Silver Falls

This summer we are doing staycations, instead of doing one big vacation. Last weekend we went to Silver Falls near Silverton, Oregon. It was a hot, but beautiful day. I loved the fields of flowers on the way there. The last time I went to Silver Falls, I was a teenager, this time I was there with my hubby and four boys. Jason's brother Matt and his wife Heidi came with their kids, plus a couple of their nieces. We kept the hike short, just down to the falls and back up. The kids had fun climbing on the rocks under the falls with the little caves. After our climb back up the kids cooled of in the swimming hole. Afterwards, we all went out to pizza together. It was a fun day!

Mini Square Runners

I made two mini square table runners using one charm pack, Mary Engelbreit's Basket of Flowers. I found an inspiration picture then did my own thing. They each measure about 15" square.

You can see the design better on the back. I just zig-zag stitched on the binding to match the other zig-zag stitching.

Four year olds are so cute. Preston does all kinds of funny things like this. Two different shoes on, playing outside in his underwear, a toy he's using as his weapon stuffed in his undies, playing under Grandma and Grandpa's camper. He was wearing that stocking cap earlier too, even though it's 90 degree weather.

Last weekend we went to the Portland Zoo. We had a great time, we started off with a picnic.

Giraffes are always my favorite.

King's Hawaiian Rolls (Copycat)

Last month my sister Caron threw a surprise party for her hubby Brian. She did a Hawaiian themed party and she did an amazing job. The food was delicious, fun games, great decorations, and no kids. Anyways, I told some people that I would post the recipe I used to make homemade King's Hawaiian Rolls, sorry I'm just now doing it. They taste so much like the real thing, people didn't know they were homemade. They are in the picture in the back. I made 108 rolls, which was three batches. So here is the recipe, if I forgot anything let me know.

King's Hawaiian Rolls (Copycat)

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

2 pkg. yeast or 4 1/2 tsp.

1 1/4 cup pineapple juice, warmed (110 degrees)

1 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)

1/2 tsp. salt

5 cups flour

First, in a large bowl combine pineapple juice and water, making sure it's very warm, but not hot. Add the yeast and stir until it's dissolved. Add the cake mix and stir. Put in 4 cups flour and the salt at the same time. Mix until smooth. Slowly add the rest of the flour until the dough isn't sticky, but not dry. Let dough rise. Shape dough into 2" balls and arrange on greased baking pan. Let dough balls rise. Bake in oven at 350 degrees, for about 20 min. or until tops are golden brown. Brush the hot rolls with butter. Yield 36 rolls.

My First Pinwheel Quilt

Here is my first pinwheel quilt. I love pinwheel quilts so I had to make one, and I LOVE the fabric Darla by Tanya Whelan. So I put the two together and this is what I came up with. I'm keeping this one for myself! I even hand stitched on the binding instead of sewing it on.

This was the biggest quilt I have stippled so far. It turned out nicely thanks to my sewing machine.

Here is a picture of just the top piece finished.

Another project I finally finished. I used a 12"x 24" canvas and painted it a grey with a hint of blue. Then I sanded it a little. I glued the pictures onto black craft foam for dimension and glued it onto the canvas (the glue I used is Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive, worked great). Then lastly Connie made me the vinyl lettering. An easy project that I'm glad I finally finished. What handsome boys!

Tanner was invited to a B-day party for a girl, so I whipped up a purse for her. I think it turned out cute, she's nine years old and she seemed to like it.

New Moda Fabric Prices!!!

Prices have been lowered in my Fabric Shop!!! Check it out and order your favorites. We have Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Honey Buns, Charm Packs, and Patterns. Just click Fabrically Delicious and it will take you to the website. Have fun shopping!!!

Make Your Own Ironing Board Cover

Here is a very simplified tutorial of making a cover for your ironing board. Mine was only a year old, but looked like a century old because of the cheap padding and cover that came with it. Plus I've learned that when you sew a lot, you iron a lot. But the actual structure of the board is in great condition. So here was my attempt to make a new cover and it turned out great, I love it.

First you will need some cute fabric, I bought mine in the decorators fabric on clearance at Jo-Ann's. You will need elastic cording (I only needed one package), and Insul-Bright for the padding.

Insul-Bright is meant to be used with high heat. You could probably use something else, but I think this is probably the best.

These steps to cover the ironing board are the same for the Insul-Bright and your outside fabric. Do all the steps with the Insul-Bright first, then repeat using your outside fabric.

Lay your ironing board on top of the Insul-Bright or fabric and cut around leaving enough to hem and roll around underneath to cover the edges about 4 to 4.5 inches. (I just left on my old cover).

Hem using about 3/4" seam. Make sure you leave an opening for your cording to go through. You should back stitch at your opening. I made my opening off to the top side.

Feed your cording all the way around trying to evenly disperse the elastic cording as you pull it through.

Pull the cording from both ends tightly so you get a nice snug fitting all the way around. After it's pulled tight and you have a good fit, tie the two ends together. Clip the excess cording, leaving a little extra.

Now that you have finished making your padding cover, you repeat the same exact steps to make your fabric cover for the top.

You are finished and ready to iron. I love it, I don't feel the metal underneath anymore or have to look at all the ugly brown stains. Good luck!

Polka Dots and Stripes

For Memorial Day weekend our family went to Leavenworth, WA. Leavenworth is a cute Bavarian themed town. There are lots of cute shops, food, and live music that included yodeling. We had a really good time.

One shop had this pottery that I just fell in love with right away. I had a really hard time deciding which ones to get. I loved the red and white the most!

This size bowl was the only one with the stripes and polka dots together, so I definitely had to get this one.

Cute!!!

Okay, so right before we left town, I needed just a few more pieces. If money wasn't an option I would have took it all home.