camera issues

and i can't retake the pictures because they've been mailed already *grrrr*

tomorrow(Thursday) i get to go with B's grade one class to the zoo. hope all the kids have their sunscreen on, its going to be another hot one!

and i promise to have some quilting to show you next week

tagged

by Cindy


Yourself: exhausted
Your Partner: on an airplane
Your Hair: clean lol!
Your Mother: talented
Your Father: fanatic
Your Favorite Item: my kids
Your Dream Last Night: none
Your Favorite Drink: water with lemon
Your Dream Car: barracuda
Dream Home: in the process of being designed
The Room You Are In: family room
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: in our dream house
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: does the cat count?
You’re Not: low maintenace
One of Your Wish List Items: a new driveway!
The Last Thing You Did: figured out how to turn the AC on
You Are Wearing: capris and a melon orange tshirt
Your Favorite Weather: 20 C
Last Thing You Ate: chocochip cookie
Your Life: good
Your Mood: crabby
Your Best Friend: Michelle
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: where B's lost library book could be
Your Car: needs cleaned!
What Are You Doing At The Moment: answering this
Relationship Status: Married
What Is On Your TV: Nothing
What Is The Weather Like: beautiful
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: this afternoon

tempting tuesday-winner

is Zoe Randall!

Zoe if you can email me your mailing information and which card you would like, i'll get that off to you.

thanx for playing everyone!

wordless wednesday

funny story behind this card

B wanted to help make it so i had him ink up the letter stamps for me. they were originally all in a pale green that matched the paper stripes. except for the Y-he inked that in orange and i didn't catch it until i had stamped the image *sigh*. so i restamped the letters in navy, they have a bit of a shadow to them as a result.

tempting tuesday!!

all you have to do is reply to THIS post. i will pick a winner either later tonight or wednesday morning and that winner gets their choice of any of the cards i posted on my blog for the month of May.

and yes, i will mail a card if you are not in North America! good luck

color me blonde

so i added all my favorite blogs into google reader and i feel lost! now what? i am so technologically challenged!

quilt monday

and don't forget, tempting tuesday is tomorrow!

Innovations Quilt Show 2007

any other quilters making the trip down to Tacoma for it? i registered for all my class today(i'm taking 13 hours worth of classes on one day-eek!) i've never been and looking really forward to it. course its a vacation from being a mommy for a few days too lol

Innovations 2007

google alerts

got this from Allison's blog and i love it.

go to Google Alerts
put your blog address in the top field, select blog for type, and as it happens for how often. add your email addy and you are good to go!

winobella

how could i not get this one? rofl!


i went stamping last night. was in a rush when i packed and ended up tossing into my bag inks that didn't match the papers i was using lol so i've been stamping today. i realized last week that i have 9 birthday cards, 1 anniversary, 6 teacher and 4 Father's Day cards to make for June-eek!

card friday

2 for the price of 1

did a customer quilt today. i love Trip Around the World quilts. i used Jodi Beamish' Inkblot quilting pattern

i also completed a charity quilt i started in April. had difficulties with this one-batting would not lay flat and the border fabric was a cotton/poly and wouldn't lay flat either. in the end, the quilt looks fairly good-you can't see my screw ups unless you look closely lol(and at one point i even ended up doing the pattern backwards lmao!) i used Lorien's Flowing Feathers

quick and easy

don't want to start on any big projects right now. June is looking nuts with all the end of the year activities with school and i'm planning on starting my double wedding ring quilt early July when we go on our holidays so i'm trying to fill my time with little projects.

have been eying a cute cat wall hanging and got the piece cut out this afternoon. i haven't taken my sewing machine into the drs yet so i'm hoping i can baby it through button-holing the pieces. i have a spare machine of mom's but it doesn't buttonhole.

i ran into Fabricland this afternoon to get some quilt batting and saw this fabric-its perfect for the borders for this quilt, and it was on sale 60% off. i had to get it! lol!! it's not as yellow as it shows in the picture. i should have taken the picture when it was still light out

and just a reminder that tempting tuesday is coming up next week!

