Lola...again

Really!

2011-05-03T20:57:00.000-06:00

I'm not dead....I just feel like it!

Quilt Market preparations are in full swing.

My studio is abuzz with

Cutting,

Sewing,

Stapling,

Painting,

and Paper Mache-ing!

I can't show you the projects I'm working on yet....

but, I will give you full coverage of the fun

at International Quilt Market, Spring 2011!

soon

Boys...

2011-01-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

I have been a Mom for almost 16 years now. I really thought that I had seen and heard everything!
Recently, however, I have found myself uttering (sometimes at very high volume) the strangest things and being forced to create new family rules.

Let me give you an example- Sunday, right after Church, we had to make a new family rule....

"No break-dance head spins in the living room especially while wearing your church clothes." I thought that was a common sense thing, but apparently not.

Another is -
"No fart wars in the house...or out of the house. ever. I Mean It!" Boys are really strange animals.
How about-
"No peeing in the garbage can next to the toilet just because you can." ew.
I could go on for hours, but I'll spare you.

In the last 15 minutes I have had to say-
"Stop making out with the dog!"
"Get your face out of the bowl."
"Don't hold there."
"Flush!"
"What is that smell?"
"Why? Why?"

Thanks for The Dream

2011-01-16T18:38:00.001-07:00

"I have a dream that one day...."

".... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."
Martin Luther King Jr.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dog Christmas Stocking

2010-12-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

I just made this

for her first Christmas.

It is very simple.

3 layers of felt-

1 white bone

2 larger red bones

Stitched together and embellished with green felt accents.

She's waiting for Santa to bring treats now.

I'm not dead yet.

2010-12-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hi!
I'm back.
I'm really not sure what happened to the last several months. It seems that they were sucked into a very deep sewing black hole.......
From the pre-market patterning void of no return, to stitching for market, to costuming the High School production of Les Miserable...with a cast of 47....playing multiple parts...it was huge!

So, instead of doing a long wordy re-cap, I thought that I would just put up a few pictures (I only took a few).

This is our booth at Quilt Market. It wasn't an ugly booth...just an ugly picture of a cute booth!

We got a puppy. Her name is Georgie. I love her!

She's a Shih Tzu.

This is the reason I did costumes for Les Mis. Her Name is Jessica. I love her too!

(even though she can be a Shih tzu at times too!)

These are the "Lovely Ladies".

The Thenardiers..

Marius and Cosette

The workers and Fantine

Val Jean and Fantine the prostitute.

...random photo of me and Betz White with facial hair.

(I took this picture from The Creative Connection blog I think)

I hope to get back to regular blogging now that I have done an abridged catch up post.

I've missed coming here. It's a pretty nice place!

Post Pin Pin Post

2010-11-05T21:01:00.000-06:00

So
I know I've been absent from the blog for a long time.
Quilt Market in Houston kind of took a chunk of my life.
If you were wondering about the pin
Check out this AMAZING post by my bud Julie
about one of my Best Days EVAH.....courtesy of the incredible
LIZZY HOUSE.

Road Trip

2010-10-16T21:36:00.002-06:00

This story begins many moons ago,

when I was just a young pup, in college.

One lovely day, whilst sitting in my Art History class, the teacher taught us about an Earthwork Sculpture in Utah. This sculpture, by artist Robert Smithson, is called the Spiral Jetty.

While Smithson's other artwork was a little too freaky-deaky for me, I fell in love with the Spiral Jetty. The thoughts of earth made into an art piece that was constantly changing, constantly being acted upon by nature and man, struck me.

Over the years (and years...and years) I have often looked at pictures of the jetty. It was built during a drought in the 70's and then was submerged for 30-ish years when the lake returned to normal. Some of those years it was difficult to see.

Last week we heard a news report that many of the boats at the Great Salt Lake were stuck at the docks because the water level was so low. I looked at Jeff (who knew about the Jetty because I MADE him know) and he knew that it was time.

This morning we loaded up our little (HA!) family and headed out on our grand adventure.

Jeff had looked it all up, printed off maps, and planned the day.

First was the 2 and 1/2 hour drive to Promontory Point to the Golden Spike museum.

The museum was pretty cool! Not only because of the history involved, but because it had the only Restrooms for about 40 miles.

The Spiral Jetty was about 15 or so miles from the museum, but it takes you about 45 minutes to get there. You start off driving on a nicely paved road that quickly turned into a gravel road, then a partly graveled road, to a dirt road with softball sized rocks and dried mud holes.

The last stretch of the drive is a dirt "road" with giant basalt rocks on each side, and in the middle of the road.

We had to put the SUV into 4-wheel drive!

It was nearly puke inducing.

When I caught my first glimpse of the sculpture I teared up.

Teen daughter mocked me.

There wasn't any water near it. White, hard, dry salt flats surrounded the black spiral.

In the center of the Spiral

we made our own little sculpture.

