Faster Than A Speeding Bullet/Slower Than Molasses In January

Bullet:
Today was "Superhero Day" at school for Jaxon. In about 15 minutes, and without a pattern, I whipped up a Super Jaxon cape.

The emblem is too low. But he didn't seem to notice or mind.

Molasses:
No less than 31 months ago...okay it was actually more than 31 months ago...I purchased the fabric to make a quilt for the baby (Maveryk) that Heather was pregnant with at the time. I gave her the fabric at her baby shower and planned to have the quilt done shortly after the baby was born.
Great news! 31 months and another baby (Oliver) later, I finished the quilt today!

I had to enlarge it from crib to twin size after the first year or so. I planned to hand quilt the entire thing which might be the daunting thought that caused me to procrastinate so much. But I gave up on the hand quilting thing about a month ago. DONE is better than PERFECT they say. I just tied it and hand quilted only a random 16 of the puzzle pieces rather than all 96 of them.
And now it's done.
I also put all the kids on notice that I won't be committing to any more quilts for the grandbabies. Apparently no matter how much I want to do a thing, as soon as I commit to it, I lose interest. gah!
That said, I have already purchased most of the fabric to make a quilt for Dexter. Maybe. ;)

Big steps

I'll get back to the vacation blogs soon.
Life has been moving full steam ahead since we got home.
The day after we returned we had a big family farewell to Kenzie. She was heading off to college a few days later.
Took lots of pictures for Kenzie to hang on her dorm room walls...

I had to get pics of the grandbabies wearing their souvenir Outer Banks t-shirts.

Even the ones we can't see yet...

 And the daddies-to-be couldn't be left out.

Maveryk had a real bonding moment with "Grandpa Rog" over a dozen rolls of smarties

And then a few days later we got up very early, I made Kenzie her favorite breakfast (German Apple Pancakes)
And she hit the road...

I almost made it through without crying until I looked back at the door and saw Emily fall apart. :(
So we cried, Emily and I.
Kenzie made the two hour drive just fine and we delivered the rest of her things to her the next day. We didn't get to visit long because Kenz found a job the minute she rolled into town and had to work that whole day. Then the next day she came down with strep and had to get herself to a doctor.
Just like a grown up. *sniff*
Three days later Miss Emily made her big move to junior high. She's attending the charter school near our house. She wasn't too sure about the whole uniform thing but I think it's going to be just fine.
She looks so grown up. It's crazy.

 She obsessed non stop  for a week about all the things there are to be nervous about in junior high. Her biggest worry was not being able to get her locker open. So she practiced the technique hundreds of times on a combination lock we have.

 I let her choose her own fabric for a school bag. This one was perfectly her.

On the first day of school she opened her locker perfectly the very first time that she tried to open the correct locker ;)
Today is the 4th day of school and as of this morning, she has not been able to open it by herself again. Luckily, there always seems to be a helpful student or teacher nearby to help her.
She insisted that I walk her to her first class even though there didn't seem to be many parents in the building at the time. And she stood outside that class afraid to go in almost to the point of tears.
Which had me on the verge of tears.
But, as is often the best course of action as a parent, I sucked it up, gave her a kiss and a hug and gentle push into the class.
And she loved it. She talked my ear off for a solid hour when she got home that day.

So...with those two off on their big new journeys, I just have the first day of Kindergarten for Jaxon ahead of me.

A little more sewing

When we first started vacation planning I began scouring the internet for a simple to make luggage tag.
I found a few that I liked and "pinned" them for future reference.
Yesterday I did a quick review of those pins and a little thinking and came up with my own design. By the third try I had it just right!
What do you think?

It just fits a business card.
Coordinating interior and exterior prints.
WAY more attractive than the scraps of fleece we were previously using to quickly identify our bags among the hundreds circling by on the luggage carousel.
WAY more durable than the paper ones we usually hurriedly tie to our bags at the airport ticket counter.
Now I'm wondering if I should
1) Post a free tutorial
2) Make some for my sadly neglected Etsy shop
3) Figure out how to make a tutorial for sale.

Option 3 really appeals to me because it requires less of my hands on time with the actual sewing. But then again, how many hours would it take a non-techy person like myself to figure out how to actually do that?!?!

