The weather in Texas in March

We had Alyssa and Angel for a while yesterday, so Sam and Tyler stopped by also. We tried to go feed the ducks, but couldn't find them, so we went on a walk. I have a habit of taking my camera and snapped a few pictures.


I LOVE this picture!!!! They are growing so fast.....



Smallest to largest: Tyler (Almost 4), Angel (4) and Alyssa (6)



Sam (Tyler's mom), kids and my hubby - there were lots of minnows in the water.




Alyssa telling us she was TIRED! Then she turned around and RAN to catch up with the boys. GO figure.


This trail goes all through our town, part if it is just 1/2 block from our house. It was nice day and we really enjoyed spending time with them. Next time we need to find some bluebonnets to take pictures in - we saw some out this weekend.

These come out after it rains......

I had never seen them until we bought our house in Texas. We had a little rain (with the possibility of hail and tornados, but did not get those) last night, and this is what I saw when I left for work this morning (between the house and garage):


Can you tell what they are? Here's a closer look:


Yup, SNAILS!!!!! They like the water and sometimes crawl up the sides of the house or garage - we've even had them crawl up windows!!

This little guy left a trail for me to see where he had gone!


You really have to watch where you step or it's easy to crunch them. :(

I haven't had much to update my blog about since our computer started acting up, I haven't sew much or quilted much. I think I'm going to have to do the small squares on my quilt by had, because it's just too much to get in the sewing machine.

On the computer front, we finally broke down and bought a laptop at Best Buy on Sunday. It's pretty nice - has a webcam and everything. It even has a slot to put the memory card from our digital camera to download photos - now I won't have to mess around with the cord! I should be able to do it with the card from my cell phone, too, but haven't tried it yet. But what's EVEN BETTER is that we are debt-free and didn't even have to take money out of savings to buy it! This weekend we are going to get a wireless router, another mouse (so we can use both computers) and a cooling pad for the laptop. Todd and I both like it so much, we've already decided that when the desktop quits working, we'll get another laptop.

My parents have decided to come see us the weekend of Mother's Day - I'm so excited. My birthday is a few days before that, so that will be a GREAT birthday present!!!! (Of course, that means I'll spend LOTS of time between now and then cleaning our house.) One of my brothers got plane tickets for them with his frequent flyer miles that were about to expire - He's JUST THE BEST!!!! I'll be able to take a few days off since I still have five days I have to use before June 1. I also want to get some good pictures of them with the grandkids and another four generation picture - the last one was when Alyssa was a baby and now she's 6!

Just thought I'd update my blog quick. Work was pretty slow this afternoon even with the storms in the area last night.

Tonight is Ham and Scalloped Potatoes for supper, so it will be an easy fix!

Our quilt!!! (Block in a Box)

I decided to machine quilt the quilt I made at the quilt class. LOL I had to really clean up my sewing area since I needed the whole table to be empty except the sewing machine because the quilt is so BIG. I ended up taking everything to work to put the sandwich together. We have an empty room there that has a tile floor and our house is almost all carpet, so the tile floor worked better to pin (baste) it. I did it in a hurry late Sunday afternoon and found out later I didn't do a very good job. I didn't get the back (muslin) as flat/tight as I wanted to. You'll see why later.

I started quilting it on Sunday night. I have all of the long straight lines done, but still have to do the small squares, then I have to figure out if I want to put any "designs" on it. I have a few stencils that I could use in the borders. Then put the binding on and it will be done. I think the squares are going to take a long time to do, though.

Here are the pictures so far:
On the bed (it looks like I could have shortened it by a couple rows):


Close up:


The back:


I have a few of the small squares done:


This corner is all bunched up because I didn't do a good job in my basting. Next time I'll need to take more time..... I need to rip a little of the seam out and re-do it, I hope that will fix it!


I haven't worked on it the last couple of nights, but hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to.

Tomorrow night we are going to the Travis County (or is it the Austin) Rodeo to see Kellie Pickler. I haven't been to a concert in 20 years!!!!! And NEVER with Todd. It should be fun, if we can stay awake long enough. We're usually in bed by 9 pm.

I'm "Twittering" Now

Anyone else?????????

twitter.com/Jylslife

I finally sat down to sew a little last night

and tried out a new pattern for reusable grocery bags. They are still similar to the plastic bags you get everywhere and I ended up changing the pattern a little. This is some of the fabric that Karen gave me last weekend. I think I have enough fabric to make at least two more bags - maybe three, but we'll see. Most of the sewing was done on my serger, so all I had to do was draw lines where I wanted the seams. I also added a small loop on the back and buttonholes on each handle so they fit on the frames at the stores.





