Happy Barthday

Today is my birthday. If you want to know how old I am, just ask one of my kids - they will gladly and readily answer that question. What I am most excited about today is that my kids (with the help of their sweet Daddy) chose to make me a gift this year. I can't believe they didn't want to get me a horse or a razor scooter or a 20" girl's bike or the latest kid's movie released to DVD. Hopefully, with perseverance, they will continue to grow in their appreciation of handmade gifts. What I am not so excited about is that Rachel made me the above card, drew a cake, started adding candles....and had to extend the cake TWICE to get all the candles on. Sigh. I guess it's a small price to pay for such a sweet card though. Happy rest of the weekend to you - I'm going to hang with my family as soon as they return from a secret mystery mission, which I suspect will involve bringing a cake home. Oh happy day.

And then She Was Seven

And just like that, my sweet, tiny baby went from being cradled in my arms to being a seven year old. That number is hard for me to grasp. Like there is no going back. She's going to grow up on me whether I like it or not. She readily welcomed it whole hearted - excited as could be. What she wasn't counting on though, was a surprised snow storm that sent her home from school early and pretty much scratched her birthday party plans. One friend has made it for the sleep over though, we still "rocked out" (her words) to the Beatles and ate pink electric guitar cake.


I had to edit this to add her party invitations. She drew each one with a picture of herself and the friend it was intended for, giving great thought to how the friend really looks and what their "rock star" outfit would look like.

Oh, and we played in the snow, of course.

Live and Learn....and Learn Again

When I was making my last quilt, I messed up. I think I mentioned it, but if I didn't, somewhere along the way, I let the backing fabric fold over onto itself and I quilted through it. I had to rip out about 4 feet of quilting. It was not fun. So, after that experience I told myself that I will be more thorough with my pinning and will pay more attention to what's going on underneath the quilt while I'm quilting so as not to have that nasty surprise again. And that's exactly what I thought I was doing as I finished up quilting Rachel's quilt top from last summer (ah hem). So my alternate title for this post was "I am an Idiot", as the same exact thing happened yet again. Thankfully this is a smaller quilt, the area needing to be torn out was smaller, etc., but still - I was not thrilled with myself.

In the end it turned out alright though, as she is happy with it. This was a summer project from last year. All incoming kindergartners had to had to have read (or have read to them) a book and done a project to share with the class relating to the book. Rachel and I read The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston and then she got to work making the nine blocks for this quilt. The quilt was actually inspired by this quilt, which I had seen on flickr, which was made by a six year old boy. So while I wouldn't let Rachel use the rotary cutter or the iron, she did pick all her fabrics, tell me what width and length to cut them and assembled them all on her own. I added the red sashing, did the quilting, put her name on it, and bound it. Some of the steps I was responsible for only happened in the past two weeks. (See previous post mentioning procrastination).

I think my biggest hang up about finishing this was that the quilt in the story has a little girl's name on it, and I just didn't know how to add her name, which was something she wanted on hers as well. I finally went with satin stitching the letters on and then a bit of quilting through them. She seems quilt pleased with the end result and it was a fun project to work on together. Sarah will have the same assignment this summer, so perhaps we'll read the same book and take the time to start her quilt, as she really seems quite interested in sewing. Then again, perhaps I ought to let her blaze her own trial, as she so often does anyway.

They're in the Mail

Rachel's artist trading cards are in the mail as of this afternoon. Have they been done and ready to mail for a week and a half? Yes. Did I not want to look like a total slacker and mail them on the absolute very last day? Yes. I am glad to see that we (she) were not grouped with a bunch of over achievers, as she has yet to receive any yet herself. I'm not complaining at all.....just really glad to see that I'm not the only one who likes to have the deadline clearly in sight before acting.

The photo doesn't show all the detail in the cards, and aside from the one in the middle you might be thinking "She's six? Really?", but let me explain. We tried our hand at mono-prints and went for a more abstract look with she then stamped on. She did insist on one rainbow painting though, being that she is a six year old girl and all. I'm not so sure she loved the whole mono-print thing and I think it may have something to do with a conversation I was involved in not too long ago about how kid's at Rachel's age are really concrete thinkers. There are right answers and wrong answers and that's that. A picture is what a picture is, and nothing more. I tried to get her to look at her prints and think about what they might remind her of, but the titles all relate to what she stamped on top. "The leaf picture", "Tall flower picture", etc. Anyhow, I think it was a learning experience for both Rachel and myself. Now I'm excited for her trades to start arriving.

