yarn ball re-worked

A little rethinking, shopping for the right color shirt and losing the yarn hair and it looks like "ball-of-yarn" will be making the Halloween Parade tomorrow night!
Feel free to vote for this costume at http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=252.0 I am shameless!!

Not much time to talk tonight but I will share a picture of these yummy brownies. I invented this years ago (well, in my little world I did!). It is so much easier to make brownies for kids parties in a cupcake pan (325 for 25 minutes). No crumbs, no gooey center of the pan......easy peasy.

Happy Halloween!

Multi-tasking Sunday

Where do I start?
The "ball of yarn" costume failed miserably last night, luckily I have an attic full of costumes so yarn girl became a cute little Japanese girl for the big Halloween party at the school last night. No worries, I'll have the "ball of yarn" re-worked by Tuesday. (fingers crossed)
I whipped up these 2 pillows in between loads of laundry:

One is for my mother-in-law and the other is for my sister-in-law (her daughter) BOTH born on Halloween! That's a little freaky, eh?

While these two cuties carved our jack-o-lantern, I was able to do more laundry and start dinner.

In case there is any question regarding Julia's outfit...yup she picks out her weekend clothes.

Look how cute Jack came out!

While dinner was cooking I roasted these yummy pumpkin seeds. I could eat them until I get sick.

And then Julia and I made these super delicious chocolate dipped pretzels with lots of sprinkles to give to her friends at school.

I should leave now- I hear my drier buzzing, Julia is ready to get out of the tub, the cat is started to beg for his dinner and I think I left my sewing machine on- I'll leave you with a cute picture from the party last night:

my eldest is the cowgirl and I honestly do have a middle daughter but she's extremely camera shy!

yarn hair

yarn hair
Originally uploaded by cbcyr.

I was home sick yesterday with a nasty stomach bug (yuck!) but I managed to finish Julia's Halloween costume. The pile of knitted pink is her trick or treat bag using giant needles as handles. I had a bunch more pink acrylic leftover so made some hair... I hope my husband doesn't look for the baseball hat that's underneath! I'm going to work today, I should be fine as long as I don't eat or drink a thing. I'm hoping to show one finished quilt by Sunday night, stay tuned.

Moving along.....slowly

Sorry, nothing really new and exciting going on. Weekdays are pretty crazy around here what with work, school, homework, activites, dinner, errands, etc. Last night I just crashed and went to bed at 9:30 and I think I may have been asleep on my way to the pillow. I am almost ready to bind both horse quilts! Here is a peek at some of the embroidery on the second twin's quilt. Something interesting to note: Vicki, the lovely owner of patternbee.com, was so sweet and printed 2 sets of the horses in mirror image for my quilts. How sweet is she? the simple line drawing horse is one from Aunt Martha that I had settled on before I found the nice vintage-y ones.

Giddy up!

one down.... two to go

What do you get when you mix a giant bouncy ball, plaster cloth, newspaper, glue, cheap acrylic yarn, and gobs of hot glue?

A giant ball of yarn for a Halloween costume, of course! I hope people will know what she is, but just in case i have a few more tricks up my sleeve involving those huge neon knitting needles.

It was another big day for Julia.

She lost another tooth last night! Apparently the ToothFairy has strict guidelines she must adhere to because she will not leave tooth money under the pillow if the child is not in her own bed. Julia slept in her sister's bed last night but left her tooth under her own empty pillow. At first she thought that the ToothFairy forgot but then I erm..... remembered that empty bed rule, thankfully.

Once a week I like to get some therapy from the remnant bin at JoAnn Fabrics. Hey, it's way cheaper than real therapy and it makes me so happy. Here are yesterday's finds:

It was slim pickings because all remnants were 75% off, but I did alright for only a few dollars! I hate that Batman fabric but you never know when I'll need it for a little boy gift.

Swap goodies!

It was a great day at the mailbox.
I received my October swap package from my awesomely crafty friend Pauline and she really outdid herself again! Just look at this stuff:

What do I love more, the yummy, long skinny scarf

or the gorgeous fabric covered journal?

