The Finale

The winner is: Chelsea and she chose Cracklin' Rosie. Congratulations.

O.K. people, as evidence of how great I think all of you are, for the finale, I will give away two quilts, so make sure that you enter by Monday morning.

Leave a comment telling me your favorite ice cream and once again your favorite or new favorite quilt along with your email address if you have not entered before.

Good luck!

Later on I will be posting a picture of Adeline.

Apparently if you weigh 25 lbs and you are messing around instead of going to sleep and you are doing acrobatics that involves a stool and a bed that is a foot off the the ground and you land on heavily padded carpet just so on your arm, you can break it.

Have a great weekend and I can't wait to see who wins some quilts. Thanks again for all those who have participated, I know I've had fun reading through the comments.

Katie

Round 2

And the winner is: Tiffany Green! Her quilt pick was Cherry, Cherry and her favorite post was The Marriage Ref. Congratulations!

This was fun, let's do it again.

The ones still available are:
September Morn
Forever in Blue Jeans
Yesterday's Song
Cracklin' Rosie

Reference the previous post if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

This time you have to leave a comment telling me what your favorite song to sing in the shower is.

Don't be afraid to enter again, really, your odds are quite high of getting a quilt.

Thanks for all of those who particpated, I had fun reading all of your comments and to find out who reads my blog.

Thanks to all of those who helped tie the quilts. It was a pleasure having you all over to do my work for me.

The Post:

I was talking to my mom the day I posted Don't Even Bother. She was terrified because I had just put up a picture on my blog with my house showing our house numbers and she was worried for the girls' safety. Mom, it's like you didn't.even.read.the.post.

No one in their right mind would come to our house after I had listed 51 completely true observations.

Good luck, again.

So if you were shy or nervous the first time, here's your chance.

A tender thought: I really want you to enter if you read my blog. I am doing this for you guys and.....because I am in desperate need of some blessings over here. Remember how somewhere it says it is more blessed to give than to receive.

I will announce the winner on Friday morning.

Katie

Another thought: this is nothing like gambling, really, it's not. So don't let that hold you back.

The Fun Has Arrived!

I couldn't sleep last night. I was excited and terrified. I was excited because the quilt giveaway is finally here and because I didn't contrive arthritis from binding too much in too short a time. I was nervous because I kept thinking 'what if they don't like the quilts? what if this is a mass disappointment? what if they stop "un-following" in droves?'

Then I remembered, oh yes, these are hand made quilts AND they're free. It'll be fine.

The names are an ode to Neil Diamond and my childhood.

Cherry, Cherry

Red, white, and blue fabric, tied with embroidery thread in white and blue. Bound with white fabric and backed with a white sheet. Cotton batting.



Forever in Blue Jeans


Frayed jeans backed and bound with yellow and orange lemon print fabric. Tied with yellow and orange embroidery floss. Cotton batting.


Cracklin' Rosie

High quality fabric, backed with black and white, and lime green fabric. Tied with a variety of colored embroidery floss. Bound with black fabric checkered with white bunnies sporting red neck ties. Cotton batting. This one is my favorite, but don't let that sway you.

September Morn

Hand quilted. Americana themed. Polyester batting. Bound and backed with maroon fabric.

Yesterday's Song

Machine appliqued eight point stars. White centers, followed by colored fabric and cream colored points. Tied with embroidery floss and buttons in the center of stars. Bound and backed with fabric with white flowers on a brown background. Cotton batting.

I have a friend who is a statistician come up with some numbers about the odds of each of you winning, assuming that everyone enters. Everyone has a one in sixteenth chance of winning. If you have two people from the same household, there is a one in eighth chance of winning.

All the binding is finished by hand.

How to Enter:

You must leave a comment. State the name of the quilt that you want to win and your favorite post. YOU HAVE TO PICK ONE OF EACH. None of this: but I like all of the quilts, or she's so clever, how can I just pick one post?

• 
  
  You must leave your email address so I have a means of getting a hold of you.



• 
  
  You must have entered by Wednesday morning at 7am.



