Not dead

I'm not dead, and I haven't given up on this blog. It's just that life happens. Also, I've mostly been working on one of those very large, very tedious projects that just sucks the creativity right out of me. But I'm hoping to kick that one to the curb this week and be done with it forever. Or at least for several years. Let's just say large scale upholstry is not my thing.

BUT after it is done I will get to work on my Halloween quilt and a quilt for LC. I'm very excited about both of those projects!

Now, I'm off to the upholstry zone to work on yards and yards of seams.... Blah. (that yards and yards--not exaggerating. Seriously, yards and yards. Each seam I'm working on tonight is just over 6 yards long.....)

Wanderings

I'm wandering my house hoping sugar will suddenly appear in a palatable form and thinking how much I DON'T like attaching grommets. I just can't get the hang of it. Bah.

The good news is even though grommets slay me and no sugar is suddenly appearing, the sewing room is set up again. Maybe I'll be able to muster up the energy to sew a little something up this afternoon :)

LC got croup this weekend so we are both trying to make it through today with severe lack of sleep. Oy. We can conquer, right? Right. Well, with much weeping and wailing from LC and a tad bit from Momma.

Cake toppers, treasure chests, and portable rooms

Creating up a storm today for a very special birthday. LC's love/hate comrade (they are inseparable, whether loving or hating each other) has a birthday party today and I volunteered to make the cake topper and the treasure chests for the pirate boys treats. (the girls are fairy princesses, and the boys pirates, since said comrade's brother said he wouldn't come to a princess party....drama in the preschool crowd :) Cake topper is done and delivered, the treasure boxes are folded and awaiting final details (I love making things for kids because there's so much less pressure to make it perfect :) Now I just need to whip up a portable room in 2 hours.... Oy.

I would go for something simpler, but I've been wanting to make this for her for a while. So... I'm just going to do it.

....just realized our ac's not working. Never mind, I will be melting instead... Uggg.

Where have I been?

Oh, we're just enjoying the rush of summer over here, but things are calming down so maybe I'll be able to be more consistent about writing.

There are many exciting ideas bubbling under the surface :)

Fantastic Week!

I didn't get much sewing done this week. We were too busy enjoying the sun and playing. LC's first single word (have I mentioned that when he started talking it was in sentences? Yeah. I'm blown away by this kid every. single. day.) was "outside".

However, I got the sewing mojo back tonight after LC was in bed and the Nerd Father was at a church meeting. I was able to rework the straps for LC's backpack (now watch them be too big--sigh) and test out a little envelope style wallet. I love dabbling :)

Earlier today I committed myself to a gianorma sewing project with a very specific time frame.....oy. It will be good for me right? Heh. I can't complain though, because I was the one who suggested the project and then volunteered myself. Luckily, the realistic side of my brain that reminds me of what I've really committed myself to only kicks in after it's too late in the day to call anyone and take back my words. Because I really do think this is an important project, and I happen to be blessed with the skills to complete it. So. The third week of June I will be sewing like a mad woman. And I will be with family. And it will be awesome.

A little bit of this

Here's a peek at what I've been working on for LC. He loved wearing it to Church on Sunday, carrying his toys. The problem, though, with sewing for someone who is sleeping is that you can't try it on them, so part of it didn't work right. It will be a simple fix tonight, though, and then I will be able to share the finished pictures...if I remember to take them ;)

Happy Mother's Day

I am so very grateful for my Mom. Deeply, heartfeltly grateful.

Inspiration!

Phew! I love, love, love seeing what other people are creating! I went to a bazaar tonight with my favorite cousin J, and eagerly searched for fun, enjoyable, innovative ideas. Wow. There are so many amazing artists an sewists out there! I am in awe. So many fun things to try, and so many new ideas inspired by other people's creativity! Isn't it amazing that you can find inspiration in so many places! And I love looking at other people's work because they find inspiration in places I would never think of.

I love creativity!

I'm off to make LC's backpack :)

Day Thirty-- Wait! What?

And here we are at Day Thirty and I didn't even notice.  I'm not sure what I've learned from challenging myself this way.... I will have to think about that and come up with something I've learned.  (At the very least, at least I've entertained Marge :)

In the meantime.... I know I said no sneak peeks of the Mother's Day presents, but I thought this picture was too funny not to share.

That poor pirate probably has a piercing headache!

I'm off to quilt :)

Day Twenty-eight: Shhhh! Secrets!

I was able to get A LOT of sewing done today, but I cannot show you. Mother's Day presents :) And some of the recipients read this blog, so no sneak peaks!

