jump up and down

covered

I didn't mean to be gone for so many days.  It has finally warmed up here and we've been enjoying the outdoors a little bit more in the past few days and my computer went a little haywire.  Ryan has it all fixed up nicely now and hopefully we can get it to last us a little while longer.  It's about as old as Peter, but still doing a fine job at what I need it for as long as we can keep it from freaking out.

I have been working on a few things in the past week or so.  One thing that I whipped out was this checkbook cover.  I've been wanting to make one for a long time now and I finally just did it.  I think I will give this one away, but I will definitely be making a few more, a couple for me and some for my next shop update.  I used linen and some of my scraps to add some piecing to the front.   I'll be tweaking this a bit more - possibly adding a closure and maybe some more detail to the front.  Hopefully, it won't be too long before there are a few in the shop.

I can 't be sure though, because I've also been working on a fairly large order of pennant banners and table overlays for a wedding.  The bride and I just finalized the last piece of fabric and hopefully it will make it's way to me soon.  This has been my first experience doing such a large custom order.  It's been in the works for about a month now and I'm looking forward to having it finished and on it's way to making lovely decor for the wedding.  Coincidentally, the couple is getting married on our wedding anniversary (August 9th for those of you who are interested)! 

And I guess with Memorial Day coming up and Peter's last day of pre-school at the end of this week, I'd better get going on my summer plans.  I have great ideas about getting organized so that we have somewhere to go or something specific to do (crafty things mostly - probably using lots of ideas from the "kids stuff" links over there on the right) everyday.  I'm looking forward to a great summer!

my creative maternal legacy

I had intended for this to be a Mother's Day post, but I am not too late, so I thought I would do it anyway.  The women in these old, and not so technically great, but oh so dear to me photos are the women who have given me a creative legacy.

circa 1978 - me in my Mom's arms, my cousin Jennifer underneath my Grandma, Great Grandma, and Aunt Gail.

These are the women who taught me to love working with my hands.  These are the women that I have seen creating, often out of necessity, but always with love.  They have taught me through actual lessons and simply through example. 

My mother, DeAnn, is the best seamstress I know, and I'm not exaggerating when I say this.  She has made countless dresses for me (including my wedding dress which fit like a glove), countless other pieces of clothing for me and my brothers and cousins and herself.  Now she is honing her talents as a quilter and creating some impressive art.  She is the friend that every non-sewer wants to have.  She always has clothing from friends that needs mending or altering.  She is incredibly generous with her gift.  She is always willing to go on a fabric hunt for me (she lives in a bigger city with more fabric choices).  I love that she shares her love through her craft.

I give credit to my Grandma, Carol, for giving me most of my actual sewing lessons.  I would just get into my head that I wanted to make something and she was always there to guide me through it.  She is working hard now to leave a legacy with her grandchildren by making each of them a large quilt for their bed.  You can see mine here.  I love the image in my mind that I have of my grandmother crocheting doilies in the evening.   I love that I finally learned to crochet from her about a year and a half ago.  She would never brag about it, but she is one talented lady.

circa 1989 - Grandma, Great Grandma, Mom and Me (please excuse the fact that I am not looking at the camera - I was 12 and awkward, what can I say?)

And my Great Grandmother, Anita, seemed to always have a quilt on her frames.  The last quilt she hand quilted was one for me.  I knew her mostly in her last years when she had become stricken with Alzeimers, but I know from her vague memories and the stories from my own grandmother that she was an innovative and creative woman - the wife of a sheep herder and farmer, she started her married life traveling with groups of sheep herders, cooking their meals.  She had eight babies and she sewed and quilted and crocheted and baked for them.  When I think of what I know from stories of her life, I am certain that she lived a creative life.

I am thankful for the creative legacy that I have through these amazing women.  Happy Mother's Day!

serging away

I loved reading everyone's Mother's Day posts.  My favorite part about Mother's Day this year was the homemade cards from Peter - there were a couple from various places.  He did this one at speech therapy and I think he drew everything but the heart. 