It was hard to get a family pic because the sun reflecting off of the surrounding salt flats was blinding!

Salt-teen

Amazing!

Love, Jana

Hedgie Applique

2010-09-09T11:09:00.000-06:00

Go here to learn how to make this.

(The appliqué, not the baby)

On Pins, and Emergency Rooms

2010-09-08T11:12:00.000-06:00

The Summer after my Sophomore year at SUU I worked my first year as a stitcher for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. It was amazing! I was working with professionals in my field of choice, and learning so much from them. The best part was that I was also working with my bestie Jared.

(I'm on the right)

Jared was, and still is, AMAZING! His design sketches were works of art, and the costumes he made....sigh!

I vividly remember watching him one day during the build of a show. He was at his machine, designers baby on one knee, sewing like a bat out of H3!! . He prided himself on the number of pins he didn't use. He could do anything, beautifully....without pinning!

For a long time I tried to be like him. Scant on the pins. Worked OK for some costumes, not so good on others.

That was 20 years ago and things have changed significantly! I no longer sport a permed 80's coif, either does Jared, and I love pins! I buy the pretty ones with the girly colored pearl heads. They hold everything in place so neatly.

That is, I loved them...... UNTIL......THE EVENT!!!

Last night, while innocently Tweeting and pinning a skirt, I stuck a pin in my mouth for a second....well, I was going to stick it in my mouth when it jumped down my throat! SERIOUSLY!!

It happened SO fast, and then it was gone. I swallowed a pin! Me. A 40 year old woman of 6 kids that is always yelling "Don't put that in your mouth! You might swallow it and then we'd have to take you to the hospital!"

I didn't want to go to the hospital! Everyone said I should...pooh. We went to the Emergency Room.

Lucky for me it was a fairly slow night there. We got right in. We had lots of attention (most of them couldn't figure out how you swallow a pin).

Had X-rays. Found the pin in my stomach. They called me out to see the X-ray. I didn't realize that you could see my underwire, hooks on my bra, rivets, and zipper. I got a kick out of it!

So, I'm thinking that they are going to tell me to go home, and let things work...themselves...out.

Nope. No such luck.

The ER Doc called the GI. The GI wanted to go in after it...............Doh.................... So they needed to do a Lavage to clear out my stomach.
Lavage. Isn't it such a pretty sounding word? Lavage... like Massage.

Note: these two words have nothing in common.

If you don't know what an NG tube is, and have never had one put in...be glad. The Nurse tried to warn me that it was the worst thing that they have to do in the ER.

This is what it is like, but with coughing and gagging.
The Lavage is pumping water in through the tube, and then sucking everything back out.

The GI arrived and I was taken for a scope.
(This is the happy part of the story)
They Gave Me Sleepy-Happy meds!
When I woke up they told me.............................
They didn't find the pin. Boo!

I was sent home to hopefully...... work things out on my own (sorry)
I get to go and have a couple more X-rays to make sure it is moving along. If not, or if it pokes or tears anything.....surgery. Bleh!

The moral of this very long story is
Don't Put Pins in Your Mouth!

Pink = Good (mostly)

2010-08-29T20:21:00.000-06:00

Nature makes pretty pinks.

I've always thought that Flamingo's are divine. I'd love to wear pink feathers too.

Little piggies with soft gooey noses.

And who knew that dolphins came in pink too.

Did you know that nature also made some uncool pinks too...

Don't want to meet him in a dark corner...

..or anywhere else either!

Kitty

2010-08-22T17:49:00.000-06:00

Thanks Friends!

Your encouragement, support, and love is better than a

Kitten Hug.

...fail?

2010-08-19T21:22:00.000-06:00

We were given a manila envelope and told to fill out all of the paperwork inside before his next appointment in 3 weeks. I sat down that very night armed with a pencil and a Diet Coke. This shouldn't be hard. Just answer the questions.

"Distracted by external stimuli?"

"Often leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected?"

"Often does not follow through instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions)"

"Poor performance in Schoolwork."

"Careless..." "Impulsive..." "Disorganized..." ..trouble focusing.." "difficult.." "Mean spirited..."

"Moody..."

I answered all of the questions on 3 or 4 different forms. I sat back, relieved... for a moment. Then I looked at what I had done...spent hours judging my son. Picking his behavior apart. Saying that he was not perfect. That our family is not perfect. That I am a bad Mom. I mean, shouldn't I have been able to fix this? I saw ADHD in him years ago. I talked myself out of it, "He's just being a kid."

We sat in the Doctors office today for 2 hours while he made his diagnosis. He was VERY thorough!

In the end he gave us the diagnosis. Explained the reason why his brain works this way. Gave us choices in how to proceed. We left the office with one excited 6 year old (he can't wait to start taking his pills), samples of medication, (and prescription for more) and a sense of relief. A Dr. had finally confirmed it.

