all buttoned up.

Bounced

Ann scooped me on the party photos (as well she should have). The top one is hers, too,-- Sam opening a vintage KISS record from our friend, Beth. We are suckers for the drama.

And there it is, really: dramatics. There is the brooding four year-old, the sensitive five year-old, the emotionally tipsy nine year-old, and the baby (which is heart-on-your-sleeve kind of stuff). It is entertaining and funny and hard and most of all, exhausting. It is showing (the tiredness) and during the last few months it has, at times, taken over. I love Alicia's Habit from yesterday "Some days I wish everything could just stay done". Oh, I'm with you, A, a thousand times with you.

Picture Your People

Here they are.

They are looking far better than I am.

Isn't that the way, though?

***

Jen Altman's, Photographing You Children: A Handbook of Style and Instruction (Chronicle) came out last month. Jen is an inspiring and skilled photographer and as luck would have it, she can write a damn fine book, too. This is a book full of great information, beautiful photos, and approachable instruction. It is the book you own, give as a shower gift, and recommend to friends. She included a chapter written by regular  people and the kids in their lives and Tah Dah! Here we are. I was thrilled and nervous and flattered (and NERVOUS) when she asked me, and now I'm just plain thrilled to be included in a book with some of my friends written by a person I have long admired. Thank you, Jen. It is beautiful.

***

Get ready for bouncy house pictures. It's that Birthday Time of Year again. I have not sewn myself anything to wear in about two years. I am aiming to change that soon. Crap, I have so much to tell you.

The Dredges of February

I emptied out my camera today for the first time in a month. I am coming out of the tiny, messy cave of this month with a head full of resolve and pending action items. We have nowhere to go but up.

I have been missing some of my people-- they are doing their own cave dwelling this winter and we are all wrapped up in the business of living. In these days it's enough to make it through counting on minimal damage done (P.S. I am ready for Spring). Meanwhile, there are sweet, kind people who remind me that there is GREAT good in this world. And sometimes that good lands right on my doorstep when I need it the most.

Minefield

Truly is at the pull out phase. If you were to come over right now you would have to step over a trail of mismatched shoes, overturned books, and bagged beans and tins. She moves from glove and hat bin to the kitchen drawers with speed and precision. We have always done bare bones child proofing and this sort of mess only lasts for a moment. It is her work and it makes her so happy. Besides, I tell myself, Sam had to contend with exposed wiring and crumbling plaster. See how spoiled you are, little girl? Baseboards!

I have been going deep into public school schematics and politics as it relates to our district and our small part of it. It is distressing. They need to adult proof some of this crap. And because I have been spending a lot of time reading and going to meetings I have needed projects that I do not get too attached to (otherwise, I sit staring at the piles helplessly and accomplishing nothing). I thought maybe a I should tackle some school auction quilts. You are allowed to say that this is a terrible idea. So, I am amassing ideas and piles and thinking how to accomplish more than one without becoming lost in the details. Christina's Tanagram Quilt looms large in my mind, but I also have some other ideas I'm trying to flesh out that would be good to do with the above 8 set. Any advice in this arena is appreciated. I'll let you know how things are coming together as I start to get students involved. I think my biggest concern is the quilting end of things and if I can manage that on my own. Also the children. I'm no dummy.

I leave you with this:

Happy Weekend.

The First One

Truly turned one last week. I know.

Sam's first year took ten. I'm glad that I was blogging during Augie and Manny's because there was some good stuff in there that I've totally forgotten already. This child's first year has felt like small wonders all lined up. Starting with my pregnancy there were a thousand things that might have gone wrong. But mostly they didn't and the important stuff stayed intact. I try not to take any of that intact stuff for granted. She brings out the sweetest and the best in her brothers, with no signs of flagging. She smiles so much. And more than any of her brothers, she is at once thrilled and terrified by life. This probably just makes her more like her mother than anyone else.

I made her an Apple Cake (Smitten Kitchen) for a tiny party we had on Sunday. I'm trying to instill a love of fruit desserts in her early.

(polaroid by Ann McGarry, of course)

Scrap Bags. Treat Yo Self.

Hello! I have scrap bags. There are 9 in total. 3 are all vintage (the scraps in these tend to be smaller and of varying content, but mostly cotton) The vintage bags are good! 

Thanks everyone!

11 dollars gets you a stuffed bag and free shipping if you're in these United States. If you want one, specify regular or vintage and leave a comment here. I'll send you a paypal invoice directly. I'll close the comments as soon as they are all gone!

There will be more, I think. The bags are good-- some bigger pieces and a lot of smaller bits for scrappy patchwork things. There are a lot of Free Spirit designers and some Japanese fabric in all of them. I'm going to try and make them super worth your while.

Liberty Blues Napping Quilt

When I gave this to our neighbor she pulled it out and said, "Oh, it's warm! And it smells like dryer!". I told her it was because I am magical. Also, I had finished it that morning and the dryer had stopped unexpectedly while it was in there, so I had to stall her with tea while I restarted the dryer and then 20 minutes later excuse myself to go to the bathroom (wrap it) so I could give it to her.

Magic. Scrambling. Same diff.