I finished my skirt this weekend. I love this serger - everything went together so quickly!  I love it!  This is a 3 piece bias skirt from New Look 6177.  I think the pattern must be out of print. I know it's at least 4 years old because the first skirt I made from it was for a wedding just after Peter was born.  The fabric is one that I bought from JoAnn just last week - a nice swirly blue.
My apologies for the wall shot - I really had intended to get a shot of me with it on, but that would have required a little more forethought than I put into it today.  And besides, it was snowing today -flurries.  I am being optimistic though - the forecast is for 80s by Friday.  I did don the skirt for the sit-down pose below.  It has a nice flow and I think it will get a lot of use this summer.  I love to wear skirts with t-shirts during the hot months.  My legs have been hammered with varicose veins from my children so I don't look good in shorts, but skirts are usually long enough and cover a little better and are cooler than shorts.

And last time I showed my serged shorts, there was a request to see the

seams.  So, here are my serged seams on the skirt.  You can see the side seam right down the middle of the shot, the seams of the pieces that meet at the side seam and you can see how I serged the edge of the bottom and just turned it up to hem with a straight stitch on my regular machine - super easy, super fast, super simple.  My only piece of advice is to be careful when you are serging as it is a major pain to unpick and especially if you cut away your seam allowance.  Everything turned out OK with this skirt, but I did have to do a little unpicking and the zipper wasn't hidden like it was supposed to be.  I take full blame for this because I was  too distracted while sewing.

p.s.

Did you see that Sarah is having a vintage tablecloth giveway?

Did you see Sandi's great new fabric line?  I love it!   And now I've got to get busy finishing up the sewing I'm doing for her.

I've put several items in the shop on sale to make room for a shop update that will happen sometime next week. 

birthday baby boy

Little Ned turned two today!  Our little guy is definitely a toddler now - running (often away from me), talking (in his own special language sometimes), and generally displaying his abundant energy at all times!  He's taking this growing up seriously.  In just the past week he has given up his daytime binky (with a little encouragement from us and surprisingly, cutting off the binky has made the blankie less important.  This is good because the blankie is made from a thin knit that's not wearing too well.  I made it to swaddle him in as a newborn on hot summer days and now it usually gets left on the floor and no longer has to go everywhere with him (which means a whole lot less getting dragged in the mud, getting peed on, etc. and a whole lot less laundry for me - hooray!).

I think I'm a developing a fairly laid back style to birthdays - we took it easy today  (just like we did on Peter's birthday)- a little trip to the playground, a stop to get the best bread in town (I wish I could say I was making it, but alas I am a failure when it comes to yeast doughs), some cupcakes and ice cream, a few presents, and a lot of laughs and fun!   Some may call it laziness - I call it stress management and helping everyone (including me) enjoy the birthday.

I am so grateful for our little baby boy - he came to us at a stressful time in our lives and I worried so much before he came about how we would handle it all.  But he arrived and true to the saying was definitely a "bundle of joy".  Every time I sat to nurse him or watched him sleep, the stress just melted away.   And I am learning to love the sass that he has developed in the last year or so - just enough to give his character that special something without making him unbearably defiant!   I can't wait to watch this little guy grow up!

this and that

Peter hasn't had pre-school this week, so we've been a little more laid back.  On Saturday I picked up a loaf of Texas Toast out of the day old basket at the grocery and yesterday it got turned into French toast with a twist.  And the twist?  Almond Extract!  I've already confessed my love for almond extract.  Just add a little bit to your egg mixture and voila - French toast with a twist and super yummy (and mine would have been more yummy had it not cooled down while I was taking pictures of it!).

Some other yummy recipes we have tried lately are Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookies and Couscous Salad, both via Mary Beth.  And she just shared this Cherry Lime Jam - we'll have to try that it because Ryan loves anything cherry!

I've been playing a little more with my camera - I love the color of the sky in this one.  Now I just need to figure out how to get those branches to show a little better.  Mostly I am happy that the buds are finally popping their heads out!   Can anyone recommend a photography blog?  So far all I've found are ones that show fabulous pictures or that talk about how to use Photoshop.  I'd love to find one that talked about using a camera and how to make a great photo in the first place.

