Check ME Out Saturday Week 40

Welcome to another week of Check ME Out Saturday!





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Here are my favorite links this week:
My delightful days has a cute Halloween Cupcake Wreath

Potholes and Pantyhose has this fun purse

Creative Passage has an adorable wreath

Make sure to stop by their blogs and let them know how cute their stuff is!

you know what to do:  Link up what you have been doing this week




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Blog Swap with My Twisted Stitches

I am so glad to be here today Bobby, Thank You for hosting me!  Hello to all you wonderful readers too :)  As a relatively newbie bloggie girl I have rarely had the opportunity to be "featured".  I am honored! 

I am a Mom of 3 beautifully challenging children; two prepubescent lovelies with emotional and behavioral difficulties (along with the diagnoses that coincide with those symptoms) and 1 precious preschooler.  I am an artist, a teacher, a writer, a knitter, a singer, a gardener, and whatever other label that applies.  Most of all I am consistently trying to knit together the imperfect strands of my life with its variety of colors and textures into an exquisite piece - hence the title of my blog:

Come find me at My Twisted Stitches http://www.mytwistedstitches.blogspot.com

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Wall Detail - just inside the door

OK all, Here are the pics of my "Messterpiece" as in, it was really a royal mess for a while.  I'd like to share with you all that I DID finish before "back to school", sorry it's taken some time to get the pics taken and put up.  Please let me know what you think!

Loft Bed

My almost 10 yr. old LOVES her new loft bed!  I made it from an old wood bunk bed that I reinforced so it is sturdy enough for me to climb up there with very little movement.

Under the loft bed

loft bed and toddler bed

As we pan over to the left there is a beautiful space for both the toddler and the tween, with both of them having their own special areas to go and chill alone if they need to.

Behind the door
library / vanity

Behind the door
library / vanity

Finally, there is a great space to read, hang out with friends, chill out, or get ready for the day.  We call this the Library / Vanity area, as that is where the jewelry and special treasures are, along with the precious treasures to be found in the love of reading!

Snuggling with my little girl to read stories at night is such a pleasure and we sometimes make up stories about what it would be like if we were really mermaids living under the sea....

Baskets w/ toddler's clothing & "fort"
(The fort is behind the fish blanket :D)

horizontal wall detail
Thank you for sharing in my "under the sea" bedroom project.  I am quite proud of how it evolved and what it has become.  The girls seem to love it and I hope they will enjoy it as much as I do.  I know if I was their age I'd be thrilled!!!!!!!
Copyright 2010: Melody Altamura


That is so ADORABLE!  Thanks for swapping blogs with me.  If you are interested in swapping blogs with me please email me at boblyns at yahoo dot com

Tradeaholics Trade and Stay Event

Its Etsy Tradeaholics Trade and Stay event this weekend on Etsy.  The link for the forum thread is here.  I am on the list and you are more than welcome to send me a convo with what you are interested in trading for.  You don't have to be  a member of Tradeaholics to join in

My shop address here

Annual Humanitarian Quilt

Every year our community gets together to make school bags, stuff childrens toys, donate quilts, and eat soup. It is a great time to serve others and to come together as a community and bond.
This year I was a little short on time so I did a quick fat quarter twin size quilt.
To make the quilt:
I cut 20 squares that are 18x18 inches wide. I wanted them to be square, but this would work just as well if you used fat quarters.

Then I sewed all the squares together.

My mother in law helped me tie the quilt

Then I used a full size flat sheet for the backing. Which made the binding really easy

I just folded over the sheet and sewed it down. I know that is not the "proper" way to do things, but it works just fine for me.

Halloween Costume: Princess Frog DONE

My oldest decided this year that she wanted to be the Princess and the Frog with her sister.  Both of them being frogs. 

My oldest is Princess Tiana and my baby is going to be the prince. 

I used pattern McCalls Pattern M6185.

The pattern is really simple to follow along.  Most commercial patterns I have found are difficult to follow but this one was well written.

I did not make the feet that come with the pattern because I don't want them to ruin the entire costume because they get muddy and dirty from trick or treating in the rain or possibly snow.

The baby is getting a commercially made frog costume because it was cheaper than making one for her.

Essentials for Twitter

Do you Twitter? I do. Well kinda. I try, but mostly I forget about it. So this week I am going to ask you: do you twitter? How do you get motivated to twitter?

Oh, by the way my twitter can be found here

Check ME Out Saturday Week 39

Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to another week of check me out saturday!

Link up what you have been working on below

Blog Swap with Nap Time Creations

Hello to the readers of A Vision to Remember. I'm Emily and I blog/craft over at Nap Time Creations. I'm fairly new to the blogging world, but am loving all the sharing, tutorials and SUPER ideas I find every day. I'm a stay at home mom to two beautiful little boys (2 yrs and 4 weeks) and love crafting, sewing and creating. It gets tricky juggling it all sometimes, but I fit a lot into my days! At the moment most of my crafts are kid related, but I have ideas to make for myself as well... if I ever get to them...

Here are some of my favorite projects.

Please stop by and take a look and let me know what you think.

My two cuties in their homemade/handmade little/big brother shirts. Check out my site next week...I will be giving away the Little Sister baby version that I don't need...

I love making clothes for my kids. Especially when I can remake or recycle something else. This spring I was really into making summer PJs out of old shirts from my husband. They are now well worn and out grown!

Here are a few pages from the quiet books I made. When I was making them I found so many great ideas online. These pages are my original designs though.

