More Bee Blocks

Bug took a long-ish nap yesterday, so I was able to wrap up my July blocks for Sew Bee Wonky.

Kendra was up first and sent us a selection really pretty Kona solids.  She picked out a wonky block-in-block design and let us go at it.





I have enough fabric left to *almost* finish a third block, so I might see how far I can get and send a slightly-too-small block that just needs another ring around it.  We'll see if I can get a bit of time to do it. :)

Gross

So, my 2.5 year old has cradle crap.  Um, I mean cradle cap. 

Bug's always had just a tiny little stubborn spot that's refused to go away completely, but I haven't been too concerned about it.  The other night, we were lying in bed and I was messing with his hair and realized that he had gunk - and a lot of it! - aaaaaaaaaalllllll over the front of his head.  Ugh.

I'm sure I need to bathe him more often.  Or, wash his hair more often, rather.  But we're both still kind of recovering  from a nasty bathtub spill that's left him terrified of having water over his head.

Does this make me a bad parent?

Bee Blocks

There's been a TON going on with the move, but I've managed to do a bit of sewing, too.  (Thanks to Mom for letting me take over the dining area as a sewing nook!  It's fabulous!)

I've gotten some sewing done for the store, but nothing finished to the point that I want to show it off just yet.  Soon, soon.

I've also finished Susan's blocks for the Live, Laugh, Bee.  She picked the prettiest fabrics - from the Modern Meadow collection by Joel Dewberry.  I've ogled these online for awhile, but it was really cool to get to see them in person!

Susan gave us free reign on the blocks, asking only that we feature one of two specific fabrics.  I got the pretty dogwood fabric in my bundle and had a lot of fun figuring out how to work the blocks around it.



I love all of the natural light in the area that I've taken over, but I've learned that if I photograph too near the window, the colors kind of wash out.  This block is much more vibrant in real life, though the colors as a whole are still pretty soft.

For the second block, I aimed for a slightly bolder look.  (Accentuated by different lighting in the photo, oddly.)



Aiming for some good finishes this week. :)

We're Here!

Bug and I (and my sister, thank goodness!) flew into Phoenix yesterday morning.  I'm glad to have had the help!  Bug travels very well, but had the most intense meltdown I've ever seen a child have right in the middle of Hobby airport.  It was horrifying.  (He cried - a LOT.  I cried.  It was ugly.)  Luckily, he returned to his sweet, normal self about 30 seconds before we got on the plane and was a whole lot of fun the rest of the trip.  (He was even invited into the cockpit of the plane - fun!)

Richard and Mom and my uncle and most of the cats and all of our stuff got here today.  One of the cats manged to crawl under the dishwasher and then under the cabinets and then into a little hole in the wall and got left behind. :(  My cousin is still there though and has volunteered to catch and keep her until we can get her here.  thank goodness for family.

There's lots to update, but it's going to have to wait just a bit longer. Tired.

Things That Make Me Happy

Though, perhaps I should have titled this post "Things that make me happy, that I've taken photos of".  Though, that's not grammatically correct, is it?  Ah well, you get my point.

In the chaos that is our house pre-move, there's not a lot of picture taking going on around here.  We can barely get through the living room, much less find a clean spot to take a picture of anything.  It's frightening in here.  (And it smells funny.  I don't quite get that one.)

BUT.  But, I did snap a few pictures today of things that are making me smile.

First up, the tangle that is our pseduo-garden.

We have tomatoes again!  Even after Bug picked and ate one!  Yay!



And, look!  A pepper!  I'd totally given up on that one.  Really.  I was just going to be happy that the plant itself had survived this long.  But, there it was when we left the house this afternoon, one tiny little I'm-going-to-be-a-pepper-when-I-grow-up.  I'm so excited about it. :)



Also, if you can believe it, a completed WIP.

A few days ago, I finally got around to wrapping up the cute little beanbags that I wanted for Bug for the studio.  (Even though we no longer have the studio.  Ah, well.)  Choosing a filling really gave me a lot of trouble for some reason.  I finally decided that washable was unlikely to happen so beans of some sort were my best bet.  Richard suggested that I try a few things out and see what I liked best.

