artsy-crafty babe

happy halloween!

Man, now that Halloween is here, I wish that I had been a little more "in" to it.  Up until this point I hadn't done much.  My kidlets wore store bought costumes and I made cupcakes from a box for the littlest ones to bring to daycare.  Shoot, we didn't even carve our pumpkin!

Last night something got into me.  I decided to make goodie bags for the kids at Alex & Ava's daycare.  This involved making 3 totes and 2 appliqued bibs.  What was I thinking?  As usual this took longer than expected.  I finished up around midnight last night.  Then, this morning when they were getting dressed it occurred to me that they didn't have any sort of Halloween shirt to wear.  What I should have been doing last night was making my own two kids some appliqued t-shirts.  The thought never occurred to me.  Oh well.  At least I found the Halloween bags to bring around trick-or-treating, or else I would have felt really guilty about those totes for their friends!

for my friend

This weekend was my friend's birthday.  I had planned to buy her something while out in CA, but when I mentioned this to her she seemed disappointed that she wasn't getting a "Beki creation", as she put it.  I told her that I didn't have the time, with being away from home and all.  I didn't find anything for her in CA.  Then I shopped around home.  I still didn't find anything that seemed appropriate.  So Sunday evening, I whipped this up.  Well, whipped up is sort of an understatement.  I'm not good at whipping up anything.  And honestly, I didn't want to just whip something up, I wanted to give her something that she'd like.  I knew she liked fleur de lis, so that's where I started. 

I thought about trying something totally new, but after my last fiasco, I decided to go with something I knew I could do.  I used my pleated tote pattern, but modified it a bit (of course).  I actually made it a few inches shorter than the pattern, and added the band at the top for something a little different.  I'm pleased at how this turned out, though I wasn't too happy when Matt said "oh look, a Saints purse".  NO, it's not a Saints purse, it's an appliqued fleur de lis purse!!  Eh, it does kind of look like the Saints.  Oh well, that wasn't the intention when I made it!  Happy Birthday Renee!  I love you lots!!!

he's a keeper

Matt sure out did himself for our anniversary this year.  The surprises started the morning of our anniversary when he handed me a bag from a local jeweler.  Yes, jewelry.  He NEVER gives me jewelry.  Inside the bag was a beautiful mother's ring with the birthstones of our three children set in it - emerald + alexandrite + emerald.  It's simple and dainty, just perfect for me.  I love it!  But that wasn't all - he also sent me a big fall bouquet.  Generally, I think sending flowers is a waste of money, but in this case, I forgave him.  I love fall bouquets.  It reminds me of the bouquet I held in our wedding.  This is the one time of year I'm okay with the flowers.  Our evening was pretty uneventful, as he had a football game to coach, but I knew that something was in store for later.

Boy oh boy, was I every surprised!  After Lily's parent-teacher conference on Friday afternoon Matt told me to pack a bag because he made arrangements for the kids and we were going out for the evening.  What?  We've NEVER done anything like that!  When we arrived at the Columns Hotel I was shocked.  I guess he pays attention to what I say - I had mentioned this hotel once months ago, never dreaming that he'd make arrangements for us to stay there.  The hotel was beautiful.  It was old, filled with charm, and had a pretty nice bar.  It was the cosmos I remembered from my last visit there.  This place has a pretty happening happy hour.

We stayed in the Pretty Baby suite which was kind of creepy.  I'm sorry, it was the stained glass of "Pretty Baby" that creeped me out.  There was even a light behind it to illuminate the glass when the lights were out.  No thank you.  I think the part that bothered me was that she was watching us in bed.  At least she gave us a good laugh!  The rest of the room was pretty nice.  I think I liked the chandelier and crooked fireplace the best.

After changing for the evening, we had a drink at the bar, then out to dinner.  Dinner was at Tujagues in the French Quarter.  It was nothing fancy, and the food was okay, but that wasn't important.  What's important was that I had a night out ALONE with my husband!  The company was fabulous, to say the least.

After dinner we strolled through the French Quarter, looked at art in the gallery windows, and just enjoyed ourselves.  I think my favorite part of the evening was the smell in the air.  Generally, the French Quarter stinks.  It smells like stale booze and vomit, but not that night.  The air was cool and smelled of sweet olive.  Oh, how I love the smell of sweet olive.  It reminded me of our first anniversary in Natchez, Mississippi, which had the most humongous sweet olive trees I had ever seen.

