My Joy…

my Heart… (crown from *little red caboose*)

my Love…

Off to Wisconsin for a few weeks…

scrappy log cabin finished

scrappy log cabin finished

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

Finally. Finished. I had no idea how much time went into making a quilt. Especially if one decides to hand-sew the binding on. Which I only did on one side, the nice looking side. And all the corners. The other 3 sides got the invisible thread treatment so I could get moving on the other 3 quilts I need to finish in the next 7 days!

Golly Gee, it seems like it took forever! Maybe because I was working on 4 quilts at the same time? Or maybe it was because I didn’t know what I was doing at any given stage.

The quilting was a mix of regular ole walking foot quilting and trying my hand at some free motion quilting with a darning foot. I love the free motion stuff… I just can’t seem to get the tension right on the thread.

Here is the back of the quilt, which turned out looking a bit weird. The strips should have been off center a bit, but as it looks rather like a snake up close. I’ll leave out the sashing next time I do a log cabin, but for this one, the little pieces of fabric in between made it just the right size for the bed it’s intended for! More pictures (I’m sure that’s what everyone really wants to see… more pictures of my first quilt. Not.) after I’ve sent it through the washer and dryer.

Scrappy quilts, when done properly, can look really amazing. Case in point: This little log cabin by Melly & Me.
There is even a tutorial and a flickr group just for this purpose. Of course a huge inspiration is Lisa Congdon. She is the goddess of scrappy log cabins. (I am not alone in this belief, apparently), and consequently, she was featured in Adorn magazine for this amazing log cabinish tote. I want.

Now I started this quilt ages ago (Feb., I think?), but I also finished up a twirly skirt for Lauren last night (not what I should be doing when I need to finish 3 other quilts, but I’m telling ya she needed a skirt for vacation!), and it ended up in the same color way somehow.

I promise I have lots of other colors in my fabric stash! How did this happen?

This go ’round with the twirly skirt I took the advice of another  crafty blogger, and gathered up all that fabric into the waistband. I’ve never done this before. I gathered it free hand and pinned away.

Here it is hanging from our chandelier.

What? Doesn’t everyone hang their little girl’s clothes from chandeliers? The thing is, I am so proud of finishing up a project these days, I actually want to hang it from my roof and shout out to every car that passes, “Lookie!, I made this silly confectionary skirt all by myself!. Aren’t you impressed?”

But instead I hang it from my light fixture and blog about it.

Banana chocolate chip cake with a minty garnish

banana chocolate chip cake with a minty garnish

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

The highlight of our summer evening… too bad we already ate half of it!

I was inspired to try baking again after my last *clumsy mama* attempt at the Blueberry Banana cake last month. (Julie’s Strawberry Pie was a cold – oven less – pie and there was nothing I could do to mess it up thank goodness )

I’ve seen a few banana cakes around the blogging world lately – (please let me know in the comments where I might have seen these so I can give them credit. I can’t for the life of me seem to track down the one I’m thinking of) but the chocolate chip addition was entirely my own idea (Like nobody has ever combined banana and chocolate before, huh) and I think it absolutely makes the cake! Matt wants this for his birthday next year, he says.

1 cup butter
2 eggs (beaten)
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
a couple of more than ripe bananas – I used 2, but I think more would be even better)
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1/2 package of milk chocolate chips

mix together all wet ingredients in your mixer, adding eggs last. sift dry ingredients and add with bananas and sour cream. Set mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips at the end before pouring into your buttered and floured baking pans. About 25-30 minutes (until light golden brown). Frost however you like. I used store bought sour cream frosting. Garnish with mint from your own garden, if possible (seeing as this is the only plant that is thriving back there at the moment!).

Of course the kids will say, *what is that green weed doing on the cake, mama?*

Summer of Luv

vwsurfbus1

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

An old vintage vw toy bus – fancied up with some surfboards – spotted at a local antique mall.

I want a real one to match. This is how I dream of spending my summer…. Well, only if I could bring all my quilts and embroidery (I’m practicing!) and books with me. Hey – I could make up some quilty curtains for those windows, ask my sweetie to shack up with me (of course the kids would already be in the bus, modernly fit up in their britax seats) and call it my love shack.

I’ll also take one of these cute beach houses (full scale preferably… but the doll house version is pretty adorable.) If you like little things – toys, houses, quilts, sewing rooms, even red polka dot pinboards – you will probably love this blog :Club Little House. Just the cutest ideas for those of us who dream in miniature.

At least I’m not the only nerd.

