tiny scissor times

New Internet Home

2014-10-02T22:14:00.001-05:00

Hey, I'm sorry to do this. But I've moved websites again!

laurahartrich.com will be my new home on the interwebs.

I will be blogging there, and there will also be photos of my work in galleries. Please follow me over there. I would appreciate it.

Thank you. xoxoxo
Laura

Eight Things I Have Learned on my Journey as a Creative Mom

2014-08-07T18:27:00.003-05:00

Hi, guys. My friend Bonnie asked me to write a guest post for her blog and this is what I wrote. I thought I would share it here too. It's long but good, I think. Enjoy. xoxo

Hello. My name is Laura and I have been friends with Bonnie since freshman year of high school. I am filling in today while she unpacks boxes in her lovely new house. I live in beautiful Oak Park, Illinois with my husband and our two boys, ages 11 and 8. I’ve been a stay at home mom for the past 11 years. That keeps me busy, of course, but I also spend a lot of time making things with my hands. Like, obsessively. I can’t stop.

Bonnie asked if I could share some of of my experiences as a mom who is also a creator of things — quilts, embroideries, collages, all manner of various projects. Sometimes when I am feeling extra confident I even refer to myself as an artist.

(She also asked me to include lots of pictures, so please excuse me if they seem unrelated to what I'm writing about.)

To give you a sense of where I’m coming from, I’m going to include an excerpt of a post I recently wrote on my blog Tiny Scissor Times.

“As I kid I loved to make stuff. I remember clearly the collage kit my parents bought for me, and how I treasured every feather, every pouch of glitter, every piece of alphabet pasta within. I remember making crafts at every birthday party (thanks, Mom), and trying my hand at clay sculptures both at school and at home. In high school, I made zines. The writing was part of my creative outlet, but the collages that covered the pages were always my favorite bit, the part I felt proudest of. When I went to college, creativity took a backseat to school. My grandma taught me to knit, but it didn't stick. I soon forgot how to do it, and my life was full with class and friends. Then, suddenly, I was a young mother. My focus was completely on getting through each day with my baby alive and preferably happy.

It wasn't until S was maybe 3 years old that I started to make things again. I started making little collages and putting them on cards. I was doing a little painting and decoupaging of various wooden objects. When we moved to Bloomington in 2006, I had more space to store supplies and more room to work. An oversized desk in the corner became my creative space, and I spent many happy hours there while my little ones napped. I started repainting and decoupaging child-sized chairs, and making magnets and assemblage pieces to sell in an Etsy shop. I taught myself to embroider around the same time.

A couple of years later we moved again and had even more space. I had a whole room (!!!) that was designated as my creative space. Oh, how I loved that room. And I began spending more and more time there. As the boys were getting older and more independent, better at entertaining themselves, entering kindergarten and pre-school, I spent every moment I could steal in that room. Working on more chairs, freezer paper stenciled shirts for the boys, ever more ambitious embroidery projects, and finally, teaching myself to quilt.”

Now you know a little about me. I am going to share with you the 8 things I have learned as a highly creative mother, and that I think you should know if you are a parent who is similarly inclined to create:

This is a special thing. A gift.
You probably realize not everyone has a drive to create like you do. You might get comments like, “you’re so crafty!” or “I don’t have a creative bone in my body.” While I believe that creativity can be cultivated in everyone, there is something different about people like us who seem to wake up itching to make something. For me, creating things has always been part of my life. I had to give it up for a few years during college and early motherhood, but it came back in a big way. Today it’s more important to me than ever before. Having the opportunity to stay home with the boys and let my creativity grow and bloom has made me feel confident that I have a gift. Actually, the internet is partially responsible for that as well, because posting pictures of my creations online has resulted in such positive feedback. Without that, I might have thought I was just playing around, just passing the time with silly crafts. But I received so many comments on things I posted — “Wow!” “That’s amazing!” “I could never do that!” — that I eventually started to believe what they were saying. Thanks to the kind words of friends and strangers online, I believe I have an eye for color and design. I believe I have the patience and dexterity to make things others cannot. I believe I have a gift, and I am grateful. Embrace the fact that this is a special thing about you. It will give you confidence to keep creating and trying new things.

There is a balance to be found.
Already in this post you have seen me use words like, “itching,” “obsessively,” and “drive.” It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’m almost always thinking about something I want to make, or planning the next step in my current project. Hanging in my home is a poster of Jude Landry’s “Makers Gonna Make” print because it describes exactly how I feel about my creative pursuits. I am a maker; making is what I do. It just MUST BE. It’s all a little compulsive, and it requires some effort to keep it in check.

If you are like me, you probably always have 10 projects in mind that you’d like to tackle, and at least four of them currently in progress. You wake up wanting to walk straight over to your sewing machine or canvas or workbench or whatever. You sit for hours at a time working at your craft, until your back and shoulders are yelling at you, urging you to take a break. You love what you are doing, but you push yourself too, because you want to see the project finished, or you’ve promised it to someone by a certain date, or you can’t wait to start that next masterpiece.

Here’s the thing. You want to keep loving your craft. You want to keep that passion. Avoiding burnout is a good idea. Plus you also have a life outside of creating that must be attended to from time to time. You know, kids, housework, those little things. Develop some strategies for keeping your creative habit thriving but under control.

I have a few strategies that I use to this end. One thing I do is use a timer. If I work on cleaning the kitchen for 15 minutes, I will reward myself with 30 minutes of sewing. Or if I have been sitting and sewing for two hours, I will force myself to get up and fold laundry for a while. A timer is your friend. It reminds you that you do have some other things to attend to, and helps you not to push yourself to an unhealthy degree.

Another thing I do is pick and choose my areas of focus. For instance, holidays are opportunities for creative people to go bananas. You can make decorations, plan crafts to do with your kids, plan a party so all your friends can see your gorgeous decorations, try new recipes, etcetera. The problem is, there are too many holidays in the year to give equal attention to them all. For myself, I have decided that Halloween and Christmas are my favorites. I put most of my efforts into those two. And any other holiday that rolls around, I’m able to enjoy them and keep on keepin’ on, instead of breathing into a paper bag over how I don’t have time to make all the things. I’ve also decided that even though I like Halloween, I don’t make costumes. People might expect me to because I’m “so darn crafty.” But I don’t. And that’s okay. I have let myself off the hook with that one. Store bought costumes are okay. So are store bought Valentines. I guess what I’m trying to say is I can’t do it all and neither can you. Find a way to seek balance. Don’t lose your passion due to burn out, and don’t expect yourself to jump at every opportunity to be creative. Train yourself to take breaks and prioritize where you are going to focus your creative energies.

Housework really can wait. But your kids can’t.
There are many times when I am sewing even though the laundry hamper is overflowing. Or the kitchen is a mess. Or there are collections of cat hair rolling around my house like tumbleweeds. While I try to keep my urge to make in harmony with my responsibilities as a mother and wife, there are times when the balance skews toward MAKE. Make wins. But it’s okay. Because it’s only temporary. And I find that housework can be done in a surprisingly short amount of time. Things can get back under control quickly if they have to. Thankfully I have a husband who doesn’t mind the mess. He can come home to an apartment that looks like a tornado just swept through and find me hunched over my sewing machine, headphones in, and doesn’t bat an eye. I am lucky that way, perhaps. But I never regret time I spend creating over time I spend cleaning. The cleaning will get done when it has to, and it won’t take that long to get things back to normal.

I do, however, sometimes regret my behavior toward my kids while I am in the midst of a creative frenzy. My boys are growing up so fast. I seriously cannot believe that I’m going to have a middle schooler next year. Every year, every month, every day makes me realize how quickly this time is passing, and how soon they will be leaving home. And I don’t want to miss any time with them because I’m too obsessed with my own projects. I don’t have any tips for you in this regard. I’m working on it myself. The goal is to be mindful. To stop and talk if they want to talk. To not shoo anyone away because I’m working. To sit on the couch saying nothing, just being together in the quiet of the morning, resisting the urge to get up and use these 5 minutes to sew a seam. To realize this project CAN WAIT. But this conversation with my boy might not ever happen if I don’t put down the scissors and listen. If you can find a way to occasionally share your passion to create with your kids, all the better. In the photo above, my boys and I were learning how to dye eggs with silk ties.

It’s okay to say no. Actually, it’s essential.
You are going to get a reputation as a crafty or creative person. You are going to get requests. Some people will offer to pay you, others will expect you to work for free. People might assume you want to be on the PTO committee for the school carnival because you like to make decorations for your kids’ birthday parties, so you seem an obvious choice to help with that event. It’s not a bad thing that these people see your talent and appreciate it. It’s flattering, it’s wonderful. In my case, such people are why I feel so sure I have a gift now. They convinced me. I am grateful and humbled that people want to pick my brain for ideas or use my talents for their charitable projects. Sometimes I can help out and I do. Other times I have to say no. Many times, in fact. And I don’t feel guilty. Creative people make things. That’s what we do. And we need time to do it. We won’t have that time if we are always agreeing to design a logo for someone’s fledgling business or organize the class party. For a more eloquent explanation of why you must learn to say no, read this. Practice saying No. It gets easier, I promise.

Theme birthday parties will consume you.
Just over a week ago I threw a cat-themed party for my son. It was the most fun I’ve had in a while, and when it was over I needed a vacation. Or at least a long nap. Birthday parties are similar to holidays for creative parents, in that we can get carried away with all the possibilities. Especially if your kid is currently into something you really like. For me, a request for a Pokemon party wasn’t inspiring, and I managed to avoid that one. I think I convinced him laser tag would be better. The parties that made me lose my mind because of potential awesomeness: dinosaurs (pre-blog days), Harry Potter, Calvin and Hobbes, Dr Who, and cats. My advice on the party planning front: try to alternate years. One epic theme party, one easy store-bought or bowling alley party, repeat. If it is time for a theme party, be prepared to lose a week or two of your life to manic party prep. Also when you get up on the morning of the party and you still have 20 things on your to-do list and two hours before 12 children descend onto the premises, just smile, and know that your kid will have fun even if the streamers aren’t perfect or the cake is totally lopsided. Make sure you are having fun with it too.