Being quite pooped from a long week, we retired to the hotel early.  We were going to have another drink at the bar, but that place was hopping!  I couldn't get near the bar to order anything, so we called it a night.

The next morning I explored the gardens around the Columns, we strolled along St. Charles a bit, I took some pictures, then we went to the Camellia Grill for breakfast.  Yummy!  An omelet with french fries?  Of course!  With pecan pie and ice cream for dessert.  Needless to say, my new jeans aren't fitting so well anymore.

Our whirlwind overnight adventure ended all to early.  Once we finished our meal it was time to head back home to gather the kids.  Do I have the greatest husband or what?  I am one lucky woman!!  Yeah, I think I'll keep him, he's a good one!!

I created a flickr set if you want to see more pics.

667

667 - that's the number of unread bloglines entries I have to catch up on.  Did you know I was gone?

Long story short - last weekend Matt planned a surprise overnight get away to celebrate our anniversary (more on that later), then Sunday I flew out to California for a business trip.  I planned to do some blogging while I was out there, but I had no internet access.  Can you believe?  I felt like my right arm had been cut off!!!  After the first day or two I got used to being cut off from the world and started to enjoy the smoky landscape (not really).

I'm finally back home, safe and sound.  I plan to spend the weekend reading blogs, catching up on my email, and hopefully posting a few blog posts or two. 

It's great to be back home, loving on my family, sleeping in my own bed (and goofing off on the internet).  I missed you all bunches!!!

so not worth it

A great big tote.  Seems simple enough, right?  I should have been able to whip one up in no time, but that didn't happen.  What a pain in the butt this was!  I don't know what was wrong with me, but I made mistake after mistake.  Each little mistake should have been a sign to stop while I was ahead, but I didn't.  I stayed up way too late Tuesday night, determined to finish the darned thing, but then the bobbin thread ran out.  I HATE when that happens.  At that point I was ready to throw this stupid bag in the garbage.  Being the fabric miser that I am, I couldn't bear to do that, so I went to bed.

On my way into work the next morning I came up with the brilliant idea to add a zippered top, something I had never done before.  So, Wednesday evening I spent my time cutting, ironing, and sewing a very nice zippered top for my tote.  I knew that it would be fabulous.  Everything was going smoothly until it came time to insert the zippered top.

Pinning that top in place, then trying to sew the darned thing just wasn't happening.  It. was. a. beating.  It looked like CRAP.  So, I ripped it all out.  More of my precious time wasted, and it was getting late again.  Even more determined to make something out of this cursed bag, I carried on.  In the process of ripping out my zippered top, I ripped a hole in the top of the green fabric, which is now several inches shorter than I originally cut.

What to do, what to do?  I decided that my best route would be to just cut my lining fabric to the level of my exterior (oh, did I not mention that somehow my lining ended up being about 2" taller than my exterior fabric?), then sew them together using some bias binding, which would cover the hole I made in seam ripping.  Thankfully, before I took scissors to the lining, it occurred to me that I could just fold the lining over the exterior, which would essentially do the same thing.  And that's what I did. 

It isn't pretty.  I didn't press before I sewed and the lining stretched as I sewed it, but it's done.  Was it worth it?  NO WAY!!  Live and learn.

**Thanks for all the anniversary wishes!  We don't plan to celebrate until this weekend due to our busy weekday schedules, but I can't imagine what more he has planned (I know there's something...).

our first decade

On that beautiful October day, 10 years ago, never could I have imagined the life that we would create together.  These last 10 years have been the most wonderful, fulfilling, best years of my life.  I feel truly blessed everyday that I get to share with you.  Happy Anniversary, Babe.  I love you!!

i {heart} patchwork

Yes, I do.  Besides being a glorious, relaxing weekend, I got lost in patchwork.  It's really easy to do.  It all started with the pouches.  I didn't plan to make them, but *poof*, it just happened.  The same thing happens with fabric when I'm online shopping, *poof* it jumps into my cart (yeah, that also happened this weekend).  These are supposed to be for sunglasses.  I tried using iron-on velcro for the closure, but that totally didn't work.  I ended up having to use those little sew-on snaps.  Don't look too close at that picture - the buttons aren't sewn on yet.

