I just wanted to let you all know that 5 of my designs have been accepted to be in the new 101 One Skein Wonders Crochet book.  I'm really tickled.  I just found out yesterday.

They will be sending me a copy of the patterns as they will appear in the book so that I can review it before it goes out. Before I release any designs for my site, I have them tested by several people to make sure they are easily understood and typo free.  I want I'm pretty sure I went over them with a fine toothed comb but I want to make super sure.. I know that the local yarn shop will want me to make them a copy of each of the designs so I'll be able to get them all tested. The local yarn shop in town sells that book series there and I think I'm their only designer in town.   I wish I could do a book signing but all of that wool in there kills me.  I can hardly stand being in there for longer than a few minutes before my face and eyes start to get all itchy.

It's a long process.  According to the letter I was sent I will be hearing from them again and getting my original designs returned in July!  That's a long way off.  I wonder if it was a typo and it's actually January lol.

So here are the ones that will be in the book..
Lucky Dog
Sweet Kitty
Niles the Crocodile
Robotic
Batik Bunny

I have been published in a bunch of booklets, magazines and free pattern pulls at stores but this will be my first one in a book that sits on a bookstore shelf.  After we get moved and settled in, I'll begin working on designs to submit for a book of my own.  I have 3 boxes started already believe it or not... yes, I have been holding out on you all.  I have several designs that have been shelved for the hopeful publication :)
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I added a new photo album!  It is Making a Kool Kaleidoscope Quilt...

I really like making this quilt.  I am planning on making more in the next few months or year....   We'll see how time behaves for me...

Anyway.  I love watching the way this quilt comes together.  I think it is the coolest part of it all.  Come and take a look! 
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It has been almost a year since I started this blog.  There are tons and tons of blogs online and I have decided to take a different route with mine.  I don't have a lot of drive to maintain this when even your own family doesn't visit it so it's going to get a facelift....

I have added a new Photo Albums page that will have links to different categories of my photo albums.  I am in the process of starting that up.  I will be transferring lots of pics and info to that area.... So far I have begun the Building a House photo album since I had pictures to upload for that...

I hope you guys enjoy my new format...
I am going to use the blog to announce new things on the site as I have always done... the photo albums will be where I keep all the pictures this way if you are looking for something you can find it easier!
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Along our way to scouts last Tuesday night we stopped off to visit our dirt.  I can officially no longer call it my dirt.  I can call it my slab!!  Yes!  We have concrete now! 

They must have poured Monday since the forms were off and by the side of the road Tuesday evening. 

I returned to our slab a few times over the week, hoping to see lumber being used... the two other houses that were poured the same day as mine were being worked on but mine wasn't.  I was pretty bummed.  I was over there Friday afternoon and nothing was being done at all.  It was kind of a bummer but it is what it is.
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Today on our way back from having lunch out, we stopped by.  When we came around the bend I was so excited - we had walls!! Okay, not all of our walls.  It is going to take a few days to get our house completely framed since it's a two story but I was tickled.  Sadly due to a horrific phone to computer snaffoo I have no pictures to share right now.  We'll be going back over there tomorrow after lunch so I should have a much more impressive picture...
Here's one I took on Thursday... with our lumber hanging out, just waiting to have something done with it...
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Update!  I went back Saturday night and took a few pictures... To save you guys from boredom, I'm only posting one.  Nothing new was done on Sunday.  Those guys deserve a rest!  Hubby said that we'll go back after dinner tonight (Monday night) to see how things are going.  I'll update more later!
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I was going to swear off Shake and Bake.  Every time I make it, the tops of the chicken or pork chops are perfectly crispy and yummy but the bottoms are a soggy bottom mess. 
I called Shake and Bake and asked them how do you get the bottoms to not be soggy.  They told me that they shouldn't be soggy at all.  I have tried glass pans, cookie sheets, aluminum foil on glass, aluminum foil on cookie sheets, top rack, bottom rack, middle rack - you name it, I have tried it.

A friend of mine told me that she was watching a show on Food Network and the host - probably Rachael Ray since I googled it and looks like it was her - said to cook foods like baked "fried' chicken and whatnot on top of a cookie cooling rack.  Hmmm.  I have one of those.. I have more than one of those.  We'll give it a try....

