What does a stay-at-home Stepherz do on a windy, cloudy, cold Spring day when the gas costs $3.90 per gallon? She does just that: Stay-At-Home. What do we do in a tiny house to keep from yanking one another’s teeth out?

We clean the house so that we can spend the day tearing it back up…

We play and learn on starfall.com (thanks Jenica!)

We take our own picture and wonder how it’s possible to have adolescent breakouts and aging crow’s feet at the same time…

We use our new RE9 Arbonne system to battle those crows feet and flaws. (My MD gift from Jeremy):

We play with Barbie (damn that beeyatch for having no crow’s feet) and her naked headless friends. (Methinks these girls have been dabbling with drugs. Such a shame. Never trust a girl who never eats and manages to wear a smile all the time):

We play with our loyal pup who ain’t nuthin’ but ugly (RE9 can’t help her) but she sure is sweet…

And we make cute things for Etsy…

Is your sky sunny and warm? If not, what are you doing to keep your teeth?

I’m sure you’ve had that feeling. That feeling that follows when you’ve done something that you put some heart, time, and effort into and it ended up being in vain? Well I’m having that feeling.

I finished my gnome rag quilt a few weeks ago. I LOVED it. I thought it had to be one of the cuter quilts because it’s so different and unique– not something you could find at WalMart or Target. I put a $45 price tag on it at the craft fair and didn’t care whether it sold. People that don’t make quilts don’t understand that at $8+ a yard and hours of work, these things have to cost something. Before I made quilts, I scoffed at the prices some people asked for their quilts. But now I better understand.

I decided to wash the completed quilt to start the ragging process before I sell it. It looked even more amazing and soft after the wash. I took the quilt outside to take pictures of it for my Etsy shop.

Afterwards, I took it inside to do any last clippings of stray threads. I flipped the quilt over. Low and behold! A fargin’ hole! WTF!? How did that happen!?

I know it’s not because I did a poor job of quilting, because I did a great job and put lots of love and careful attention into it. I know it’s not because it’s cheap fabric (I have at least $20-$25 in fabrics invested into this quilt). I used good quality fabrics so that this WOULDN’T happen for a VERY long time and after slews of washings and wear and tear. I know it didn’t happen because it got poked or picked somehow– nothing has even touched this quilt besides my hands and a gentle cycle in the wash. I’m soooo bummed. I don’t want to GIVE this one as a gift, much less sell it. Jeremy thinks I’m overreacting because the hole is so tiny and could be stitched up. And that’s true. I guess I’ll stitch it up tonight and list it anyways with a discounted price and a note that it has had a repair.

Isn’t this such a sad story? So sad. The poor little gnomes. The poor little Stepherz. Sniff…

My darling friend, Steph, bought a bouquet for her mother for Mother’s Day. It’s going in the mail tomorrow, Steph! It turned out so very beautiful and I thought I’d share a picture. That’s such a sweet, lasting gift to give from the kids. And I soooo appreciate your support, Steph! There are 4 blue roses, 2 pink, and 2 white… It was so gorgeous with a mixture of the 3 colors and I wanted you to see the final product!

I’m so happy! I just sold my first 2 items in my Etsy store! The sweet and lovely Sissi bought the American Flag Quilt and the Pirate Painting. She also lives in France, so it’ll be fun to tell people (using an upper-crusty snobbish accent), “Our artwork is hanging in a lovely chalet in France.” Thank you Sissi!