Lack of words

I just discovered this blog and I wanted to pass it along. I've been uninspired lately, and while I have had plenty to blog about, we've been so busy. She's amazing and has a real grasp on things, be sure to check out her post Who will raise a princess for my boys? and I'm broker than a joke and couldn't be happier!.

Beneath My Heart

Party Line Finds

There's an afternoon radio show out here where people call in with their junk really great stuff for sale, and since Lily goes down around 1, I'm always around the radio for it (we don't have TV, so picture us sitting around the radio in the evenings). I'm a bit of a junker at heart, and responded to a call saying she had old doors and screens for sale. Gasp! I've been looking for an old door with character to make into a headboard. Josh, amazingly, was completely on board and said, and I quote, "Get what you want." Yessssss!

Anyway, here are my finds. This is the screen that I went to buy, and I just love it.

 

It's so simple and country. A good cleaning up and a couple coats of polyurethane and she's good to go. It's got some great details like the hinges...I wish I had a box full of these babies!

 

And the handle is even cute.

I had planned on using it as the headboard until my husband saw the barn door I also bought...

Now while the screen is a "she," the door is definitely a "he." He weighs a ton and it built like a brick. I really didn't want a window in the door we would use for a headboard (I have symmetry issues), but Josh loved it so much that I don't think I'll be able to say no.

I just love rusty stuff. :)

And then she had these sitting out for $10 each. I loved that this one had some messed up glaze, and I think it would look cute on the end of the mudroom bench. And yes, that's the blue dresser that I have yet to blog about. I'm waiting on my super cute drawer pulls to come in, then it will be up here for all to see.

While I was in the shop, I decided to take "in progress" pictures of a couple other projects I have going on. This is the bench I built using ana-white.com's Five Board Bench plans. I'm not loving it in black, but I hope with a little distressing I will like it more. I've also been thinking about stenciling something on the front of the bench, but I can't decide what...our last name? "Kick off yer boots!"? "Mudroom"? There will be a rolling crate made from pallet wood under it that I could also stencil something onto...

I also have had these two shutters sitting around since last fall when I rescued them from my brother-in-law's bonfire and I'm just kind of waffling on what to do with them. I've sort of decided to paint them white and use them as photo/art displays either in our dining room or Lily's room, but we'll see what happens. Any suggestions are appreciated. :)

I can't wait to show you the "after" pictures!

Nerves

I'm not naturally a super nervous person. I don't dwell on things and stress myself out often, but when I do, any little thing will stress me out. I'm thankful for a kind, understanding husband and a sweet little girl who is just so happy.

One miscarriage hurts a ton, but you can always try again with great odds, two miscarriages hurts a ton also, but the odds are still great that you can try again without intervention. You still have some hope, something to hold onto. Once you hit three, it's a completely different story. We don't know if we will be able to have another child, we don't know how much we will have to go through if we do have another one, we don't know how much it will cost. The odds aren't great for having a live birth after three miscarriages, much less if you have unexplained recurrent miscarriages rather than an actual diagnosis.

I've decided to be open about the fact that we've had three miscarriages in the hopes that it helps someone else. It all goes back to The Stuff You Use and I hope I am doing some good, somewhere. I'm praying for the mothers, especially one I know personally, that do not have their babies to hold and kiss and love as this Mother's Day approaches, and that they are surrounded by kind, loving people to show them how much they are appreciated. I'm a mother of four, not just one, even though I never held, met, or kissed three of them.

Little Red Step Stool

Cute, right? I know! I found the plans here, at ana-white.com and went to town on it. I knew I wanted a red step stool, because it would match the kitchen and bathroom, but I couldn't decide which one: the vintage one (link above), the storage step stool, or the ladder table.

I finally went with what looked like the easiest one. My dad and I bought wood, screws, and paint at Lowes
and got to work. I had used a circular saw before, but never a jig saw. Let's just say it was a good thing we bought extra. The first two sides I cut were so "off" that they weren't even close enough to sand down to match. It was bad. So I tried again and they were almost perfect! I drilled the holes, forgot to glue them (let's all hope it doesn't fall apart!), and screwed it together in a matter of about 15 minutes. Filled the holes, sanded it down, and got right to painting (my favorite part).