Since Rachel's trading partners came from places all across the States, from as far West as Washington and as far East as New Jersey, I decided to pick up some Chattanooga brochures to send along. My kids love to pick them up when we travel, so I thought other kids might enjoy seeing something about where their partner lives. I sent a general brochure, as well as one for Rock City, the aquarium, the Choo Choo and the Bluff View Arts District. We threw in some stickers and some cool chip board animal cut outs as well. Hopefully they will be fun packages to receive.

Momentum lost

Seems I've hit a slump in the crafting. The past week has been consumed with some serious cleaning up and out at my house. I have so much "stuff" that I'm finding it hard to manage my life, as the stuff seems to be taking over and can't be controlled. I partly blame this on the little folks in our house, as I don't remember tripping over stuffed animals daily seven years ago. But I'm tripping now, and trying to do something about it. All of it. So the evenings have been spent in covert operations that would make the girls yell "that's my favorite!!". It's all their favorite - that's why my actions have to take place under cover of darkness.

I did do one fun thing though. Several months ago a mother from Rachel's class asked me if I liked to craft. How could I say no. My emphatic yes landed me the responsibility of making the girl's kindergarten pottery piece for the school auction which starts next month. That sounded all good and fun as well, until I realized that it was up to me to make something attractive that other parents would want out of fingerprints. So this is what I came up with. The centers of the flowers are their fingerprints, I painted the petals - that would have been too many fingerprints to try and manage quickly in one morning. Anyhow, I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm not thinking I'll bid on it....unless no one else does, but I do think it would be cute for the right person.

So here's hoping that the crafting mojo comes back soon and I can hit the ground running. If nothing else, I have another birthday bunting to finish in the next two weeks, before an incredible little girl turns four. Four! How can that be?

Birthday Bunting

Here's Rachel's birthday bunting, all sewn up. I ended up leaving the letters as they were. I may try a freezer paper stencil for Sarah's, as I noticed Alicia Paulson did in her book, Stitched In Time. Perhaps that's the trick. For this bunting, I cut two strips of the same fabric 2.5" high and 13" long and one contrasting fabric 3" high and 13" long, then sewed them together with the contrasting fabric in the middle. From that I cut three triangles out of each piece that were 6.25" across the top and whose sides were 9" long. I also cut triangles out of a different print which is the backside of the bunting and used the same fabric for the whole back. I used a .25" seam allowance and a chopstick to get the points pointy once I turned them right side out. Easy peasy.

If you haven't seen the post over at Wise Craft or House on Hill Road, and you have kids ages four or older who like to craft, be sure and check out the Artist Trading Card swap that they're organizing for kids. Rachel is excited to start and even more excited to get mail. Kids will be paired up with similarly aged kids and they will each make five to send. Deadline to sign up is Friday and cards have to be mailed by 2/28. You can send an email to atckidswap@gmail.com with your child's name, address and age to get them included. You'll get your group emailed to you on Monday. Now I've just told you just about everything, but go read their posts as well. And if someone can tell me how to keep my almost there four year old from feeling very upset at not getting to participate, please let me know!

The Writing on the Wall

Yes, I meant it quite literally. While I was at the baby shower on Saturday, Jim tried to keep moving on the kitchen and keep the girls occupied. So, Sarah practiced writing her alphabet. In preschool they learned that a capital E is like a comb, so her E has lots of lines. More is always better when you're a kid.

Rachel drew a self portrait. It accurately depicts what she was wearing at the time - pink top, jeans with pink trim at the bottom, and pink boots. She is a stickler for accuracy at the moment. And I love that she is getting "fancy" with her writing lately. She actually has a few "fonts" that she uses!


And I totally love this little guy, also by Rachel. Clearly you already know that he is a panda bear in a bamboo forest, but just in case you didn't...... She drew this off the top of her head. I'm not even sure where the inspiration came from as they're studying the Arctic Tundra at school right now. The randomness of it makes me love it all the more.

And walls! We have walls!! And a ceiling! And the floor is still there as well. Whoo hoo! I had not envisioned the 50's mint green when I thought about the walls being done. I kind of imagined a big white room that would suddenly look done. But it's green (a moisture barrier on the drywall) and it's not done. I mean the hanging of the drywall is done, but the kitchen isn't. One day though. One day.

