A Skirt

Today I finished a skirt I have been 'working on for a loooong time. My sister requested it way back when (I think when summer started, I am not too sure), and it has been on this pile

since then. Since I have been trying (emphasis on 'trying') to make myself finish this pile of stuff, it was next on my list. But finishing this pile is not as easy of a task to stick to as I originally thought. While I have been trying to focus on it, I have done a quilt, a new purse, a needle holder and a few other things to procrastinate even further. For the past two weeks, I have made myself work on it for a little bit at a time, in between all those other things. Today I finally finished it. Hopefully she likes it and wears is too, now! :)

I did a new-to-me kind of pleat, it was fun and I really liked the result:

One more project down, only a few to go! I think it might be refreshing when I have nothing that I am working on and I will feel less guilty starting something new. Ryan told me I am not allowed to purchase anymore quilt fabric until I am done the projects I have now. Hmm. Motivation? The next project I want to finish is a bag that my niece asked me to make for her back in September...I have the fabric and the pattern, I just have to do it now...

The Writing On The Wall

It seems that we have a budding artist in the family. Who liked to express herself by writing on the wall. Camia's most recent love is anything that can write. Anything that produces colour when touched to any surface. Tonight she wrote on the wall. Thankfully it came off with little or no effort at all. (Ryan says it was effortless.)

And I couldn't help it. I had to take a photo of it. She looks a little frazzled, but it was the only one I could get before she burst out in tears. I know, honey. All that effort, all that art. It goes away with the soap suds in the sink..

The writing is unfortunately not that visible on these photos, but I wanted to document it anyways...

Christmas! So soon??

Since I was so eager for fall to arrive, I have decided that I am going to wait 1 more month to put up my Christmas tree and put out my snow men. Until then, I am going to enjoy the fall decor I put out not that long ago.

In the meantime, Melissa and I went to Michales after Richmond today to get something she was looking for. Michales has their Christmas decor marked down 25%, 30% and 40% off! And it hasn't even come yet! Just wait. In 2 weeks (or so), there will be candy hearts and fluffy bears on display...mixed together with pink, purple and yellow jelly beans.

Today at Michales, I purchased some items I plan on putting in my Christmas center piece. I want to host a Christmas dinner this year, so this will be just perfect. I also purchased some red berries and red poinsettia silk flowers to add as additional colour in my piece as well. I am excited...but not excited enough to put it out yet...I am waiting 4 more weeks.

After 6 Months of Scotch Tape...

On Saturday I had had enough of my broken camera. It's been broken since April, when it took a spill off my stroller and landed on the concrete ground. The battery cover broke off and I was scared to go see how much it would cost to get it fixed. So, I used some scotch tape and taped it up, replacing it as needed and when I changed the battery. On Saturday I had had enough. The tape wouldn't stick anymore, no matter how many times I put it on, and I was having trouble uploading my photos to the computer because the battery wouldn't stay in. So, on Saturday I took it to London Drugs to see what they could tell me in regards to repairs. They said there that it would cost $75 just to ship it to Richmond and then a service fee and then the cost of the repair. I decided that I would save myself the middle costs, and go directly to the source myself. So today I headed to Richmond to get my camera fixed. I had previously called Nikon to get an estimate, and at first they had told me $45. I figured this was a small price to pay for my stupidity. But when I called them again just to make sure I could get it fixed today, and to see if I had to make an appointment, the kind lady told me that they would so it for free! Yay! An even better price to pay for my stupidity! And now my camera is fixed, with no scotch tape holding it together. :D

Mom-my

For the past month or so Camia has been referring to Ryan as 'daddy' and her stuffy as 'uh oh' and sheep as 'baa', cows as 'booo' and dogs as 'oof oof'. I thought there seemed to be a hole in her vocabulary since the word 'mommy' had not yet surfaced. Today that hole got filled as she looked at our family photo, pointed and said 'mom-my'. The first time I did not really listen right away. And then I stopped sewing and asked her to say it again. 'Mom-my". Sigh. It makes me feel special.

And then it makes me feel weird. Somebody called me mommy. Perhaps the thought of being a mom never really has been made official...until now, when I hear her say it.

But then it makes me feel special again.

A Time For Walking

Monday was a nice day. And I decided to take advantage of it with my friend Melissa. We went for a walk and ended up at Sendell Gardens to take pictures. When we left my house it was threatening rain, but it held out all day and allowed us to have some fun with our girls and the fall colours.

Kisses for mommy:And going for a stroll:We went to the park, but there weren't many fallen leaves on the ground. But we did find this fun coloured bush, and used it as a background.

To get Camia to smile, Melissa put Stuffy behind her and made it play peek a boo. It lasted only for a short while, but we got some good laughs out of her.

And the she got upset because Stuffy kept disappearing and she wasn't getting him back. Such trauma for a little girl!

And then since we didn't find any leaves at the park, we stopped on the side of the road and into the ditch to take the leafy photos we were after.

On the way back home, we found this cool ivy plant growing through the fence.