The red is Valspar Heirloom Red and it is absolutely perfect. It's like that barn red that is bright, but not too bright. I put two good coats on it, sanding after each coat, distressed the edges a bit, and then a coat of polyurethane. The only poly I had was semi-gloss and it's a little too shiny for my taste, but it will do. Lily (and her playmate for the day) loved it!

Nestie Quilt Along 2011

Hey all! There I was, just quilting away on a billion other projects and I said to myself, “Self, let’s do something scrappy!” I asked my dear Nesties if they knew of any scrappy quilt alongs were going on in blogland, but they ended up talking me into doing one myself. Eek! Well, of course I like easy patterns, so I thought a nine patch quilt would be fun.

So, while I’ve never even written a tutorial before, I’m going to try my hand at this quilt along thing! I think if we start it with the goal of doing a nine patch a day, we will get there sooner than we think.

To start, let’s do the math. I’m more of a do it as you go type, so this is new for me! Haha For the throw size, you will need a total of 140 (4.5”) nine patch blocks. If we do one block a day, you’ll need 20 weeks for this project. Of course, you can work ahead if you want, but this is just a project to work on your stash and get a quilt done on the side of other projects. Sometimes you just need to look at something else. Anyway, back to that nasty math part! To make 140 nine patch blocks, you’ll need a total of 1260 2” squares. That sounds like a TON (ok, it really is), but just stack those fat quarters and cut a few at once. Or just cut as you go.  If I did my math right, you should be able to get 1260 2” squares out of 14 fat quarters. I’m leaving the amount of different fabrics up to you! For those of you who want to work out of your stash and use anything and everything you’ve got, have at it! For those who like a coordinated, thought-out look, go buy 14 coordinating fat quarters. For sashing, you’ll need about 2.5 yards (I estimated…I always buy extra and cut up the leftovers for my scrap bins) of a solid color, and then another fabric for a border (optional). And batting, binding, and backing of course, but I usually by those fabrics after finishing the quilt top. Everyone is different, though.

Ok, so let’s imagine that you have 1260 2” squares cut out. Or 9 of them, that works too… Take two different colored squares (A and B)  and sew them together. Then take two more different colored squares (A and B) and sew them together without taking the first set off the machine. Same with the third set.

This is called chain stitching and will save you time and money (that little bit of thread will add up!). Anyway, do a third set of the two fabrics and cut the ends. Leaving that chain together, sew the last three squares to the chain you have, making sure you have two ABA rows and one BAB (which will be the middle) row. Make sense? Sorry, I'm not great at this! :) 

Now, I press my seams apart. It makes for a smoother finished quilt and it is easier to do the actual quilting when it comes to that.

However you do it will be fine, but this is how I do it. Easy, right? Now do that every day for the next 140 days.

I’m not cool enough to know how to make buttons or logos or flicker groups, or whatever , so we’ll just do check ins on the nestie crafts board, if that is cool with you ladies! Please post a comment here to let me know you're doing the quilt along with us (with your Nestie name if possible). If I'm missing anything or you have questions, please don't hesitate to let me know or ask! I've never really done anything like this, it's more just for me to have someone to be accountable to for a block a day type thing, so if I'm too disorganized, let me know! lol

*****Edited to add: One of the members made a Flickr group for us to share photos and discussions on. http://www.flickr.com/groups/nestiequiltalong/ *****

Organized Simplicity - Ch 1

We're all out to live a simpler life, right? Well, I recently found simplemom.net and was encouraged by her posts about what we're already doing, and wanted to see what else we could do to simplify. I went out on a limb and even bought her book! I've read most of the way through, but wanted to put a couple points here that I highlighted.

The quote at the beginning of the chapter really hit home with me: "Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." -Will Rogers. How true is that? We purposed when we got married to live a debt-free (or almost debt-free) life, which means we do without sometimes, when our friends are spending a lot of money on things we would really like to have.

Most of the first chapter talks about her and her husband's first years of marriage, how they were in debt and working towards paying it off so they could move abroad. A couple key points hit home with me. For one, house sizes have doubled in size since the 1950s! We are living in a house right now that was built in the 1950s and it is definitely NOT 900 square feet, the average for that time period. Yes, we're a little cramped (mostly because I insisted on having my sewing space in the dining room :/), but ya know what? It's easy to clean, easy to maintain, and we are closer together! I've lived in both small and large houses and I prefer the small ones by far.