Christmas outfits

To say that I'm running behind in terms of Christmas preparations this year would be an understatement. To illustrate this point, I will tell you that Saturday morning Jim and I plan to go Christmas shopping for the girls while my parents watch them. It's just been that kind of season. No weekends at home, without obligations between Thanksgiving and Christmas, a house in disarray and, I think, me still getting use to the demands of having a child in school full time (and a school that requires lost of parental involvement). So, I have forgone the idea of Christmas pictures like I always take the girls for, as well as the Christmas dress that I always get them - and that's just the tip of the ice berg. I did, however, manage to get these outfits made for them, which I think will be cute for them to wear together to go see Santa, if that doesn't get scratched from the list as well.

The skirts are from the Oliver & S Lazy Days pattern, which can be found here. The really do whip up in a jiffy. I read the directions over a few times before beginning, and was really stumped as to how the whole ribbon hem was actually going to work, being that I learn by doing more so than reading. Once I dove in though, it all worked itself out. I will say that when it comes to attaching the ribbon to the skirt (step 1 in "sewing the ribbon hem"), the front side of the ribbon should face out at you. That tripped me up a bit and I didn't want it to end up sewn on backwards. The shirts were inspired by my friend Molly, who has been whipping up some cute ones of her own. I cut out the tree and a package from the print in the skirt and appliqued it to the shirts, then added star buttons to the tree tops and ribbon bows to the packages.

The skirts were such a hit that replicas were requested for some dolls and I was able to get two of those made in record speed. I even had some narrower red and white polka dot ribbon to use on the doll versions.

And someone else was feeling crafty today as well. Here she is modeling her Christmas rabbit ears. The word on the street is that she set out to make hearts in a chain, but the scissors got away from her. I love how she turned her oops into something new. I now posses my very own pair now as well. They were given to me as an apology for pinching her sister and then throwing a fit over getting busted. I'm not sure Sarah got any though.

So school's out, family comes tomorrow and the festivities begin. I've still got a crafting "to do" list that I will chip away at until Santa comes knocking and then hopefully I'll just keep on crafting into the new year so that maybe Christmas won't take me by such a surprise next year.

Introducing........

My kindergartner. The day finally arrived. The one that she was anxiously been awaiting and the one that I have been silently fearing. The first day of kindergarten. I believe in this school enough to be willing to camp out in line for nine days to get her into it, so why suddenly did I start thinking about home schooling? I have gone through many different phases this summer, from fear, dread and panic, to excitement for me (and me after this past week). Today, she was so excited when she woke up, but by the time we dropped Sarah off at a friend's house, it became eerily quiet in the car. As I walked her into the school, I had to choke back tears. I think the look on my face made it obvious that we were newbies, as teachers quickly directed us to the kindergarten waiting area.

Thankfully, the school does what they call "phase in" days. For the first week of kindergarten, they only bring in a fraction of the class each day, and each child only comes for one day each of the first two weeks. Rachel met with her teacher and five other classmates today and parents were asked to stay with them. Thank goodness I wasn't expected to just walk away and lose it all in the parking lot! Parents spent the morning in the kid's class and ate lunch with them, then spent over two hours in a meeting going over all sorts of school information. Rachel is attending a Paideia school, so there is a lot of philosophy that parents have to understand, we met all the other teachers and specialists and got a general idea of how things work.

After letting the teachers have the kids to themselves for an hour, the parents rejoined the class as the kids presented their summer reading projects. Each child was asked to read at least ten books and then choose one to do some sort of project on. The project was left open to us. Rachel and I read The Quilt Story and I took the opportunity to teach Rachel some sewing basics. The quilt in her lap is the end result. Actually, I should say, the quilt top in her lap is the end result. I didn't allow for the attention span of a five year old when we set about making this, so the actual quilt will be finished later. Regardless, she completed nine log cabin blocks on her own. All I did was iron seams, square up the blocks and add the red sashing. The actual blocks are all her work and I love how it turned out. Dare I say she had the best project in the class?

I'll have to post a better picture of the quilt once we get it back. We had to leave it at school for now, which I was a bit leery of. Fingers crossed that it returns to us in the same state that we left it in! I would have already posted pictures, if it weren't for the fact that it was being finished last night around 9 PM.

And the trip and birthday party. All went well, but those are stories for another day.

A New Driver at the Wheel

Last October, when I brought my new sewing machine home, I sat the girls down and gave them a good long lecture about never, ever, ever touching Mamma's sewing machine. My machine cost more than my car. I value it! I pointed out each part and reiterated that it should not be touched. Ever. Never ever. Please and thank you.