In other news LC, the Nerd Father, and I went to a reptile show tonight. LC was fascinated and wanted to keep touching everything. Including the ball python and the tortoise. The tortoise was wandering around the floor of the museum and all the little kids were following him around touching him. Including LC :) What a joy it is to watch him discover life! He was very good and didn't shout at the animals (He shouts at dogs, so I was a little worried---but then again, snakes don't have ears. I'm not sure about tortoises... I can't remember what the lady presenting the show said).

It was a wonderful evening with family!

Day Twenty-six

Today was a distance day in running, so I didn't do much else :)

I did enjoy our time together as a family today. It's a delight to see how much LC enjoys spending time with the Nerd Father and visa versa.

I also enjoyed looking at other people's creativity on blogs today. And some times that's as creative as I get.

Correction! I did in fact have a brainstorm for a backpack for LC. He needs to start carrying his own toys around :) I am going to sketch it up right now and hope to be able to have it usable by next Sunday :) Then I won't have to carry such a huge bag to church, although I also use it as a blockade so he can't escape our pew.... Hmmmm. Maybe I should stick with the big bag.....

Day Twenty-five: a momentous day

I'm grinning just thinking about it....

Today I used my walking foot for the first time! Wahoo!

It was a great day!

Still grinning :D

Day Twenty-Three: in which my machine and I get to know each other

I thought and thought about the first project I would work on to break my new machine in.  It needs to be important, I thought.  It needs to be momentous. 

Momentous first project

I sewed up some holes in the Nerd Father's jeans.  Yep.  Necessity won out over glory.  And then I worked on a blanket for NB, so we did have a little fun today, Model T and I.

NB's quilt inside out

That's what I've decided to call my machine.  Model T.  Because I thought it was so delightful that the foot pedal was so clearly labeled Model T, to separate it from the other models of foot pedals I suppose :)  (Is that right? Foot pedals?  I suppose it must be, since it's not the feet that are plural, but the pedals.  Hmm.... Sewing grammar.  Who would have thought I would find it so fascinating....) 

I got a report today that the quilt has been carried everywhere, and the world almost ended last night at bedtime when said quilt was left downstairs.  Luckly Little Princess's father was dispatched to retrieve it before a complete catastrophe ensued.  This is serious business when you are 2 almost 3, you know.  Now I'm trying to figure out how to make snakes, because the Princess saw LC's $1 snake today and NEEDED it.  Then she asked for her pink snake (which does not exist).  And what one has, all must have at these ages.  So four snakes coming up.  Flow creative juices, flow!  We need one pink/purple, one green, one blue, and one orange.  Then they can all argue about wanting each others' snakes..... Sigh. 

Top of the quilt after washing and drying, I just want to cuddle up with it!

Back of the quilt, showing the quilting lines

Day Twenty-Two-- And there was much rejoicing!

I've been super cranky today, because I stayed up til 1:00 finishing the quilting. (I remember when staying up til 1 was normal. Wow. How times have changed!). BUT the quilt is done had delivered! That was the first bit of rejoicing :)

The second bit came when LC and I got home after being out all morning, and lo and behold, there was my new sewing machine on our doorstep. (Do you hear the angels? 'Cause I do :)

Now the Nerd Father and I are going to speed through our dishes, so I can quickly try out the machine (I'm still thinking about names) before I go to bed.

Honestly, I can't think of one creative thing I've done all day, but maybe I'll get something in before bed (there is a sewing machine that needs to be tested after all :).

Tomorrow, tomorrow there will be pictures and hopefully some creativity. (Ha!)

Day Twenty-one--- a black day

I have discovered recently that I may be allergic to licorice. Sad, sad, me! If I really am, that would be tragic! I may have to go into mourning. Seriously. The only things worse would be if I was allergic to salt or vinegar!

I now turn my woe begone self to the flannel quilt of doom. I'm guessing about 5 hours left.... Think I can get it all done today? Ha.

We'll see. Maybe I should offer myself extra incentives to get it all done today.... Jewelry? :) Reality is I can only quilt so fast, and it's not very fast. I'm naturally slow and meticulous, and the flannel is slowing me down even more....

Thank goodness for Netflix streaming, and l...o...n...g A&E and BBC movies! I may even have to whip out the super old John Wayne movies (early, early on in his career :)

Day Nineteen. Oy.

I took a little break from my quilting to look at some of the blogs that inspire me most. I love looking at other people's work. I should really post more pictures :)

Day Eighteen--life

Today as I lean hunched over the flannel quilt of death :), I am thinking about the baby that was just born (the newest baby of the quilt maker). He is so little and so perfect. It was such a joy to hold him today. I even changed his first diaper. (Mom had a C-section and Dad was out getting himself lunch--poor man was starving!) His little bum and little diapers were so small compared to LC's! Now LC looks huge since he's not the littlest baby around any more.

