Arg.

I'm going to be taking a bit of a break from blogging. We "caught a virus" that completely destroyed our computer, and it is just too difficult to maintain the shop AND the blog from a computer at someone else's house. I WILL be back, though, depending on how soon we can sort all this technical stuff out. Grrr...

Seriously, all this testosterone is getting to me...

The other day, my brother placed a special order for a "man blanket," specifically requesting "anything with tanks or ninjas." Well, the best I could come up with was dragons, and this is how it turned out. It's actually really cool, and despite my initial qualms about using a fabric that my son is scared of ("Don't show me that dragon, mommy!"), I think it's recipient will really enjoy it (or at least his mom will!).

I can't say this is anything new. In fact, the pink flowery theme of my shop is really some sort of reaction formation (you know what I mean Amy) to the fact that I grew up with 3 brothers, refused to wear dresses, and played either "tame the wild wolves" or "lets-pretend-someone-is-breaking-into-the-house-and-we-have-to-beat-him-up" with the neighbor kids. I guess I came into my girliness pretty late in life. Needless to say, between making the scary man blanket and planning the Delta Force 30'th anniversary, this week has been pretty much like the rest of my life - filled with boy stuff.

I can't WAIT to get back to my mountains of pink flowery fabric! In fact, this just came in the mail:

It isn't pink or flowery, but it is for a girl, and the last time I checked, boys don't place special orders for throw quilts that match their drapes. :)

The Transformation

Three years ago we bought this. This picture really doesn't do justice to how TERRIBLE this house was. We (my husband) ripped out all the interior walls and the back of the house, doubled the square footage, redid all the outside detailing... it was a HUGE project. And this is how it ended up:

Pretty amazing what three years of stress and late nights can do. :) So it is going back on the market this week and hopefully will turn out to have been a good investment.

Another Manly Post...

Can you even tell what this is? I spent about a half hour trying to take a good picture of this and then realized "I just took 45 pictures of candy." So I gave up. :)

This is what the party favors look like for an important upcoming event. My husband and his best friend since childhood are turning 30 within the same month, so us wives are throwing them a joint birthday bash. The theme: Delta Force. If you don't know these guys, that will mean nothing to you other than the fact that it is the title of a low-budget action film that came out in the early 80's. But that movie was the theme of my husband's entire childhood (who are we kidding - he's still living the dream), and there is a box of weapons under my bed to prove it.

So until this Thursday night, all I will be able to focus on is military-inspired table decorations, what shape the cake should be, and how to keep 50 bags of gummi army men from melting in my car. It's actually been pretty fun - good thing I have 3 brothers!

Tractor Ride

One of the perks of living on a farm and having a daddy who owns a landscaping business. :)



There are a lot of non-sewing things in the works over here at our house. Three years ago we bought a "fixer-upper" and my husband has been slowly but surely restoring it while running his business and doing the family thing. (This is not the house we live in - we're not THAT crazy!) It has not been easy, and at times has definitely not been fun, but we are SO excited because it goes on the market this coming Monday. Of course, there is quite a bit of finishing work left, so Brett has been spending every night at the house to get it all done. But he's such a great guy - he comes home for dinner every night to be sure to spend a bit of time with Moses and me between work and finishing the house. I'll be posting some before and after pictures as soon as I get my hands on them - it's a pretty incredible transformation!

April Give Away

This little beauty has been in the shop for a while... waiting to be bought. But I have since "discontinued" this style of security blanket (for now) and made them a bit bigger, so I decided to use this as April's give away. Isn't it cute?!?!? You could use this for a boy OR a girl, and the back is the silkiest brown minkee EVER. So leave a comment on ANY post this month and you will be automatically entered in the random drawing at the end of the month.

And the Winner is...

... Lauren (aka Nancy the former professional opera singer) - my dear cyber friend, most faithful blog commenter, and the owner of Sweet Bean's, where you can buy the world's best diaper rash remedy. Check out her shop and check out her blogs - you will learn something! I'm so happy you won this month's giveaway Lauren! :)



This picture is of a stack of fat quarters I just bought. I know buying small cuts of overpriced fabric isn't very business-savvy, but I just can't help myself when I see dots and stripes! You'll be seeing these prints worked into my shop soon. Stay tuned for this month's giveaway...