Twirly skirts, and other happenings

sisterskirts

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

Just finished these little outfits for Matt’s cousins (One of which has a June birthday… will I get it in the mail on time, is the question).

Pink was requested, and the twirly skirt tutorial at the *House on Hill Road* blog provided the perfect pattern for the larger skirt. Quite easy, but it seemed like the seams and hems took forever just because there was so much fabric involved. Which is why, I guess, it is a *twirly*skirt.

The effect is so different depending on the fabrics used… such a versatile pattern. I will definitely be making Lauren one or two of these for the summer. There is even a twirly skirt group on flickr… lots of cute ideas. I will direct you there for a better look at the finished product, and especially to this one.

For the smaller skirt, I modified the pattern, alot. I used 1/2 the fabric and added a wider elastic waist with no tie. The simpler skirt style works nicely for a baby (less fabric to get caught up when climbing stairs, etc.), especially when your short on fabric!

The little birds are chasing after lopsided hearts.

This was satisfying. A little more so than the quilts that are taking me forever to finish. It seems every time I start a quilt I see something like this from A Stitch in Dye, and I want to start all over with new shapes and new colors. Fickle woman.

I guess the *other happenings* will have to wait until another time.  My kids are outside frolicking and I wish to join them.  Have a great Monday!

morning ritual

morning ritual

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

I picked up the camera this morning to prove to my sweet husband why I want to straighten my hair every time we go anywhere out of the house. I think the picture speaks for itself. Kind of scary how big that hair can get on a pasty girl like me. And I would never feel comfortable walking into a courtroom with hair like that. It’s down right disrespectful!
But you know what? I didn’t climb upstairs to plug in the blow dryer until after 10 am this morning… and I was happy to have had that extra time dancing with my kids to Joni Mitchell.

I’d spent the morning like nearly every other young mom does: changing baby diapers, snuggling & grinding up the coffee beans, picking out clothes for one, directing clothes selection for another (while holding down the other one so she doesn’t steal his very carefully selected stripy underwear and put them on her head… note clothes strewn on floor), putting together the diaper bag for the train museum trip this afternoon, changing another diaper, trying to put together a healthy and appetizing breakfast that doesn’t involve spoonfuls of peanut butter, scheduling an *eye procedure* (code word for scary surgery) for my 4 year old, and trying to arrange care for my youngest while we are at the hospital that day.

It may sound a bit tedious to the uninitiated, but I think mornings with my kids are when they are the most teachable, reachable. They want to read books, and ask a million questions, and sit on my lap while I eat grape nuts. They’ll play on the floor right outside the door in this picture if I’m using the blow dryer… but I’m not really interacting with them. They’re just waiting for me.

So. This summer, I’m going to try for the “my mom just got out of the asylum” look. I think it suits me.

Strawberry Fields

janesstrawberrypie

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

I am not a pie lover. Nor is my husband. But this pie is amazing. You’ll have to go to Jane’s Apron to get the recipe! It’s my new seduction pie. Not that any seduction was happening after 3 pieces of pie though…

Happy Feet

Who doesn’t like grandma’s garden? If only I had some paper piecing talent to match my affection for these hexagonal shapes. These are seriously vintage (ebay), but beautifully pieced, and I would hate to match that craftsmanship with my amateurish attempts to finish it as a quilt. So… over at turkey feathers I spotted the perfect solution. (You’ll have to scroll down a wee bit to the bottom of the post).

Patchwork bunting flags! How fun.

I also spotted this etsy treasure of a quilt.

A Random Tagging…

ah. I’ve been tagged by SouthernGirlMusings (quilter, seamstress, homeschooler, thinker extraordinaire) for the 8 Random things meme (strange word, that). Having no idea how these things work, I started by going through the directions there at SouthernGirlMusings and read through her nice complete list of 8 random things. And then I thought: ooo. I played field hockey & ran track. I love football too (GB Packers, married into it before I even liked it). I’m trying to crochet (the Posie ripple blanket or the granny afghan thing, whichever I can figure out first. I’m leaning towards the granny squares because of the portability), but I certainly couldn’t learn to do it in one weekend! So… I spent the holiday weekend trying to think of 8 interesting random things. I came up with zilch.

A meme is, by definition, an evolving force. So I took a few liberties. Here goes probably the longest list of 8 not-so random things ever:

1) My sweet husband and I met on a blind date. Where we ate chocolate covered grasshoppers at a food festival in Santa Monica. We married almost exactly 1 year later. (Again, not so random. I think 17 out of the 18 readers of this blog know this already. )

2) I spent my first year of law school at the now infamous Regent Law School in Virginia. Which wouldn’t be so random, except that the also infamous Monica Goodling – aide to the (still) current Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez – was in my class that year and I cannot for the life of me remember her! Maybe she transferred in the year I left? Even more random: after nearly 10 years, I heard from a sweet old Regent Law friend a few weeks ago who drove all the way from Alabama to California last week & visited with my family for 4 days. When it rains…

I am not a Regent alum (finished up at Pepperdine, close to family), however I must mention two things in her defense (since the press is trying to strip her of all credibility merely by labeling it “Pat Robertson’s school”):

a) my first year there was many times more challenging (academically) than my last two years at Pepperdine, (a much higher ranked school). They really are trying to prove something out there. They actively weed out the 1st year class to keep the top students. And I only saw Pat Robertson once. When I visited the building where his show is filmed.

b) the 10 minute “devotions” so often referred to in the press these days is misleading a bit: this first 10 minute “inspirational” period was in addition to the 50 minute class the ABA requires at every other school. Every class was 60 minutes long. Also, not every student considered themselves a protestant Christian. There was a very interesting mix of people there when I attended, and political debates were heated and frequent. The only common denominator worth commenting on is the code of ethics. Every student had to sign a contract with the school. This meant mostly that you weren’t allowed to drink. At all. Ever. Until you graduated. That wasn’t why I left, really.

That said, I did find it difficult to understand why such a large proportion of Regent graduates ended up in the Bush administration. That is until I remembered how nearly every body gets a job in any administration: they know someone. Obviously someone from Regent was connected. Not that uncommon, except that this time it was from a very conservative school. Oh, and for some reason this piddly little law school is producing some stellar moot court competitors that are beating the ivy league schools right and left. Every single one of them.

Whew. I feel much better having cleared that up. For the two readers who care about such things.

3) I used to resent environmentalists. In all forms. “I believed in stewardship”, I would say, “but people come before plants.” Shocking I know. And I’m embarrassed to admit it. But I’m being pulled into all that is green.

I still think we should drill in the barren Alaskan wilderness (actually think it might help the struggling economy in that party of the country).

So I’m still not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination. But I am going green. Very, very slowly. I want to limit the amount of paper towels/plates/consumables we use in our house. I want to recycle (very 1990 I know, but for me a huge step). I want to use green cleaning products or make my own. I want to limit pesticide use and buy a Prius someday. I even want a composting bin in our backyard. My husband won’t allow that last one yet, but he’s on board for everything else.

And all these little baby steps towards green-ness? A direct result of the blogs I’ve read this year. Many of them liberal, all of them well-intentioned, but mostly, this one: That’s Swell. She has some super simple ideas for living more thoughtfully. And she lives in Wisconsin. I kind of laughed at the suggestion that I wait until our dishwasher and washing machine are full before we run them. I wish I had that problem. It seems they are both full to overflowing 3 times a day in our family. But I think that’s okay. It just means I’m trying to cut back on the paper towels and plates.

4) I’m painfully shy in large groups of people. Parties are pure torture for me, unless they are really really small and I know everyone.

5) I love the mountains. If we didn’t have family in Wisconsin, I think Telluride, Colorado would be our favorite spot. I sure wish I could figure out the snowboarding thing. I’ve been a dozen times or more and still come back with a sore bum every time. Which leads me to my next one…

6) Last month I ran into Shaun White’s mom. At Target. And talked to her for 15 minutes about how wonderful it is to have a surprise redheaded child. She didn’t mention until the very end of our conversation that her redheaded child just happened to be a gold medal snowboarder! Now that was totally random.

7) All I’m dreaming about lately is this:

and this:

Our annual Wisconsin summer trip is only 4 weeks away… and we can’t wait.

We are all ready for the beach here in California, but the weather isn’t quite right yet… they call it May Gray or June Gloom down here. I’m all for cloudy, moody kind of weather… just not this time of year. That’s okay. I guess that gives me a few more weeks to shape up with my yoga booty ballet dvds.

I have my first monkey baby. Lauren is climbing up on everything. This is her lowest perch at the moment:
And here’s the hard part. Who to tag? It seems all the blogs I frequent have already been tagged in some way in the past week or two… so if you’re a blogger, consider yourself tagged! (And leave your url in the comments so I can come and visit you!)

Another picture of our princess just because… I want to display our lovely air conditioner.