Thursday, August 28, 2008

Help Choose The Winner!!! 3 Finalists Announced!

Ok, here they are- the 3 finalists for the Cool Weather Clothing Crochet Pattern Contest. Take a look at all three and then place your vote in the comments section under THIS post. Feel free to make suggestions for colors on your favorite pattern- If it wins, I might use your color and or yarn selection! You can place your vote through September 10th.



Entry #1: Hooded Coat from Romantic Looks Crochet





Entry #2: Classic Trench Coat from Modadea.com





Entry #3: Trendy Top from 24 Hour Crochet
****I should note that if this one was chosen, I thought I might do one of a two things: add sleeves and sew up middle; or wear over long sleeve shirts. Feel free to add your own thoughts if you choose this one.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Pineapple Outfit



















I got my entries back from the county fair this morning, so I was able to get some pics of my daughter's outfit from this weekend. The top is a design from http://www.mylittlecitygirl.com/ and she has other wonderful top designs to crochet. The pants were my idea- I hemmed a pair of pants to be capris and added some crochet appliques to make a flower design. Both top and pants are beaded. I bought enough yarn so I can undo it next summer, add more of the pineapple motifs and crochet the white and green trim back on the top so it can be worn again. Heck if I'm going to do all that work to have her wear it once!!






Tuesday, August 26, 2008

School's In Session!

Yesterday was our first day of homeschool and it went well. It's a pretty full day and then we went to my youngest son's soccer practice, followed by my husband purchasing hay and loading it into the barn (oldest son helped with that).

I had hoped to have back my things from the fair, mostly because I wanted back the mannequin so I can post pics of the outfit my daughter wore Friday night to the rehearsal dinner. I was so pleased with it! She hated getting into it because the back is kind of complicated to tie and 23 month olds are NOT known for their ability to stand still....

We had a wonderful weekend. It's the last of the weddings from this generation on that side of the family. I think my children thought they were Zach and Cody, the 2 brothers who live in a hotel. They loved staying at the hotel!

Anyway, I need to get school started- we have another full day ahead of us. We are studying Indians and Explorers to North America among other things and it's a lot of fun to read to the boys!

I'll try to get the final entries for the contest posted with pics for you to judge in the next 24 hours. I was up exercising at 11 pm last night and just too tired!!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Pinch Me!!!!


I can't believe it! ALL of my crocheted items placed!!!! The Upsy Daisy Poncho took 2nd place in its class, my daughter's Christmas Dress also placed 2nd in its class, and the Swimsuit took FIRST PLACE!!! WOO HOO!!! Below are pics of them with their ribbons. By the way, while my chocolate chip pie didn't place, the Molasses Sugar cookies placed 2nd. Wow, 4 out of 5 entries placed. I just can't believe it. And while I ended up enjoying a pretzel dog at the fair, I did some extra walking at the ballfield to make up for it. Just a great day!

Another Fitness Milestone For Me!

I finally reached a big fitness milestone- I did a mile in 11:28 minutes! That's my best time ever! I really didn't think I'd get under 12 minutes during this challenge, but I did. Yea me. I started off with 4.5 mph, which is the fastest I've ever started and reached 6.7-6.8 mph at the end of the first mile. For the 20 minutes, I ended up doing 1.57 miles which is just awesome for me. The ultimate goal is to do 2, 10 minute miles and I would be absolutely shocked if I reached that before the end of this challege!

Well, I'm off to shower and then we are going to the fair to see how my entries did. Please, DON'T expect any ribbons- I saw alot of my competition last night and I don't stand a chance, but that's ok. It was fun just to enter things in the fair. My oldest has soccer practice this evening so the kids will be eating dinner at the fair (this is our one night to go), and I'll be toting my protein bar and diet pepsi. Boy, I live on the edge, don't I?

I'll write more about the fair this evening.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

What A Great Day!

The children are all tucked in their beds, with visions of their new Toys R Us gift cards dancing in their heads....

Today was the big birthday party for both our boys. The oldest is 10 and the youngest will be 7 in a few weeks. Our baby girl has her 2nd birthday next month.

The day started off with me cantoring for morning mass. I get so nervous now- never used to, but I think it's different singing for a community of friends. Singing for church is different than anything else. It's just NOT about you. It's about serving - leading your community in song with out standing out. That's a hard line to stay on the right side of, but messing up every other time helps keep you humble :) Today was a good day and I was really pleased.

The party was just wonderful. My dear italian grandmother who is 94 attended. This was her first visit to our farm and I loved having her here, as did the rest of my family. We had a great round of ghost stories!! The boys had all their favorite friends, including the children they'll homeschool alongside with this year. Our daughter had her friend at the party and planning their birthdays will be quite the task. They were born the same day! We have to make sure they can be at each other's parties!

My husband and I had some great conversations with friends (parents of the children) and family. Just a great day all around.

Well, back to the grindstone. What is this, week 5 already? I have a wedding at the end of the week and we 1/2 school days going on- not to mention baking tomorrow for the fair. We're going to take the crochet and baking items over tomorrow afternoon. A friend told me that judging might actually be on Tuesday so we might have to head over there Tuesday afternoon! Wish me luck! Pics to be posted end of the week and hopefully the final picks for the contest will be up to show you by end of the week!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Quick Update...

I'm getting my children ready for soccer practice (although we have a thunderstorm moving in so I don't know if it's really going to happen), but I wanted to take a minute to update you on the contest and other bits of news. First, the contest. I'm waiting to hear from one contestant who entered an entire book. I need her to narrow it a bit down for me! :) I'm going to give her a few more days to respond. In the meantime, I'm looking through the choices and narrowing them down to a few that I'll let you decide through a poll.

Secondly, I don't know if I am looking better, but boy, do I feel better. I have more energy, and I feel like I'm going somewhere with this program. Free day is going to be my sons' birthday party on Sunday. Can't wait!!

Lastly, I entered 3 crocheted items into our county fair!! The Hot Mama Swimsuit, The Upsy Daisy Poncho, and my daughter's Christmas dress. I also entered a Chocolate Chip pie and my husband's grandmother's Molasses Sugar cookies. They have to be taken to the fair grounds on Monday. I won't know how I did until the weekend of the 23rd. Wish me luck! Oh no, lightening, gotten run!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Oops...Week 4!

Sorry about that! I missed a week check in- it's very easy to get sidetracked in this house! I just got off the treadmill, smiling ear to ear. I hit a milestone this evening. I ran a 12 minute mile! That's a minute and 15 seconds LESS than my previous best time!!!! I managed to maintain a 5.5 mph for 5 minutes and then kicked it up to 6.1 mph and RAN AS FAST AS I COULD!!!! It felt great! Did I just say that?

The friend that I'll be homeschooling with is actually not starting her school year until September so she can get all of her unfinished projects completed. There is ALOT of wisdom in that approach and with swimming two mornings a week and speech therapy once a week for my youngest ds, we have alot of interruptions to our day. Soccer season just started this week, with my oldest ds having practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays and my youngest ds will ofcourse have practice on Mondays and Wednesdays. I mean, they couldn't possibly have practice on the same nights and make my life easier, right? Oh well, I'll use the time for extra walking sessions.

I have completed all of the motifs for dd's top and am now attaching them. After that, it's just trim work and beading. I need to make sure the motif layout is going to fit her properly and not be too big.

I've only had a few entries into the contest. I'll make a decision on Monday, so you have until then! If you haven't entered, now's the time!!