My client was debating on choosing a different fabric for this ottoman, because she wasn’t sure about the stripes. So I held off on starting it for a few days, to see what she decided. As I was working one day, it dawned on me that we could do 4 triangles and sew and X seam and make the stripes match up to look like a square. I loved the idea and was excited to share it with my client….she said she trusted me and to go for it.

We used the dark brown stripe in the fabric for the piping, and decided to make the very center part of the dark stripe rather than the light section. The ottoman was perfectly square, so our plan worked and I love the way it turned out….stripes with out being stripes.

Ottoman before. Leather, but she wanted to bring in some more color since the sectional was also leather.

After

Close up of after showing the X seam from corner to corner

Showing the whole room with other pillows on the couch that we did.

<br /> <center><a href=”http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/search/label/Making%20It%20With%20Allie” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz279/alliemakes/Photo-Frame.png” border=”0″ alt=”Party Button” /></a></center><br />

A couple weeks ago, we decided to take on reinsulating underneath the cabin. We wanted to get this done before winter to help with the cold. We brought up our boys and three of their friends, so 6 boys in all were brought on this journey (age 10 and under).

Heber was nice enough to do the demo on his own. He tore down the old plywood, took out all the old insulation that the mice had gotten to. He knows I don’t do mice very well…or actually at all. Once he had it all torn out, he calked in between every single floor plank. Then he put up plastic in between every joist.

Then this is when I stepped into help after running errands to buy more supplies and trying to keep all the boys fed and under control. They spent most of their time building a fort off in the trees.

I cut all the new insulation and helped put it up, then we had to put new plywood up to cover the insulation. Then Heber foamed every crack and joint, so that no little critters could crawl into the new insulation.

Here are some of the boys that came. So now that winter is going to be here next week, we are officially done with the outside projects until next year.

Next year we plan to put on a new roof and build stairs into the grade with railroad ties. We will also do the handrail on the deck.

This year our outside projects were
1) deck
2)getting waterline buried
3)grading to make some flat areas
4)seeding and laying hay so we’ll have growth next year…instead of dirt
5)reinsulating underneath the cabin

So many of you already know I am addicted to running relay races. Here’s how it goes…usually about 185-200 miles, 2 vans, 12 people on your team. You each take turns running, so you each run three different times. So your total mileage ranges from 12-20 miles each. So there are spots for beginners as well as veterans. You usually get about 3-4 hours of sleep, and the race takes about 30 hours. It is the most fun thing you will ever do. I promise! check out http://www.ragnarrelay.com/  have races all over the country. Also http://www.redrockrelay.com/  is in the St. George Area. People dress up and decorate their vans, so it’s always pretty entertaining.

So last weekend, Heber and I ran in the Vegas Ragnar relay. It started in the Valley of Fire and ended in Vegas. We had some amazing exchanges at Huge Casinos with pools and hot tubs and lounge chairs. We got spoiled, normally exchanges are at churches or schools. You sleep on the grass or the gym floor. Sometimes there are showers, and sometimes not so much. One of our exchanges we slept under some swings on a playground.

I have run 6 relay races in the past 16 months. My legs this time were 8.8 miles/ 3.2 miles/ and 6.1 miles. There are six of us that are usually in the same van, we all know eachother’s routines and we have a great time together.

Here is Heber and I at the start line.

Here is our Van of 6 at the start line.. Jared, Camille, Heber, Shelley, April, Brad

Here is Me and Camille at the finish line waiting for van 2 to cross the finish line.

Here is our whole team at the finish line.

Here is me with my girls and all our medals…it’s all about the medals. Heber and I have quite the collection going. I keep telling him that when our grandkids go through our stuff, they are going to think we were pretty cool.

So our incentive to make Vegas our 4th relay this year was because of the medals…you got the regular Vegas medal for running…If you ran the Wasatch Back in Utah and Vegas, you got a second medal called “Saints and Sinners”. THen if you ran Vegas and any other race besides Wasatch Back this year you got a third medal called, “Deuces Wild”. We ran the Los Angeles Ragnar.  So there you have it three medals to run one race, of course I was in.

Heber and I showing off all our medals

Halloween Side Note

SO, I went to help at a 2nd grade party the other day for Halloween, and when I showed up all the other five moms were dressed up in costume, and I wasn’t. It didn’t even cross my mind to dress up.

So two hours before we were supposed to go to some friends house for a pre trick or treat party, it dawned on me that maybe we were supposed to dress up. So I asked Heber and he laughed and said yes, of course everyone else is dressing up. He took the easy way out and wore his fireman turnouts from work. I put together a cowgirl outfit for myself.

Heber humors me, he knows I am not super into holidays because of the extra effort required on top of everything else (aka sewing). SO he always buys the pumpkins and candy, because he knows it doesn’t cross my mind. What a good man I’ve got for myself.