Once I get a set made, I'm going to list them on my etsy shop, unless someone contacts me before and wants them. :D

My Fabric Stash

is overtaking our office/sewing room!!!! My friend Karen, from Kinsey Interiors, was very generous and gave me TONS of fabric last Saturday. She wouldn't let me pay for it, so I'll repay her by making a duvet cover and possibly a purse for her. She was contacted by a gentleman in town who's wife was a seamstress, and he wanted to get rid of a bunch of her sewing stuff, so he gave her fabric, buttons and zippers - lots of everything! She also gave me a bunch of the zippers a few weeks ago and I used them in the last cosmetic bags I made.

Anyway, most of the fabric she gave me on Saturday was on the long rolls and I don't have any where to store them in the house, so I decided to re-organize. First I started taking the fabric off the rolls, and while I was at it, I measured the width and length and pinned a note on each one so I know at a glance how much there is. I think the longest piece is 18 yards!!!!! My brilliant idea was to make small bolts that would fit in the armoire that I currently keep most of my stash in. My hubby doesn't let me throw away boxes, so I found some of items that we no longer had (stereos the kids bought and old computers), and cut them up in to 19 x 6 inch pieces and started wrapping the fabric around them.

Here is a picture BEFORE:



And AFTER (I'm not done yet, but I can fit two rows of fabric, so it will hold a lot):


Right now I'm just working on the top part, I can adjust the shelves on the rest of it, so I should be able to get most of my fabric in there. I cut up another box last night, so I'll have more to work with. I just want to get it all wrapped on the bolts, then I can work on organizing by type and color.

I'm going to use a bunch of the new fabric to make re-usable grocery bags to list on my etsy shop. I'll post pictures when they are done!

I FINALLY put my latest purse in the mail to Todd's grandma. It took me a while to get pictures off our computer and printed at WalMart. We each sat down to write a letter to her and I also sent some envelopes with our name and address on them for when she wants to send us stuff. She has a hard time seeing and writing, so that will be easier for her. :D

Todd pulled a muscle in his back last week, so he's been nursing that (and begging for sympathy - you know how men are when they are sick!). It seems to be better now, so we are planning to go to the gym tonight. I'm ready for a new workout; it's been three months and I need to change some things up, so I'll try Todd's workout and see how I like it.

We are finally getting some much-needed rain today!!! ::happy dance:: Yesterday it was 84 outside, this morning it was 69 and fell to 47 in one hour! We also had close to an inch of rain before 8:00 am. It's still raining off and on and is supposed to for the next few days. I really hope the bluebonnets are pretty this year!

That's it for now. Nothing much else exciting going on.....

Pictures finally!!!

Todd's Grandma REALLY liked the last purse I made for her friend, and when we spoke to her Saturday she said she has another friend that really liked it, too, so could I make one for her? OF COURSE!!!! :D (She's my best customer!!)

I thought about sending her the other brown one (that has one handle), but she didn't know if her friend would like just one handle. So I had some more fabric left that I made my sister's purse out of and used that instead. I have a "vague" pattern that I use for this design ("Samantha"), but something is different about each bag. [I hate to harp on it, but please don't steal my designs!!]

Anyway, this is the finished bag - the flap for the snap is larger than Jerolyn's purse:

Inside:

Corner:

Opposite Corner:

I also decided to use different lining for the pockets:


I briefly thought about using the red fabric for the lining inside the purse, but I've found that when you have a light-colored lining, it's easier to find things in it, so decided to use the same lining as Jerolyn's purse.

This week I went shopping at http://www.kinseyinteriors.com/ and found some more fabric that will be great for lining purses. Soon I'll need to get some more fabric for the outsides......

In other news, our computer is acting up. Suddenly Monday morning I went to put in a CD to make a card and it no longer sees our CD Drive. We are trying to figure out if it can be fixed or if we need to get another one. If we get another one, I'm hoping it will be a laptop. I did go buy a USB Storage stick and put all 1254 photos on it so in case Todd totally trashes it, I'll still have my pictures.

That's all for now! I hope you like the new purse!!! Feek free to leave comments! :D

I have another purse completed

and took pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet. More details later..... Keep checking back!!!!!!!!! :D