Not even an hour had passed before I got the biggest lump in my throat.

What had I done?

What had I done wrong?

I had failed my son. My son that I had worked so hard to protect.

For years after he came to live with us I was afraid to speak to him harshly, or discipline him because I felt so guilty that he had lived in an Orphanage for 15 months. Maybe that is where I had failed him.

I love this boy. He is precious. He is perfect.

This is not his fault, and I know

it is not my fault either.

Why do I still feel like it is?

Think Pink

2010-08-15T18:13:00.000-06:00

Photo Via

I have a brand new goal in life. That's right! My old goal of being a Gold Medalist in Rag Time Interpretive Jazzercise has been dumped big time!
My new goal in life is to try to collect every cute sewing machine on the planet.
I'm a little obsessed with looking for them on ebay, and in the classifieds.
Now the trick to this goal is going to be getting the machines into the house without my husband ever finding out.
Serious!
He wouldn't understand.
Gotta cute sewing machine (preferably pink) that you are trying to rid yourself of? Give me a call!

Tree fall

2010-08-05T07:34:00.000-06:00

Had a little storm last night.

I couldn't sleep because of all of the thunder and crashing noises. It really didn't seem to bother any of the rest of the family though, they all slept right through it!

We lost one of our big-er Quakies. Breaks my heart because it takes so long for trees to grow.

The storm was strong enough to blow down trees,

but not strong enough to blow any of the kids toys out of the yard.

Recovery

2010-08-03T11:03:00.001-06:00

I've been wanting a Wing Back chair for a long time!

I saw this beauty at a yard sale and picked it up for a mere $30!

It was in pretty good shape and matched the room fairly well, but I wanted to test out my Re-upholstery skills that I picked up from blog land.

They make it look so easy and fun to take an old piece of furniture and make it new an gorgeous.

I have to admit that it was NOT as easy as I thought it would be, but it was fun...in the end.

I have a few tips I'm going to share in case you ever decide to re-cover your furniture.

The first thing you need to do is collect the right tools.

I used a staple gun, pliers, and a hammer. The Legos, baggy of Fruity Dinobites, and mini-football helmet are optional (but necessary if you have a 3 year old assistant)

You will also need plenty of fabric. This project took almost 6 yards because I wanted to match up the pattern...I'm a little OCD like that.

I also used some thick poly-batting to freshen up the foam.

The most important tool, in de-construction, was a flat head screw driver.

Be prepared to make a huge mess. I pulled out 10,000 staples I swear!

Try to pay attention to the order that you take things apart. That is the way you will have to put it all back together. I took a marker and marked each piece as I took it off so that I would know where to put it back.

Tearing it apart was MUCH harder than I thought. I ended up gouging chunks out of my thumb a couple of times. So, I guess that Band-aids are another necessary tool too!

It took me about a day and a half from start to finish, but I am very happy with how it turned out!

Not to shabby for $60-ish!

I had to add a little nail head trim to the sides because they wouldn't lay as flat as I wanted them to.

I think it looks pretty cool though.

Here are the before and after pictures.

Now, back to work on school clothes and stuff. I have been working on Appliquéing some shirts for my Macy using Izzy & Ivy's Abbie Appliqué pattern. Hopefully I'll be able to show them off later this week.

Have you done any furniture makeovers? I'd love to see how they turned out!

Shark!

2010-07-25T20:04:00.000-06:00

We are home from Vacation!!!!!

Here are a few of the Highlights of our trip-

- We went swimming.

Danny loved riding the shark and attacking everyone in the pool

Shopping at the Outlets.

Every time we walk into Old Navy my kids pose with the mannequins.

Kind of cute, kind of annoying...draws a crowd.

Swimming again!

Dare devil with his constant near drowning tricks.

Teen sitting in the Hot Tub looking cool.

Jeff took the kids hiking. He does this every year.

He is insane, but I love him.

Those kids are not all mine. 3 are my sibs kids.

Camera timer....Jeff's in the picture now.

More swimming......

The kids dress in the condo's robes and slippers.

They are so cool!

My kids are such dorks! They take after me!

They make me laugh like crazy.

Hope

2010-07-16T08:11:00.000-06:00

My Hopes for Today- (Day before Vacation)

*That the laundry will be done.
For Henrys sake! I have been doing laundry all week to get ready for vacation, and it is STILL not even close to being finished.

*That the bags will magically pack themselves!
The kids always want to help pack their own bags, but when they do we end up on vacation with
a bag of toys,
a couple of miss matched outfits,
and NO socks or undies.

*That I won't be distracted by the sewing machine, or the Internet.
(FAT chance of that one happening!)

*That Jeff won't make us stay up all night to get the house spotless clean.
We can't leave the house unless everything is in order. It's an ocd thing.

* That there will be world peace.
I always hope for that!

Two Cool Tute's

2010-07-08T20:54:00.001-06:00

Two cool tutorials I found while surfing.