What a gift to be able to hold such a perfect precious little soul! I so cherish holding my own Little Creature, and holding NB (that's what I'll call the new baby) was so delightful! Even though NB's not our baby, LC's world was still turned a little on end when we went to see the baby. LC was excited to see a baby and his friends (the older siblings), but was a little overwhelmed by all the adults and new surroundings. I tried to make sure I held him and gave him lots of hugs and kisses, so he didn't feel left out. And you should have seen him try and grab the baby to hold him! Haha! Luckily, Momma's got quick and dexterous elbows (I was holding NB in one arm at the time).

Ooo! How I love babies! They are such a gift!

Enough gushing! Back to the quilting. It has to be done by Sunday...... yikes!

Day Sixteen-- brings on early onset arthritis

Day Sixteen--

My hands feel like they want to stay permanently in a claw shape. The quilting is coming along slowly....oh, so slowly.

Actually using the metal things you put around your pants legs while riding bicycles....yeah can't think of the name right now. Anyway, those saved my bacon tonight and sped up the quilting process. They hold the roll of the quilt so my left hand doesn't have to. My left hand thanks you, little metal things!

Next time I help someone with a flannel quilt I'm going to recommend they tie it (gasp!). It's like quilting three layers of batting. Arg. I hope it looks good in the end and that they like it, 'cause I'm about ready to throw it across the room.

Breathe.

Running tomorrow morning will put all to rights again...right?

Day Fifteen--the day of the worms

Day Fifteen...

That's a funny word.  Fifteen...  It just doesn't look right.

The black worms of basting have taken over the flannel landscape

Day Fourteen

Day Fourteen:  I think.....

Today I spent a lot of time threading this:

I didn't feel terribly creative doing that (basting---Ha!), but then later on I was able to come up with a sketch for a summer quilt for LC.  His room gets so hot even with the AC on, but he loves having something to cover him up.  At least until he rolls over or kicks his way out because he's too hot :)  So I'm going to use just my stash and see if I can keep myself to that.  Ha!

When I actually sketch it up I might share :)

Day Twelve

Day Twelve: today I went to my quilt guild meeting. I saw some things that inspired me, but I couldn't stay for long because of other commitments. I'm still up in the air as far as how I feel about belonging to this guild. It's waaaaay out of my comfort zone, belonging to a group and sharing my work in person. And it's not exactly my cup of tea either, different personalities and different ways of doing things ('cause my way is most definitely the right way ;). Perhaps that's why it's good for me... I can learn and grow (fancy that!)

Day Eleven...oops!

Day Eleven: (forgot to post yesterday, so pretend the date is correct :). Today I worked on a couple little ideas for some bad poetry. I am by no means a poet, but I enjoy occasionally trying my hand at it :)

I also spent a few hours basting, which is not really something I enjoy doing, but it's so worth it in the end when I'm quilting. So I baste.

Day Ten

Day Ten: today I basted. First with pins then with thread. I unpicked little spots around the edge of the quilt that puckered while I was sewing and resewed them. I'm still trying to figure out how best to quilt it. (the person I'm finishing the quilt for didn't want a binding, so I'm having to be a little creative with how I handle finishing it.

I attended a wonderful workshop tonight. It was about writing, but there were so many things that I can transfer to sewing. I can't wait to look over my notes tonight and figure out a plan for what I want to do next.

Day Nine

Day Nine: worked on my friend's project again. Do you sew? Do you remember your first project? This quilt is hers, and she's doing an awesome job!

My first project was a skirt for my baby sister. It was the first casualty in a long line of casualties of that same sister and her best friend. A pair of scissors. When that girl is bored or restless and there's a pair of scissors in her vicinity, watch out! Anything that's not flesh could become a little ...altered. Her skills over the years have vastly improved, and now the outcome is usually very cool :) (Are you blushing yet, seester?)

I found my teeny sketchbook tonight that I keep by my bed, and I doodled. Something so relaxing and almost energizing about doodling.

Day Eight

Day Eight: .....creativity....what's that?

Today LC and I went to the fabric store and helped a friend find fabric for a couple of projects she is working on. I also found some fabric for some projects that don't exist yet :) I had hoped to be able to walk out without fabric.... What can I say, it's a disease :)

I'm off to go find my sketchbook so I can at least draw something before I go to bed.

