bexcaliber: dashing through the snow

Christmas pillow covers are now available in the shop. I have to say, I exclaim this with a huge sigh of relief. I have been working on this christmas collection since July and I am happy to finally have it out there. I have everything this year from original printed fabrics, appliques, quilts and everything to make your christmas merry and bright. 114 pillow covers, my goal was 100 so I totally rocked it.

My favorites are the "dashing through the snow" print with the snowflake appliques. I wanted to design a fabric using a song lyric. I listened to hours of music trying to find something obscure enough to be original (its hard to compete with all those free printables out there) yet still recognizable. The beginning of Jingle Bells was perfect and then I could sew on two wool felt snowflakes to add texture and charm.

I also loved creating the holly print and holly wreath fabrics. I started by sketching out a variety of holly shapes and then hand painted them with watercolors. Once done, I scanned them and then cut and paste the holly into a wreath shape. I love the painterly quality of each leaf. It is also available in an allover print (not shown).

So there you have it, the work of months. Now I get to sit back and relax a bit.

Find christmas here!

Pumpkin Patch FHE

 For FHE this week we went to a local pumpkin patch and found our pumpkins. Henry loves pumpkins and had been anticipating this event all week. He kept saying "going to a pumpkin patch for eh-eh-eee!" We just went to a local church that had a patch ala pallets, easier than a muddy field and Henry doesn't know the difference.

 Super huge pumpkin.

 Lil' spookies

 One year ago...     such a big boy now...      

I love fall and pumpkins! Next up, carving them next week for FHE.

Recent Favs: Instagram style

 "Mommy, look at me..."

 Someone fell asleep during quiet time, passed out in his cardboard tunnel.

 Big sticks make park day WAY better.

 A couple of weeks ago, Steve had Friday off. He suggested going to the mall of Georgia and getting lunch. What an excellent husband I have. Henry thought the mall was magical with all the escalators, carousels, play areas and mickey stores. I thought the mall was magical too with Sephora and H&M visits.

 Another interesting snooze position...

 Spider infestation. He was proud to help put up the spiders in the bottom web.

 Thanks Pinterest. Nutella filled crescents dipped in cinnamon and sugar. Yum.

 Christmas scraps, sliced, sewn and ready to be whipped into pillow covers. 91/2 yds of Christmas cheer.

 Oconee book sale. Lots of new reading for the whole family

 Its fall! Time to bust out the sweats, Henry sure looks different in pants after months of shorts.

Elephant fun at story time. I continue to be impressed by our story time lady and her creativity.

Potato Print Pumkin Garland

 Since Henry has been loving Halloween, we have been doing little halloween projects this month. First up, potato prints. At first I wanted to use an apple half to print the pumpkins but I couldn't get the cut straight so only half of it would even pick up the paint.  And then the apple was too hard for Henry to hold. Any tips on cutting an apple in half and having it be flat? So I chopped a potato in half and it was much easier and better. Henry loved it and I pretty much let him go to town on 8 sheets of black and white paper. I just used basic acrylic paint I had on hand.

 After they dried, I cut them out and then drew silly and spooky faces on them. Henry helped dictate shapes for eyes, mouths and noses. I love the way the partial print ones turned out. I love how they have a patchy orange circle shape, very artistic.

With the jack o lanterns ready, I whipped them through my sewing machine just stitching along the tops and there you have it, an easy-kid-friendly-one-of-a-kind banner.

I'm thinking for christmas we're going to do lots of white potato prints on blue and make a long snowman by hanging them vertically. But we'll see if it actually happens.

Free Shipping and Lace Chevrons

I love chevrons. I love lace. I really love them together. One fun and colorful, One lovely neutral. Two new designs from bexcaliber now available in the shop. More color combos coming soon. I also am having free shipping this weekend Thurs-Sun. Use coupon code: freeshipbex.

Athens Corn Maze

Last weekend we went for a fun afternoon to the Athens Corn Maze. We rounded up a few other families and headed off for some good fall fun. They had a small petting zoo, hay ride, corn box and corn maze. The biggest hit by far was the corn box. Henry cried when we pulled him out. Who thought a huge box of corn, some shovels and some kids to throw corn on would be such a success? Henry couldn't sit still long enough to be buried but he enjoyed helping bury everyone else. I found at least a handful of corn in his diaper and some in the washing machine today. The maze was pretty simple but good enough for a small kid and it was stroller friendly too.

I love fall! Next up, pumpkin patch.

Life Goal 86: Run a 5K or 10K

Recently I blogged about being talked into doing a 10K. After a couple months of training and two weeks off for being sick, I was about to run the whole way. I actually did it. On Saturday I ran 6.44 miles in 1:16-the route was a little longer than a true 10K-my 10K time was 1:13. That is the longest I have ever run in my life. I never did sports in high school so I never had to run for workouts, I'm more of an aerobics girl but I can say that I actually kind of like running now. A slow and steady pace was enough for me, my goal was to finish the whole thing without walking. A since this was my first pace, I set a new personal best.

The race was in Madison and was a relatively flat trek through the historic district and then into a beautiful countryside. Since I have been training on hills, the flatness was most welcome. And a big thanks to Chelsea for being a great training buddy, pace setter and entertainment during the race.

One of the things that I really liked about this whole experience was seeing how capable I really can be. Physicality has never been my strength or interest but I was astounded as each time I would go for a run I was able to run just a little further than the day before. The first time I went out I could barely run 1/2 a mile without stopping to walk. On one of my last runs before the race, I blew past my first stopping point by 4 miles without stopping. Its crazy how your body can adapt as you push yourself.

 At the finish line: Stacey who won the whole thing for girls and did it in 48 minutes! Andrea, me, Lena, Lindsey, Robyn and Chelsea.

After the race there was talk of a Christmas 8K and maybe even another 10K. I am totally game.