vacation

This girl is on vacation this week! I wish I could say I was doing this:

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But really, I am doing this:

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I hope your week will be more fun than mine ;)  But honestly, I am looking forward to some catching up and much needed rest.   If I am really ambitious, I should be done with the top piece of my quilt.  It's coming along really well.  When I get back, I'll show you guys Owen's pallet wall, and I'll have a few fun mini tutorials for ya.  Thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway last week!  It was fun to see how quickly I could reach my goal. 


Have an AWESOME week!!!

i reached the goal!

so the party ended in 6 days! woo hoo! head on over to the original post to see who won some snack bags!

Fabric Friday {Judy Ross Textiles}

This collection by Judy Ross Textiles is embroidered and handmade.  It is small, but I can understand why.   Can you imagine embroidering this?  They offer custom work, which is really nice.  Collections come out twice a year.   The website is worth checking out, and they offer more than just fabric.

All photos come from Judy Ross Textiles.

 Have a great weekend!

Pinterest Food # 2

You can see # 1 here.

I am trying out the foods that are getting pinned on Pinterest because I LOVE variety.  I am not one of those gals who can eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I debated whether or not to share the recipes I disliked.  No one likes hearing their cooking sucks.   I know everyone has different tastes when it comes to food, and that's fine.  I am sure someone hates something I have made.   What would you do?  Inform others of poor recipes?  Keep it to yourself and let others find out on their own that the food tastes like crap?  Don't worry though.  I'm only sharing the recipes I liked and will make again.

As usual, I don't document the food I make, so I use the photos that were pinned. 

First up, the infamous 7up biscuits from Plain Chicken.  I'm sure you have seen this photo before because it's been pinned a bazillion times by now.  And I can see why.  They are freakin' awesome.  So easy to make.  So little ingredients.  So soft like a baby's bum.  I actually goofed the first time I made them.  I poured my melted butter into the Bisquick and had to add extra flour.  But they turned out just fine.  I made them a second time following the recipe, and they turned out great. 

Next I made this Chicken Enchilada Soup from Home is Where the Holmans Are.  The recipe calls for some fancy Mexican cheese (okay, I'm just too lazy to look up what the cheeses are), but I used cheddar and mozzarella instead.  It is a hearty, thick soup.  I enjoyed it.  Matt loved it.  I will be making it again. 

The other week I made BBQ Chicken on the grill, and I used a sauce recipe from Our Best Bites.  Oh my word.  I thought this sauce was delish.  In fact, I was eating it by the spoonfuls before putting it on the chicken.  You would have thought I was pregnant.  Matt liked it, but he wasn't as super impressed as I was.

I love eating Broccoli and Cheese soup.  Especially from Panera Bread.  This photo looked tempting, so I made the soup from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  I did enjoy it, but I wasn't super thrilled by it.  It was delicious, don't get me wrong.  I guess I will hold every Broccoli and Cheese soup up to PB's standard.  Shame on them!  This recipe also calls for swiss cheese, which really gives it a different flavor to the soup.  Matt suggested ham would be really good in the soup.

From Me-To You made this gorgeous roasted bird.  Take a look at that photo!!  Doesn't this make you want to go out and kill (or buy :) a chicken RIGHT now??  Well, that is what happened to me, though Goldie, Tweedle, Sassy, Baby, and Halley are still alive.  I didn't have any of that fancy herbs de Provence or lavender, so I googled it and made up my own with what I had on hand.  It turned out great!

Zuppa Toscana soup from Mommy For Reals = YUM, and not because I "know" Danny. All I can say about this is I have made it 3 times since pinning it.  I made it once for my two sisters.  One sister made it for two weeks straight until she literally got sick of it. 

Thai Coconut Rice from Cooking for Seven.  This was good, but it was not as sweet as I was expecting, and the coconut flavor is not as pronounced as I would have thought either.  I will make it again though.

Have you made or pinned any of these items listed?

one seventy to go

my first instagrams

i probably could have taken more exciting shots like the dead carcass we found in our chicken coop this morning. who cries over dead chickens? this girl. i love my babies. luckily, comet played with us in our home over the weekend, and i took a few shots of owen and comet playing together. this is our second chicken loss.

i just played around with instagram today, and i am sure the photos will get more interesting as i remember to pull out the phone more.