Day Seven

Day Seven: What did I do today that was creative? I'm not sure... I'm training for a half marathon right now so I'm super tired on days when I run (because of the longer distances). Which means we didn't do much today :) When LC slept I slept, too. And that's normally when I get my creative juices flowing. However LC and I did dance and sing today, and we played the air guitar. For dinner tonight I added a hint of nutmeg to our egg salad (Nerd Father's suggestion :). Delectable.

Day Five

Day five: today I creatively found ways to convince myself to keep running. I found creative ways to count the laps as I ran. And I decided if I ever write a romance novel it will be entitled, "A Unprosperous Romance." (I told you I have a thing for titles.)

Day Four

Day Four: helped a friend with a quilt for her daughter. And LC and I danced a lot today (my dancing is nothing if not creative :) nothing like it has ever been seen before).

Day Three

Day three: I sort of decorated a wreath (it needs a little work still). I thought about a poem. I have the title and now need to spend a little time with Mortimer to come up with the actual poem. Or maybe I could write a book of poetry that is nothing but titles..... Hmmmm.... An interesting thought. I actually have quite a fascination with titles.

Day Two

Day two: I worked on a wood carving I haven't worked on in years. It was lovely to be carving again, to hold my chisels again, to remind myself often to watch where I was aiming. (I really should find my gloves :)

(Like that chipping nail polish? Oh, yeah.)

30 Day Create-fest

My creative juices have been running low for the past little while, last week especially, so in order to jump start them I'm going to jump on the 30 day challenge bandwagon (it seems like everywhere I turn someone is starting a new challenge, and probably for similar reasons) after all why not follow the crowd?  Heh.  (the more I talk about this, the more I'm not going to want to do it.  So I'll stop talking about how saturated the challenge market is...Stop.)  'Cept, I'm not challenging my few lonely readers to join me.  I'm doing this for purely selfish reasons ;)  So it's just a little challenge for me.

In fact I'm going to stop calling it a challenge.  I'm going to call it my own little 30-day create-fest.  I'll post at least a picture each day (ha! that will be a challenge in and of itself!) of at least one creative-like thing I've done.  Maybe I'll include an explanation.  Except Sundays.  I'm taking those off from posting.  Those are my parameters.  For myself.  So there you go.  

Commence to begin the Create-fest of one!

Day one:  a little (1.5 x 1.5 inches) drawing from today.  No rhyme, no reason, just what I felt like drawing at the time. 

Dresden Forever

Now I know why more people don't use Dresden plates in their quilts. They are beautiful and fun to put together, but hand appliqueing all those points... !!!!!

My sewing time the last couple of weeks has been few and far between, and when I do get down to sewing I'm spending a lot of time in the mire that is the middle of time consuming projects. I still haven't figured out the curved piecing, so I'm in the middle of that and still running up against walls. And it takes me forever to hand sew anything so I'm mired in the middle of hand appliqué trying to finish this Dresden.

My wonderful in laws came into town last week, which means the sewing room had to put on its guest room face. I actually like the transformation because I have it down to a system and it forces me to organize, clean, and discard. So not only did we have excellent company for a few days (too few), but now I also have a cleaner more organized sewing room. Also my mother in law brought a pile of fabric that I get to turn into curtains for her. I am excited to have a new project to design and work on!

Back to the hand sewing..... (maybe later today I'll sneak up to my sewing machine and sew something that has nothing to do with any of my other projects :)

The death of me

Curved piecing will be the death of me.  Seriously.  Planning out curved piecing that has to match up perfectly--perfectly--oy.  I'm not sure how many time's I'll have to try designing the blocks, cutting them out, and sewing them but it's going to be more than normal.  The death of me, I tell you.

In the meantime I've sewn my first dresden plate.

My camera and the purple fabric weren't getting along very well, so the colors are way off.  The center is more of a citron yellow and the purples aren't quite so blue. I'll have to get the Nerd Father to take a picture of it with his fancy-shmancy camera to show off the colors better.

I thought the back was kind of fun, too :)  Today I'm going to try and find a good background fabric for it.

I've also been working on quilting more of this:

Back to the drawing board..... Sigh.

Quotidian takes over

My sewing time has been very limited because the every day things in life just seem to have to happen every day.  For some reason dishes keep appearing.  Laundry comes out of no where.  Friends actually want to see my face.  You know, stuff like that.  Sheesh.  :)  Pretty soon our garden will add itself to the list. (There are already weeds I need to get rid of... What's with that?  Weeds shouldn't be allowed until after my first flowers have bloomed.)

