Well Hello June- I'll be in Indiana soon!

 HELLOOOOOOOO! So I unintentionally took May off of blogging. A lot of things have come due and I had to use every single moment to get things done in-between soccer, baseball, volunteering at the kids' schools, and running around like a mad woman AKA: being a MOM. Whoever said I was going to miss my kids being little, WAS RIGHT! Holy hannah, if anything having little kids made it that we stayed home and did more things around the house. Now it seems like we have about 2 milliseconds from the time the kids start walking in through the door from school and all the great programs they are in. No, please don't tell me I over schedule my child if I'm running around nuts…REMEMBER I HAVE FOUR OF THEM. So each one being involved in 1 maybe 2 things…is what I'm talking about. It makes me happy though, I actually enjoy looking at our schedule and trying to figure out how to get who where and then listen to what they did and learned. The school system we are a part of includes music into their program so each of my kids when they reach 5th grade get to pick an instrument they will learn (if they so choose to) so far we have a trumpet player (who is playing for the High School Marching Band next year!!!), a cello player, and we have just picked up a viola player with our 3rd son. Our daughter is the only one that hasn't picked an instrument…but she's already eyeing a few…So yes, I miss my days of little kids running around my ankles giving me an excuse to complain of no time to myself…but I'm loving the teen, preteen ages we have going on and watching them turn into little adults. Each one with their own personality and own talents. Very great and fun…but busy. :)

 This last month while I have been working a lot my peonies I planted three years ago finally bloomed.

The blooms got so large they drooped down to the ground, so I cut them and placed them in a mason jar and put them in the daughter's room. She got off the bus and screamed as she walked into the house that someone had taken our pink flowers, to which I told her to go to her room and check out where the pretty flowers went. She was very impressed with how pretty they made her room, and how pretty they smelled. It was a picture perfect kind of moment…and it needed to be documented because normally we are a hot mess of a story. :) 

NOW lets talk about some of the stuff coming up! This last month I got to help teach 8th graders in Family Consumer Science at my kid's schools, and then I got to teach 4th and 5th graders how to do "Quilt Math" and create a small quilt at my other kids' schools, I also got to speak to my local quilt guild, here in Cedar Rapids, about building a bridge between modern and traditional quilters…WHAT A FANTASTIC CRAZY MONTH OF TEACHING and TALKING. So lets keep the momentum going and lets announce that yours truly will be hanging out with some big guns in the quilting world first at the Shipshewana Quilt festival:

I will be doing a Workshop on how to make this lovely lucky stars table runner. Based off my quilt pattern.

Aside from teaching the table runner class, I'll also be demo-ing twisted flowers and this double edge dresden plate.
 I'll will also be on a panel with some other fantabulous women. Ami Simms, Mary Fons, Karen Eckmeier, Penny Haren, and Kathy Brown. All these women will be teaching and doing lectures as well. I'm Very excited! Please check out how to pre-register and all the other wonderful classes.

And then second I'm also teaching at:

 And I can't even list off all the talent that will be there! Too many!

 I have two workshops at QuiltCon One of them focusing on triangles. HST, Flying Geese, 60 Degree Ruler Triangles, Paper Pieced Triangles, and Wonky Triangles.

The second work shop will be all focused on Ombre fabrics, how to work with them and how to make them work in your quilts and projects. Fun will be had by all. 

Open Enrollment for the Feb 2015 schedule is here. 

