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lopsided fabric flower
inside: wobbly topstiching ( of course the recipient was graciously blind to these flaws)
pattern pieces cut & interfacing attached. A very sturdy bag indeed. Next time I’ll go with a much thinner interfacing – timtex was no fun to work with.
pattern used for matching (I know, I know… how cheesy is that. The matchy thing, not the headband, of course.) headband.
First purse completed and delivered (Amy Butler’s madison pattern in the Freshcut fabrics), check.
Headband (from a Heather Bailey (free!) pattern , check
Bean & Pasta Soup (with cilantro, of course), check
Curtains for the family room (at least the fabric is picked out).
L.P.s quilt top all put together nicely, check (used my seam ripper extensively here)
Strawberries & basil planted with love & watered (enthusiastically) by a 3 year old. Check check.
Pictures to follow. I just love lists. They make me feel like I’ve actually accomplished something when all we really did today is go on a preschool playdate and order pizza for dinner. A very satisfying day.
Okay. So I finally taught myself how to knit. With a book. Or, rather, a few books. At midnight. When I imagine every mother of young children must learn new skills. And I am absolutely thrilled. Feel a bit of gray creeping up on me as I write that I am *thrilled* about learning to knit. But it’s true.
I will not be sharing the full title of my favorite book because of it’s, um… unladylike verbage ( familiar to me in my younger, wilder years, I’m afraid – but I do not wish to offend the *tender* reader here). I’m not sure why I’m being such a prude about it – I obviously didn’t have a problem actually buying the book. Go figure.
The *how to* section of aforementioned book was so helpful for an extreme domestic novice such as myself (as in I bought 4 books and this was the only one that put stitches on my needles, helpful), I wanted to at least post a picture to steer you in the right direction. The Simple Knits with a Twist book is beautiful, and quite modern. But it seems advanced (to me anyway), so I’ve been flipping through the pictures for motivation.
Here you go:
And a picture of my progress (don’t laugh). Truly it took me nearly 4 hours of trying to get 3 rows of stiches on!
Highly recommend nice yarn if you can fit it in your budget. I had some craft store purchased sale yarn to *practice* with. Had no luck whatsoever with said craft store yarn, and quickly switched to the *saved for a special occasion* debbie bliss cashmerino yarn. Heaven. Well not quite, but close.
Speaking of heaven. The sweet children and I spent the best part of the day outside. A little chilly still, but we had one daffodil and a host of wildflowers to keep us company. And I just ignored the phone for most of the day. I’m a hermit, I tell you.
See wildflowers in hair below: at Matt’s direction. Love that.
This post over at “Rocks in My Dryer” had me laughing so loud I almost woke up my napping daughter.
I am absolutely gaga over my husband. Lord knows I’m a lucky girl and don’t deserve him. (There are those moments however – when he pulls every one of my strawberry plants out of the garden – thinking they are weeds, for instance – when I do complain, I must admit.) But I found the idea of a bunch of men on an island trying to be a bunch of mommies very very entertaining.
I can’t say it truly applies to me: mom of only 2 children and no serious daily school or extracurricular activities apart from 2 days at preschool, diapers, meals and cleanup. (Given the virulent streak of colds and flus we’ve all had this winter, it did feel like a 24 hr. a day marathon)
I also have a husband who watched both of the babes this morning so I could sleep in to 8:45. (Aww) But I found this funny anyway, especially since I think moms just make such good moms. At least the ones I know. The role of father is irreplaceable, but so different. I am reminded, again (it strikes me at least once a week), how lost I would be doing all this without my man, and how hard (impossible it seems) it would all be if I were a single mother. Blessings to those of you who do it and do it well!
This week has been a bit of a trial. A Jonah week. I think God is trying to teach me patience and contentment in all circumstances. I am a very slow learner.