Today I was just about to sit down and sew, LC had been asleep for an hour so I had about another hour or so to work on a project, when all of a sudden for some unknown reason my son is up and crying like he'd been abandoned.  I could tell this wasn't going to be one of those times when he magically puts himself back to sleep (one can dream...), so I went in to see if his leg was stuck in the crib or if his room had gotten too hot.  None of the above.  He's just standing there crying like he doesn't have a friend in the world.  So I held him, and rocked him, and sang to him, and eventually gave in to the fact that he was not.going.back.to.sleep.Momma.  Instead we went to the park and he fought imaginary foes with various sticks that he found.  Much better than sleeping, I agree.  Ha.

Anyway.  Last week I needed to practice curved piecing for part of a small quilt I've been working on.  If I've done curved piecing it's been years, so I needed to try it out on something else before I destroyed the "real" project.  I also needed to cut into some of my stash.  It's just sitting there looking pretty, but not as pretty as it could be were it on display.  SO. I killed two birds with one stone and created this little mini quilt.

It's still in the quilting stage, or I'd show you more than just the top (this is the "sandwich" before I started basting it).  And since I'm hand quilting, that might take a while :)  Even though it takes me forever to hand quilt, I love doing it.  There's something so relaxing about working with my hands.

Although I did draw out a design before I started I didn't figure out exact dimensions.  So there were some changes and additions as I went along.  It went VERY smoothly, though.  Almost eerily smoothly (I don't think I had to use the seam ripper once.... what does that mean for the rest of the project?!? Oy.)  Unlike the receiving blanket I was working on later in the week were the bobbin thread ran out and I didn't notice until I had sewn at least 24 inches further along...... Yeah. That wasn't fun.  There was a deadline for that one.  Why is it always the projects with deadlines seem to go haywire? Ah, well, I digress.  So the project is made up of 4 blocks.  The two that are about 7x7 worked well right away.

The two that are about 9x7, though I underestimated how wide the strips needed to be.  So they started out like this:

And ended up like this, which I actually like much better.  I love it when things like that happen.  Mistakes turn out to be better than the original plan.

It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to quilt it, but I decided on trying my hand at concentric circles continuing the organic feel of the piece (organic in the artistic sense of the word--so not geometric--even though circles.... Well, never mind.)

Those circles are calling my name, so see ya!

A Snowy Cozy Day

Today I did not sew at all.  Not a stitch.  Instead I baked.  And it was good :)

When we woke up this morning there was about an inch of snow on the ground, and the snow came gently down all morning and into the afternoon.  It wasn't a big storm, just gentle little flakes that probably won't be here tomorrow.  But it made for a cozy kind of day.  So LC and I did the housework we needed to do (he helped me vacuum, until he pulled the chord out and then tried immediately to stick it back in--heart attack for Momma, time out for LC) and then just played.  While he napped I baked these cupcakes (and read...a lot...).

And they were YUMmmmmmmmmy!  Sweet potato and chocolate.... 'Nuff said. (I especially like that my nasty muffin tins are showing off their oil-that-won't-come-off-no-matter-how-hard-I-scrub surfaces.  Nice.  Ah, well.  Ignore that and look at those delicious cupcakes!)



Here's a sneak peek at some sewing I've been doing for a project that is capitalizing on my OCD tendencies.  I hope to have this quilt top done by Saturday.  Ha!  (what?! It could happen.......)

Hope you're enjoying your week!

Dear Lone Reader,

I apologize that I have taken a break from blogging these last two weeks.  They've been a little hectic.  What with re-designing the spectacular failure twice in one week, a super sick LC over the weekend, and then keeping up with the other parts of life this last week I haven't seemed to have time to spend on writing.  Family came first, as it should be.

Next week we will return to our semi regularly posted craziness. 

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

-Mortimer

The spectacular failure

It has been a long, long time since I've had a spectacular failure.  Problems? Many and often.  Unpicking? At least once every project.  Scrapping and starting over? Quite a few.  But a spectacular failure.... I guess I was due.

So there will be no pictures in today's post. 

Have no fear, though.  I'm not letting it get to me.  I thought about just throwing the whole thing out, but it has some of my favorite fabrics in it that I won't be able to replace.  I will be doing a lot of seam ripping over the next few days while my brain re-engineers and comes up with a new solution. (That will serve me right for using old and favorite fabric on a trial run project!)  And I will come up with a solution, don't you worry.  I love challenges like this!  They mean something even better is around the corner.

Welcome, Failure! You don't bother me.  You just make me stronger and keep my brain active. Ha.  (Don't get me wrong, normally failures of this magnitude cause me to shed a little tear, but I went running and did yoga this morning so I'm feeling up to the challenge today ;)

Ta Da!