Slippers at The Creative Maven

Easy Headband tutorial by Blue Bird Studio

Twins?

2010-07-06T18:55:00.000-06:00

Uncle Rico

Neanderthal Man

just sayin'

......ew......

2010-07-03T21:56:00.000-06:00

My baby (3 year old) has boarded the Potty Train.
Today he wore "Unner Wears".

I found this really freaky Japanese potty training video. It is funny and very odd.
Enjoy!

Eat Cake

2010-06-28T10:36:00.000-06:00

I went to bed last night

(the same way I always do)

except this time,

when I awoke,

I was

40.

For Real.

And the funny thing is

I am happy,

loved,

and so blessed.

Eat Cake today

and be happy!

Keeping it Real

2010-06-27T19:34:00.000-06:00

My Dad always says,

"You have to suffer to be beautiful,

and you are going to have to suffer a lot in your life!"

I don't want to suffer alone anymore....

I think that you all should suffer too!!!

*Insert evil laugh here*

This is the face of an

Un-Natural Blondie.

You are welcome to use this photo to scare the mice away from your garage or basement.

The Nielson Peeps!

2010-06-26T22:49:00.000-06:00

We finally got our family pictures taken.

In our last picture we only had 4 kids.

I Know! Bad Lola!

Here we are!

Lola and Lego hair man.

Jessie, 15

Smith, 12

Macy, 9

Brig, 7

Tay, 6

and Danny, 3.

I love my little herd.

I never really thought I'd have 6 kids,

but now I can't comprehend living without any of them!

Pictures by Amy Harrison Photography.

Amy was super to work with too.

Sweet Sleep

2010-06-23T20:46:00.000-06:00

Using this as a linen spray before I make the bed each morning.

Love it!

Bath and Body Works

Punishments

2010-06-22T22:30:00.000-06:00

Why.
I, in and emotional moment today, told the kids that tomorrow we will be cleaning all day
and they can't have friends over,
or play on the computer..
or do anything else that might be fun.
And I am sure we will eat Non-sugar cereal for breakfast,
and have the off brand of Mac-N-Cheese for lunch.
And we will probably only get to watch PBS,
and listen to easy listening radio.
And I will not use fabric softener in the laundry so their towels will be scratchy
and I'll take a long hot shower before bed so that theirs will be luke warm.
Then I'll lick my lips before I kiss them goodnight...ew!

all because they said Mom
in that tone of voice
too many times today.

Why did I punish myself.

Crisis Averted

2010-06-16T21:48:00.001-06:00

Dear Friends,
Do you remember last year when I thought I was turning 40,
and my sister commented on my blog to tell me that I was only turning 39?
That was funny huh?

NO! It wasn't! It was the first time I realized that I was losing my mind.
ALREADY!

MID-LIFE had arrived, and I didn't even know it!

Crisis set in!

And I have taken full advantage of it!
All year long, whenever I have done something crazy, strange, or a little off..(frequently)

I have blamed it on my Midlife Crisis, and people seem to accept it.

It has been very empowering to do things that I have always wanted to do,

( but never dared, )

and fall back on this mid-life scape goat.

So, in the year before I turned 40 I-

-Bought jeans that are NOT "Mom" jeans.

-Worked on Building my dream business, and learned to allow myself to succeed, and more importantly- how to fail....and keep going.

-Dyed my hair, Bleached my hair.

-Fell in love with pretty shoes....bought them, and wore them!

-Loved my Family even more.

-Made new friends and finally met old friends.

- and 100 other equally important (yet much less interesting) things.

I'm NOT afraid of 40!
I'm happy!
My life is very blessed, and I am VERY thankful!

Thanks to all of you that have become such a big part of my life. Thanks for the laughs, encouragement, and your support through the hard times.
I love you!

A Brady at last!

2010-06-06T14:43:00.000-06:00

via http://www.astronomy-pictures.net/cool_space_pictures.html

A long long time ago...In a galaxy far far away
I was a little girl, and I loved to watch The Brady Bunch.

Because I am the youngest of 3 girls ( I have 2 little brothers too) I always imagined that I was Cindy Brady.

She was so cute with her little pig tails, and her Kitty Karry-all doll (remember her?) She never got into trouble. That was me!

When I got a little older I could relate a little better with Jan Brady.

Poor, tortured Jan.

The goofy middle child that never got any attention because of her older sister Marcia. MARCIA (say it like Seinfeld says, "Newman") I even had the long blonde hair. To this very day I still can't stand the chick that played Marcia. (Blows a raspberry with tongue!)

Happily, I have grown up, and I dont' have time for such nonsence.
Why, I would never spen hours trying to compare myself to someone on TV? So silly!

But...If I were to pick a TV Mom to be....

It wouldn't be Michelle Duggar. I have long since forgotten the fine art of Big Bangs.

I don't think I could wear Denim jumpers every day, and Jim Bob gives me the heebie jeebies.

