A new purse

This last Saturday I spent the afternoon making a purse with my Mother-In-Law, Cheryl. I was blessed to marry into a great family, and we like to do crafts together. We made a new scripture case/bag but I like it so much, I may use it for my everyday purse!

Mitch has a strange fascination with bags of every kind. If there is any bag around he has to be in it. I'll show more pictures of that later. I was just picking up my bag so Derek could take a picture, and Mitch jumped in. Well, he's going to show off the inside, I guess. You can't see as well (with a cat in the way) but there are alot of pockets, which I love.

I love the button on it. I found one that matched just perfectly in my button stash. Also, you can't tell, but I quilted the bottom. I'm not very practiced in that, but thought I did a fairly good job! I really like how my bag turned out.

New Widget

When I started my blog I put in a widget listing books as I've read them. I like to reread books, so it was something to remind me of those books I've really liked, but sadly it was erased one time when I was changing my background. I kept meaning to start it again, so now I am. Hopefully it will be a place that you can reference if you're looking for a new book to read. Hope you enjoy it :)

It's Done!

All right everyone, here is the finished product for my sister's recipe book to help support 'Baby K' (We don't know his name yet...) Here is the link to my sister Shaina's blog,
http://just-because-i-am-me.blogspot.com/
and here is a copy of her post introducing her book. I'm so excited to buy a copy, she is an amazing cook! I know you will very much enjoy it. Thank you everyone for your support!

"My Recipe Book!!
I just finished my recipe book today!! I sent it through to Blurb and ordered a few copies for myself. So as of today, my book is now for sale! The book is about 8x8 square, and is a soft cover. It has all of the recipes that are posted on my sidebar, plus many others. The book has 98 pages and almost 100 recipes. It includes many color pictures, but not every recipe has a picture. I tried to include as many recipes as possible, without having the book get too expensive.The book is available through BLURB and here is a direct link to the book! The book is priced at $25.95.
(If anyone knows how to make a button that would use the above picture as a link either to my blog, or to blurb, could you let me know!! I'd love to be able to advertise this as much as possible.)
Also, if you click on the blurb link on the right-hand column of my blog, it will direct you to the blurb site to buy the book.
Also, I'm looking for some short testimonials, for those of you who have tried my recipes. When I get the button link set up, I'll make a more detailed post about the recipe book, the recipes contained in it, as well as comments from you, so more people will buy the book. If you are interested in helping me with this, email me your comments at kamyrensmiles@hotmail.com
Thank you so much!! "

Help for Baby K

My sister is going to have a baby and he is going to be a very special baby. He has a congenital heart defect, in that the right chamber of his heart did not grow, and recently they learned that he also has a cleft lip. Obviously he is going to need alot of surgeries and special care. He is their 5th baby, and already very much loved. His birthday is planned for Nov 4th.
If any of you know my sister, or ever been to her blog, she has posted alot of recipes and all of them yummy. I have never had a bad outcome from her recipes. Sooo, she is making a recipe book that will be out soon, to benefit and raise money for her special Baby K. Please see the follwing link to familiarize yourself with her book, and stay to enjoy her blog. She is very amusing and crafty. Please think about purchasing this recipe book when it comes available as it will go to a very special cause! Thank you!!!

http://just-because-i-am-me.blogspot.com/2009/10/80-recipes-and-counting.html

Feast or Famine

Sometimes it feels like I've read all the good books out there already, and I can't find anything to read. Then, other times, I've got stacks of books that have been recommended to me by family, friends at work, and friends out of work. I'm in the land of plenty, at the moment.

Plus, I've got a few more titles of things to read after I go through this stack. I'm loving it!

In case any of you were wondering, "The Year of Flowers" project is still in full force. Derek has not let me go longer than a week without flowers. This is the latest bouquet. As you can tell he's trying very hard to not do the same flowers : ) Aren't the little pumkins and peppers so cute?

Mutton Bustin'

Derek and I went to the Spokane County Fair yesterday. We had a good time looking at all the fruit, grain, veggie, animal, and even the craft entries on display. My favorite parts are the quilt and handiwork items, the photography, and the animals. It's also fun to see the giant pumpkins and try to guess their weight. It was still early in the fair, so not all the animals had been submitted, but this this year came early enought that we got to see everything, including the horses. I think they are such beautiful animals! One of the horses was so giant, his back was taller than Derek's almost 6'0" height, let alone what his head was up to! He was the top winner.
Well, one of the activites that we saw for the first time this year was the "Mutton Bustin". Maybe all of you have already seen this, and its no big deal to you, but I thought it was the cutest/funniest thing! You have these little kids (complete with PPE-Personal Protective Equipment) that are hanging on for dear life on top of a sheep as it runs out of the pen, and the goal is to hang on the longest. The winner of the overall Fair time got $5,000 in a savings bond!

Here is a picture of it what it's suppose to look like.

Below is a video we took, I hope you can watch it. This first video is a 3 year old.

This little Cowgirl lasted 8 seconds, the record for this session. It was so fun seeing these little kids clinging on a running sheep!

Case Closed.

Well, I thought I'd put up some projects that I have finished over the last year in case anyone was interested. I think I'm always suprised by how well my knitting projects turn out. I taught myself to knit, and to read patterns, so it's still kind of amazing to me when they actually turn out, and that I do it right. I think its something I need to develope more, but I'm not good with follow-up. I start alot of crafts but then get a new project, and get distracted by that (I know you all know what I'm talking about!)
So, to try to prevent that I like to do alot of small things. I've been told I do alot of baby things and there are three reasons for that: 1. They are small and quick projects, thus more likely that I'll finish them. 2. I hope that someday I will actually be able to have children... and so I like making stuff for them, and there are alot of cute baby/children things out there. And 3. I know alot of people that are pregnant/having children so it makes for good gifts!
Ok, so on to the things I've completed.
The first few pictures show things I've done with a certain kind of yarn, which I LOVE!!! I love the colors, I love the way it knits up. If I had a group of colors that identify me, these are probably them. They are the colors I wear most often, the earthy colors. The only bad things is that I think this yarn is discontinued, so it is getting harder to find... : (

Some mittens for my sister Nancy, last year for Christmas

This is the yarn: Zitron Ecco Aquarell Yarn color 204. This is an awful picture of it, it so doesn't do it justice, but I wanted to show the a project I still need to finish. It's called the Dream Swatch Head wrap and all you have to do is google it and the pattern will come up.

Just a cute hat, again sadly the colors aren't as brilliant as in real life. From this website that has a pdf for about 10 very cute hatshttp://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.flickr.com/3236/3146352181_5b0b557afd_d.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bloggybabybumpers.blogspot.com/2009/01/buzzbee-hat.html&usg=__J6NyFkh-a-t1PtJhicWUKkmj2YE=&h=375&w=500&sz=122&hl=en&start=13&um=1&tbnid=tcjjn47Bq8lyXM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwooly%2Bwormhead%2Bbaby%2Bhats%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS343US344%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

This one is called Sweet Baby cap: http://grosblog.wordpress.com/2007/05/16/sweet-baby-cap/

And here is the Babbette blanket I started on "Our Grand Adventure" if you remember my endeavor. I decided a baby blanket was just fine with me, instead of the full size (See, I've gotten smarter. For now, the little projects are what works for me. I don't have alot of time with work, and my church calling with the Youth). I loved how it turned out and the colors!

And lastly, here is a "Green Living tote" from Lion Brand Yarn (free pattern, you just have to sign up) that I made for Sharon for her birthday.

So, there ya go, and if you have any questions about the things I've made, just let me know!