My Husband A Handy Man?

Not only did we install new floors this weekend, we also installed a new kitchen faucet. Bo is not the handiest man I know. But when the plumber said it would be $90.00 to install the faucet, he decided he could do it himself. I am really proud of him tackling these home improvements. I will just have to see what I can add to my “Honey Do List”.

Reading the Directions

Working Under the sink.

It Works! Like I ever doubted that.

More Floor Pictures

I'm sorry these are not the best pictures of our new floors, but I posted them because our family asked to see a few more pictures. The lighting is just horrible in the dinning room. Hopefully, we will get a new light fixture this weekend.

Done With The Dinning Room

Laying the last piece.

Old Carpet = New Floors

Remove old carpet. ( This is not the best picture of me. )

Take up foam padding.

Pry up tack strips.

All of this work equals one empty dining room.

Tomorrow the fun starts!

We are laying hardwood floors in the dinning room and hallway. Needless to say there will little or no sewing that takes place this weekend.

My Dad Has ALS / Lou Gehrig’s Disease

This is nothing new, but I saw Nancy O’Dell’s article on People.com about her mother’s battle with ALS and it inspired me to post about my dad’s battle with ALS. If you want to know more about ALS you can go to http://www.alsa.org/ or http://www.mda.org/ for more information.

My dad, his picture on the left, is 54 years old and has ALS been diagnosed since 2005. But looking back he had signs of the disease before that. Only 5-10% of the case are like my dad’s that’s because he has familial ALS. His father and uncle both died of this disease.

He goes to the doctor ever six months to see how the disease is progressing. Yesterday was one of his appointments and he got a good report that his ALS is progressing slowly, but that it is now affecting both of his legs, and the control of the fingers of his left hand except his little finger. He is a trooper and fighting every way he can.

I know that this post is long and has nothing to do with sewing, but just something I wanted to share. Thanks for reading.

I just had to!

Why oh why did AC Moore have to put a 55% off coupon in the paper? They must know that I had to use it when I saw it. We got lucky this week and got two in the paper. I purchased the Generation T book with the coupon and Quilt Style by Tammy Tadd.

Time To Plant The Garden

My loving husband tilled the earth to pre-pair it for our garden. We planted lettuce, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes, and butternut squash. He also planted strawberries in another area. I was in charge of planting flowers in pots. This year we also decided to plant tomatoes in pots. We will see what comes from our planting. Last year we were overrun with cucumbers. We are learning each year.

We also planted three new azalea bushes. These are my all time favorite outdoor shrub.

Bo kept on saying, “This is how we should live, working the soil, being farmers.” Don’t let this statement fool you. I am a city person. I enjoy the country – I just don’t want to live there.

A Few New Books

I got these two new books this weekend, and I have found numerous projects that have now been added to my very long list of must do projects. We'll see how many I get finished and how many turn into UFOs.

A Slow Sewing Week.

Now that tax season is over I get to see my husband again. We went to dinner last night, ran to the store, and watched t.v. How boring but fun.


The picture below is, my friend, Lindy's new sewing machine. It is a CE-5000PRW Computerized Sewing Machine, Project Runway Limited Edition, 50 build in stitches,
87 stich functions, and 5 styles of one-step auto-size buttonholes.

Weekend Recap

Two more aprons finished - both are Christmas gifts. I know that you are tired of aprons because I certainly am. I only have three more to sew, and then I'm done for a while.

The Little Girls Version.




The Mother's Version.





I started working on a tutorial on how to smock a bishop dress, and this is what happened.

I just didn't feel like starting over and finishing at 11:00p.m. last night. Maybe tonight I can start over and finish it.



As a side note my friend Lindy purchased a new sewing machine, a Brother from Wal-Mart. (Sorry, no pictures and we can't find the exact one on the web.) I can't wait to see everything that she sews. The possibilities are endless.

Finally Finished!

I finished up the shirt last night. It was easy once I figured out the neck band. Thank you Mom for the help! (I also thanked her in person because she doesn't read my blog.) Another present done only a million more to go.

New Floors?

This is our guest room, and I promise there is a bed in there. Not that I think that anyone would want to sleep in it. In the next couple of weeks we plan to lay the 91 boxes of wood flooring and the seventeen boxes of tile. It will be a job, but we luckly have help.

This is the color of our new flooring.

I can't wait to get rid of our old carpet. I will post more pictures on our progress.

Finally Finished

This insert is finished. I put the name on it last night after taking this picture. I was suppose to have these stocking finished by last year, but I'm a little behind. When I finish these six, I will have made a total of twenty Christmas stockings. It seems like no one wants just one they want at least two or three or more.

As you can see I have the stockings and linings completed. (They are inside out) This project won't take long to finish. I have to make the pipping, block the insert, and finish construction. I hate assembly line projects, but they do get done faster than completing one at a time.

Getting Started

This is my friend Lindy and her daughter, Lizzie. They are looking for a patterns that would be suitable for a graduation dress. It is a tradition at some schools in Montgomery for the girls to wear French Heirloom Dresses for high school graduation. Since Lindy hasn't sewn in a while, I offered to help. We have now found a pattern, and Lindy is working on the muslin. We don't need to have the dress finished until May 2009, but we decided to get a head start. I will keep you updated on the progress. Wish us luck!

Frustrated!

We got a new lap top for Christmas, and it's taking me a while to realize this computer does not work exactly like our old computer or my computer at work. I will post pictures of my weekend, tomorrow.

Who has less than 26 little Bunkos?

That would be me. I'm the loser, but I was really excited about it because our theme this month was earth friendly products. As you can see I left with some really great gifts as the loser. It almost made it worth me losing. Who am I kidding - I would have loved to won! There is always next time.

My friend, Allison, made her loser gift out of old magazines. She actually liked her gift so much she wanted it back. I was willing to trade her the bag she made for some lip balm that she makes. She is very creative.

I only rolled one big Bunko last night, but that is okay because I had fun with my friends. I promised them that I would blog about Bunko.

Tonight I plan to smock some after I measure my house for new flooring. I am so excited to get the carpet out of my house. If anybody has laminate/hardwoods would you please let me know what you think of it!

One Step Forward - Two Steps Back!

Today, I can't get ahead. Needless to say I haven't gotten much of anything done in my sewing room.

Two Fools In Love!

Yes, we were crazy enough to get married on April Fool's Day. It was a beautiful day! (What is actually funny is that my cousin shares the same wedding anniversary, only a year before mine, and his ceremony did not take place until September of that year. He serves in the military, and he had to work around his deployment when getting married.)

I didn't make my dress, but I did make the flower girls dresses. Yes, I made more than one dress ... I made three flower girl dresses. I made the girls white cotton batiste bishop dresses with white ribbon weaving. Making the dresses actually kept me relaxed during the wedding planning process.