A bright sunshiney day

My favorite local weather man has a new acronym: NACITS. Any guesses?

Not A Cloud In The Sky! A glorious day!!

I took the baby outside while my oldest was napping to pair up some of the shirt fabrics. I finally got the courage to start trimming them. I have most of the knit shirts backed with lightweight fusible interfacing, but will need to get some more. Three yards weren't enough! I totally underestimated how much I would need.

These are just little peaks... I like to keep a lot of it a surprise. But I will say that when the ties are added... wow, things really start to pop and look very interesting.

Speaking of ties, I found a great help in a dear lady who make ties her creative passion. A lot of great info on her blogs about making things exclusively with men's ties. Thanks, Barb!

Off to continue this fun adventure!

A new beginning

I'm trying to get better at working on one project at a time instead of 725 half-projects laying around. So now that the Picadilly quilt is done, I will focus on this project.

A box of clothing worn by a loving husband, father, coach, and friend who passed away from cancer last year. I've had the box for a while now trying to get the design right, but mostly getting the courage to cut into the various shirts and pants without falling apart emotionally. I tend to obsess about each quilt at the beginning anyway, but this is worse. I have been procrastinating terribly. I think I'm afraid of something less than totally knock-your-socks-off perfection. I didn't even know this man, but his wife has become a friend through the magic of the interweb. She is also a sister in the Lord and so I just want to make this memory quilt the best I can.

Hopefully tonight is the night I can officially get started.

I have laid out the clothing by colors - blues, blacks, a little red plaid and yellow stripe - hoping that would speak to me in terms of design. We decided the square in a square like AmandaJean's quilt. Which is great because that is totally my style too.

I have the interfacing ready. That way I can start with the sleeves and smaller parts of the shirts, fuse the interfacing, and work to the larger areas of the clothing as I gain momentum.

It's a very special project that will be more enjoyable once I get over this initial hurdle of paralyzing fear!

Picadilly Quilt

YAY! I love this one! Whoever invented the jellyroll is a genius. This was made with one jellyroll and a yard each of the blue and brown damask. The front came together very quickly, but the back took longer than I expected. The stacked coin thing was fine, actually I'm not sure what went on, but it took a very long time. And then the sewing machine feud.... But we made up. I won the battle, the quilt is done, and we're best friends again.

I'm mostly in love with that little ball of cuteness sitting on top. Aren't those rolls the best? I must be part cannibal, I really do try to feast on her daily.

At my house, every day is mother's day

At My Place, Every Day Is Mother's Day
by Scott Simon
Weekend Edition Saturday, May 9, 2009 ·

My wife doesn't work. She's a full-time mother. She luxuriates in bed until 6:30 a.m., when our 2-year-old chants, "Mama, Mama!" like some ancient war call, and she trudges into the kitchen with our baby on one shoulder to use her free hand to heat milk.
I stay in my office, writing, procrastinating and checking baseball scores until I need another cup of coffee.
My wife tries to go to the bathroom. Our 2-year-old clings to her knees. Using a bathroom with a 2-year-old on your lap should be a rodeo event.
Our 6-year-old gets up and chirps, "Mama! Mama!" My wife holds our 2-year-old in one arm, our 6-year-old with the other, and heats up more milk with her third hand.
I come into the kitchen for more coffee.
She dresses our daughters. It's like trying to put tuxedo shirts on two squiggling ferrets. My wife walks our daughters 10 blocks to kindergarten, but it takes half an hour because our girls won't step on cracks, stop to look in every window and stomp in every puddle. She has to pull them along like sacks of nails.
When she gets back to our apartment, my wife can finally relax. She does laundry; pays bills; stays on hold with the credit card, Internet and phone companies for 45 minutes because the bill is wrong, while our 2-year-old swings from her neck like a chimp; resets the wireless service; changes diapers and light bulbs; buys food; picks up toys; cleans the fish bowl and hermit crab habitat; organizes closets; cleans what our cat coughs up; schleps to the storage locker; tries to take a shower but can't because our 2-year-old can't find her stuffed dog; picks up our 6-year-old from school and takes her to ballet; makes three meals and innumerable snacks; calls our mothers and sends them photos of their grandchildren; and wipes up milk, water and diaper spills the way Red Adair put out oil fires.
I help by calling my wife a couple of times a day to tell her how busy I am and ask, "Um, darling, can you find my red socks?"
She has four minutes a day to herself and eats only Cheerios that fall on the floor. She works 15 hours a day with no breaks or mandated meals, 365 days a year with no real vacations. Our daughters feel free to cough up and sneeze things into her hands. If Samuel Gompers heard about my wife's working conditions, he'd say, "Organize and fight!"
Instead, she knows that in these times it's a gift to be able to be a full-time mother. You know: just to be home with the kids.

