Bookcases are for books!

This new fashion of beautiful bookcases has taken over and I love it. Sadly I have way too many books for my bookcase.

I decided since I just beautified the desk time to move onto the bookcase. I took a pic and started with the books and went through them. I was raised in a book family. Books are the stories of life. My parents have been gifting my boys books for years and we are super blessed and love them. Now we just need a good place for them.

Chris has always hated that I had mis NON books on our bookcase. Binders are not books.

I searched pintrest for pin worthy bookcase images however no matter how many I looked at, ideas were great, but I need my bookcases to hold books!!

 

Here is my book case reveal!!! Nothing fancy. But I love that it holds all my books.

I have two small shelf's in the boys room for books and I have many other ideas floating through my head. 

I'm not the style one of the family. Doesn't mean I don't try. For now I don't have any big plans for the  rest of the room. Other then keeping it a beautiful peaceful organized place to keep the work successful and hopefully a new computer in the near future.

I love how even though it really hasn't changed much at ALL, but I LOVE that I went through them and got rid of stuff!! 

Before we know it I might actually have a full fledged organized house! :D lol

DON'T COUNT ON IT! 

Sleeping beauty!

I love to sleep! I have this amazing ability to sleep way more then most! This has both great blessings and curses!! When I did the ultimate health challenge with my sister & others a while ago, I wasn't great about eating well or exercising, however I did win when it comes to sleep!!!

I put a lot of that on my boys! They all sleep for minimums of 8-10 hr a night! And I couldn't tell you the last time I got less then 7.

That being said on my 3 day weekends/ with my Ewan I set an alarm to make sure I'm up and out of bed by 9. Which normally means I have 10 hr of sleep..... This week I decided to be a bit different!

When Chris gets up and takes Liam, I wake up too!

Thursday:
I did a NOT ASHTEN ISM! I mowed the lawn. That might not be a big deal to many, however growing up my daddy hated doing it so he hired someone.  Then we owned a town house, so this is the first time I have a yard. So my second time EVER mowing the lawn and I made it beautiful :S NOT QUITE but I'll pretend.

Then Ewan and I headed out to IKEA! It was quite the JOURNEY! We had a blast and enjoyed running around like crazy people.  He had a blast playing with the kitchen and driving mommy crazy!! I got some lights that I have wanted for a LONG TIME!! They weren't quite what I had expected but the boys love them.

We headed home and stopped by Sherwin Williams.  OMG I LOVE THEIR PAINT!! I am not a painter, but as you can see this new work schedule is giving me a whole new look on life. Then it was nap time. I got panting the boys bed and Ewan took a nice long nap for me

Friday:
I got up super early again.  Ewan and I had an amazing breakfast.

 we went and joined Liam at school for some much needed Jesus!! It's been quite a long time since I last went to church and now with my new work schedule it makes it even more difficult.  Ewan was less than ideal, but Liam loved having us there. Then Ewan and I headed back to the FABRIC STORE!! I got the fabrics for Liam's quilt.

Saturday:
I'm on a roll.  I woke up and was ready to get out of bed around 8:30.  Not early for most but WAY early for me! Considering I normally get up on sat between 10-11 :D
I decided since I haven't gone all year to head down to the farmers market. It was PERFECT!  The weather was nice, the food was amazing, and I just got some good ol mom time.
I got to come home and make my family breakfast from all of the amazing foods I got!

My loot consisted of: peaches, pears, apples, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, corn, cheese, eggplant, squash, and potatoes.  It was wonderful!

I loved that as I brought out the food both boys were ecstatic to see what I got! Liam was so excited that now he will have pears for his lunch and between he and Ewan they downed the raspberries!

I feel so blessed that taking alittle time away from sleep and to change my weekend for the better and getting some more time with my boys!

We went to some fun at Liam's school and had to try to take some selifes with the MOON! 

Complete Project

So a short few weeks ago, I embarked on a JOURNEY!! :D Not unusual for me.... I was on a mission for a project!   I blogged about my feelings and emotions here.  