Making the same thing over and over is not necessarily the best idea.
When you make beautiful or cute things, people will say, “You should sell that! You could have your own business!” This might sound like a great plan — a way to do what you love and make some money and maybe even a career. And don’t get me wrong — for some people it is. I always admire those makers who are able to forge a career out of their talent. Just be aware that much of your making time will morph into business, inventory, networking, and hustling time. For me this sacrifice was too dear. I opened an etsy shop to sell cute stenciled onesies (or, ahem, bodysuits, pardon me, Gerber corporation) a few years ago. It started off as something fun and mildly creative. I got a kick out of thinking of different funny slogans for babies, and as my products started to sell, it was definitely exciting. I ended up having a best selling item. People wanted that and nothing else. It seemed silly to keep thinking of new sayings that would then sit in my shop, not selling, so that portion of the fun was basically over. Then I had to deal with the heartbreaking phenomenon of copycats, which I think is probably inevitable for any popular product on the internet. The main issue was that the shop was keeping me too busy to work on any other creative endeavors. I was making the same product, by hand, over and over. It was no longer a creative project. It was a tedious task. I felt like I had become a one-woman factory, and the charm was wearing off fast. After trying a few different ways to make my process more efficient, less soul-sucking, I decided to sell off my remaining stock and close up shop. It’s not that I don’t think people should ever try for a handmade based business. However, I do think you should go into it with your eyes open. Be prepared to have less time to actually create, and less freedom to create exactly what you want to. For some, it might be totally worth the trade off. For me, giving it up feels amazing. Now please go buy the rest of my adorable onesies so I can be done for real.

People might love your work but not appreciate its value. That’s why you need to.
That being said, if you do decide to sell your unique, handmade items, don’t sell yourself short. Give yourself a fair hourly wage, and don’t forget your material costs.
People might love your work but balk at your prices. But that doesn’t mean you’re wrong. As a quilter, this post by Molli Sparkles resonated with me. Need more convincing? Here are a few more articles, about quilting and also other art forms. I really believe that people should not sell their handmade goods at basement bargain prices. It misrepresents the time and talent involved. If you can find the right audience, I believe they will pay you what your work is worth. If that is proving hard (and I think it is for most of us), don’t fret, and don’t compromise. Think instead about selling your ideas. You could draft patterns or tutorials and sell access to the pdf’s; you could work on a book. Neither path is easy. Find what works for you, whether you want to sell your physical work or your brilliant ideas. (Of course, you might be perfectly happy creating for yourself, with no hopes of making money. There is nothing wrong with being a hobbyist or a passionate artist who happens never to sell any of her work). This is a complicated issue, with too many tendrils of thought and argument to sum up here. Just remember not everyone can do what you do. Don’t undervalue your unique work. And remember that if you get money involved you’re going to have to be intentional and diligent to keep loving your craft. I like this song by Sam Smith. You might want to sing it while you make whatever you make.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do, in this regard. I'm thinking about getting a job now that my kids are getting older, but I don't have a career to return to. I might try to make a go of it in the world of creative entrepreneurialism. But it's scary because there is no set path. I'd be making it up as I went along. The only thing I know for sure is that I won't be selling my wares for less than they are actually worth. If that means I'm not selling my wares at all, so be it.

You might find yourself using the phrase, “never again.” After a while people will start to laugh at you when you say it.
I recently finished an embroidery, a birthday gift for my 8 year old.
As I shared pictures on instagram, people would compliment me, and I would say, “Thanks, I’m happy with how it’s turning out but I’m NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN.” It was by far the most dense, most detailed embroidery piece I have ever done, and at the time it felt intense and crazy, especially since I was working under a deadline, trying to have it done in time for his birthday. When Bonnie emailed me and asked me to write this guest post, she reminded me that I said the same thing about this wedding gift I finished for her in 2007, my second ever embroidery. I didn’t recall saying that to her at all.

I know that my husband will insist that I say "Never again," after every big birthday party I throw, but I am skeptical. I guess it’s like childbirth. Give it enough time, and you’re rarin’ to go again.

Even though this is the Moby Dick of blog posts, I feel like I've just scratched the surface of what it means to be a creative woman and mother, finding her way in the world. There is a lot to consider, a lot to try, and a lot to enjoy. Thank you for coming with me as I share what I have learned so far.

If you want to check in on my adventures in motherhood and creativity, you can follow my blog. Or follow me on instagram, where I share lots of pictures of current projects, my kids, and my cats.

T's Cat Party

2014-06-30T14:58:00.000-05:00

My little guy turned 8 last week. We were kicking around ideas for a party theme. We were considering a cat theme along with a couple others. Then I was scrolling through Pinterest for cat party ideas. T got one look at this litter box cake and his mind was made up. Cat party it was.

The invitations were a free download generously offered by Heidi of My Paper Crane. They were so impossibly cute. Thank you, Heidi!

Decorations were a combination of store-bought basics with added homemade touches, and a few etsy purchases. The colorful kitty head garland was a pdf from GirliePains. The black cat heads and triangle garland was from BluefinWorks.

I made headbands with cat ears, and cut up feather boas from the craft store for tails. Some guests chose to wear cat accessories and others declined. Okay by me.

The first game was Eat Like a Kitty. Pet food bowls filled with dry cereal were put out in a circle. Guests had to eat it like a cat, no hands!

After that we went outside to the park to have a mouse hunt. Nate had gone out a few minutes earlier to scatter the "mice." They were ping pong balls with mouse faces drawn on. Guys, did you know it's pretty difficult to draw on a small round surface? The mice faces were not great looking but they got the job done. The kids spent a few minutes running around the park looking for mice. Then they delivered them back to me, as a cat would deliver a prized catch to his owner. I didn't get many pictures of this game in progress. I was watching the kids, and visiting with a friend in the park.

Back inside for cake. We served litter box cake, which had brownie/cookie bars on the bottom, vanilla sandwich cookie crumbs, and tootsie rolls. A touch of food coloring makes it look pretty darn realistic. What can I say about this cake? It's such a disgusting idea. I'm glad I'm not the person who originally thought of it. But for an eight year old boy (mine, at least), the gross-out factor of this cake was absolutely the most important feature of the party. So I had to make it. I also served cupcakes for those who couldn't stomach the litter box cake. And there were a few kids who couldn't. Sorry, kiddos! We also had popcorn, pretzels, and M&M's.

Our cat Sirius can jump really high when he's trying to get his favorite feather toy. A few different times during the party we showed off his moves. Free entertainment at its finest.

After cake we played Pin the Whiskers on the Cat with an adorable, if I do say so myself, cat head I whipped up the night before the party. Black pipecleaners for the whiskers. That was our last game.

Afterwards we let T open gifts and watched a bunch of cat videos on YouTube until parents came.

Goody bags featured some internet cat faces, and had Trader Joes cat cookies, kit kats, two Japanese cat charms, and stickers.

This party felt like a lot of work because of all the homemade decorations and activities. But at its core it was a very simple, sweet party. I love how much T loves cats, and I'm happy he wanted to do a cat party.

Modern In the City Challenge Quilt

2014-05-13T09:36:00.000-05:00

All during March I was frantically hand-quilting a twin size quilt that I can't show you yet, because it is associated with a book that is not yet published. If you think frantically and hand-sewing are mutually exclusive, you are right. Or at least they should be. I forced them to go together and it was stressful.
Anyway, after I finished that beast of a project, I had about three days to meet a deadline for a challenge sponsored by my guild. The theme was Modern in the City, which we were free to interpret any way we wanted. The quilt had to be 36" on one side and 36" or less on the other. Most excitingly, select quilts submitted for this challenge would be displayed at the International Quilt Festival in June! All the quilts from our guild ended up being selected for the show. So I'm going to have my first quilt hanging in a quilt show! Very exciting.

I had a few ideas for this challenge, but went with the one that was simplest because I only had a couple of days to work on it. I used this photo of my kids as inspiration.
Here is my artist's statement:
"One beautiful summer day in 2011, I was in Chicago with my family. We watched some friends play softball and then we walked to a restaurant for lunch. Somewhere in between, I don't know exactly where, we passed a colorful brick wall. I made my two boys pose for pictures in front of it. I loved the colors, individually and as a group, and I loved how randomly they seemed to be placed. I still have those pictures and I adore them. When I heard the theme, "Modern in the City," these colorful bricks immediately came to mind. They are emblematic of the fact that, for modern quilters, inspiration abounds in a city. There are patterns, shapes, and interesting lines at every turn. A day spent in the city with a keen eye and a camera could yield dozens of quilt ideas. I chose this brick wall as mine because the colors are bold and fun, and because it reminds me of such a happy day with my family.
For my quilting design, I chose a modern Chicago symbol, Cloud Gate sculpture, which is lovingly referred to as The Bean. I love the way the Bean draws people from all over the city and even the world. Its simple, smooth shape made for a pleasing concentric quilting design. I also like the way the curved lines contrast with the straight lines of the piecing."
Even though this little quilt was easy to whip up, I love how it turned out. I think it's very striking. I love the bean quilting! Probably my favorite quilting I have done so far. I hand-sewed a little skyline in the middle of the bean, too, which is a sweet little detail. I can't wait to go to the International Quilt Festival with my guild friends and see our quilts displayed.

spring is here!

2014-05-12T21:17:00.000-05:00

Another season means another mini quilt for my hallway.

