I have been a bad bad blogger

Hello everyone! I want to start out by saying I am really sorry for being away for so long things have been super crazy around here. We were dealing with all of the end of the year stuff with the kids, and many other things including dealing with a stroke my mother in law which I will get into in another post. I also have been working on a huge project that seems like it is never going to end.  It all started when I got a idea (you all know how dangerous these can be) and decided that I was going to paint the paneling in the living room. I had no idea how much primer it would soak up and how long it would take to just paint one section with the primer.  After over a month I am still working on getting the whole room painted, I didn't realize how big the living room was till now LOL.

So this is what I started with the paneling isn't too dark but with no real windows in the living room it makes the room much darker than I like. I went and looked for colors for several days and got several testers. When I found the colors I wanted I started priming and priming and priming some more. Let me tell you this is enough to discourage a girl.

Finally it looked like it wasn't going to soak in anymore and we were ready to start this thing. This wall alone took over a week between the priming and painting. Oh yeah and when I said there were no real windows, I do have these three windows and a door that lead into my sun room which is where we get our light form. I have lots more to go and on it and have more to share with different parts of the living room. I will be adding those in the next couple of days. I still have about half of the living room to prime and paint but I am really loving how it is turning out so far.

I also have several other projects to share in the coming weeks along with a fun surprise. I wanted to thank everyone of my followers for sticking it out with me  and promise to not be absent like this again.

"It Doesn't Count If" Monday Week 2

Happy Monday Morning everyone! Here we are at week two of my posts of pages form this fabulous book I found, and me helping you get through your Monday.  I am thrilled that everyone enjoyed the first week so much.

Have a wonderful day!

Floor Cushions

Hello everyone, I am so excited to share with you these cushions I made for the two little boys I take care of everyday. As soon as I saw Living With Punks post on the ones that she made I just knew that I had to make some for my boys. I had to do some modifications since I could not find any decor fabric for boys, everything was girlie. I also ended up changing up the handle just a bit on the second one which I will show. I hope you all run over and check out her site and get just as inspired as I am.

So to get started here are the supplies that were listed:

• 1 yard Home Dec Fabric
• 2 pkgs. 1/2 " pre made piping
• Contrasting Thread
• 16-24oz. Fiberfill, depending on how lofty you want it

Now because I ended up using just regular cotton fabric there are a couple more supplies to make it hold up which are:

• Quilting batting 
• 2 yards medium weight interfacing 

I cut out my pieces: 

 2 of the 17" circles (top and bottom)

1 piece cut at 9"x51.5" (side)

you will have to piece this together if your fabric is 45"

2 pieces cut at 3" x 12" (handle)

Then I ironed on my interfacing onto each piece of material in the first step to making it a firmer fabric. Next I cut the quilting batting to fit each piece and pined to the wrong side. I used the hand quilted stitch on my sewing machine and just followed the lines on the material to give it the quilted look and feel. I did this with each piece except for one of the handle pieces, I only ironed the interfacing on it and since it was going to be the one against the cushion I didn't worry about the quilting on it either. 

After these two steps I was very happy with the weight of of fabric and felt like it would hold up well to abuse. Now we are ready to starting putting it together. First pin your  bias tape directly on to one of the circles, making sure to line up raw edges. When you get to the end, overlap pieces and bend them at an angle.Using the contrasting thread you chose, stitch right on top of the stitching that is on your pre-made piping (man does this make things so much easier).  The contrasting 


thread does need to be easily seen on the wrong side of your fabric so that when you go to put it all together you can just follow it as a sewing guide.   

 Sew both circles  and the quilted handle piece this way. Place the other handle piece on top of the quilted one right sides facing each other,  using your previous stitching as a guide (this is where the contrasting thread comes in handy), stitch the two pieces together. This is were I varied from her instructions again. I put the pipping on the ends also and stitched everything together expect for a small hole big enough to turn the handle inside out. Then I slipped stitched it closed. I really like the clean finished look it gives it. 