We tried rice.  We tried split peas.  We tried lentils.

Rice makes for a nice heavy bag and the filling isn't so large or so hard that a parent or sibling who gets beaned in the head would get terribly hurt.  Split peas are considerably lighter and slide against one another nicely in the bag.  Lentils... Oh my goodness, the lentils!  I've decided that I LOVE lentils for beanbag stuffing.  They have *just* enough weight to make the bags nice to throw, but they don't hurt at all if you take a hard hit.  The bags fall really nicely and stay where they land (Richard's concern because of how the lentils move against one another).  It's luxurious.  Now I just need to find a good price on bulk lentils, because I WILL be making more of these bags.

I might even already have the fabric ordered.  *cough*



I've got almost half of the fabric cut for the Four Cousins project, but my sewing table is in a sad state and it's not much to look at anyway, so no photo of that yet.  I'll post one when it looks a bit more interesting.

And, no photo of this one, but it was the best moment of the day so far...

Richard and I took Bug out to lunch today and he got pretty sleepy while we were out.  (It was an early morning.)  He ended up falling asleep in my lap a little while ago.  I carried him to bed and was *just* putting him down when he woke up a little.  My heart stopped, hoping that he'd go back to sleep (I REALLY want to nap with him today!) and not fuss and and and.  And he laughed and murmured "I love you, Mommy", then rolled right over and zonked out again.  Melted my heart. <3

Four Cousins Project Begins!

Today was a fantastic mail day!



I got ALL of the fabric for the Four Cousins Project!

Here's what came for my nephew.   It's from the Beep Bots line from Hoffman Fabrics. (Ordered from Fat Quarter Shop.)



For Boo (also from Fat Quarter Shop), Love U from Moda.

These are the ones I'm using:



And the cast-offs that will go into an undetermined project:



For my niece, I chose On a Whim 2 from Robert Kaufman.  (Ordered from Lucky Kaeru Fabric and Supplies.)

It was my very first fq set!




These are the fabrics I'm using:



And the cast-offs:



And then, Bug's fabrics (ordered, appropriately enough, from Bug Fabrics) - from Robert Kaufman's Playday line.



I. Am. Geeked.

I want to cut into these fabrics NOW...but I have actual work to do, so they're just going to have to wait for a bit. *sigh*

Good Mail, Bee Blocks and a Completed WIP!

Lookie what came in the mail yesterday!



It's "los novios" from Alexander Henry and I wasn't expecting it at all.  I *might* have squealed when I opened the envelope.  It came from one of my partners in the Sew, Mama, Sew! fat quarter swap.  I am absolutely in love with this fabric.  It's so bright and wonderful and just a little bit crazy and something that I've admired from afar but would probably never actually buy for myself.

Now to decide exactly what to do with it...

I also managed, despite having had a really busy day with Richard and Bug, getting my June block finished for the Quilt Block Swap.  Or "blocks", rather.  My partner requested a log cabin in batiks.



I liked the way the first block turned out (and Richard said it might be his favorite yet - wow), but I wasn't convinced that it looked terribly log cabin-ish.  So I put together a second block.



I hope that one of them will suit her needs!

Then, I actually finished the secret, wonky green log cabin project!  Yay!  I'm terribly excited about it, but don't want to show pictures and give up the surprise just yet.

Perhaps just a sneak peek...



There are also two outings that I want to blog about, but I think they deserve their own posts.  And no way is Bug going to let me get into that tonight.

And Christmas Begins...

You read that right...I said Christmas.  Please don't get disgusted and run away just yet!  I know how it sounds.  Really, I do.  I haaaaaaate when Christmas pops up in June.  (Seriously, I refuse to go into Hobby Lobby unless I absolutely have to now because, a few years back, I went in on June 6 and they had their *entire* Christmas section already set up.  It was heinous.)

But, I'm having a baby soon.  And I have a two year old.  And if I want to continue with the trend of keeping Christmas gifts about something other than cheap, crappy gifts that were bought in the spirit of consumerism (which isn't what Christmas is about at our house!), then I really kind of need to get started on it now.  Or, at least I need to start THINKING about it now.