After the winter we had in the midwest, every one was more than ready to see spring arrive. Honestly, this spring has been a little lackluster, with it's cool temperatures and cloudy days (not to mention a little snow). But, hey, we've had a couple days where I felt the sun warm on my face. I'll take it.
This mini was another improv creation. I used a method detailed in this craftsy class taught by Jacquie Gehring. She calls it slice and insert piecing. I pieced strips of color into these six panels, three grey and three green in graduating tones. I increased the number of inserts as the panels moved up; I wanted it to look like spring exploding up from the dark grey and gloom of winter.
My boys keep pointing out to me that it doesn't make sense to have the green at the top. They think I was trying to make flowers or grass, I think. In fact I was going for something a little more symbolic of spring, not quite a literal spring scene. :)

Once the six panels were pieced and sewn together, I decided I wanted to applique more pops of color over the top. I did this for two reasons. First, I wanted to place some colored strips over the seams where the grey and green panels met. I thought it would make the image more cohesive to have color bursting all over, not just confined to the six strips. I hope that makes sense. It's hard to articulate that idea! Second, I just wanted MORE. More color, more craziness, more exuberance, especially at the top of the piece. I had pieced just about as much as I could piece without disastrous wonkiness happening. At a certain point it was easier to add on top than to piece within an already heavily pieced panel.

Once again, I'm happy with this mini! I think it screams SPRING even though it's not actual flowers or grass. It's just color and life and spring all over. It's like a confetti popper of spring, and I love it.

Winter mini quilt

2014-02-25T06:14:00.001-06:00

I'm working on a series of mini quilts, to hang in our entryway, that I will change with the seasons. The first one I made was for Christmas.

In early January I made a mini quilt that represented Winter.

I was working, again, with Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking II. I settled on what she calls "the exquisite block". Basically a square or rectangle base, with triangles pieced onto the diagonal points. When the blocks are joined together, you end up with a series of little bowties or butterflies, or however you want to see it.

My goal for this piece was to portray the starkness of winter by using lots of white and pale, cool blues and greys. I also wanted to express the warmth that we cling to during these long months, the warmth we find within ourselves, in the company of family and friends, or quite literally the warmth of our physical homes. I added the golden yellow blocks and some yellow triangles emanating out from it to represent the warmth and light that keeps us hanging on until spring.

I quilted it with a series of zigzag lines, emanating out from the bottom right corner, to emphasize the placement of the yellow blocks.

I think it all works. I'm happy with it! My only complaint is that it doesn't quite lay flat against the wall, no doubt because of some technical error on my part. Oh well.

A couple of weeks ago I got to present this during Show and Tell at my guild meeting, and Gwen Marston was in attendance, as she presented a lecture and trunk show for us that day. It was really an honor to show her my work, and I was able to chat with her after the meeting. The afternoon as a whole was probably the greatest highlight of my quilting life so far.

it all started with a tiny wall hanging...

2014-01-12T23:35:00.000-06:00

I've been feeling like our apartment entrance is a little bare. I hang a wreath on the door that I change for each season (all my super cute wreaths come from this etsy shop), but that's it. A little boring, especially when our neighbor across the hall always has a festive seasonal display of wreath, flowers above the door, and flowers on a pedestal! I decided to make a mini quilt to hang on the wall by the door, and I plan to make one for each season, so I can change them along with the wreaths.

First up, Christmas. I had just received my copy of Liberated Quiltmaking II by Gwen Marston. I love this book. I love Gwen Marston and everything about her aesthetic and philosophy. This book has been so inspiring. I decided to try my hand at her method for making wonky stars.

My first star and the book that inspired me so much.

I made a lot of stars. I didn't have a pattern or plan or a certain number in mind, so I just kept making stars. They were a lot of fun. Because I was making a Christmas wall hanging, I used a variety of greens and reds for my stars, with various grey fabrics as background.

Once I was done making stars, I started making log cabin blocks in low volume fabrics. I put together a composition that I liked and pieced together my little wall hanging. I quilted it in straight(ish) lines. I was really happy with how it turned out.

Christmas wall hanging, before it was quilted.

here is the wall hanging that started it all, hanging in its place of honor in the hallway.

When it was done, I had a lot of stars left over. Those stars turned into a small quilt for my mom, and a large quilt that our family is keeping. I didn't have a particular size in mind for these. I just kept adding until I felt the compositions were complete. The quilt for my mom ended up at 84x66. I would call it a nap size. The quilt for us is 93x97. It fits nicely on our queen size bed.

My design strategy for the bigger quilts was basically the same as for the mini quilt. Festive red and green stars interspersed with low-volume log-cabin squares, plus a few big swatches of solids or prints. I added random strips here and there to fill in spaces. It was a very unplanned and organic process. I hung a piece of batting as a temporary design wall so that I could step back and look at how things were coming together.

laying out the design for my mom's quilt, step one.

adding more stars and solids, step two of layout.

another progress shot... more spaces filled, more seams joined.

I sent the two larger pieces to my trusty long-arm quilter, Sarah Russett in New York state. She did a fabulous job as usual. I got them back from her just in time to bind them and wrap my mom's up for Christmas!

christmas stars quilt for my mom

back of mom's quilt

giant christmas stars quilt for us to keep!

back of our quilt.

These projects were my first attempts at improvisation. For my first time not using a pattern, I was really pleased with and proud of how they turned out. I think I could have done a better job of choosing fabric for some of the stars. The values were too close on some, and the stars didn't pop out like they should have. Aside from that, I really love all these quilts, from the mini to the queen size. They are festive, funky, fun, and fabulous. I really love improvising. I may never use another pattern again.

story quilts for Christmas

2014-01-12T21:23:00.000-06:00

This year I gave story quilts to my nieces and nephews for Christmas. I gifted one per family, not one for each individual child (I currently have 8 nieces and nephews, and one on the way!). I love giving these story quilts as gifts for kids, because of the way they can engage a child's imagination. But I have to say I have made so many of these in the past few years, that I don't want to make another for a very long time! I saved enough of the fussy-cut novelty print squares that I can make a few more down the road, perhaps for grandchildren.

The pattern for this quilt is found in Modern Quilt Workshop by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. It's called Once Upon a Time.

Nate helped me take these pictures in the park on a beautiful snowy day. It was fun. :)

I tried to think of each family's home and style when I was choosing background fabrics. The solids I used on the front are all shot cottons which were gorgeous and soft to work with.

It was fun to watch them get unwrapped at Christmas. I'm happy to have these done and to be moving on to other projects.

This gold and purple version was for my sister's family.

And here is the back.

Grey and lime green for my sister and brother in law.

Here is their back.

Blue and cream for my brother's family.

And the back.

organizing my days, and a mini quilt

2013-10-29T15:25:00.000-05:00

So this year (school year, as any mother of school-age kids measures her years), I have a lot I want to get done. I want to wrap up the onesie business completely, and I still have a couple of hundred onesies to print and list in my shop. It's a big job, and I've been chipping away at it. But I also have other things I want to do and need to do. Quilting projects, seasonal projects, etc. I first thought I would alternate days, onesies then other things. But I've decided it makes more sense to alternate each week. It cuts down on time I have to spend cleaning up and switching between each type of work.

Last week I worked diligently on finishing a mini quilt, putting together a napping size quilt and back, and making my halloween costume. It was a lot. I worked hard all week.

This week I need to get back to the business of onesies. It's also Halloween so I will be at the boys' school helping with festivities. This school year is going so dang fast, I can't believe it.

I had 3 quilts that I wanted to finish before Christmas, which was a huge goal, and I'm nearly done. The tops and backs are all done. I will send them to Sarah Russett, my long-arm quilter, and when she is done doing her excellent work, I will add the bindings and be done. Yay. Christmas gifts I'm excited to give, and a giant item checked off my to-do list. I'll post pictures of them after they have been given away.

The mini quilt I finished this week is a project inspired by this print by Hannes Beers. Last year the librarian at the boys' school mentioned that she was looking for things to hang on the library walls. I immediately remembered that print and thought it would be perfect for the library. I added to it a bit, and changed some elements. I made a stencil on my Silhouette and then painted it on white fabric. I did the quilting by hand. It was my first foray into hand quilting, and while I have no idea whether I did it "right," I enjoyed the process and I like the final look of the piece. I want to block it so it's a little more square, then add the hanging sleeve and it will be ready to give away. It was super satisfying to do a small quilt project intended to hang on the wall. I definitely will be doing more mini quilts in the future.

t's seventh birthday and doctor who party

2013-06-22T11:27:00.000-05:00

My little guy turned seven today. He wanted a Doctor Who themed party. I sort of procrastinated on the planning of this party and had to pull it together in the last couple of days. I basically pulled an all-nighter on Thursday in order to get things ready for the party today. Luckily the boys were in an all-day camp this week, and while I didn't use my time very well earlier in the week, you better believe I worked my butt off every single minute they were gone today. Decorating, mostly. Finishing up game prep, too. I was really grateful that the boys were occupied and that Nate was able to take a half-day off work and help out too. T and S gave the party top marks, so all the work was worth it. Here is what we did for our Doctor Who party!

Invitations. Here are the invitations we sent out. I bought a pdf from this etsy shop and it was really easy to print them up, add our info on the inside, and mail them out.

Party day!

First of all, the outfit. I found the shirt and jacket at Goodwill. The Fez and Bowtie came as a set from Amazon. I thought we would just use them to take a few photos and then he would change into a t-shirt, but he decided to keep them on. I was pleased as punch that he liked the costume and wanted to wear it for the whole party. I know he had to be hot in those layers plus a hat (!), but he was a very dedicated Doctor. The backdrop here is a beach towel, also from Amazon.

