Baby Quilt

I made 5 inch blocks of blue jeans and cut out a hexagon from the centers.  I cut 5 inch blocks of chosen fabric to go between the jean blocks.  I used 4 1/2 in blocks to go in the hexagon windows that I sewed down with a quarter inch seam allowance.  Sew blocks together and quilted with X's across the fabric blocks and the tied center of hexagons with embroidery floss.  Super easy and relatively quick compared to other quilts. I made it for a sweet friend who is expecting her first grandchild in the summer.

The "Lady Lair" aka my craftroom

Hello, my name is Mrs. G and I am a craftaholic.

During Spring Break my mom got a few days off.  So out of her extreme love for me she helped me clean up and reorganize my "Lady Lair" (Stud Muffin's words not mine) aka my Craftroom. So here is the finished product of an entire days worth of work.

Scrapbooking Oasis!

I use the old desk coils to organize my photos when deciding on scrapbooking page layouts.

This is my carry all tote with all of my essential scrapbooking items.  The adhesive runner is my favorite and is the Scotch one that you can get at Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

I keep all my scraps in a tote under the desk for use on other pages or to hoard them till it is overwhelming and then I donate them to a friend at work who makes a lot of cards or the art teacher for her various class projects.

This is an Ott Light desk caddy and is just about the coolest thing ever.  Great for holding all my sewing notions and has the best light ever.  Big Fan on this product!

This is the slayer of fabric, the queen of thread...this is my Pfaff Hobby 1020.  She is the coolest machine.  The clear attachment is a Sew Steady and gives the feel of a drop down machine without it actually being down inside of a table.  The table itself houses my Great Grandmother's 1970's sewing machine that she bought when she retired.  It was brand new and top of the line.  I believe it sewed nothing more than some doll clothes for my mom's baby dolls if that.  Either way I open up the desk and let her do some sewing on small projects but my Pfaff is my go to quilting work horse.

Random items and signs.  They either are about crafting, being a queen, or pink.  All things near and dear to my heart.

I love patterns!  But they had gotten a little over whelming.  So now I store them in binders in sheet protectors by genre so that I can locate just the pattern I need pretty quickly.  Baskets are filled with fabric by genre: holiday, baby, quilting, tulle and other specialty fabrics.  I also have a whole basket dedicated to just ribbon.

This is my scrapbooking shelf.  Boxes contain stamps, inks, embelishments, fibers, etc.  I also keep photo boxes labeled with each kid's name of photos just of them that I print but end up not using in their scrapbooks.

Three of my favorite memorabilia items.  Shaddow boxes of both Bean's and Chum's coming home from the hospital outfits and then their newborn scrapbooks.  I also have my bouquet that my mom-in-law made for me and my tiara from SM and I's wedding.  Also a coursage from the Bad Prom Run I did with a great friend of mine.

Mom-in-law made the lids to the mismatched glass jars.  I LOVE THEM!  One has buttons, another has Scrabble tiles, and the third has ribbon scraps.  Because if they are in pretty jars its not hoarding...right?!

Paper organized by color and then a basket to help contain pages that I have already started to gather the components to make assembling scrapbook pages quicker.

Super cool Thirty-One organizer helps me keep current patterns and such in one nice and neat place.

This is the very small closet in my craftroom.  The best part is the hanging organizer has sewing projects nicely organized in each of the cubbies.  The top shelf stores batting, filler, retreat rolling totes, etc.

This is my cutting table.  It has two storage shelves which house my quilting kits that I have purchased and a few cutting notions in a basket.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my Lady Lair!  Happy crafting!

Art with Food Butts

I found a random canvas in my craft room the other day and felt like being crafty.  So here is what I did...

I had some butts (not sure of what you really call that part of food) of celery, lettuce, and an apple that was going bad cut in half.  I had purchased my Bountiful Basket and had chopped up my veggies so these bit were just going to go in the trash until I felt inspired to do some painting with food.  Just like we did in preschool I used some random paint I had at home and stamped on the canvas with my food butts. :)  I then used a rubber stamp of a cross and stamped the canvas with that as well.  Probably not my most favorite thing I have ever made but I had fun doing.

