{this is how i start off a new year!}

For those of you that didn't know already...I LOVE quilting/sewing/etc. Thanks to the ideas that have already been swirling my in head and Pinterest...I have been extremely inspired to create and try a bunch of new projects! Sometimes I don't know how I find the time to do what I do with an almost 2 year old running around! There are definitely those times where I wish I could sew as fast as my mind works...but I guess it's a blessing that I can't sew that fast because then there wouldn't be any time to enjoy it haha!

This has been a pretty big week for me already. It started with me tackling my fear of sewing zippers to garments, and now I've started off the new year by tackling more uncharted territory...BINDING!

For those of you that don't know what binding is, it's the finished edge of a quilt. Here is a picture so you can have a visual of what I'm talking about...

Image: Courtesy of twin fibers

This was the project that led me to my first binding experience (I followed the binding tutorial HERE that I got from Diary of a Quilter)...

My very first sewing machine cover!!

I saw the fabric for my cover in a fat quarter bundle at our local Ben Franklin and I just could NOT resist getting it! I'm completely in love with how this cover turned out and I can't wait to make more!! There's another variation of a sewing machine cover that I would like to try next. It's a bit more simple.

I'm also excited to share that I will be participating in my first sewing challenge! Over at soscrappy, the author of that blog has created the "Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2012". You're encourage to make ANYTHING out of the "color of the month" that is chosen. The color for January is RED. You can see the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2012 button to the top right of my blog all year long if you ever decide you'd like to participate! You don't HAVE to do it each month, we all know our lives get busy and sometimes it's just impossible to have the time to do stuff like this. I can't wait to share my monthly projects for this challenge with all of you!! As of right now, I'm thinking of doing just one quilt block a month and then in December, make an entire quilt top out of all the blocks I made for this challenge throughout the year :-) I could change my mind though haha!

Megan at H a p p y Day / Handmade by Megan - this challenge made me think of you!!

And if all those projects weren't enough, I went crazy making Pinterest projects the other night...here are just a couple of the things I made...

A brown felt flower hair clip for Miss K. You can find the tutorial I followed HERE. I improvised on the tutorial a little by adding an extra petal and adding the pink button in the middle. These flowers really don't need any embellishments when they're finished but I have TONS of buttons lying around so I put them to use ;-)  Here's another variation of the tutorial but you make 4 leaf clovers instead ;-) Here' the finished flower...

I also made a recycled t-shirt flower pin for me! You can find this tutorial HERE. It's SO easy and such a fun project to do to get rid of old t-shirts you have floating around the house! Your hubby.boyfriend/partner will never know what happened to his old shirts but hopefully he'll notice the cute little pins and hair clips you've added to your accessorize your wardrobe ;-) This specific clip is about the same diameter as a standard sized baseball. I wish I had gotten a picture with it on me...maybe next time. I'm not exactly photogenic right now haha. But here's my finished flower...

And if all those projects weren't enough...I also managed to find the time to create a new button for my business/blog, Made With Love by Caty...

www.madewithlovebycaty.blogspot.com / www.madewithlovebycaty.etsy.com

And I created my first button for my photography blog, Photography by Caty Blakley, as well...

Facebook Page HERE

I'm already thinking of what I want to do next...I must be crazy or just inspired...haha. I leave it open to interpretation ;-)

So....what projects are you all doing right now?! I've love to hear about them! :-) 

Much Love,

{Fill in the Blank Friday - New Years Edition}

 Today's Fill in the Blank Friday theme was inspired by Lauren at the little things we do and it's also a link up so join the fun by linking up on her page! Enjoy!

New Years is... a "new beginning" or "fresh start". For me, this New Years is special because 2012 is the year we are FINALLY moving back to our hometown after almost 8 years. This year is going to bring us a lot new adventures and excitement!

One of my New Year's resolutions will be... to enjoy my family and whatever life throws our way. We've been through a lot these past couple years with finances, jobs, schooling, etc. Even with as hard as it got at times, I wouldn't trade the struggles we went through at all. They completely made us better people and a closer family. I look forward to embracing the challenges and just let them happen instead of making myself miserable by fighting them!

A New Year's resolution I've made in the past was to... to be a good Mother and to follow my parenting instincts! I was pretty pregnant this time two years ago and last year this was also my resolution but tweaked a little ;-) I know it's a bit of a cheesy one, but it definitely makes me sit back and think about how the last year went and what I'd like to improve on.

The most time consuming resolution I ever made was... definitely being a good Mother. You're a Mom 24/7! And as much as it is a difficult experience at times, I feel like that it is seriously the most rewarding!

