Uppity-Mama

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!

"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?

 

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.  

A Pillow to Go With It

After Violet made her patchwork pillow, Mira naturally wanted to make one too.  She used some of the leftover fabric from her quilt, and this time she drew AND embroidered the design.  I was so proud of her that I bought her this book, hoping for more.  I'll keep you posted on that front.

Mira (and her quilt)

Mira, my daughter, has amazed me since the day I met her.  She was born in South Korea and lived with a foster family until I picked her up and brought her home when she was 13 months old.  She adapted to our family so quickly, it truly felt "meant to be."  She brings all of us daily joy with her wit, smiles, and keen observations.  I wanted to make her something special.  I decided on a quilt.

 

She is a wonderful little artist and so I asked her to draw some pictures of sea creatures (a theme we agreed to) on fabric.  My favorite is the crab with the heart shaped claws!

I embroidered over her drawings and combined those squares with the beautiful fabrics from Heather Ross' Mendocino line.

I added some kona cotton sashing and Dumb Dot binding.  I put the binding on by machine with a zig zag stitch.  I just knew I didn't have the patience to hand sew the back.  Though it's going on her twin size bed, the quilt is at least a full.

I told her that some people name the quilts they make. She named hers "The Wild Ocean." I machine embroidered it on the back and she keeps picking up the corner when her bed is made to look at it.  Oh, my heart!

She is so thrilled with the end result.  I hope she will always cherish it and remember making it together with her Mama, who will ALWAYS cherish her.

 

Room Swap

We decided, for various reasons, to switch Violet and Zander's rooms.  One reason is that Zander is 12 now and we felt he should have the room with the bathroom.  Violet groused only a bit and then got excited to paint her room and have a new space.  I had blogged here about fixing up Zander's room while he was in Mexico.

Now it looks like this:

The wall color is In The Pink by Sherwin Williams and I made the curtains from Anna Griffin's Riley Collection fabric.

And his NEW room looks like this.

Thrifty Pickings

Ah.  The Rose Bowl Flea Market again.  A new addiction has begun and this time I have a codependent...my husband.  For this visit we even hired our sitter to watch the kids so we could go alone. We got there at 9am today...a little late for my taste...and I almost had to drag the hubby out at noon because our daughters needed to go to a school picnic.  Here's what we scored this month.

This rockin' rocking chair.  I'm going to re-do the cushions and put in Violet's room for her "Reading Corner."

 

This hand-pieced (1930's?) quilt top just waiting for some batting, backing and binding. I can't wait to finish it.  Someone did a LOT of work putting this together...it deserves to be completed.

 

These cute cross-stitched and embroidered dish towels.  The saleswoman explained to me that, in her day, in school they learned that there was an order to washing and drying dishes and each category needed it's own dishtowel.  I couldn't resist.

 

And this fabulous vintage damask jacket.  It was hanging with a matching dress which never would have fit me and the lovely salesgirl let me have just the jacket for 15.00! 

AND, I almost forgot...Alexi got this "Jedi Jesus" t-shirt. I never thought I'd say this...but I want boots like Jesus.

My Motto

I say this to myself a lot.  It's goofy but it works for me.  My husband would say my other motto is "More Sauce!"  but that doesn't really help anybody, now does it?  This project comes from Amanda's lovely book, Handmade Home.

 

Getting there...

Slowly it's coming together...

Despite the little mishaps...

Ouch! Next project?  New ironing board cover!!!

While He Was Out

Zander went to Mexico for a week by himself.  Well, not exactly by himself, with another 12 year old.  And they stayed with a third 12 year old...and his father who lives there year round.  He had a fabulous time but was very homesick. We were also very homesick for him.  So I spruced up his room to surprise him.  I rearranged the furniture, made curtains and a throw pillow with his initial on it, bought new sheets and changed the comforter.  He was very happy and surprised.