A Date With Tron

I come from the first video game generation. Atari anyone? So my brothers and I LOVED the original Tron. Yes it's slow moving (to today's standards at least) but it was just so cool. I knew my son Sam would love it too. He did. So when the new Tron movie came out I promised him I would take him. We finally went yesterday. Was the movie good? It was okay. The best part? Spending a few hours with my Sammy ♥.

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Just want to wish those who celebrate a wonderful Christmas! It has been quite a week filled with celebrations and each one has turned out great. And we're not through yet! We are actually packing up right now to leave tonight to visit family in Southern Utah. It will be a nice cap on a fabulous week.

 Have a wonderful weekend, and here's to New Years!

Christmas Tree Card Holder & an Anniversary!

My Christmas Tree Card Holder tutorial is now at Moda Bake Shop! Go check it out, yay!

On another note: 14 years ago today I married this wonderful man, Chris. 

We have been through so much together, but I'm just glad we've been together. I love you honey!

One Wonderful Week!

 With Christmas on Saturday, I'm sure this will be a busy week for everyone! I know I have lots of last minute things to make, things to buy, things to send, things to wrap and things to do. But to compound the busy-ness I also have my daughter's 2nd birthday tomorrow (the 20th) and my 14th wedding anniversary on Tuesday! All I can say is what were we thinking getting married so close to Christmas? And my poor daughter is always going to get the short end of the stick having a birthday so near to Christmas.

In order to simplify things we are going to go to our favorite local restaurant, Ruby's for Charlotte's party. We'll just have family and her friend, Lily. Along with Lily's family whose mom is my best friend. I won't have to worry about decor or going all out (like I tend to do:). It will be fun.

Not sure about the anniversary...it's nice now that my son is old enough to babysit. Probably just dinner and movie! Which sounds wonderful as we havn't had a chance to even do that in a long time. I'm thinking Harry Potter...

Though the week with be crazy, I'm looking forward to everything. The weather here in SoCal has been rainy and it's so cozy. It's about as close as we get to winter weather so it's perfect! I also have a project on Moda Bake Shop that will be up on the 21st, so watch for that!
Good luck with getting everything done this week!

No Peeking Emily!

First of all, Christmas is coming way too fast! I am just getting as much done as I'd hoped, grrrrr. But I am still loving the season.:)

Next, my husband has four siblings, so we rotate each year and exchange gifts with each family. There are two families that each have 3 little girls and this year we got one of those families.

I love matchy sister outfits, so I couldn't resist. I also have an obsession with fruit fabric and have been dying to use this Robert Kaufmann print. Each girl has a different but same polka dot fabric on the border and waist.

I cut out individual fruits and appliqued them onto t-shirts. Each center fruit matched the borders on the skirts. I can't wait to see them wearing them, they are the cutest little girls!

Last, I am bumming because my camera is on the fritz! The edges of most of my pictures are blurry and the pictures are darker than normal. I am so not in the market for a new one, I'm hoping I can figure it out. Maybe I need to read the manual...

Rodon Strikes Again

I made a shirt with this applique for my brother's newborn son. It's a robot named Rodon that my brother drew and made a story about when he was a little tike. He loved it. So...I thought I make one for him for birthday on the 15th. Grown men can where robots right?

Speaking of December birthdays...my 1 year old will turn 2 on the 20th. I don't know what bothers me more - that my little baby isn't so little anymore or that for forever I'm going to have to think about a birthday party right before Christmas? (insert scream here:)

'Tis the Season

Every year I get each of my kids little chocolate Advent calenders. They wake up each day excited to open a new window and see what shape the chocolate will be in. A little chocolate in the morning never hurt anyone right?

This is my almost two-year olds first experience with this. She caught on real quick!  Hey, there's candy in there! So she asked my older daughter for her calender one day and this is how it looked five minutes later.

 Guess the meaning was kind of lost on her. But who could say no to that face, right?

GameStop Giveaway! (or my son's dream giveaway:)

Found this incredible giveaway and had to share it! All you have to do is post your holiday wish list and link to it! Seriously my son would have a heart attack (maybe it's best that I don't win :).

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE!!

Before & After

I bought this chair a few years ago specifically to re-upholster it for my living room. Of course I never quite got around to it. My husband has been very patient with it taking up space in our garage but recently threatened to throw it. I promised I would get right on it. I'm actually glad because it forced me to get it done!

 Wholla! I had a yard left of this antiqued toile fabric that I thought would look great and it and it does. I just love the way it turned out.

Now to find the right spot for it....

Sounds of the Holiday Season

The Christmas season is in full swing! We have already enjoyed so many wonderful holiday happenings. We visited with my family for Thanksgiving and then went up to Salt Lake City to be with my husband's family. 

 My in-laws put us all up at the Little America hotel and we had such a fabulous family weekend! My kids just loved being with their little cousins. It was wonderful to hear the sounds of their laughter as they played and ran around together.