I mostly finished this top two and a half years ago. The top hung in a closet waiting to be finished and really, waiting for the right person to give it to. Our neighbor and good friend is just that person. After she retired a few years ago, she filled up part of her free time making sure we are all doing all right. I return the favour by sending the boys over to *help* her with yard work. So, clearly, the least I could do is give this woman a quilt.

 

The 4" squares and binding are all Liberty Tana Lawn prints in blue. The white is a Kona cotton and both the blues on the front and the backing are Free Spirit voile. The blue toille print that borders the whole quilt is from Alexander Henry and is also cotton voile. It is on the small side-- 52" by 70". It's a good size for the couch or the end of the bed. The whole thing is silky and lovely. Clearly, it's too nice to stay in this house full of people. 

I've almost run out of quilt tops and works in progress to finish up. I put together some stuffed full scrap bags and I think that I'll put them up here on Tuesday. At least three of the bags are all vintage fabrics. And then I have to get sewing again so we will have stuff to talk about!

 

A Sunny Spot (Japanese Sewing Books, My Old Friends)

Shortly after the Baby Girl Announcement, Erin sent me a stack of Japanese girl/kid sewing books her girls had outrgrown. She is an excellent gifter. One of my favourites in the stack is A Sunny Spot (ISBN978-4-529-04894-1). The clothes are femine and unfussy. They are also pretty easy to sew but look otherwise, which is really the best. Sometimes clothes with clean lines are illogically complicated to sew.

I made "Camisole With Wide Strap" for my leggy 4 1/2 year old niece (pattern pictured directly above). She was not in the mood to be photographed. It is more of a dress than a tunic on her, but that will change pretty quickly. I love the pockets. I added a fabric tag in the back so she could easily figure out front from back, and then did a quick Anna Joyce style applique on the front (again, she was NOT IN THE MOOD). From tracing to finishing it was only a couple of hours of work. The lightweight cotton (ticking stripe) came from Bolt originally, but I've had it on my shelves for a while. It is the sort of fabric I'd like a room full of. 

And speaking of shelves-- they are overflowing with scraps. Is anyone into scrap bags/envelopes? I was thinking of listing a bunch on Big Cartel, along with some yardage of things that I don't think I'll use. I am horrible at parting with things like this, but something needs to be done. I may have to enlist reinforcements to talk me through it.

This New Year

We have begun the new year with sun. We also began the new year, as we do most years, with donuts (Portzelky). I asked for permission to skip last year as I was pretty close to delivering Tru, and had decided to repaint the interior of the house and remodel the basement. Donuts skipped. This year we got back on track with the friends and the deep fried dough.

I am hoping to spend this year learning a couple of new things and more importantly, getting better at stuff I already (sort of) know how to do. I am, thankfully, becoming more focused with age, even as there are more things (children mostly) to distract me. I wonder how much of that focus comes as I surrender to parts of my life that are mostly unchanging: the day-to-day things, the less sleep than I'd like, the near constant needs of small children.

It is not a bad place to be, really. Happy, Good, New Year, everyone.

Feather Bed

I have a long list of quilts I want to make-- some from patterns in books or online, and some that I have yet to realize on paper. When I saw Anna Maria Horner's free Feather Quilt pattern for Field Study I put it at the top of the list. I had a stack of fat quarters from the Japanese company Hokkoh purchased at Quilt Market in Salt Lake almost two years ago just sitting there waiting. That saved me a boatload of time, since I tend to think a little too hard when matching fabric to a pattern. I originally wanted to applique the feathers across the quilt, but decided that this one was 1. probably going to see the inside of washing machine a lot thanks to three little people, and 2. I had not left myself enough time.

I split the stack into three different colour stories and made up 23 feathers. If you are thinking of doing this one (and I would support that notion), be prepared for the cutting and pressing to be the most time consuming part. You're cutting from templates on the bias and any number of things can go pear shaped if you don't pay attention. Once I started laying out feathers, I realized that I also wanted/needed a little more negative space, so I threw in some blank half blocks for balance. I quilted it using my Bernina and its BSR free motion function. I will tell you that there are a few glaring mistakes visible on the backside, where the flannel puckered and folded under hundreds of tiny stitches. This is in part to my sketchy time management, carelessness, and utter disdain for making quilt sandwiches. No matter how many times I sandwich those buggers together, I end up with lumps and bumps. Normally, I start quilting and then readjust my basting pins as I go. I neglected that step and paid for it. Any tips welcome. I usually tape the back to the floor, lay the batting on top, smooth, and then repeat for the top.

This is 64" by 64" ish and was a gift for Sharalee, who is also one of my sisters. It's backed with flannel from my shelves (I've started buying large amounts of flannel on clearance in order to afford to back my quilts with them) and the only think I bought specifically for this project is the Kona cotton for the background. I'm a good way down the list of people in my family that have handmade quilts from me, although, I think I should start going by household until we all stop breeding.

So, what say you? Do you have patterns on your list? Or do you have swatches waiting for the right pattern? I just bought 5 half yards of the newish Liberty Lifestyle cotton on sale at Sew, Mama, Sew and I'm trying to match dot com them into a new relationship with a quilt.