I used to love to scrapbook, but I now take too many pictures and have too little time. When I need a paper craft fix, I now make cards. So handy and practical!

And finally I'll leave you with this great picture! I love fall and winter simply because I can knit hat, scarves and sweaters... bring on the chill!

Thanks to Bobbie for having me today and I look forward to seeing your comments when you stop by my site.

Thanks again Emily! All those projects look wonderful. If you are interested in swapping blogs with me please email me at boblyns at yahoo dot com!

Make sure to stop by tomorrow and link up what you have been working on at Check ME Out Saturday

Happy Birthday Honey! Football Rag Quilt

All my husband wanted for his birthday was a football quilt.
He is a huge Brett Favre fan. Hence the #4 on both sides. This blanket is a nice representation of his football love. Torn between 2 teams, the former Favre team (Green Bay Packers) and the current Favre team (Minnesota Vikings)
I will say that he has yet to use it. He was however impressed. I think. The direct quote from him is "I knew you were making it. I am a great detective. Its not quite what I was thinking."

Yes, I was trying to surprise him. Yes, he kinda designed it. No, I am not great at hiding things,

I used the Addy Mae Pattern found HERE

Essentials for Cleaning

image borrowed from here

Now I am not going to pretend that I have a clean house 100% of the time. I don't. I feel like 90% of the time my house looks like the above picture. Thankfully, I really know better that it is not that bad.

I hate cleaning. I put it off for as long as I possibly can.

I do like to be organized though.

Weird I know.

So when I do clean, here are the things that I HAVE TO HAVE to get the job done

Water:
I think this is the 1 most important element in cleaning. If you have water you can clean almost anything. It may be a little more difficult without some of the following tools, but one can always manage as long as you have water. At least that is my opinion.

Rags:
I like to have rags like this, but I know many people that use old clothing that they would have thrown away instead of wash rags. I like this type of rag because it holds in lots of water and it can scrub fairly nicely.

I use rags like this for many things like:

• cleaning bathrooms
• mopping floors
• wiping baseboards and walls
• cleaning out cupboards
• cleaning the fridge
• etc

I do keep my cleaning washrags separate from my rags that I use to clean my face.



Bucket:
When I am really doing a good cleaning job (like washing walls and floors and everything in between) I want to have a bucket next to me. That way I am not running to the sink in the bathroom or kitchen all the time and then dripping water back to where I was working at. It just makes life tons easier. One could also use a pot or a large bowl, but make sure to clean it really well before eating out of it later on.
I LOVE Windex. I have not really tried other window cleaners. Very rarely do I stick to a brand, but I have stuck to this brand.
I ALWAYS have an antibacterial cleaner handy. This is what I use to clean my bathrooms and kitchen counters. Everything just feels so much cleaner afterwards.
Vacuum:
Isn't this vacuum dreamy?!? I think I might actually vacuum everyday if it looked this good. But seriously, this is essential!


Broom:
Gotta have it. I use to to sweep the floor (obvious I know), but I also use it to get cobwebs down (yes I have them too) from the ceiling. My mom even defended herself from a mouse with one

Scrub Brush:
I love having a scrub brush to scrub the floors and the bathtub. They do a great job with those harder to clean jobs.

Now I think I have motivated myself enough to have a cleaning day. What do you use to clean?

Check ME Out Saturday Week 38

Welcome back to another week of Check ME Out Saturday. I decided to try something a bit differently this week. The two following links are the ones that were clicked on the most! They are both fun and pretty. Make sure to stop by their blogs and check them out.

The boy trifecta made this fun and pretty anthro inspired purse
The simpler life made this fun wreath from candy pumpkins


You know what to do...link up what you have been working on.

Also, I am looking for people to swap blogs with. Or if you don't have a blog but have a great tutorial that you would like to share. I have kinda been letting this part of my blog go and I REALLY miss that part of blogging. So if you are interested please email me at boblyns at yahoo dot com

How to Raw Edge Applique Tutorial

I love to raw applique. It is quick and easy and BEAUTIFUL. It can change the look of a quilt so quickly. I also raw applique clothing, baby bibs, receiving blankets, and tons of other items. Here are a few examples:

Pink and Brown Car Seat Tent
Football Blanket

Today I am going to show you how to raw applique:

This is a childrens art case. The pattern can be found HERE. My daughter loves it, but can you imagine how boring it would look without those fun little flowers sewn onto it?

First cut out your appliques. Make sure you use fabrics that will fray (like 100% cotton and flannels) other fabrics like minky will not fray but are still fun to use as an applique.

I have lots of appliques that I have uploaded for you to use for FREE HERE. Many of the appliques that I have come up with were pictures found online. Then I printed them off, cut them out and then cut out the fabric in the same shape. It works well. Just be careful not to pick designs that are too detailed because they will be hard to reproduce with a sewing machine.
Now pin your appliques onto your fabric. The flower applique that I am doing today will require the fabric to be sewn on in layers. The first layer is the leaves.

Now sew around the edge of the fabric appliques using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. You want the edges of the fabric to fray.

Now pin on the next layer of your applique. Which in my case is the first set of circles. Sew around the edge of them with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Then repeat with the remainder of your layers. Each time pinning them in place and then sewing around them.
Now you have a beautiful piece of fabric with some awesome appliques. Embellish as desired (I did with the buttons)

Then make sure to wash your item to make your fabric fray. The more you wash it the more frayed it will be.

All of the above patterns are available on SALE for 25% off right now in my Etsy shop. Check it out today