My Antique Singer!

My husband loves me, he really does. Today is my birthday and this is what he got me this year!! I've loved them from a distance for a while, but I had a friend get one recently and it has really made me want one! And thanks to craigslist we found one that was kind of close and we took an adventure and picked it up!

I just love it! I plan on sewing on it so I have to pick up a few things, a new belt and some needles and bobbins, but other than that it is in great condition! Isn't is just lovely?! And even all closed up it looks beautiful!!

I was just beyond happy! I could just look at it all day!! But instead I am going to go and sew!

Enjoy!

Fabric Love

Happy Labor Day weekend! How did it get to be almost September?! But anyway, Conan has to work this weekend - but the world will be safer because of it. So what do I do - check out the sale at my local quilt shop, which is not too local, but works for me.

They were having a sale on fat quarters, so I picked up a couple, not sure what I am going to do with them, but I like them, and that is what matters!

Then I also found this 'scientific' fabric. My oldest has a quilt that was not made by mom, and that is a crime apparently! He has been asking me to make him a quilt. I don't know what I am going to do yet, but this fabric screams his name, so I got a yard of it and we will see what we do with it!

I also got a pack of hexi's. I love some of the stuff that I see on Pinterest made with these and have been wanting to make something to give them a try, and so I splurged and picked up a bundle.

I also have been sewing a lot, this quilt along that I did made we want to finish up some of those WIP I have floating around. So stay tuned and I will get around to sharing them!

I hope that you all have an relaxing long weekend!!

Enjoy!

No more thread!

 I have been sewing like crazy lately trying to get a bunch of stuff done before the end of the year, and then this happened:

Now I am one of those people who usually have 2-3 extra spools of thread laying around close to my desk and then another one down in the basement on the quilting frame. But not this time. I am not sure what happened, but this is all the thread I have left! I have even used up my last bobbin as well!

And it would happen that all of my kids have been playing very well together and I have been able to sew a couple of hours a day - but now I cannot.

I am in the middle of this Christmas present for my sister - yes I am late, but I was shooting for the end of the year.

I came across the blog Sew Kind of Wonderful through pinterest, and I bought her curved ruler. It came with a free table runner pattern and that is what I am making for my sister. She is extremely talented and you will not regret checking out her blog!

Tomorrow I am heading out and buying 5 or 6 spools of thread! Unfortunately I have the rest of the day to kill; I guess my house will get clean! Hope you are all enjoying your Holidays!

Pardon my absence

I have been a bit busy this week and have not been on here.

This is what I have been up to however.

I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my foot for about 2 weeks now. After an x-ray, MRI and a visit to the podiatrist, this is what fancy shoe I will be sporting for the next 6 weeks.

Turns out I have 2 stress fractures in my foot. No running or high impact activities - just weights. I now have a couple of extra free hours in the day, maybe I can get some crafting done!

The magic of kids

Okay, I don't know about all of you but I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things here. I am loving having the kids back in school, but I cannot seem to craft. I have two projects just waiting for me to finish them, and they will continue to wait because I just don't want to work on them.

It is a sad day around here.

I am getting together with some friends this week, I hope that it sparks something into me!

On an up side I am really enjoying my kitchen staying clean for longer than 5 minutes. Here it is in all of it's glory.

But when my dearly loved children come through the door it quickly transforms into something more like this:

I am amazed at how fast this happens. To be fair though, some of the stuff on the counter is from me - but just some, not the majority. ;)

I hope that all of you are having a fabulous day, and that you are able to get something done. I am going to try and sew something and see what I feel.

End of Summer

I cannot believe that summer is quickly drawing to a close. I have no crafts or sewing projects to share with you, so I am sharing a little insight into my life and what I have been doing this summer instead of crafting. I have had so much fun this summer. But now it is just about over and we are getting everything ready for school. We have tried to do a lot of different things - but of course the pool was by far the favorite activity of the summer. Not that I expected anything else.

Look at how much fun these kids were having. They were all nice enough to stand there for me to take a picture - and no one tired to push anyone in for this shot! No all of these are not my kids, these were a lot of the same people that we hung out with this summer.

By far my favorite activity this summer was going on hikes with my kids. We only did this a couple of times, but I would have loved to do it every week. Even Thing #5 hiked almost every one - which was great, even if it was a little bit slow! :)

I just had to share this picture. Thing #5 is so tan - you cannot really tell by this picture, but he is darker than all of my kids, and he is the one I am most diligent with the sunscreen on! You can even see a vague sandal tan. You can really see the Hispanic side coming out.

To me this picture says everything about summer, bare foot tan feet, out in the grass. Not a care in the world. And that is what my summer has pretty much been all about, relaxing and enjoying each and every minute with my kids.

What was your favorite thing you did for summer break? And are you ready to get back into school ?

Taking care of business

I want to apologize to all of you that there was no Fantastic Friday last week. We went out of town one last time before school starts - which is next week for us - and there was internet reception, but it was slow.

Slow internet + Jen on vacation = no Fantastic Friday.

I basically just enjoyed some quality time with my family and it was super laid back and nice - except when I got sick.

Also I have decided that I am not going to do Fantastic Friday anymore. There are a bunch of reasons behind this, the top tow are that no one is really clicking on the links and giving you any traffic, I don't make any money on this blog and I cannot afford to spend any extra money on linky tools.

Those are the main reasons, but I also feel like I need to be spending more time with my family and less on my blog. I know there are those of you out there who are able to 'do it all' but I am not one of those. I need to enjoy my kids while they are young and want to spend time with me.