Then I decided to make something to go in a new dough bowl I bought for my coffee table.  My main requirement was that it had to be kid friendly.    These are supposed to be apples, the pattern taken from this japanese craft book.  They're okay.  I definitely need to make more to fill up my bowl.  Next time I think I'll make them a little bigger.  I may also choose to make them a little less busy.  Maybe a solid paired with a pattern.  I do like how using a ribbon for the stem turned out, which is different than in the book.

Of course I'm not done yet.  See?  I have lots more strips to piece together.  Who knows what they'll be - there's still a few hours left to the weekend!

Oh wait, I forgot to mention my favorite part of the weekend!  When I walked into my house on Friday afternoon it was better than Christmas morning - my Mother-in-law surprised us by cleaning our whole house.  How great is that?  It was because of her generosity that I had the time to make these lovely patchwork projects this weekend, otherwise, I would have spent my time scrubbing my toilets.

a good life & my middle name

Ah, it's Friday * Life is good * Fall is finally here with cooler temps and lower humidity * I have nothing planned for the weekend other than Lily's soccer game on Sunday * I'm at my lowest weight in over two years * I have a bunch of unused Weight Watcher Weekly points (splurge!) * My second scarf is almost complete (thanks for the yarn, Elizabeth!) * There's a bunch of new fabrics and craft books on their way to my house * I'm wearing a new pair of jeans (in a smaller size) * Tonight is take out night * Tomorrow morning I get to sleep past 5:30 am * Yes, life is good.

A while back Gerry tagged me with the middle name meme.  I procrastinated because I have a long middle name, which required lots of thinking.  Here it goes, my middle name is Elizabeth:

E - Eat.  I like LOVE to eat.  I'm not picky either.

L - Lily, my first baby, the one who made me a Mom.  Lilies are also my favorite flower.

I - Indecisive.  I hate this about me.  I wish I could more easily decide on things.  I think I'm indecisive because I have such a broad range of things that I like.  Yeah, that's it!

Z - Zesty? I like foods that are zesty.

A - Alex and Ava, my two youngest [active] babies.  The two of them keep things interesting, for sure.

B - Brown. Boring, maybe, but it's my favorite color.

E - Easy going, that's me.  I'm very much a go with the flow kind of person.  It takes a lot to ruffle my feathers and I rarely hold a grudge.  None of that it worth it to me.

T - Taurus, my zodiac sign.  I'm a Taurus through and through.

H - Home, it truly is where my heart is.  I feel like my home is a reflection of me. I try to make it as comfortable and welcoming as I can for myself and others.  I think I'd rather be home than anywhere else.

Okay, that thoroughly sucked.  I'm not tagging anybody, but if you want to play along, feel free. 

Have a great weekend!!

version 5.0?

Last night I got possessed by the bag making spirit and had to make this bag right that very instant!  What do you think?  It is a bit of a departure for me because I tend to play it safe with color and fabric combos.  My safe choices are feeling a bit boring to me right now, so I decided to spice things up.  I have to say, I feel quite sassy carrying this around on my shoulder!

I suppose this is version 5.0 of my pleated bag because I've never done anything like that with it before.  I also tweaked the dimensions a little bit and gave it a new top with one handle instead of two (can't leave things alone!).  Yes - no - maybe?

P.S. those roses are from my garden.  Aren't they beautiful?  I wish you could smell them because they smell divine!

** I added some more pics of the purse in a flickr set here, if you want a better look**

fall??

Yes, the calendar says October, but is sure doesn't feel like, not down in south louisiana anyway.  Despite the sweltering temps and sticky humidity, I'm making the most of my favorite time of year.  Yes, I truly love fall, the month of October specifically. 

All of my fake fall foliage is in place. We just painted the door and molding white (from black) and honestly still needs another coat, but I couldn't wait for that.

This weekend I bought some mums and pumpkins, so now it's officially fall.  They look great nestled around the "scary crow" as Alex calls it.

Even the projects I've been assembling lately are autumn themed.  I can't help myself!  Gosh, I love these colors.  (these are in the shop, if you're interested)

Now I need some pumpkin bread and apple cider.  Mmm-mmm!  Happy Fall!!