Decorations. I went overboard with decorations, perhaps because I felt my party activities were pretty basic and traditional. I wanted the wow-factor of an over-decorated party room and I think I achieved it. When the boys walked in from camp they definitely gave a WOW reaction. T said, adorably, "Are we in space?!" I bought balloons, dangling stars, and dangling planets from Oriental Trading, Amazon, and Walmart. The best bit of the decor, in my opinion, was the set of T.A.R.D.I.S. lights from ThinkGeek. I wrapped the wiry star garland around the strand to try to make it look like the time machine was spinning through the time vortex. How dorky is that? But I have to say I thought it looked awesome. It was one of my favorite things of the whole party.

Games! As guests arrived, the boys instructed them in how to play our first game. I had pictures of some Doctor Who aliens posted on the walls, with envelopes underneath. The kids had strips of paper with alien names on them, and they had to try to match the alien name with the picture. When everyone was done, T emptied the envelopes and read the slips of paper, and then told the kids what the alien was actually called.

Next we had everyone sit down and gave a very brief description of Doctor Who for those who had never seen it. I had T help me explain the basic gist of the show (really too bad that we didn't get that on video, as it was adorable). Then we showed the kids a short video to further illustrate what the theme of this party was all about.

Our next game was Pin the Bowtie on the Doctor. Pretty self-explanatory.

Cake time. The cake came from a local bakery. We found a picture of a cake we liked on Pinterest and took it in for them to see. Our cake looked pretty much identical to the one we saw online, except that one said the kid's name and age, and ours said, "EXTERMINATE!" I let T decide which he would rather have on his cake and for him the choice was clear.

After our snacks and cake, T opened gifts. He scored a lot of cool Doctor Who stuff. And a lot of cool stuff in general.

Outside! Thirteen kids in our apartment feels pretty crazy, so I was glad when it was time to go outside. I was also glad that the downpour from earlier in the day had stopped. The grass was really wet but otherwise the park was perfect. The rain had cleared it out for us, I think, so the field was empty and ready for our gaggle of guests to run around while Nate tied up the pinata.

The gorgeous T.A.R.D.I.S. pinata was purchased from this etsy shop. It was so sturdy I was worried the kids wouldn't be able to bust it, but it wasn't a problem. I think the kids enjoyed the pinata but I have a hard time with the whole diving-for-candy issue..... some kids got a ton and some didn't get much at all. There was some grabbing, which resulted in some tears, and I felt bad. I asked the kids who got a lot to share with the kids who didn't get as much, and most of them did, and then I felt a little better. But it always stinks to see a kid crying because of a game you planned.

After the pinata broke and everyone enjoyed a piece of candy, the kids played in the field until the parents came. The boys and I had discussed a game of Weeping Angel freeze tag, and then it evolved into a form of a game they play at recess called Infection. I have no idea how it works, and I didn't organize the last game at all. I let the kids work it out amongst themselves and it seemed to go well.

Goody bags. I had blue bags and I printed a picture of the T.A.R.D.I.S. for the front of each. Cut them out and stuck them on with glue stick. I went through a lot of printer ink for this party! The favors in the bags were not overly exciting. Alien erasers, alien shooter toys, a glow stick (they were supposed to light up blue, not sure if they worked), and a planet stamp. All the favors were from Oriental Trading. Guests also took home the candy from the pinata.

That was our party! I loved doing it, wish I had paced myself on the planning a little bit instead of working like a beast at the last minute, and consider it a big success. There is a lot you can do with this theme, of course. But I chose to keep it pretty simple. I figured that any references to the show that weren't completely overt would be missed by the guests anyway, so why bother to bring out the deep cuts? (This is exactly why I didn't bother doing any themed food, other than the cake motif). I know that T and S had a great time so I am a happy party planner. Now maybe we can just do bowling alley parties from now on? These theme parties are exhausting. :)

Sylvia's Quilt

2013-04-25T00:07:00.002-05:00

I finished another baby quilt. This one went to our new niece Sylvia. I used the fat quarter pattern from Two Little Banshees again. It is such a quick and easy pattern, and it's nice to be able to shop for fabric in bundles instead of individually (especially since I don't have a car at my disposal to go fabric-store hopping these days). Plus I like that Sylvia's quilt used the same pattern as her brother Owen's. So they have a little set of matching quilts, albeit with very different fabrics.

I bought the fat quarter bundle from Hawthorne Threads. They have a lot of really pretty bundles to choose from. I loved picking such a girly bunch of fabrics for this little lady. My sister in law Jessica does not shy away from the girly colors. She loves pink and Sylvia has a gorgeous pink nursery. I think these bright feminine prints will fit in nicely.

I was frustrated yet again when it came to the quilting of this quilt. I was pleased with the top (for which I used the pattern), and I was pleased with the back (which I pieced together randomly from scraps), and I felt like I ruined them once began quilting. I had a lot of puckers again. I think it might have been due to my deficient basting process. Or the fact that I took off my walking foot and used the regular foot to do my quilting. Whatever the cause, it didn't work out well, and my quilting was less than stellar. Again. I'll keep trying, though. The good thing was that after I washed and dried it, the puckers and mistakes were much less evident.

I added a few hand-stitched details on this quilt, which I like to do when I have time. I hope Miss Sylvia will get some good snuggles and naps out of this quilt! I enjoyed making it for her and holding her for a few hours when I met her last weekend. Not many things in this world sweeter than a brand new baby.

this year's ornaments

2013-01-15T11:28:00.000-06:00

Christmas crafting! We tried three different things this year, with varying results.

I wanted to make these snowglobes. I found pictures of the boys in the snow and laminated them. I was so excited to put these together but they were duds. My problem was that I did not leave enough space around the inner edge of the lid, and the jars would not close. On one of the three, I could get the lid on, but it wouldn't seal, and so it leaked. I think I used the wrong kind of glue, for starters, and I may have been trying to cram too much stuff into each snowglobe. I was focused mainly on the look and how cute they would be with sprigs of this and that.... I should have been primarily concerned with whether the darn things would close. So, these potentially adorable snowglobes were a bust for us. Maybe we will try again next year.

Incidentally, one of the other moms in S's class wanted to to do snowglobes as the craft for the whole class during the winter party. So I was able to experience all the same technical difficulties, times twenty. I felt so bad as each kid walked away from the sink, which was my station, with either a leaky snowglobe or with one that wouldn't close at all. That was quite an afternoon.

These next ornaments we tried were these little wintery scenes. I think these turned out okay, even though some of our trees and deer dried at a crooked angle. The tricky part of these was not getting glue all over the stuffing that we used for the snow. And also keeping the stuffing inside the cup as you put it over the top of the scene. So these took a bit of dexterity and patience. Because of that they weren't very kid-friendly. I had to do most of the work myself, which isn't the idea. But they made cute gifts for teachers and grandparents. I love the one we kept for our tree.

Lastly, we made these sparkly snowflakes. These were super easy for the boys, but it took a surprisingly long time to do 5 beads per pipecleaner. Turning on some tv as a distraction helped us get through it. We made most according to the directions, but I also tried one version where I kept the pipecleaners longer and then I curled them to make a more flowery look.

Next year I'm going to try to limit myself to one or two ornaments, and I'll try to pick ones that will be a little easier for the boys. The whole point is to do these WITH them, not for me to slave away after they've gone to bed.

One more thing I did this year. I used our box advent calendar again, but this year I put magnets on the backs of the boxes. In the past I had hung them on a door or wall using poster putty. But it never worked very well. We would often have boxes falling down and their contents spilling out. The magnets worked much better. I put them all on a cookie sheet from IKEA. Voila. No more falling boxes.

Just for fun, a few pictures of our decorations this year. I love the mantle in our apartment.

finally did something with the beautiful leaves we made 4 years ago

2012-11-09T13:36:00.001-06:00

I wrote a post about this garland I made over on my tumblr. Are you guys following me there too? Because I plan to start posting more over there, mostly the things that I make. Click over, friends!

xoxo

How to make Harry Potter robes out of plastic tablecloths.

2012-11-08T14:12:00.000-06:00

Well, I meant to write this post about 8 months ago, right after I threw my son a Harry Potter party in March. Life got in the way, but I've had a few requests for a how-to on the robes I made for the kids out of black plastic. So here it is! Better late than never?

My main goal for these robes was that they be cheap and quick. I had a lot of other details I was working on for the party (You can see the full write-up of the party here.) Spending lots of time or money on robes for wild boys who would probably just destroy them anyway was not appealing. These robes are great because they require no sewing. The only supplies necessary are black plastic and packing tape.

So I bought several table cloths from Oriental Trading for $1.25 each. I needed robes for 11 boys. The table covers were 54" x 9 feet. I was able to get several robes out of each table cloth, but I'm sorry that I can't remember how many. I should have written that down, huh? Probably if I was better at math I could figure it out. Maybe my husband can help me calculate it when he gets home. :)

I held the plastic up to my kid before I cut it down to size. I tried to make it extra loose for him, because he's such a skinny guy and I knew some of his guests would be a little bigger. So I'll tell you the measurements I used, but these are approximate, and you might need to adjust them to the size of your child. I was making them for 9 & 10 year olds. If your kids/guests are older or younger, you'll need to adjust for that so they're not tripping over their robes all day, or busting at the "seams".

I cut my plastic table covers down to approximately 40"x46". Use your kids as models and cut your plastic down to the size you think will work. It's cheap enough that you can try a couple of times until you get it right!

Fold down the top about 8 inches. Place a piece of packing tape at the far edges of the fold, to hold the fold in place. This will make the opening of your robe's sleeves.

Next push the middle of the folded down plastic up toward the top. Use something to hold it in place. I used a little bowl of Lemonheads, my power-fuel while preparing this party. :)

While the folded down plastic is being pushed upward, it should create angles that can be taped down in order to create sleeves. Flatten out the edge of the plastic and tape it down. Don't tape all the way up to the top. You have to leave room for arms to get in! Tape at an upward angle for about 6 inches. Play around and see what works for you and your child.