I wouldn't Be Kate + 8.

That is some bad hair right there! I know that I wouldn't have survived 6 kids that were all the same age, and I would have murdered John early in season one because of that stupid look he has on his face all of the time.

I thoughtfully considered being Mrs. Partridge.

She has stylin' clothes, funky kids,

and the worlds most AWESOME van.

But...she also had Mr. Kincade. EW!

So, of course, I would be Mrs. Brady.

Carol was the height of fashion.

She had 6 kids but she also had Alice to do the cooking, the cleaning, and to say all of the funny lines. Carol got to go to the amusement park, and Hawaii.

She also got to wear pretty flowing nightgowns, and sleep in the lt blue master bedroom with the funky Cosmic wall paper.

Pretty sure I could be Carol

What do you think?

(Thanks, Happy Zombie! Your Photoshop skills have me the woman I always wanted to be!)

Sunday Service Project

2010-06-06T10:09:00.000-06:00

Looking for something to do today?

Check out Craft Hope and help with the oil clean up.
Make sure you read through all of the article, you don't have to even be crafty to help. I'm getting out the old towels, sheets, and kids tee shirts to cut into 10 x 10 rags.

Eclipse

2010-06-03T10:39:00.000-06:00

Which team are you on? Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Are you undecided?

Colton's Angels and Borto Deseret Orphanage

are hosting the biggest party of the Movie going season...

ECLIPSE

We have reserved one theater for the

MIDNIGHT SHOWING

on June 30th 12:01 am.

Tickets are $30 which includes-

Movie showing with a fun group of friends,

Concessions gift card to help with your munchies,

Cool gift from us,

Fabulous door prizes,

and a donation to 2 great charities!!

The University Cinemark in Orem Utah!!

Tickets are NOW available for purchase by calling

Vicki, Joanna, or Angie at 801-423-1876

or send an email to-

coltonsangels@gmail.com

A Dollah

2010-06-01T08:49:00.000-06:00

It's Summer!

(Photo that has nothing to do with this post, but isn't it cute? It is me meeting Happy Zombie and Pam Kitty Morning at market! I love them!)

.....anyway, Summer!

We started our Memorial weekend with a tooth pulling.

Tay, my 6 year old, insisted!

The tooth wasn't loose, but there was a tooth growing behind it (weird).

I had tried pulling it with my super strong pincher fingers.

No go.

So Dad tied a string around it and tied the other end to the door knob.

Smith (12) slammed the door and.....

the string broke!

EPIC tooth pulling FAIL!

They tied another string to the tooth. Dad stood in the corner, holding Taylor securely in place. Smith slammed the door.

You could hear the tooth ricochet around the entry way.

Tay said "ow".

At 5 am the next morning, Memorial Day (a day for sleeping in) Taylor came running down the hall and into our bedroom,

"Dad, da toof fairy brought me a dollah!"

She really brought 2, but it's hard to count at the OH MY HOLY CRACK OF DAWN!

What did you do to kick off Summer?

Two for Thursday

2010-05-27T15:43:00.000-06:00

1- I am all giddy because I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Mod Kid Boutique,

and as I scrolled through the pictures,

I saw ME....3 times.

Of course it was at the Cake party, I always hang out around food.

2- Kids got out of school today. Within one short hour the whole world had ended. I hope we will ever see the bright light of day again. sigh

My Quilt Market experience throught the eyes of my Blackberry photos because I didn't have time to take real pictures of anything.

2010-05-25T17:19:00.000-06:00

We are finally home from Quilt Market 2010.

It was an amazing, awesome, fun filled adventure!

Unfortunately, I am reporting it through the eyes of phone's camera because I never had time to take real pictures.

Here we go!

My knees at the SLC airport where we spent the afternoon after our flight was cancelled and we were moved to another flight 3 hours later. BORING!

See that darling bag in the front of the picture? That is the awesome bag that my friend

Stephanie Secada made just for me to take to market. It went everywhere with me, and we got tons of compliments! Thank you Sweet Stephanie.

This is a picture of the Scary Clown. I couldn't get a picture of his face because I didn't want him to murder me. He was everywhere! YIKES!

This is a picture of him inside the 2 story Target. 2 STORY! I love Target!

Our Booth! I wish we had a real pic of it, because it was very much cuter than the phone can show you...

You'll never guess who's shoes these are...

They belong to THE Alex Anderson!

Cute! Just like Alex. She is so very kind too.

These are the Shoes that I wore the first day of market.

4 1/2" heels. Cute, but not the most comfortable.

There was MUCH swelling that night.

One night, while walking back to the hotel, trying to avoid Murder Clown, we saw the above.

If you look closely you can see that it is a Bar...driving down the street...and it is pedal powered.

It is a Pedal Bar.

We don't have those in Utah.

Saturday afternoon, Lizzy House threw a Cake party in honor of her Mother's new book.