• 
  
  I will announce the winner on Wednesday's post and re post the quilts that are still available.



• 
  
  Multiple people from the same household can enter, but only one quilt will be awarded per household.



• 
  
  You must be a follower.



• 
  
  If you live in Idaho I will be sending your quilt with my mom.



• 
  
  If you live elsewhere I will be pawning furniture and/or children to acquire the sum to send the quilt.



• 
  
  If you live in Oregon, I will be sending the quilt with my in-laws.



• 
  
  random.org will decide the winner.

Good Luck!

Katie

Window Palooza

I painted this on some scrap fabric I had just using acrylic paint. It says "Love lives here" in German. At least, that's what I hope it says.
These windows just have some fabric that I bought at Hobby Lobby.

The is the first window that I acquired by begging. The man was totally confused when I told him I was going to hang it up, on a wall, inside my house, for decoration. Some of the flowers are from my wedding bouquet. Tender, right?

I hand sewed these old hexagon flowers that were my great aunts onto some white fabric.

These were some dish towels that someone had hand embroidered. I picked them up for $.25 each at a garage sale. I had my mom embroider one with my daughter's birth information.

This one I sandwiched an old, old, old crazy quilt between two windows. I, my husband, screwed the windows together and hung it from the ceiling.

The other side.

These are some old doors I saved from my husband's grandparent's basement. They used to hang vertically on a piece of furniture. I pressed some flowers, Modge Podged them onto some paper and pressed them up to the glass, using foam board on the back.

I like windows, as you can certainly tell.

I got all of these windows for free thanks to my father-in-law and from some abrasive inquiring on my part. Don't be afraid to tell people that you are planning on using an old, disgusting window that used to be in someone's barn for a home decor project. Loud and proud people.

Don't worry. I fully realize I cannot take a decent picture to save my life. Luckily I'd like to think that I have other redeeming qualities.

DON'T FORGET:

The quilt giveaway starts on Monday, make sure you become a follower so you can enter to win. I will have the full details for you on how to enter on Monday.

I will be busting hump to get all of the quilts bound for the big day.

Katie

Don't Even Bother

On occasion Bryce has had to leave town for business reasons leaving me home alone with the girls. And I get nervous. I play through any possible, frightening, Law & Order: SVU situation imaginable.

Then I try to talk myself out of the absurdity.

Here's what would probably happen if someone did try to break into our house:

As they're scouting out the perimeter of the house, they would probably step on snake segments.

If they tried to scale the fence, it would fall over.

When they tried to reach the top windows, they would fall through the aged, corrugated plastic that is our deck roof.

If by chance they did make it into the house, they would step on goldfish crackers sitting on the floor that had been overlooked for who knows how long waking the entire house.

If that didn't happen and they went into the girls' room they would leave Adeline because her bed would be wet.

If they snatched Elizabeth, they would bring her back because she would demand that they sing her 'the bedtime' song and they would inevitably do it incorrectly. If that didn't happen, she would then commence to ask a million questions and they would be exhausted and wonder when nap time was. But she doesn't take a nap. She would wear them down and they would be praying for forgiveness.

They wouldn't even bother with Meg, she no longer takes a pacifier.

If they happened to be looking for anything of value, they would quickly realize that everything in our home is a hand-me-down, picked up from another person's trash, found at a garage sale/estate sale, given to us for free, is hand made, or been destroyed by three young children.

To all of the creeps, weirdos, illiterates, and hardened criminals: don't even bother.

Katie

Call Me a Hater

I like snacks.

I do.

I revel in potato chips, crunch baby carrots, inhale frozen grapes, string my string cheese, sneak fish crackers, rehydrate jerky, frequent Happy Hour at Sonic, splurge on McDonald's French fries, faithfully eat my yogurt, sample fruit snacks, and on occasion, in the loosest sense of the word, eat peanut butter M&M's by the handful.

Count me in as a believer.

But I hate the concept of 'cuting up' snacks.

I've read and seen countless articles about how to make snacks more fun and appealing so little ones will buy in.

