I've been having major computer problems today! I've tried to put these pictures up a million different times, and it's just not working! So I made a slideshow w/ them, hopefully that'll work!

Edited: it didn't work. the slideshow is off-centered and I don't know why. sorry.

They're pretty self explanitory....First is Arissa with an embroidery piece she made. I was so impressed, I figured on her first try that her stitches would be all wide and far apart but she did perfectly! She did two small pieces so I sewed them together and stuffed them & added a ribbon so she could display it. The next day she did another one...it was for her teacher Mrs. Wood & it was a fraction. That's right, it was: 3/4 or something like that. :o) How cute is that. Mrs. Wood was astonished. :O)

Next is Mariah's piece, she did a really good job too. She felt so special that I trusted her to do it...both the girls used my normal needles & other materials.

Then there's the shirt I made for Mariah. I got the template off a website, I think it was supposed to be for a picnic table centerpiece or something. But I bought a $3 plain shirt at walmart and sewed the bird to it. Mariah loved it, you'll see her wearing it in one of the next pictures...she wore it all weekend.

The fabric banner I made for the girls room. I had bought some really pretty fabric off etsy.com, and I saw the idea for this in a book. In the book it was used for a party but I thought it was cute for everyday.

The "quilt" I made. The squares are supposed to line up....obviously they don't. I'm impatient and very bad at math...and so I get results like this all the time. But once it was put all together,I thought it looked nice anyways. Especially if you haven't seen the picture of the one I was copying! I embroidered the big center square.

My new table is even prettier now! My grandma had made me some table runners last christmas, and when I was thinking of which placemats I was going to buy, I thought maybe she could do the runners for me but just smaller so that they could be placemats. So I bought some cute fabric online and she sewed these for me. We had enough fabric left for a center piece too. Not only did she make them beautifully, but when we realized that I was probably never going to actually let my family eat on them since they're so pretty, she went out and bought some clear vinyl type stuff, cut it to fit, and then VELCROWED it inconspicuously to each one. You can't even tell it's velcrowed. It's the coolest thing. So not only are my new placesettings super cute, but they're special because they were made by my Nana. :O)

And the rest of the pics are from Balboa Park. We went on Sunday when it was General Conference at church (= no church for us!). The girls loved the fountain of course....I ran out of pennies and they threw like $3 my other coins in! We went to the botanical gardens, which was very pretty. Mallory just liked the beautiful big buildings, which she said were "Belle's Castle". :O) Fun times.

pictures to come....

Several things have happened recently and I've been mindful enough to take pictures, but haven't found the time to upload them here and write about them. But I will!

Some of the things I need to post about are:

1. My first "quilt" being "finished" (quilt is in quotes because it's a tiny little thing, hardly qualifies as a blanket, and finished is in quotes because I still need to put the bias tape on one end of it).

2. Embroidery projects: aforementioned quilt, Arissa & Mariah's projects, a super sweet embroidery I did of one of Mariah's drawings

3. A fabric banner I did for the girls' room just because

4. A cyst I had in my foot that I went to the dr for last week and have been limping around since because of

5. A shirt I made for Mallory and/or Mariah

6. A new set of placemats that my Nana personally quilted for us

7. A scrapbook that I helped Arissa's class put together for a special friend of Arissa's who was in the hospital recently

Hopefully I remember to post pictures soon. Otherwise it all doesn't sound real exciting. :O)

My new beauties:

Last weekend, I planted my Easter gifts to myself which were the azealas, renunculas, and this beautiful blue flower which I don't even know the name of:

And then this weekend, I went to Home Depot and came back with these. They are making me so happy, just like my hydrangeas.:

The white one is Jasmine, which smells better than any perfume or scented candle I've ever bought, and the other one is Wisteria which is about to bloom and is going to be gorgeous (if I can manage to not let it die). Both of them are climbing "vines", so I'm going to let one climb on the awning at the entrance to our backyard, the other up the posts and overhead at the front door entrance. I loved having them on the porch like in the picture because I could see them from the living room, and I could smell the Jasmine as I walked in and out. But they prefer full sun, so I had to move them. But I just LOVE them all.