This year I will be spending New Year's Eve... probably relaxing at home with Miss K and my Hubby. Hubby has to work until 10pm that night so we'll probably watch the ball drop at midnight and have a glass of champagne to toast to the coming new year :-)

If I could wish one thing for my new year it would be... that our transition back to our hometown and the process leading up to it goes VERY smooth!!! I'm secretly dreading the packing, moving across the state, but being back by our families again is worth all the stress! :-) 

2012 is going to be... absolutely amazing! I'm beyond excited to see what this New Year brings!!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

What are your plans for 2012!? Would love to hear :-)

{Work in Progress (W.I.P) Wednesday}

Part of my Dear Monday post I mentioned my list of unfinished sewing projects that I was hoping to attack starting this week. With the help of a place called "Jump N Party" (a place FULL of different kinds of inflatable bounce houses, slides, etc) that a friend of ours told us about, Miss K and I had a BLAST and she took a very long and HARD nap today, allowing me to finish one project and start a few more.

Here's what I finished today for a customer of mine for my business, Made With Love by Caty...

Owl Carseat Canopy/Cover

Here are my "works in progress"...

This is fabric will become a carseat canopy like the one pictured above. Today I was able to get all the fabric and supplies for it cut out!! Just needs to be put together and it will be going up for sale in my Etsy shop!! :-)

The fabric below is going to be turning into a nursing cover that will also be available to purchase in my shop as soon as I finish! :-)

This is a nursing cover I made with this fabric before for another customer just so you can see what the finished product looks like...

The story behind this next work in progress is kind of sad lol. I started these stockings back in November to have them done in time for Christmas this year...well, that didn't happen! Mainly because we decided not to do stockings as a family because Miss K is still a little young to understand them, so hubby and I decided to take the money we were going to spend on stocking stuffers and just put them towards a bigger gift for one another. The first picture is my W.I.P. and the second picture are the two stockings I actually had finished in November. I made all three of these stockings out of fabric I already had in my fabric stash so we didn't have to spend more money to make them :-) I love how they turned out even if they aren't "matching"! haha!

My Hubby's

My stocking is on the right, Miss K's is on the left

I'm hoping to have all these projects done by the end of the week, because if I do get them done by this weekend, that would seriously make my whole day!! Then it's onto a whole new possibility of projects I can do. YES! 

What you are currently working on?! I'm really anxious to start doing tutorials...is there any specific tutorial you'd like to see me do??

Much Love - Caty

{Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!}

Ohhhhh 2011, there are so many things I want to say to you, but I'll say this...

This past year has definitely been an amazing one, to say the least! As many of you can relate, parenting has its "ups" and "downs" but the really wonderful moments make it all worth while. It's been such a blessing to have my blog to come to and share my hopes, thoughts, feelings and dreams with all of my blogger friends! 

I came across the idea of "my blog highlights of 2011" and wanted to participate. Below you'll see my most popular post from each month this year. If you click on the titles, they will take you to the original posts :-) 

January: Sasi-Crochet Corner....CUTE CUTE HATS!!

February: *Banana Bottoms Cloth Diaper Review and Giveaway*

March: "The Business of Being Born"

April: **I actually didn't write a single blog post in April...sad :-( lol**

May: Update!

June: **I didn't write a post in June either...must have been busy the months I didn't write, huh?!**

July: One Year, 52lbs

August: "IF ONLY"

September: Can it be?!?

October: Holy AWESOME-NESS!

November: "I AM THANKFUL 30 Day Thanksgiving Challenge"

December: {Vintage Pyrex}

It's been pretty fun to see what I've talked about this past year by creating this post! I find it even funnier that THE most popular post I had was my "One Year, 52lbs" post where I announced my determination to get ready for Baby #2 this coming year ;-) 

What was the highlight of 2011 for you? Do you have a resolution? I hope you look forward to 2012 as much as I do!! :-) 

Much Love - Caty

{Vintage Pyrex - Continued...}

After writing about how much I thought about wanting to start collecting vintage Pyrex dishes in all colors of the rainbow HERE, I became slightly obsessed with finding these dishes all over the Internet and the more dishes I found...the more it made me want to just take the plunge to just start collecting them.

SOOOOOOOO....I DID! I have some amazing friends and I have to give a little shout out to my friend Whitney because if it wasn't for her visiting an antique store during her visit to Walla Walla, I don't think I would've started! She found a HUGE selection of vintage Pyrex, here is just ONE of the areas of Pyrex she found... 

 

The second she saw all of it, she thought of me and started sending me pictures like crazy. I definitely had to restrain myself because every picture of every dish she sent me, I WANTED TO BUY!! :-) Here are some of the pictures that she sent me during her antique store visit...

This is the one I had Whitney get for me...

These were the rest of the ones I wanted to buy...

There were more she told me about that I don't have pictures for...like I said, could've spent a small fortune!

