Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Mom is almost here, and Sunflowers :)


Hello everyone! I have been prepping my house for the arrival of my fabulous mother. I can’t wait for her to get here. We will be picking her up from the airport tonight. The past two nights have consisted of cleaning. A lot of my old fashioned elbow grease was used! My house looks like new. I love that feeling. So, I am giving it about 3 days to stay that way, then it’ll be back to normal, and my mom can see how we all really live. Isn’t that the truth of it huh?

I have been de-cluttering the house for the past few weeks too, so there is a big improvement. My increasing amount of cross stitch and quilting stash has left me in a pickle though! What to do with it all? I have been trying to fold all of the fabric nice, so it isn’t a huge mess, but I have quite a bit of it now, and not really any place to store it together. I have a few Rubbermaid Tubs, and drawers stuffed with it! So, what do I do? Suggestions please! I have a closet in the spare bedroom I could use, just need to come up with a good plan for it all. I have been good and put all of my upcoming projects in individual ziplock bags, so that is handy. I have organized my quilting/stitching bits and pieces in a plastic storage dresser. It’s the fabric….

I have been stitching on my USEBB Halloween exchange, it will be very cute. Otherwise, nothing new to report, just a clean house :)

I put a counter on my blog, just to see how many visitors I have, and it has been 10 days, well I’ve had over 500 visitors! That has shocked me! Wow! So hello there everyone, don’t be shy about leaving a comment, I love to meet new people.

Just because everyone needs an extra few inches around their waste, I wanted to share this recipe I found on a blog, called The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever. And you know what? IT IS! Go and make it now, you won't regret it.


My sunflowers finally bloomed. I've never grown them before, and they are magnificent, and so tall, over 10'! Here are some pictures of them. The bees love them too! This is a big ol' bumble bee enjoying it along with me.
This girl is at least 15" in diameter, awesome! :D

And my Canna Lily is so pretty, it has these bright orange flowers and striped leaves. I love it.

14 comments:

Katrina said...

hope you have a fantastic time with your Mom visiting. Your sunflowers look awesome too, great pics.

I was wondering if you could please tell me what fabric and threads you used for your version of Ever After? I recently bought the pattern to stitch as a gift for friends after seeing yours stitched up so great. my email is katrinarosser@xtra.co.nz. Thanks!

Kathy A. said...

Isn't it amazing how having our mother's visit inspires us to tidy homes! Your sunflower photos are amazing! What kind of camera do you have?

Kendra said...

What my Granma does with her quilting fabric...

She took a bunch of old shoe boxes and covered them with contact paper. Each box is labeled by color (reds, blues, etc.) or more specific details (flowers, water, holiday, etc.). She folds each piece of fabric into a small square so it's small enough to fit in the box. The boxes are kept in a large armoire in her sewing room.

It works well...she can just open up the armoire and find any fabric piece she might need. And it's fun to "shop" in her stash for little pieces for my stuff! :-)

I don't know if you have the armoire option, but you could probably do the box thing on shelves in the closet...???

Marie said...

Have fun with your Mom! I too have been busy cleaning..returned from my 2.5 month stay in VT and am knee high in DUST! :-{
RE: Fabric Storage. I stack all of mine in three bookcases that line my sewing room...even then fabric is EVERYWHERE!
Love the flowers, when do you plant the sunflower seeds??? I wanted to grow some in VT but always forget.

Marie said...

Have fun with your Mom! I too have been busy cleaning..returned from my 2.5 month stay in VT and am knee high in DUST! :-{
RE: Fabric Storage. I stack all of mine in three bookcases that line my sewing room...even then fabric is EVERYWHERE!
Love the flowers, when do you plant the sunflower seeds??? I wanted to grow some in VT but always forget.

Von said...

Your sunflowers are amazing!
http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/heather_bailey/2007/02/the_studio.html
http://houseonhillroad.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/my_little_space.html
http://belladia.typepad.com/bella_dia/2006/08/my_new_studio.html
http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/2007/05/come_on_in.html

These are some sewing rooms I've bookmarked that might give you some ideas for your fabric. I've also seen the fabric folded as shown, but stacked in baskets on the shelves which looks nice too. I don't have much fabric myself, so it's in a couple of tubs in my closet.

I love finding pics of people's craft/stamp/sewing/quilting studios! It's very inspiring. :)

Lennu said...

Your flowers are very beautiful! I just love those yellow sunflowers.

Congratulations on the finish, Stars & Stripes, it looks pretty! The needleroll you received is beautiful too.

I hope you enjoy the time with your mother, it's so funny that everyone seems to tidy homes when mum comes for a visit. My mum was here last week, but everything's back to normal again in the house :D

mainely stitching said...

My mom is actually one of the few houseguests I wouldn't go too insane cleaning for, since she knows all too well how lacksidasical I am when it comes to housework. No secrets there! LOL!

I hope you have a WONDERFUL time with your mom. And the flower pictures are incredible!!

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Sunflowers are BEAUTIFUL and one of my favorite summer flowers...the pictures are amazing...I don't know what to tell you to do with your stash...I need an idea too!
WELCOME to your Mom...I bet you were jumping out of your skin to get her picked up!

Dawn T. said...

I hope you have a great time with your Mom. Are you kids excited, too?

I can't help you with the fabric situation. I seem to use my fabrics as soon as I buy them...lol.

Wendy said...

Gorgeous sunflowers! They look so cheerful don't they! Have a great visit with your Mom. I bet she has a few ideas for storing your fabric...moms always do :-D

Colleen said...

I love dropping by your blog now. It's like we see each other everyday without really seeing each other. Thanks for sharing your sunflowers. They have made my day! I'm going to try that recipe, too. Thanks for sharing!

Michelle said...

The flowers are beautiful! I just love sunflowers!

MysteryKnitter said...

Nice flowers you have there.