Happy Mothers Day!

Breakfast in Bed:



Two Poems:

ME: Most of the time? ~ SHE: Mom, I had to be honest!

That's my Cricket!

A homemade stuffed butterfly and a beautiful flower statue:


And finally a masterpiece made by my young son:

Who could ask for more lovely gifts!

Cheers,

Dionne

Bunny Love

There is a line of dolls called Ugly Dolls, which my children adore. To my knowledge, there is no bunny in the line of Ugly Dolls ~ at least not at the two stores I looked at.

So I thought I would be really clever and make an Ugly Bunny to include in our Easter Baskets this year.

First, I made a simple pattern for the body. These dolls are flattish and a bit boxy. I used some fabric from my stash that was pre-quilted.

I made a couple of ears to attach. For the ears, I took the same flannel I used for matching bellies for the ear lining. I just cut out the ears without a pattern.

A nice fluffy tail, and a personalized label across their bunny bums. Then I put right sides together, included the bunny ears and sewed them together.

Because I was running a bit behind as I didn't start them until Good Friday, I gave them standard stuffed animal eyes and noses.

Each bunny was given an endearing 'ugly' characteristic, which the children needed to figure out for themselves.

But in the end, they don't look anything like the Ugly Dolls.

When I asked to take a picture for my blog, they set them up quite nicely with a little pirate decor.

Spring Break is taking its toll

I always know it's coming, it happens every year. But still, I seem to get blind-sided by Spring Break every year.

I have Grand Plans ~ no, we don't go on vacation. We do the vacay thing during Winter Break (when we REALLY need a good dose of sun). But still, I have all these great plans: get the kids in some really fun classes (cooking is a particular favorite of theirs), big chunks of time sewing on projects with them (creative minds can find a fun sewing project for even a 5 yr old boy), and then huge, large glorious chunks of quilting time for ME!

But, sadly, none of those happened. I registered my kids for classes too late, they were all full. That was the pebble that started the snowball that has been my spring break.

Really though, I should back up to LAST friday. The last day of school, my daughter has an asthma attack. She is sent to the nurse, the nurse calls me. I'm home, but at certain parts of my house, my cell phone doesn't get a signal and right now all of our house phones (a set purchased together) are dying. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't; I've been meaning to replace them.

Friday, they didn't work! Or at least at 11:30am on Fri, they weren't working. Nurse is in a panic, Cricket doesn't have her inhaler, nurse doesn't have an inhaler ~ not that I would let her give my child someone elses inhaler.

An hour later I am sitting on the toilet (no joke ~ please don't visualize this too clearly) and my cell phone beeps to let me know I have a text msg.

Why I got a text message and not a phone call is one of those mysteries of the cell phone world. I pick up my phone, yes, I had it in the bathroom with me!

Its my husband: 'Leaving work to pick up Cricket.'

What?! It must be something bad. He's Scottish, they're tough folk, and he expects our children to be sturdy as well.

If he's leaving work, it must be really, really bad. She might have broken an arm, She Probably Fell Off The Monkey Bars, SHE MUST HAVE BROKEN HER NECK!

Now, I'm running through the house with my pants around my ankles grabbing my car keys with one hand, yanking up my trousers with my other, trip over the cat and land face first on the floor.

That's when my husband walked in with my daughter. There I am, sprawled across the entryway floor with my pants still down, purse over my shoulder and a swelling lip.

Evidently he was already on his way to the school when he sent that text.

Yeah, that's how this week has started.

Classes ~ none, Fun Sewing projects with the kids ~ zippo, Quilty Goodness ~ in very short supply!

Fortunately my children can make anything fun for themselves. So while it has been a difficult week for me, they seem to be enjoying themselves.

I promise, it will be back to the quilty goodness SOON!

Cheers,

Dionne

PS - My daughter is fine!

Good Things on the Homefront!

My good friend Maria sent me a wonderful package that included gifties for myself and both of my girls!



Plus a bonus mag from Australia.



My girls got beautiful wrist warmers that were hand-knit by Maria in their favorite colors.



I wanted to take a picture of the warmers (which I will as soon as I can get them to stand still long enough). My girls promptly put them on, then waved good-bye. I'm not sure if I'm ready for the teen years!



BTW Maria, my girls are the envy of all their friends now! My Cricket loves to be the first in her class to try/start a new fashion. Nobody else has hand-made wrist warmers from England!

Maria also sent me a wonderful packet of fabrics! Thank you!







And my oldest finished another quilt. She did the entire thing on her own, from picking fabrics to doing the 'self-binding'. In the past I've always helped her pick out the fabrics. That was always fun for me, but she is exerting more Independence and honestly it's both comforting and scary.



She's very excited because she is entering it into the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

She named this quilt Baby Blues. It's hard to tell but the lightest squares are a pale blue plaid, the border is a teal blue and the alternate squares are a yellow and green plaid.

Never bring your sewing machine into the living room...

... or at least do so hoping to get all your projects done.