I had it all planned out and ready to go.  A few days later (my next day off work) I took my boys to the fabric store on the 10th. NOT my fav adventure, but I did it anyway.  Ewan wanted ALL Sesame Street, and hey its for him so why not.  Sadly I wanted 5 or 6 types and they only had 4 Sesame Street so we picked between mickey and cars. he picked Mickey and we picked two so it could be mixed up a bit.

Then as all sowers know now on to washing.  ALWAYS WASH.  and IRON fabric.

I got that part done then on to cutting.  I got a rotery cutter and a mat. BEST MONEY I HAVE EVER SPENT!!! DO IT if you plan to cut much.  I cant believe in all my old sewing times I never got one. I love it!

Then after cutting, back to..... YEP Iron again.  I don't know if this step is 100% necessary, but my first time ironing (when it was all one piece) wasn't great so I needed to do it again. (SPEND GOOD TIME ON THE FIRST ONE SO YOU CAN SKIP THIS STEP)  I decided to also use starch on the 8x8 sq

Then I made my small blocks I took the 4x4 ones and made them into an 8x8 (FYI I did use 1/4 in seam allowance on every item. helps alot with getting things all lined up. 

Here they are all pieced together (FYI in the pic they are up side down.)   Then guess what I did! :D YEP IRON!

I did take an extra step and trim all the new squares into true squares.  The cute bright blue one with big bird was a cotton felt, AKA it stretched. Therefore causing a few issues.  I spent some good time with my cutter again and got those going.  

Next I took a 4x4 block of 4 and connected it to the 8x8, did that, then connected them together to make big strips. 

Then sewed them all together.  After a few little unpicking experiences (every time I sew I have to do that) then I got the whole top together!!

EWAN LOVES IT!! I put it on what will soon be his "big boy bed" and got this cute cheesy pic! 

I decided to go get the bottom fabric and batting.  When I made it home my sweet boys were loving the quilt top.  COMPLETE with otter pops :'(  

Deep BREATH mommy!! Don't get mad.  Daddy told them to get off so they wouldn't spill. HOWEVER, alittle to late.  There was RED otter pop on about a 48x48 area and the white mickey fabric loved it most :'( 

BREATH, BREATH, BREATH!!!  I slowly picked it up, took it to the laundry room, spotted it, and NOPE NOTHING.  Thought common it will be fine.  Put it in the wash with some oxy-clean... And had myself a good glass of wine.  

I then washed the other new fabric so I could start on the back. 

GRATEFULLY almost all of the red came out.  There is still one spot just by the edge but its personality right ????? 

Nothing I could do so no reason to get mad.  I got the other fabric washed and dried.  So ready to get back to the quilt.  Since the cotton was washed again, there were a few pieces that needed a few extra stitches and even more.  I got to... lets hear it.  IRON AGAIN!  There were also TONZ of extra strings all over, since the wash can sometimes kinda beat up open edges.

Once that was done, I took over the WHOLE family room.  Laid out the bottom (minky) the the batting, and last the quilt top.  I pinned each square with a quilting (safety pin) then on to stitching.  

I was really on the fence weather I would quilt it or pay someone.  Considering there were quite a few imperfections, I thought, no reason to spend extra money for something I can do. So I started.  I found out from a blog I LOVE that Kim, does her own with simple lines so I decided to do that.  

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Not by an means an easy process due to the extra to the right of the foot, but I got it taken care of. 

I got the single lines done and Chris felt it appeared incomplete so I did stitches the other direction as well, giving it a boxed look on the back! 

By this point Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster and Mickey were LONELY!! So they snuggled with the boys! 

Mommy made it SUPER CLEAR that NO otter pops are allowed on it, and they listened and even washed their hands before snuggle time. 

As you can see Ewan is very happy with it.  

When it came to finishing the edges  I really didn't want to make or buy bias tape.  I wanted to use the backing. So I read a bit online and most said to keep it less then a 1/4 in on the front, I disagreed :D So I did a quick stitch around the whole edge then cut the excess down to about 3 in.  Then I also cut off about 1/4-1/2 in of the batting to make it easier to fold over and pin the edge.

MANY do the finishing edge by hand.  Which I planned to do, but then I thought with all the lines all over the back covered in lines whats one more? And it would fit the personality 

That also meant that I could FINISH it in one night.  I took the time to pin perfectly around the edge getting the corners perfect and spending a lot of time and energy to make it how I want.  AND....