So out came the Shake and Bake for yet another attempt at crunchy goodness.

Was it as success?  You tell me.... The picture above is the tops... Here are my... wet and soggy bottoms.  Sigh.  It was not crunchy.  It was wet and goopy and all around unappetizing.  I'm sorry Shake and Bake but I think we won't be partaking in your crumby goodness anymore.
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I am still very excited about the house.  The builder's representative said that it would be 75 days after the first nail hits the concrete slab... but then he was informed for "those big houses" it would be 85 days.  I'm good.  It's give or take a week.  75, 85 days. It's all good.  It's still about 3 months and that puts us at a Christmas move.  It's a fabulous Xmas present!
So last week the house was rough plumbed and just sitting there doing nothing.... I'm sure they were just waiting to have it inspected before getting it ready.  It's not a whole lot to look at - just pipes and that new flexible tubing that is replacing copper everywhere. 

Today we went out to lunch and on the way back we figured we'd go take a look.  I almost said, why bother.  I was there on Friday.  Nothing new had happened.  I wasn't really expecting anything at all.  As we pulled around the bend I got all excited - the big pile of gravel was gone!!  Something new was done!
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The area was back filled and covered with that black plastic looking stuff. It's ready to go!  I walked around and the rebar is in place as well... Will it be tomorrow that it gets filled with concrete?  Maybe!  Hubby thinks that they will wait until they have a few houses ready and pour them all at once but I doubt that will happen.  It will take more than a truckload I'm sure to fill this bad boy.  I'll update as soon as we see cement there... I'll check back maybe tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday morning to see what there is to see... probably Tuesday because I need to go out to get some moving boxes... it's time to start packing!!!
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So I wanted some peace and quiet.  Our house is just not big enough for me to hide from the video games, computer games, wii, PS3 and that wretched Rock Band game.  taptaptaptaptappittaptap... It's enough to give anyone a headache... We were going to have a 2 car garage built with a great big storage area over it so we could actually have a nice usable attic space then turn the existing 1 1/2 car garage in to a rec room and move those noisy things out there... but noooOOoooo those septic drain fields are in the way.

Plan B was to have a room built on... just a bit of an addition... $65,000 for a room for possible peace and quiet was pretty painful.  I wanted to go for it but it's hard to shell out the equivalent of 2-4 new cars depending on what kind of car you're getting...

So I was sad.. Really sad.  The thought of living in this noisy house with nowhere for me to go to work or hide during the noisy gaming weekends just made me want to cry.... Then one day I was like.  Hey!  If you can't alter the house you have why  not move to one that has everything you want???  So began my search.  Over the course of just a few days I found a few potential houses in the area that could possibly work - then I saw a housing development go up - and they had a floor plan I really really liked - but we'd have to wait to have it built... it's all good.  I think it's so worth the wait!!

So here is our lot.....  This picture was taken in early August...
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Then the bulldozers came and I started to get excited.  Really excited.... This was taken just last Friday.

Saturday we took hubby's parents over to visit our dirt.  Right now I can't call it much more than dirt.  Well, they had a bobcat out there pushing around more dirt. 
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Monday I went out to visit my dirt again and to my surprise there was wooden forms all ready to go for the slab and a giant pile of gravel.  I took some pictures - but my phone apparently was hungry and ate them.  I went back today and there were plumbers there!!  Yup. It's all in motion now!  I'll go back every few days and update the progress.  It's so exciting!!  Okay, it is for me.  This is the first house that I have had build for me.  I've lived in a few new homes but none of them were ones that I picked out.  I tweaked the floor plans.  I picked out the flooring and the cabinets.  I picked the lot.  I picked which direction the garage would face.  Everything about it I picked out.  It will be so nice to have a house that I wanted and had a say in from the beginning... oh and the best part??  My craft room will be HUGE!!!!  Oh yes indeedy.  It is going to be wonderful.  I can fit probably 3 of my current craft rooms in to the new one... I'll post pics of course once I'm actually in that glorious creative space... but for now...  I
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So last night I tried out two new recipes...For our entree I made a pulled pork chili recipe that was on the cover of the latest Kraft Food and Family magazine.  The pictures looks A LOT better than it tasted.  I didn't save the leftovers...