That's it! That's all you have to do. The robes move great, they're easy for the kids to get on and off by themselves, and they look fantastic (from far enough away). :)

Easy, cheap, quick, and totally fun on party day.

new traditions --- pumpkin party with friends

2012-11-07T20:52:00.000-06:00

One of the hardest parts about moving is that we can't continue all our holiday traditions in the same ways. Since we aren't as close to family, some of the things we used to do with them will now be done on our own. Sad but true. It used to be that the boys would pick out pumpkins at a local farm, and then Grandma Debbie would carve pumpkins "with" them. I put the quotations on "with" because she would really carve the pumpkins for them. She would let them pick out any template from the book and then proceed to carve it expertly no matter how difficult the design. That was our tradition and the boys loved it. I did too, honestly, because I didn't have to do much!

So this year I knew we would be carving pumpkins by ourselves. I felt overwhelmed by the thought of finding time to do it.... I was afraid I would drop the ball or put it off until it was too late. I decided to set it up as a social event so that I couldn't back out or somehow not manage to find the time. I think it was a good strategy. Throwing a pumpkin carving party is easy. Just ask people to bring their own pumpkins, provide a little food, get your table ready to hold pounds of slimy goop, and you're golden.

We didn't go to a farm for our pumpkins. We went to the Dominics parking lot. And that was okay. Also the boys didn't get to pick fancy templates for someone to carve for them. I told them they had to draw their own faces and keep them simple. Okay, truth be told, they didn't exactly stick to those stipulations. Nate found instructions for a Poke ball that he put on S's pumpkin. And before I realized what was happening, T had drawn 4 small, detailed faces on his pumpkin, one on each side. Ideally he would have drawn a big, simple face on one side of his pumpkin. But, hey. Nate was willing to carve them all out, so it was okay.

We didn't have a huge turnout for our pumpkin party. But what a great way to spend an afternoon with friends. We had fun chatting, catching up, getting messy, and eating soup. I regret that I didn't take a picture of our guests' pumpkins. I'll try to remember next year. I think we found a new tradition.

p.s. S is conspicuously absent in these photos because he was my photographer for much of the day. Nate was carving his pumpkin for him, and Si's boredom was manifesting itself in obnoxious behaviors. But I let him have the good camera to take pictures and he magically transformed into a happy helper. He took most of the pictures for his post and I think he did a great job.

gifts for girls

2012-10-30T10:35:00.000-05:00

I always enjoy making gifts for my nieces, or other little girls I know. It's fun to use the girly colors or motifs that I have to skip when I'm making things for my boys. Here are a few things I made for my twin nieces, who recently turned 7!

They requested shirts with butterflies, because they had grown out of shirts I had made them previously. Of course I was flattered that they wanted a repeat, so I couldn't deny that request.

I wanted to make them another shirt each, and for reasons unknown I was inspired to do these all-over prints. I just went with what I knew were their favorite things at the moment (horses and dolphins, respectively) and set them on repeat. I used my silhouette cameo and freezer paper to make all of these stencils.

Horses for Naomi.

Dolphins (and other oceanic goodies) for Grace.

From making Naomi's shirt, I had lots of little freezer paper horses left over that I couldn't bear to throw away. I decided to try a reverse stencil with them, using a bleaching stencil method. There are tons of tutorials online for doing this; I used Ashley's.

So I ironed the horses onto these loop jersey scarves. Then I used a spray bottle and a sponge to apply the bleach.

The scarves came out a little crazy. I may have used too much bleach. The silhouette of the horses were not as prominent as I hoped they would be. A lot of the legs and manes got lost to the bleach.

I thought they ended up looking like ancient cave paintings. Which is actually kind of cool. But I wasn't sure they were really in keeping with a 7 year old girl's aesthetic. I didn't know if they would even be able to tell they were horses, especially when they were bunched up around their necks. So I decided to keep them for myself.

And I am wearing them quite a bit. :)

I would like to try bleach stenciling again. Maybe my nieces will get some scarves for Christmas.

a calvin and hobbes birthday party

2012-06-24T17:38:00.000-05:00

My little guy turned 6 recently. Six! I can't believe it. We decided on a Calvin and Hobbes theme for his birthday party, since he has been super into the comic this year. I had fun making decorations and coming up with games. Here is what we did:

Invitations! (picture coming soon; need to get it off my phone)

Pizza! The party was in the evening, and fell within the dinner hour. So we served pizza, watermelon, and carrots with dip. Simple. Easy. I ordered WAY too much pizza. Oh well.

Games! First we had three "stations" that were supposed to be happening simultaneously, with kids taking turns at each station. It didn't exactly work out this way, and most of the kids were just playing while we did the Crazy Faces station (took longer than I anticipated). But it was okay. They were having fun playing around in the yard.

Three stations:

-----Hop with Hobbes. I set up two trampolines and put a plush tiger on each. The idea was for two kids to hop and toss the tiger around, and even toss them back and forth to each other. This station was pretty much a flop, for some reason. Maybe I should have had an adult on duty to encourage the kids in what to do.... but left to their own devices they weren't too interested. That's okay.

-----Newspaper Hats. Pretty self-explanatory. Kids made newspaper hats, which Calvin and Hobbes wear in their boys-only treehouse club. We didn't play up that aspect, as there were several girl cousins in attendance. :) Both Grandmas were very helpful at this station.

-----Crazy Faces with Calvin. I enlarged the faces in this picture

on the xerox at the library, then cut them out, ala flash cards. One at a time, the guests sat down and tried to imitate Calvin's faces. After the party I made them into collages. I love how these turned out. I will print them out and send them to our guests with their thank-you notes.

-Calvin and Hobbes' Time Machine Dinosaur Dash
This race was completely inspired by this picture:

The kids picked partners, put on Calvin and Hobbes costumes (shirt for Calvin, ears for Hobbes, and goggles for both), then ran in a time machine (box) through a maze of dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were just ones I had around the house, taped onto garden stakes. Some were wall decorations, others were decorations I had made and saved from S's 4th birthday party, 5 years ago! I felt pretty proud of myself for using them again. The kids were supposed to weave between the dinosaurs. I spray painted a path for each team to follow, to make it easier for the kids to see. Some of them still totally missed it and just ran straight for the finish line. It was pretty hilarious. Some of them ran so fast that they wiped out in their boxes. This game was 1. totally adorable, 2. pretty chaotic, 3. fun to watch. Hopefully the kids liked it as much as I liked the idea of it.

-Grand finale: Water Balloon Fight!!!
If you're a fan of the comic, you know Calvin loves his water balloons. We didn't drop them from trees onto Suzy, instead we had a good ol' fashioned water balloon fight. We filled a lot of water balloons. I personally filled about 450. My father in law contributed 200. So 650 water balloons! We distributed them around the yard in various plastic containers. When I said GO, the kids went at it and got completely soaked. I know my boys loved it. All those balloons were popped within about 8 minutes! After they were gone I had several pleading faces looking up at me...... "do you have any more???" It was great.

Cake. T chose an ice cream cake from DQ, which was generously provided by one of his grandmas. Nice and easy. Fine by me. I made cake toppers out of paper and toothpicks. We actually had two cakes because we had a lot of guests.

Gifts. He got lots of fun things. Time to write some thank-you notes.

Goodie bags. I found some tiger tails and stretchy tiger balls that I thought slightly resembled Hobbes in the dollar section of Target. The balls actually ended up ruining my first batch of goodie bags, leaving big grease marks on them. Yuck. I had to re-do the bags and put the tiger balls into plastic bags. To go along with the tails, I wanted some ears. I couldn't find any at a decent price online so I enlisted my mom to make some. She made 14 tiger ear headbands for me and they were awesome. Thank you, mom! A few other little treats in the bags: animal crackers, m&m's, a punch balloon, a slinky, and dinosaur tattoo.

Miscellaneous decorations. The power of the internet and a home printer made these decorations possible.

T and I wanted to try to recreate Calvin's jump in this picture, since he has the matching sunglasses. This was our best take. :)

A note on T's outfit. We had the shoes from 1950's day at school; they were perfect. I bought a red shirt and painted on the stripes using painter's tape as my guide. (I used electrical tape to make the stripes on the shirts for the game). Shorts are just a simple knit pair from Walmart, cheapest I could find. I tried to gel up his hair to make it look like Calvin's but it looked a lot more Calvin-esque the next morning due to bedhead.

Okay, I think that's all I wanted to say about this party. I had fun planning it and I love my little Calvin to the moon and back.

a few stenciled shirts

2012-06-15T12:26:00.001-05:00

I've been stenciling shirts in the evenings when Nate is gone, instead of watching tv. It makes me feel productive and occupied instead of lazy and lonely. I made three for T, birthday gifts (which I had to give him early because he caught me looking at the photos), one for S, and one for myself.

Calvin and Hobbes shirt, for T.

Sokka shirt, for S.

Aang shirt, for T.

Calvin and Hobbes inverse stencil shirt, for me.


Appa shirt, for T.

Sokka, Aang, and Appa are all characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Are you guys watching that show yet? You should watch it; it's so good! Appa is my favorite of these stencils. I also love how T's Calvin and Hobbes shirt turned out.

Here's a picture of T dressed up like a "war guy." Because we'll undoubtedly be moving to a smaller space, I've been trying to decide what we can bring with us and what we can't. There are a couple boxes of costumes and dress-up accessories in the closet that probably won't be coming with us. The boys almost never play with them, but then once in a while the cousins will come over, and everybody will come downstairs in the most hilarious costumes. So I hate to leave them behind when I think of those funny play sessions. But this picture gives me hope that the creative play will continue, with or without actual costumes. This "costume" consists of undies over shorts, pj shorts on his arms, socks on his hands, and a crushed soda bottle as his weapon.