I will still be posting about my sewing and craft projects, but I might not be on here all the time. I appreciate your understanding here, and I do have a beautiful quilt to show you hopefully tomorrow!

We're on Facebook!

I have to admit something here, and don't judge me by it. I am so not technically savvy. I am slowly getting into it, but I emphasize 'slowly'! But I have taken the plunge and Iron Violet Designs is now on facebook! So head over there and 'like' me!

As soon as I figure out how to add a gadget on the side bar for you to do it here, I will let you know! (And make it easier for you to 'like' me!

Sharing Time

I am going to do something out of the ordinary today . . . I am going to share some of my personal life with you. I do not share much so this is huge for me.

I have been super busy doing tons of fun things with my kids this summer. One thing that they love is swimming. Last year I got a little take everywhere camera. I have a big nice one, but I don't like to take it places because I am afraid something will happen to it. So Conan got me a little one for my birthday.

This camera rocks, I love everything about it and I don't even know how to use everything yet! It is shock proof and water proof. I recently put the waterproof part of it to the test - and it was awesome! (I figure my kids will put the shock proof one to the test all in due time.) I love these photos - even if they are not the best. They just capture a different part of swimming that I have never captured before.

Here I was playing with the zoom and got a super close up with Thing #1. He loves the fact that you can see the bubbles coming out of his nose. I found it a little bit hard to get the timing right. But I still liked the outcome. All but one of the pictures had most of the kids in them- one I ended up with just feet, but oh well.

And here is my newest love:

I have been sewing on card tables, the kitchen table, the computer desk, you name it. But I have never really had a real sewing desk. Because of that I have sewing stuff in places all over the house! I snagged this beauty off of craiglist, and I love it. I have my sewing machine on it and well a lot of other crap already. I have the quilt that I am currently working on out and I do not have to put it away. I have to say this is the greatest thing ever, and I like to think that I am more productive because I can just sit down and sew and not have to get everything out.

I hope that you are all having a great summer, I have a great 4th of July quilt that I hope to share with you all this week! I have it all done and hung up already, you can see a little bit of it in the corner of my desk pic!

Vote for me!

Okay, I would really love to win here and so I am going to tell all of you that you need to go HERE and vote for my king sized quilt! You can vote every 24 hours, so stop by today, tomorrow and the next day! So get to it and make my day! ;)

Taking care of Business

If any of you are interested in being a guest blogger on my site please let me know, I would love to have you.

Also I am interested in having a few sponsors to help out with my blog. If you are interested in that please contact me so that we can work something out.

And . . . (I know one more thing) if you want to do a giveaway here that would be awesome. I am going to be doing a giveaway here in a couple of days when I reach 100 followers - that is just amazing to me - But I would love to have more to giveaway!

Thanks

Barefoot Bath & Body

Yesterday I got this amazing stuff in the mail. I entered the Blog Spa giveaway over at Flamingo Toes and I actually won! I was so surprised and excited. This stuff is from Barefoot Bath & Body, and I love it. The pomegranate soap is to die for! You really need to check out her Etsy shop. And another great thing, I won this on Thursday, gave her my info on Friday and I received it in the mail Monday - talk about quick and efficient! And if you have not been over to Flamingo Toes blog - go there now! She is amazing. I love reading her blog and you know me, copying some of the stuff that she makes! 

I hope that you all have a great day - it is snowing here, and the kids still had school. so there is hope that I will get something done!

I have to brag

Okay I have to brag just a little bit. I was sitting here checking my email before I headed off to bed and there was an email from the people over at All Free Sewing saying that they wanted to use my flower pillow craft on there. I was so excited! You can go there and check it out, just because you all want to see it again! ;) It is a great site, because who does not love free sewing patterns all organized into one place where you can find them?!

Have a great night and we will see you all tomorrow for Fantastic Friday!

A Life Day

Yesterday was one of those days. I had so many things planned that I wanted to do, and then life took over and most of them did not get done. I am going to vent just a little bit about it - more for me then for you, but thanks.

I woke up this morning to run and felt like I wanted to throw up. I thank my kids for that. So I went back to bed until Thing #5 woke up, which was not very long. I then had to hold my breath and get breakfast for everyone and lunch ready for the school kids. Once they were out the door I could tackle my next project - the driveway. Conan had to go to work early this morning and the driveway still needed to be shoveled. However, I had driven on it twice already and Conan had as well, so it was well packed down. However, I was not able to get to it until Thing #5 was napping because when I tried to do it with him, he kept falling over and the snow was too deep for him to be able to get up. In the meantime I sat on the couch and relaxed for a few minutes because I really just had no energy or desire to do anything else. Then there was more laundry that had to be done. I did get it all washed and dried, now it is waiting for me to fold it and it might be for sometime. By this time I had to go and get the kids from school and then the rest of the day is pretty much history.

But on an upside I love how everything looks with snow. It is so peaceful and beautiful. And I am feeling better today, so that is awesome! Here is to getting something fun done today! I had an ah-ha moment the other day at Church for a fun scarf. It is pretty easy and on the top of my list to do today.

I was able to get a little bit of sewing done yesterday. I wanted to make a good dent in my first quilt for the year, but this is as far as I was able to get.

This is from the line Fresh Squeezed by Moda. The pattern is called Framed. It is a very bright quilt, which I love! Maybe today I can also get all of these squares sewn together.