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!

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.

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.

 

Violet's Patchwork Pillow

She really did this by herself.  All I did was cut the backing fabric and iron.  I even left the studio while she sewed the front to back.  She did the back envelope style so we can remove it for easy washing.  She loves it and is so proud!

Sunday Slice

Each Sunday,  I am planning to post a "slice" of my home.  Today's slice is of my front porch which is accessible only through the living room.  It is often covered in leaves, petals and spiderwebs, but when we clean it up it is lovely.  Especially for cocktails.  But it is small.  Or should I say, intimate?  All furnishings from World Market which is around the corner from my house.

Weekend

We finally made it back to the beach.  It was hot and sunny in Westwood but when we got to Santa Monica it was chilly and cloudy.  We managed to have some fun anyway.

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.

 

Flea Market Finds

We finally made it to the famous Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, after 7 years of living in Los Angeles!  It did not disappoint.  It is absolutely huge and we had all of the kids with us but they were troopers.  Here's what we scored:

Colorful vintage Pyrex food storage containers.  So handy for reheating in the micro without using plastic!

Theater seats for our viewing pleasure.  I don't know wether these are from a movie house or playhouse but I like them in our house.

A 70's era toy piano for Beckett.

Mira picked out some pretty starfish.

We found the perfect t-shirt for Z.

 

 

And Alexi found some great novels.

 

A very successful day, don't you think?  We can't wait to go again next month!  It really could be habit-forming.

My Days Are Numbered...

...to have this sweet baby asleep on me.  I'm trying to savor them as this is my last time around.  What a delicious surprise little number 4 is.