And my second shout out goes to my friend Heidi who also saw my first post about vintage Pyrex and she told me she had a dish in a color I didn't have sitting in her storage that she knew she'd never really use again and wanted to give it to me! SO sweet of her! Here's my soon to be new beauty that I'll be adding to collection...

Here is my entire collection NOW...

I'm definitely off to a great start! Excited to get more already! Guess I'll have to pick up a new hobby of antique store hopping haha. Oh, and find another job to support that new hobby lol!

Another reason to be excited about collecting these dishes is that if fulfills one of my 101 Things in 1001 Days list!! WOOT WOOT! :-)

What are you all up to today? Anyone still on vacation for the holiday? How are you enjoying the rest of your time off? Collect something too? What do you collect? :-) 

HAPPY TUESDAY EVERYONE!

{Dear Monday}

Linked up with Megan at H a p p y Day :-)

Dear Monday - you came way to fast! I'm not okay with the fact that Christmas is already over. Here's to looking forward to next Christmas in our hometown, where we'll FINALLY be living again!! WOO!

Dear Snoqualmie Pass - I'm REALLY not happy with you at the moment! You decided to cut our Christmas Day short with our entire family by making road conditions impossible, causing my Brother in Law and his girlfriend to get into a roll over car accident (THANKFULLY, they're okay, just some jitters and minor cuts and bruises) We're all just so happy it wasn't worse...the car didn't look pretty. 

Dear Husband - I'm SO glad we still get two weeks together before you start school again on the 9th! Maybe we could squeeze a date night in there somewhere?

Dear Unfinished Sewing Projects - I will destroy you this week :-) I'm determined to have you finished by the end of January! :-) I'm excited to see you projects finished! 

Dear Inlaws - I'm sorry you had to leave like you did so suddenly and that we didn't get to have a proper goodbye! :-( Looks like we'll have to come visit sooner than we thought to make up for that

Dear Apartment - I love the fact that after entertaining so many people this weekend, that I get to start off this week with you already being clean!! Big shout out to my Mother and Sister in Law for making that possible! I appreciated your help SO much!

Dear Computer - I wish you would just fix yourself, so I could back up my photos and have space on my memory card. I don't want to buy another one lol.

Dear Blog Family - I hope you all had an amazing holiday with your loved ones! I love you all tons!

Christmas Tree #2 - our real one died before Christmas Day haha

My Father In Law playing with Miss K in the playhouse they got her for Christmas

Miss K finally getting some much needed outside time even though it was FREEZING!

{Fill in the Blank Friday}

Image: Courtesy of Lauren at the little things we do

I've linked up with Lauren @ the little things we do for my very first "Fill in the Blank Friday" post and I must say, it's these little fun themed posts that make me love to blog. If you have a blog, make your own post and link yours up on Lauren's page too! :-)

1.   The best way to spread Christmas cheer is    making holiday themed baked goods and sharing them with neighbors and friends.

2.   The thing I love most about Christmas is   getting to relive the special little traditions that i did with my family when i was a kid with our daughter, as well as getting to share this joyful season with our family members. especially this year when they all were willing to travel to us, instead of the other way around. we're really thankful for that .

3.  The holiday season is a time for   being thankful for what you have and counting all of your blessings - no matter how big or small.

4. My favorite thing to eat at the holidays is    oh gosh, this is a tough one because I could seriously list EVERYTHING but if I had to pick ONE thing...pretty much any kind of PIE!!!!

5.  I will be spending Christmas    surrounded by my husband's family - and there are no words with how excited i am about this...is more ways than one - but i won't be getting into why...we'd be here forever haha!

6.  Tis better to (give or receive?)   definitely! i'm one of those types of people that could go without ever receiving gifts if i could give everyone i wanted a gift. i find SO much joy out of giving gifts to others. makes my heart melt.

7.  I'm dreaming of a   fun, family filled  Christmas!

*TWO* DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS! WOO HOO!!

{Thursday Thoughts}

 {ONE}

Only three days until Christmas!! I'm lucky enough to get to decorate ANOTHER tree because the real one we put up while my parents were here for Thanksgiving just couldn't hold out any longer and it died :-( Poor thing. So, we get to bust out the fake tree for this weekend.

{TWO}

Two of my brother in laws (and practically sister in law hehehe) are headed our way as I type, my mother and father in law will be joining us TOMORROW! :-) I'm so excited that we'll still get to celebrate this holiday with family because my husband and I decided this year that we just couldn't afford to travel back to our hometown since we're trying to save up money for our big move coming up this September.

{THREE}

Finally happy that the stomach flu that plagued our house this week is finally GONE and my husband never got it! BONUS! I was terrified that we were going to have a flu-filled Christmas. That was Miss K's first stomach flu...and I must say that the actual vomiting wasn't the worst part to deal with...it was the "Mama please help me!" look that she gave me every time she was about to throw up. That was rough seeing that and knowing there was nothing I could do but just be there.

