I went to Wal-Mart on Sunday after church and decided to walk through their craft section! I hadn't done that in a while, no time to sew let alone shop for fun stuff lately! Anyway, guess what I saw!!  They have McDonalds fabric there!  There was one that had the "Golden Arches" and another that had Ronald all over it too! How fun would that be for a little child's quilt?!  Michelle

Okay, haven't been on in a while! Not much going on with me really! I did, however, have to share a picture of one of my best works yet!  It's my son who is in "A-School" for the Navy! I'm a proud Mom - can you tell?!! LOL! Michelle

Did you notice I was gone?! LOL! I have been so incredibly busy that in my downtime I'm so tired I just don't have energy to do much of anything!  Downtime would be from about 11:00 at night till 5:00 the next morning though! LOL! I haven't even been sewing {gasp!} and am mad at the lack of doing so because I can't send my brother his quilt for Christmas! Instead he's getting a framed multi picture frame of his family - he's not one to do it himself! LOL! My family pictures are probably still in the same bowl they were in on his coffee table 2 years ago! LOL!  So needless to say I had done so much last year and I feel guilty for not doing it this year, so life will still go on right?! I hope you're all able to get yours done though! Michelle

Hello! I'm back, well okay "I" didn't go anywhere but this site was unavailable for a while - as we all know!  This was a better week at school, I took Friday off though! LOL! I took it off because I found out Tuesday night that my Dad was coming on Thursday afternoon!  I rarely hear from him, he forgets my birthday, doesn't email back - makes one wonder what's going on right?! Well, not really! That's just the way he is I guess! He came and we spent all of Friday together visiting with one of his old school friends who lives in the area, took him by where I work, we tried to go to Blockbuster to rent the movie "Cars" and "Talladega Nights" - no such luck!  He left Saturday, which is our house cleaning day so.....we cleaned and then went out! LOL!  My sweet husband decided to go shopping with us (we're still shopping for Breanna's winter coat - LONG story there!)   When he goes with us shopping anywhere we usually wind up spending a LOT more money - weird isn't it?!  He got a good deal on his cologne too at a perfume store but guess what he did.....he dropped it and it broke!  Boy was he mad! LOL!  I was thinking "I'm glad he dropped it and not me"! LOL!  I also got my dress for the Christmas party/cruise we're going on in February!  It's beautiful and I can't wait to wear it!  I have never bougth a dress with sequins before but these look okay! LOL!  So, what have I been sewing?! Not much! LOL! I did take in a pair of dress pants for my daughter - does that count?!  I've been working on making other gifts too! I found a website of a lady who does scrapbooks and have been working on a scrapbook for my sister-in-law who is in the middle of building a home. It's been one issue after another with this book but I think I'm almost done! LOL!  I also made another little star shaped scrapbook for my Grandmother-in-law and will put Breanna's pictures in it too! So I've been crafty, just not so much with fabric but more then that, just not so much! LOL! Michelle

Boy you could tell this was a week with a full moon! I've never experienced some of the things that happened before! Some, you only read about!  We had a custody battle come to a head where one parent had to be escorted out by police, a bus driver came "unglued" on me another day, educational experts upset with me because they over used the monthly allotment of paper and we ran out, and Halloween - 20 kids! Mostly teenagers with really no costumes other then a set of wings or a tail! LOL! I want the cute little princesses, cowboys etc... to come!  My goodness! I NEED this weekend! I'm going to take my daughter to get a jacket and my neighor and I, our husbands work together, are going to look for our Christmas outfits!  We have the squadron party coming up soon and it's the only time we see their co-workers so you gotta make a good impression! I'm also going to the mall that happens to have a fabric store in it (really!) so it's going to be fun! Now if the neighor can keep up! LOL! I'm on a mission! Michelle