My oldest son, who is 10 has been interested in cooking with me lately.  I'm just thrilled by the idea since we haven't done that since he was very little... The other night he helped me dish out and serve dinner.  He then said he'd like to make cupcakes with me. 

I picked out a recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor Returns book.  It was for Strawberry Cream Cheese cupcakes with a lemon buttercream icing.  We had a great time making them... but not so much eating them.  My youngest son enjoyed the cupcakes but they are ridiculously sweet.  The cake itself was super sweet.  The icing was super sweet.  I just could not choke down an entire cupcake.  Sorry Cake Mix Doctor but that recipe is a dud.

So after two duds of course I've felt a bit scorned... but the kids wanted to make cake so we made cake... Out of the Cake Mix Doctor's book of course since you know I'm totally digging this book more or less... We made the Toffee Cake and it was a hit.  The first day it wasn't all too great.  The toffee bits were very hard and the kids didn't like the massive crunchiness to it... however by the second day that cake is awesome!  If you make this cake, let it sit overnight.

It's a sour cream cake with brown butter cream cheese icing.  It is really yummy.  The cake is moderately heavy - not as heavy as a pound cake but not as light as a regular cake mix.  The icing is really awesome too.  I'm totally loving it - and so are the kids.  Next week we'll work on a chocolate one since it's been awhile since we've had chocolate...  Sadly I used my son's camera since I was lazy and his was the closest... and the pictures just came out terrible!
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Today is the first day back for the boys.  Yay!  I am so behind on my new crochet designs and let's not even begin to talk about how far I am behind on my quilting projects!  The past few weeks have been very weird to say the least...

So we're buying a house.  Yup.  Originally we were going to build a detached garage and convert the existing 1 1/2 car garage to a media room so I can get the rock band and other video game noises out of the house a bit.. but thanks to where the septic drain field is in the back yard, that brilliant plan was zapped...  Plan B - build a room off the back of the house.. add lots of insulation to sound proof and then I'd have quiet - or at least a little more quiet... Can you say one room = $65k?  Seriously?  So I was thinking one morning while sitting at the computer wondering about other options.. how about moving?  Oh yeah!!  The housing market is actually fairly strong here in town compared to other parts of the country.  I searched and found a few houses that we could possibly move in to.. then I saw IT.  A newish development that has nice two story houses... I went online and looked and oh yeah!  Found a house plan we liked and are building in a newish development... If all goes on schedule, we'll be moving in to a new house sometime early December... or early January. One or the other.  What's holding it up? It only takes 75 days to build a house according to the builder.. They have to wait for the perk test to be done and that could take up to 2 months!  Seriously?  Madison County, get off your butt and do my flipping perk test!!


Okay.. now to get to the good stuff... A new page of tutorial links has been added! 

In my house an ottoman is worth its weight in gold.  Who doesn't like to put their feet up?  I saw a brilliant one that someone on Quilting Board had made...  and it was ironic because just earlier yesterday before I saw this post I was actually searching for a tutorial on making a foot stool out of a spackle bucket.  Sooo I figured I might as well spread the joy and behold!  My newest tutorial links list... Footstools, Ottomans & Tuffet Tutorial Links
So Go Ahead and put your feet up!  You deserve it!!
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My friend, Susan and I cut out these snowmen to make table runners or wall hangings a really really long time ago.  They have been in my ufo box for what seems like an eternity.  I don't know why we didn't get to making them but we just didn't.

Yesterday I decided to take them out of their plastic bag and put it all together. 

What I have learned - maybe labeling the pieces would have been a good idea.  Yeah.  and reading directions. That is also a really good idea.  I had to rip out 8 seams because I didn't read the part about trimming that section by 1/4" on each side... but progress has been made.  I will finish them up maybe by the end of the weekend. We will see what happens  between now and then.  I know I need to get back to crocheting because Aug 15th is coming up soon!

Oh - the name of the pattern is Snowmen are just a bunch of Flakes and is by Pam Bono.
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