I declare, from my roof top if I could, stop the madness. Just eat the food! Be grateful that it's healthy and plentiful and you have food to eat at all.

It goes along the same lines as a grocery cart liner to keep your baby away from germs as you trek into Wal-Mart, or a wipe warmer so that poor little bum is nice and comfy as you bend over its contents in the heat of the summer.

To the children of the world: snacks are not a right, they're a privilege; if you're shopping at Wal-Mart, which I myself do regularly, you have more concerns than germs; and products to wipe your bum are often coarse and one-ply.

Good luck little ones.

Katie

Let there be light...

What was there before...
and now.

Adeline turned 3 yesterday!

Of course it's cheesy!

So I bought this chandelier at a garage sale for $3. Bryce wasn't there when I bought it so when I was bringing it to the car and putting it into the trunk he said something to the effect of 'what did you just buy?'

At first I was hesitant when I bought it. It could be border line ghetto. So it took me a while to commit before I hung it up. However, when I was looking through Better Homes and Gardens, they featured two of these type of chandeliers. That sealed the deal.

It also made me a bit arrogant about my purchase.

I tried to take some pictures of it with it turned on because it looks much cooler that way.

Also can you catch a glimpse of that little scale to the left? It's an ice cream scoop scale.

There's a barn having a sale this weekend some miles from here that I really want to go to. (That sounds really weird when you say it that way.) Hopefully I'll find some time to 'stop by'.

If you live around the Denver area, make sure you come to the quilt tying get together!

Katie

Sleep Deprivation

I'm melting over here. It's hot, really hot. It was 75 degrees in my house this morning when I woke up, at 6:30am. It wasn't really 6:30am but maybe my husband is reading this......Listen people, that is not a 'low'.

So I did.not.sleep.well. At all. Also, I don't sleep great on Tuesdays because I'm usually turning over post ideas for Wednesday. Genius comes in small doses and on it's own time schedule.

This is what I've come up with:

You know you live in A-Town if: (brilliant, right?)

Someone is jay-walking 20 feet from the cross walk.

You pull skitty-whompis into a parking spot at the library and then you get out to see if the person next to you has enough space. So you ask the gentleman and he says yup, just fine, then proceeds to introduce himself and pulls out a business card to his church. He also happens to be an African-American wearing a do-rag.

Kmart still exists.

You go to Wal-Mart at 10:30pm and most of the customers are hauling around exhausted children.

There is a park every 1.3 miles.

It rains every single 4th of July, right during the fireworks.

There are people advocating the rights of a rodent known as the prairie dog.

You have snakes that live in your yard that on occasion get run over by the lawn mower and when you go to throw the snake away it is no where to be found, and then your two year old stumbles upon the half that didn't get away. Therapy, lots of therapy.

You live four miles away from the best thrift store, ever.

The city owns the tree in your yard and you're not allowed to do anything to it. Did I mention it's in your yard?

There is a street with 40 pawn shops on a five mile stretch.

A liquor store and a church are next to each other in a strip mall.

You can go to some of the best garage sales and estate sales around. I'm convinced that's the only reason my mom comes to visit.

In other news:

The quilt tying party will be next week with the quilt give away the following week. I've decided to give away a quilt on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so you'll have to be quick in responding if you want to enter. There will be five quilts to choose from. I really want you all to participate.

And I've decided that you have to be a follower to enter. There's no reason to be embarrassed that you read my blog. This is a judge free zone.

One other thing, I'm being featured over at the The DIY Showoff, flattered to pieces, thanks Roeshel.

Maintain this enthusiasm till Friday for a fabulous project post,

Katie

It's a Sign....

Bryce says this is what happens when I go to an antique store and ask if everything is for sale.

There is an antique store not to far from here that I've been wanting to stop by and a couple of weeks ago I did. I've been waiting to have Bryce with me because it's off a pretty shady street. Anyway, they're going out of business in December so they said to make them an offer on whatever I found.

When I asked about the sign, she was pretty hesitant, but I reminded her that she said to make her an offer and that everything was for sale. It was $10.

It's huge people. I know it's not for everyone, but I love it. And it's my house.

