Christmas ?? WIP Friday (we'll try to keep this up)

Anyone who knows me knows that I generally dislike Christmas. I know, no one can ever understand it. But for me in a divorced family with a huge extended family, I was getting pulled in so many directions at once that it wasn't enjoyable. We'd have 2-3 places to go almost every weekend in December and usually a few in January. There was no hanging out with family and friends it was simply open gifts and go. Then when we had children it was worse, because we have my family, my husband's family and us wanting to do something special with our kids on our own too.
Halloween was always our thing. No one has expectations of Halloween. It's just fun. And we get to do it ourselves, (it's also our anniversary.)
This year however, I have been hit with the Christmas bug! I want to decorate and make things and I haven't really put too much thought into Halloween. My husband thinks I have been possessed! I originally tried to ignore this need to make Christmasy things, but it wouldn't go away, so I figured I should embrace it. So I am starting by making stockings (which I've always wanted to do for the 5 of us anyway.)

I made a sketch of some ideas for stockings and a tree skirt.


I am making 2 striped ones for Tim and I and I'm making the polka dot ones for the boys. Which I started working on today.



I made a mistake of asking Tim his opinion on which skirt he likes and of course he picked the one I don't care for as much. So I am hoping to make both and the skirt reversible. Both sides may not happen this year, but one will.

I am also crocheting longie soakers for my niece that is on the way. My sister in law asked if I would so I want to get 4-5 done before Halloween (she's due about then) I have one nearly done, in natural organic wool.

Quilt Expo

My big fun grown-up trip this year was going with my Mother-in-Law to Quilt Expo. We had a wonderful time! It was so nice to not have kids hanging on me and just to enjoy all of the beautiful quilts and the gorgeous fabric porn. I was really good, and only bought a yard of fabric and a fat quarter of fabric, but I plan to order a few things after seeing some of it. Anyway, I took some pictures, but of course the pictures don't do the quilts a bit of justice. I will however post a few of them here for all to enjoy.

This is so much neater in person. All the intricate pieces.

I love the whimsical applique

Uhm... yea!

This one I couldn't believe didn't win. It's gorgeous!

All of these feathers were done individually on water soluble stabilizer with thread, then put on. It was stunning!

This was a compilation piece done by a school of children

How beautiful is this. What a wonderful piece of art.

I love the quilts on a quilt... The quilts were all free hanging from the quilt too.

From Wisconsin, in Wisconsin, Love Wisconsin. Must take a pic of the Wisconsin quilt!

One piece of fabric, but just look at that quilting!

My husband's favorite picture.

The hair was 3D with a little sparkle!

And my most favorite quilt of all

These pictures do it no justice at all. It is a time quilt. It is a calendar, the blue has time words quilted in it. Everything on this quilt has meaning. 60 seconds in an minute, 60 minutes in an hour, etc... but when he flipped it over to see the back!!

Oh, my!! There were clock works in the back, and the quilting matches up PERFECTLY! I am so inspired and in awe of this quilt!

These aren't nearly all the pictures I have, but it's a good many of them. We had a great time and are already planning another trip next year!

Heeeeelllllooooooo!

I feel like I have been missing from life for so long. I am feeling much much better now. I still have my ears plug now and then which is annoying (especially on the phone!) but other than that I seem to be all better.

Quick recap of my last few months whle being sick and recovering.

Soccer (Liam)

Soccer (Lore)

Apple Picking at my Dad's

Yearly trek to the Dells

Camping

More apple picking

Canoeing

Oh, did I mention soccer?

All of the monkeys are back to school.

We are planning out our Halloween costumes (very big deal in our house!)

I'm trying to plan for Christmas & the winter holidays since they are beyond crazy in our house.

My dad and step-mom just celebrated their 14th anniversary yesterday.

I went to Quilt Expo with my mother-in-law, and had a great time. I am hoping to post pictures soon of that.

AND

that's about all I can think of.

