The Livin' is Easy!

Just some glimpses of the summer fun we have enjoyed so far...

I am Very Proud of My Daughter!

Just wanted to share a news story about my teenage daughter. 



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VEGAS!!!

Had a little get-away last week to Las Vegas.  Dave was out there for work for the week, and I flew in and joined him for the weekend.  One of my oldest and dearest friends also lives in Vegas and we got to hook up with her over my stay. 

 

The stars did not align themselves to allow us to bring home more money then we left with, but it was a good time non-the-less!  

How can you really go wrong when you have...

• Your husband
• A good friend
• Warmer weather than you left at home
• Lots of lights and glitz and bling all around
• Good food (that I didn't have to cook - or clean up after)
• Getting your picture taken with an Elvis Impersonator, an Elvis Big Head, and a walking Fabulous Las Vegas Sign
• A great hotel room
• A little gambling (a few wins, but unfortunately we ended up donating it back to the local economy!)
• The kids home safe and sound with Grandma and Grandpa C
• Lots and lots of People Watching (one of my favorite sports)

 And the highlight of the trip was the Cirque Du Soleil - Mystère show we saw.  If you have never seen it and get the chance I highly recommend it.  We even had front row seats... AWESOME!!!  You can check out a You Tube trailer for the show here. 

Last Completed Project of 2009

I managed to complete the quilt I was making for my in-laws 2 days before we were getting together to celebrate Christmas. Which means I finished it on December 31! So that also makes it the last project I completed in 2009!It is only a lap sized quilt, but it took me forever. I started it in October - thinking I had plenty of time. Well, then my sewing machine decided to act up and needed to go in for repairs. Got it back right before Thanksgiving - but since I was hosting Thanksgiving, I couldn't do anything with it until after.

Then, I made about 50 of these letter plaques, that I gave away as gifts and listed in my Etsy store...But I persisted, and finally finished it with 2 days to spare!
Each of the 4 corners are quilted with this snowflake pattern I made. I had originally planned to do all the blocks this way, but time was not on my side!
I am happy with how it turned out, and I think they liked it!

Point of View Lens

My good friend Jenni took some family pictures for us a few weeks ago. She is has an amazing eye, and does some very cool effects using Photoshop or some other such software.

If you would like to see some more good pictures of my family - not the crappy snapshots I usually post, check out Jenni's blog...

Point of View Lens: cerajewski family

Inspired to Create...

Saturday was my birthday - I won't say what number birthday - but my birthday none-the-less... I share my birthday with one of my best friends and "cousin-in-law" Lori. Lori was celebrating a "milestone" birthday this year (the big 40), so her family threw her a party. So we went to the party to help her celebrate.

Lori is an amazing artist and illustrator. Although it was her party, she painted me this canvas for my birthday.I just love my new picture!!!

She even put red polka dot ribbon along the edge of the canvas to finish it off...

She is such a talented artist!!!

Doesn't it look great in my sewing area - it matches perfect with the sewing table I made earlier this year.I am now inspired to start sewing some new creations...

Too Pooped to Pop!

Max, our new puppy got very sick this past week and is now in the animal hospital. We are hoping he will be released tomorrow evening, but no guarantees.

Our New Baby!

I've been very busy the last week with our latest addition to our family. He is 7 week old black lab/shephard/who-knows-what-else puppy. I swore I would never get a dog, but was beaten down by the kids and hubby after my sister and brother both brought their dogs to the lake 2 weekends ago. He is a pound puppy, and is very sweet and cute! The kids are doing a great job with him so far, I hope it keeps up so that I can get back to some craftiness.

You will have to excuse the quality of these pics, they were taken with my phone - still having some issues with my camera.

Busy as a Bee

My summer has been crazy busy as I'm sure everyone else has.

Had my garage sale - which was pretty much a bust - hard to get traffic back in our little cul-de-sac, and when we did, no one was buying. The economy must be worse than I thought if people are not even buying at garage sales!

The spring broke on our garage door with all my garage sale stuff sitting on my driveway - cost me over half of what I made in the entire sale to fix that.

I've "misplaced" the charger to my camera battery, so no pictures of any of my recent creations... I finished my vintage sheet zig zag quilt. Stared on a hammock cover for the new hammock we got Dave for fathers day - it is basically a big quilt that will have gromets in the corners and sides to tie to the new 3 person rope hammock that is to be delivered next week.

Have spent quite a bit of time at the lake - entertaining friends - check out Jenni's blog post about her visit to the lake a few weekends ago. She is an amazing photographer and took some great pictures... Thanks Jenni for all the nice compliments too!!

Have also spent a lot of time up there trying to get the treehouse finished (inside painted, screens installed, etc) so the kids can sleep in it this coming week while we are up there for vacation. I will be glad when it is finished - what was suppose to be a "summer project for Dave", has turned into a 3 year ordeal for the entire family. You can read some of that saga here.

Kids have been doing various camps and sport which means I have spent most of my summer driving here and there.

Well, sorry about the lack of pictures, hopefully I will find my camera charger soon! We will be at the lake from this afternoon though the 4th of July weekend! Hope to post more after that.

Checkers anyone?

I took a break from my sheet zig zag quilt to whip up a birthday present for my nephew who is turning 6 this weekend.

I still have to hand sew the binding to the back - that is the red polka dot fabric on the edge. But I was so excited about it I just had to show you.

I made him this game quilt. One side has a big checker board...

And the reverse has a backgammon board!

I made game pieces out of large washers from the home improvement store. A quick coat of spray paint, and custom game pieces! I was orginally making the pieces out of felt pieces hand sewn together. They were cute, but very time consuming, and I was afraid they would blow away if you used it outside. This way the washers help hold the quilt down.

My kids are begging me not to give it away, but keep it up at our lake cottage. Believe me, I am tempted. But I will make another one for us. There are some things I would change on the next one, but if it turns out good, I may list it on my Etsy store to as a sample of a custom game quilts that can be ordered... or maybe I'll write a pattern for it. I've never tried that. Any thoughts?

The quilt is about 40" x 50". Great for a lap quilt, or to throw on the floor or on a picnic or at the beach, to play a few games.

I love how the outline quilting and the diagonal X's through the squares on the front stand out on back. The white fabric in this quilt is an old ultra soft cotton sheet!