wordless wednesday

almost quilt in a day

finished off my rail fence baby quilt last night. sewed the blocks together on sunday evening and yesterday got the rows together and the borders on.

i really love this quilt. i was originally worried that it would be too wild but thanx to YOUR encouragement, i left the fabrics and i love the result!

quilt monday

sorry its so late but our internet went down this afternoon-ugh!

i love this table runner. its one of my most favorite-and most made! its a very popular bridal shower gift from me. i love how little fabric it takes-just 2 strips(i think 2.5 inches) from each color and that's it!

tension problems

i've known for a week or so that my sewing machine wasn't happy-i hate having it serviced because than it's not here for me to play with!

today i've been working on a baby quilt and the sewing tension is completely screwed up. i've tried all the tricks and nothing is working. isn't this seam lovely? ugh. i'm really hoping i can get this baby quilt finished-i hate using 2 different machines to finish a project and i can't put this baby quilt on hold as the due date is getting close lol. at least mom has an extra machine i can borrow while my baby is getting all repaired

how about another Bella card?

i can't wait until Urban Trends gets some of the new Bellas in and i can add to my collection lol

snack saturday

7Layer Dip

2 cans jalapeno beans or refried beans
2 avocados
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 package taco seasoning
2 tomatoes, diced
1 can pitted black olives, chopped
1 large bunch green onions, chopped
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
1 bag tortilla chips

Spread jalapeno beans or refried beans evenly over an oblong dish or large, round, flat bottomed dish or bowl.

Mash peeled avocados. Mix with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spread on top of beans.

Mix sour cream, mayonnaise and taco seasoning. Spread evenly on top of avocado mixture.

Sprinkle a layer of chopped black olives over the top. Spread an even layer of tomatoes, followed by a layer of chopped green onion over the mix.

Shred cheese and layer it on top.

Use tortilla chips for dipping.

Kilby Historic Site

sun stayed out long enough for us to visit Kilby today. we had the park to ourselves almost the entire time until a bus of tourists arrived. the turkey's name is Beau-he followed us everywhere!

card friday

i've had this paper for a few years now, i'm surprised i finally used it lol! it needed to be on a bigger sized card to appreciate the quilting detail on it.


i've added some more of my favorite quilting and stamping blogs-check them out on the right under *Get Inspired*.

gardening

finally a picture of the planter box i made mom for mother's day


our dogwood tree, poppy and one of the clematis'

Thursday 13

Thirteen Reasons i Hate Being SICK

1. headaches
2. nothing tastes right
3. i'm grumpy
4. my nose hurts from all the kleenex
5. coughing
6. sleeping sitting up
7. breathing through my mouth
8. being whiny
9. not sleeping
10. that i can't talk(but Jim and the boys love it lol)
11. cough syrup *gag*
12. that it's the long weekend and i'm sick!

tagged

by Kai

So here are the rules to this tag, borrowed from Kai:

1. Go to PopCulture Madness
2. Pick the year you turned 18
3. Get yourself nostalgic over the songs of the year
4. Write something about how the song affected you
5. Pass it on to 5 more friends

My 10 songs from 1991

1. Unforgettable - Nat and Natalie Cole
2. Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince
3. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams
4. Gonna Make You Sweat - C + C Music Factory
5. More Than Words - Extreme
6. O.P.P. - Naughty By Nature
7. True Companion - Marc Cohn
8. Good Vibrations - Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch
9. Strike It Up - Black Box
10. Power of Love/Love Power - Luthor Vandross

well, #5 More Than Words was a song we had at our wedding in 1993. i remember buying the singles(remember those? i had a HUGE collection lol) of #3 and #8. i would play #8 over and over at full blast in my car while racing too and from work lol. funny i remember every one of those songs(some still make me cringe lol!!) except for #9 Strike it Up.