So what am I doing now, nine months later? Letting my 5 1/2 year old sew on it. I am still not sure this is a good idea, but I am excited about teaching her to sew (like I really know anything myself!) and an opportunity has shown itself. She has a summer project to do before she starts Kindergarten in August. She has to choose one of the books she's (we've) read this summer and do some sort of project related to it and present it to the class on the first day of school. We borrowed The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston from her preschool room and it gave me the idea to get her started on a sewing project. Actually, the book and this quilt gave me the idea. So we've gone through all my scraps, gathered up the ones she likes and we're attempting a log cabin type of pattern. We've completed one block, but when I look at it now, it's clear that I was doing too much of the driving, or at least steering, so I've stepped back and she's doing it on her own. I think she'd like more instant gratification, but I'm trying to encourage her to go beyond one 8" block. Now, when I try and "steer", she tells me she can do it herself. Granted, she's still driving my car, so I'm not going far when she's at the wheel!



The stack behind the sewing machine is my pile of pinwheels for the winter quilts I'm hoping to get done by the time it gets cold. I just counted and I'm up to 43 if I recall correctly. I'm trying to resist the temptation to lay them out and see how far along I am. I did that at about 20 pinwheels and asked Jim if he thought that would cover half a twin bed. I was hopeful. My hopes were dashed. Next time I want to actually have enough to feel like I'm a good part of the way there. So no more typing and back to sewing.

I finished something!

I haven't been completely idle as of late. Rachel's last day of school is Wednesday (!!!), so I had her draw a picture of her with her teachers, Miss Cathy and Miss Lisa, and I made these little embroideries for them. I made two, one for each teacher, and I am pretty sure that mass-production is not something I'd be very interested in. The first was fun. Having to do the exact same thing again was a good bit less fun. Hopefully it will be something that they will appreciate and will always remind them of my sweet girl. Both teachers have said that this pre-school class is the best they've ever had and I am so happy that she got to spend a year with such a great group of kids.

The frames I used are shadow boxes that I bought at Hobby Lobby. They have a black background, which is how I left the one I made my parents, but for these images, black seemed too stark and harsh, so I covered it with a neutral loosely woven cotton. The black still shows through a bit, which I like. I think it gives it some depth, but the harshness is gone. I was happy with how that worked out. I just used fabric glue and glued around the edges so it wouldn't show up. Here's hoping it stays! Nothing like giving a gift that later falls apart. That is my biggest fear in giving a handmade gift. So far no-one has ever told me that something I made them fell apart, but then again, maybe they are just being polite.

While I haven't been productive, others have....

This past week has been rough. I think I got hit with a great big dose of tree pollen allergies, but who knows. Maybe it was allergies, maybe it was a cold. Regardless, the majority of my week was spent trying to maintain a supply of oxygen to my body. I finally bit the bullet and tried some Claritin for the first time ever, and I'm feeling much improved now. Hopefully the fog has been lifted and I can get back to the business at hand....crafting.

While I don't have anything to show for the past week (or two), Kathie does. Rachel made her debut on Ebay this week after Kathie finished up this painting. I am amazed at the way she can paint tulle! Not to mention that beautiful little face.

And that little girl has been busy too. She brought home two drawings this week that I just love. This one is a skateboarding teacher giving a lesson to several children, all on the skateboard. I believe that is also a dog (in green) in front of the teacher. I love the teacher's hair and also the fact that they didn't let a little drop of rain ruin their lesson.

And call me crazy, but I detect a theme for her week. Picture number two is of three dogs out surfing. I double checked a few times to see if maybe it wasn't two people holding hands surfing with their dog, but it is not. It's definitely three dogs surfing. And again, they have not let the rain ruin their day.

Next post....something crafty from me!

Outgoing Mail

A certain family has some mail coming their way tomorrow. Yesterday Rachel and I worked on drawings from Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals . She was really having fun with it and I was getting such a kick out of watching her animals come to life. I think my favorite is the "shaggy dog". I love his sweet face. We've decided that this book and others by Ed Emberley will be the go to birthday gift this year.

I started a twirly skirt tonight and in just an hour and a half, I'm on step 16 with hopes of finishing it tomorrow night. Since one of the last steps is to have the person it's intended for try it on before finishing it for good, and that person is now asleep, I won't feel badly about not finishing it tonight. Since the recipient's main concern with clothes is the amount of twirl they have, I'm hoping this skirt will be a hit and more may follow. Well, one more will follow for sure, as I'm sure that Sarah will want one as well and I don't want her to feel left out. Pictures of the skirt will follow when it's done (and if it turns out alright).