Another quote from the book, "Frugality is trendier, but life's craziness hasn't slowed." It takes a little more work to be simple/frugal/debt-free, that is no doubt, and it's not worth it to some people.

Anyway, the book has just really hit home with me. Josh and I have prayed our kids will like to be outside, like to play with sticks and rocks instead of gadgets inside. So far this spring, the sticks and rocks are winning out over all of the toys inside for Lily, and it makes this momma heart glad.

Green Dreams

Now that we (finally?) had our last snow of the year, it's time to start thinking about throwing that garden together here in Nebraska. I have only put in a garden twice "on my own," but this year, I'm thinking big (for us anyway)! So far, I'm thinking:

-Tomatoes (8 plants)
-Bell peppers (4 plants)
-Jalapenos (2 plants)
-Green beans (two rows)
-Sweet peas (two rows)
-Onions (two rows, one yellow, one red)
-Carrots (one row)
-Garlic (a bunch or two)
-Zucchini (one hill - never done this before!)
-Watermelon (one hill - again, never done this before!)

Eventually I would like to grow corn, potatoes, and strawberries, but I think I already have enough (plus it takes a year or two for strawberries to really get going). I am thinking I will probably have to do all of the canning/preserving on my own since I'm further from my parents now, so I'm hoping this is manageable. I am also thinking about trying to find some other women with gardens to get together at the church for a big canning day, but I'm not sure if I know anyone who would be interested.

The next step is to mark out our garden spot and start tilling. We have two pickup loads of compost ready to be tilled in, then a fence to build. Then it will finally be time to plant. I love the process, every part of it, including the weeding. :)

Welcome...

to my pantry! I am loving the ample room I have for storage in this pantry, and I'm finally able to start buying some organizational products to keep it tidy. I debated on going with the OXO pop storage containers that my parents have and love, but decided on the Rubbermaid ones (they're cheaper at Walmart though). They are awesome! They stack well, are labeled with the number of cups it holds, and I like the red lids. :P

It is still a work in progress, I have another 20 or so to buy (I didn't want to spend a ton of money on them before I knew I liked them), but I'm really excited about having all of my dry food stored properly. Lame, I know! I also need to sort through my pantry to get rid of things like this:

 Six year old peach juice anyone?

Mini Market Tote

I whipped this up (quite literally, it was such a quick project!) yesterday while the baby napped, and I'm so in love with it that I could make about five or ten more pretty darn quick.

Seriously! How cute is that? Here is the tutorial I used, from Chubby Hobby. I thought the tutorial was a teeny bit confusing, but probably because I use iron-on interfacing and she used sew-on.

Anyway, the bag is adorable. I originally made it to have a small tote to carry all of my reusable shopping bags in, but it just happened to fit the portable DVD player (that we needed some sort of bag for anyway) perfectly, so now I need to make another one.

**Edit: I wanted to also add that I used two 1/3 yard pieces of fabric and chunks of leftover interfacing, so I'm not sure how much exactly I used.**

This is the stuff

I was married almost three years ago, and while most people would say "It's been the best almost three years of my life!", I'm saying "It's been the best almost three years of my life, but also the toughest almost three years of my life!" I'm being honest here. My husband and our relationship are awesome, our child is awesome (oh trust me, I could go on forever about that girl), but we've been through and are going through some struggles that just suck. I'll get into it eventually, but I'm learning that God uses us how we are. Not the perfect, happy homemaker we wish we were, but the imperfect, can't-function-without-coffee, would-rather-sew-than-do-housework, lives-in-her-sweats-most-days stay at home mom that I am. So I'm stealing a song title for my blog title, because it just fit so well for what I am and what I want this blog to be.

I lost my keys in the great unknown
And call me please
Cause I can't find my phone

(CHORUS)
This is the stuff
That drives me crazy
This is the stuff
That's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff
That gets under my skin
But I've gotta trust
You know exactly what Your doing
Might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

45 in a 35
Sirens and fines
While I'm running behind

(CHORUS)

To break me of impatience
Conquer my frustrations
I've got a new appreciation
It's not the end of the world...

This is the stuff
That drives me crazy
This is the stuff
Someone save me
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff
That gets under my skin
But I've gotta trust
You know exactly what You're doing
Might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

This is the Stuff by Francesca Battistelli (seriously, how COOL is her name?!) from newreleasetuesday.com