Happy Mother's Day to ME!

I just have to say that I LOVE being a mother. I always thought I would have four boys. Why? No idea. Do I know anyone with four boys? Yes, but just met them recently. Why on earth would I ever assume such a funny thing? I don't have a clue. But I do know that God must be cracking up because so far I have two GIRLS! I won't lie... I totally panicked when I found out my first was a girl. Because my own relationship with my mother is not super great and I am not a very girly-girl, I didn't think there would be any way I could deal with a daughter/girl of my own.

Enter my first born.

I thought my heart would burst open immediately from being too small to hold all my happiness in. I'll never forget the overwhelming love that filled me up when that sweet little baby was placed on my chest. I was in disbelief that I actually had a baby, a daughter, a little person to care for. It was a new love that I had never known before. I still feel those crazy love jabs when I watch her get tired in the car seat, she slips her little hand in mine at the grocery store, or puts her hand on my face as a beautiful little smile graces hers.

And then, about two years later, we heard a familiar sentence...

Another girl!

I'm so glad that God is in charge. He picked these amazing little baby girls just for me and my hubby. We are (VERY) far from a perfect family, but they fit perfectly to us. I cannot imagine life without them. Sisters, daughters, a mother of two girls. A miracle indeed!

Happy Mother's Day to all. Everyone has a mother, some are about to be mothers for the first time, some have been mothers for decades.

I just love being the mommy to these two little "goyles" as my oldest says. We are richly blessed! Happy mother's day to everyone!

basted!

Well, I'm totally annoyed with this once-favorite quilt.
I'm not sure if it's the thread, the tension on my machine, or ME in general, but the quilting situation is not working right now. I was supposed to have this thing D-U-N by now and it's just not happening. ARGG!

Oh well. At least I got my very special tutu order out the door. I was THRILLED to have a custom order of 4 tutus for flowers girls in a May wedding. Nevermind the fact that I was totally winging it.
I must say she looks absolutely adorable in it, but too bad... it's in NY now with it's 3 other tutu friends.

And I finished up a little colored pencil holder for my friend's daughter who is just a sweety in general.

ETA: I should give credit to Pink Chalk Studios for the pencil roll pattern seen in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.

I'm also a little annoyed with the smudge on my cameral lens. Gotta figure out how to handle that one without making it worse... which is usually the way it ends up with me!

But most importantly right now, I must figure out this tension/thread/me issue. Tomorrow...

Good night.

Monkeys, Dora, and Penguins...

...Oh my!
Are there any awards for worst blogger ever? I realize bloggers are supposed to be a little more regular than once a month, but this is all I got right now! Here are a few of the things I've been doing:

What fun it was to make my first sock monkey! Maybe I've been watching too much Celebrity Apprentice, but I think she looks like Joan Rivers a little. This sweet little monkey girl went to my best girlfriend for her baby shower. They have been referring to the young fetus as Monkey, as the baby's hair was visible on the ultrasound. Seriously. She sits daintily atop a 4-tier diaper cake. Isabella was so sad to see Miss Monkey go, but maybe I'll make another one someday... Or maybe not. I have a little monkey in the background keeping me busy lately!

Shortly after the baby shower was my oldest's 3rd birthday. Part of me can't believe she's only three. I can barely remember life without her. I feel like she's always been a part of my life. She is such a tender heart, a kind old soul. She loves hugging (sometimes to the point of tackling), dancing, singing, and Dora. I'm not a huge fan of my daughter being totally obsessed with characters, but I guess it could be worse. That's the world we live in, so I just have to make sure it stays in check. Thankfully she is all about books, so at least that minimizes the impact of the situation. I decided to make her a birthday cake each year and what a fun tradition it has turned into! Everyone at the party now waits to see what we came up with each year.

As if there were any doubt. Previous years' cakes were Thomas the Tank Engine and a doggy. She's still a big fan of both, so maybe there will be repeats in the future! We had her birthday party at the zoo since our little house can't accomodate our families. It was so great to get everyone together and celebrate our "togetherness" since we are all so scattered these days.

And now I'm quite excited to be almost done with a lovely brown and blue quilt. Stay tuned! Hopefully it won't take a month to post again, but you never know with all these animals running around!