October Arizona Vacation

.

Well, I'm certainly a little behind in this post, considering I've been back from vacation for a few weeks now!  I always have a great time in AZ and this trip was no different.

.

First order of business - planting flowers.  It's become a new tradition for my sister and I to plant our Dad's planters in the Fall.  How great is it to be able to plant flowers in October?

.

.

The planters turned out great, but I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

.

Next up:  A boat tour around Saguaro Lake.  In all the years I've been going to Arizona, I've never been to Saguaro Lake.  I'm so glad we finally went.  It's a short 20 minute drive from my Dad's and it's a really beautiful place.  The lake has more than 22 miles of shoreline and when full is about 118 feet deep.  Saguaro Lake is part of the Tonto National Forest, which encompasses 2,873,200 acres!

.

Driving through the desert to get to the lake.  It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere!

.

.

Saguaro Lake Marina:

.

.

World's Cutest Brother and my Dad:

.

.

{The fact that my brother has on an U of M tee-shirt is extremely upsetting...I'm trying not to hold it against him}

.

 .

.

This is a picture of the boat we went on for our tour.  My dad almost had to buy 10 tickets even though there were only five of us because they only take the boat out when there are ten people or more.  Luckily a few others showed up to save us!

.

.

World's Cutest Brother was so ticked that he had to wear a life jacket on board!  That's my Grandpa in the background.  He'll be 90 next month.

.

.

Some of the beautiful scenery from our tour:

.

 .

 .

The captain had my brother come up and steer the boat.

.

 .

Water, wetlands. cactus, mountains.  So beautiful.  When have you ever seen such a combination?!

.

 .

Not the best picture, but here's Baby Sister and me.

.

 .

I enjoyed a little Grand Canyon brew on the tour.

.

.

If you are in the Phoenix / Scottsdale area, I highly recommend a trip to Saguaro Lake!

.

Other vacation highlights:

.

World's Cutest Brother and I played quite a few rounds of Stratego.  Have you ever played this game?  It's actually quite fun.  Although, I think my brother was a little frustrated with me at first. . . .it took  me a while to catch on and learn how to play the game!

.

.

We FINALLY made The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls.  Wow - they were delicious.  Baby sister and I have wanted to make these forever.  They were worth the wait!

.

.

{I think I'll do a separate post dedicated to the rolls...}

.

Lego's by the pool?  Why not!

.

.

I spent A LOT of time laying here and reading.  I finished five books! 

.

.

My brother had two football games while we were there.  It was fun to see him play.

.

.
We went to a Sun's game.  It was a pre-season game but it still was fun!
.

.

.

At my brothers request, we had dinner at Benihana.  If you aren't familiar with Benihana, they are Japanese Steakhouses where you sit around a hibachi grill and the chef cooks in front of you.  Apparently my brother's friends have been going and talking about them.  When we were there there were several groups of elementary school kids there for their birthdays.  Since when do kids go to Japanese steakhouses for birthday parties?  What happened to Show Biz and Chucky Cheese?  Anyways, the food was delicious and we all had fun sitting around the grill and enjoyed watching the chef.

.

Three generations:

.

.
Baby Sister on the left and me on the right:
.

.
It was another great AZ vacation!

.

Guest Posting Today at Remodelaholic

.

I'm guest posting today @ Remodelaholic and sharing a brand new project.  You can see my post right here.

.

Thanks Cassity for having me over!

.

Happy Wednesday!

BHG Subscription Winner

.

Time for a winner!

.

I used random.org to select a winner.  The winner is....comment #48 Nana.

.

Congrats Nana!

.

  Please send me an email (33shadesofgreen@gmail.com) with your address so that I can get your subscription to you!

.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and entered.  I hope you all are having a great week!

Handmade Holidays. . .Quilted Coasters

.

Between now and Christmas I am hoping to have a little series called "Handmade Holidays".  I'm  planning on posting ideas for simple, handmade gifts and decor.  November and December are always busy so I'm not sure how much I will be able to fit in, but I'm going to try my best!

.

First up are these cute, quilted coasters.  These are really simple - if you are a beginner sewer these are a perfect project to try.

.

The idea for these came form the October 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living.  And yes, I still have the issue!  MSL is the only one of my magazine subscriptions that I save...the issue are so beautiful and I just can not bring myself to throw them out.  At some point it's going to become a problem but for now - I'm keeping them!

.

.

.

{Click here for the original article and directions from MSL)

.

.

Supplies:

.

- fabric (all the fabric I used was scraps from other projects!)

- batting

- rotary cutter & straightedge or scissors

- thread

- sewing machine

.

1. Pre-wash and iron fabric.

.

2.  Use your rotary cutter to cut fabric.  For each coaster you will need a strip of fabric 4-1/2" wide x 10" long.  If you are using scraps and don't have pieces 10" long, just cut two pieces 4-1/2" x 5"

.

.

.

3. Cut batting to 4" squares.

.

.

4. Fold 4-1/2" x 10" strips in half, right sides together.  Sew up each side using a 1/4" seam allowance.  Leave the top open.

.

 .

5.  Here's how it will look after the two sides are sewn.  Clip the two bottom corners.  It will make the finished corners neater.

.

.

If you are using two pieces instead of the long strip, just sew along three sides.  It will look like this:

.

.

6.  Now, you need to get the batting in.  This is the easiest way I've found.  Lay the batting on top of the fabric, hold batting in place with one hand, and turn right side out with your other hand.  I found this to be much easier than turning the fabric right side out and then trying to squeeze the batting in.

.

.

Use a pencil to push out the corners completely.

.

Now it looks like this:

.

.

And the batting is all nice and snug on the inside:

.

.

7.  Fold the open edges of fabric in so your coaster looks like this:

.

  .

8.  Starting at the open edge, start sewing all along the edges, creating a square.  Make sure to back stitch a few stitches when you get to the end. 

.

.

When you are finished with the first square the coaster will look like this:

.

.

9.  Keep sewing concentric squares until you near the middle.

.

That's it!

.

Here is the finished coaster along with a few others I made:

.

.

.

.

.

.

Tie up four or six of the coasters with ribbon, add a tag, and you have a cute little gift.  Wouldn't these make nice stocking stuffers, hostesses gifts, or teacher gifts?

.

.
Linking to:

Just a Girl: Handmade Holidays