Friday sewing!

 well I would have more projects to share but at the last minute I joined a new Bible study and then a bunch of other things came up, just now finishing up my courthouse blocks from Randi's sew along, thought I would be done yesterday, didn't happen, that is okay though, my Bible study is really good, it's Heaven by Randy Alcorn, at first I was on the fence about joining it..not sure why, but then God kept nudging me and helped me and then a friend mentioned about not letting Satan win, so I went and it was great and also with a great group of ladies!

I made a scallop bunting/garland! my friend Rebecca has a little girl and she likes me lol so I made her a little zippered pouch and the bunting, after I made it, I almost didn't want to give it to her! lol  I love the colors I used. I think I am gonna make one the same and hang it in my craft room

have a nice weekend! Jim is off for the next three days...lots of horse riding gonna go on and Zach is attending DNOW with the church youth group :)

Linking up to Amy's Sew n tell AND Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday  :)

Cadet and Speedy

  Its been a while since I shared a post on our 2 oversize pets, Cadet was not feeling well for quite a while so there was no riding for over a month, we did our DUH (Down Under Horsemanship) training a little just to work with them a little and  keep up some of the training, we had the vet out again and she gave us the go ahead on riding! yay! we took them out last Saturday and they both did great! Of course, I forgot my camera so today I took a few of them :)
Here is the sweet, flamboyant, very stubborn and onry Cadet. He is a big ol' boy, 17 years old, 16.1 hands and about 1300 pounds! He is a Morgan (old style, from what I hear, I guess Morgans are smaller now).

Here is Speedy, he is very sweet too, he is a very loyal horse and has to build trust with you before he lets you in, he has a dark side but only shows it once in a great while and gets in big trouble when he does! He is about 13 years old, 16 hands and about 1,150 pounds. He is Quarter Horse and Thouroughbred

Not sure how we ended up with 2 big horses, but they are keepers and most of the time they made us look like we know what we are doing. Jim is a lot more daring with Cadet than I am with Speedy, and sometimes I worry that I will ruin Speedy when I carry a nervous trait with me when I ride, most of the time I do pretty good but I know Speedy senses it.

Both are geldings, both are dominant and neither one, in 8 months has given up being the dominant horse, at times they bite and kick through their panel (we have a 50x50 corral  split in half with panels so they each have 25x50) but usually ride together beautifully, EXCEPT that one time when we were loping and Speedy took off with me like a crazy horse and kicked out at Cadet and Jim, I thought I was going to fly over Speedys head and Jim was trying to hang on while Cadet was dodging a kick while loping. At the time I was so scared and didn't get after Speedy as quick as I should have....he better watch out because now I am more experienced! ha!

One of my goals is to possibly try gymkhana, I am nervous and I know Speedy has done barrels before, is he gonna go crazy on me like some of those horses do there and get all wound up? will that dark side come out? or will he be the good boy that he is *most* of the time?

We sometimes think we need to get another horse,  Zach kind of wants a horse of his own horse but worries with just graduating high school, starting college and a job in just a few months, will he be too busy? should we just get one anyways? if one horse is sick or injured we would have a back up? hmmmm...still not sure

These 2 act like they don't like each other half the time and then when one leaves, they have a fit! hopefully they can find a happy medium :)

And speaking of horses, some friends, John and Ranae,  that also do DUH, are now doing Podcasts, go check them out! They are way ahead of us in the horse training area but have definetly been an inspiration to me!

Courthouse Steps...a sew along!

 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you Eph 4:32

 I feel like I am starting the new year out pretty good in the sewing area of my life, I got a lot of my craft room done (not all, still lots to do) and all my pretty fabric scraps are organized and also my goal of sewing a lot more this year and doing more sew alongs and quilt alongs :) Randi at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics is helping me out on sewing more while I participate in her sew alongs this year, go check her blog AND her shop. I have never done the block Courthouse steps, so this should be inspiring and fun!

anyways here are my scraps, we are supposed to pick 3 colorways, I have 4 colors ways though, so thinking maybe I will do a small quilt with all 4 colors OR maybe just stick with the orange, aqua and green? let me know what you think, the orange, aqua and green are my favorites but just loving my grey scraps right now, I think I am thinking too much and want all my favorites in here! any thoughts? I hate to not use the grey but does it stick out too much? I kind of think so...

Organzing and playing

        I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except thru me. John 14:6

trying to play along anyways! I am wanting to scrapbook and sew really badly, my stye of a craft room is being rehauled, when I say rahauled, I mean rehauled! I am tired of having my room so cluttered and overfilled and sooo unorganized! I won't get rid of too much but I really do need to go thru and put like with likes, purge (a little) and move things around. This room is on my  Better Homes Challenge list. My room is just 10'X10' and one whole wall is counter high cabinets with cabinets above. Trying to make the room hold years of scrapbooking things and now a couple of years of sewing items and fabric and a little of embroidery and other small crafts is challenging! I do need to remember this room is small but also trying to maximize space. I have an oversize kitchen table that holds my computer and sewing machine, which is so conveinent when reading a tutorial online but the table is large and I am wonding if I should keep it or not, lots of deciding going on in the next couple of days regarding this room. I will share pictures soon!
Right now there are  sew alongs and sewing with scraps, and the different weekly shares that bloggers do, and I need and want to be doing these but I must focus on this room but perhaps just sew and scrap a little ;) There are a couple of quilt alongs that I really want to start but I might wait for one to start maybe in a month or so just so I am not setting myself up for failure and give myself a chance to get most of this project done.
Are you organzing like a mad woman like me?
I can't post this post without a picture so here is one that I took yesterday! Zach definetly has an adventerous side and he doesn't get that from me, I am glad Cadet is a good boy! not a great picture since I snapped with my cell very quickly!

New year goals and such :)

  Like everyone else, I can't believe it's 2012, 2011 flew by so fast it seems, I really hope that 2012 goes a tad slower and that I still remember to slow down and enjoy all it's blessings and just to remember God is in control of it all.
Of course like most....I want to make new goals, start fresh and all that, but of course I could have done that 6 months ago (hee hee!) but didn't, so with everyone else, I have a few to list...

as far as personal goals

• read my Bible everyday
• take time to read a book a month (I used to read tons, last couple of years, not so much and I really miss it!)
• sew more...in Dec, sewed more than I did most of the year, I need to make the time, mostly sew more quilts
• exercise more...I do pretty good but the past couple of months, I run really good for a month or 2 then quit for a month
• open that Etsy shop?!!
• scrapbook more (I miss my scrapbooking)
• organize and print my pics
• practice my ASL more
• my house projects (big and small)
• more horse training and riding...and perhaps gymkhana?!! (I need not to be a weenie about this!)

Speaking of house projects, Heather is doing a Better Home Challenge, kind of exactly what I need!
I have big projects I do want to conquor but also A LOT of organizing and getting rid of *stuff*.
You can list 12 areas/rooms and do one a month, on the bigger projects is what I am going to list, but I have areas that I have a list also that I want to get done in the next 2 months or so in each room. On the big areas, its for bigger projects and/or cost of those areas.

my big area items are

• Living room/dining room area
• craft room
• our bedroom
• Zachs room (now that he is getting ready to graduate and start college)
• kitchen
• hallways (and hallway closet)
• outside (back)
• outside (front)
• outside (side pasture area for horses)
• outside (new garden area)
• front bathroom
• front porch area

PHEW!!!

This week, Jim goes back to work (Tues) and Zach goes back to school (Wed) and it's been fun having them home for over 2 weeks, but I do look forward getting back on a schedule and getting started on different projects (home and sewing) and having my house clean again!