(First of all, I'm sorry that I didn't get pictures up yesterday like I promised, but I didn't want to post any pictures until this project was finally complete.)

Today I finally finished a project I've been working on bit by bit since the middle of December.  Placemats that were my Mom's Christmas present.  She got to see the tops finished at Christmas time, but I wasn't able to complete them in time to send them home with her when my parents and sister left after Christmas.  She did however help pick out the material for the back without really knowing what she was helping me choose.  The result...perhaps the busiest projects I've ever made, and I love them!

Here are some pictures (the ones I promised to post Friday...yeah, I'm one of those people that I said I'd never be.  The kind that promise pictures on a certain day and don't get to post them for various reasons) from the beginning of the design process to the finished product.

Can you tell which picture I took with tungsten lighting? Bleh.  Oh, well.  When I get most of my work done at night after LC is in bed tungsten is what I get to work with.

There are many reasons why they are all slightly different.  The biggest one is that I loved too many of the fabric combinations.  Also most of the fabrics came from fat quarters and there wasn't really enough fabric to make all 4 match.  I could have done it, but once I thought about using all the combinations, I just had to do it :)

As I was finishing up the last part of the binding on the last place mat (can I tell you how good that felt!), LC insisted on sitting next to me on the couch and put his hand on my left arm.  I tried to get a picture, but he moved.  It was the funniest experience.  Kind of like he was saying, "I'm here, Momma.  You can make it.  Don't forget about me being here, though."  

Whineasaurus Rex has been gone for the past two days, and my sweet LC has returned.  Last night, as we were out on a family date, the Nerd Father and I couldn't help but laugh at his antics.  Half the time he was leaning across the table talking to the outside world, to the other diners, shouting a funny story at me.  It was amazing.  I was so worried he would slip because of the way he was standing on the bench in our booth that I had to have the Nerd Father sit next to him and I sat across the table (I'm a little bit of a worrier sometimes--heh,heh--so when it interferes with normal toddler development I let the Nerd Father take over.  He's much more chill about most of life).

It was so much fun to be out as a family, and just enjoy spending time with each other.  What a wonderful start to a most productive weekend.  And what a relief to have finished those placemats.  They look great, Mom, and I'll send them in the mail as soon as I can.

Have a great weekend!

Whineasaurus Rex vs. Mom

Little Creature (LC) was taken over by a new monster today.  This one I call Whineasaurus Rex.  LC is generally a very happy little being.  He's the kind of first child that makes everyone shake their head worrying about what our second child will be like. (I worry, too.)  Today, however, (well, I'll be honest, it's been about a week) he has been whining NON.STOP.  Following me around whining.  Everywhere.  (I realize some children are like this all the time--I know a few--And I totally feel for their parents, I always have.  I know how lucky I am, trust me.)

Whining is wearing.  I'd rather be seam ripping for an hour than listen to whining.  One of the ways I "deal" with some of the less pleasant parts of parenthood is by giving LC nicknames that have to deal with the behavior that is driving me nuts.  He's already been a laundry bandit (my Nerdy Photographer husband made a wanted poster for me to hang up in the laundry room :)  Today he became Whineasaurus Rex.

The times that he was a quiet LC today:
1. He was sleeping.
2. I was holding him while dancing (great cardio workout)--not really quiet.  He was giggling.
3. He was in "his" chair "reading" a book.--also not exactly quiet.  He "reads" out loud.  Much babbling and gesturing.


By 2:30 I was frazzled.  There's no way I was going to make it to 5:30ish when the Nerd Father was going to be coming home.  Cue yoga to angry girl music. Ha! What a combination! Whineasaurus thought it was hilarious, and kept trying to roll my yoga mat up on me.  I thought it was awesome, because for some reason that combination was strangely relaxing.  And it's always fun to laugh with Whineasaurus, he has such a great giggle.  It was just enough to keep me going until the second nap (today was a two nap day, sigh, which usually means neither one is good).  And during the second nap, I was able to make it to the sewing machine.  WAHOO! and I got a lot done! Yay!  I don't think I'll get all of this project bound by the end of tomorrow, but I'm getting closer :)  All the machine sewing is done.  Just the hand sewing is left.  And I still love the combinations of fabric.  What a good feeling!


Pictures tomorrow!
(Here's to hoping Whineasaurus is back to being my sweet LC tomorrow.  HA!)

Lesson Learned.... Maybe?

When hand sewing binding on a project:  starting in the middle of a short side and thinking you've started on a long side leads one to believe that there is something drastically wrong when the "short" side or side that you think is short keeps going and going and going and going....and going.

