Done

I finished the little girls room that I have been working on.










This is the room with the canopy over the bed in which I had made to short so I had to fix it. I ended up adding extra fabric to the bottom then putting on some cording to cover the seam. It turned out great.

The valance was made a couple of months ago then sent to a painter. Here is the finished results. I have signed up for a painting course at our local craft shop just in case I ever want to attempt another valance like this.

Also I slipcovered an ottoman that was in the room. The ruffle along the bottom was from the crib set from the little girl.

I know I keep saying "I", but I should really say "we". Rick helped so much with the canopy, he made the framing and he did the installation (which was a nightmare). Although through this project we realized that a different stapler would make things so much easier.

Lots of stuff

We will start with DQ's birthday! She turned 9 last Friday (as in 9/15). We all went bowling for her party on Sunday. She had a blast! After the party we came back home and opened her gifts, She ended up receiving a lot of craft kits. One of her favorite was a bedazzler, she is having so much fun with it. Rick and I got her a sewing machine, which she is enjoying. She had been using my mother-in-laws machine, but I could never get it to work properly, and DQ kept using my machine. It is great to have 2 machines in the house because my machine needs to be serviced, but I have been putting off taking it in because I can't do without it. ( I wonder if there is a group for those dependent on a sewing machine - SMA - sewing machine anonymous).

I didn't crop the pic because I thought it was to funny to see my husbands legs. Most of the pics have his legs in them. Lets see who comes up with the funniest comment about that!!!

I have more to post, but I need to have another cup of coffee first. If you couldn't tell, writing is NOT my first love!!

fun stuff

The boy has lost his first tooth. He has been asking for a few months when he was going to loose a tooth, he even asked the dentist when we saw him this spring. For the past week he has been wiggling his tooth and reminding us every chance he got that he was going to loose a tooth. It didn't happen till late last night and he wanted to wake up his sister to show her, but I told him to wait until morning. Well, he slept in and the girl was off to school by the time he woke up. The first words out of his mouth "Where's DQ?" He was very disappointed not to show off for her.

The other fun thing that happened yesterday was that I made a special dessert. Hot dog and french fries!

It was very easy and the kids couldn't eat their dinner fast enough because they were so excited about the cake. I found the idea on a website; they have some other very cool ideas. I think for April Fool's Day I can make a meatloaf cake with mashed potato frosting and hot dog cake for dessert.

We go back today and try to hang the canopy, will post pics if it turn out!

An interesting week was had by all.

The major event of the week was the first day of school, which all went very well.

DQ started 3rd grade.


GB started Kindergarten.


I didn't have so many mixed feelings this year, with the boy being in a preschool program last year I was used to seeing him being a bit more independent. I used to always wonder if they were going to be learning enough and what they were learning. Usually the first weeks of school I would always second guess myself and think I should homeschool again. But every day the kids would come off the bus shouting "I LOVE SCHOOL". DQ would always say some facts or something about science that I would just have to nod my head and think, "Wow, I never knew that!" So the kids are enjoying school and doing very well, and I am doing OK with letting them be a bit more independent. (They are still my babies!!)

We have also been dealing with a bug that has been going around. It started last week when the boy was sick on my birthday (I spent a good portion of my bday scrubbing the bathroom and changing his sheets). Then a few days later I caught the bug and spent the day in bed, DQ was a huge help with making lunch for her and the boy and coming in and giving me a hug every once in a while. She is truly a sweet heart. Next it was Ricks turn; he actually had to call in sick. In his whole working career he has only called in sick 2 times! Speaking of calls, I got a call from the school nurse on the second day of school, DQ needed to be picked up! The bug got us all!! We are now all doing a lot better, still a little weak, but pretty much back to normal.

Just before Rick came down with the bug, we were scheduled to install a job that I had been working on. This job is one of my favorites because it is so different; it is for a little girls bedroom and is done with a lime and purple stripe fabric and a lavender check. I started with a valance with solid white on the front and pleats in the different fabrics, the white is there because an artist was hired to paint lilies on it (the little girls name is Lilly). I actually finished the valance in the end of July and gave it to the customer so she can get it to the artist (I was asked if I could paint it, but I know my limits and I am not an artist). So I have a picture of it hanging off the side of my sewing table, just ignore the bright blue square fabric, that is the curtain on the side of my table.

I made a full size ruffled bed skirt out of the stripe fabric which turned out cute. But the problem lies with the major piece in the room. I had to make a canopy to hang on the wall over the headboard. Rick was the genius he normally is and made a plywood frame with braces that would screw into the studs, it was awesome. Then I come along and cover it with batting and fabric. The fabric makes it almost impossible to find any screw holes and then it bunches up under the screw and, well, it is just a mess. So we spent almost 2 hours at the customers' house trying to figure out how to get the canopy up, we cut back any fabric around the screws holes and then screwed it in the wall. Well, it seems that the studs were not were the stud finder said, so we had to mark the holes so we could put in the mollies. As soon as we finished marking all the holes I realize that something wasn't right. The panels that I had stapled to the canopy did not reach the floor. Well it turns out that when I had originally taken measurements I transposed the numbers, so instead of having panels that were 98" long I had panels that were 89" long. (insert muttering and cursing). We just stopped, cleaned up, and came home. Now I need to add some fabric to the panels and then we need to go back and install everything again. Whenever it gets done it is going to be very nice.