Sep 16 2009

A Before and After

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Before…

So this Christmas peg rack has been sitting in the garage for almost 6 years now. I was going to get rid of it since I never put it up during the holidays. But then I actually had a creative thought. I jumped on the spray paint bandwagon and bought some white gloss. First time out, not so good. A coat of primer and a dark pink “oops” paint from Lowes, still no good. A third coat of the white spray paint, and finally, something decent. I then added squares of brown chalkboard paint that I found on the clearance rack at Joann’s. I think it turned out pretty good. Allison has already messed up the labels, but oh well. I’m going to paint a square of the wall in her room with the chalkboard paint, so hopefully that will get her to leave the sign alone.
After…
Aug 28 2009

Serger Stuff

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I finally got the serger back from the repair shop and everything seems to be working. Now I think my problem is operator error. It’s just going to take some time to figure out where to set the tension based on what I’m trying to do. The first project up was a set of napkins for my grandparents’ picnic basket. It’s a Burlington Basket Co. Hawkeye basket and I love it. So, after attempting to make a rolled hem using the normal hemming foot (I took off the normal foot to put on the rolled hem foot and ended up putting the normal one on again) which doesn’t work that well, I eventually got something that resembled a rolled hem. And they turned out pretty good for my first attempt. Only one of them ended up smaller than the rest, because I had to redo one side. I took a picture of the tension dial settings so I hopefully will have a starting point for my next rolled hem project. I’d rather not have to reinvent the wheel each time I want to do a project.
Aug 24 2009

Like Father Like Son

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Daddy cut his hair short the other day and now he and Ian look like twins 🙂

Bean has an unorthodox way of using the pacifier. I gave it to him to chew on since he’s teething his top teeth and he prefers to chew on it sideways. Such a silly boy. He’ll be six months tomorrow. The time has flown with the second one.

Aug 23 2009

Cutest dress ever!

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Oh. My. Goodness. Isn’t this the cutest fall outfit ever? I ended up on the Oliver + S blog tonight and found their preview for the fall line. I can’t wait until these patterns come out in September. Allison will definately have the dress and I might even try my hand at the coat.

Aug 22 2009

Genealogy for Aaron

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My brother asked me some info about our genealogy, so I decided to write this post with all the links that I have. They are for my grandmother and grandfather’s lines on my mother’s side. Grandma’s line, Hutchings, came over the plains with the Mormon pioneers to Utah. Here is her grandfather, Ellis Westley Hutchings, (also in there Ellis Franklin , grandma’s dad) and great grandfather, Shepherd Pierce Hutchings (and in a BYU library archive). Shepherd had 4 wives (3 at one time) and we’re descended from the 3rd wife, Sarah Ann Williamson. Shepherd was a wagonmaster across the plains. His father, Elias Hutchings, was a General Authority and was buried in the Nauvoo cemetery (page 21, search for Hutchings). He was a part of Zion’s Camp, that went to help the Saints in Missouri. He also discovered Mamoth Cave in Kentucky. A biography is given here and here (near the bottom, search for Hutchings).

On the Canon line, they have been in Nevada County and surrounding areas for awhile. Marshall and Eva J Hitsman lived in Howland Flat (Pine Grove) which is near Qincy and LaPorte. (That’s why you like that area so much) Here‘s some info about the area. He was most likely a placer miner out there. Their daughter Eva married Walter Douglas Canon, Sr, grandpa’s grandfather.

That’s kind of an overview of what I have so far. I hope you find it interesting.

Aug 18 2009

Quilt Squares

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Today I started and finished the first two quilt squares for the Bits and Pieces year-long quilt project. They weren’t too difficult. I kind of made some things up as I went along. I love the strawberry print I picked out. Each month you pick another fabric to add to the next block. We’ll see if I can keep up with it.
Aug 15 2009

Jumperoo Baby

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Ian love, love, loves the doorway bouncer. He could spend hours in it if we let him. When he’s not in it, he makes me bounce him up and down. Tiring, but a great arm workout.
I’m impatiently waiting for my serger to come back from the repair shop. I hope it can be fixed without too much cost. I have so many projects that I could use it for. I also have some quilt stuff to do. I signed up for a quilt-along at a local store as well as the free quilting classes they offer. So hopefully, at the end of a year, I’ll have a whole quilt top done.