Pin Basting

I finally did the pin basting for my quilt. I was very nervous about this step. I mean, if I don't get everything straight, my quilt is gonna look wonky. I should have researched a little more about how to do this the right way. I am not sure if I got the back straight or not. Oh well, it is my first effort, and it will still be functional lol

I had gone to Joanns Saturday to get everything I needed for the quilt. I bought my cotton batting ( which was 50% off, YAY! ) Size 1 basting pins (thank you Vanessa for recommending the smaller pins : D ) cotton quilting thread and machine quilting needles. I was all set when I started yesterday afternoon. I had an hour and a half to get this done before I had to leave and bring Sydney and Isabella to ballet class. Plenty of time to finish since I was doing this in the middle of the living room and definitely didn't want to leave my quilt there for very long where my family and animals would just walk on it. I had Oprah on the tv, a glass of water (this involved a lot of bending and stretching, you get thristy when you work this hard ; ) LOL) Everything was going right on schedule when about halfway through pinning, I ran out of pins!!!!! I had bought a pack of a hundred, I thought for sure that would be plenty, I was wrong lol This meant that I had to leave my precious quilt on the floor while I left to bring the girls to class. I left with a strict warning that if anyone walked on my quilt, there would be serious consequences. I needed a few things from the grocery store, so figured I could stop by Walmart on my way home, get my groceries, my quilting pins and gas ($2.53 a gallon!!!!!) and be home within an hour. I really hate Walmart, for many reasons, but it is close to my house and I have always gone there for basic sewing notions when needed since Joanns and Hancocks are a good 20 minute drive from my house. Well, don't you know that Walmart was out of basting pins, as a matter of fact, their whole wall of sewing notions was pretty much empty! I guess they are phasing out their sewing section : ( Just another reason for me to hate that stupid store.



All that to say that I had to drive to Joanns, I mean I couldn't leave the quilt on the floor all night, no telling what the cats would have done to it. And I know if I would have tried to pick it up and put it back down the next day, I would have messed it all up. So, when I got back home (at 8 o'clock!) I finished basting. The kids were pretty good, it was still on the floor and taped down and there were no foot prints on it when I got home. And thank God none of the cats peed on it! They have a tendency to do that if something is left on the floor. I may have killed a cat if that had happened lol I wasn't in the best mood after all of this. Sydney took the pictures in the afternoon before I realized I didn't have enough pins. BTW, I bought a pack of 300 pins, I won't be making that mistake again : )

Here I am getting my stretching in for the day ; )


I used a knitting needle to close the pins, I need to get one of those kwik sew tools for this, but am waiting until Joanns has a 50% off sale on quilting notions. I hate paying full price for my sewing tools. It was bad enough I had to pay full price for my pins. I couldn't find my 40% off mail flyer for the life of me.


Oh and another part of my exciting day, Ava looks like she got in a boxing match. My poor baby, her big sister Sydney thought it would be fun to drag her around in a blanket across the floor really fast. Well, she lost control and sent Ava flying into the pantry door! Ava wanted us to take pictures of it, after she finished screaming for half an hour! LOL She even showed the camera where it was : ) I tell ya, it is hard being the baby in a family with 7 kids! This isn't the first time and I am sure it won't be the last time something like this happens. Oy!

Laundry Tips

I just finished writing all of this out and realized it isn't a very interesting post LOL I am keeping it though, because it took a long time to type out! I hope it may help some of you, but if you are bored to tears reading about my laundry routine, please feel free to skip this entire post LOLOLOL Just scroll down to the bottom, I am adding some pretty new blooms from my yard, and pictures of the kids ; )




As you can imagine, doing laundry for 9 people is a monumental task. It used to leave me with a sinking feeling in my stomach every time I thought about it. A couple of years ago I had an idea that has made this necessary chore much easier, at least for me. I thought I would share, in case it could help anyone else. I still have times when things get out of hand, but for the most part my laundry has been under control for the last few years, and that is saying a lot! My method is obviously for a large family, but anyone could take elements of it to make it work for them. Also, I have older children, so someone with only young children couldn't use my tip of making them wash their own stuff! LOL

Before my epiphany LOL I used to only separate the towels from the clothes. Everyone's clothing went into a huge pile in the main bathroom. This worked fine when it was just me and dh, but as I kept adding children, it got crazy! I was never good at doing laundry everyday, I have to have days when I don't have to do any, or at least hardly any. First, all the children that were over the age of 8, learned how to wash their own clothing. I showed them how to separate the darks from the whites and how to spray any stains with Shout. Then I showed them how to put the detergent and Downey into the machine and how to set it and turn it on. They each have their own laundry basket in their room and are responsible to put their dirty clothes into it. Since they are only doing laundry for one person, they only have to wash a load of darks and a load of whites about once a week. I used to have a day assigned to everyone, but that didn't work out. So now, I look at their baskets and when I see they are getting full, I tell them to do laundry. The two older teenage boys pretty much keep it up on their own now. I am sure their wives are gonna love me : D I have had some people look at me like I am cruel or something when they hear that I make them wash their own clothes, but I don't really care. I am having them wash THEIR OWN CLOTHES for goodness sakes, I think this hardly amounts to child abuse :::eyeroll:::

