BubbaChic

Cat House

I came across this wonderful post last week and immediately forwarded it to my hubby at work...at last, proof that you can add a safe outdoor area for cats that isn't a complete eyesore!

I have been badgering Jay for a couple of years to make my kitties a place they could sit outside in safety.

After seeing the post by 'Cookoo for design' he agreed to make one (yay!!)

I constructed a very detailed drawing of what I wanted and he set to work!

There is still one more piece of wood to add to the front and then the whole thing needs staining, but we were far too eager to see what the kitties thought of it.

They love it! I was woken up at 7am by Maddy asking if she could open the window to let the cats out, as they were all sat there waiting!

I love the idea of extending it later on and adding tunnels to another bigger cat house...oh the possibilities!!

 

 

Final Teachers Quilt 2012

Its done, its gifted...

 

The names of the children, embroidered in their own handwriting::

 

 

and now, I am ready for the summer! Let the relaxation begin...

 

Breakfast

For the last seven days, we have switched things up a little in this house. After watching Fat, sick and nearly dead This mama, who is 5lb overweight, alright 10...ok maybe 15 and completely addicted to caffine (I started to get that impression when all I was drinking each day was coffe or diet coke) I knew I was not the picture of health and it was affecting my energy levels and sleep. In a nutshell I was tired of being tired.

So, I researched recipes and got a juicer for Mother's Day...and my journey began.

The first three days were hard...constant headaches, which ended in a migraine. Lack of energy and peeing like a racehorse! But after the initial slump, my energy has picked up, my sleep is better already and I just feel like a new person.

This weekend, Mr B even sat down to watch said documentary and is currently doing his own juice fast! (he is in fact juicing carrots in the kitchen as I type) I have started to look for new 'raw' recipes that I can make for the family for dinner and we are now enjoying testing out different salad recipes, with beans and a whole slew of veggies, that will compliment our new love of all things green.

The juice above shows the results of juicing all of the fruits and veggies on the cutting board.

I am enjoying the freedom of juicing different fruits and veggies for breakfast and lunch and trying out different recipes and then eating 'clean' for dinner. Its a new era..

Teacher Quilt (numero uno)

One done and one in the making with 6 days to go!

Its a good lap size quilt at 48" x 60"

Fabric is from Lucien, called Woodland. Really cute whimsical prints and perfect for Joshy's teacher.

I used the pattern 'Take 5 goes to charm school' and then sashed each block.

The border was made out of the leftover blocks.

It is yet to be washed, so will crinkle up some more::

 

Instead of going with the kids handprints this year, I got each child to write their name (in their own unique handwriting) and transferred this to the bottom right border of the quilt

 

 

It looks very different to the previous teachers quilts I have done, but I like the cleanness of it.

I also added a surprise block on the back:

 

 

of course, the whole process was overseen by my helpers

 

(yes that is Winny in the background washing his boy-bits!)

All of the cats seem to love the whole quilt making process and must perceive it as an activity that I do just for them 'oh look, Mama has set this lovely piece of fabric here for us to sit on...' At times it can be a wee bit annoying (think - perfectly smooth finished quilt top, layered with batting and backing laid out to be pin-basted and then cat tears through and rolls in said layers, using claws to wrap layers around them...)

But they are so darn cute, they are quickly forgiven :o)

Now back to work on quilt no.2!

 

Hunting

These cats of mine are having fun watching all the wildlife in our garden right now. In addition to very cheeky squirrels, they have bunnies, doves and a huge variety of birds regularly strutting their stuff, right in front of their little furry noses!

 

 

You can tell when Winny is getting wound up - because his ears will flatten out...this usually comes just before he starts to crawl on his belly (commando style) to the other windows overlooking the garden, to get a new angle of his prey...

 

 

Mothers Day Thumbprint Necklaces

I saw this post on Monday and thought it was just the cutest Mother's Day gift of all time (fantastic blog too, very real-life, with a splash of humor!)

Maddy and Josh's teachers agreed. So yesterday I spent the morning up at the school::

 

48 little pairs of thumbs later, we have our own little collection of heart necklaces.

 

Josh holding his class necklaces!

The turned out super cute and I am excited to drop them off to the teachers this morning!

Wanna see something else that is super cute??

Mr B's latte heart on my coffee this morning! :o)

 

 

My Girl Scout

I was lucky enough to be a co-leader for Maddy's Girl Scout Brownie troop this year. It has been a blast, but on reflection having just looked through some of the photos of the past year, I'm not entirely sure who told my girl she could grow up so quick, its just not fair on this Mama...

 

This is the most recent photo of my gal from last week - she had just earned 3 new badges!! and was proudly showing them off on her sash (a sash that is fast running out of room and we still have next year to fit on there yet)

They have done community service projcts for the homeless shelter (making birthday bags filled with cake mix, frosting, treats and birthday party items - for people to celebrate their birthday while in the shelter, an occassion usually overlooked)

 

Made a huuuuge gingerbread house, which was displayed at the museum

partied like it was 1999!

Met doctors, nurses and firemen, had field trips to the aquarium and around the fire station. Made snacks and treats, played games from around the world...and more! (and we still have the campout to come!)

It has been a wonderful Brownie year indeed and I can't wait to do it all again with them next year!

 

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the 4th be with you!!