and i'll tag Crunchy Carpets

thanx Kai!

quilting

i'm thrilled i was able to get this finished up today-now i can start on something new during the long weekend lol. i used the quilting pattern Chaos by Lorien Designs and quilted with a variegated King Tut thread. if you click on the picture, it will become larger and easier to see the details

wordless wednesday

happy tuesday

loving this gorgeous weather we are having. downside is not allot of time spent inside stamping or quilting.

here is one of the cards i made for Mother's Day.

enjoy your day!

quilt monday

another one of my *fridge quilts* lol. i used to have them hanging on the door in our kitchen but last year we got a new door with a window and i can't hang quilts on it. the side of the fridge works great! Happy Monday!

Happy Mother's Day

this is the card i made mom. hope you are all having a wonderful day!

Hamels quilt

i quilted this yesterday for Hamels Quilt Store. i LOVE this coffee fabric line. i did an allover meandering pattern

opps

remember my lovely rock garden? well, this is what happens when you have a bird feeder hanging above lol!

i went to our local garden store(okay i was there yesterday too lol!) picked up some plants to make mom a basket for Mother's Day(will take a picture and post it tomorrow) planted some planters for myself as well(and the look on Jim's face when i came home with a trunk full of plants. apparently that was to be my Mother's Day gift. good thing i still have empty baskets lol!)

Jim and the boys spent the day scrubbing off the deck and all the furniture than Jim got up our new gazebo. i got all the gardens weeded(and most of what used to be the rock garden) it was a very productive day

card friday

had this Bella leftover after i made a bunch of Mother's Day cards. was tucking her into the *not finished cards* file when i found this card front. she fit just perfectly in the stitching on the mulberry so there she went.

have a great Friday!

birthday madness

a fun filled day was had today. Jim took M out for breakfast(McDonalds because M didn't believe us when we told him you could get pancakes there lol!) than a haircut for him, clean the house, wrap presents, off to the indoor playplace for his friend birthday(we were the only ones there(woo hoo)and why do people NOT rsvp? huge pet peeve of mine!) most of the moms came 1/2 hour early to pick up their kids, one came at exactly 6:30(sigh).

than a quick trip to the bakery to get his cake and raced home for a late dinner, presents and cake. whew!

here is the card i made for him. M loves ducks(at last count we had 43 stuffed ones lol) i was lucky enough to get this adorable stamp in some blog candy

M's story continued

if you missed the first installment, you can catch up here and just to warn you, this may be a bit graphic

it was Friday May 10th. i was scheduled for an amnio Monday morning the 14th at 10am. if babe's lungs came back good, i was having a c-section that afternoon. the morning nurses woke us up at just after 7 to get weighed. i wandered into the bathroom while i waited my turn and discovered i was bleeding rather heavily. i headed right back to bed.

when the nurses came to weigh me, they thought i was kidding so i wouldn't have to be weighed. they quickly realized that this was no joke.

i was checked out, blood pressure, temp and baby, when they discovered i was contracting. out came the monitor and the IVs and the OB on call was paged.

it was a full moon, Mother's Day weekend. the maternity ward was packed. there were even women on gurneys in the hall waiting for rooms to be cleaned for them and their new babies could move into. the OB didn't make it in to see me until lunch. i was still contracting, babe was responding well, it turned into a waiting game. he told me he would definitely see me later that day. i wasn't allowed to eat and was not allowed out of bed.