Something to think about. Because, you know, I'm running low on things to think about.

Super quick sewing project

I'm a "making" fool today!
I made this reversible sling bag. Perfect size for everything I'm gonna need while we're on vacation. Plus room for a little shopping!

It takes 2 yards of fabric, less than an hour, and this super helpful tutorial. I did top stitch around the strap. Just because.
I love it!

Emily likes it too except she thinks my fabric is "weird". So I'll make one for her from her choice of fabrics for school, in lieu of a backpack. It will hold a 3 ring binder with room to spare.

Fringy Summer Scarf - maybe?

Maybe you are someone who would chop the top half off a brand new tank dress to make yourself a skirt.
And maybe you'll put the red skirt on and find out that you don't really have anything to wear with it. Except maybe a blue shirt.
And maybe blue and red go just fine together but you decide the ensemble needs....something.
And maybe you happen to have a HUGE PILE of various t-shirts from company sponsored charity events hanging out in your closet. And maybe one of them just happens to be the exact same color of red as your hacked skirt.

Maybe you remember a little thing you "pinned" a while ago.
So maybe, while the kids are waiting patiently to leave for some summer fun, you grab your rotary cutter and scissors and go a little crazy on a few inches off the bottom of that shirt.

 10 minutes later you might have this.

And maybe you kinda like it and your 12 year old and her friend say it looks kinda "pioneer-ish but cute".
So you load up the children and head to the Days of 47 Float Preview Party where you notice several people noticing your fringy summer scarf.
Maybe they think you've dressed especially for this patriotic occasion.  And you're a dork.
Or maybe they think you're pretty clever with your funky fringy summer scarf.
Maybe?

In case you think this is not dorky kinda clever and want to make one for yourself: Cut the hem off an extra large t-shirt. Then cut a 5 inch strip off the bottom of the shirt. Using scissors make 1/4 wide fringe a little more than halfway into the band. Then give a good tug on each of the fringy pieces to make them skinnier and well... fringier. Then stretch the whole thing like it's a giant rubber band. Then decoratively loop it over your neck.

I did it again.

True fashionistas look away.
Tawnya, that means you.
I took Emily clothes shopping yesterday. Which can be fun. Or boring. Depending on how indecisive and/or picky a preteen can be at any given moment.
So I had some free time to try on a few things for myself. And I hated them all. Every single one. Perhaps if I had gone up a few notches in price point I might have had more luck. But the budget is what the budget is.
Our last stop was at Walmart. After searching EVERYWHERE else for a swimsuit top for Emily that didn't cause her Dad and I to want to throw a blanket over her maturing body the way that her current one does.
While she tried things on I passed these $9 dresses hanging on a rack.

Not really my thing. But I saw something else in them.
So I brought them home and cut off the stretchy tube top parts. Ta-da! More comfy skirts.
Then I asked my goofball husband to take a picture of the finished product this morning. Oy!

Note to self: Learn to use the tripod and self timer.

My wardrobe needs a makeover.

I'm just not a clothes horse. Just not.
Comfort matters most to me.
T-shirts and yoga pants work for me.
But there are times when I try not to look like a bag lady. And one of those times is coming up in 46 days. If you're counting. And I am.
I need vacation clothes! And there's no vacation clothes budget. So I need to get creative.
After my shower today, I pulled this dress out of the closet.

Pardon the towel on my head.
The dress is okay. Not great. It's comfortable.
Except it's kinda short. I don't know why but I'm just not loving my knees lately. Is that weird?
Plus, I have to bend/stoop a million times a day. It's not comfortable to worry about flashing your backside.
And aren't empire waistlines supposed to be slimming? I saw a picture of myself in this dress from last summer. I looked pregnant. That's why I put it in the closet and haven't worn it again.
So...I cut the dress in half right above the elastic at the empire waist and made a skirt of it!

It's actually a little too loose. So I plan to take it in a little in a few weeks.
I'm working on taking off a few of the pounds I've put back on.
I have to wear a swimsuit in 46 days people!!!