There was cake!

It was Fantastic! I ate cake with cool people!

The princess cake was the favorite!

Laura Gunn and Jenny.

Jenny was about to die of excitement!

This is a picture of my twin sister, Melissa Avarinos, at her talk and book signing. She is a great speaker, and one of the most amazing people that you'll ever meet. Felt like I had known her forever.

SEE! I told you we were twins! Amazing that it took us this long to find each other!

By the way, this photo was taking by the equally AWESOME Beth Dunn!

I met so many friends that I have known on Twitter for months. The cool thing about it was that we really were already friends!

I will blog about it again when Jenny sends me her pictures,

or when I find other pics I can steal!

Fabric Heaven

2010-05-18T12:16:00.000-06:00

Hello friends!

Tomorrow morning I leave for Quilt Market,

or as I like to call it

FABRIC HEAVEN!

I can't wait to meet (in person) all of the people that I have been

emailing, tweeting, texting....

I will have loads to report,

and new stuff to show.

Can't wait!!!

New

2010-05-13T19:58:00.000-06:00

You wanna see the new patterns?

Go Here!

young and hip

2010-05-01T20:59:00.000-06:00

I went to my favorite quilt shop on the planet,

GRACIE LOU'S,

today.

I needed to pick out the rest of the fabric to make samples for our booth at Quilt Market.

I knew that my day was going to be full of cutting and sewing so I showered,

combed my hair,

and put on my giant terry cloth (really) sweats.

They are huge, shapeless, and BUTT UGLY.

I still wore them to Gracies because I was only going to be there for a second.

But, tell me now, can you really only spend a couple of minutes in a fabric store?

Surrounded by the beauty of fabric?

The smell of freshly opened bolts of cotton loveliness?

I tell you friend, I cannot!

Anyway, I looked something like this-

only in ugly terry cloth sweats.

(I know, I need to wax my goatee again!)

Of course, I was listening in on the other customers conversations and one of them started talking about my blog, and my ruffle bag.....

What would you have done?

I stepped out from behind the Heather Bailey and said (waving my arms)

"That's me! I'm Lola...again!"

So much for formal introductions!

I just wanted to let my new Blog friend know that I don't normally look that bad.

I usually look more like this

Only younger and hipper.

really.

quit shaking your head! I do!!

K-bye/

Wanna See??

2010-04-25T20:31:00.000-06:00

If you wanna get a little peeky at our new patterns for Spring Quilt Market,

Here!

These are the projects that have been keeping me too busy to blog...

with things I can't blog about until after market!

Bronte

2010-04-25T18:42:00.000-06:00

Jane Eyre 2006-07 with Toby Stephens, and Ruth Wilson
This movie is what started my obsession with the Bronte stories. Melissa kept talking about it, and talking about it...until I gave in and watched it.
This movie is incredible! It isn't your regular fluffy love story. It is terrible, harsh, endearing, and heart-stopping. I found the older versions of the movie to be a little smarmy, and melodramatic.
WATCH THIS ONE!!

Wuthering Heights 2009 with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Reilly

I read this book in college and I thought it was stupid. I was really into "Happily Ever Afters".

I watched this movie, and several other versions, last week.

All I can say is Tom Hardy is Fantastic.

Ralph Feinnes is in an older version, and while I love me some Ralph...he was poop.

The Tennent of Wildfell Hall 1997

with Toby Stephens and Tara Fitzgerald.

This is the last Bronte I watched...er.....tried to watch....on two different occasions,

with no success. It was very hard to get into.

The only reason I recommend this version of it is because it has Toby Stephens in it.

I have also been watching Jane Austens.

I will give a full report later.

So,

are you a Bronte or an Austen?

Kids are Unpronouncable

2010-04-21T10:43:00.000-06:00

(not my picture, but I can't find the link to where I stole it from...sorry.)

Hellooooooooooooooooo!

Our crazy little family is on a mini-vacation in Sunny St. George Utah!!!

Except it is raining, and it is very cold.

Last night we made our 4 hour treck down. It really wasn't as bad as you would think it would be with 6 kids in tow, and a broken Dvd player.

(awesome phone-cam picture. Yes! I did take it myself....I am THAT good!)

About 1/2 way there they started to get cabin fever. Mass Hysteria!

I was trying to ignore what was going on when I overheard,

"You can't pronounce it. It is Unpronouncable."

"How can you pronounce "Unpronouncable" if it is unpronouncable."

"You can't!"

"Yes you can! You just pronounced it!"

This went on for about 1/2 hour.

I laughed. Kids are funny!

Earthquakes and Kids

2010-04-15T19:47:00.000-06:00

So, there was an Earthquake in Utah today.

Ummmm.

Yeah.

We don't do earthquakes in Utah.

It was far enough away from us that we didn't feel it, but the kids started to worry.

We live on the fault, and we've been warned about THE BIG ONE for years.

