All Things Heather

Fabric panels...

Finally, after nearly a year in the making, I managed to add a little color to my living room.  Remember way, way, way back when in October I was trying to figure which Amy Butler set I should use for my living room, I went for the green and "pinks,"  deciding on the aquas for my bedroom.  If you can actually believe it, I managed to sew a couple of throw pillows and a simple patchwork lap quilt in an afternoon's time.  Although the fabric is no longer cutting edge, I love it and it was a good match for my space.  

 

After brightening up my couch I realized that the rest of the room could use a bit more oomph or at the very least another "fabric" piece to tie everything together.  I recently rearranged my tiny living room and had been staring at an empty wall above the couch.  Thank goodness for other creative bloggers, I remembered seeing a post at Bella Dia about making fabric panels and realized this was a perfect solution.  A couple days of tinkering and viola.  I managed to incorporate a couple pictures of the kids in floating frames that I think work rather nicely with the panels and I used up a good deal of my scraps from the lap quilt.  

 

The whole thing was a harder to photograph then I imagined.  Either there was too much light or not enough, I'd get glare on the frames or have to use my flash.  I will definitely not be quitting my non-existent day job to become an interior photographer but hopefully you get the drift of what it looks like.  Size is also tricky when photographing spaces but I reassure you that the size of the "mosaic" is appropriate to the wall, it looks a little wonky in a couple of the pictures but trust me, it's nice in person.  

All in all I really love the way it turned out and I think it definitely adds a bit of spark to my living room.  It's amazing how tiny little touches here and there can truly make a space and it was really not that difficult nor that expensive.  Next, maybe a little splash of color in the kitchen, I think a couple new hot pads and some decorated tea towels really help out. I'm sure that will be another year in the making though.  Thanks for looking.

Child abuse...

It was a pretty mellow weekend but we spent a considerable amount of time at the pool on Saturday. Luckily, our community has a nice pool and at only $6.50 for admission, it's a pretty inexpensive way to spend a Saturday morning. Normally I make the children wear long sleeve suits but for some reason I had a lapse of judgment and allowed them to wear their speedos.  Even with a hourly sunscreen lathering, my oldest came home with quite a burn.  It's pretty much as bad as it looks and I get the loser mom award for the day.  The sun is deceiving, and sunburn is even more so.  When you notice you are getting red, it's normally much too late and this case was no exception.  Luckily she is young and resilient so she can curse me later in life.  her sibling, Makenna was not blessed with the white pasty skin and tolerates sun exposure much better, although I am diligent about sunscreen on her I can't remember the last time she actually got a burn.  For lunch we had a delicious smoothie filled with lots of anti-oxidants and enzymes so maybe that will help fight some of those nasty free radicals.  Don't they say that most of your skin damage is done during childhood?  Anybody have any nasty burn stories they would like to share?   

Hi....

I figured it was time to finally come back.  I've been gone for how long now, a couple of months, maybe? Definitely enough time to bum out some of my few but loyal readers, I'm sure everyone understands the summer hiatus thing.  Regardless, I didn't think forget about you guys and have thought of many of you throughout the last couple months.  I wonder how "Mama Urchin" is doing keeping her kids busy with no planned activities, I wonder how Ruinwen is doing with her relationship with her mom, I wonder how Zondais feeling about her boobs, and I wonder if each and everyone of you has had a nice summer.  Honestly, I haven't been keeping up with my bloglines so I have no idea.  I feel a tiny bit guilty reading what others have wrote when I haven't written anything myself.  Isn't that funny, blog reading as a reward, and I know that not everyone who reads blogs have blogs but for myself, I feel like I have to contribute in order to benefit from the work of other people.  Just add it to my laundry list of "issues."  In the meantime, I have LOTS of catching up to do. 

Last time I checked in I was on my way for holiday in Washington state.  Like most things, my expectations far exceeded the reality of the situation and I cut the trip very short and did not do nearly any of the things I wanted to.  Part was to blame on illness, Amelia managed to come down with strep throat, and part was just unrealistic expectations on my part.  I thought it would be a mini-holiday for me, instead it was just me working harder to take care of my kids someplace else.  I'm sure many of you Mom's know how that is, sometimes it's just plain easier to stay at home.   And my relationships with my own mother was a bit strained, I'm not blaming, I'm just admitting to tension, so for my own self preservation, it was time to go when I did.  The bummer is I didn't have a chance to hook up with some of the folks I would have liked to meet...I guess it wasn't in the cards, maybe one day. 

So my life now, Tom left again on deployment about a month ago so I'm once again adjusting to his absence.  This in for a month gone for a number of months routine leaves a bit to be desired.  I realize even this shall pass but I just don't see it getting any easier. Thankfully, the kids are adjusting well, kudos to a busy summer camp and lots of trips to the pool. 

Quite a few other changes on the homefront that I will delve into during the next few weeks.  Some great, some not so great, some will be great.  I don't want to overload your poor little minds with too much excitement at once.  I'll also try to round up some actual crafting photos but in the meantime you will just have to deal with a picture of my kids. Take care all.