Long time no see!

I know I said I'd be busy, but I really didn't think it would take me this long to get back to you!  I've missed my blog ... more to the point, I miss that I haven't had time to craft because I've been so busy, so I haven't had anything crafty to post!

BUT!!!  now that I have sent taxes to our CPA and have gotten a schedule going with work and yoga teaching, I'm hoping that I can find some time to get my craft on!  I'm really wanting to do some screen printing and make some fun headbands for M'Lou.

Her grandfather bought her this one at the baby Gap and she LOVES it!

So I bought a bunch of headbands from Target and want to experiment with different creative ideas on what to do with them.

I'll keep you posted on what I come up with!

It's a New Year and busy as always :)

I know it's almost the end of January and I'm just now getting to posting something.

It was a busy end of the year for me.  I got my 200 hour certification to teach yoga (join my FB page to learn more about what I'm doing with that), I got a contract job that started this month and we traveled for New Year's to our family farm.  It was a wonderful and hectic end of the year :)

So, now I'm working full-time, trying to figure out what I'm doing with my yoga teaching certification, trying to figure out what I'm doing with M'Lou Designs, trying to find time to craft and oh, yeah needing to put everything together for our accountant so we can file taxes by April (I'm hoping it won't take me that long to do it, but I'm procrastinating ... as usual).

In addition to all of that, I started a program called APY 60 Live which is a yoga workout and lifestyle program developed by Kurt Johnsen, founder of American Power Yoga.  This Live program is hosted here at American Power Yoga in Dallas and runs for 10 weeks.  If you can't make it to the Live program, they also have a DVD set that just launched.  Here's the link if you're interested in learning more:  APY 60.  Keep in mind it is in infomercial format, so ... forewarned.

So just a bit more about APY 60, and no I have no sponsorship ties and plan to blog about my experiences good and bad with this program since weight loss and exercise are top New Year's resolution items.  By lifestyle, I mean both what you eat and your general attitude towards life.  This program's "diet" is not something that you do until you lose the weight and then you eat whatever you want.  This is a program designed to change the way that you eat, by eliminating things from your diet and helping you find healthy substitutes.  I will admit that I'm not going to adhere 100% to the diet program (I'm sorry but I can't give up cheese and bread), but I've already made changes that I think are for the better.  Like I'm drinking enough tea (primarily herbal) and water to float a small boat ~100 ounces a day.  Depending on how I end up at the end of 10 weeks, I may post my before and after photos ... you'll just have to wait and see.

Needless to say all of this requires time and there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done and spend time with M'Lou and the hubby.  So ... not that you were expecting me to post a ton, we've already proven that's just too hard for me, but if you don't hear from me for a bit all of the above reasons are my excuses ... valid or not ;)

TTFN!

A last post for the year

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from M'Lou Designs!

P.S. I am offering an end of year sale through Jan 4th.  Just enter 'HappyHolidays' when you check out and 25% will be deducted off your order.

Let the Christmas planning begin!

So, we haven't gotten the tree out of hiding yet - as a brief aside, I have a contact allergic to pine sap, so to avoid swollen itchy hands, we got a fake tree last year.  I'm looking forward to decorating this year with M'Lou as a willing participant.  I can already see the tree being pulled down at some point ... maybe the breakable ornaments need to stay in their boxes this year.

Anyway, I am now ramping up for a push for Christmas presents.  I always say I'm going to plan ahead, but it never happens - it's always all of a sudden December with no idea what happened to the other 11 months!

After Christmas I'll be sure to share the gifts I'm working on, but I would hate to spoil the surprise before then.  However, I will share some of the things on my wish list or that I think should be on your wish list. You can click on any of the pictures to take you to that listing or see the store links after the pictures to see even more wonderful stuff!

1.  Ok, so this one isn't actually on my list because it's my husband's present to me!  Yes, I did buy it for myself, but he told me it was my Christmas present, so that counts :)  I do still need to buy backing fabric ... maybe Santa's elf will help me out ;)p

And here's where you can get one of your very own: sewlovechristmas

2.  If I had more wall space or a bigger house, I would have one of everything at Sarah Jane Studios.  I have no words to describe how wonderful her illustrations are.  They are just amazing!  I did end up succumbing and purchasing a couple of her calendar single card prints - a small indulgence instead of the entire room full of prints I really want!

And here's where to find more of her lovely work: Sarah Jane Studios

3.  And a wish list of fabric that I have no projects for I just REALLY want!

Some of the yardage from Moda's It's a Hoot collection

The full FQ (fat quarter) bundle for the collection ... can't you just see an adorable little girl's quilt?

Yummy deep reds in this lineup - I will admit that I do have a traditional quilt pattern that would look AMAZING with this fabric, but I'm resisting ... I want you all to admire my restraint!  This is the Lumiere de Noel by French General FQ bundle ... another Moda line.  I think I'm sensing a theme here.

And this is another kit that would just be too cute for a little person.  Again it's from Moda ... yep, definitely sensing a theme ... from their Punctuation line of fabrics.  Also, if you buy this kit it comes in a retro metal lunch box ... TOO CUTE!!

