I’m baaaack! Briefly. A few more days of overwhelming work and then I will be blogging regularly again. It’s good to be back. I ran across this project at Ruffles and Stuff in my internet meanderings and thought I’d share. It’s a great, cheap, beautiful project. The creator’s name is Disney (what a great name!). She calls it a pom-pom lamp. It’s times like this when I really do wish I had a little girl. Somehow this just wouldn’t work in a boy’s room. However, I’m thinking it could easily be adapted to make something for a boy if you use the interior guts of the project and place it behind clear Legos, a monster mask (well, that could be scary!). I’m sure you can come up with better ideas than I…and if you do, please share.

My good friend in Kansas called me the other day to see if everything was okay - she knew I was busy because I hadn’t blogged all. week. long. Yes, it’s true. I have been extraordinarily busy which makes it the perfect time to…get sick. We are all feeling under the weather and have been exposed to a cornucopia of diseases so who knows what we might have (strep? swine flu? both have been going around at church and school). There will be much resting today amid the crankiness. Before 9 a.m. I heard the words, “I hate you!” “Nobody loves me!” “Don’t touch me!” which might seem like a regular day around here but usually we can hold off the sharp tongues until tiredness at bedtime. The only good thing about illness is (and it really has been at least 6 months since we’ve been heavy-duty sick - before Don left Omaha in May)…oh…back to the good things…well, I guess it helps one to appreciate being well and…I really can’t think of anything else!

Check out the Granny Spiral crochet tutorial from Crochet Me. Thank you!

If you didn’t have a great Valentine’s Day, maybe this hamburger dress will put YOUR hubby in the mood. Unless, of course, he’s thinking Arby’s…

Love this idea. Love the clear instructions. Thank you, jcarolinecreative!

This girl can sew. And cook. And has a mighty great blog here. I am in love with anybody who can be pregnant with their 6th child, still be tiny and cook with a huge yellow Le Creuset pot. Plus, she finds time to author a sewing book, Seams to Me. Superwoman, I tell you.

Adorable. Ingenious. She finds great stuff on the web, too. The matchbox valentines are from Inchmark and the cute, easy treat bag idea is from Zakka Life. Both pics and links were originally from The Crafty Crow.

Ah, easy crochet pattern. Easy to love. Perfect for Valentine’s Day. Thanks, Roxycraft. I haven’t quite figured out what the kids want to do for Valentine’s this year - something homemade. We’re still on the hunt. I just can’t bear to buy those cheap yucky store valentines another year. As soon as I’m feeling better (we’ve been slackers and sick all week long), this is sure to get done - mostly because Valentine’s class parties are next week.

Ummm…delicious fabric and patterns! I’d never visited Amy Butler’s site before but there is a ton of great images there for inspiration and a severe case of gotta-have-it-itis. Be sure to check out her site here (pictures are from her site) as well as the site Amy mentions called ohdeedoh (great design there!). Fun stuff and great design; being a midwestern girl myself, I especially enjoyed the Midwest Modern preview and collection.

There’s a couple of giveaway links to share this morning (besides my own giveaway listed below, of course):

1. www.makemorescents.com - gives away a large scented candle every Monday (you have to click on the free drawing icon in the upper RH corner of the website). Watch this one - you will receive ads from their site to whatever email you put in (be careful if you don’t like to use your delete key!), and

2. The Inspired Room, which, I’ve posted about before — lovely site — is giving away an Urban Botanic fragrance thingy that is sure to make your home smell lovely for the holidays. Click here to enter that contest. Pic above is from The Inspired Room.

All rules and regulations per the hosting site. I just wanted to share the love links.

Gaga over talent (and time) that I do not have. Love, love, love this site. Check out their free patterns and tutorials here and here. Happy browsing!

Great blog. Great sales. Great vintage style fabric collections. What’s not to love? I enjoy buying the fabric, apparently, even more than quilting. Just build the stash, right? The quilt doesn’t magically appear?!?

I wanted to write my “how-to” page for the Photoshop silhouettes I made and displayed earlier in the blog but this came into my in-box and thought I’d share for today instead. Look for the photoshop silhouette tutorial tomorrow. Mostly, Bennie is throwing crayons and playdough from his high chair and he needs some actual human interaction (I’ve already put in 6 hours of work today, good thing he slept in ’til 10:30 am!).

Wow. Martha found Wordpress. Good for her! I hadn’t seen her blog before but visited there yesterday for the first time and, lo and behold, it was a blog contest day! Great way to check out other blogs in the comments - you never know what you’ll find there. I also loved the link to Everyday Food’s blog entitled Dinner Tonight. Hope you love them both as much as I do. I do enjoy a little Martha now and then.