This weekend we are driving to Michigan for a little family reunion. Last time this event happened, Nate and I were attending a wedding, so my family took the boys without us. I'm looking forward to seeing all the relatives I missed seeing 2 years ago, and also to trying out the famous zip line that the boys raved about after their first trip to this camp. Camera battery is charging as we speak, I'll try to come back with some pictures and stories!
xoxo

a finished quilt, plus M O V I N G

2012-05-31T10:28:00.000-05:00

I finished the first story quilt a few weeks ago. I quilted it with straight lines at random intervals. They actually weren't all that straight, and some of them even cross over each other, but I kind of like their imperfect look.

On the back I used this awesome chevron print I found on etsy. I get most of my fabric on etsy, actually. I wanted to include an explanation of how to use the quilt on the back... I made a stencil on my Cameo Silhouette, painted it onto some fabric, and then incorporated that block into the back of the quilt. This was a pretty time consuming process, but I am happy with how it turned out. For all subsequent story quilts I make, though, I have a more efficient solution. I had some fabric printed by Spoonflower that says the same thing. I love how it looks and can't wait to show you on the next quilt! I added some colorful binding and called it done! Love it. Can't wait to send it to its new home.

It's hard to imagine when I might have time to make another quilt. Life is going to be dominated by one giant project for the foreseeable future, because..... we are moving! Nate took a new job in the suburbs of Chicago. We have wanted to move back to Chicago since the day we left, almost 6 years ago. So we are excited. But also sad to leave family and good friends here. And also overwhelmed by the gigantic task of selling a house and moving. It's going to be a lot of work. It already has been a ton of work to get the house ready for showings. We have had loads of help from family already, and I'm sure we'll need more help before this process is over. A challenging time ahead of us... lots of work to accomplish, many emotions to sift through, and a new life to create once we reach the other side. It's really happening!

wonderful quilty distraction

2012-05-09T12:36:00.001-05:00

I've been working on some quilts lately. A couple weeks ago I was working obsessively on them, at the expense of every other area of my life. Then I reached a point where I could no longer ignore the house, the laundry, or the mounting onesie orders. So the quilts went on a short break. But now I'm caught up on onesies, and the house isn't a super disaster right now, just a regular disaster, so the quilts are coming back out. I consciously made this decision because I need a distraction for the next couple of days. See, Nate has an interview tomorrow. For a job near Chicago. So at this point there is a slight chance that we could be moving back. We've been down this road before and been disappointed by the outcome, so I'm trying hard not to get worked up. I'm trying not to even think about it at all because 1. so much excitement I can hardly keep from jumping up and down and squealing and 2. tons of anxiety about the logistics of moving, especially packing up this huge house and moving to a much smaller one. Also 3. no point in feeling excited or nervous until the thing actually happens. Which is hasn't yet. So. That is my life at the moment. Trying not to think about the thing I've been hoping for/dreaming of for six years now. Quilts to the rescue!

I have had plans to make these story quilts for several years now. I've been slowly collecting and cutting novelty fabrics into squares. Six months ago I bought enough backing fabric to construct three of these bad boys, two for friends and one for us. And I finally cut into that fabric a couple weeks ago. One thing I will say for myself is that even if it takes a super long time, I do usually follow through on a plan. What does your workspace look like when you quilt and also sell onesies? Something like this. A big fat mess.

The pattern is from this book. The idea is to use the paths (the straight lines) to move to the pictures (cut from all the novelty prints) and tell a story as you go. You can tell a new story every time, because you take a different path or interpret a picture in a new way. I fell in love with this idea. It's right in my wheelhouse as far as believing that childhood is a time for simple pleasures and creative play. It's entirely possible that nobody will use these quilts as intended. My own boys might only use theirs as a way to keep warm while playing video games (cringe). But I like that these quilts could possibly spark a child's imagination, and I'm going to cling to that even if it is a delusion.

So I have one completely pieced (the top is all sewn together), and the other is nearly pieced. Then I just have to make the quilt sandwiches (easier said than done, as I'll have to actually sweep and mop the floor so I have a clean place to lay them out), and start quilting! I bought myself a walking foot to make the quilting easier. I'm going with simple straight line quilting, no free motion experimentation this time around.

I had tons of fun shopping for the fabric for these quilts. The background fabrics were fun to pick out but the novelty prints were ridiculously fun. Too fun. Do you guys know how many adorable novelty prints are out there? A LOT. Fabrics that I would probably never be drawn to for another project were perfectly suited to these story quilts. I had a hard time stopping. In fact I still haven't stopped, even though I have more than enough for these three quilts, and many more after that. I'm hoping to make one for my nieces and nephews (one per family), and probably some other friends too. Hopefully I'll be showing you a finished project pretty soon. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite story squares. They are so cute. I mean, a raccoon building a brick wall. COME ON.

A Harry Potter Party.

2012-03-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

You know how I said we were going to keep things low key for S's birthday, and just have a few buddies over to play and stuff? Well, that was before we had the brain spark of a Harry Potter theme. Once I looked around online for ideas, this party spiraled out of control from laid back to completely over the top. It was a busy two weeks, exhausting and at times stressful, full of to-do lists and late nights. But after hosting 9 energetic boys Saturday, plus my own two, I feel like all the work was worth it. They had so much fun and really got into the theme. Those of you familiar with 9 year olds know that they are getting to an age where they are hard to impress. So to see them enthusiastic about something is a real treat. Ultimately I think that's why I went so overboard with this party: I know S is growing up fast and won't be into themed parties like this for much longer. Plus, when you have an idea this rich with content and details, there's really no limit to what you can do with the party. I could have done so much more. I edited myself a lot, believe it or not. :) Without further ado, here is our Harry Potter party. Enjoy.

When we decided on our HP theme the first thing I did was start a Pinterest board dedicated to ideas for the party. What else? :) I did end up using a lot of the ideas there, but not all. I also posted some of my own party ideas and preparations there for others to see. There are so many fantastic HP parties to draw inspiration from. Honorable mention for me go to Emily, Allison, and Marin. Way to go, ladies, and thanks for sharing all your hard work.

I saw lots of cute ideas for invitations and even though I probably should have been devoting most of my time and energy to the actual party, I just couldn't shake the idea of the helium balloon owl post invitations. So with the help of my mom I got those done a week before the party. (I had sent a "save the date" email the week previous, because I knew I wouldn't have the invites out as early as I'd like.) I wrote up a post on my tumblr about the invitations with lots of pictures and links. The boys had a lot of fun hand-delivering the invitations and I think the invitees thought they were cool.

inside of invitation --- see my tumblr post for all the details.

t checking out the invitations.

the boys loved delivering the owl post.

Okay, party day. For the entrance I hung a 9 3/4 sign (printable here) and recreated the red brick wall using a red plastic table cloth and black and gold Sharpies. I taped the tablecloth taut in the doorframe using packing tape then cut a slit in the middle for the guests to climb through. I didn't like how much it gaped and you could see the inside of the house, so I used some extra tablecloth that I had trimmed off and taped it behind the slit for a little extra coverage. It worked reasonably well.

Our platform entrance

When the boys arrived the had to pick out robes from Madam Malkin's and wands from Ollivander's (signs available here and here). This is the one picture of the day we didn't get..... how these items were set up before guests arrived. Once the boys got their hands on them my pretty setup went out the window. :) I made the robes from black plastic tablecloths and packing tape. (Separate post on how to make the robes here.) The wands were purchased from this etsy shop for $2 a piece and I cannot say enough about how much I loved them. The wood was strong and beautiful and they were all a little different. Just beautiful. I was afraid, when I ordered them, that they were going to look like sticks I could have picked up in my yard, but they were really something special. I can't say enough about them. If you can spend $2 a wand for all your guests, then order these! I used a Sharpie to put each boy's initials on the end of the wand so they could tell whose was whose. I think we had a couple mix ups at the end of the day despite my best efforts. Oh well.

putting on robes and choosing wands

madam malkin's robe shop

ollivander's sign and transfiguration sign

While we waited for everyone to arrive the boys cast spells on each other with their wands and generally congregated in an excited mob in the kitchen. Once most of the guests were there and I could get their attention, I had them sit down in the Great Hall (aka kitchen table). We looked at the schedule for the day and then began our sorting ceremony.

welcome to hogwarts sign / class schedule

Our sorting ceremony was purely for fun. We didn't use the houses to keep points or divide into teams or anything. It was just something amusing to do. I bought the sorting hat on amazon because a) I didn't have time to try to make one and b) it seemed cool to have one that looked just like the one in the movies. I thought it was worth the $20 or whatever. It turned out that the "hat" I ordered was really a puppet. I wanted to put a baby monitor up in the shaft of the hat and in order to do that I had to rip out some seams in the puppet. I think it will be easily repaired. So a baby monitor went into the hat, and Nate was in the basement with the other end of the monitor. I didn't know if he'd be able to hear me and know when to say the name of a house, so I used a "magical broom" to bang on the floor as a signal for when we were ready for him to say the house name. I stole the baby monitor idea from this blogger's party. The boys seemed to enjoy the sorting. I'm not sure how they thought it was working, but I don't think they guessed that Nate was involved. There was a lot of hooting and hollering as the houses were announced; some boys were pleased with their assignment and others did their versions of "aw, shucks." Funny stuff. After the house assignment was announced each boy got a plastic ring with their house crest. The rings all broke while the boys were later gripping brooms during Quidditch. Oops.