 

timeout...reason for timeout...walker

brushing those toothies...owen learned how to hold the toothbrush in an unconventional way


you can see my current giveaway here.

woot! woot! how 'bout partying with me?

*giveaway is now closed

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matt came up with this great idea.  to celebrate the blog reaching 200 followers AND approaching 100,000 views, i am hosting a little giveaway.  great reasons to celebrate, right?!?  i think so.  i love you guys.  maybe you guys love me too?  well, anywho, i love my blog, and i want to party.

so here's how it's going to go down.  one person will receive four snack bags!  Olivia's Snack Bags have been my most popular post, so it seems appropriate to give some away.

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Winner of some snack bags is Jessica Warfield.  She won one of my last giveaways, so I was kind of shocked to see that she won this one as well too!  Congrats Jessica!

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The Comment Giveaway

• PRIZE: Four snack bags in various prints.  These bags hold dry goods only.
• WHO CAN ENTER: Anyone.  I'm not looking to increase my following with this giveaway, but of course, I'd love for you to join us, if you like what you see.  I really dislike forced following (picture me with a finger pointing down my throat), so I don't want to do that to you.  This is a just for fun giveaway.   Read more about my giveaways here.
• TO ENTER:  Leave me comments on old or new posts.
  
• ENDS: When I reach 100,000 views.
• HOW WINNER IS DETERMINED: I won't be using random.org for this.  A winner will be selected when I notice my views have hit 100,000 or more.  I will then scroll down to see who commented last, and that person is the winner.
• PRIZE SHIPS: US addresses, but if you do not have an US address, you may enter if you are willing to pay the shipping through Paypal.  Please allow 2-3 weeks for me to make them and ship them.
• ANNOUNCED:  here at the top of this blog post and winner will have 72 hours to respond to my email before a new winner is selected.  Remember, I can't contact you if there's not an email attached to your name.

watch out for Danny and Jen.  these girls are my top two commenters.  ;)

here's the current status.

okay, let's see how quickly we can end this party! :)  best of luck! 

*if you are not interested in participating but still want to leave a comment somewhere on the blog, that is fine.

Etsy {Neon Love}

love. me. some. brights!  i was SO tempted to do a Neon Regretsy post.  trust me.  there is SO MUCH neon trash on etsy.   one of my hardest etsy treasury lists to date.

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Fabric Friday {My First Quilt ~ Fabric Selections}

I know this isn't a typical Fabric Friday.   I even posted earlier today! Small, I know, but still.

Can I scream with excitement right now?!?!?!  My fabric arrived for Owen's quilt!!!!!!

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I knew from the very beginning I wanted to work with Monaluna for his quilt. Originally, I was going to use the Anika collection, but Foxy was sold out and will not be coming back. Though I did hear that Monaluna will put out a new Foxy with a new colorway. I'm just not patient enough. I also really loved Taali, but I was not sure if the scale would be small enough for what I was doing. I ordered some samples, and I loved them! It's a Scandinavian inspired collection. Love that too. They are so pretty in person. They feel so soft, and I know it will feel great against Owen's skin.

There were two prints I chose not to use in the quilt. The Mixed Apples and Astors.

Both I felt were on the feminine side. Yes, I know Posies screams all girl, but I am hoping to play around with the pattern.  If I decide to add Mixed Apples for a little more color, I can always do so later.

I may also add Amy Butler's River Shine or Rashida Coleman-Hale's Extras Charcoal to the quilt, but I am not sure yet.  It features a cream and black, so I am not sure how I feel about that with the white.  You just never know until you get in there and try.

And there's something weird about making a quilt for the first time.  Excitement.  Butterflies.  Nervousness.  Anxious.  Joyful.  Happiness.  Want to puke.  Impatient.  Scared.  Overwhelmed.  And back to Thrilled.

(Please forgive the quality of personal photos for awhile as I am trying to learn how to use my DSLR camera.)

baby girl's dress progress

It's coming along. This isn't the dress I had in my head, but this is my "practice" dress.

(Please forgive the quality of personal photos for awhile as I am trying to learn how to use my new camera.)