I decided that it was a good time to talk about what we should do if an earthquake hit.

Now the girls are bawling, and the boys are freaking.

Parenting is hard. Should we be prepared, or is ignorance bliss?

I'm Biased!

2010-04-14T16:53:00.001-06:00

I have been looking for this video for ages!
This is a video that Angry Chicken put together. It teaches the very best way to machine apply Bias Tape.
Now, I'm not recomending that you use this on quilts; I'm still a huge supporter of hand sewn bias on Quilts.
This is more specifically for clothing and Purses.
Watching this video helped me finally learn to do a pretty and perfect (almost) bias edge.

I'm working on a Lola Goes Shopping bag for our booth at Quilt market. It involves alot of bias.
I needed a quick review, so I thought I would share.
I'll have pics of Lola bag in a couple of days.
I love that bag!

I love the internet too. Where else would I learn all of this cool stuff?

The land of Desolation

2010-04-10T18:21:00.000-06:00

So, Whadja do for Spring Break?

Us? Well, the kids built a snowman, had snowball fights,

had Fights......

On Friday we went on a roadtrip with some of our friends. They wanted to go to Topaz Mountain.

It's a place in central Utah where there is a Mother Load of minerals, and gemstones.

Not only that but there are also plentiful Trilobite fossils.

It was an awesome adventure!

Picture found here

This is the glamorous Topaz mountain.

As you can see, it is not a tropical paradise.

. Via here

To get there you have to drive through every tiny town in Utah, including several almost ghost towns.

Then you pass through the land of desolation.....the end of the Earth, the middle of nowhere.

The last services of any kind were in the city of Lyndyl. Lyndyl is 50 miles from Topaz.

When you get to Topaz Mountain you turn all of your children loose with hammers,

and other dangerous tools.

They spend the next hour breaking rocks,

throwing rocks,

and rolling rocks down the mountain trying to knock each other over.

The lush scenery.

Notice, there are no Peein' trees.

We spent another couple of hours in the washes chasing the sparkle of little clear crystals.

The kids came home with buckets of "cool" rocks, and a bucket of "sparkly" dirt.

We each had a baggy of crystals,

dirty nails,

and VERY FULL Bladders!

It was a blast, and the kids are begging to go back.

Next time we are going to go down the road a little to find Geods, and Apache Tears.

What is your Family favorite WACKY vacation site?

Shoes

2010-04-08T20:13:00.000-06:00

Hello! My name is Jana, and I'm a Shoe-a-holic.

Now, you probably wouldn't know it from the shoes I wear on a daily basis.

Kind of like these, but not nearly as cool.

The $15 dollar Target version.

Hey! I'm the mother of 6. I need to be comfortable!

But deep down inside I love pretty shoes, and I get to wear them occasionally.

I buy them.

I store them.

I look at them often.

If I buy another pair of shoes, Jeff will be very disappointed in me.

He will probably shake his head, and I will feel guilt.

They're just so pretty......mmmmmmmmmmm!

Shoes!

Flower Head

2010-04-07T19:07:00.000-06:00

Have you ever heard of Womentorz?

Someone Tweeted about it today, and it lead me to the Hysterically Cute hat

pictured below.

Just had to show ya!

uhhhhhhhhh...huh?

2010-04-04T19:52:00.000-06:00

I caught a really bad case of Stupid this week.

I always catch everything....it's all of the kids I have.

Pretty sure that they brought it home from school.

Anyone know how long a bad case of Stupid lasts,

and how long I'll be contageous?

I need my brain back...

in working condition... like NOW!

Beautiful Savior

2010-04-04T09:40:00.002-06:00

My Friend Phoebe

2010-03-30T20:59:00.001-06:00

I have the prettiest friend. Her name is Phoebe.

She is really tiny, and in shape.

She's a good mother, and she has lots of kids.

She has several incredible homes.

She lives her life in a bed of Roses.

My friend Phoebe has suffered some tragedy recently when a

Giant Lizard

took the lives of 3 of her babies

..well, almost babies...They were supposed to hatch in days.

Then they were gone.

Photos from Phoebe Allans site

She has overcome the tragedy, and has decided to continue on with raising her family.

There is an egg in her nest. She laid it March 29th at 7:18 am. She is not sitting on it yet.

The egg-sperts (lame. I know) say she won't until there are at least two eggs.

Be careful if you start watching. It is strangely addicting.

I'm glad to have Phoebe as a friend.

ETA-Phoebe laid another egg early this morning, then 3 hours later
they were eaten by a Crow!
Poor Phoebe!

Clean Sole(plate)

2010-03-28T21:07:00.000-06:00

I love the Iron.

I love to fuse stuff with my iron. I love fusible interfacing, vusible fleece, fusible vinyl.

I like to experiment with fusing plastic bags together.

You know those little Pearler beads...

My kids love them.

