Ridiculous Five Year Project

The story behind this little quilt is a sad, sad example of how easily distracted those of us with fabric addictions can be. I started this quilt for my unborn second child five years ago people! Also, it can hardly be called a quilt. She was going to have a fairy themed room and I came across this cute fairy fabric and decided to just make a quick blanket with the fairies on one side and minky on the other. Minky had just come out and this little project was mostly an excuse to use the super soft stuff. It should have taken me a weekend at most to complete this. Well, I put the two pieces together, freemotion quilted little flowers all over it and put it aside to do the binding later. So, it sat. And sat. My second daughter was born and then I had a newborn. Unlike all the blogs I read from people that have like five babies running around and still sew daily, I got nothing done in the sewing department with a baby in the house. I then went through a Jane Sassaman obsession where I started a new quilt (known as the butterfly quilt, also unfinished to this day) and then I decided I would learn to hand applique and started that project and then, well, my life fell apart. So, to somewhat get to the point, I unpacked this quilt at my new house and put it in a prominent place so I would finish it. And it sat. I made this quilt and this quilt and started a myriad of new projects and then I felt really guilty... and then! and then! (is anyone still reading this?) Melissa came over last weekend to sew and I decided the time had come to finally get the binding on this quilt. And I did! And now I have no idea why I didn't just finish it to begin with. Oh well. I did notice a great thing about this quilt. When you just take a full cut of fabric and throw on a backing you end up with the perfect size rectangle for kids to use on their nap mats at preschool. You see, that's what I intended for it all along!

Socks for Christmas

Usually one would not be overjoyed to receive socks for Christmas. However, this year I have already received one of my Christmas presents, which was indeed socks, and I could not be more pleased! My aunt and mom have been chatting for weeks about joining a sock guild at a yarn shop that I had never been to, but my aunt had no idea how to knit a sock. I thought the idea of a sock guild was intriguing, but I also had no idea how to go about knitting a sock and it was quite a few things-to-learn down on my project list. That all changed last week when my aunt called me practically giggling and asked me to join her in private sock lessons at the yarn store, The Whole Nine Yarns, as an early Christmas present. I was definitely up for that adventure and yesterday we went for our first lesson. If you knit, and you live in the Atlanta area, and you have not been to The Whole Nine Yarns... GO! This place is a knitters dream and I was overjoyed to see that it was absolutely packed with people taking lessons, buying stuff, and supporting the local yarn economy. So many quilt and yarn shops come and go very quickly, but this place is definitley doing a lot right and creating a knit community. Our instructor was delightful and got us both on the road to making socks in no time. My aunt had another class after ours which only had one other person in it, so they said I could hang out with them and work on my socks. We were there all afternoon chatting, viewing different yarn combinations for some pillows my aunt wants to knit, looking at books and chatting some more. It was quite invigorating to be around tons of people that share the same crazy passion for yarn and color and all its possibilities.

As I was walking to my car I did do a little mental head slapping for having bought more yarn (the perfect combination for a scarf to match my new jacket had to come home with me) and even a new book, not to mention joining the monthly sock guild myself! Clearly I had lost my mind. But then I looked down at the ground as I walked and noticed that it was sprinkled with tiny, red, heart shaped leaves. A little reminder from the universe to embrace what you love, and just be happy. At least that's how I saw it.

And So It Begins

The seven year old has been in craft heaven the last two days because Grammy got her a Janome Hello Kitty sewing machine for her birthday. She has had three "lessons" and rarely talks about anything else. The first thing she said at 6:30 Monday morning was, "Mom, I think today is a terrific day to learn how to sew" and the last thing she said to me when she went to bed tonight was "What are you going to teach me about sewing tomorrow?". So far she has practiced following a straight line and then following the line with the edge of her presser foot, she really has done much better than I thought she would. Today I did have to teach her one of the most important lessons in sewing... "When you start to get frustrated it is important to get up and walk away, then come back to it later". It's a lesson that I still have to remind myself of quite often. I have stopped hovering over her every second and am just letting her "go at it" as Melissa told me to today (so of course I will blame her if the child sews her fingers together). Her concentration is quite good, she didn't even stop sewing to ask me "are you taking pictures of me for your blog again?". Yep.

Birthday Quilt!

Hard to believe there is now a 7 year old living in my house (even though sometimes lately it seems like she is about 13). I saw this quilt kit when we were in Nashville and fell in love with the Moda Full Moon Forrest fabrics (each one has different animals hidden in the design) and snatched it up with the intention of making a birthday quilt. Thank goodness the pattern, "Just Can't Cut It", was super simple and I was able to make it in basically two weekends. Melissa and mom came over for an intense Sunday sewing session last weekend and I got most of it done then.

Of course now the younger child is begging for a new quilt of her own. I am determined this week to finish the quilt that I started for her when she was born, um, almost five years ago. It has been waiting for binding that whole time. That is really, really embarrassing. Especially since it was just one piece of fairy fabric and one piece of minkie on the back. In my defense, everyone else made her quilts when she was born and mine was just a quick blanket I was whipping up to go with her fairy room. Sometimes it sucks to be the second child, but hopefully that will distract her for a bit until I come up with something fabulous for her January birthday.

Boo!

My little devil wore her costume almost every day of the last month. Then, when Halloween finally arrived, she hit about five houses then came home and begged to go to bed. It was a big day... Halloween parties at school, a neighborhood jumpy house, several sugar crashes... she fell asleep in her costume.

If using a reader, you have to click through to see pics!