Little touches of (Lego) Star Wars around our home::

The Lego Boba Fett birthday cake from Joshy's party::

Mr B's text message alert on his phone is R2D2's happy voice

Taking inspiration from these Mama's and their amazing Star Wars quilts....this summer perhaps I will tackle one for the boy.

On a completely different note, I managed to get the quilt back for a few hours yesterday and added the *blue bird* and a label::

Happy Friday!!

Catch up

After my quilting marathon last week (with other quilts being worked on as well as the Angry Birds one, I just didn't get around to photographing their progress) I have settled for a calmer pace this week. Cranking up the embroidery machine to embroider items that I have had sat around for a while.

Like bibs for my Nephew - Nathan, because, really soon, he is going to hit that 'first try of food' stage...and things are gonna get messy!

Bib Backs

and an embroidered taggie blanket...just because he is soooo cute!

On the request of Joshua, I made a blue bird for the Angry Bird quilt (and a quilt label) to sew on the next time we see our friends.

Beach towels embroidered for all the trips to the pool we will be doing this summer (Joshy's is a Star Wars towel, Maddy's comprises of peace-signs)

And talking of summer, the beginnings of the summer nature table have been set up in the hall..

and just because I forgot to add it before now (and I have just brought it down to wash it!) a pick of Joshy's 'Easter pillowcase' I whipped up with a 'Peeps" embroidery.

Now, back to cleaning!

 

Angry Birds Quilt

Although, strictly speaking, this is not the finished product...I had to snap some photos of this quilt now to try and catalog the process. You see my version of an Angry Bird quilt (where you just add a few of the yellow triangle type birds to this design) is faaaar different to my Son and Husbands idea of an angry bird quilt...

I got talked through the Angry Bird game (by both of them) explaining which ones were fast and needed to look like they were flying, which ones were in fact bombs and didin't need to look like they moved, which ones had pained expressions...you get the picture...

So today in between running backwards and forwards to the school and taking my girl out for lunch after her 'Celebration of learning' production. I will be adding more birds...and piggies...and all the other stuff they told me about, so that, hopefully we will have a Birthday gift to give at the party tonight to the Birthday Boy (who is turning 7 and an Angry Birds fan)

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Can I get a whoop whoop!

UPDATE:: Finally finished!! With 40 mins to go!!

I ended up ripping out the first two birds and re-doing them in fleece!

I was going to back it in minky, but then I came across this super cute fleece which I thought was very appropriate!

Just enough time left to dive in the shower and get going!

EDITED TO ADD: Blue Bird added (along with a quilt label on the back)

 

Thrift Score!

I headed out to my favourite thrift stores the other day, passing a few Estate sales on the way that I simply could not pass up..

Maddy has quite the collection of make-up right now and informed me (after a play date to her BFF's house) that she needed a cute makeup case. Something that had different layers to store all of her goodies neatly.

I saw this pristine vintage Samsonite and kinda groaned, everything at this estate sale seemed a little overpriced and these pristine cases can get a bit pricey. I picked it up anyways and looked all over for the price...and there it was on the bottom...one dollar! Bingo!!

I showed Maddy when she was home from school and she squealed with delight...

I also picked up a little something for Mr B which also had him squealing with delight (ahem)

Anyone in Jason's family will be able to recognize the above item and understand why my hubby was so excited at the thought of having his own (brand new) version here in the States. You see we had to leave his beloved Tupperwear rice cooker back home in England and each journey we make back home he looks longingly at it sitting in his Mama's house.

Fast forward to Estate sale no.2 where I stumbled across a room full of brand new Tupperwear (the owner of the house had been a saleperson back in the day and apparently kept a lot of the products) There, in the middle of the room of Tupperwear was one, just one rice cooker.

It had Mr B's name on it and he has already put it to good use cooking perfect rice for us.

Perfect.

Best. Photo. Ever.

Back in Feb, after around 6 months of collecting (100% cotton) pillowcases...me and some other ladies from church sewed dresses for an orphanage in Uganda.

That one day (in which we completed 21 dresses) was followed by another month of sewing invidually and in March we sent 85 pillowcase dresses to an Ugandan Orphanage.

Last night, I received this photo in my inbox::

Be still my heart....Best. Photo. Ever :o)

 

 

Inspiration Today

Little Brown Bags

There has been plenty of quilting in the parts over the last few days and I am hoping to get my first teachers quilt top finished today (ready for the hand embroidery to start) However, whilst I finish that off, I realised I had a little project that I didn't share...I had to come up with a cute gift wrap recently that could be used for 30ish gifts...in a short space of time.

The answer? Washi tape, doiley's and brown lunch sacks

Cheap, cute and all the supplies are readily available...perfect.

and did you know you can now get washi tape at Michaels (and probably Hobby Lobby too)..bingo!

 

In the last few days

I have::

Taken a trip on a big pink party bus. A trip that involved taking in the sights of downtown Tulsa...and drinking more Cosmopolitan's than one woman should...

Weathered the storms, storms we knew were coming for days beforehand and which the weather service warned of 2 days in advance (something they haven't done since 2006 apparently)

Contacted local companies that install storm shelters (spurred on by said storms)

Completed my first week of CASA training! (four more to go)

Cooked Gordon's meatballs for dinner

Marvelled at how well Winny can disguise himself...here he is as a rug

Painted the master bedroom with Mr B (it looks amazing!)

Started both the Teachers quilts for next months end of school year celebrations

Thats all I can manage for now...off to pick up sticky children from school (its hot here now storms have passed!)