Uppity-Mama

Sunday Slice, (sort of)

I'm sorry I've been so absent.  The holiday and my parents visiting just kept me from focusing over here in blogland.  I'll be better this week!

These are really just gratuitous photos of Beckett playing in the backyard. I'm not even showing you much yard.  But it was fall-ish and he was wearing a flannel shirt and I couldn't help it.

Plus he has these lashes.

 
And don't you like to swing with your fingers up your nose?  Doesn't everyone?

 Hope you had a wonderful holiday with much to be thankful for!

Sample Scarf

I am teaching a holiday gift sewing class for kids on Thursday afternoons until Christmas.  This is our first project.  It' is essentially the Scrap Wrap scarf from Denyse Schmidt Quilts.

Here is my sample:

 

 And here are 3 of the kids' scarves.  Pretty cool, huh?   I precut all the strips for them, mainly from Moda Arcadia with some Amy Butler and Riley Blake thrown in for good measure.  There was a definite curvy thing happening as they sewed the strips together but I kind of like it.

Improvisational Piecing With Alissa

I was lucky enough to take a class at the Urban Craft Center with quilt guru Alissa Carlton of Handmade by Alissa.  It was quite freeing to realize there are so many ways to piece blocks... and even mistakes can be cool!  It was great to hang out with other women who are just as obsessed with fabric and can relate to my mania.

These are some of the blocks I made:

Here's Alissa working on a binding:

This is J. with a block that she made into a lovely apron by the end of class.  Check her blog out here.

And this is Jane in the backround with her blocks in the foreground.  So pretty.  Her blog is here.

Sunday Slice, Nov. 15

This is part of Beckett's space.  He shares a room with big sister MIra. The orange rug circles and light fixture are from IKEA.  The sea animal cards on the wall are from Wee Gallery. 

 

 The stuffed robot is Kalvin from Kauzbots.

And sometimes, they do yoga!

 

A Bit Late...

I forgot to show you our Halloweenishness. We were all pirates, except for Zander.  Mira and Violet made some candy bags to go with their pirate outfits.  We didn't make anything else.  We bought.  Violet decided to be a Zombie Pirate and put white face all over herself, as you can see.  I like the red ric rac she chose to use as a handle on her bag.

You can kind of see Mira's bag below.  We were pretty stoked to find the pink pirate skull fabric at F&S.

And Zander?  Well, he won best costume in the middle school contest and again that night at a party.

And here s/he is!

Sunday Slice, Nov. 8

This is (mostly) where we eat.  The Saarinen table was a total splurge from DWR but I will never regret it.   I love the design and EVERYTHING comes off this table...glue, sharpie, pencil...etc.  It's pretty indestructible.  A little soft scrub with bleach gets out even the scariest marks (sharpie).  The chairs are from IKEA and are remarkably comfortable. They bounce a bit and the curve in the back is just right.  I made the cushion covers (blogged here). The carpet tiles are from FLOR. Again, indestructible. For holiday events I am just going to add on a rectangular folding table and some tablecloths since the table only seats 8.  

"About A Boy" Quilt

Hope Squared is a project created by the amazing women of Margaret's Hope Chest.  These women have turned tragedy into triumph.  Please read their story.  It will amaze and inspire.  Hope Squared is collecting handmade quilts for the homeless children of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This one is for them. 

I love these fabrics from Riley Blake.  There are so few "boy" fabrics out there that aren't babyish.  

How lucky am I to have this star stitch on my awesome Designer SE?

 

On The Hook

I've been slowly working on this blanket.  Very slowly, late at night, a row or two here and there.  I'm using all kinds of yarn from my stash.  I seem to have started a kind of a pattern here, though, which I may not have enough of each yarn to follow through on.  So the second half may look very different from from the first.

The stitch pattern is Gary's Ripple from this book.

                                            

Tutorial: How To Get Flowers From Your Significant Other

Step One:

Wake up weepy on the weekend.  Say you've been feeling sad and restless.

Step Two:

 Say how tired you are from being responsible for 4 kids lives and still nursing the 2 year old.

Step Three:

Bring on the full waterworks.

Complain about how he/she is at work soooo much and then on the weekend there's all this pressure and he/she is finally there but still hopping on the computer all the time. 

Step Four:

Between sobs say...how...you...don't...have...a...career...and...you're ...getting...OLD!!!

Step Five:  Start singing "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" by Babs Streisand and Neil Diamond.

*Now, when your flowers arrive, make him a nice dinner and well, give him some special dessert ;-).  Say thank you and tell him how much you love him.  Because you do.  You really, really do.

Tula Pink Stacked Coin Quilt

I completely ripped off my friend, Lisa, on this one.  I took her free motion quilting class at Tanner's and I saw she had made a quilt like this.  Well, who can resist these fabrics from the Tula Pink Hushabye collection, I ask you?    AND it was my first time stippling!  I gathered my courage and wine (Lisa told me to)... and, well, not so bad!  Thanks, Lisa!

 

The sashing and backing fabric is Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Pale Flesh.  I got one of those fabulous color cards from Pink Chalk fabric to help me order solids in the proper colors.  I highly recommend it.