 Yesterday I turned 29 - again! I had a great day of it too! I may have strong fingers for hanging on so long but you know, it's worth it! LOL!  I work in an elementary school and, let me tell you, they really celebrate there!  They made me a lemon cake with raspberry frosting (OMG SO good!), gave me a gift card to my favorite shopping store, a basket of lotions from a well known bathworks store, great cards, many good wishes too! The best part was looking up at one point and seeing the office filled with about 15 people all of them singing me HB!  I think I turned as red as my shirt!  The best part of celebrating in the school was when the children started to bring in their little handmade cards!  Their drawings were adorable and one little girl wrote the following (now a favorit of mine too!) quote "True beauty is on the inside and the outside and your beauty makes the gods want to sing - la la la"! LOL! I loved it! La la la!  There is one little boy in 1st grade who is my "Birthday Twinky" and we've been counting down the days till "our" birthday.  Well I made him a little gift bag with a special birthday pencil and a big candy bar and when his mom brought in cupcakes - she gave the office a "6 pack" of cupcakes!  Poor thing he had to go home sick too on his birthday!  When I got home, a gift in and of itself, Breanna was in a good mood and had a special little gift for me!  In her FACS class they made cookies, knowing that the kind they made (snickerdoodles) was one of my favorites she had saved me two of them! That's my baby!  We then went out to eat with our neighors to have Mexican food at a favorite restuarant and then followed up with Starbucks where she gave me an awesome chocolate cake - it was good even for a non chocolate eating person like myself!  When we got home my family then gave me my gifts and I am the lucky recipient of a Brighton sterling silver bracelet, a Brighton picture frame (I've wanted it forever!) and a Starbucks gift basket!  My in-laws called and mailed cards too!  I'm so lucky to be in their family! If it weren't for them I don't know what I'd do! They love me!  As for my family (insert cricket chirping here) not a word!  I send, call and give gifts but that's okay I'm such a lucky birthday girl this year as I really felt the love from my youngest daughter, my husband, his family and my friends!  Thank you everyone!  Michelle

I finally gave in to an urge and participated in a swap! I usually do these and then wind up doing nothing with the blocks so I quit - I have a ton of blocks waiting on me!  So here is a the table runner I did as a swap on Pat Sloan's RR list. I really like the way it turned out!  You can't see it, and I can't get a second picture to load without it showing up as an "x", but the eyes were fussy cut to have a mouse in one and a cat in the other! There are beads in with the swirls, and the ghost's eyes and the vine is mini rick rack! I wanted to keep it!  It was fun to make! Michelle

are you ready?! LOL! The stores are already trying to help us get ready for Christmas and we haven't even bought our Halloween candy yet! UGH!  It at least serves as a reminder that Christmas isn't far behind and it's time to start thinking of those gift lists!  Last year I made a pile of quilts, before it was the pillowcases, bags before that......so now it has me wondering "what is it going to be for this year?"!  What is everyone else planning on making for gifts this year?!  I need ideas if anyone has some ideas to post!  Oh, one year I did stockings and filled those with little gifts and I do have one cool idea I am doing for one daughter! I got a really nice leather backpack purse on sale at Ross over the summer! $10 for this purse I knew I could come up with a good idea! I am stuffing the pockets full of "stuff"! I've gotten her socks with cats, tissues with cats, lipstick holder without cats.... will probably add a wallet with a couple of gift cards!  If she's a good girl she'll also get the cat quilt I'm holding hostage until she straightens up her life! LOL!  Anyway....that's me so far on Christmas!  Who's next?! Michelle

Well, I wish I could say I had time to work on my room this weekend but, I can't! LOL! I did make it worse....does that count?! LOL! I didn't have a choice in that matter as what was in the basement had to move! Breanna had a sleepover with 4 of her friends Saturday night and they needed somewhere to sleep!  I just put the stuff in my room but it's in organized piles now....organized to me!  For Breanna's sleepover the girls all got dressed up in their fanciest dresses and we took them out to eat, then to the mall to show off their dresses and do a little shopping!  It was cute seeing everyone looking at them and smiling! We trailed behind them just to relieve my nervousness though!  They were up late.....did I say late I meant early, as in EARLY SUNDAY MORNING!  Oh well, that's what sleepovers are all about! Sunday came and after doing the errands after church I fell asleep on the couch! That nap felt good too!  I did get a really pretty light blue beaded necklace made though so there was some progress on some sort of craft this week!  Tonight is Sunday/Monday school so and more progress on the room will wait until then but I'm still working on it!