Sickies

I have been a terrible blogger, but I do have a fairly good excuse. We went camping about a month ago, and ever since we got back I have been terribly sick. I don't exactly know what I all have (neither do the doctors.) But I believe I am FINALLY beginning to mend. I had a week of crazy high fever. I would top out at 105, but never dive below 101 degrees Fahrenheit. I had weeks of not being able to stay awake for more than 15 minutes at a time. I would be awake a total of 1-2 hours a day. Just enough for bathroom breaks and trying to force myself to eat/drink things. I'm able to be awake much more now, but I still need a good nap during the day or I would pass out. My fever has passed. I had weeks of having extreme difficulty breathing, coughing, headaches, etc... I am still coughing, but it's bearable. We're sure I had bronchitis, but other than that no idea. It certainly kicked my butt. I am late on swaps, my children have been fending for themselves, (sort of.... there has been adult supervision and I know they are eating, but not mommy hovering like I usually do.) No one else really got sick luckily. 2 of my sons do have a bit of a summer cold, but it's just a cough and they feel fine. My other son (the chronic allergy, cold child,) is perfectly healthy, my niece has been able to avoid any of it as well. And luckily my hubby hasn't gotten anything!
I am now on the mend and really should be cleaning my house since it's quite a mess, but I really want to get these swaps sent out. I HATE being late on swaps, I know I had a good excuse, but I feel so horrible leaving someone in the lurch. So I am here, I am crafting, and I will post pics of my swaps as soon as they are finished!

Fav Chips N Dips Recipe Rally

I know I have a lot of posting to catch up on, but I saw they were having a recipe rally for chips and dips at Crazy Hip Blog Mamas and I had to share ours.

Beyond easy, but very tasty!

1 can hormel chili (whatever kind you like, we usually go with regular with beans, but also enjoy vegetarian when my sister-in-law and niece are around. Darn ulcers I must stay away from the hot)
1 brick cream cheese (go lowfat or whatever if it floats your boat.)
1/4 cup prepared salsa
Handful or two of cheese (your choice, we usually do colby-jack)

Now you can make this 2 different ways for 2 different enjoyment levels. Sometimes we put it in layers on a plate/shallow dish.
Then I spread cream cheese first, cover with salsa, then chili, then cheese. Then you bake/microwave it until it is melted and bubbly.

If we are going to a pot luck or having people over and we want it to stay warm longer, we throw everything into the crockpot and mix it up.

Serve with tortilla chips. Sometimes we like to garnish with black olives and/or chopped green onion and tomatoes.

Owls!!

Well, the owl swap items I sent have been received, so I can post the pictures now.

They aren't the greatest pictures, but you get the idea.

Top left is a quilted pot holder, bottom left is an owl stamp I carved, middle is an owl pendant I made for her. Bottom right is and embroidered towel, and top right is my favorite. It's a notebook with owl cover. The wing snaps over to close it.

Here's a pic of the front open

And the back

We're Back!

Primarily we had a wonderful time. We hit a bit of a problem at the end, but we're all well, and we were only set back a bit, so I want to keep it on the positive note.

This was our first time taking all 3 kids on a long car ride, and I was a bit nervous, but they did wonderfully! There was very little bickering and they were all playing and being helpful to each other!! We re-listened to Harry Potter 6 (in anticipation of the new book coming soon.) They worked on their superhero projects, they played a few travel games (boggle, ziggity, chess, and uno are the current favorites.) We also made an I Spy Bottle, which they really spent a lot of time with. It was a little over 10 hours there (plus stops.)

We went to a park a little over half way which the kids loved.

you can't tell, but they are standing on a tiny little podium like the ones behind them.

Lore was deeply thinking about how to catch the ducks that kept illuding him.

We checked into our hotel and the kids all headed for the pool.

The second day (Friday) we checked out some local areas. And then enjoyed the Meet & Greet at the fairgrounds for Ironstock.

Saturday was the first official day of Ironstock. The boys found the children's area quite entertaining. They found oodles of things they wanted in the Vendor's Ally. They met some new friends, and even enjoyed some of the Demos, creating new wishlists of things they wanted to make for the upcoming haunt season.
We watched the coffin races and the boys all gave it there best during the tshirt toss.
We were all pretty hot and pooped and the boys really wanted to go swimming so we opted out of the Weasel Ball for family time. I guess our costumes will wait until next year!

Sunday the weather was much more mild. It was cloudy and we got a bit of rain. I didn't affect the amazing demos though. We learned so much. Liam purchased a dragon adorned box. Lore purchased a neat resin skull and a resin skull keychain, Levi purchased a skeleton figurine. Levi and Lore also purchased marshmallow guns. We had planned on these being a project this summer, but they HAD to have them. So I guess we'll do it with Liam.
We made a mini coffin racer (which is like a barbie sized soapbox race with a coffin theme.)
Ours did really well, but we bounced a bit on the last 2 runs, and popped over the partition. I don't know exactly what place we took, but we had lots of fun anyway!

More swimming Sunday after the rain passed. We packed the van and were ready to get under way in the morning.

Overall a great weekend! We weren't planning on going next year, as I think we need to see more parts of the country and if we only get one vacation.... but after being there it is really hard to not go back. We'll have to wait and see.

I will have more pictures and such uploaded later. I'm still settling in.