Still crafting!!

I made this quilt for my friend in Colorado who had triplets this past spring...yep just now getting around to it!! But I personalized it by adding his name appliqued by the sea horse. 1 down 2 to go!!!










This is Samuel's nap mat for school. It's made out of fleece but could be cotton or flannel too, I just made a sleeve for a purchased school mat with a travel pillow encased in the top and an added blanket that's attached to the side! He loves this mat and the best part is it all rolls up in a nice package with a carrying handle that can all slide right off the plastic mat and into the washer!!
If you've got a preschooler needing a nap mat makeover let me know!!! This is one of those must have items.
I found a web sight that had a tutorial on french seams...never heard of such a thing!! So I tried it out making these cute pillow cases for the boys, it was AWESOME!! Not only did the pillow cases come out looking like store bought but It took less time to sew than it did to do all the cutting of the fabric!! Who knew the French knew so much. I think I'll be making some more of these sweet things as gifts!! Any takers?

Being Crafty

Well in addition to Hunter's birthday in January I had a niece and a nephew with birthdays later this month as well. I sent Evie the quilt that I had made, only because I wanted to keep it for my bed as it would have gone perfectly with my green walls but it wasn't big enough. Evie has a similar green in her room and since she was turning 14 I thought she could use a more grown up bed covering!!
Any who Brevan turned 7 and I had seen these at craft fairs and on line so I decided to make a little coloring tote for him. I had to practice first just to be sure the directions I got were legit!! But they weren't thank goodness I figured that out right away. The directions to make it were fine but they were only using 8 1/2" squares for the tote and most coloring books are 12" tall!! So I adjusted and made the crayon slots smaller since I was using colored pencils. I left a place for an eraser or pencil sharpener on B's tote because you always need to sharpen those things and need one handy! I also embroidered his name on it so no one could snatch it up!


A friend of mine saw my crafty crafts on my blog and asked if she could commission a few baby gifts for people she knew so by all means...I whipped up some diaper clutches and wipes containers!!

Hunter's 6th Birthday

Hunter kept thinking since it was his 6th birthday that his birthday was January 6th (instead of the 5th) I guess that makes sense to a child, but what happens after 30 or 31? AAAAHH




Both of the boys really enjoyed the birthday presents! It's really hard to shop for a kid who just celebrated Christmas 2 weeks before this!! And let's not even talk about parties, we've only had 1 big party and it was good but usually the weather is less than stellar and the timing is just so bad, maybe we should start celebrating 1/2 birthday's as someone suggested to us.
Thanks for the Camo nana and papa, I want to wear it every day but mama won't let me!!

Good bye 2009, Hello 2010

Well I have caught up on my blogging, with the exception of Hunter's 6th birthday which was just last week so I will get those pictures uploaded and blogged about ASAP! As for me today has been nothing but catching up and it feels SOOO good to mark just one more thing off my to do list! I hope you enjoyed 2009 as much as I did and I hope my uber blog fest hasn't made you feel overwhelmed!

Thanks for reading!!

Christina

And the WINNER IS......

12 weeks post biggest looser and just hours prior to my final weigh in!


Can you believe that I won that challenge and 75% of the money pot!

I ran my 5k just a week before this photo and the day after Michael and I went on our Mexico Anniversary trip with some sweet spending cash!

I would still like to lose about 10lbs and I'm still working out but my eating hasn't been so good with the holidays and all!! But I will get there hopefully before swim suit season! This challenge and the fact that I could lose weight and look decent in Mexico and make some money for our trip was just what I needed to push me to lose the weight! It's great to be back in my old clothes but it's even better that I can buy some clothes in a smaller size!! YEAH

Weight Loss

Well I hate to even share this on line but if it means it will encourage even one person to lose weight then so be it!!

I LOVE the show the biggest loser and after our return from 4th of July in Durango some ladies at the local YMCA started an Owasso biggest loser!