Jim was coming in to see me the next day. it was just after 10pm, the theme music for Law and Order was just starting to play as we said good night on the phone. i hung up and laid back on the bed and heard *pop*. literally instantly, my bed was a sea of blood. i just started screaming-my room heard the pop as well and went screaming out of the room to find a nurse.

i was rushed down to the labour floor; i had blood dripping off the bed the entire way. they brought me into a labour room and started hooking up more IV's etc. i had delivered 3 other babes all natural and this was way more painful. the OB called for an ultrasound machine and they discovered that my placenta was tearing away. OB said they had maybe 3minutes to get me into the OR.

papers were pushed at me, i have no idea what i even signed. my earrings and wedding ring were taped to my ears and finger. i will never forget the nurse trying to get the catheter in and she called for help. she was covered with blood to her elbows; another nurse helped her by pouring water over me so they could see.

i was brought into the OR, i was already told Jim would never make it in time. now it was time for my greatest fear; the spinal. i was sat on the edge of the gurney and bent over. i sat there watching the blood drip off the bed onto to the floor and hearing, drip, drip, drip. i started getting tunnel vision and was just going to tell the nurse i was going to pass out when the anesthesiologist said, move again and i could paralyze you. that snapped me right back.

they were just strapping me down to the gurney when a loudspeaker clicked on in the OR and someone yelled 'the dad is here!' Jim had made the 45minute drive in under 15minutes.

the OR was crowded-special care team for M(he was 6weeks and 1day premature) the OB and his team and a specialist for me. at 10:53pm, M was born. i remember hearing him cry and than the OB saying-'you are due when?' he was perfect(seriously he was lol) he was also huge for a 6week preemie-he tipped the scales at 7lbs 6oz and scored a 9 on his apgar.

they cleaned him up and brought him over to me than it was off with Jim up to the special care nursery to give him a thorough check out. now it was the difficult part, getting the bleeding to stop with me. first step was to pack me full of gauze, step 2, cauterization of the blood vessels and 3, a hysterectomy. thankfully the packing and various shots of clotting agents worked. i was tucked back into my room by 1am

M was perfectly healthy. he was put on a feeding tube(they had a very hard time getting him to wake up to eat) he was in a closed bassinet(isolet) to keep his body temp consistent. there was an oxygen mask in the bassinet but he didn't require it to be on.

i didn't get to see M again until Saturday afternoon. the morphine was really hard on me and i didn't recover well from it. the special care nursery brought him up to me just before dinner. i was so weak i couldn't even pick him up to hold him. Mother's Day Sunday i was told i needed to get out of bed and move around. i was told to have a shower, i ended up passing out i was so weak.

i signed myself out of the hospital the following Tuesday. i had had enough. M was released from the nursery on Monday morning. i was in the hospital for 28 days(and had had 37 needles). i needed to go home.

we got home and it was insanity-the other 3 boys were so excited to have me home. there was a cleaning crew there scrubbing the house from top to bottom as a surprise for me. there was too much going on. it wasn't until later that evening when i wanted to go to bed that i remembered we had stairs-2 sets worth. i literally crawled up them sobbing it hurt so bad.

at my 6week check, i learned i was supposed to have been given a blood transfusion. it took almost 3 months for me to get my strength back. if you've ever been on bed rest for an extended period of time, you are aware of how it weakens. that and the loss of blood, i was a mess. i look back and know that i should have stayed longer(i have no idea how long the hospital wanted me to stay. when i said i wanted to go home, they never objected).

it wasn't until much later that Jim told me what happened when he got to the hospital. they sent him to the labour room where i was originally brought. there was my bed covered with blood with blood all over the floor. he figured he had lost me.

even after 5yrs, i think of this often. we still have the mattress with the blood stain that we couldn't get out. i'll flip the mattress and have *forgotten* what happened and see that and it all comes rushing back.

M truly is a miracle. i was diagnose as being in pre-menopause in 98. we conceived B in 1999 after using fertility drugs(i can admit it freely that he was our girl try lol). after his birth, i was told i would never have more kids.

i was 4 months pregnant when i finally had a positive test. we suspected for months-i took test after test and my dr wouldn't send me for a blood test. when this test showed positive, i literally shook for 3 days after lol.

today M is a few inches shorter and 5lbs heavier than his soon to be 7yr old brother. they wear the same size of clothing, M's shoes are a size bigger. we couldn't imagine life without him