olympic education

As we are about to say farewell to the 2010 Winter Olympics, I have to admit that I watched the games almost, if not every night. I haven't missed much because I really love the Winter Olympics and I think my enthusiasm has caught on around here. My boys are now using sleds as snowboards and begging us to take them to the local ski mountain. Shawn White has become somewhat of an idol to them over the past few weeks. I tried to think who I worshipped like that when I was their age. I never came up with anyone actually, but I was never into sports like they are at this age. But mostly I love the feel of nations coming together, the thrill of all the sports and hearing the stories behind the athletes and their amazing journeys of success and even defeat. I wanted to share this site because we came upon it and have all learned quite a bit. It is on NBC and gives short videos behind the science of the Olympic sports. It was cool to see how the kids were putting it all together in their heads as they learned that snowboarding is all about math and physics. I think the school points were boosted a bit! Watch it with your kids, I learned a ton too! NBC Learn

the pillow swap 2

Last year sometime I participated in a pillow swap group over on flickr. There was a small group of sewers with very similar tastes and we did a blind swap for pillows. This year the little group has really grown and I was happy to sign up because it's lots of fun and I love a surprise! This is my pillow that I completed and will be sending out to my secret pal this week. This pillow got me back into sewing after my back surgery and it was a great project to warm my machine up again. I just hope she loves it!
I used lots of varying prints in blues and turquoise then stippled it and added a binding. It measures 20"x20"- big! If you are over on flickr and want to join a swap, I encourage you to try it. There are lots of different ones to try and everyone is sew nice! You can go see the other pillow creations in the group here.

:over the weekend:

photo from Heather Ross blog

Happy Monday! We had an enormously busy weekend! My oldest turned 10 on Saturday, I can hardly believe it. He celebrated with going to the movies and we had 5 boys sleep over. It was fun and wild and "sleep" was not a big part of the night! And Sunday was a mother blessing for my good friend who is about to welcome her second little boy into the world. So wonderful to be a part of all these boy celebrations and have some mama time too!

And I spent just a few moments loving these new fabrics from Heather Ross. You can purchase them over at Spoonflower. They are so darn cute!

Hope your week is off to a great start!

design & target

Lately I am sure everyone has seen the plethora of designers that are making their way into your local Target. First when I saw Orla Kiely, I was really quite excited because one of her bags has been on my want list for a few years. (still on that list) But then yesterday I saw a new commercial for Liberty of London. They are one of the oldest fabric designers from London and make beautiful and very soft and very pricey fabrics for sewers and home goods. But wait, what is this? They are coming to Target too? I couldn't believe it! I am not above shopping for them there either, because quite honestly that is more in my price bracket than $25 yard for fabric. They come out March 14th but in the meantime, head over to this site and you can download some of these gorgeous prints for your desktop as well as have a sneak peek at what will be in stores. What do you think about all these designers moving to the big boxes? Is this a sign of these economic times or do you think it is nice that normal pocket books can get in on some great style?

i heart valentines (and chocolate too!)

A little craft I saw online for this valentine's day. My 3 year old and I had fun making these for her class. And eating some m&m's along the way.

To make: buy matches at your local grocery store and empty them for a later time. Fill each with candy of your choice. We used m&m's but convo hearts would work good I bet.
Cut a piece of paper about 4"x2" to fit around your box and secure on the back with tape. I used 2 different paper strips ones so I could put a name on it. Another cute idea would be to tie ribbon around them but Kate did not want this, I lost that creative battle! Close the box and voila: instant cuteness.

Happy Valentine's Day! Remember those you love in your life!

2 quilts done for 2 happy boys

Last summer I went on my amazing sewing getaway with my dear friend Lillian. Where I made the tops of 2 quilts for my boys. I am happy to say that today they are finally done and on their beds keeping them warm at night. The funny thing about these quilts is that it was supposed to be just one for my oldest Aidan, but when I walked in the door from my trip that summer my younger son quickly asked me: " what did you make for me?" I instantly pulled out the 2 quilt pieces and said "this one is yours!". I didn't have the heart to tell him that I had only made his brother one this trip. So I made the back of Aidan's quilt into the front of Gray's and now had lots more work to finish them both!

And then came a move, my back troubles and back surgery and recovery and those quilts sat and sat and sat in a box for the past 6 months or so. I decided to send them off to The Back Porch Quilters after I have heard Dana over at Old Red Barn Co. speak so highly of Rhonda's work.

I sent them off at the end of December and happily received them last week all done and so beautiful!! Her work is flawless and at .01 per square inch it is affordable too. It was so worth it to have these quilts done for me this time with all we have had going on. I needed to feel like something was getting done. Since I still can't sit at my machine for too long, the thought of quilting these big quilts was impossible! Grayson's is a double and Aidan's is a generous twin.

It feels good to see your hard work complete. I had a nice time by the fire over the snowy weekend sewing the bindings on too. It was relaxing and so warm under those quilts all weekend. Perfect!

::over the weekend::

There was lots of this...

And even a bunch of this too...(more on that tomorrow!) Hope your weekend was warm and cozy with the ones you love.