And then you have to finish sewing the other two sides as well.  Sigh.  BUT I did it! I finished all four sides.  Now I just have do bind three more......

Staying Sane

Like most human beings I can get a little overwhelmed by e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. that I'm trying to get done during the day.  Especially when Little Creature adds more and more laundry to the list, or refuses to take a nice long nap (ahem).  When I find myself reaching the end of my sanity, I have to step back and take a look at what is going on.  That's what I was doing this weekend.  I finished our Library bag around the middle of last week, and after that I wasn't able to get much sewing or creating of any kind done.  Someone (L.C.) was always there and demanding my attention, and by nap time I was just as wiped out as he was.

I realized on Saturday that restoring my sanity as a Mom is a constant process and it's as much of a mental game as running is on distance days.  Running is in fact one of those things that helps me stay sane.  Everyone at our house can tell when it's been a couple of days since Mom has gone running.  But as I'm running, I can feel relief and peace wash over me, and it's almost like my body says, o.k. let's do this, we can make it through this week.  In fact last Thursday, my running partner and I were doing intervals, and I had us do an extra 400 so I could reach that point of returning sanity.  (Luckily, she's a Mom too, so she totally understands.)

Sewing, drawing, and other forms of creating with my hands are also things that keep me grounded.  (I've often wondered what I will do when arthritis sets in.)  There's something about the creative process that's extremely rejuvenating.  And I am so blessed that I have a husband who understands that.  One of my favorite things is grabbing my sketchbook and working out a plan for a new project.  I'm coming to the end of a sketchbook and I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  Coming to the end of a journal (which is rare!) is exciting, because that means I get to start a new one.  But coming to the end of a sketchbook is a little sad.  I love each one so much, and I eek out all the space that I can at the end.  They are old friends by the end.  And for some reason starting a new one is always slightly intimidating.  Something about all those white pages--and what if I mess up?!?  Haha! I know.  I usually end up grabbing a pen and scribbling or something else "messy" just to break the ice with a new sketchbook.  Then we quickly become friends.

So here's a little of what I've been doing over the last little bit to stay sane and well rounded as a Mom and a person.

THE library bag:

Full of books!

There are about 8 picture books for L.C. and 3 novels for me in there.  It's like Mary Poppin's carpet bag, stuff just keeps coming out!

It worked VERY well on the inaugural run (and L.C. did great sitting in the stroller.  Heh, heh.  Side story--L.C. is a very social kid and he loves "talking" to anyone who will look at him.  As the librarian was checking out our stack of books for us he tried talking to her, and she didn't really respond.  hahaha!  He just looked at her like, "Hey, lady! I'm cute! Worship me!"  He was totally disappointed she didn't fall for his cuteness.  He LOVES the ladies at the fabric store, because they talk to him and flirt with him--he sits up on the cutting counter while they cut our fabric and babbles away. And they love it!)

A little improvisational piecing for Valentines Day. (I actually used some solids--GASP)

 

 A little sneak peak of a project I hope to finish by Friday

I would show a picture of my running shoes, but I don't really think they'd inspire anyone but me. Heh.

Ode To the Day Ahead of Us

Ode To the Day Ahead of Us

Oh, Day that lies before us,
With your hours stretching on,
It's grey outside, 

I'm tired inside,
And our naps we are switching to one.

So, Day that lies before us,
We are going to be taking it easy.
Some toilets I may wash,
Some laundry I may fold,
But mostly we will be doing things we love.

And, Day that lies before us,
There is such potential in your hours,
For some hand sewing, 

Some crocheting, 

And some building with blocks.

Yes, Day that lies before us,

We will cuddle,

We will destroy,

We will carry our blankets around in a knot.

We will play ring around the Mommy while she does the breakfast dishes (in the new way that turns it into great exercise).

(We may even see our way clear to going to the library with our new bag :)

Oh, Day that lies before us,
Thank you for what you've done.
You've promised us ease.
You've promised us fun.
And we'll just ignore that you forgot the sun.

Addicted to pattern

The other night I came to the realization that I may have started a project with too much pattern, even for me.  This is  the stack of fabric that I saw that night.

(I apologize for the colors being off. Tungsten lights, ugg)

Yes, that's all for one project.