sorting ceremony

getting sorted

Next was Transfiguration class. Sign available to print here. This activity could have been better organized, I think, and may have lasted longer if it was. As it was, I gave the boys a basket full of costumes and told them to put something on and then have their picture taken in the "transfiguration booth," which was a corner decorated in streamers. I was hoping they would want to spend some time doing this and enter the transfiguration booth multiple times, but each boy was happy having his picture taken once. Then it was on to the next. Fun, and some cute pics, but did not last long enough. I should have structured it a little more to draw it out. Oh well. During Transfiguration is also when I gave the boys Harry Potter scars, using a lightening bolt stamp and red ink pad, if they wanted one.

transfiguration booth

a werewolf with a butterbeer mug

a mixed up magical creature

Next on the list was Care of Magical Creatures. I had the boys gather around and explained that all the magical creatures had escaped. The boys were going to have to hunt for them in the yard. I made a sign that listed the creatures and how many there were to find. As the boys found them and brought them to me, I made a tally by that animal so that we could keep track of how many more we still had to find. The magical creatures were anything we could find around the house that could be construed as even remotely magical. Some were obvious (dragons). Others required more imagination (deer, because of the deer patronus). It was not a competitive hunt; we were working together as a class to round up all the magical creatures. The boys had a lot of fun with this and were really focused on getting the job done! I wished I had had more creatures to hide; once again this activity was over too quickly.

explaining the magical creature hunt

checking off creatures as the boys find them

magical creature list

After the hunt we moved on to potions. This was truly one of the highlights of the party. We worked outside. The boys had to stand around our patio table because we don't have 11 outdoor chairs, and they wouldn't have fit around the table anyway. So they stood and listened to me give instructions for making our two potions. We stirred our potions with chop sticks so they didn't have to get their nice wands wet and messy. I had everything measured out in little plastic cups with the ingredient names written on the cup and color coding dots to help keep them straight. Potion 1 was Flesh Eating Slug Repellent. Ingredients were elixir of life (water) and ground bezoar (corn starch). I let the boys add food coloring to the water. First we mixed with our chop sticks, then I told them to mix with their hands because this mixture is such a cool tactile experience. After we played with it for a little while, the boys formed a line to rinse out their bowls and clean off their hands with the hose.

time for potions

our potion recipes

I got into the spirit of the party with my outfit. I had most of it in my closet... a simple black dress, a gold belt and some gold necklaces. I purchased the amazing lightening bolt earrings here. The cape was part of a Darth Vader costume that my mom found.

Potion 2 was Bubbling Truth Serum. Ingredients were hippogriff saliva (water and a few drops of dish soap), crushed dragons bones (baking soda), and juice of jobberknoll feathers (vinegar). Again I let them add food coloring at the stage when we had just water in our bowls. This potion was definitely the crowd favorite. I tried to get them to all pour in the vinegar at the same time, and their reactions as the potions bubbled up and over the sides of their bowls were priceless. So fun.

bubbling over

i made s's shirt using my silhouette + freezer paper

After potions we came in for refreshments. I didn't really do any special Harry Potter food. There are so many great recipes for pumpkin pasties and other themed foods, but in the end I decided my audience (9 year old boys) probably didn't care much about special HP themed snacks, so I let it go and spent my time elsewhere. We had some basic snacks and I tried to recreate these cupcakes. My lightening bolts were rather poor, but oh well. For beverages we gave the boys a choice between butterbeer (straight up cream soda, whipped cream optional) and "magical color changing soda." The latter was kind of a bust. I think I did too much too coloring because you could totally see what color it was going to be before the soda went in. Not too magical after all. No complaints from the boys, though. They were still into our theme and rarin' to go for some Quidditch.

sitting in the great hall, ready for refreshments

birthday decor, thrifted owl picture

butterbeer on tap

wizard hat cupcakes

Back outside for Quidditch! We made our Quidditch hoops using hoola hoops, spray painted gold, and 2x2 posts, cut down to size and pounded into the ground. We attached the hoops to the wood using some rubber-coated clamps. The hoops would fall down occasionally but when someone put them back up they would stay for a while before falling again. I divided the boys into teams randomly and explained the game, which was a very loose interpretation of the game in the books. Basically we had a golden snitch (golf ball painted gold) that I hid somewhere in the yard. Two of the boys were seekers and spent their time hunting for this golf ball. The rest of the boys were busy trying to get the quaffle through the hoops. Two boys were bludgers and were throwing balls at the other boys. If a boy holding the quaffle got hit by a bludger he had to drop it. The rules were very loose and we didn't do much refereeing. I thought it was chaotic and I don't think I would have liked such an unstructured game as a kid. But the boys seemed to love it and played it for longer than I expected. It was quite a warm afternoon. They took their robes off after a while, but then kept right on playing. They took turns being seekers and bludgers. Quidditch was another highlight for the boys, I think. Right up there with potions.

our quidditch field

playing hard

quidditch hoops

they loved this game

Our final activity was a field trip to Honeyduke's. Our Honeyduke's was more like a combination of Honeyduke's and Zonko's because we had both candy and little toys/tricks/trinkets for the boys. But we called it Honeyduke's for the sake of simplicity. I found a Honeyduke's sign online and printed it as big as I could, then mounted it on foam board and added a green border. I gave the boys gold from Gringott's to spend at the store. This was essentially a meaningless prop, just for funsies, as we ended up letting the boys keep the gold coins as well as their "purchases" from Honeyduke's. The boys waited in line and when it was their turn pointed to the candy and toys they wanted to buy. I think they really enjoyed this. T had been pumped for Honeyduke's all week and all during the party he kept asking if it was time to go on our field trip. Inherited his sweet tooth from me, unfortunately. :)

honeyduke's "entrance"

our honeyduke's set up

we had official every-flavor beans and chocolate frogs

view from the top

golden snitches = ferrero rocher + paper wings cut using my silhouette

While the boys were in line for Honeyduke's I handed them their favor bags. (I had painted their names on muslin bags, purchased here, by making a stencil with my Silhouette. The bags had a few goodies in them already. The boys got to take those things home, plus their wands and whatever they got from Honeyduke's). The idea was for them to put their Honeyduke's loot into the larger bag and close it up until they went home. This, of course, was not how it played out. They sat down in the living room and spread out their loot on the floor, eating candy, playing with toys, and trying disgusting every-flavor beans. While all this was going on S opened his gifts. I didn't really have a problem with this at the time but in hindsight I wish I had made them keep all their stuff in their bags. When it was time for our guests to go home, their loot was scattered all over the floor. Some of them carefully gathered everything up before they left. Others went home without most of their goodies and I felt bad when we discovered them later.

Gringott's gold, 20 coins in a little black drawstring bags

muslin favor bags

personalized favor bags

favor bags: notebook from Walmart, broom pen (from Oriental Trading), mechanical pencil, two badges, stickers, HP glasses (also Oriental Trading, noses and eyebrows trimmed off)

(Lumos font available for download here. Harry P font available for download here.)

examining their loot

helping the boys shop

Once gifts were opened and favor bags were distributed and scattered all over my living room, we still had an hour before parents came! All the activities had taken much less time than I anticipated. So the boys went back outside to run around and play. They did a great job, played well and got along, playing Deatheaters vs. good wizards. Only one kid got poked in the eye with a wand. It was a beautiful day and I was glad they could spend the extra time running around outside.

opening gifts

a great group of wizards

Here ends my tale of The Day We Threw a Harry Potter Party. All in all I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out. I had a lot of help with this party. Nate put up with two solid weeks of manic planning and preparations, and didn't even bat an eye while the receipts kept piling up. My mom and sister helped me decorate and collect props. My sister in law and mother in law came and helped during the party, thank goodness. I really needed the extra hands! My dad and Nate were my cameramen during the party and they did a fantastic job of covering everything. Most importantly, I think S and his friends had tons of fun. I hope all the other parents don't hate me too much for throwing a ridiculously elaborate party or for sending their kids home with buckets of candy. But every once in a while I just have to do this for my kids. Now I'm going to have to throw a big shindig for T. Not this year, though. I need a little recovery time after this one.

this year's valentine crafts!

2012-02-07T20:24:00.001-06:00

We finished our Valentine's projects a week early this year, amazingly. This is T's collection box to take to school. It was mainly inspired by this project that I saw on The Crafty Crow. We used a tissue box. Instead of covering it with yarn, which I thought looked too time consuming, I opted to cover it with hundreds of paper circles. Much more efficient! Honestly, though, it didn't take that long. I was kind of rolling my eyes at myself when I started, like, really? This is how you want to spend your whole Sunday, Laura? But it was kind of relaxing, mindlessly gluing them all on. I didn't do any kind of pattern or neat rows, just kept it totally random, so that it would look like my kindergartener had possibly helped me with it. He didn't. He started out helping, and was doing a great job, but we soon figured out that a glue stick wasn't going to make the circles stick. So I switched to the hot glue gun and T couldn't help anymore. He did cheer me on. I was surprised to look up after an hour of hot gluing and realize all four sides were well covered. Not bad! The rock eyes were painted by me, as directed by T. I used pipecleaners to make the arms/hands and hot glued them on to the sides. More blue dots to cover the ends of the pipe cleaners and waa-laa. Finito. We're crazy about this guy.

And here are the boys' Valentine's to pass out. Saw this idea on Pinterest; the link went back to this blog. I don't think ours turned out quite as well as the inspiration. I should have cropped them so that the hands were bigger. Also, the boys were not very cooperative about striking the arm-outstretched-fist-clenched pose. It is so hard to take good pictures of them. I totally missed the day of parenting school that covered how to make your kids cooperate for photos. Mine are generally terrors in this situation. Getting them to keep their eyes open (not because they're accidentally blinking, but because they are rolling their eyes to the back of their heads. On purpose) and keep their tongues in their mouths is a serious feat. Asking them to stretch out a fist like they're holding a sucker? That is a bridge too far. So these were the best we got. T for some reason doing two fists, and S with his fist right under his face instead of off to the side. Neither one of them stretched out very far. I spent too much time angling each sucker so that it wasn't in front of their faces. Then I put a piece of tape on the back of each one to secure the sucker, but I have a feeling that by the time these get to school, the suckers will be all over the place. Oh well. The important thing is that they're done, the boys like them, and hey, everyone will get a sucker.

