This Moment

As usual, I was left very inspired by SouleMama's post today. Titled this moment, she beautifully captured the essence of what is now for her.

A few nights ago, Isabella and I finished up the last chapter of Little House in the Big Woods where Laura, at a mere six years old, reflected on how much she loved her now. I could barely squeak out the words because it was so touching to think of a little girl so in love with what was around her and wanting nothing else in the whole world.

Amanda (SouleMama) then finished the post by inviting us to do the same - reflect on our present moments.

Things have been a bit rocky here lately. Colds, cabin fever, a strong-willed toddler, a short-fused mama.... But looking at this picture from a couple of days ago reminds me of how much I do indeed love my now. Even with the bumps in the road, it's all one big wonderful mess.

A fun-loving, adventuresome-dressing almost 4-year old just begging to have her picture taken.

A strong-willed, curious, grabby, insistant toddler needing to investigate the picture process.

This shot says it all.

First finish of the year

Just finished my first big quilty project of the year. An absolutely adorable custom project for my new friend in the UK. Oh yeah, I'm international, baby!

Front of quilt

Back of quilt

Embroidered the child's artwork on each piece

What fun it was to work on this. Even though it brought out some (brand) new techniques. Made my own piping on the pillow. Woo hoo!! Could not find the right shade of green so I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go. Totally not very hard at all. Turns out I was nervous-eating all day for no good reason!

Also, the embroidery was a new thing to tackle. I've done your basic cross stitch since I was a wee lass, but this was way new. Lucky for me, I found a great book on teaching the necessary stitches. I recommend for you, dear reader(s) -- haha! : Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray. Excellent for no-medium skill on the embroidery scale. Lots of cute projects too. The descriptions are pretty good. I'm sooo not good at following patterns, directions, authority - you name it. So the fact that I actually read the book (many times) and referenced it whilst I was sewing says a lot.

We all have something new to learn and do, right??

Craft Hope for Haiti

I've donated some items and there are oodles of others too. 100% of the proceeds go to Doctors without Borders to help with the devastation in Haiti. Please go shopping to donate to these wonderful workers and residents.

The ups and downs of sewing

Lots of things have been starting and stopping lately. I guess that's why I've been able to post some blogs. Inbetween things, I have a little time to sit a spell.

Up: The Wonky Whirlygig is progressing!
Down: Progressing so much that I need to get more of the ivory sateen. I've really been trying to just buy what I know I'm going to use, but I hate going to the store a gazillion times for boring sashing.


Up: Yay! The cubicle I've always dreamed of! Isabella felt quite important when I put her 3-bin craft organizer by mommy's "sewings". I'm using the cubes for collections and the color-coded pull-out organizer for scraps and random fabrics. The blue "man-box" on top there was my birthday present. Not very pretty, but soooo very handy for the little odds and ends like rick-rack, elastic, bias tape maker, etc. I used to waste so much time searching for things and this is such a sanity saver!
Down: Seriously, nothing. Just wish I had more!


Up: I made my first baby shoes! Poor little kiddo of mine is a professional sock-taker-offer. So I thought little Valentines shoes were in order. I pulled the elastic in the back extra tight so she wouldn't be able to pull them off and her tootsies would be toasty warm all winter long.

Down: Hubby noticed that the elastic was cutting into her skin and toes were turning purple . Oopsy. Circulation can be so overrated. But she didn't get them off! No, we took them off and now they are making the rounds on Bella's dolls. Guess I'll try, try again.

New Year... new quilt!

The Wonky Whirlygig

I'm way late jumping on the whirlygig bandwagon, but I'm ok with that. I started making these little (only about 3" squares!) guys just after new years. I had a 5" charm pack of Benartex City Blooms by Kitty Yoshida that I wasn't sure what to do with. AND I've had a bug in my bonnett (reading a lot of Little House on the Prairie lately!) to do something other than another square-in-a-square quilt. So here we go... my first whirlygig!

I know, they're going different directions. I didn't think to pay attention to how the charm pack was laying while I was cutting a couple squares at a time. They were all wrong - sides together. So just a note to you future whirlygigles out there: check them charms! But I'm hoping it will give the quilt movement and make the eye dance around at all the different styles. Since I made my own templates, they are definetly wonky. Fine by me! I love to use quilting as my main method of chilling out. If I find myself getting frustrated by piecing and getting all exact on things, I'm likely to not finish the project for a few decades.

Hubby bought me a sweet 9-cube organizer thing from Target last weekend! I had way too much fun sorting and folding my fabric. Pictures to follow. Seems like a lot of you are in the organizing mode. I could use about 14 more of them, but I'm thrilled with this one for now.

2009 in Review

Eight quilts, 2 puppets, a gajillion tutus and more ... what a year!

Blankets... They're not just for people anymore

I forgot to post about my Bush Blankets from fall.

I made these little guys for my hydrangeas. It seems that they do ok until one last late freeze in the spring and that zaps the buds. Which makes for big leafy green bushes without the pretty flowers all summer long. No thanks.

So hopefully this route will work. It was basically a scrap buster. Just sewed the circles on and left the raw edges exposed. I did it all on the old machine, but it still went pretty fast.

So incase you have the same situation, here's how I did it:

Get a bunch of chicken wire (or something similar) and put it around the plant. I pushed up all the leaves and Mr. Pin Cushion put the wire around. Then I measured the diameter of the wire. They were each in the 90-inch range. So I then made the wrap a little longer and sewed on the circles.

For closures, I started with velcro but that didn't last through some rain storms so I used little elastic loops and buttons instead. I'm happy to say they are still standing and add some much-needed color with the white snow against the white siding on the house. I'll update in the spring when I take them off after the frost! I hope it works!