This is what we have so far, I didn't do the handle with all edges done till the making the second cushion. Here again I make a slight change, I went ahead and added the handle onto the large strip of material. I measured the width and centered it then sewed a large box using a double stitch and added the x to make it sturdier as her instructions were. I found it easier to had the handle now rather then after the two pieces are put together.  Our next step is to take your large side piece and pin it carefully to one of the circles,right sides together and matching raw edges. Make sure to leave about 1" free on the end.  Do not pull too hard, and make sure to compensate for the curve of the circle, if you using the interfacing and quit batting it will be a bit stiffer but goes on the same way. 




Pin all the way around until you come to the other end. Time to stitch them together using that contrasting thread just sew right on top of the line made from sewing the pipping on. Almost there, now we add our other circle to the other end, pin and sew again. This time leaving a hole large enough to  turn it inside out and stuff. 

 Once it is stuff then slip stitch it closed. Now if you are going tuft it with a button then you will do that before you close the opening but after you have stuffed it. I have to say this is was the first time I had done this and I don't think the way that I did it was the "right" way because well I stabbed myself several times in the process. I suggest doing to searches on the net since the only way I can share with you draws blood!!!!!!! LOL. 

Thank you for stopping by and please let me know if you have any questions, also don't forget to check out Living with Punks for her post on these awesome cushions. She has some more detailed pictures as I get so involved I forget to take one for each step sometimes :)

"It Doesn't Count If" Monday Week 1

Morning everyone! After having yet another talk with one of my best buddies about how much she hates Mondays and nothing seems to go right I couldn't resist buying this book when I saw it.

 I myself don't mind Mondays and actually look forward to them most of the time, but I know that there are lots of fellow bloggers out there that can only get through their Mondays with the help of that wonderful friend CHOCOLATE!!!
So I am going to help my Monday hater's out and post a it doesn't count if  for you each Monday here is our first page I just love the illustrations:

Happy Monday!

Book Review

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Like the first two books in this series this one started off very slow, but then soon picked up and became a real page turner. I am not sure I like the ending but am left wondering if he had had plans on leaving it open to write another book sadly since he died right after writing these books we will never know.   I encourage everyone to give this trilogy a try. 




View all my reviews

Leather Name Cuff

One of my daughter's friends was about to have her birthday and she wanted me to make something for her. The challenge was that she is pretty much a tomboy who will only add a little splash of girlie from time to time. After digging through my "to work on pile" (which is way to big by the way) I came across the supplies I had gotten to make a cuff for my son and the light bulb came on. What I used for this one was a leather cuff or bracelet with the snap I love these I get them at Hobby Lobby, also the leather clear leather finish, needles, and I used a cord necklace for my sewing material.  In the scrapbook sections I got the metal letter charms, there was already a hole in the top so hubby drilled one on the bottom for me. I also had some enamel paint on hand that I used.


I first spelled out her name and laid it on the cuff to figure out my spacing, then I took my piercing tool and made two holes for each letter in the cuff. Next I used a tooth pick to add the enamel paint in the letter so that it would pop.

 After they were dry I cut one of the cord strands off of the necklace and threaded it onto the needle, I have to say it took some work to get the needle through the leather because of the cord, it made it a bit thick at the eye, but that's what hubby's are for right! I sewed on each letter started underneath the metal piece so that I could cut and tie each one off and it would be hidden it gave them a very clean look. After that we decided that it could use a little something else so I got my Irock out and we added the orange crystals to it. Micalee loved it and has been wearing it daily. She really likes how the leather is now starting to age some and darken up. I guess I really need to get to making the one for son LOL.

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you decide to follow. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone, I just wanted to share with you the projects I did for our green day. I made a shamrock for the front door out of felt, then a very quick and easy shirt for one of the boys. Lastly I had to have something green to wear so I wasn't in danger of getting pinched so I made this necklace out of the left over fabric from making the shirt. I hope everyone has a fun and green day!!!  I have several projects to put added so keep an eye out next week.  I also would like to just thank everyone for stopping by and taking the time to check out my blog.              
Margo