Christmas crafts, 2011

2012-01-10T06:30:00.000-06:00

We made a couple of ornaments again this year. I saw both of these on The Crafty Crow, and had been saving the ideas since last year. They turned out quite lovely. I forgot to take a picture of ours before I packed them away with the decorations, but they really looked just like these ones I saw online. Promise.

The other Christmas craft worth noting was a project I took on for T's class party. I had been saving ideas on a Pinterest board. I pulled it up to show T two ideas and have him pick between them. Of course his eyes wandered over to another picture and asked if we could make THAT. Well, THAT was this pinecone snowman, and the entire project from start to finish was disaster city. Too many steps, too many impossible to work with materials (pinecones? seriously? you stink as a surface to glue crap to). I got everything as ready as I possibly could, and then, mercifully, my mother in law was able to come with me to the party and help me. We basically assembled these for 23 kids, they were much too difficult for kindergarteners. I have learned my lesson and will choose the craft myself from now on, not ask for input from 5 year olds. After all that moaning and groaning, though, I just have to say, isn't he cute??? He is. He is cute. Cute enough to make the whole ordeal worthwhile? Ummmmm, the jury is still out. Ask me next year when I hang him on the tree.

I had a couple other crafts that I wanted to make this year but we ran out of time. I had already purchased the supplies, though. So here's what I did: I boxed them up all together, and then I put a printed copy of the craft instructions in with the supplies. Next year when I pull out all the Christmas stuff I will have the supplies AND I will know what the heck I intended to do with them! Is that not genius? I feel like I genius for that one, I gotta say.

Blog, I have been cheating on you with another blog. I promise I will still show you some love when I can, original blog, but for now my focus is over here: 15 Minutes Outside. If you don't already know, I made a New Year's resolution to go outside with the boys every day for a year, for at least 15 minutes each day. It's only been a week but this project is already very near and dear to my heart. You should follow us and be happy for us, because being outside every single day? It's kind of changing our lives.

2011-12-05T14:24:00.001-06:00

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lining up a onesie.

I am screen printing now! I owe Nate a huge thanks for helping me get started. He burned a screen for my best-selling design, then put some hinge clamps on a little table in the basement. Now I can go down there and print 10 onesies in a half hour, including set-up and clean-up time, whereas the old stencil method probably took 30 minutes per onesie. Pretty good improvement, eh? There was a little learning curve, and I had to throw some botched onesies in the Goodwill box, but I am getting better at it, and most of my screen printing attempts are keepers now. Yay!

pulling ink.

I feel super proud of us for figuring this out, and once again I have to thank Nate. I never would have tried it on my own, but he encouraged me and said it would be easy and that we could definitely do it. I don't know if easy is the term I would use, but the important thing is I am doing it now. There is a whole world of serious screen printing out there, and I know I could learn loads more about it. But I'm not really looking for another hobby or creative outlet. I'm just looking to make some onesies more efficiently. So I am happy with my simple set up and very limited knowledge for now.

done!

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In my life as a parent I have been struggling. I have been wishing I could quit, looking for the exit, dreaming of retirement struggling. I have been face in hands, cannot do this, soggy pile of tissues struggling. It seems to me that 90% of what comes out of my eight year old's mouth is some form of negativity. A complaint, a statement of something he can't or won't do, an insult, a description of something he hates. IT GETS TO ME. Understatement of the year. Is it his personality? (Please, no.) Is it just his age? (God help me when he becomes a teenager.) Is he doing it to intentionally push my buttons? (Quite possibly.)

Then, on the other hand, I spend my mornings alone with a five year old who is constantly badgering me to grant him screen time. (He has designated screen time on Wednesdays and weekends, and the boys watch plenty of impromptu after-school Phinneas and Ferb.) Some times I am trying to get other things done and so I try to tune out the whining and negotiation attempts. Other times I try to engage him with some other activity, but he is not interested in any regular activities that a five year old and a parent might do together. Read a book? NO. Do a puzzle? NO. Play a game? NO. Draw a picture? NO. He will come up with projects that require jigsaws, nailguns, $500 and 15 hours, but nothing short of that is a satisfactory use of his time. (Cue more whining when I turn down these proposals.) THIS ALSO GETS TO ME.

spiffed up and ready for their school holiday program.

These phases of my sweet boys have left me feeling in over my head, incompetent, frustrated, and downright sad. There have been some tense times in our house. Nate refers to my interactions with S as Mexican standoffs because we both dig in our heels so stubbornly. And he is pretty much right on with that comparison. Not good. Commence hours of negative self talk wherein I inform myself that I am a failure who doesn't know what she's doing, is ruining/scarring her precious gifts of children, etc etc. Oh, it has been an ugly scene in my head, my friends.

with dad, attempting a science experiment.

But guess what. No quitting in motherhood. So it's time to buck up. It's time to look at my own behavior and see what I can change to make things better. Here is where some actor's training would come in handy. I think if I can act like these negative attitudes don't get to me, then they might rear their ugly heads less often. If I can make myself smile when I really feel like hiding under the covers of my bed, the mood in the house will lighten. It's basically a "fake it til you make it" philosophy as applied to parenthood; a conscious effort to see the best in my children instead of the little bumpy, hairy bits. It's a big-girl-panties realization that all the lectures in the world about "attitudes" won't do a bit of good if I am not modeling the sunny disposition that I would like to see, and using a patient, loving tone of voice to deliver whatever advice or reprimands I deem necessary. It's a tall order, and I am far from perfecting this new technique, but I am working on it. And will be for the foreseeable future. Marathon shoes: on.

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I made up a ton of onesies last week, working hard to get my inventory built up. I was hoping to work on a few other projects while that sold down, but now I have a ton of custom orders lined up. Remember when I used to make magnets? I really want to work on those again. I have missed wielding my tiny paper scissors and making collages. I desperately want to get back to it. But the onesie stuff is keeping me too busy. I don't want to complain; I am happy to have a successful shop. It's just, you know, I want to cut some paper! Such a cliche thing to lament, but, seriously, there is NOT ENOUGH TIME for all the stuff I want to make and do. Next school year will be better in that regard, I hope.

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Our most recent dinner-time book was The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which we all greatly enjoyed. Last night we took a rare trip to the movies as a family and saw the movie adaptation. We liked it. I would recommend them both.

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lots of photos on this dreamy, drizzly monday.

2011-09-26T13:17:00.002-05:00

It's a dreary autumn Monday, the perfect day for a sweater and some soup for lunch. It's also a pretty dreamy day for me, as I ease back into real life after a perfect birthday weekend. On Friday I turned 30, and Nate went all out to make my day special. He took the day off and spoiled me from the minute I woke up, fixing special meals, transporting the kids to and from school, and planning a surprise dinner/bonfire/sleepover with friends. On top of all that, we attended a beautiful wedding on Saturday with many of our Chicago friends. The boys came too, since it was a casual affair at a local farm. They had a blast. We had another lovely day on Sunday consisting of breakfast with friends and plenty of fresh air with the boys. I'm still floating. It's a little hard to get back to reality and responsibilities after a weekend like that.

Anyway, today's post will be a smattering of pictures, old and new.

Over Labor Day weekend Nate and I got to travel to Washington DC for our friends' wedding. It was my first time in the nation's capital and we had a great time wandering around all the monuments and art museums (well, one in particular). We had about 24 hours to ourselves, which was like the longest, best date ever. Then our friends arrived in town and we spent more time site seeing with them. Such a great trip. A couple days of pure relaxation and fun followed by a beautiful wedding. I'm so glad we were able to go.

Nate, at the base of the Lincoln Monument.

Here I am, admiring Lincoln.

The greater Peoria area no longer has my favorite ice cream. But Washington DC does!

This is the gift I made for Kevin and Jennie. Embroidered pillow cases!
You can find this free pattern here, or buy the transfer here. Thank you, Lazy May!

I also added their initials and wedding date in the back corners.

On our way to the wedding. Fake lashes for the win.

A couple pictures of me. I had a notion to chop my hair before my birthday, as a sort of 30th birthday transformation. But in the end I couldn't give up on the length I've been working on. I'm going to give this long hair thing an honest attempt this time. Maybe a dramatic chop on my 40th birthday?

I've been itching to chop my hair lately but then I stop myself because I can finally do things like this with my hair. I'm going to let it keep growing and see what happens. (I suspect it will get even longer.)

I'm 30! Here I am ready to go to my party. Got my hair did, wearing my locket from Nate, treated myself to the new shirt and boots. I feel good.

I took a handful of pictures at the wedding but wish I had taken more. Same for my party, where I took approximately 3 blurry shots. Oh well, the memories will have to hold me. This was such a sweet little occasion. The sun shone down right as there ceremony took place, and then the sunset over the golden fields was magnificent. We usually try to avoid taking the boys to weddings, but this one was so fun for them. Many happy wishes to the newlyweds.

Here are my men, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Congratulations, Libby and Josef! What a gorgeous event.

I made pillow cases for Josef and Libby (Elisabeth) too. Ran out of time to take a picture of the fronts, but they are the same as Kevin and Jennie's gift.

Look closely; you can see the boys sprinting around the pond after the wedding.

Serious faces for a seriously awesome wedding.

Aren't these boys looking grown up? I sure do like them.

Thanks for looking at all my pictures. Be back next week. xoxoxo