And when we got home, we wondered why we went looking for leaves when my driveway is covered with them...

Teething. Again.

So, these past couple weeks have been tough on Camia. It's been a test to our patience. And there's been lots of diaper changing practice. I even tried getting Camia to go on the toilet, but when I tried, apparently she did not have to go. She has cut three of her eye teeth! Yay! The last one is trying to make it's way through the gum, but has not yet shown its pearly white surface. She now has 15.5 teeth. Does this mean that the end is in sight?? I do hope so, because I love seeing this look on her

instead of this one.

Needle Pocket

There are a few blogs that I have been following in this blogging world, and they are always filled with ideas and fun things to make. I saw this on one of the blogs, so I decided to try make it out of some scraps I had laying around. I headed to Value Village and bought some lace, cut it to size and sewed it to the front of my 'needle pocket'.

For the inside I used a scrap of aida fabric. I thought this would be perfect for holding needles.

This is what I was trying to make:

The Quilt

Today I completed my fall quilt. 100%.

The binding and everything. I am excited. I was originally going to take a class to learn how to do binding properly, but I was on you tube looking at I don't know what - but something to do with quilting and/or sewing and came across a tutorial video with complete step by step instructions.

A close up of the finished project.

The only thing is that now I have no finger work for when Ryan and I curl up and watch a video or hang out and read. This binding took quite a bit of time! I think it was worth it, though, because now I get to curl under something warm and cozy.

So, I decided to take a few moments to write in this space I call my moment of peace. Ryan has just left for work, and I spent a few minutes with Camia trying to convince her that it is still nighttime. She still has been waking up almost every night, sometime two or three times. Just for a cuddle and a hug. I still have sympathy for her because I believe she is teething and she is still fighting a cold. In the last couple weeks she cut 3 of her eye teeth. My mom says that those are the worst ones to come through. Besides the interrupted sleeps, though, I haven't really noticed them come in - until they're in, and then I remember the times I had with her that were a bit on the rougher side and am happy that I have something to hold accountable. She slept the night through last night, and I am hoping that she will give me at least 1 more hour before she is ready to greet the world for yet another day.

The weather the last couple of days has been lovely. It's rained. And it's been crazy windy. And it's rained. I went into work with my mom again on Tuesday and it was cold and windy. While driving to the greenhouse, I really had to hold my steering wheel for the wind would toss my car in the ditch as if it were a piece of abandoned paper if I let it go. At the greenhouse, twigs, leaves and a whole bunch of other things were tossed on the roof with no mercy and then hurled about with no love. It was rather quite fascinating and almost mesmerizing. Almost. I love this weather. And on the next nice day, I want to take advantage of the wind that's been blowing and head to the park where millions of coloured leaves will have rested on the grassy beds. So far that next nice day looks to be Sunday. We'll see, since the weather man seems to be unable to be for certain what tomorrow will hold as far as the temperature or pattern is concerned.

This cool weather has urged me to pull out some more fall decor that I recently purchased at Michael's for 70% off. They had about 3 rows of halloween/fall decor on special and then about 10 rows of Christmas decor. I try not sigh and try not wish that the seasons would not be rushed but then I remember that Costco has had Christmas decor since July. Then I sigh. Although I do love decorating my house for Christmas and for the last 2 years have only decorated my home for Christmas, this year I found a new love: fall decor! Well, that is not completely true. I started collecting last year. I realized last night while were eating dinner that these pumpkins

happen to match these itty bitty pumpkins I purchased a few weeks ago.

These are my new flowers that occupy the vase that once held the bouquet Ryan brough home for me one day a few weeks ago. I got these ones for free from the flower shop that Ryan always visits. The flowers that he gave me

died within a few short days, so I went back to the florist to ask what he could/would do about it. He made me this bouquet 'to last' he said. I love it.

I also purchased a little wreathe that I hung in my kitchen above my sink.

And I also had a thought run through my brain at some point and time this week. My kitchen (this photo was taken before we moved in) kind of matches the fall season! (It helps to look for the positives. It makes me feel better about my lovely kitchen :) )

Pumpkin Patch

Today a few friends and I took advantage of the nice weather and got some good fall fun in as well. We took our girls and headed to the Willow View Pumpkin Patch in Abbotsford and took pictures and picked out our pumpkins. Camia was so good, and was so much fun. She loved to sit on the pumpkins and loved the petting zoo. She picked out her own pumpkin:

That she carried around for a little while.

And posed for me.There were pumpkins that were bigger than she was!

And ones that she tried, but couldn't lift.

I found a neat wagon to take photo's in. I thought it was very fitting for the pumpkin patch.

She loved the petting barn and felt that she should lay down to see this sheep. The kid that copied her made his mother not too impressed.

She talked to him and tried to give him kisses.

And then we tried for some group shots.

Me and my Bean:
I love her!

They had hay bales painted orange, so I decided to sit Camia on top of one to take her photo. It was windy. Her face on this photo cracks me up.I love this photo: