What I love about Easter.

The less obvious list.

• No morning after let-down. Christmas and Independence Day (usually my favorites – I’m so predictable) have a way of souring the next day. Unless you can go sledding (in the first case), or boating (in the latter). Easter just kind of fades into a much-needed weather change here in San Diego. We’ve had 90 degree days this week. And sunburns.
• The decorations. I’m keeping out all my vintage paper eggs for the entire season. Great if you like birds and eggs and bunnies. And who doesn’t. Well, maybe not the bunnies if you’re a guy. Sorry sweetie!
• Egg salad for lunch – easy peasy. Made with my mom, in my own kitchen, for the first time. It’s awesome having my mom around. The Food for Life bread I just found at the store is pretty awesome too. But not as awesome as my mom. Who managed to potty train Lauren with a dolly and get Matt to read aloud all in one day. We’re still working on the potty training, but the train is definitely on the track! And for all those non-moms out there who think I’m crazy to blog about bread… I have no defense. You should have heard my mom and I discussing our three different mayo-replacement choices!
• The Easter Story read by Poppa and the little ones old enough to listen to all 20 minutes of it. It helps when your grandpa is a professional story-teller of sorts, I guess.
• Basketball games. We are on the verge of canceling TV completely… and the boys lucked out last weekend since I’ve been procrastinating. (I’m not so anti-TV as I am anti-advertising. But that’s a whole different post.)
• Cottage cheese pancakes and mangoes for breakfast.
• No Easter baskets. Less running after super-hyper kids and way more relaxing. And bubble blowing. And sewing. Well, honestly, I kind of forgot about the Easter baskets, so it’s not as if I planned the holiday to be this super no-sugar holiday. But it all worked out perfectly. See below…

Flamenco Twirly Skirt, Draft 1:

A spur of the moment combination bubble/twirly skirt with all my favorite springy fabrics. I didn’t use a pattern for this, since I seem to have pattern ADD, and lose interest before I finish reading through the pattern instructions. (That said, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of these new adorable patterns from Oliver and S.)

The longest tier was more than 18 feet long (likely not a surprise to you veteran sewers out there). Hanging there on the pegs the skirt looks a little funny (apart from the crazy threads), but on Lalu it’s just the sassiest little skirt ever and I love it. The only thing I really want to change is to thicken up the waistband a bit. Oh, and wash out the orange juice stains. And then bribe her to stand still.  For a picture.  Before the grass stains.  And after the threads are snipped.

I hope you had fun last weekend too!

Revival

Well, at least the sewing kind.  A little (or rather big) log cabin pillow cover, some lentil-filled beanbags for juggling,  a little zipper pouchy with the lining sewn in by hand (per bend the rules sewing).and a pile of other projects that received a bit of attention as well.

My sweetie cooked every single meal this past weekend.  Now I love to cook, I really really do.  But considering how backed up I was with upcoming presents, parties and birthdays… it was nice to have big chunks of time to work (or play!).  The best Valentine’s ever, I’d say.

There has been alot going on here, but I’ll save that for another day.

For the boy (wip)

for the cars

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

and the cars, and choo choos, and lego (or playmobile) people, and, well, anything he can imagine. He picked out the blue dot fabric and I picked out the Amy Butler fabrics and we debated over black or brown roads for a good long while… and it’s finally starting to come together.

Of course, this entire project was heavily inspired by Wee Wonderful’s delightful blog and her son’s amazing race car quilt. Which was all abuzz the blogging community oh, let’s see, more than a year ago? I’ve basically spent the last 11 months trying to talk my little guy into something less complicated. He would have none of it, and I’ve actually come to enjoy those curvy seams (without pinning!). There is another way to puzzle these patches together to make a bunch of (very graphic looking) dots, which I love (click on the flickr picture above to see this option).   If you can, I suggest making these on a rainy day.   So enjoyable seeing all these colors come together when the skies are grey outside.

Still quilting. Sort of…

festival quilt II

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

I really dislike parties (I’m wanting to use the word “hate here, but my mother’s strong aversion to the word, and the principle itself, it beginning to sink in, finally, at age 33.) Really. Can’t. Stand. Parties.

All that socializing with way too many people, some of whom I am never properly introduced to. Yuck. I much prefer to sit down and get to know people one at a time or at least in a small group. Really listen to them and get to know them. Break bread with them and all that. Not exchange niceties in a forced environment. Plus, all that standing around trying to eat and drink without a proper table to do it at is so awkward.

But baby showers, to me, are such a wonderful exception. Maybe it’s because the reason for the celebration is life itself, or the clear expectation and eagerness of the mother to be showered. I’m not really sure what makes it different for me. But I love going to baby showers, and last weekend I went to a party in the mountains, in a vintage Victorian cottage, with lemon chiffon cheesecake and my dear friend expecting a baby. What a treat.

So this busy little quilt was her present from our family, along with all the puffs and puckers that come along with not measuring properly and having my walking foot go kappooot after only 2 passes. In the end I tied the quilt up with embroidery floss. But I think it might work better as a lopsided floor mat than a quilt. So fun to make though, because it was for someone so special to me, even if it didn’t quite turn out as I wanted.

And you know, this new almost-mom received at least 6 handmade gifts that day. Another gorgeous quilt (designed by an architect! Ha! Architects should design all quilts, it was amazing), and a shopping cart cover and a nursing cover designed by another mom who started her own business this year, and a changing pad and knitted (bamboo!) baby mittens and, well, I lost count. A crafty revolution, I tell you.

And lemon chiffon cheesecake is on the menu for tonight. Which is completely ridiculous since I just finished an old 1980’s Buns of Steel workout with TamiLee Web. Cheesecake and buns of steel do not belong in the same paragraph. Does anybody remember her? Legwarmers and all. My little guy was laughing so hard at her, I don’t think he even realized how silly I looked trying to copy her. Thank goodness for that.

The Gifted Baby Quilt

festival folded

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

The long awaited baby quilt is finished and home now with the sweet girl it was intended for. It’s always hard for me to part with a project, I think, because every project entails a learning curve at this stage of my domestic education, and therefore a huge time investment. But today, I felt elation (yes, elation) when I gave it away. She literally grabbed the quilt and pranced around the fancy schmancy hair salon (she’s a stylist) showing off her present. Now, folks, this thing is full of mistakes, quilting (forgot to use the walking foot), sewing, embroidery, sizing, mistakes… all over the place. But she just gushed and gushed. And others did the same, and called me, get this, an *artist.* (I failed to point out that the artist they should thank is a Ms. Amy Butler who designed the fabrics, but, hey, I was on cloud nine and didn’t want to disillusion them).
And I learned (awfully late to be learning this) how important it is to be grateful when someone gives you something they made, and not just purchased. Because I did put a lot of time and thought into this, and I feel like a million bucks right now. My friend recognized the effort that went into it, and made sure I knew how she felt.
I LOVE getting presents. Just love it. Today, though, it was far better to GIVE .

I also named this quilt. I know. Crazy to be naming little baby quilts. But I did anyway… festival. I used some leftover chenille, and scraps from the front to complete the backing. Inspired, as always, by other crafty bloggers, but especially Rosa Palmer and Dogged Knits, both of whom I found on Flickr. In the end I did a tiny wee bit of hand-quilting, just to get a feel for it (that, and I didn’t feel like changing the thread color on my sewing machine at that moment) and I am addicted. I used the fabulous waxed hand quilting thread, which truly makes a difference, and I didn’t use a quilting hoop (or a thimble). This hand-quilting thing is so much easier to control and the results are charmingly off-kilter. Which is why, maybe, I’m in love with these adorable miniature quilts from Turkey Feathers. (While you’re there you may want to take a peek at the *Playhouse Projec* picture gallery on the right side of her blog.  Super cute.)

Now I’m off to finish our homeschool schedule. My sweetie promised to watch the babies while I finished up…told him I need about 8 hours at the library. Hmmm. Hopefully I won’t get distracted.

A little stichin’

dottyembroidery

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

The baby quilt is still not finished, but finally gave the ever-popular embroidery a go-round last week. I look at it now, and think a 6 year old must have done that. At the time though, I was so pleased to finish it and didn’t see all the flaws so apparent in this photo. Super fun to do, and easy to pick up and put down in between snack runs and filling up the squirt guns.

A Promised Quilt

almost finished.  The pieces are ready to go together, and I’m hoping to finish it up tonight when all the sane ones are sleeping.  This little project has been in the works since January.  The baby girl it is destined for was born in December, so each passing month means I really need to make a bigger quilt to suit the growing baby.  Right?  So this one ended up about crib size.  Just right I think.   Good for dolly picnics when she’s older.

I’m still not sure about the mustard color I inserted at the last minute to spice things up… but with Amy Butler fabric it is hard to mess things up.  I’m trying to resist the urge to make a few more log cabins for the back.  We’ll see!

Summer Dress… um, tunic

I should use patterns, I really should.  I had all these grand ideas for this dress turned tunic.  Measured and fiddled.   And still it didn’t turn out how I imagined, apart from being way too short.  But it is a cute little top, if only because it’s made from some amazing Tracy Porter fabric (Joanns sale section@ 2.99 yard!).

crafty mama… attempt #3 and pictures

front

back

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.