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.

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.

The List

Today, I'm organizing my sewing to-do list.  (We're not even going to talk about my full to-do list...my head might just explode.)

With today being a holiday and the first day that Richard has been home ALL DAY LONG and us having decided that today is a zero-pressure day for getting anything in particular done, I indulged and pulled out *my* stuff, instead of looking too closely at all of the things I need to do for the store.

It's still a lot of stuff!

I'll say upfront that I've been really inspired by the idea of Mending Week, as posted over at Making More with Less.  But when I looked at my mending pile, it was way smaller than my work-in-progress pile.  I mean, I *need* to fix the elastic in Bug's cloth diapers, but he's been letting me slide a little on that...so I'm gonna run with it for just a little bit longer.

So, just focusing on things I want to finish up for the kids:   (Wow, the plural of that still catches me off-guard.)



A set of bean bags for Bug.  I stitched these up the week we moved into the studio so he'd have something else to play with there, but I don't really have any idea of what I should use to fill them.  I kind of want them to be washable, and using real beans would mean that they weren't.  But I don't want to fill them with plastic beads because they're plastic beads.  Hmm...



I still need to wrap up Bug's quilt.  The top has been done for awhile now and I have the backing fabric.  I've been holding off because I want to use a layer of flannel on the inside instead of actual batting and I knew I had some, but haven't been able to put my hands on it.  I saw the flannel when we were cleaning out the room for my cousin, so I think I should actually be able to finish this project soon.



A set of flannel wipes for Boo.  I think there's eight here.  I made three sets for Bug when he was born and we really loved them, but most of them have somehow disappeared over the last 2.5 years.  Not really sure how that happened.  Maybe they ran away with some of the single socks that disappeared in the wash?  Bug picked out the fabrics, and I think he did a great job.

Then there's this:



I found these fabrics, 4" squares of cotton prints, cotton flannel (the orange) and cotton corduroy (the blue) that I had initially cut up for a project for Bug and his cousin, who's five weeks older than he is.  That didn't end up happening and now they're both a little too old to get anything out of that particular project.  And Boo will be too young for it for a good eight or nine months.  When I counted up the number of squares, I realized that I had the *perfect* amount needed to make a little toddler-sized blanket.  So that's what I'm going to do with them.

Look!  I was even able to steal a moment this afternoon to figure out the layout!



And, when I emerged from the bedroom where I had sequestered myself to do that without interruption, I discovered Richard bound - literally - in the living room.



It seems that in the few minutes that I was in the other room, Bug discovered that he could unwind the wool dryer balls.  That little bitty quarter-sized ball of wool at Richard's feet was the size of a tennis ball about an hour ago.  Now it's draped over just about everything in the playroom...including the cats.

Quick Little Project

My house looks like it's exploded.  Seriously.  My cousin moved in yesterday and, things being what they have been around here lately, we weren't able to get the room completely cleared out until...yesterday.  Which means that everything is more or less hanging out in the living room tripping everybody up.  It's a little stressful.

I know it's temporary.  Most of it's sitting in the living room and lined up in the entryway because it's stuff that needs to go to the studio.  Very little of the stuff in that room needs to be rehomed elsewhere in the house.

It's still stressful.

So tonight, after an entirely-too-early start to the day, and dragging the toddler and my big, pregnant belly out in 100 degree heat, I came home and really needed to just do something that I *wanted* to do.  Recharge my batteries, if you will.

So I baked banana bread, with Bug's help.  I love making banana bread and this was the first time that Bug's been able to help.  It was a bit messy, but satisfying.  And, when Richard got home, the guys went for a walk - Bug on his very first bike ride!  So, I took the opportunity to sew.




They don't look like much right now, I know.  They're untrimmed and crazy looking.  But I think I love them.  And I think the finished project is going to work out really well.  And I think the person that I made them for will love them, too, which makes me happy.

Unfortunately, because she reads the blog from time to time and I'd like this to be a surprise, I don't dare explain any further.

But I think that my emotional batteries are feeling a bit more full, now. :)

Show and Tell: Swap Goodies and Quilt In Process

A few things to show off today.  Mostly because I did so much actual work on the computer today that my brain feels scrambled.  I had to pull out some stuff I could actually TOUCH. ;)

First, some goodies from the Sew, Mama, Sew! fat quarter swap.  I've received three of the four fat quarters and just can't stand not showing them off. :)



Aren't they pretty?  I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite.  Thank you, ladies!!

This is the fabric that I sent out.  I hope my swap partners liked it.



I'm thinking that, just maybe, I've got a bit of a thing for bird fabric right now...

And speaking of.  I got the last of the print fabric that I need for the bedroom quilt!