So, I am only responsible for dh, Samuel, Ava and of course, myself. I also wash all the towels and sheets. This is still a good bit of laundry, so I have made this easier on myself as well. Samuel shares a room with Savannah. So, I put his clothes with hers. I have found it is so much easier to wash all of the clothes that are stored in the same room together. This way when they come out of the dryer, I bring them to the room they have to be put up in and fold them there, on the bed. I don't know about y'all, but putting the clean folded laundry away is the worst part of this chore! If everything is folded in the room it goes in, you just have to open drawers and stick it in, or open the closet and hang it up. This tip itself has made my life SO MUCH easier! I keep Ava's clothes in my room just so I don't have to bring her clothes somewhere else. I do help Savannah with her laundry because of Samuel's clothes being with hers, but she folds and puts away all of her own stuff.

I am very blessed to have a Whirlpool Cabrio washer and dryer, the washing machine has a 4.5 cubic foot capacity. This means I can fit A LOT of towels and sheets in at one time : ) I still have several loads of towels and sheets a week though. What I do is put a load washing at night before I go to bed, that way they are done in the morning and I can just stick them in the dryer when I wake up. It keeps the washer and dryer open for washing clothes during the day. I do have a load of towels or sheets to fold most days, but folding towels and sheets doesn't bother me as much as a load of clothes for some reason.

With this routine, I am only having to deal with washing clothes two or three times a week, and the older kids can't blame me if something they want to wear isn't clean : ) And in my humble opinion, it is good for children to learn to take care of their own things. I would do this even if I only had two children. I only had one brother, and I was still expected to help with the laundry and housework, and I think I am the better person for it.

Oh, I forgot to add, if there is a really nice outfit or dress that has to be washed on delicate or is just something that I REALLY don't want messed up, I have them put it in my closet. I will do a small load of delicates once a week.

Now, here are some pretty pictures to help with the boredom LOL

My only pink lilies


This is a hibiscus, Chad says it looks like a giant boobie LOL



Every morning, Samuel and Ava follow me out to the yard to see what has bloomed, they are still in their pajamas

Our recently planted green beans are just coming up, yeah we are a little late LOL






Samuel planted something in these cups, he waters them several times a day, I doubt they will grow LOL

Two posts in a row!

I can't believe, I am actually blogging twice in a row!

Here is one of my latest sewing projects. I made some embellished burp cloths out of some cute Alexander Henry vintage fireman fabric. Very quick and easy. I also have some matching bibs cut out, just need to figure out what kind of fabric I am going to back them with. I will share as soon as I have them finished. I am entertaining the idea of making matching sets of these to sell on etsy, but need to figure out when I will have the time to do this LOL The idea is to make extra money to buy more cute fabric. I recently joined a yahoo fabric coop and am going a little nuts. The fabric is at wholesale prices, but you can still spend a good amount before you know it!




Here is a my sewing corner in my bedroom. It is kinda messy, but that is ok because it means I have been sewing : ) I am trying really hard to sew at least a little bit each day. There are so many things I want to make and I am always a happier mother and wife if I get to play a little each day. I am supposed to have my own sewing room soon. My dh is supposed to convert part of the garage in the next month or two, the other half will be a game room for the kids. I can't wait, there will be plenty of room and I can leave my mess. I am really looking forward to this!





And just because she is so darn cute, here is my baby girl Ava. She was being such a good girl watching Wonder Pets while I took some pictures. Whenever I am sewing, she is usually in my lap "helping". She loves to push the buttons on my sewing machine while it is sewing! I hope this mean that she will grow up with a love for sewing : )



I am almost finished with a denim vest I am making for my 11 year old daughter, Syndey. It is coming out really cute, I used one of the embroidery stitches on my machine for the first time, lots of fun. I will share soon, I may actually have another post this week!

The New Year (half a month late)

Here are all of the grandchildren on my dh's side of the family. Excuse my oldest with the stupid expression in the back. This was the only picture that all of the little ones were looking, so this is the one we are using. Too bad, he looks like a dork, he is 15 and should be able to take a picture. LOL







Samuel and Ava playing with the brand new kitchen their Daddy made them for Christmas. Isn't it adorable, I was very impressed with my husband, I must say.







Samuel completely exhausted New Year's Night, they are so innocent and sweet when they are sleeping, aren't they? 2 minutes before this, he was running around like a chicken with his head cut off! LOL



Miss Ava and her cousin Stella. She is holding her cousin Macie's brand new puppy that she got for Christmas. She is a yorkidoodle and she is just the sweetest little thing.

So those are some of the pictures from New Years Day. The week after this the whole family got the flu : ( So, that was a bad week, to say the least. Of course, Ava had it the worst, her fever got so high (almost 105) I was scared to death. We were always able to get it to come back down, but still very little sleep for me, with the waking up every 30 minutes to make sure she wasn't getting hotter.

Anyway, we are back on schedule, started homeschooling a week late, and I have been having time to sew. Will have pictures of my latest projects soon.