So, I thought about it.  And I formed an idea that was starting to keep me up nights, so I figured I needed to act on it before either the idea disappeared or I turned into a zombie.  Either outcome being likely, of course.

In my head, I've termed it the Four Cousins project...because I basically plan to duplicate the idea for both of my kids and both of my sister's kids.  Easy-peasy, I think they'll like it, and goodness knows that similar-but-personalized gifts are good for siblings.

I browsed fabric (and spent litarally HOURS over at the Fat Quarter Shop) for two days before making up my mind.

For my newphew, I fell in love with Beep Bots.  For my niece, I really liked some of the On A Whim 2 fabrics.  For Bug, Robert Kaufman's Playday.  And Boo gets the Summer colorway of Moda's Love U line.

Now, what is all of this fabric going to become?  I'm afraid I'm not ready to spill the beans on that just yet.  But I'll post some sneak peeks after the fabric arrives. ;)

Garden and Other Goodies

Today, we were very excited about this:



Our second almost-ripe tomato!  We've been watching it grow for what seems like forever.  Ages ago (it feels like), our little plant popped out one little tomato and Bug grabbed it when it *thisclose* to being ripe.  He devoured it - though he did offer me one bite, sweet boy.  It was SO tasty!  And I was so very excited that we've actually gotten something edible off of the plant before I had managed to kill it.  That was a first.

(Last summer, nothing grew on the tomato plant, but I did manage to keep it alive all summer.  Also a first.)

Bug was so excited by the sight of an almost-ready-to-eat tomato that he plucked it right off.  We've been checking it every.single.day so I'm actually kind of impressed that it made it this far.

Two still-green tomatoes have been plucked in anticipatory excitement.  Bug tried really hard to eat the first one and ended up declaring it "too crunchy".  It was vaguely amusing though.  He *insisted* on eating that first green one.  We were on our way someplace, so sat in the car seat with it...taking a bite, exclaiming "yuck", spitting it out, taking another bite...

Bug, sweet thing that he is, offered me the first bite of his newest treasure.  It wasn't quite as sweet at the first one (also not quite as ripe), but was still pretty tasty.  He certainly seemed to enjoy eating the rest of it.  And he was really, really excited when we stopped and counted fifteen (!!) green tomatoes still growing on the plant.  And there are more blooms, too!

I am amazed.

In other news, I lopped off my hair this afternoon.  Perhaps a decision based on stress and hormones, but I decided beforehand that I would be thrilled with the results pretty much no matter what they were, and I am.  We took off about fourteen inches.  Yes...fourteen inches.  There were three women working where I went to have it cut and I think one of them just about passed out when she saw it all come off.

My hair is, admittedly, quite a bit shorter than I had intended.  I'll never really understand why stylists never seem to believe me when I tell them that my hair curls when it's short.  It was supposed to end at roughly my shoulder blades...and now curls up just below my chin.  I can *barely* get it into some semblance of a ponytail (and, thus, out of my eyes and out of the toddlers easy grasp).  But I like it. :)  It's definitely a lot cooler!

Time for bed now, but tomorrow I may show off some stuff that I'm getting excited about.  We'll see. ;)

Work is Work

This is what Bug and I did for a little while this morning.



Now, what you *should* have noticed in that photo was the stack of little blanket squares all stitched into rows.



We finished those up this morning while Richard was doing some work outside.  And, when Bug decided to go help out there, I started stitching the rows together.

This is as far as we got today.



I might have gotten a bit closer to finishing, had I not accidentally sewed the rows together in the wrong order.  You'd think that having them labelled would have kept that from happening...but, no.  I'm awesome that way.  After I tore it apart and fixed it, Bug grabbed the first three rows and wore it around the house for awhile like a shawl.  Had to wait until he was distracted again before I could attach the next two, and after that I started feeling guilty about the other things I wasn't doing, so I set it aside.  Maybe I'll get a bit more done after bedtime.