I dragged it down and set up shop right between the fireplace and the TV. Perfect corner spot, with a view of the entire family, who hang-out in this room regularly throughout the weekend. Either, playing a board game, watching a movie, folding laundry (good kids!) or reading a book.

What a better way to see them and get some stitching done! Or so I thought, I was inundated with little projects and repairs by family members. So I didn't, in the end get a whole lot done.

Or well, not according to MY priorities! My poor family usually needs to wait months to get any of their sewing needs tended to. So there I was, right at the machine in plain site. What could I do.

Actually, it was really nice to get these things done for them, instead of putting it off until the repair is no longer needed because the item no longer fits!

What I did get done was a few blocks for my Thangles BOM, which is always an easy and fun little project. But what I mostly wanted to do is finish my 'Tree of Life' wall hanging.

I started on the quilting, but didn't have time to finish, mostly because I was doing other little projects for my family. I even broke a needle customizing some soccer (or Football as he calls it) training bottoms. But no worries, in the end it was nice to be with my family and still sew!!

Actually, my machine is still in the living room, so tonight, I plan to sew with my family again. I wonder how long I can get away with this before they will relegate me to my sewing room again! :-)

Outside My Window

Here are a few pictures of my front yard. It's been snowing and snowing and snowing.






What you can't see is that I have a circular driveway with a pond in the middle that measures about 20 to 25 feet across and dips down about 10 feet. You can't see this at all in our front yard because it's so covered in snow!




It's really a perfect day to be at home with a fire and the sewing machine! But unfortunately that is not to be! It's another busy day!




Fortunately, the roads just beyond my little neighborhood are very well tended to!

What a Trip!

Well I went to St. Louis for my Thanksgiving holidays. It was great fun to see all my crazy relatives. I always was the favorite cousin (at least that's what I keep telling them). I absolutely adore visiting my family there! And they, well, they put up with me brilliantly!

Well none of them quilt ~ except evidently my cousin's husband's cousin in Chicago. How's that for a connection! Wouldn't it be a hoot if I found her and emailed her. Isn't that what everyone has always wanted!? An email from the long lost cousin of your cousin's wife?

So every time I made plans to go to a quilt shop (and there are several in the area) something ridiculous happened. For example one day I had planned to go to Your Quilt Shop in Arnold, MO. So just before we went, we stopped off at White Castle. Yes, I know it's terrible, completely unhealthy. But what can I say, it was a childhood memory. But for the first time, it wasn't all that awesome.

Anyhow, when we got to the shop, I reached down for my camera to take a picture of the outside, so I could write about the shop on my blog. And not only was my camera gone, but also my purse. Yup, I left it at White Castle. So I had to drive all the way back to the White Castle, which thankfully had my purse (and camera) waiting for me.

The same with the Quilted Fox... it seems that I just wasn't fated to visit all the quilt shops. I did actually make it to the Joann's Fabric there in St. Louis. Of course that wasn't without incident. My auntie, who came with me, backed her car right into the corner of the store and crushed the back of her rental car! Of course I gave her such a hard time because she doesn't like fabric stores (can you BELIEVE it???) But it's true, so it must have been the spirit of all fabric stores exacting their revenge. Just kidding, no one was hurt.

The Strike is Over!

So the teacher's strike is over! And now that the pain of the strike is done, I am happy they stuck to their issues!

But I was so distracted with trying to homeschool my children (definately not my strength) I made a fatal flaw in the block I was creating!

Funny thing is that it took me a while to figure out why it looked wrong!

I must be tired! I think I need another cup of strong tea!

Challenge Update... sadly, not sew much!

So I had mentioned earlier that I am doing Finn's Challenge to get 5 projects done by the new year. Others have chosen more, some have chosen less.

But the last few days have thrown me for a loop and I've been away from my machine, my computer and getting behind on all my work and obligations.

The teachers have been on strike now for two weeks solid and it doesn't look good. Other mothers are taking their kids to the beach and horseback riding, to the fair etc with this time. But I have been trying to homeschool my children. I must say, this is a HUGE responsibility!

I have learned a new respect for those friends of mine who take the homeschool route.

Now you might wonder why I am forcing the academics on my kids, but I believe that there is a time for playing and a time for learning. They had their summer, and a wonderful summer it was. But fall is coming on quick...

Well, that is why I haven't posted - or sewn in a few days. Just that, and nothing more. Thank you for your concern. It was REALLY SWEET to get so many emails. But nothing sinister has befallen us -- just me overwhelmed.

From Humble beginnings....

This is the story of how a humble quilt initiated a lifelong love of the art of quilting.

When I was a child I lived in a very, shall we say, 'economically challenged' neighborhood in Michigan.

My home from the ages of 5 to 9 (the longest stretch I ever lived in one place growing up) was on a dirt road outside of Lansing. My hometown was small, and really of no consequence. However, it did make national news when the high school was the first in the country to offer extra-credit to students for enrolling in an after school drug and alcohol rehabilitation/counseling program.

