weekend update

This past weekend was very busy...we went to work on a habitat house for our 72 hours of service with our church. we had a really good time even though it was hot...really hot....dennis and a couple of other men put on some shingles and i helped with some siding...i lucked up to be in the shade most of the day but still managed to get a pink face...we had more projects planned for saturday afternoon at our house but just flunkered out when we got home that afternoon. on sunday i went to a baby shower for my sister ...it was in eupora..i printed out some directions on mapquest and didn't really pay attention to them until we were on Martin Luther King jr. drive....we decided the directions were not taking us where we needed to go and had to call someone to come lead us to the house...even the navigation thing in ashley's car couldn't locate the place...Sim's cried to go to tupelo but our car was full...

united blood services

Today was a big day at the blood service...they were giving away prizes and food( i had already eaten)...some radio station was there and they were going to give away tickets to Hank Williams Jr. and some other event or vacation....i also went to the dream house to register for the drawings that they will have on Sunday...most importantly being the house ...very nice and a fairly decent floor plan...looks like they ran out of steam in the kitchen....

no news

Taking a lazy day today...just going to relax...maybe....i made a john john and will post later...

mississippi state

Made these for a gift...hope she doesn't check the blog....she hasn't chosen a name so i just went with msu

Sunny shirts

I did these t shirts for the kiddos on my little machine...had to double hoop but wasn't any trouble....except the crazy machine ate up simzy girls shirt...just a little at the bottom...I will have to make her another one later...I was right there with it and the bottom just flipped up and got attached...the towels are for a wedding gift...did them on my big machine...

Summer at its best

Today is a perfect day for being outside...breezy, beautiful, balmy...i just close my eyes and pretend i am in florida...no sand or sharks...I did RoundUp the weeds and then hit the floats...August will be here before i know it...

It is HOT

I barely went outside yesterday...too hot to swim (i never thought i would say that). Really and truly I decided to try my new machine out and had to gather a few supplies...after several failed attempts at downloading and saving files and that kind of stuff we finally got started (cindy came by for a lesson). we made two cute USA t shirts for the kiddos...and a bath mat for me...Cindy brought her "fastframes" for me to try too. They are probably the best thing to get for embroidery....they hook on with one small screw and you can get purses, shirts, stockings, etc in the hoop with no problem. of course they are extra...but well worth it. I am trying to get my sewing stuff organized and in one central location. did i mention that it is HOT!!!!

curriculum mapping

Today was my first flex day of the summer...8:30-3:30 talking about each nine weeks and what we will study...it has to be included in the curriculum for the state and tpsd and not overlap with any other grade level... The 3 things we have to keep in mind...written, taught and tested....Not one time today did anyone mention FUN...The group seems very ecclectic...and by the way I think I am the oldest teacher in the school...This should be an interesting year.

I'm "sew"excited!!!!

well, today was the day to make the big purchase...the brother pr620 embroidery machine. I love my little machine but with two new grands on the way i decided i probably needed to bite the bullet. My friend and sewing partner in crime, cindy, came to heirlooms to make sure i followed thru...it is a done deal and it is now at home with me.

baby martins

Our neighbor, Eddie Lindsey, put up a really nice bird hotel for the Martin birds...there is a lake nearby (pond?) and is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitos. He says he was a little late getting it up and some sparrows built in it first and are keeping the martins away. We , however, had been noticing the birds flying under our porches and thought it was great that they were looking for the bugs around our house...great until we noticed there was a nest on top of one of the columns on the front porch. We noticed this while we were painting them one morning and the birds were like dive bombers...they had dove down on me as I went to get the paper on several mornings but i thought they just couldn't see well that early and thought i could be a big bug...a really big bug...We finished painting the columns and have sat out and watched the two birds fly back and forth with some food ...still thinking awwww that is so cute...cute until i had to wash up the pound of poop from the bottom of our freshly painted column...I just got it all off yesterday and today it is back. How can two birds poop that much?

Don't know why

The loving the outside post is a little crazzzy...just read down the side and it says"we traded back an old patio set

Loving the outside!

We traded back a patio set with D-ray and Ashley ( it was a set we had at our old house)...the cushions were old and dry rotted on one side and a little mildewed all over....I tore them apart and made a pattern and bought some sunbrella fabric at the warehouse down by the dog pound...I had never made a cushion with a side piece (gussett?)...they went together easy but sewing them shut by hand was a pain since there was some waterproof backing on the inside it made the needle sort of gummy. I had sore fingers for days. The water really beads up on the cushions and I hope it shows up in the picture...I also made some for the front porch and a little table out back. The green cushions make me smile.

Crayon Caddies

These caddies were pretty easy to make( i made about 30 in two mornings)....the most labor intensive part is sewing the little pockets for the crayons...i used my finger as a guide...and as always"there are no two exactly the same"...I thought they were cute but when a mom at Holder's T-ball game told me how much she liked the party favor i decided they were really a great idea.

something for me

I never sew much for myself but decided to copy some flip flops that I saw that a friend had...they were sooo cute....just a covered button with the metal snipped off the back and a piece of sticky back velcro...you could also sew the button on some cute ribbons and attach to some $1.00 flip flops too. I had some purse handles that I got half price at Hancocks and decided to try a purse...it was quick and easy...i looked it up on the internet but you can design your own pattern...just a rectangle...didn't line it and sewed the casing on the machine with the handles inside....quick and easy....just the way I like it.

John John Time

I had a few minutes to sew when school ended so I decided to make some JohnJohns for whomever in the family had a boy...well it turns out that D-ray and ashley are having a boy. I also bought some blue blankets the same day that they found out...what a coincidence....(but since my daughter and sister are both pregnant too I decided that at least one blue blanket would be given away). The fish on the blue john john and the frog on the khaki johnjohn were freebies from bunnycup.com. The green jj will get a monogram when they pick a name.

crazy camera

I have been charging my camera for 24 hours and was ready to show some pictures of the things i have made this summer but the crazy thing will NOT work...just when I am ready to blog and get with the rest of the world with technology....oh well, i guess i will just have to lay by the pool and think of something else to do...this morning i finished up 2 monogrammed towels for a girl in ripley and a burp pad, bib, and ole miss (baby)panties for a lady from my church. i still have my eye on the PR 620 but get a little anxious when i think about being married to it...the sale goes off on Monday...$6,899.00 plus tax...with a $620 rebate and a $620 shopping spree at heirlooms...How much embroidery would a girl have to do to feel like she needs one??? ANY COMMENTS

Holder's birthday number 5

Holder really wanted SpongeBob Squarepants for his cake but his mom nixed it. I made some crayon caddies for party favors out of some scrap bandana print. They turned out so cute that we decided bandana was the theme. The cake was super quick and easy. The caddies were easy too and young moms like to carry them in their purse for the kiddos to color and be quiet while doing it. They don't rattle like boxes or baggies. Perfect for church or just going out to eat with friends. I will post a picture of them later....