Now if you don't mind me…I have to get back to a few lose ends and then we'll be able to talk some more. :) 

V and Co.: summer happenings

 we are in full swing summer mode over here.
our strawberries are growing and are super sweet, there's something incredibly cool about eating from your own yard. i miss our days in the middle of nowhere when we had an acre and had our raised beds of veggie's but strawberries make up for it as we could never really get strawberries in the middle of nowhere because they don't grow all that well up at 7000+ sea level. but we did try anyways.
so ofcourse seeing our plants do so well is pretty wonderful.

another fun surprise was seeing all my new patterns and my new fabric collection on the back cover of stitch mag super super happy to be on there.

 summer at our house means lots of activities one of them being scout camps of all sorts for the each of the three boys. so far two have gone on their week long adventures, one is left to do his two day hike later on this month.

i got to volunteer at the youngest boy's camp, and learn quite a bit about nature and archery. and other stuff. but i really liked those two. so all i heard of the other ones were "blah de be blah, animal care..blah de be blah blah cooking over a fire :)

 aurifil was in the house at Pineneedles Iowa this last week as well. i was asked to talk about how i use my aurifil thread collection in my projects and of course other aurifil thread as well. cause well, it's the only thread for me :) and i am kind of a snob when it comes to thread now.

i've mentioned my sewing machine has felt a little bit lonely this summer as i knew it would. i did get to sew on it a little bit this last week.
it.
felt.
great.
as i am getting a lot more of my hand sewing done that need some kind of machine work, i'll throw in a little time with the sewing machine when the kids go to bed.

but not too much because that's the only time when i get to see the husband these days.

he's been equally as (oh okay waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more)  busy as the kids and i.
he opened up (on top of working at the local private university) his own private practice. and is working a lot of hours trying to set up everything and making sure all wrinkles are ironed out.  (cause he's that kind of a person)
he's been able to make it home most nights for dinner and family time, but we try to work in a walk at night so we can catch up on the day's happenings and then after that we old farts get tired and get into bed.
he leaves as early as 4:30 in the morning or most mornings around 5:45.

needless to say. he's busy. we're busy.
we like to see each other and talk. so we make the time when we can. :)
pretty proud of him and all he's doing and also keeping his family as one of top priorities.
i'm blessed.

 so during the time in the day when i'm here and there between running around to scout camps, gymnastics, band and orchestra, and of course the pool i've been transporting with me and working on a few projects.

later this week (after the 4th of july fun we'll be having over here) i'll give you a few hints on how to work with tiny little hexagons using the english paper piecing technique.
there are tiny little boogers, but they sure are cute and i'll show you how i used them in a fun little project!

happy fourth of july week. we will continue on our summer mode, of family, pool, and add some grilling to the mix.

have i mentioned i love summers.
because i do.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: attracting pretty beetles

this house has a back yard.
this house's back yard is super bare.
it has nothing in it... and that includes trees, shrubs or patio furniture.

compared to our last backyards
this backyard is boring and really kind of sad.
i can almost hear it weep how sad it is.
over the next few decades (cause it's going to take us that long!) we would like to have a nice little backyard retreat, that will be a great place to BBQ and gather together as a couple and family.

and well this last weekend, i got the family started on that mission.
everyone was happy.<---just look at the husband's face, what? oh...yeah well he's happy inside. his face was just tired and didn't really reflect how he was REALLY feeling.
(he's going to laugh real hard when he sees that picture... well at least i am!)

we have such a long way to go in this yard, but it's okay. i think the kids actually kind of miss working in the yard together as a family. (they had equally tired faces, except for the that one pictured there)
we kind of had fun.
no really we did. :)

this tree is supposed to attract butterflies

so this time around we planted a few trees. three to be exact.
one of the trees is supposed to attract butterflies, (or so it says on the tag) and two are birches...which i was just told today, attracts some kind of beetle.
wha???
it didn't say that on the stupid tag.
honestly, i don't have a clue about this gardening zone, we're trying to figure stuff out, there are things out here that i've never seen grow back west, and there are some scary bugs that go with the gardening season out here as well...that i totally would much rather not have to deal with if i can. and of course i pick three trees, two of which attract a scary japaneese beetle of some sort...

well good news is the guy assured me that indeed it would attract the beetle BUT that it was a green, shiney, AND kind of pretty beetle.

yeah, i don't think so.
unless it can sing hey jude, or be one i can drive,  it aint a beetle i want to attract thank you very much.
sigh.
now how to break it to the husband that the happy maker he had to plant this weekend is going to bring us shiny PRETTY green beetles?
blarg.
i should stick to sewing.

