Simplify

A winner, a deal, and a game

I know this is a few hours early, but I just got a phone call from Christina, and I was so excited when she told me who the random number generator picked as our winner....

Ashley H (comment #7) who said:
OHHHHHH....I have been wanting one of these SO bad. And I hope I win! I'm not very original but really I would just want two little circles one saying, Livee and the other Krew. And one white freshwater pearl. I WANT IT please pick me! :)

Posted by: Ashley H. | May 26, 2008 at 09:17 PM

Congratulations Ashley!! Email Christina at christinacurtis@mac.com and she'll get your Livee/Krew necklace right out to you. A big thank you to everybody for entering, and for showing Christina some love! She also mentioned that anyone who mentions they saw it here can get the Simplify necklace this week for $25 and free shipping. Sweet, huh? So head on over to Simply Ornamental, and be sure to see what Christina is up to on her blog as well.

What a Friday its been. I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I was hoping to, but hey, there's always tomorrow right? One thing I did manage to squeeze in (yes, my head is hung in shame) was this fun game:

1. | youth-unconcern |, 2. 365+1 | 134: surf meets the turf, 3. _DSC7873.jpg, 4. Aqua & Red MAILBOX?!!, 5. Patrick Dempsey (3), 6. Drink Dr. Pepper!, 7. I Wanna Grow Old with You, 8. Reese_Pimped, 9. Albert Bridge at Night, 10. Joy of life, 11. one with the sea, 12. hexagon quilt

Thanks Shelly, not sure how this found time in my day(?!?) but it sure was fun! Try it out here.

Ric Rac

Over the last six months I've received a LOT of emails about one thing: Ric Rac.

More importantly, where to find it.

I have struggled to find it as well, and a lot of times if I couldn't find what I needed, I had to call my mom and have her pick some up for me at her local quilt shop and Priority Mail it to me so I could keep going with whatever project I had going. (Thanks Mom!) WELL, when the requests started with Wallflower, I decided I was going to do something about it. So, all you ric rac lovers, I've got three spools of most commonly used ric rac, and every yard of it is looking for a loving home. Whatever is left after I add ric rac to just about everything I own, that is...

Before I forget to ask, are there any colors you guys have been on the lookout for? Let me know, maybe I can hunt them down.

I've got it listed in two ways, in 3 yard cuts, and as a kit for Wallflower. Feel free to email me at camille@thimbleblossoms.com if there is a specific kit or yardage you have in mind, and I'll get it right out to you.

I've got spools of ric rac on my mantle. Its a good day.

edit: The red was on backorder and finally came!

my little artist

We go through a lot of paper around here. Why? Because of this little 4 year old:

Here's this weeks fridge gallery:

The house

Riding an elephant (LOVE the elephant's feet)

And this one for me- Me, my quilt, and a flower

And just in case you were wondering if he was perfect? I just found out that he asked a member of the Primary Presidency if he could give the talk in Primary, he cleaned his room and made his bed during quiet time yesterday, he has been wandering around the house all day singing a song he made up called "Share Share Share" AND he drew this yesterday, all by himself.

Who is this kid?? And can I keep him four years old for forever?

{Hooray} it's a Giveaway!

As you may have noticed, my word this year is Simplify. I wouldn't say I've been 100% successful, especially with the new fabric line, new patterns, new house, and everything else going on... but I'm working on it. I'm working on simplifying. When my fabulous sister-in-law Christina started her new hand stamped jewelry business, Simply Ornamental, I knew exactly what I wanted. (Well, the first thing... there are too many things I want!) A constant reminder to Simplify. As Webster's put it, to: to make simple or simpler: as a: to reduce to basic essentials b: to diminish in scope or complexity. So here it is, my little reminder. LOVE it!