I must explain that I.Love.Pattern.  I love combining different fabrics with crazy patterns, papers as well, I love drawing pattern, I love sculpting pattern.  I.Love.Pattern.  Some would even say I'm addicted.  Yesterday, when I was working with scraps on a Valentines project was the first time I used a solid in I don't know how many months. (I lied. I used a solid to line my Dad's iPad bag. It was an amazing chartreuse, though, and for someone else's taste.)  To me small pattern on a fabric = solid.  Solid = why?  I love pattern as much as Mortimer loves using obscure literary references when talking with his friends. O.k. enough about my lifelong obsession.  Back to the project.

So the night I took that picture, I went to bed thinking about all that pattern, and not being quite sure if I really wanted to include it all.  But once I pick fabric for a project it's virtually impossible for me to change it (unless I can include more pattern somehow :)  My gut aesthetic just won't let me do it.  Once I get it right, it's right, no going back.  So the next day, I just started putting it all together, every single bit of that pattern.  And it felt good.  See, my guts didn't mislead me.

Here's what it looked like last night before I went to bed.

With the balloon fabric on either end.  That big solid brown rectangle in the center? Corduroy.  As a sculptor, anything with texture feels like a pattern to me.  Pattern is just visual texture.  (have I said the word pattern enough? Really? Cause I could say it some more....)

That big ol' mass of fabric is going to be our library bag.  A ginormous library bag.  Because my Little Creature is at the I-must-go-everywhere-mySELF-and-quickly-Mama phase, so we need a big bag we can toss books in as we go at the library (last time we were there I swore I would never go with him by myself again, luckily my neighbor, who is smarter than I am, suggested taking a stroller and a big bag.  She has wiggly kids, too.   Then she contributed a nice little fold up stroller, as both of mine are big enough to take up a whole isle in our tiny little library.  She said she just straps her kids in, and grabs any book that looks interesting.  She ends up with tons of books she doesn't get read, but at least she gets to the library. Besides, Mortimer can read all of mine for me.  And yes, I wrote that whole story in parenthesis. )

Here's hoping I can get this bag finished soon, because the Little Creature and I need some new picture books to read.  Trumping the bag on my priority list are some receiving blankets and some baby booties.  Both need to be given to the recipients this weekend.  The little creature is transitioning to one nap, though, so my sewing time is decreasing severely.  I can just imagine him getting right up in my face while at the machine with his drool (teething) and little busy hands, that can now reach up on to the sewing table. (Shudder)  So no sewing while Little Creature is awake.


*After a nights sleep the editor, creator, and writer would like to clarify that by PATTERN when referring to fabric, she means PRINT.  (I call it all pattern, but that gets a little confusing when referring to fabric since, well, patterns usually mean that thing that tells you how to make stuff. Heh.)

Mortimer the Muse

Now I've gone and done it.  I've started a blog that I'm committing to write posts for on a regular basis. Oy.  It's all Mortimer's fault.

You see a few weeks ago I was looking out of my window and I saw a furry little head poke up in my grass.  'Yikes! A mouse!' I thought.  Oh, no. Not a mouse.  A vole.  And so I watched him fascinated. (Who cares that he was destroying my lawn! Pppbt!) 

He (it  really could have been a she, I didn't think to ask) worked away eating the nice roots of my lawn, creating his little corridors, popping up to take a look around for neighborhood cats, and then getting back to the roots.  I could have watched him for hours.  Animals fascinate me.  Especially when I can watch them doing what they do naturally, when I can be the hidden observer.  Instead I closed the curtains and got back to doing whatever I was doing that day.  What I didn't realize was that it wasn't any old ordinary garden pest that had moved into my yard.  It was my muse.  Who knew a vole could be a muse!  I've come up with all kinds of clever stories about Mortimer and his friends (because of course if I'm going to create one highly literary character out of a rodent, he has to have friends).  My sister looks forward to updates on the life of Mortimer.  I enjoy thinking of his exploits.

But this blog is not about Mortimer. It's about my need to create things. Something. Each day. Creating something with fabric or pen and paper gives me energy, lifts me up. And I noticed a strange thing after Mortimer moved in. Not only was I able to create things, but now I was able to finish them.  Instead of only having a continually and quickly growing pile of works-in-progress in addition I now have a slowly growing list of projects checked off because they.are.all.done. (do you hear the angels singing?)


Mortimer is my muse.  His arrival has given me new energy and drive. I'm inspired to create and to finish. (Because of course that has nothing to do with any New Year's Resolutions I may or may not have made. Ahem.)

I have continued to look out the window hoping to observe my friend each day, but he hasn't shown up to my voyeur sessions like he's supposed to. There are many possible reasons for his rudeness, but I like to think that he's ensconced in his library reading a highly academic book that requires hours of pondering (since I will never make it through one of those).  In the mean time I continue to sew, to create, to design.