Halloween Quilt in August

It's been the hottest and craziest summer I think I've ever had. Thats saying alot considering I've had three newborns in the summer. This summer....this summer I want to forget! So, to get me in a better state of mind I've been crafty. I've been writing like crazy and sewing nonstop for the past two days. It's been fun and time consuming and I'm loving it. I made a halloween quilt. I know that it's odd since it's only August. I'm trying to be ahead of the game this year and not let halloween sneak up on me. All I have to do is bind it, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's so bright and cheery. My kiddos love it.






So, now that school is back in and I have "free days" I will be back in business. What are your back to school plans?

Family Fun

I've been absent lately due to the fact that I have three childrens birthday's in the month of May, babysitting three of my neice's, and taking a family mini-vacation. I have made a few things that are just steps away from being finished. I also broke my favorite sea shell display and ended up with a much better one.

I will post pictures soon, but right now I'm still babysitting and have 8 kiddos in the house so by the time I finish feeding them they are hungry again! TTYSoon I hope! ;)

Orange Brick Stand

See this stand? I bought it for five dollars at a used furniture store in town a few years back. I used to be red, but the top was chipping severely so I sanded it down. I thought I wanted it white, but halfway into it, I didn’t like the white on it.


This is the color I decided to paint the stand. I hadn’t planned on it until I saw the color at the store and fell madly in love….It’s called Orange Brick and for some mysterious reason makes me want to sing Wizard of Oz songs.


Seriously, I’m in love. Love love love love. My favorite color is burnt orange and since Michael was totally against the color in our wedding, he’s getting it in his house..haha (evil laugh happening here).
I planned on starting to paint the stand today, but last night I just had to test it out. Right in the living room floor. With no floor covering (like it would hurt my grass for carpet anyway). Once I started, it was hard to stop…..so I didn’t.

Excuse the hair and lack of make-up. This is about ten o’clock last night.

Can you see the I Heart U in the middle there? I kinda have this habit of painting that on everything I paint. It was above the door in the living room for a few months. I don’t know why I do it, I just do. My almost seven year old liked it.
See how well the paint was going on? Michael was looking at it like it was going to explode at any moment. I told him not to panic, but that really didn’t help. I could read his mind. “I married a lunatic!”
After a very late night last night, this is what it looks like today!



I am so happy with it. I tend to buy a lot of browns and neutral colors, but this really makes the living room pop. And it goes with my favorite picture that’s also in the living room.

Before

After



I’ve started on painting the kitchen too. That’s a task…
It took me hours to write all the number of comments down on a paper and draw a name…haha. I let my son pick one or two and he said one so Lillie is the winner. And since she’s my sister-in-law and lives two miles away she’ll get it soon. ;)

Giveaway

It's been a great week for me. And since I got this after a year and a half.



Someone will get this.



It's a plaque that says "Enjoy the journey" and two sets of India Overseas, The Natural Fiber Resource, kitchen towel sets.

I picked something I would put in my own house and I hope you like them too.

To enter comment on this blog post. The deadline is 11:59 pm on Sunday the 25th. The winner will be announced on Monday the 26th. USA residences only please (until I learn more about sending internationally).

Have a great and happy weekend.

Golden Crust

For the past six months (or more) the walls in every room in my house has been multicolor. That's my way of saying I've either half painted or parcially painted every room of the house. Seven rooms. Bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living room.

Today, that changed....some.

Michael and I finished painting the living room today. It used to be a sage green and as much as I like that color, I got really tired of looking at it. Plus, it made the living room look small. We had started painting on it three months ago then I got sick and had surgery so it was put on hold.

I promise, my living room was spotless before we started a few days ago. This is what happened.




See that horrible green carpet? I hate it!!

I am very happy with the walls. I don't know how long it will take to put everything away and put things back on the wall, but at least we accomplished something.

That checkered chair will be one of my upcoming projects. It is the most comfortable chairs I've ever had, but we'll get into that later.

Believe it or not Michael and I had actually discussed it and decided to finish the kitchen before we start on anything else...yeah right!! I can multi-task. I painted seven rooms at one time remember? ;)

New Camera

I got it! I got a new camera. It's not a DSLR, but it's a good camera. 12.1 mega pixels, 4x zoom and it's a Cannon. Oh, it's pink too!! I'm extremely happy that I found it and it was on clarance.

There's nothing and I mean nothing better than a sale.

Now, I can actually take pictures and put them on the blog!! Hopefully it'll start getting a bit more interesting. Please forgive me if there's random pictures because I'm having a blast with this thing. I haven't seen a clear picture in so so long.




As you can tell from the background of this picture, I'm painting my living room a calming golden crust from Dutch Boy. I will post that as soon as it's done. I plan on rearranging everything on the walls. I'm just tired of the same thing everyday. Gotta change it up some.

I'm in such a good mood this week I believe I will have a giveaway towards the end of the week. Don't know what I'll be giving away, but come back and check.

Happy Monday all!!

Starting my kitchen garden

This week I've been potting herbs. I found this kit from Wal-Mart a few months back, but the seeds didn't sprout. This time I bought the seeds separate and reused the cute little lime-green pots that came in the kit.



On the left I have basil, in the center I have thyme and the right is sage. This is after a week of being a seed. Nature amazes me. {Please excuse the messy counter, I was in the middle of cooking when I took the picture.}



These two little budding seeds are lavender. I've never even tried to grow it, but, I know this is strange, I watched the movie "It's Complicated" and Meryl Streep made lavender ice cream. "WHAT??" I thought to myself. "I gotta try it."

I've always thought of lavender as being an ingredient in smell good body stuff and candles. Never in my wildest dreams did I know it could be comsumed. So, since I like the smell anyways and I don't plan on buying a sachet of lavender from the local lingerie shop and try to add it in ice cream... This way, I know where the lavender came from and that there is no added smell good stuff in it. Keep your fingers crossed on my herbs for me. I've been known to have a black thumb, but at least it's not from lack of trying. One day I'll get it right!

I'm Finally Back

It's been a long long time. Too long. Things have been crazy in the Polk household in the last few months. I found out I had one stage before cervical cancer and have been having biopsies then surgery. It's been a week since my surgery and hopefully it'll be my last!! If you have children please talk to their physician about the HPV vaccine. It can end cervical cancer. I will be taking my children to get the vaccine.

I am starting to feel normal so I'm back in the saddle and ready to get my craftiness on. Spring is here, the sun is out and I'm in a very good mood. I have a lot of things planned to post this spring so bare with me and sorry for disappearing for a while.

Pillows

I finished a wonky block pillow for my daughter. She thinks its great. I think I need to learn to do a hidden stitch something awful.

I have finished a few different things, but my camera is again acting up and I can't get a clear picture to save my life. It has this mist in the lens and I don't know what to do to get it out! I'm thinking a new DSLR camera would fix it!

I have been going through some medical issues lately and it has prevented me from being able to post as much as I want. My stress level has been at an all time high! I will be spending much of this week back at the doctor and when I know more, I'll tell you more. Prayers would be great appreciated.

Goings On

It's been a while since I've posted. Winter has hit the plains and down here, all hell breaks loose when it snows! Kids have been home, their mom has been going crazy!
I have been doing a lot of different little things and will show pictures as soon as there's a day of even partial sunshine outside. I made my daughter a wonky block pillow. I've started making coffee cozies. I love cozies!
I've opened an Etsy shop. It's empty right now, but I'm hoping to fill it soon with a variety of different stuff. Please bare with me, I will be posting more often. Now it's back to yet another snow day with the kiddos. Hope every ones winter is going great!