the starts of our garden

so i've mentioned before that we live at the altitude of 7000+ feet.
gardening (and cooking) follow a whole different set of rules here from where the husband and i grew up... near ocean level.
because our growing time is shorter than most other places (it's been snowing the past few days..and we've been known to get snow in june even!) a few of the people around here (the serious gardeners) have some kind of outside green house. that's not in our budget at the moment, so i started researching indoor gardens.
this is intriguing but i am just wanting to make my growing season longer so that's why i started things early this time around.
last year we experimented just to see if we could even grow a garden.
we started late. but we still had quite the garden of zucchinis and peas.
this year i wanted more of what i knew my family would eat and eat and eat and eat.
MORE FRUIT and some vegies.

i love strawberries and so do my kids. if we had endless amounts of strawberries for each individual mentioned...we would all eat as many as we could and we wouldn't care about the runs we would all get because of it.

that.is.love.
of a fruit.
and we have it.
the husband likes them but not enough to give himself self induced runs.

we've already noticed a few growing. and it is not uncommon to hear in the midst of the chaos i like to call my home...somebody yelling out "i call that strawberry! that one's mine!!!" to which another one will be like "NO! that one's MINE!!! i called it like yesterday."
good times.

we also went to walmart and bought 2 of these little starter green houses. each cost us $5 each.

each comes with 72 individual pockets of soil for each little plant to grow.
we have cantaloupe, carrots, lettuce, watermelon, tomatoes, pumpkins, and peas.
no zucchini this year. because people door bell ditch it here in town. just kidding but you can't go to the post office without someone asking if you want peaches or zucchinis.

the kids are more excited then i expected. the boys think its cool that we are growing little chia pets...katie can't stop talking about the strawberries. i mean hello...that's what strawberry shortcake grows and one thing is for sure the girl loves strawberry shortcake.
we'll have a long(er) growing season this year. thanks to starting early this year. i really hope and cross my fingers that this will work out but in the mean time

we'll just have to keep waiting.


v and co loves her sponsors check out the fat quarter shop!

on the 12th day of canning

my apple trees gave to me:


12 jars of apple pie filling (find recipe here)

11 jars of apple butter (find recipe here)
10 sticky fingers
9 cans of apple sauce (find recipe here)
8 new ways to use swear words
7 nights of hard sleeping

6 apple dumplings (find my sis in law HEATHER'S recipe here)
5 more apple fillings!
4 happy kids
3 apple turnovers
2 sore feet

and a wonderful home made apple pie!!!!

*****************************************************************************
after doing all of this i also got a box full of plums from a friend, i made plum raspberry jam, and plain plum jam...then another lady gave me a box full of peaches...where i accidentally left them behind at another friends' house.
i have caller id, i'm not answering my phone when it's her.
totally kidding.
i answered it and told her to do what she wants with them...
she gave them to another friend of ours.
i'm locking my doors and closing my blinds in hopes that i don't get any more fruit of ANY kind.

i'm so over canning...and so happy it only comes once a year.

i'm so ready to get back to sewing.
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last weekend

we got to do a few things as a family...and we worked pretty hard.


first, we picked our apples from our trees in our back yard.


and that picture doesn't show all of the apples we picked!
yeah, i'll be up to my armpits canning apple pie filling this coming week.

then we went on a scenic drive out to get some fire wood.
with fall here, and winter knocking (or is it mocking) on our door, mr. v and co. got his permit to get us some wood.
at one point i had all the kids gathering up pinecones...but mainly i kept katie occupied picking up one at a time.

oh...you betcha there's a craft right around the corner with those babies.
come back tomorrow and i'll show you.