All of the fabrics above, except the Punctuation quilt kit, came from a fellow Dallas Modern Quilt Guild member's store.  You can see more of the wonderful fabrics she carries at her store, Maricopa Fabrics.

The Punctuation quilt kit came from Green Fairy Quilts.

Let me know what's on your list (it may need to get added to my list)!

TTFN!

Thankful!

I have several friends that are posting things they are thankful for as their Facebook status every day or every couple of days. I didn't want to copy them, but I realize how many things I have to be thankful for! I'm going to kick off the week of Thanksgiving listing some of the things I'm thankful for.

1. My family - both biological and through marriage.
• I am extremely thankful for an amazing husband (who I don't appreciate nearly enough) that supports me through all of my trials and joys. I am thankful for an amazing daughter who reminds me that it's okay to giggle every day.
• While anyone that knows my family knows we're all a bit nuts, I'm thankful that there are people out there that love me for who I am and have for my entire life ... and that we're all still on speaking terms ;)
• I have had the incredible good fortune to marry into an amazing family and I treasure my relationship with them. It is an amazing thing to have people claim you as family without the "in-law" part.
2. My health
• I realize as I get older how precarious life can be and that having good health is a gift not a given.
3. Opportunities
• I have had some amazing opportunities in my life. This could be an entire thankful post in and of itself, but I'll try to be brief. I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to travel both domestically and internationally. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to go to college and to graduate school. I am thankful for the opportunity to continue stretching my brain and explore new career options such as M'Lou Designs.
4. And last, but certainly not least or even close to all of the things I have to be thankful for, I am thankful for my friends.
• I am thankful that I have friends that encourage me to move beyond my worry wart, thinking stage and make me take action. I am thankful that I have friends that I can have honest discussions (and whining sessions) with about life, family and the ups and downs of day to day living.

Thanks for taking a minute to read this post! I hope it may make you take a moment, if you haven't already, and realize all of the things you have to be thankful and grateful for during this season.

TTFN!

Fall Cleaning???

Is that even a common term?  Anyway ... I'm working on reorganizing my craft space for like the 5th time this year.  Yes, I know!  It's a disease.  Fortunately, my hubby is very understanding as long as he doesn't have to really do anything ;)

In this case, he did have to help me move the massive hutch we have in our center room.  With the start of prolonged fall-like weather (meaning it will only get into the 60s with 70s and 80s still sprinkled in there because it IS Texas after all), I felt it was necessary to unearth the fireplace that I covered up with my junk crafting supplies this summer.

And NO I wasn't procrastinating on actually working on stuff ... okay, maybe a little, but I actually got two new projects started and completed.  Granted they didn't turn out the way I thought, but at least they're not constantly running around in my head anymore :)

Here is a picture after we moved the hutch but before I stuck all the stuff back in it. I was worried I might have to nudge it into a better location after I moved around some of the other furniture.

I wish I could claim that all the mess was because of the reorganization.  Unfortunately, I think it has more to do with my pack rat nature than anything else ... ok, fine it also has to do with my inability to actually FINISH a project :)

Here are a couple of in-process pictures.

This is with my big metal rack moved into place and a lot of stuff moved out into the hallway :)

Much closer with most of the stuff back where it should be and me playing with my craft table arrangement.

And the moment you have all been breathlessly waiting for (drum roll please!) ....

I still have too much stuff in this room, but I think it's just going to continue to be a problem ... at least I cleared the space in front of the fireplace (that you can't see, but it's off to the right).

Here's my new craft space.  Under the cutting mat table, I have two sets of plastic drawers with all of my notions for sewing and various things like buttons, interfacing, etc.

I'm pretty pleased with it - still have some organization to do.  Like where do I stick all my craft books that I use for inspiration.  I'm thinking I may have to finish some projects to make room for more ... ;)

I'm planning on getting a fair amount of crafting done this week as next week heralds some changes for the next 5 weeks.  I'll keep you posted as things develop ...

TTFN!

Post-Halloween Photo Roundup

I will admit that I had a bit of fun getting M'Lou dressed up for the costume party Saturday night.  She was a dance-aholic all night long and I don't think it was just the costume ;)

This is my take on 80's chic :)  

The best part is that all of this is stuff she had in her closet.  Gotta love budget costumes!

Here are a couple of pics from Halloween Day.  We headed to the Arboretum with friends and went trick-or-treating there.  Good thing because we weren't feeling up to the actual nighttime trick-or-treating - or at least I wasn't. We had nap mutiny and I wasn't ready for the hysterics ... meaning mine ;)

I think she always has more fun at the Arboretum than we do - except when we want to leave and she's still running around like a hooligan or we won't let her into the restricted areas (really that rope is there for a reason ...)

And to end the post, a new word that M'Lou somehow learned ... it's a mystery how she learned this word!

For those that do not speak M'Lou, she is saying 'candy'.  Like I said a MYSTERY how she learned this word at this time of year ...

TTFN!