Snot and Rain

Last week Happy got a Cold. This week Happy still has the cold, but now it's rainy and cold outside .... so that's double yucky!


I really dont know how one little boy can have so much snot. When his nose starts getting snotty, he'll say "Towel! Towel" and I'll get him a kleenex or a paper towel to wipe his nose with. Now if I can teach him to blow his nose, we'll be going in the right direction!



I've been curious to know what they use to use as quilt batting a long time ago. I noticed that the old quilts of my grandmother's are very thick and heavy, which I happen to like very much. My quilts are fairly thin, which my Mom happens to like very much.


When I washed a quilt of my grandmother's the other day, I could see what was in the middle. :) I didnt ruin the quilt, but there are some very thin spots or spots where the fabric/seams have come apart. It looks like wadded up cotton, like what you'd stuff pillow forms with ... but really soft cotton. I think I need to mend this quit, because I really like it. I'd love to use it in our camper ... but we dont have a camper yet. :)


Here's some artwork I've been working on this week. I'm thinking about trying to sell again on ebay.

Time

I was reading Parent magazine today, and it had an article on getting your kids ready for the time change. GULP. Time change. I dread that!

Just when Happy is sleeping sooooo goood .... I mean, good as in 8:00 in the morning good! And as soon as that time changes, we'll all be out of whack with our sleep. And to put another hitch in the whole thing, we're thinking of taking the side of his crib off this weekend and turning it into a toddler bed.

So now, we'll not only have the time change coming sometime soon .... but we'll also have a free 2 year old boy jumping OUT of bed! We'll see how it goes. Worst case scenario is that I'll have to just keep putting him back to bed until he finally realizes that I'm serious. I'll have to put on my Serious Mommy Face that first weekend ..... would be nice if it was Halloween and that could be my costume!

On the crafty, quilter side of life ... I'm still waiting to get fabric to use as a border on the batik quilt top that I finished recently. And I have two of the old quilt tops of my grandmother's to get backing fabric for and get quilted.

I have managed to acquire a stack of scrap fabric from the three quilts I've done. And I found this wonderful website: http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml that describes a great way to organize scrap fabrics so that it's easier to use them into making a new quilt. I love the theory, and now all my scraps are organized into strips, squares and bricks!

Ahh, it takes so little to make me happy! :)

Newest quilt top almost finished

I've finished the main part of my new quilt, mostly batik fabrics. The finished quilt will be about 60 in x 60 in. I still have to put on a 6 inch border all around. It will be a solid color, but I've not picked a fabric for that yet. I'm thinking that light shade of green would be cool ... or maybe red!

I'm not afraid of color, that's for sure!

Of course, with that phrase in mind you would assume that my house is full of colorful walls. Nope! I have paint samples all over my guest bathroom (sorry Shawn!!!ha!). All of the walls are still "builders beige."

After we moved here we found out we were pregnant, but unfortunately suffered a miscarriage. Then the next year we found out we were pregnant again, and we were being very careful.... so no painting!

And then we found out that our daughter had a brain tumor, medulloblastoma, and it was an aggressive cancer. After fighting that tumor for 9 months, we lost our sweet 5 year old daughter to Cancer. And we had a 6 month old son by that time too. This summer marked a year since she's been gone, and three since we've been in this house, and our son is now going to be 2 in January. There's been no time for fixing up things around here!

One would think that with all the "retail therapy" I did after we lost Katie, that I would have really jazzed up the house and painted like crazy. Not so. I started to quilt, though. And it's been an excellent source of calm, comfort, and a constructive activity for my mind.

Maybe it's a need to feel like I'm creating some sort of lasting legacy for my son, because I know our own mortality is inevitable. Maybe it's the fulfillment that I can create something useful with my hands and my time. Maybe it's just fun to quilt. But for now, the house will remain builders beige, and my quilts will dance with color.

Enjoy life!

Cars and Quilts!

It's amazing how much sewing can get done while the movie, Cars, is playing! My almost two year old son has become completely enthused with that movie and would watch it ALL day long if I let him. But instead I hold out until we're BOTH bored and then I turn it on. He makes the BEST car noises I've ever heard!

Our kitchen area is partially open to the living room. So I can sit at the bar and sew, and watch him in the living room watching the movie. He usually takes little breaks and sits at the bar with me and he "colors" beside me. I dug out some old crafts that was his big sisters, and threw out the things that weren't age appropriate. He's fascinated by the big clear plastic box with all the crayons in it. I'm thinking that maybe he likes color like his Mama does!

As idyllic as this sounds ... watching him watch a movie, coloring with him and me sewing along the whole time .... it only works for snippits of time. Sometimes I feel guilty for sewing while he's watching a movie and probably rotting his brain ..... other times I just feel, well, guilty! So I sew when I can, and play more than I sew. Seems to be working out well!

Thank goodness he's suddenly enthralled with the Doodlebops! Hellloooooo sewing machine! :)

The picture is another quilt from the stack at my mom's house. This quilt was given to her by my aunt, but I'm not sure who made it. It's a very pretty nine patch!

Closet Treasure Hunting!

I was at my parent's house today, and my Mom and I decided to dig through her closet and look at some old quilts that she had been given through the years.

It was interesting to spread the quilts out on the bed and touch them, and look at the hand stitching work and see the old material. Some of the quilts were made with feedsack material for the backing. They came from a variety of places, such as both sets of grandmother's and an Aunt.

This quilt (blue with pinkish sashing) was just a quilt top. It is hand pieced, and in fairly good condition. There are a few places that the seams are coming apart, but that would be any easy fix.

We estimated that this quilt was made by my grandmother (who is no longer alive) somewhere between 30-50 years ago.

What should be done with an heirloom like this? I have never hand quilted, so I dont think I could do it justice like that. I can rent time on the Gammill long-arm quilting machine at the local quilt store....but would that be appropriate?

I'd love some feedback on what to do with these quilt tops. Leave it alone? Learn to hand quilt and do that? Quilt it myself with the long arm machine?

This picture is also of another quilt top that we found today. I dont know the names of the patterns either.

I fell in love with this star quilt with red sashing. It is very simply quilted, but I love the star pattern and the material used. It may be a quilt that I go back and take home with me! Or, I'll sneak into the closet and pin my name on that quilt for the future!!! haha...

I love this big star quilt too!