Girl's room part 2

I told you a while ago of goals for decorating my girl's bedroom. Dorothy's birthday came and went and there were plenty of other distractions for her at her August birthday and even at Christmas for her to remember that she was suppose to get a quilt from me. It was also a dilemma for me because I couldn't decide if I wanted to make it a toddler bed size or twin size. I knew the toddler bed wouldn't last much longer than a few months or a year before it was passed on to our escape artist, Mags so I hoped to make a twin size. That just meant a lot more work for me. Like twice the work. Luckily the decision was made for me by waiting so long to pick the project up again.

Here is the tutorial I have been using. Here is the quilt that started it all. I started this last June and only worked on it about 2 weeks (10-15 hours maybe) before completely packing it up in preparation for rearranging the house (like trading rooms with other rooms). I unpacked it this past last month and have been working on it quite a bit. Today I finished piecing and trimming the 80th square. I have spent about 40-50 hours on it so far.

I am like a deer in the headlights getting ready to sew all the squares together. I can't possibly pull it off.

The colors of the quilt are what I call bubblegum, cotton candy, cherry, lipstick, sage, and lime. Or something like that. I am loving the color scheme and excited to have an almost complete room.

List #1: Things I learned as a theater kid that prepared me for my 30th birthday costume party.

1. A wig if not stored on a mannequin/head, should be stuffed with tissue paper, wrapped in hairnet, and kept in a gallon zip lock bag.
2. Not everyone likes to be the center of attention. Let them opt out of dressing up. Or let them wear regular clothes with dog tags and call themselves a GI Joe. (I love you Mike)
3. Eye liner always looks best the morning after a show. This is because you wear way too much on stage and then try to wash it all off and there is just a bit left the next morning and it almost looks natural and awesome.
4. Fabrics that need no hemming for quick costume fixes are netting/tulle, felt, t-shirt/jersey knit. (My apron is an XXL $5 t-shirt cut into the shape of an apron and decorated with Crayolas).

5. Socks can make or break the costume.



6. Junk food in excess will always make you stupid, annoying, and hyper. It will also make you feel lousy the next day. (See my above "Birthday Cake")


7. The friends you make in theater, just might be around 15 years later dressing as Care Bears or Sandi Patty for your birthday and being loyal best friends to you and your husband.

(My husband threw a "Sarah's favorite people from the 80s 30th birthday". In attendance we had Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, GI Joe, and Sandi Patty to name a few. I was very blessed by the whole amazing nonsense!)

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Our family goes to the mall on family days sometimes. We have exhausted the Disney Store of all things Mickey and Minnie. We usually end our monthly trip to California Pizza Kitchen. D could not stop hugging Mike. She was cracking us up.
Our favorite server, Ashley Choneginhiemer wasn't working because it's her birthday or something. Happy birthday Ashley!

That's the ladybug dress I made her! I'll post a bigger picture of it later.

Well she is one now. I packed up the bottles and she's drinking whole milk. She stands up so much more often, and by choice too! Getting so big...sniff.

We had a joint party with our dearest friends and partners in ministry, the Montgomerys.
Levi was one on Tuesday and Dorothy was one on Saturday.

Mandy was so much fun to throw the party with. What a blessing she has been to me over the last nine years but especially the last year as a mom! We chose a Bumblebee/Ladybug party and she drew stripes and dots on all the balloons! That was one of my favorite details!

More pictures to come! Thanks to my Father-in-law, John who took these photos. I have a couple hundred to go through before I post more!

My new favorite ideas...

There is a blog that I really like called the Motherload. She has great tips on family life, motherhood, and home keeping but all on a shoestring budget...one of my favorite things she does is her weekly notebook. On her notebook post she shares links to all kinds of great things that she has seen on the internet, cool projects for her or her kids, and recipes... She also has a section on meal plans for eating well while shopping at Aldi's.

So, inspired and blessed by the Motherload Mom Advice Blog, here is a little collection of my newest favorite ideas that I have seen around the web lately.

• Alabama Studio Style. It's all about sustainability and style. I have always loved making things from old clothes and repurposing them. This is what they are all about! I knew there was this great book but I just stumbled onto the blog today!

• GirlTalk Blog has been sharing a lot about homemaking and it has been a blessing. Here is a great list of books I want to read up on.

• VanillaJoy posted her reflections on her first year of motherhood. I am about to hit that milestone myself! I love how she wrote "So I’ve learned that with motherhood, “productivity” cannot be measured or even detected sometimes. How much I visibly accomplish in a day is no indication of my sucess as a mother - another unique characteristic of motherhood."

• Tried this Pasta with Lentils and Arugula from Everyday Food. We use penne and big juicy tomatoes from our CSA. It was so good.
  

• I bought some of this fabric (in red and white) to make D's birthday dress. She and Levi are having a ladybug/bumblebee birthday party next week!

That's my list for now!!! I think we'll have a drawing soon. You better start posting.

And today's looking back at Dorothy's first year picture is below:

Five days old, going home from the hospital.

YIKES!!!

This is what it looks like when I am sewing. I promise all the other rooms are clean! I love this house, but I wish that I could sew in another room, one that isn't the main entry to the home, one that is closed off from everything else. This unfortunately is where all our guests walk in. Luckily it only looks this way a small portion of the time. I have gotten much better about putting things away each day instead of after the project is done.

PS Happy Birthday to my good friends Emily Ferguson (yesterday) and Rebecca Dennison (today)! I am blessed by you both!

Have a beautiful day.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of my mom. Her birthday was yesterday.

I think this is my fourth birthday. July 1984. Isn't she so pretty?




This is on the day of Dorothy's dedication at church.



With her husband (my awesome dad) and their three grandkids: Thanksgiving 2007.

I love you mom.