Out On A Walk

One of the very best things about our neighborhood is the 5K trail that winds its way around the development.  It is one of our favorite things to do as a family.  We rate our walk by the number of turtles we see when out and about.  Because it was so dang cold the other weekend it was a 0 on the turtle scale.  Makes me anxious for spring.  One time Beans and I had a 32 Turtle scale walk!  Fabulous!  Regardless of the number of turtles we enjoyed our time outside.  So here is the walk in photos.

thought the shadows were cool

popular turtle hang out...just too dang cold

ReFuel Weekend @ FBC

Every Sunday I walk into a room with a group of 11th grade girls who are welcoming, sweet, funny, accepting, and curious.  They are outwardly very open but as with all teenagers there is this underlying cynicism of whether or not what I am saying is real, relevant, or applicable.  I take a book written thousands of years ago, curriculum written for the masses, and find ways to make connections to those things for the girls that will make them want to live a life that will keep God in the LIME light.

My teaching partner, Stephanie
God was brilliant when He teamed
us up!

The call is one I struggle to answer every weekend not because of the girls, or the curriculum, or the content but because every Sunday I want to make a difference in their lives and put them in a place to receive God's word so that it is attainable truths as opposed to nebulous concepts.  These connections are only made through relationships with these young ladies.

In an hour I am to deliver a lesson on God.  It is impossible to even brush the surface of an infinite God in a very finite amount of time.  In an hour I am to expose my life and break into theirs to show what God has done for me and what He can do for them.

This weekend I gained new perspective.

For a solid 42 hours I dedicate myself to these young ladies.  With that time I was able to further my relationships with them and also the other teacher I work with.  I now see that it is not expected for me to save them all and make sure they leave our classroom as a Christian woman but rather to plant the seed of Christ in their heart and push hard for them to feel a deep need for Him in their lives.  I cannot change anyone...I can't even change myself being left to my own devices.  That is God's job, and He does a magnificent job of it when I plant seeds and allow them to be watered with His word and Holy Spirit.

Could never have done that before WLS

I have been a youth group leader for three years.  I was with a group of girls starting their junior year of high school and then continued with them through graduation.  I cried at their graduation and longed to see their hands raised in praise during worship service the weeks they left for college.  In some ways I felt a void in my spiritual life without them.  I love those girls.  I worried that I would get a new group of 11th grade girls and I would fail to make connections with them as I had with my previous group.  When my now college girls would return home for breaks I would not see their faces first but the unique ways they all raise their hands in worship during service.  My eyes would tear up and I would yearn for the time in service to grab hold of them for a hug, kiss on the cheek, and an opportunity to pray with them.

Since August I have had my new 11th grade girls.  For the past 6 months we have grown to know each other at a very superficial surface level.  Not yet able to ask the tough questions and delve very deep into God's word.  The angst and frustration of preparing for lessons and making sure they were engaging enough to hold their attention, allowing time for social conversations, and a lesson that would be encouraging and non confrontational.  I can sum up the last 6 months in one word...awkward.  Them not really knowing me and me not really knowing them.

This weekend was a game changer.  Worship, prayer, small group time, and team building activities took us from a mismatched group of ladies in all different places to a real Faith Family.  It was all of the little moments that added together to create a unity that our group has been missing.  During this one weekend I noticed the kinds of music they each enjoyed, the way they are most comfortable praying, how they prefer to worship, and the way to relate to them.  They shared fears, strengths, praises, and prayers.  The parts of their lives they would ordinarily keep secret during our usual small group time.

they are so cute all snuggly and asleep

From this weekend I am changed.  I look forward to Sunday when I will be with my girls again to watch them grow in Christ.  What a blessing it is to be allowed to be part of this ride.  *Special thanks to my parental units for allowing us to take over their house for the entire weekend.  Love you both!  Also shout out to the hubby for holding down the fort while I was gone!  And for the boys not making Dad too nuts. :)

every pic I took of this chick this was her pose, love it!

tutus in our signature color, Lime Green

trash can races!

home run derby

Stephanie, our ETBU student teacher, she is a keeper for sure!

she slept in her tutu, PRECIOUS!

The 11th Grade Girls

My hubby brought me coffee to church on Sunday
Boy oh boy did I need it!