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the LDS Temple Square and seeing all the beautiful lights and creche and hearing the sounds of amazement coming from all the kids. And yes, the groans too because our California bones were freezing!

This is a typical shot of our family with our oldest not wanting to smile and our lovely girl in pink showing off her fun personality. Little boogers. :)

 We also went to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing in their original tabernacle. I was teary eyed with the magnificent voices singing beautiful songs of the holiday.

 Earlier this week we were given tickets to the Christmas performance of the OCMCO (Orange County Mormon Choral Organization). It was held in the Segrestrom concert hall in Costa Mesa. What an amazing place and a glorious concert! We thoroughly enjoyed it.

I feel so enriched by the beautiful sights and sounds of the season already. We have been so blessed by others' generosity this year. I Hope you too are enjoying the blessings of this holiday season!

Sights of the Holiday Season

I put up my holiday decorations before we left on our Thanksgiving trip. That way when we got home we were in full Christmas mode! I'm so glad I did.  The house is Christmas cozy and I light a yummy candle everyday that makes it even cozier.

It was strange because when we were living in our home, everything had it's place which made it easy to decorate. But we are living in an apartment right now, so I had to figure out where everything would go and everything didn't go, but most of it found a new home. I made this stocking hange because we don't have a proper mantle. It's just a piece of wood, some red paint, vinyl lettering and drawer pulls. Easy peasy.

 This is my Christmas card tree holder. I will have a tutorial on this via Moda Bake Shop within the week, so watch for it! I'm waiting for cards to fill it folks!
My tree is dripping with ornaments. I love berries, candy canes, and snowmen, can you tell?

 These are just a few of the sights around our little home, but they sure make me happy!

Over the River and Through the Woods

We arrived at Grandma's house last night in St. George, UT where my parents and brother and his family live. We will all be here for a wonderful family Thanksgiving. Then we are heading up north to Salt Lake City to see my husband's family who are coming in from Albuquerque and the Bay Area. We get to be with both families this year and we are so excited!

We woke this morning not to snow but a blanket of leaves! They were falling from the trees like crazy and covering everywhere you can see. My girls decided to get busy!

They spent the morning outside raking the leaves for Papa and of course they had to bury themselves and play in them too. But they had a great time.

Even my littlest got in on the action.

Outside it's such a beautiful, cool and crisp fall day. Inside the house is cozy and full of the yummy aromas of the impending feast. I am feeling so full of gratitude for the many blessings I have. First and foremost, FAMILY!

Wishing you and yours in America a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Enjoy an extra piece of pumpkin pie for me!

Banana Muffin Yumminess!

Autumn weather puts me in a baking mood! I just love a cozy, overcast or rainy day when I can fill my home with lovely aromas from the oven. Last week was pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Today it's Banana Streusel Muffins!

  Banana Streusel Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Streusel Topping:

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 15 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. For streusel: In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Yummy!

The Perfect Pairing

I have had Izzy & Ivy's darling Popp'n Posies quilt pattern and been waiting for the right fabric to make it with. Can you say Fandango? They are the perfect match! Cannot wait to see the finished product. Thank you Kate Spain!

Remember Thanksgiving?

On Halloween day I must have received 20 junk emails about shopping for Christmas! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas. But I don't want to forget Thanksgiving! And it's not just the wonderful food and time with the family. I love that we have a holiday about gratefulness! 

 As I placed my Pilgrim and Native American statues out yesterday I felt so much gratitude for our fore bearers and all the sacrifices that have been made in the name of freedom. And I have so much gratitude in my heart for all of my blessings and my wonderful family. Let's not let that go by! What are the things you are most grateful for?

Quilted Halloween Banner Tutorial!

I've got a new tutorial over at Moda Bake Shop! It's a bit late in coming as it's for Halloween, but hey, you can get a jump start on next year! :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2010

I am so excited to submit Heidi's Quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival! This has truly been a labor of love for me. My dear friend, Katie asked me to make a quilt for her beautiful daughter, Heidi's special birthday. Heidi picked the basic design and colors and then I went with it!

It is a twin size bed quilt made with in a Disappearing Nine Patch with two strip borders, a patchwork border and a ric rac trim.

 The main fabric line is Pillow & Maxfield's Whimsy by Michael Miller. The brown & white polka dot is Michael Miller's Dumb Dot. There is also some Ta Dot by MM, Paula Prass' Flights of Fancy, and a Jennifer Pagianelli print.

 I put a beautiful aqua minky on the back so it would be warm and cuddly. This is the first time I had a quilt long-arm quilted. Grammie Roylane did a beautiful job and the minky quilted wonderfully!

 I also made a matching sham and four throw pillows. This was such a challenging but rewarding project and I know that it will be loved. XO Katie!