This and That

Long time, no blog. Again.
It doesn't look like things will slow down anytime soon so I might as well get some stuff down here while I have the chance.
Let's see...
I mentioned a while ago that I was going to try to grow a square foot garden inside of a dog run to keep the deer out. Unfortunately, that plan never got beyond this...

Turns out that the best place to have a garden in our yard won't pass the HOA's approval unless we install a vinyl fence around our yard. Which is A) not something we want to do. And B) would make the dog run unnecessary anyway. So we sold the dog run for just what we spent on it and decided to join the local community garden instead. We just got things planted today. So delayed because of this late Spring we're caught up in. We also planted just a small box in the backyard mostly for salad greens, snacking tomatoes and fun stuff for Jaxon to experiment with. Hopefully these solutions will work out.

The newest grand sons are well under way.

Can't wait to meet them this fall.

Last weekend we participated in the Great Strides National Walk Event for Cystic Fibrosis.
It was a perfectly gorgeous day sandwiched right in the middle of days and days of rain. Great timing!

The walk took place in downtown Salt Lake City which is becoming a place that I really enjoy exploring after all these years. Go figure. We were walking at a pretty brisk pace that day so I didn't get a chance to snap many pictures (With my new Mother's Day camera! Did ya notice the improvement in pics lately?) but here's just a taste of the beautiful weather we were treated to.

 At the end of the 5K walk there were some guys handing beautiful red roses to all the ladies.

There was a card attached that explained that children with CF sometimes call their condition "Sixty Five Roses" because it's easier for them to say. So sweet. We were happy to help support the event.

Roger and I had a date night last week. We saw The Hasty Heart at Hale Centre Theater. Great show! I seem to be getting mushy in my old age because this one had me crying at the end too. I think this is the second one in a row to reduce me to tears. Oy!
Before the play we had dinner at a favorite restaurant downtown. The Blue Iguana. Yum!
Right outside the restaurant, beside Capitol Theater, there is a new art installation. I'm not sure I really "get it" but it's interesting anyway. Roger said he had read about it in the paper recently and I was able to track down the article online. The piece is titled "Sway'd".

Huh. You never know what you'll see downtown. LOL
Speaking of that...a few days later we were downtown again and I noticed this building as we were walking a different route back to the car.

Hmmm...I wonder what they manufacture there? Donkeys?

We've had a couple of small projects going around the house.
When I had my very first house built 17 years ago, I had this idea to make a curtain rod for the master bedroom out of a tree branch. I'm not sure why it never happened. But Crystal recently moved into her own place and she was looking for curtain rod ideas. While looking for some ideas for her I was reminded of the tree branch idea and I decided to go for it. So we found some branches at Crystal's new place and brought them home. After some trimming and planning we had them just right. Roger helped me get them up on the wall and I sewed some crushed voile panels to hang with lengths of ribbon.

I love how they turned out. I think there's a fun contrast between the rustic branch and the silky, breezy curtains. Softened up our bedroom windows really well.

We've been in the new house for almost one year so naturally it was time to tear something up. :)
This thing had to go!

I've never had a pedestal sink before and I never will again. What a pain! No place to put a bottle of hand soap. And it was originally installed just a fraction of an inch too high so it was constantly pulling loose from the wall no matter how many times we had the builder come and fix it. ugh! So we had it ripped out and replaced with a vanity and granite counter top to match the rest of the house. So.much.better!  I didn't think to take an "after" pic though. Trust me. It's better.

Emily is off track so we've been trying to find some fun things to do. This week we made paper flowers. I can't believe we've never done this before. So easy, cheap and fun.

We'll hang these in Emily's room for a fun bit of color. But we might use them to decorate for Kenzie's graduation party first.
We had a couple of failed attempts too. Emily wanted to make one without trimming the edges. Just the straight edge of the paper. Even crumpling it up didn't help.

And I thought this polka dot paper would make a fun flower.

Not so much. It was thicker and stiffer than the solid colors. And it's only printed on one side. duh!
Oh well. As my Dad used to say, you win some, you lose some.
This orange one is my favorite.

Well, that's a bit of what we've been up to. Yesterday we went to the zoo and out for dinner but I'll save all those awesome pics for another post.
Bet ya can't wait! ;)