Craft Room/ Office DONE!

For the past two years, we've been living in a little box with things dispersed here, there and everywhere...We have a tiny house and I am amazed at how much stuff M and I have together...This weekend, I spent the majority of my time organizing that back room so that it can actually be functional...rather than the storage room of piles of stuff!

This is what it looked like when I started...so embarrassing!

So excited to be able to sew in there rather than the kitchen table!
So excited to have a desk to work at rather than having to spread out all over the couch!
So excited to scrapbook again!
So excited have shelves for my sweaters and scrapbooks instead of random storage in closets or under beds!
So excited to have gone through boxes that have been moved multiple times and I had no idea what was inside of them!

Here's the finished product.

Shelving along one entire wall!

Sewing Table.
















Desk area.



Such a relief and accomplishment...

AND, I worked in the garden!  So happy my tulips are growing abundantly.

Next nice weekend, I'll be planting more!

A New Collection...

I have this slight obsession with serving trays. I feel like I need one for each unique event that might arise. I think it started when I helped throw a baby girl shower and I wanted a pink tray! I had a hard time finding one and the obsession began.

The Pinterest came along...so dangerous! Those two ideas have meshed into my head and here is my dream--a whole wall in my home filled with trays!!!

I like bright, but somewhat muted colors (bright but not florescent). They make my surroundings feel happy and homey. I think it goes back to my love of rainbows...well, what rainbows stand for that is. But, I don't really want lucky charms or leprechauns in my house so bright colors all over it is!

Anyway, I got some great FiestaWare pieces for our wedding. That was the start to a collection I hadn't even conceived yet.

The fish below was my first addition! I had to have it so I watched it at Target for months...until it went on clearance! I was so happy. Not only is it my favorite color, but it is representative of my Norwegian heritage! Love it!

More to come!

Freezer to Crock Pot

One of the things I've struggled with since getting my new job is time management. Mostly because a couple days a week I am gone for about 11-12 hours. I only work for 8-9 but I spend a lot of time in the car. I have felt very inadequate as a wife, unable to provide meals for Matt on those days. It's hard because this is the most amazing job I've ever had but being gone so long each day was starting to produce anxiety.

Around the end of November, God really told me that peace can be mine. As with all of the Fruit of the Spirit, we must choose to access these gifts in times where we could choose, or would normally react with, the opposite. God told me to choose it and it could be mine! It was so clear. So, this is one way that I am choosing peace--the good ol' crock!

I found a bunch of recipes on the internet and Pinterest for freezer meals. All I have to do is let it thaw and add it to the crock pot!

I made 12 meals on a Saturday afternoon. I'm pretty sure I could do it more cost effectively, but this was my first time!

Here they are:
Beef Fajitas x2
Chicken Teriyaki x2
Pork with Apples
Sausage and Peppers
Beef Stew x2
Chicken with Cilantro and Lime x2
Beef and Broccoli x2
Most will be served with rice or pasta

Now my freezer is full and my peace of mind is appeased!

New Years!

We had a fun day exploring new campsites, walking around in the snow and watching our puppy have the best time. You could tell she was grinning from ear to ear!

Birds!

I love birds. I love watching them. I love listening to them (with some exceptions). I love how they flit and float and hop around my garden. I especially love how they remind me that I am precious because Jesus told us that we are even more precious then they are and they have every need taken care of (Matt. 6: 25-26). I have a fetish right now.

Our bathroom has birds nesting, but the PartyLite Winter/ Spring catalog has a ton of birds and I am so excited.

Here are just a couple of the items that I have on hand. They are taking over the living room now too!!!

Bird-Brained Bizarre!

What do you get when you find a panel of fabric in your favorite colors AND your favorite decorative motif?  A new quilt planned around that panel of cuteness for our guestroom!!!

What a labor of love!  I knew that I had a timeline and I needed to finish before I went to Montana on our trip to visit the grandparents...so, I was on a mission.  I drew the pattern, figured out measurements (all around the middle "tree" square), found more options for filler blocks (see all the posts on the Farmer's Wife blocks) and forged ahead without hesitation.  I wish I knew more techniques and how better to make things look professional, but I got a complement from grandma, so I think I am on the right track. :)

Note: The quilt in the picture is hanging on my grandma's clothesline outside their cute little house.  The old wooden building in the background is the shack that my grandfather lived in from the late 1940s until the early 1950s or so.  There is a top row of blocks folded over as well, so it's a bit longer! 

Quilt in a Day: Disappearing 9 Patch

Disappearing 9-Patch (Variation)

 

I took a class at the local quilt shop and finished this one in a little over a day!  The quilt was fairly easy, but the blocks could get confusing if you did more than one at a time, so it was time-consuming.  I finished all the blocks at the class but had to add the sashing, cornerstones and borders at a later time...

 

I am on a big consolidating kick...trying to make life a little neat and tidier...so I am making a couple quilts that can be used in out living area, as well as when we have visitors and need extra blankets.  My goal is to get rid of the 37 extra, mismatched blankets we have laying about.

 

So, I am half-way there.  (Well, actually a little closer because I have the pieces for my next one cut out...I just have to sew them together!)