More Big News

Woooo...  It has been one heck of a week around here.  There have been some awesomely good things that have happened and some bad stuff that was so upsetting that I'm still trying to figure out how to process it.  Ultimately, everything tied itself up in a pretty major decision.

We're moving.

Half-way across the country.

And soon.

I'm sad.  I'm excited.  It's a big ol' mess of emotion.  But ultimately it's all good.:)

More news as I figure it out, I guess.  :)

Vanessa's Blocks

Today, I received my fabric for Vanessa's blocks for the Live, Laugh, Bee.

She requested two 12.5" blocks, if there was enough fabric, in a version of a log cabin and/or star pattern.  The star made me a litte nervous and I wasn't sure that I'd have nearly enough fabric for a second block, so I went for two wonky-ish log cabin blocks.

Block #1 came out just over 12.5".  It'll trim down nicely.



I wasn't sure how the fabrics were all going to look together when I started (though the pictures already up in the flickr group look great!), but I really kind of like the way it worked out.  :)

Block #2 isn't *quite* to size.  I was only able to get a 10" block out of the fabric that I had left, so I'm sending it untrimmed with the hope that Vanessa will be able to add another strip to each side and get a block that's workable for her.



I'm not quite as thrilled with the composition of this second block, but I don't think it's unattractive.

And, lest anyone think that I'm letting yesterday's to-do list slide already, Bug and I have already sewn together six of the twelve strips for his new little blanket. :)

Bug, On Food

Recently, Bug has decided that the kitchen is his favorite place to be.  Seriously.  He wakes up in the morning and is still all groggy and sleepy-eyed when he snuggles up and mumbles "Let's go in the kitchen".  When he gets upset about something and finally gets to the clingy, post-crying portion of his meltdown, he sniffles "Let's go in the kitchen".  I'd worry that he was developing an unhealthy relationship with food, but he usually doesn't actually ask for or want anything to eat (though the recent discovery of his ability to reach the hard-boiled eggs has led to eating more of those than normal).  He just likes *being* in there.  He likes helping.  Which I think is pretty cool.

If I may take on the role of the gosh-my-kid-is-so-stinkin'-cute parent for a moment, I'd like to share two food comments from yesterday that made me giggle.

We woke up waaaaaaay too early yesterday morning.  Like, around 5:30.  Which is an hour we don't often see around here.  Annoying as it has to be for Richard, Bug and I have settled in to our natural clocks and tend to end up getting up in the morning sometime closer to 9:30.  Or 11.  Whatever.  But, yesterday morning, the diaper gave up at 5:30.  Eek.

Bug and I got up, Richard slept.  When Richard got up a few hours later, Bug was still going strong, so I went to take a nap.  Then Bug came in later and crashed, and I got up and went to the grocery store.  It being a holiday weekend and me feeling celebratory because Richard was actually home, I bought a few things that we normally never, ever have in he house.  Like a can of Pringles and a cheese danish.

When Bug woke up, we were cuddling and playing in the bedroom and I asked him if he was hungry.  I got a non-answer.  I mentioned that I had gone to the store and picked up some Muenster cheese, his current favorite.  It peaked his interest, but he still wanted to lie there.  I mentioned that I'd bought some Pringles, which he loves, and it peaked his interest, but he still wanted to lie there.  I mentioned the danish and he gave me an inquisitive look.

Bug: "What's a danish?"
Me: "Well...it's kind of like a donut cake."
Bug's eyes got wide.  He looked at me like I might be kidding.  Then he sat up and crawled out of bed so fast that it was almost cartoonish.
Bug: "Let's go see!"

Then, just before bed, there was another giggle-worthy food moment.

My cousin, who is now living with us, had to put in a really long shift at work yesterday.  Bug asked about her repeatedly and followed her around like a puppy when she got home.  (Thank goodness she seems to think this is cute and not annoying.)  At one point, he followed her into the kitchen and pointed out the Pringles on the counter.  (He had been told that he couldn't have any more, at that point.)

Bug: "We got chips today."
Cousin: "Yeah?"
Bug: "Mhm.  They're not good for me." *pause* "But I can eat them."

At least he *knows* they're a special event food and not something we eat every day?