blame it on the salsa sewing

last week i ran into a couple of my friends in our grocery store who were getting the final ingredients to make salsa with the tomatoes that they had grown.
"we have a LOT!" i mentioned they better share their wealth.
then i was on the phone with another friend another day and i asked her "what's the plan for the day?" she answered "I'M MAKING SALSA!"
that's when i got a little mad at myself for not planting salsa making ingredients. i guess there's always next year.
as i walked past my super unorganized fabric shelf (on the list to be organized...sometime this week if i'm motivated if i have time) i noticed my reds, greens, and yellows. mmmmm...those look like salsa.
huh...THOSE LOOK LIKE SALSA!
and hence my own homemade tomato was born.
and then....
i saw my oranges....

well what do you know? tomatoes made a little bigger look really cute as pumpkins.

talk about a slippery slope of events.

yes, before you ask. tutorial in the works, so you all can make your own home made garden fresh harvest.

um? what the...!!!

does anyone need some zucchini?

i think i might have a little extra

you should of heard all the "that's what she said" jokes that were flying all over the place.

edited: lovely miss cheryl has posted a yummy chocolate zucchini bread just because she wanted to help me out!

and thanks to all of you that keep telling me of ways to use them.

***my MOST FAVORITE way is to check for unlocked cars and leave some in the back seat. BAHAHA! ! love that!

edited edited again!: you guys rock out loud with all the recipes! will do a post later on next week with links and recipe's! whoot!

my house needs serious attention.

the first frost hit last night,

so i have all my apples to pick.

i have my hands in so many new projects,

some i can show,

a few i cant.

i need to take a little blogging break.

but i promise to come back monday.

good eats from the garden

this post is mainly for my organic eating, healthy living, excersing, just recently cell phone using, hispanic, spitfire of a mother...first off to wish her a happy birthday, but also so verify that once again i am taking good care of her grandchildren and making them eat things that aren't fully processed comes out of an aerosol can and looks fluorescent orange. can i just say one thing here?

i have peas coming out of everywhere. i mean it, i haven't been this regular in years.

had i known how many stinkin' peas i would get from one plant let alone two whole damn rows of plants i probably would of re-thought how many of those little boogers i put into the ground.

we planted two kinds:

"early frostys" (which the kids and i just sit and pick and eat right then and there)

and "oregon sugar pods" (which i currently can't keep up with and find myself swearing every time i go out there to go pick some more...i mean how many ways can i steam and saute these blasted things?)

so see mom your grand kids are eating super healthy and are super regular.

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pleated ruffle and smocking

i've been doing some custom orders as of late.
those kind of stress me out.
see, it's easier to make something up, like it and then present it...
have others like and ta-da! all is good.
then it's another thing to have someone want something, give you material have an idea of what they want or even better say "i trust you" and then let you go to town.
in this picture i was responsible of making up 2 pillow shams (and bind the quilt, and make a decorative pillow that was gathered...not shown.)

what i came up with was the "pleated ruffle" small enough to give it some femininity but not over power it with too much ruffle.

when i saw the quilt i thought that if i did anything that would compete with it, it would turn out to be too much. i try to take into consideration the person i'm making things for. she's "ruffle-y" but not too much. :)

i wonder what i would be...in the ruffle dept?a few of you asked how i got katie's 4th of july dress done so fast...
as much as i would love to take credit for the smocking on katie's dress...i cannot.

but that's good news, cause that means that there is pre-smocked fabric out there (mine was from walmart...remember out in the middle of nowhere that's all i got)
and all i did was while in the store, wrap the fabric around katie and then told the attendant to cut it right where i needed it. came home sewed it up (not needing to measure or cut anything because i did it at the store already!) then i took left over ribbon and sewed them on for straps. super fast and seriously took about 4 minutes.
i'm keeping my eye out for more of that kind of fabric because seriously, sooo cheap and soo cute and sooo okay if it gets raggedly worn out. total for the dress was (including ribbon) $3

in other news...

the garden is a growing

we've had unseasonably cold weather out here

but...

we have little white flowers

and that means yummy pickings

soon.

not bad for two sea level city folk wetting their feet of the country life gardening above 7000 ft.