However, my quilting class has been such a great distraction:
California simply doesn’t have a nicer group of girls. Every time I go I see amazing handiwork, usually eat something super yummy from Wisconsin like cheese or chocolate (thanks to Mary, a stranded Badger herself – GO BADGERS!!!), and it seems that everyone is truly happy to see each other, share stories and offer up opinions (on everything except selling a home, thank goodness). Yeah for Quilt in a Day! (except there is no way I’m finishing my quilt in a day… I didn’t follow directions and I’m just now getting the top pieced together). I should note here that my sweet husband has been incredibly sweet coming home early from work every Thursday to send me off to party at the quilt shop… and then (even worse for a guy I’m sure) listen to me go on and on about all the ladies quilts and fabrics and stories when I return at 10 pm. He is such a trooper. I heart my husband a lot more than quilt class, but I don’t think he wants me posting pictures of his new hot faux-hauk (just like Matt’s) haircut on this blog, so this is all I get to show ya’ll… Tada…
let’s see… can I make this any more colorful? Um, yes.
I think this will be going on Lauren’s newly painted toddler bed (robin’s egg blue, of course) which will be used as a lounging bed for the princess & her brother during story time. 
I hope Matt won’t mind all the girly – ness of this quilt. He will have his own quilt soon enough hopefully. We picked out some of the fabrics this week. The only thing I haven’t found is some good black cotton to use for the asphalt roads.
The present for sweet Julie is coming along… but I cannot post any pictures of it until I send it off to her, as it seems she has recovered her web connection and has found this blog. But I am so glad she is here!!!
Oh… and I finally took some pictures of Lauren in her first “mommy made” outfit. Here, and here , and here, and even a picture of the back, here. Yup, I’m pretty proud of myself. And here is another cute picture of Lauren just because.
Matthew has been growing so fast I can hardly keep up with pictures. Today the two boys did a little pee wee sports practice in the backyard and, surprise! It turns out Matt has quite an affinity for baseball, even with his glasses! We are very proud, and so, as you can see from the pictures, is he.
For those of you wondering where the “small house” post went…
At the suggestion of my gentle husband (smirk), I pulled all those lovely pictures & comments down to protect the current owners privacy. uhem… I suppose there could be some legal issues there too. I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of it myself, as I would not appreciate some stranger posting pictures of my house on the internet without my approval. Especially 92 people! How awesome is was to hear that many of you did not think we were crazy, but in fact saw potential in our favorite little ranch house.
We are, however, trying to make that house our own. (Apparently we are not the only ones who relish the idea of 1/2 an acre in Southern California, no matter how small the house.) So… if and when that does happen (hopefully in the next 45 days), we will post so many pictures of that house you will be begging me to post about something else!
I’m making a baby blanket for my friend Luci and her baby girl… and a purse for sweet Julie (her computer is down & she can’t get online right now, so she can’t peek) with the Amy Butler Madison pattern. So pictures & stories coming as soon as I can get my mind off of offers and counter offers and all manner of escrow complicitarities. Yes, that is a word. I just made it up.
This color combination is not for everyone, I know. The greens and teals and reds and pinks: I love the way they play off of each other and make for a happy fun pattern. I might have to work on the execution a bit… so please excuse the stray threads and bumpy seams.
I can’t wait to write more about the class. However, today we will be looking at houses… since we are finally in escrow. Looking at houses is almost as fun as quilting. Here are some pictures of the first block until I get around to posting again (and a few little projects for Matt we’ve worked on over the past few weeks… he picked out the fabric):
The class book…you’re supposed to use darks and lights on opposite sides of the block so the patterns line up nicely. hmm. Clearly I’m not following directions!
a very good reason to use interfacing. Wonky crayon case for Matt.
New tags… and my favorite green fabric.
All the centers
Matt’s muscle car t shirt. He wants more cars, he says. This was easy peezy – looks a little bit rough and the stitches are kind of all over the place. But I like it that way.
Now we’re off to find a new home!
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