In these first two pictures I was 6 months post pregnancy and sick to death of seeing stars like Angelina Jolee, Jennifer Garner, JLo and what have you look AMAZING 6 weeks post pregnancy!! Each and everyone of my 3 pregnancies I gained 50 pounds because I give myself permission to eat what ever, when ever and how ever much I want!! But the shedding of those 50lbs does not happen with nursing for me and I only lose about 20 lbs. So this is not my biggest weight obviously I was 20lbs bigger pregnant. But not being pregnant by 6 month's and carry all that extra weight and to look longingly at my clothes that I STILL could not fit in 6 moths later I knew I had to do something!! So I took on the challenge of putting up $25 to win the biggest looser!! It was definitely a struggle every day, I recorded what I ate and adjusted my caloric intake between 1100 and 1500 calories a day with the help of a free web sight called www.sparkpeople.com! But when I do I will post it. That had to have been a 1/3 of what I was usually eating...no wonder the weight wasn't coming off even though I was working out! I also started training for my first 5k (which I was training for before I got pregnant and had to abandon) and after only 6 weeks I had lost 15 pounds.

6 Weeks post biggest looser!

More of the garden

The Cantelope was amazing but didn't produce much! You need alot of room for just one of those things!!

Okra





















Corn

More gardening

Here's some of our garden goodies!

This was all the corn we got!

Garden

Michael and I added a 2nd raised bed this past spring and decided to compete for best garden! But we had different things in our gardens so you really couldn't compair! His radishes and carrots did awesome along with the peppers later in the summer.













Radishes
My corn looked like it would do great but come harvest time we didn't get much, but the okra was amazing! We have never grown okra before since it needs really long, hot summers! Something Durango doesn't have.

yet even more crafts

Another nursing cape for my next door neighbor





















The crayon roll up, all rolled up




























The outside of the knitting needle organizer! It really turned out wonderful even with buttons and button holes, but boy did I do A LOT of "unsewing" on this project!





So I started this quilt last March and had it all pieced and 1/2 quilted within a few days but soon the freak snow storm was over (which is what made me cower inside for a week and work on this new project) but once it warmed back up I put this a side and felt guilty for months and months for not working on it and instead doing small projects with practically instant gratification! So once it got cold again I made a list of "to do's" and this was one of them! IT'S finished and it turned out beautiful!! It'll almost fit my queen size bed but definitely fit a full size one!! Quilting a quilt and binding it are my least favorite thing!!

More Crafts

A little tag blankie I made for Gabe with minky on one side and satin on the other! So soft!















Another one of my diaper and wipes holder!








I made this for Michael's mom for Christmas it's a knitting needle organizer but not for the regular needles the kind that have the wire holding them together! It was NOT easy since I used a pattern. I'm not good at pattern reading as they make it for engineers to decipher how to sew, really engineers sew...well Michael can and he helped me when I first started learning to sew believe it or not!! He's amazing!! DUH why do you think I married him, his good looks? Well okay mainly that but the entire package any woman in her right mind would LOVE to steal him but watch out cuz I'm crazy!!
















I made this for my mom, she's been sewing a lot more lately and I thought if you don't have a totally awesome sewing table you need one of these. It'll hold your seam ripper, scissors, anything you need right at hand while sewing really, this also was not easy of course from a pattern!!

Craft Time

Well through out the year I have enjoyed making many crafts and gifts and thanks to my cousins Melissa and Cassy I used some of their ideas along with some of my own finds! Many of the things I have made you can find directions for making on line! The top item is a nursing cape, I used one up until Gabe decided he needed to see out and kept throwing it back in public, so I stopped nursing and gave my cape to a dear friend who was about to have her second little girl.


Back in April a friend of mine called and asked if I would go to this coupon workshop with her so I agreed and we have been inseperable her and my coupons! I'm addicted, it's so fun to see the total of your bill drop not just a couple of dollars but ALOT!! I'll show you a few of my pictures of my bargain shopping later! But anywho I found a freebie at Joanns how to make this coupon wallet, I use it only for organizing my use today coupons, I have a big binder holding my other coupons!









Here is a cute gift I made one of Michael's co-workers wife who had her second baby girl, I've made 4 of these diaper holders and wipe combo and they are so cute and REALLY useful. It holds two diapers or 1 diaper and 1 pullup and the plastic travel case of wipes all decorated to match!! It's so handy if your just wanting to take your purse or go for a jog for that just in case!! And it's good for Dad's too!!








I made these for the boys to take to resturants and had it in their stockings for Christmas! It was so easy to make and they are so cute and roll up so small they fit easily into my purse.