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.

Quilting up a Quickie

This baby quilt didn't exist on Thursday afternoon. I've known I had a baby shower coming up for a good long while, but just didn't know what I was going to make. Thursday night I had the bright idea to start a quilt that I was sure I could whip up quickly. This took more time than I would have estimated and required a late night last night, but I got it done. Thursday night I got all the rectangles cut out and decided on the layout. Then I came to the realization that my quick assembly plan was actually going to take some time. I'd thought that appliqueing the inset rectangles onto the larger ones would be a huge time saver, but in fact, the applique process took a good bit of time and just measuring everything and trying to keep it even, square and all that good stuff was also a good bit of effort. Sarah was very tolerant of me on Friday afternoon and I was able to get all the applique done and the top assembled. Quilting, binding and all that good stuff took about another three and a half hours on Friday night, but come 12:30 AM this morning, it was done. I quilted in the ditch around each rectangle, then around the inset rectangles and then again inside the smaller rectangles. An all over pattern may have hidden a few mistakes a bit better, but I liked the idea of sticking with the geometry of the rectangle and my vocabulary of quilting patterns is pretty limited right now. For now I'm just thankful I got it done in time. Phew!

Crummy photo was hurridly taken in the few minutes between it coming out of the dryer and having to wrap it.

A One Trick Pony

I feel like a one trick pony. Well, actually maybe I have two or three tricks as of right now. But as birthdays approach, and I try to keep my goal of making more gifts and spending less at Target, I find myself making many of the same things. Above is a gift for Rachel's oldest friend, Elle. Not oldest in age, but as in they've known each other since before they could sit up. I'm hoping these aren't too girly for Elle, who is not a fan of the pink and purple princess scene. Skirt was made using the Oliver & S Lazy Days pattern and the t-shirts were just appliqued with a bit of the fabric from the shirt. I was wanting to try and cut a flower out to applique and then paint a stem and leaves on, but my applique skills are currently best left to straight lines. I'm not so swift with the curves yet.

And Sarah has a party to go to this Saturday as well, so another Black Apple doll was whipped up last night. This one is sporting cashmere hair, recycled from a $1.59 thrifted sweater. It's super soft, but doesn't get as "felty" as wool does when washed, so it was a bit stretchy to sew with. I Think it worked out fine though. If time permits, I'll try and make a bag for her as well, but I've also got to come up with a baby shower gift by Saturday morning, so time is in high demand.

My photos are looking pretty crummy these days. Something happened a while ago between my computer and photoshop and now, pictures in photoshop look totally different than they do in other photo viewing programs. I'm in a quandary and if I want a kitchen, I'd best not as my husband to trouble shoot for me. And speaking of kitchens, the walls are coming along. Pictures soon.

The Birthday Season Draws Near

Phew. I can scratch something off my "to do" list. My birthday gift for my nephew is done. Last year he remarked that "clothes don't make good gifts", so I'm slightly hesitant that decorations for his room will fall into the same category, but we shall see. Erin, you can give me the cold hard truth, I can take it.




Close on the heals of James' bunting, is Rachel's - here's the name portion of hers. It's ready to be assembled, but I feel like I need to do something to make the letters stand out a bit more. The triangles are already sewn together, so if I were to outline them with any sort of sewing, it would go through both layers. I'm not sure if that matters or not. Perhaps just a bolder color of embroidery floss in a chain stitch around them? I don't know. I opted for a patchwork flag as a way to incorporate some of that colorful and fun groovy square pattern in the middle. I bought it quite a while ago and have been saving it for something special. There is enough to make Sarah's as well. They've both seen me working on James' gift, and asked why I can't make one for them, so hopefully they will like them. The girls both have wide shelves over the expanse of windows in their rooms, and I thought these would be fun to hang from the shelves. I'll post of photo when it's done and hanging.



There's more gifts to be made and a lot more birthdays on the way. It makes that post-Christmas slump that seems to happen a bit of a hassle as the majority of the birthdays we celebrate seem to fall in the first three months of the new year. So, back to work.

Things that Make Me Go Hmmm....

Garden and Gun. Yes, you read it correctly. My neighbor brought this over the other day. We swap magazines a lot. He wasn't sure where he'd gotten this from, but said the photography was beautiful. It is. But. Hmmm.... I mean really. What can one really say about this? The subtitle, if you can't read it, is "Soul of the New South". Perhaps that explains it all. Perhaps not. I'm still scratching my head on this one.

Bummer

Jim called me shortly after he left for work this morning. He started telling me about an accident and I thought he was telling me to go downtown a different way this morning, as I had to take Sarah to the dentist after I dropped Rachel off at school. After processing what he said, I realized that the accident he was telling me about involved him. Thankfully, he is fine, although, as you can see, his bumper is being held on by string...tied in a bow. Spiffy. Actually, the bumper is totally gone now and the car is in the shop. And of course, the driver of the other vehicle promptly fled the scene of the accident, but not before he ran his red light and hit Jim. Bummer.

Looking Out My Kitchen Window

This is what I see as I look out the kitchen window that is over the sink. The room is somewhat dark most of the time due to no lighting and old, dark studs for walls. I like the way the old insulation on the sill adds a softness to the view. Makes it downright homey, doesn't it?

Sarcasm aside, things do seem to be progressing. While this view might not look like much, the horizontal, yellow wires running through the studs mean that Jim's moved on to wiring. Whoo hoo! He spent today putting in outlets and fixture housings in the ceiling. And....he says he on track to drywall next weekend, when his brother will return to help. Could it be? The end of the Appalachian shack look is at hand? I'm excited, but holding my breath yet.

We are not in the clear yet though. Last weekend it became clear that the second bank of windows was terribly crooked. Since the floors are now level and the cabinets will be level, the amount the windows sloped wasn't really something we could ignore. So Jim leveled them. But do you see a problem with the above picture? Yes, that is the outside peeking through under the widow. Thankfully we are in the South and experiencing a mild winter! Another wall has a similar problem with a nice circle cut out of the exterior boards. Apparently some sort of a plug fell out. Now we have a handy dandy hole to stick our finger through to see if it's raining or not. And as a special treat, Jim also wired the stove again so that I can heat food in something other than a microwave or toaster oven. We celebrated with frozen pizza tonight. Livin' the high life, I tell ya!

I've started working on a bunting for Rachel's birthday. I decided to make it patchwork. I'm hoping that was the right decision and that I will be able to keep a straight line. I'm not the most precise sewer in the world. I've spent more time that I should have browsing the Ga-ga for Garlands group on Flickr. It's got my wheels a turnin'!