I have melted plastic-y things everywhere. (They make great fridge magnets.)

We use...and abuse our poor little $10 iron.

Needless to say, I spend many hours trying to scrape the gunk off of the iron so that I can press anything else.

I found a new (to me) method for getting the soleplate clean. And it is super simple too.

1. Heat your iron to Cotton.

2. Put a paper towel on the edge of your ironing board.

3. Lay an unused dryer sheet on top of the paper towel.

4. Press the iron on top of the dryer sheet.

5. Repeat until the gunk is gone.

This has saved the white dress shirts in my home.

Anyone else have a cool method?

Holy!! Holi

2010-03-27T14:55:00.000-06:00

I have a story to tell you.

It is about the Holi Festival of India.

Up the hill, about 1 mile from my house, is this gorgeous Hari Krishna temple.

pictures found here

It really is an awesome sight.

Driving along the little country road. Looking at cows, farms,

a huge Hari Krishna Temple surrounded by Llamas.

(the animals, not the Dali kind)

Every Year they Host the Holi Festival of India.

(Go here, or to you tube if you want to learn what it is all about.)

About 15,000 people show up to celebrate.

I actually think that there might have been more like 20,000 this year.

They park up and down the roads, in every parking lot, and wherever they can in our city and neighboring Spanish Fork.

Then...

This is what they do

Throw tons of colored dust at each other.

Then, they all go home!

My kids have been watching them,

The dust covered people,

walk past our yard all afternoon.

In such a small town.....

Who knew?

(besides the 20,000 or so dustys)

Broken Needle

2010-03-24T22:20:00.000-06:00

I don't have much of a brain tonight because I have been sewing a crazy woman.

.....don't say it.

I finally broke my last machine needle.

I break needles,

run out of bobbin thread,

or sew the wrong seam

when I am in a hurry and don't have ANY patience left.

Generally, at that same moment, my studio is filled children fighting over who has more of the cool buttons in their pile.

Someday,

as my Mother-in-law keeps reminding me,

I will be alone

...and then what will I do?

I will sew with WILD abandon. I will finish projects if I want to, or not.

I will wind bobbins without the twins begging to push the button on the sidewinder.

I will,

most likely,

be sad and lonely.

Lookin' like a Fool

2010-03-24T15:35:00.001-06:00

Lard...Lard...Lard

2010-03-20T21:36:00.000-06:00

The in-laws were all coming over for a party Saturday afternoon.

Jeff morphed into Super-Anal Retentive-OCD cleaning man. His Pre-party cleaning puts regular spring cleaning to shame.

Anyway,

As I was cleaning the tchotchkes that are living on top of the upper cupboards,

I rediscovered some of my favorite treasures.

The Chickens were given to me by my Sissy, Angel, when we moved into our house. They are actually Salt and Pepper shakers. Come to think of it, the tin of LARD was given to me by Angel too.

(She got an A+ in Knick-knack-ology.)

The LARD makes me laugh! I'm not sure why exactly...

Lard is just a funny word. And, aren't we glad that it is "Pure" lard instead of "Corrupt" lard.

If you want to know more about pure lard then check out this wiki article

Goodness

2010-03-18T21:46:00.000-06:00

Sunshine,

Green (ish) Grass,

and New Shiney Shoes!

Things are looking up!

Pitter-Pat

2010-03-16T21:26:00.000-06:00

Melissa Averinos (the famous fabric designer, pattern book writer, and lover of unicorns) has recently been twittering about...even twitterpated by...the movie Jane Eyre.

More specifically the BBC 2006 production.

She tweeted it so much that I had to watch it to see what was so great about it.

It is FANTASTIC!

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Haven't read the book.

I am hooked now, and have even joined her Bronte-along.

You have to see it if you haven't yet. It makes my heart go pitter-pat.

See the movie...Read the book...Bronte with us!

ps. I'm working on a special clothing project inspired by Jane. I'll show you when I've made some progress!

September Date?

2010-03-14T18:36:00.000-06:00

What are you doing in September?

Me?

I'm going to the Creative Connection.

Shassy and Farrah are coming too.

I can't wait to go, and learn from some fantastic ladies

Like-

Camille Roskelley

Joanna Figueroa

and

Betz White.

I stalked the website, and was probably one of the first to register!

I can't wait!!!!

Are you coming?

Two Years

2010-03-10T21:13:00.002-07:00

On Friday it will be two years since the coolest teen I've ever met

left us.

We still talk about him almost every day.
Miss him every day.
My 12 year old, Smith, wears some of his clothes.
His picture is on my fridge...so I see it all of the time.

It is almost impossible to believe, still, that he isn't here.
Maybe it is because we have kept him so close.

Colton, We miss you terribly, and love you still.

He loved Flogging Molly; he's wearing their shirt in that pic.
So, Here's to you Coley Bowl!

Lyrics to If I Ever Leave This World Alive

by Flogging Molly