Where does the time go?

How has it been nearly two weeks since my last post? I have a pile of projects cut out and ready to sew...

100 snack bags
50 large snack bags
25 sandwich wraps
10 lunch bags with matching wraps and snack bags
5 Carseat Canopies
5 Travel High chairs
5 doodle bags
2 backpacks(for my girls for school)

...but I just haven't got anything finished. It is hard for me to find the time to sew when the weather has been so nice. I spend most of my days sitting outside reading a book while the kids play, or I am working in my garden or the yard. We picked our first cucumbers from our garden yesterday. I should have taken a picture to share, but I was too excited and we just ate them. I love spending time in my yard and working in my garden as much as I love sewing. So I guess right now is my season to be outside, and if it actually ever rains maybe I'll get some sewing done.

Pay it forward

Who doesn't love new, beautiful, unique handmade items? How about if you could get that new, beautiful, unique handmade item for free? How about if you then shared your talents with others? Now I know that last one sometimes makes people nervous...but I know there are enough of you out there that are up to the challenge. So please, read on and leave a comment.

My friend Jaime posted this pay-it-forward game and it seemed like such a fun idea, so I want to play along.

For the first five bloggers to leave a comment (in your comment tell me a little bit about you and be sure to leave a way for me to contact you(blog address or email)) on this post and commit to do the same pay-it-forward on their blogs I will do the following (and if you are one of the five this is what you will paste in your pay-it-forward post too) :

I am willing to post overseas (I am in Canada), but remember you must commit on your blog to do the same for others.

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I send you. But you may be pleasantly surprised. It will definitely be sewing/craft related.

2. What I send will be made just for you, with love, by my own hands. You'd be surprised how much of our personalities come through online.

3. I will complete all 5 gifts this year - 2009.

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world, that you can touch and feel, and not something cyber.

5. I reserve the right to do something strange. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. If you find it truly horrendous, just let me know. Perhaps you'll send it forward to someone who will absolutely love it.

6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post (one for each).

7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you to confirm.

If five people have already left a comment, do not despair. I want everyone to leave a comment and I will choose three random people to send a little something to as well, I have so many ideas and things that I would love to share with all of you.

I will be anxiously awaiting each of your fabulous comments! I can't wait to get started!!

I'm floored

I just want to send out a big THANK YOU to all of bloggerland.

I logged in today to see that my following had increased by 7 in just two days. That prompted me to look at my stat counter to see where people were coming from, and to my utter amazement I had 492 visitors yesterday and already 131 today and it isn't even 10am! Not even when I have had a give-away have I had that many visitors in one day! WOW, I kinda feel famous or something :)

Here are a few links to those who have been instrumental in helping spread the word about my tutorial, and by spreading the word they have also helped my little blog grow.

pccrafter.com
blog.craftzine.com
youcanmakeit.blogspot.com
www.oneprettything.com
sewing.craftgossip.com

I'm sure there are others out there who have helped spread the word, and I thank you for it. If I missed you, you can let me know and I'll add you to my list.

These aren't really my creations...

...they are far more incredible than what I can create.

I love spending time in my yard in the summer. We were blessed to buy a house with a beautiful, established yard. When we bought the house in the dead of winter, we had no idea that we were going to be in for such a treat in the spring. This spring was even better than last year, and here is where maybe I can take a little credit, I took really good care of all the flower gardens last year, fed them and weeded them. This year, because I knew what we had and were, I was able to take better care of the gardens in the spring time. My work has paid off, our yard is even more incredible than last year.

This is my favorite flower in my whole garden


Sure I have other gorgeous flowers like these


or these


But this....

...this is my favorite. A simple yellow long stem rose with just a hint of orange on the edge of the petals. It is so perfect. It smells so sweet. It thrills me to see it bloom, and saddens me when the last petal falls.

Last year this rose "bush" only produced on incredibly gorgeous flower, this year looks to be the same. I am far from an expert on roses, I would love to have this rose make more flowers, so if anybody knows anything, I would love to hear it.

I also look forward to these ripening!

Can anybody say raspberry jam?

Last year we only got enough to sample every other day. This year? Well, we may have more that I can keep up with! I am so excited! I'll let you know if I get tired of raspberries, though that is really very unlikely.

In other news....

What do you think my cats have been up to?Poor birdie!

I'm a winner!

Remember when I played along with Whosies? Well, my messy nightstand did me good. I won! and because I won, I got to choose two of Whosies patterns in her Etsy shop! I chose Wilma and Walter Whoo pattern and a Little Miss Doll pattern.

Yesterday we had some unexpected events impose on our Canada Day celebrations, so the kids and I were stuck at home with not much to do for the morning and a good part of the afternoon. So I decided to give these patterns a try. I let the girls pick out thier own material and which pattern they wanted me to make. Kathryn wanted the doll and the other two went for the Owl. three hours later this is what we had...

The girls loved them! They went with them everywhere yesterday evening.

Kymberly with her "Hoot".

Tansley with her "Hoot".
Tansley named hers first and Kymberly figured it suited hers too.

Kathryn with her "Ginger", a good name I think.