My favorite part about Simply Ornamental is the build your own section. You can literally put anything you want on anything you want! To celebrate her new little business, Christina thought it would be fun (and I couldn't argue with her!) to do a giveaway on my new blog. So, if you want to win a necklace with your word, a bracelet with your kids initials, or just about anything else you can think up, leave a comment letting us know what you would build from the build your own section, and it just might be yours!

Have fun! You have until Friday night at midnight to enter, and the winner will be announced on Saturday. Good luck!

Quilt Market (May 21, 2008)

10 days without a post?  No wonder I’ve been getting emails asking if I’m still alive! 
Monday afternoon I returned home after one amazing trip to Portland for International Quilt Market.  (For those of you who are wondering what Quilt Market is exactly, click here.)  I’ve attended the show twice before, once in St. Louis when I was 14, and then again last spring in Salt Lake City.  Both times were really fun, but this time was FABULOUS.  I had my own booth, and since I was next to my mom, we just took down the wall between our booths and had one big one.  It turned out great!
I left for Portland early on Wednesday morning, after a tearful goodbye at Nana’s house the night before.  (Tearful on my end only, because the munchkins were ecstatic that they got to stay with Nana.)  I met my mom at the airport in Portland and we headed straight to the convention center to set up.  The rest of the week was a whirlwind!  I have been trying to decide how to write about it all, and how many posts it would take, and I decided that an album of all the pictures (well, not ALL the pictures.  I have well over 300....) was definitely the way to go!  Click here for the album.

A few of the gazillion highlights of the show?  Definitely the dinner cruise on the Portland Sprit with Moda, which was in a nutshell: PERFECT.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love Moda?  ;-)  Meeting all my favorite designers and bloggers, Sample Spree (Have you ever seen an elderly woman sprinting toward a huge pile of gorgeous fabric?  I have!!)  and hanging out with my mom, my sister Tracy, and the rest of our “people.” 
I flew in yesterday and was so relieved to have made it through my first Market, but was a little sad that it was over. 
I can’t WAIT for the next one!

EDIT edit:  I'm lovin' typepad! 

Back to work...

Original Post

Mom (May 10, 2008)

While I was growing up, I swore I wasn’t having children. I told my mom many, many times that she would have to learn to enjoy her grand-dogs (which is strange, because I’m not much of a dog person...) because kids were not for me. I’m not sure if she believed me or not, and now looking back, I realize that I didn’t even believe me. I’m sure I was just being dramatic (imagine that) which happened quite frequently. I wasn’t the easiest child to raise, ha ha... I can’t even say that without laughing. Okay, I was DIFFICULT! I don’t know how my mom made it through 18 years of raising me, but she somehow did, and she deserves a LOT of credit for hanging in there. I was more than ready to get out out the house and on my own, and figured that once I did, I wouldn’t need my mom’s approval or help with anything ever again. I was on my own. Finally!
When I got married at the ripe old age of 19 (What in the world was I thinking? 19??) and had Aiden when I was 20, my whole life changed in one moment. I was a mom. That is when it happened. A phone call to mom that she had a new grandson. A phone call for a fever, a phone call for a diaper rash. A few phone calls for advice on solid foods and when a baby should be crawling. Twenty phone calls for sleeping at night. More than twenty phone calls for cooking questions (mishaps) and being married to and living with a man. A hundred phone calls and some tears for why my little boy wasn’t talking yet, and a thousand for how in the world I was supposed to handle two.
The phone calls haven’t stopped. In fact, I probably call 10 times more now than I ever have. A few weeks ago, my dad was home for the day and answered the phone when I called. We’ll just say that it.... wasn’t the first time I had called that day. I could hear him laughing before he even said hello. I laughed too, and told him I would try to not call again until at least tomorrow and he said “No, No, we love having you call! When you left home, we weren’t sure we’d ever hear from you, and we.... definitely do!”
Its true. I’ve got my mom on speed dial. Why wouldn’t I? I have a lot to learn if I want to be just like her when I grow up. Happy Mothers Day Mom. Couldn’t love you any more.