Michelle  PINK RULES  <-- for you Julie!

I couldn't help but grin at the comments! I told you all it was bad and I was looking for inspiration and motivation! LOL! I got it! LOL! I started working on the room last night and you can already see a BIG difference!  I had stuff from my quilt guild in there - moved that, beading supplies - put them away, moved my quilt tops back where they go etc.... Believe it or not, I found the carpet and a lot of it there! LOL! I will take another picture and post it too! So, now, I've shown mine.....is anyone else as brave (and you saw how brave) as me?! LOL!  Don't be shy, even if it's just a messy corner! LOL! I know I'm not the only one!  Michelle p.s. sad morning.....the smileys are not working!

There's that sewing machine! LOL! It must have gotten scared and vacated! LOL! Seriously, I moved it down here so I could watch TV and sew at the same time!  Success was short lived! LOL! Part of the mess of the other room is just what I tossed in as I tried to straighten it up a little - before my son came to sleep on the futon in the basement too!  Now, I showed you mine.....where's yours?! LOL! Michelle

The real question is....how did I let it get this bad! LOL! Mailing boxes, fast tosses on my way to my bedroom and just plain not ever really organizing it when I first moved in! LOL! You can see I tried! LOL! I'll work on it and post another picture soon! I just realized.....where's the sewing machine?! LOL!  Now who's next....... Michelle

Put on your hard hat..... you're about to enter the "Fabricologist Resource Center" AKA the messy sewing room! LOL!  You gotta appreciate the sign on my daughter's bedroom door "boy free zone"! LOL! I do! Michelle

Here is a picture of my new car, oh and me! LOL! Michelle

and I'll show you mine! I was thinking - scary thought but, here's what I was thinking.......I need inspiration, motivation maybe even a nagging iritant (no wait I have a DH for that!) to encourage me to clean and organize my sewing room! Is anyone game to start a a game (of sorts) to clean your sewing room?!  Maybe I'm the only one in need of help?! LOL!  So, or should I say "sew...are you game?"!  I'll post mine later! Michelle

Here is a picture of my husband when he came home from his first marathon!  He ran it (26.2 miles) in 4 hours, 2 minutes and 48 seconds (according to the official time!)  Not too shabby but I know I couldn't do it! LOL!   I'm so proud of him! Michelle

Well here it is!  A picture of me and my son!  We went to Baltimore on Saturday to the National Aquarium and I begged a picture!  He has never liked taking pictures but promises he was smiling on the inside here! LOL!  Michelle

Well my son made it in safely yesterday! WOO HOO! I'm so glad he's here too! Continental actually shows you a "play by play" on the airplanes activities on-line too so you can track it and know if the plane is late or early! How cool is that?!  He also leaves in a little over two weeks for Navy boot camp so this may be my last chance for a while to see him!  I plan on taking him downtown today to see the Whitehouse, memorials and all the stuff that represents our country and what he's going out to defend! I really wanted to show him the flag that flew on the side of the Pentagon but, unfortunately they took it down and it's not on display!  Maybe next time!  Michelle

Woo hoo! I finally got some new wheels! I have had a lot of trouble with my car for the past year! I think it didn't like the trip across the ocean very much and was taking it out on me! LOL! Not that it was a well behaved car from the first month we had it.....Anyway!  We should have done this a few repairs ago and saved some money! We test drove a lot of different cars, researched them, basically spent many Saturdays this way! So what did I get you ask?! LOL! We, (almost said "I"!) got a 2006 Honda Accord, 2 door coupe! I didn't want a fancy version so I got it with just what I needed and nothing extra that I have to learn how to use! LOL!  Now I can relax knowing that I won't be stuck on the side of the road in the cold and no more close calls through major traffic (long story!)  I'm a little excited as I have wanted one of these for a long time and now I got one! Woo hooo! Michelle