{FOUR}

I have this sudden urge to buy Starbucks everyday from here on out before the holiday cups go back into hibernation! I know it's silly, but those red cups just make me smile. Also sad to think that the holiday season is almost over too :-( 

{FIVE}

I desperately want to go drive around to look at Christmas lights. I can't believe that I'm just now realizing we haven't done that yet! Shame on us!

{SIX}

I LOVE grilled cheese sandwiches! My our little family seems to be binging on them for breakfast lately. I can't explain why they're so amazing, but they're not just for when we were kids! HAHA! Well, I guess I would consider myself a big kid ;-)

What are your plans for today? Anything special you're doing for the holidays? :-)

.::101 Things in 1001 Days::.

I'm jumping on the 101 in 1001 Train!!! I've partnered up with my gal pal, Nadina, at Life One Day at a Time to take on this awesome task and I encourage all of you to do this! It's definitely a great way to get excited about the things you want to do/get done in your lives! :-) You don't HAVE to have a partner...but I think it will be more fun this way to help each other complete some of their tasks! :-)

To see my list go HERE, or click on the tab at the top of my page titled .::101 in 1001::. (which will be there the entire duration of this project), and I also have a tab that's tittled .::101 in 1001 Pictures::. where I will share pictures of the tasks that I complete :-) If you make your own 101 in 1001 list, I would love to have you share it with me, to give a little encouragement or, who knows, I just may send you something to help you complete a task on your list...you just never know!! Just post the link as a comment below!

{Vintage Pyrex}

There are quite a few people that I know that have their one thing that they collect to decorate a room with. For most, it's something that they collect to add the little something to their kitchens. My mother is one of those such people. She collects vintage nut choppers (not to worry gentlemen, there's no need to jump to conclusions hehehe) and they're just really cool! Here's what I'm talking about...

She has a colorful assortment of nut choppers, just like the one pictured above, sitting up on top of all the cabinets. I love them! They add the perfect touch to her kitchen.

My hubby and I often talk about how we really want to find something like this to collect to add that little bit to our someday kitchen too. And I think I've figured out what I want to collect....

*VINTAGE PYREX*

But not JUST vintage Pyrex...vintage Pyrex in an assortment of colors!

Here is the source of my inspiration. I found this picture on Pinterest and I knew immediately that when I saw it, this is what I wanted to collect. Major brownie points to the photographer for the "rainbow arrangement"!! :-) 

This is exactly how I would do it too! I pretty much love every color of the rainbow and for this to have all vintage pyrex displayed in rainbow colors...SQUEAL!! :-) I get excited over the oddest things, I know.

When I moved into my first apartment with my husband, my Mom had actually given me a set of 3 of the green vintage bowls and I've held onto them for the past 7 years. I guess what triggered my want for more Pyrex lately was running into a pink vintage Pyrex bowl that was left behind when one of the tenants at our apartment complex that had moved out. It's the exact same pink one in the Pinterest picture above :-) 

For those of you that read this, you're AWESOME! It really means a lot to me that you listen to my random ramblings and humor me when I get excited over things like this! LOL! ;-) Love you all!!

{aNeMoNe} - Handmade Paper Flowers

You're probably looking at the title of this post and thinking to yourself "handmade paper flowers?? seriously??".

Let me be the first to tell you, that they're A-MAZING! Mary, the owner of aNeMoNe, made my wedding bouquet ENTIRELY out of paper flowers just over 2 years ago! Here is a photo of my bouquet from my wedding...

 Isn't it GORGEOUS!? I still promise you...this bouquet is made entirely out of paper!! :-) I also have a few of aNeMoNe's arrangements throughout my house and they add just the perfect touch. You never have to water them, they're made out of quality paper, and THEY NEVER DIE!! I still get to admire my bouquet 2 years after my wedding! (I know, that was a little bit cheesy...but it's all true!! LOL!)

What I'm trying to get at is....if you're looking for a really unique gift to give someone for the holidays/for anytime of year, or if you're like me and don't want to spend a fortune on flowers for your wedding that die shortly after, OR you just want to treat yourself and your home to something beautiful...GO CHECK THEM OUT! :-) They also have Christmas ornaments!!!

aNeMoNe

309 W. 2nd Ave. Ste 102

Spokane, WA 99201

Phone: (509) 838-7037

Email: info@handmadepaperflowers.com

Website: HERE

Facebook: HERE

Here is just another taste of their amazing work....

And not to forget about the Christmas decorations!!! :-) 

UPDATE!

Just hours after posting this, one of our local news stations aired a special of aNeMoNe!!! Here's the link, check out the video that comes with the story to see more amazing work from Mary and her crew! :-)

Here's the link:

http://www.kxly.com/news/29955368/detail.html