Maybe it's the adorable turkey fabric or the other lovely fall-sh pieces?

How about the cute pattern and the chocolates? Or is it that she is so generous and thoughtful.... yep, that's my favorite part. I feel so spoiled.

Finally Friday!

Those NY Mets broke my heart again! UGH! At least I can get some sleep tonight.I have a lot of crafty business to finish up this weekend, or else! I love to make things but I love it so much less when I have a deadline or I have to make it.....know what I mean? It becomes a little like work. What keeps me going is having a new project in mind. I really want to use up my reproduction feedsack fabrics and make a quilt like this one.

Before that, I still have to quilt my lovely Delusional Housewife that has been waiting ever so patiently to be finished. Before I leave, let me show you this cute fabric I received in the mail yesterday from a Craftster swap:

How cute are those pigs??

Happy Friday!

Stayin' alive

The Mets are still alive and will play game 7 tonight against the Cardinals! Oh, my nerves, I can't take these late nights of baseball much longer but it's a perfect way to get some quilting done. I'm going to have to catch Grey's Anatomy on-line tomorrow because my husband will not relinquish control of the Tivo remote. I'll see you then McDreamy.....

Ahhhhhhh fall

October Fabric Swap
Originally uploaded by cbcyr.

Every month my craftster friend Pauline and I do a themed fabric swap. Both being generous sorts, it turns out to be a bit more than just a yard of fabric. This is what I sent her for October. I don't have any Halloween fabrics so I went for fall. We usually add one handmade item, I quickly sketched this acorn that I stitched onto a pretty fall colored towel.

Not too bad for a rush job!

Other crafty news includes progress being made to the mystery Halloween costume
and I have one of the horse quilts finished except for the binding while the other will be quilted starting tonight. Looks like I will make my deadlines!

lost tooth

lost tooth
Originally uploaded by cbcyr.

We lost a top tooth this week! This is big news, especially if you are in 2nd grade and you get your name on the tooth chart! Naturally, the toothfairy came and left money in this handmade pillow



I aquired the super-cute tooth fabric a while ago in a swap, I'm thinking it may need to become a toiletry bag some day......we'll see.

Here is another recent fabric find



Some feedsack print squares that I found for next to nothing on Ebay. No plans for them, just had to buy them.

There is no school today (some teacher workshop) and I plan to use this bonus day off from work to clean this pigsty, erm... I mean house.

Can it be?

Sammy on the right
Originally uploaded by cbcyr.

How is it possible that these girls are going to high school next year? It doesn't seem that long ago that I was tearfully (my tears) dropping Sammy (left) off at pre-k and now we are tearfully (mine again) visiting high schools.
We went to open house at the school yesterday. It is expensive but definitely the place for her. I'd better start saving my pennies and *gasp* stop buying fabric.

dollhouse ready for fall

dollhouse ready for fall
Originally uploaded by cbcyr.

I haven't made any new progress on the dollhouse project since summer but the front is painted and the roof is partially shingled. This is a project that needs a dedicated space and unfortunately my family didn't appreciate having it live on the kitchen table for 2 weeks. Hey- it was summer, we ate outside!


As you can see, Timmy and Margaret are excited about Halloween this year.

you can also see that Gilbert is enjoying the dollhouse.
you can see more dollhouse pictures here:

here a horse, there a horse, everywhere a horse, horse

here a horse, there a horse, everywhere a horse, horse, originally uploaded by cbcyr.

I can't even begin to tell you how sick to death I am of stitching horses! These are for 2 quilts that I am making for 2 special twin girls who are turning 8 next month. I am almost done, just a few serious hours of handstitching and they are finished!

welcome!

Helloooooooooooo!
Welcome to my little blog. I'm hoping to use this as free therapy, a place to complain about how busy I am and to share whatever crafty thing I am working on at the moment. I have never been able to keep up with a daily journal so this blog business poses a problem already.... but I'm really going to try! First, I need another cup of coffee...pronounced "kaw-fee" here on the east coast.