DRUM-ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TA-DA

AND DONE!!

I placed it on my Queen bed to get the full thing view able... oh and the boys beds are currently dissembled in my garage with primer on them.  I AM VERY NEW so the amounts that I bought are not really correct and since this post is so WICKEDLY long I wont put that info out today, HOWEVER don't fear I will one day post that :) 

I want to use the excess to make a pillowcase, Like seriously who doesn't want a Minky Pillow Case! :D and I'll get the details of what I used!

Projects!

I've been so blog hungry for such a long time. Now I have an outlet and what do I do? I start projects!! Way more than any normal person should....oops I'm not normal!!!

I'm still going away at the quilt and LOVING it. It is far from perfect! A great first experience for me. 

However so far what I have learned for my next quilt... More measuring, more pinning, and much slower stiches! However that being said I love it.... And the best part of all Ewan loves it!!

So that's one project... Project #2 is that beds!!

For those who follow me on Instagram, I posted a few days ago the finished quilt top on half of the bunk bed. 

The other half was sitting in my garage covered in primer. I am, nor ever will be a painting type. Stain YES please!!! However due to the material of the bed, stain was not an option.

Ewan helped me prime and we had a blast! Now both bunks are currently living in the garage, fully primed and no place to go.  I'm still working out how to match my color, but for now, I'm enjoying my progress and loving getting to share this with my boys!!! 

Baby Boys all growing up!

My baby boy turned 3 last week!! Where does the time go? lol He is happy as can be and I couldn't be happier to have such an incredible little man.

Chris is not a big fan of birthdays, he doesn't like to be the center of attention so I try to make our boys birthdays low key, until they are old enough to decide for themselves.  HOWEVER, lol (isn't that always in my posts).  My parents were here visiting so I had to take advantage of time to have a family party!

A few weeks ago I had a very fun conversation with Ewan.
"What do you want for your birthday?"
"BIRTHDAY!!!"
"Do you want a party"
"BIRTHDAY!!!"
"Who do you want to come to your birthday?"
"HUH?"
"Who do you want to come to your birthday?"
"HUH?"
"Who do you want to come to your birthday?"
"HUH?"
"Do you want to have a party and have people come over?"
"Ya!"
"Who?"
"Tubbies!!!   BIRTHDAY!!!"

Well there we had it!
Now time to plan a teletubbies birthday party!

I don't know about you guys, but Teletubbies have been out of the loop for quite a while.  With the help of all knowing GOOGLE.  Teletubbies first aired in 1997 and was last aired in 2001.  Yes Teletubbies were gone for 11 yr before Ewan was born! Well, that didn't stop grandma and papa from making my little man fall in love!!

So here I am.. Mom on a mission!!  It is IMPOSSIBLE to find anything teletubbies at any party supply place, so I had to build it myself.
I decided the balloons would be the main focus, common 3 yr olds LOVE balloons.  I went with just 1 of each color of the tubbies and then get a few bundles of them.  Then for the Birthday Boy I found a bunch of images online and printing then to hang around the house.

My last min touch was to print come coloring book pages to have something for him (and his cousins) to do.

AND OF COUSE!! What party is complete without the CAKE!!!

Ewan had an ABSOLUTE BALL and I could not have been more happy to see my sons face light up with seeing all his "Friends" at his party!

He was super spoiled with all the love, fun and gifts from the family!  However, Grandma and PAPA stole the show.  Papa has been our ebay king and found a LA LA for our little man.  HE LOVES HER!!!

Dear Ewan,

You have such a sweet spirt! You bring so much joy into my life and I am the luckiest MOM in the world!!! I could not imagine life without you!

Love,
MOMMY

Let's try new things!

I consider myself a pretty outgoing person. I have tried a few things in my time, but now time to try something new.

I know my way around a sewing machine. I've done hand work and wouldn't call myself a novice, however I wouldn't be an expert either.

I made this a few years back. 

However it's been about 3 yr since I last sewn something. 

As I have already posted I want to personalize the boys room so the more I think about that the more ideas go in my head.

I found some nice bedding at home goods a few weeks ago, however at $40 a pop and needing 2, the flame sizzled quickly.