I got more of "Birds" in brown and and "Blowing Leaves" in neutral from BratPacks.  I was so happy with how quickly the last order came (and her good prices!) that I couldn't resist ordering from her again.  (These are, of course, from Studio E's "Nature.ology" collection.)



And then I picked up "Feather Swirl" in brown and "Nature Weave" in turquoise from Creative Quilt Kits.  I was really happy with their pricing, communication and prompt delivery.  I'll definitely keep the site bookmarked for future reference.



I have to admit that I expected the "Nature Weave" print to be much more blue than it actually is in real life.  Every photo that I saw online looked very, very blue.  And when I pulled it out of the envelope it was most definitely much more green.  But Richard says he likes it (I was trying to work more blue into the quilt because it's his favorite color), so I guess it's all good.  It IS a pretty fabric.

This afternoon, I pulled out ALL of the prints and got them cut into fat quarters.



They still need to be pressed (again) and sorted, but I feel like I accomplished something by getting them cut.

Next step: picking the solid colors for the quilt top.  I'm waffling.  I need four yards each of neutral and contrasting colors, and I'm having a hard time deciding which colors to choose.  Cream and pale blue as neutrals?  Maybe brown instead of blue?  Just cream as the neutral and call brown, blue (two shades?) and green the contrasting colors?

...Too many options for this afternoon.

I'll play with the fabric a little more.  Sort the prints into pair combinations that I like.  Stare at them a little while.  It'll come to me.

Oh!  Bonus photo!

Bug insisted on taking pictures when I was done.  He got a nice version on his standard self-portrait.

Bug's Adventures and a Sashiko-Inspred Sneak Peek

Having a two year old is awesome.  Bug is not-quite-27-months old and is SUCH a personality.  He talks pretty much constantly and has a wicked sense of humor.  It's amazing to see so much of his own personality showing through now that he's voicing his thoughts so very clearly.  (People stop us quite often to ask how old he is because he's been speaking in sentences for awhile now.  It didn't occur to me that that might me odd at his age.)

One of Bug's favorite things to do right now is drive.  Or ask to drive.  Every time we leave the house, he smiles his charming little smile and asks in a hopeeful tone "I want to drive?"  He's not deterred at all by the answer always being some version of "I don't think so".  He always restates the desire when we fet home again.  "I want to drive a little bit."  On our way back into the house, it's generally easier to accomodate the request.  He'll hop into the front seat (keyless, lest anyone thing we're terrible parents), readjust theseat settings, turn the radio and a/c knobs for a little while, flash the lights, open the trunk, and generally have a grand old time.

Today, I stepped away to toss ourbags into the house while he was 'driving'.  I didn't shut the door very well when I stepped back to the car and two of the cats got out.  They're big chickens so this wasn't really a big deal, but it did cut Bug's driving time.  He hopped out to help  me shoo the cats back inside.  Pie, our old man, had been eating grass so we stopped to pick some more grass to take inside for the cats.  Bug very nicely handed a little bit of grass to each cat, then exclaimed "I eating grass!"  And he was.  Ew.

Being the good helper that he is, Bug ran to grab the broom when he was done chowing down on his greens, to clean up the scattered grass bits that the cats had left behind.  I was downloading the camera.  Silly mommy.  The grass wasn't quite enough of a mess for the sweeping to continue a pleasing amount of time...so Bug dumped the cat food bowl and swept that up, too.  I like to think that if I hadn't been distracted the cat foodwould haves stayed in the bowl, but probably not.  And at least he swept it up, right?

Now, to completely change gears...let's talk about sashiko!

I've seen sashiko before and always thought that it was beautiful.  I wasn't terribly inspired to acutally give it a whirl myself until I saw this pillow over at The Purl Bee.  (They have several nice tutorials.  Search for 'sashiko' and take your pick!)  The non-traditonal color choices grabbed me immediately.  I did some reading on the history of sashiko, looked at a bunch of tutorials and a boat-load of pictures (check out Flickr's Sashiko pool for some great photos) before deciding to try it out myself.

Going completely against type, I opted to work on my hand stitching before taking on a huge project.  Once upon a time, I could do really beautiful hand stitching.  But that's a use-it-or-lose it skill, and I haven't done much with it since getting pregnant with Bug.  I pulled out some fabric that I'm not overly fond of, some emboridery thread, and got to work.

Here's a little peek of the peice that I've been working on.


Obviously, the stitching needs some work.  But I'm absolutely thrilled with how it's coming together so far.  And I find it really interesting that while this particular bit of fabric didn't really do anything for me before, I'm kind of falling in love with it now that it's embellished. I'm excited to keep working on it and looking forward to seeing how the project comes together.

Easter Goodies and a Sneak Peek

Happy Easter!

Bug's goodies:


An outfit for Boo and her basket fixed up for Richard:


And a sneak peek of a project that Bug and I have been working on for Boo. I hope to be able to finish it at nap time today.