I had moved on before reaching high school. But this gives you an idea about the area.

We lived in a small 800 square foot house. 2 bedrooms, 1 bath and one large room that consisted of the living room, dining room and kitchen all in one.

There was no central heating, just one vent that was located next to the bathroom. Our insulation was so bad that during the long winters the snow that gathered on our roof would melt and refreeze as icicles that hung off our eaves. By the time my father would return home after working all week in Holland, Michigan the icicles had grown to form an ice sheet from the roof to the ground.

I thought it was the neatest thing to look out our living room window and not be able to see anything at all but the ice that had formed from our roof.

As a child I didn't understand that it wasn't a good thing. What I remember most vividly about those winters was the bone-deep chill, that you could never escape from.

The only time I was ever warm, was on the rare occaisions my parents would allow me to snuggle up under the quilt in their room. It was the one warm blanket we had. I thought that quilt was the most wonderful, beautiful thing we owned.
My child's eye saw the blue velvet squares as elegant and rich. I still own that quilt. It's quite threadbare. And it's not even close to a work of art, or difficult in stitching or pattern.

But when I think on my history, it is no wonder that as an adult I have become a quilter. And indeed, during lifes ups and downs it is during the times deep in the valley that I am compelled more than ever to make wonderful, beautiful "blankets".

My children will never know what it's like to be unable to find warmth in their own home, but still they love their quilts for their own reasons.

Help ~ A family quilt, what to do...

This quilt my Auntie gave me to repair. She was given it from her Great-Aunt, who presumably made it.



I do believe the pattern is called Drunkard's Path. The fabric is in fairly good shape and it has been hand stitched -- the piecing that is. Because, interestingly enough it was NEVER quilted~!



I am astounded, but it's true there is NO quilting on this quilt whatsoever. And because of that, the batting is shifting all over the place. There are places on the quilt that have no batting at all. Yet, it hasn't balled up as much as I would expect so the batting must be fairly good quality.



Now the real question is what to do about it. Should I dis-assemble it and give it a rework. Fix the seams, give it a new back and have it quilted properly? Should I just fix the seams and quilt it as is? Seems unlikely.



I'm just not sure what to do at all!

It would also be great to get the full story about the quilt. I always find that stuff interesting.

A Godmother's Love...

...this week I've been a bit blue. My girls are both gone and it just been the boys (my little guy and my HH - Handsome Hubby) and I. We had a really nice time. There was an art festival downtown. A really big deal, it takes up a very large portion of the town and we go every year.

But still, I've been missing my girls and I found that every spare moment I could squeeze away from the boys, I've been up in my sewing room addressing the trickiest of problems. Those challenging quilting skills that I've wanted to tackle but have put off for so long.

Throwing myself into a huge difficult project seems to help. Still I get to thinking about family and friends and how much all of the effort and love we put into these relationships really matter in the end. (I suppose it might be that my girls haven't phoned... but they are young and busy and having fun.)

When I put my son to bed last night, I covered him, as I always do, with his two favorite blankets. The bottom is the fuzzy dinosaur blanket that I made him Years ago, and the top is always the schoolhouse quilt his godmother made him when he was baptized. We have long since moved away, and don't see our old friends as often as we'd like. But Cameron talks about his godmother - whom he doesn't remember, with such love and kindness because of this quilt.

And I realize, perhaps things don't turn out the way we want, and maybe friends, family (and daughters) don't show their love and appreciation the way we would like. (as in phone calls to their mom who misses them dearly!) But our love is still there, keeping them warm, whether they know it or not.


By the way, Cynthia (my very close friend and godmother to my son) is a very accomplished hand quilter. Her stiches are beautiful and her works are such masterpieces. A skill I always love to appreciate. One of these days I'll post some pics of her brilliant work.

I wish these pictures of Cameron's quilt came out better, they don't do it justice!

Teaching my daughter to quilt

So this spring I taught my oldest daughter how to quilt. She found out that her teacher's wife was having a baby and he mentioned how his wife was hoping to receive a handmade quilt for her little baby when she was born. Being extremely thoughtful, Kayleigh decided she wanted to learn how to quilt so she could make the baby something beautiful.

I had already shown Kayleigh how to do basic sewing a month or two earlier on an apron project she finished for herself.

In the end, Kayleigh actually decided to make two quilts. Her first quilt she pieced all by herself, making up the pattern completely. She arranged the 5" squares in a flower pattern.



The fabric on the back of the quilt is from some extras I found in my stash -- thus it has a bit of piecing done. I helped her with the binding and the actual quilting. This first quilt she gave to her new little cousin (Fraser) in Scotland.





Then she started on her second quilt, for her teacher's new baby girl. For this quilt she used a pattern and a fabric grouping. Here is a picture of her second quilt. I am so proud of her! She learned to sew, then finished an apron and two complete baby quilts in the span of two months.

Isn't she a beautiful baby girl!!