If you have a pool, you should invite us over to go swimming, it's going to be hot the next couple of days and we're likable.

Katie

Dining In

I managed to get all of my projects from last week done. This is one of the ones that I had on my list, recovering my dining room chairs.

Recovering dining room chairs is almost as great as spray paint. It takes little investment in time and money and the look can completely change. Plus, it's so fast and easy that one can do it pretty often.

It has been years and three kids since I last re-did the chairs. Since then my color scheme has changed and the fabric was all sorts of nastiness.

I thought that I would do something fun to change it up a bit. The girls think the numbers are totally fun. We have a total of six chairs. I thought about painting a seven on the high chair but I didn't want anyone to think that that was prophetic about how many kids we are going to have or anything else that's none of people's business.

I know it seems ridiculous and suicidal to have a light covered fabric, but I sprayed them with Scotch guard and I can recover them easily enough.

I just used basic black acrylic paint and stencils that I made from a free site off of the web and card stock. I think the total cost for this including the Scotch guard which is absurdly priced was about $12.

And in case anyone was wondering, I also made new curtains....

I hope your weekend is filled with sunshine and garage sales,

Katie

Something New

Today I'm going to post about something that I never have previously...my weight and exercising.

I don't exercise and I don't worry about my weight. Why? Because God is merciful. I think God understands that I am not capable of keeping Adeline alive and having to exercise on top of that. Don't get me wrong, I'm active and I eat healthy, I don't consciously exercise.

My friend decided that she wanted to start running, and I thought I would go with her. We live in A-town and it just isn't wise to go out by oneself in the evening, even if it is for a noble cause like physical fitness.

So we set up to go running last night. I went to my dresser and I realized I have no exercise clothes. I mean none. I rummaged for ten minutes last night looking for a sports bra. I know what I have isn't very big, but that doesn't mean that they don't need the best support I can give them.

In the end I had on a pair of 6 year old wrinkled shorts that I had some how managed to surface and a see-through shirt that I'm pretty sure wasn't intended for sweat that showed me wearing not a sports bra.

Pathetic.

But I ran and I'm not sore, and Adeline may or may not live to see another day.

Katie

Some Successes

• July 3rd - We hosted a spur of the moment BBQ and it was so.much.fun.
  


• Hair - not mine, the girls'. I don't French braid, never have been able to, but the other day I turned on Toy Story for the girls and gave it a go while they sat dumb struck by animation. It actually looked like French braids.



• Broccoli - we planted it in our garden this year, and harvested some of it, and it tasted just like broccoli



• Projects - I got all of the projects done this week that I wanted to. Bryce should take me out for dinner, don't you think?



• Garage selling - I found two large frogs for $.50 each and three boxes of scrap fabric for $1 a piece.



• Dinner - I cooked dinner every.single.night this week. Pasta roni totally counts.



• Jo-Ann - I bought fabric for the last of my quilts for the give-away. I'm doing it the end of this month, for sure.



• July 4th - everyone was attired in red, white, and blue.



• Movies - Bandslam, it's a fun flick with unrealistic characters.


• Meg - she wanted her hair put in curlers like Elizabeth and Adeline. She was incredibly patient and kept wanting me to put more curlers in her hair. Naturally she pulled them out 3 1/2 minutes later, but it was fun while it lasted.

Katie

You've Got Mail

This is one of the first projects that I did after we moved into our house. I got a slew of old postcards from my mother-in-law and from my grandma.

I went to Home Depot, sometimes I'm forced to go there, and I bought a piece of wood that had a white veneer coat on top. If I had it to do over, I would buy big piece of cork board and frame it with some ribbon. Anyway.....

I purchased some little alphabet tags in the scrap booking section of Michaels and hot glued those on the top of the tacks that are holding up the postcards.

I saw this idea in a Pottery Barn magazine. Of course mine doesn't look anything like it because I don't earn a Pottery Barn employee's salary nor do I live in a magazine.

In other news, I harvested my garlic, so if you need some garlic.....

Happy 4th!

Katie