We adopted her in the fall and are having sooooo much fun with her.   

I went to visit my parents and utilized my mom's fabric stash to create some baby quilts for friends having babies this summer. I made two very similar, very simple little tops for these two sweet baby boys who are due in late July/early August. They are both the second boy in their family, and while I didn't make a quilt for either of their big brothers, I think sometimes it is good for the second child to get a spoiling the first child didn't get and I hope their moms like the quilts!

 I also got my hands on this pretty little charm pack of Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille. LOVE it!

Here I am sinking my painted toes in the sand and water on a remote tropical island. Ha! Just kidding. I snapped this photo of my feet in the pool at my parents house one day when it was already like 90 degrees in April. LOVED it!

I ordered a new phone case for my phone, because mine was not doing well at all. This is a reflection of it on the mirror of my purse. Along with my granny hand at the bottom of the reflection. It is a bright and cheery-cherry case! You can get your own from Gelaskins. 

Turtles on a log on the golf course. No one wanted to be in the water that day, so it was tight quarters on that branch.

Pretty flowers in our yard.

Another pretty.

Seeing a trend? I took that Big Baby Bloodhound for a walk one day and I forced her to stop while I took pictures of these flowers. I thought the color was so vibrant that I had to have a pic! It was quite a feat keeping her still without dropping my camera phone, but I'm happy with the result. 

While RH was home for his one-week summer vacay, we stained our planter this darker brown color for a change and to protect the wood. We love the new color!

 Hope you enjoyed these snapshots of my life! I'll be back in June!  

 

Work In Progress Wednesday: Emroidery 101

 So last week, for the first time I ever, I linked up and shared my Etchings quilt in progress. I had so much fun visiting other blogs and having new visitors commenting on my blog that I decided to do it again! This time I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced. Thanks for stopping by if you're visiting from the link up!
 I went to my first (right Mom?) embroidery class this past weekend. (I add the parenthesis because my Mom would know better if I had taken one as a child. Her memory is better than mine. Not sure what that says about either of us.) Anyway, I signed up at my LQS (that is my Local Quilt Store, for my non-quilting-lovely readers).  For our class we needed to get our hands on a copy of Redwork Winter Twitterings and show up! So I did! And I had the best time.  Here is Redwork Winter Twitterings:  

 There are lots of snowmen and snowbirds in the Winter Twitterings book. It is very cute and I think I'll do some bird-y projects for Christmas.  My teacher traced a pattern* on some cotton fabric and explained a bunch of the basics to us! Here is the progress I have made so far.   

 I love doing handwork, because I can sit with my husband and work on something while he studies or with the television on in the background. It is a great way to BE around each other. My machine is noisy and in a back room, so if I want to spend time with him my man and get some work done on a project, embroidery is the way to go! After this project I'm going to get started on another piece that I'd love to frame for my living room or one of our bedrooms!
Thanks for checking in!

 *Personally, I'm not into super country-cutesy stuff like snowmen for my house decor, but I'm going to finish this project for the practice. It does have a certain Christmas charm to it that could definitely be made into something... hmmm.

I'm Wanting A Spring In My Step!

(Pre-post note: This new blogger set-up is very strange and I'm hoping I get used to it very soon).  * * * * * *
Hello Lovelies,
Spring has sprung and it is quite beautiful and green where we are! 

  We have had a number of rainstorms, afternoon showers, and lots of sunshine! I feel like everything is breathing and alive! It is definitely refreshing. It almost has me wanting to move outside and do most of my living on our patio! 
All the wonderful weather has me itching to go shopping. I have resisted the urge to go into any stores because I know seeing the cute springy / summery tops and bottoms will have me really wanting some new wardrobe pieces. But, I'm going to stay away (as best as I can) because 1. I'm still unemployed! and 2. I'd really like to drop just a couple of pounds before I get anything new for the bod. 
However, I have NOT been able to resist looking at shoes online. It is a terrible thing, that started with the need for a new pair of running shoes (mine have been causing me some pain). I got onto Zappos, shopped around, and ordered with a giftcard that I had. But I didn't stop there. Somehow I shopped around, and went from site to site and ended up on TOMS and now I'm swooning for a pair. I have never tried them on, so I don't know if I'd like the fit, but the idea of shoes (not sandals) that don't require socks sounds sooo appealing in these warm wonderful days. These are my favorite : Ash Canvas Women's Classic for the low, low price of $44.00.

But I like these a lot too: Cream Metallic Linen Women's Classic for $48.00

Ahhh, if only I had a spring birthday!

Work In Progress: Etchings Quilt

One of my newly revisited hobbies is quilting! I sewed and quilted some as a child and then spent many years away from the machine. I made Mr. RH a quilt for his college graduation the year we got engaged and married, but did not have my own machine until Christmas a few years ago. I now have a machine and a great fabric stash, thanks to my Mama, and have recently been inspired and have gotten back into the swing of things. 
I took a class at a local quilt store (LQS) in February  and signed up for another this weekend. It forced me to do some prep work and re-learn how to thread my machine and spin a bobbin before I went to class, so that was a great kick-start. I'm thinking my next class will be very inspiring, too!
But in the meantime, I've been using the skills and  fabrics I already have for a few projects! One of those is, what I hope will be, a very beautiful quilt.   The pattern is called: "dream big" and is found in Camille Roskelley's book "Simplify." 

 She is a wonderful designer and the pattern is easy to read and understand.
I used a jelly roll for the fabrics in my quilt. A jelly roll is around 40: 2 1/2" strips of different fabrics that all coordinate from a fabric line. The one I chose is called Etchings and was designed by 3 Sisters for Moda. It is beautiful: featuring greys, blues, reds and creams. It has some prints that look like tourist maps and some with words etched on. 

The pattern had me cut various size rectangles and some squares from the jelly roll strips and arrange them. I haven't sewn all the strips together, yet, but I  took a photo of the whole arrangement.  It took me a solid six or so hours to get everything laid out exactly how I wanted it.  Now the next step is to stitch all of those interlocking crosses and rows together.

I'm really excited about it. Now, off to the machine!

   P.S. I am linking this post up to The Needle and Thread Network WIP!