My baby turns two tomorrow (well, it's actually today now) - I'd better get to bed so I'm ready for all that celebrating!

and I'm in love...

In love with the serger that is.  I made these shorts for Peter in no time flat this weekend.  I just zoomed through seam after seam.  This one threaded up fairly easily and  about five minutes into sewing, I was convinced that sometime in the near future, I must  get a serger of my own.  I've got a skirt for myself in the works now.  If that whips up as easily I think there will be little I can do (OK - except for taking a look at my bank account balance) from marching myself down to my local sewing shop and bringing one home.

A little more about the shorts - I used Heather Ross' VW Van fabric which I have been in love with since the moment I saw it, but had yet to make something out of it.  The polka dot is from that same collection.  I used Simplicity 5869 - published in 1982.  They turned out a little big, but not so big that they're going to fall off, so I think I'll leave them - little boys grow fast.  And besides that, Peter doesn't even like them, yet that is.  Yesterday he didn't want to put them on and couldn't get them off fast enough.  But, I think he'll grown to love them, right?  Someone convince me please.  I think I'll make a pair for Ned - that may help Peter to warm up to them. 

All in all - the serger was a great experience.  I was surprised about how many of you commented that you owned one and had never used it.  My advice would be, get it out, figure it out (I still have a lot of figuring out to do - my next challenge is the rolled hem), and you'll love it!

it's a date

My generous mother let me take her serger home last time we went to visit.  I opened it up and got it out today.  Hopefully this weekend we'll be spending some time together with that fab fabric and great vintage pattern.  We'll see if having a serger on hand will motivate me to make more clothing.  I'll let you know - hope you all have a great weekend!

ready to run - a resolution review

I thought this was an appropriate photo for today's post - we all need a little help with our resolutions.

It's time for a little resolution update from me.  You can read my original resolution post here.  I guess I only shared three of my resolutions with blogdom - I did make a  few more.  I'll have to go look those up now and see how I'm doing.  Ummm...just looked...I'm doing OK, but I definitely I have some work to do.

Anyway, back to the three goals I shared with all of you - I just wanted to give you an update on one of them - the half marathon.  I have to say it's going well.  Thanks to my running buddy, Tricia (yes, she's the one who also helped assemble the paper cake) and the weather finally warming up a bit (although it's supposed to snow again today), I am doing A-OK on this one and am set to run a half-marathon on September 20 (e-mail me if you'd like to know which one).  Yes, I realize that is about 5 months away, but that's how I like it - lots of time to work up to it.  Not that I have ever done this before, but I'm not a girl who likes to be overwhelmed or underprepared.  And thanks to my handy Mac, you should all be able to see our training schedule.  Most of the schedules we found were for three months of training, you needed to be able to run about three miles to start, and you never got to the 13 miles before the race day.  We had a little more time so we are working up more slowly, reaching the 13 miles about a month before the race and then backing off until the race for a "recovery period."  I'll let you know how I like it in September when I've tested its merits.

And for those of you who are interested in continuing to read, I think it might be helpful to share my history with running.  I used to think that you just had to be a born runner in order to run.  I thought I wasn't a runner - no one in my family ran and every time I ran I got winded in about 10 seconds.  I was that kid who always finished last and walked half of it when we ran the mile for the Presidential Fitness Challenge in elementary and junior high.  I started running my first year in college.  My first roommate was a cross country runner and the first person I met who ran long distances who I didn't consider to be crazy.  In high school, there was a boy who had a crush on me (I know this because one time he told me he was going to marry me - he didn't) who ran, but he always talked about how horrible he felt afterwards - not so motivating.  So, my first college roommate showed me that running could be an enjoyable challenge and I've ran a little bit ever since then.  I've only ever ran a 5K before - I usually end up running one a year, so I'm definitely not a serious runner, but I'd like to be.  I've got some things against me, mostly family history:

• Like the fact that I will probably get rheumatoid arthritis sometime in the next 10-15 years - both my Mom and Grandma have it and I think I may have had my first "flare-up" on Monday night.  But, I just read in the paper about a woman who has had rheumatoid since her 20s and is now in her 40s and training for marathons. 
• My mother is under 55 and has had both hips replaced.  I think I might be OK here - I can still sit on the floor with my legs crossed - something she couldn't do at my age.
• My baby is almost two and I still feel like I had him a few months ago. Is this normal? I bounced right back from Peter, but I just feel like I'm dragging here, and it's not just the weight - it's the lack of circulation, tiredness, etc.  This is definitely a motivating factor for me - if getting in shape can't help me feel better, then I know I've got problems.
• This is not really something that's against me in terms of running, but another big motivation for me is that there's every sort of cancer and heart disease in both sides of my genealogy.

So, I guess what I'm saying here, is  if you want to run, keep a positive attitude and give it a try.  Start slow and just keep going.  It took me about 10 years to get to the point where I wanted to do a long run, but I really think any sort of running is beneficial.  Even though I haven't always been consistent with my running, it's definitely been a positive aspect of my life, something to keep working on, and I'm looking forward to September!

a slice of (paper) cake

I was glad to find today as I read a few blogs that several of you are recovering from the weekend as we are.  We had party after party (three of them between all of us), Ryan gave blood, we had date night, plus all of the normal weekend things - laundry, grocery shopping (actually that got put off until today), church, and Sunday afternoon nap (that was our first step toward recovery).  Anyway, it was a fun, but full weekend, and I think it might be Wednesday before I'm really ready to go again.

One of the parties was a shower for one of my dear friends who had a baby girl just a bit ago.  I loved having a baby shower with the baby there - Lydia Jane definitely stole the show!  We didn't even need party games.  Does anyone else loath shower games like I do?  Actually, I think I should be asking, does anyone not loath shower games?

I was in charge of decorations, so of course I had to make a couple of pennant banners.  But, what I had the most fun with was the party favors.  I made this paper cake (actually my pal Tricia came over and put the slices together on Friday night when I was running out of time - thanks Trish!) - each slice holds yummy treats for your party guests.  I should have taken a photo of an individual slice - each was wrapped with ribbon and then I made flower pins from Beki's tutorial that I pinned to the ribbon.  It was an ambitious project, but definitely turned out well and was worth the reaction it got!

Well, that is my "I'm so tired I can hardly think" post about this weekend -feel free to ask questions if I haven't been descriptive enough!  Must...get...sleep...

why I love blogging

About a year ago, when I started blogging, I also started reading Sarah's blog.  I quickly discovered that she lived in Davis, the town we had just moved from a few months earlier.  We loved living in Davis for the six years we were there while Ryan went to graduate school at UC Davis.  It has the best farmer's market, bike paths down every street, wonderful weather (ok, except for those couple weeks in the summer when it's 110), green living, fun people, great parks, double decker buses, lots of fun things to do - am I painting the picture for you?  We really did love it there!  It was a great place to spend six years.

Earlier this year we thought we might try to get back to Davis for Picnic Day, but for several reasons we just weren't able to go.  Instead we went to visit our family and Ned got sick and threw up all day on Friday and we had a tiff with Ryan's brother (I cringe to even mention this because it is so not like us to argue with family - this is really the first argument we've had with anyone in either of our families since we've been married) and basically our weekend didn't turn out very well.  We came home early and spent Sunday recovering.  And then on Sunday night, I started seeing pictures of Picnic Day on blogs of friends and I started feeling sorry for myself.  And then on Monday I went to get the mail and there was a key in our box.  Keys mean packages and I wasn't expecting one.  I opened up the door on the mailbox and found a box from Sarah inside.  She had told me a while back she would send me a Davis care package - something that I had totally forgotten about until I saw it.  And her timing was perfect - just the thing to cheer me up when I was really missing Davis!

She sent a great tote, made by her (take a look at that fab button detail on the strap -love it!) - such fun fabric and excellent workmanship - french seams inside and super straight stitches.  And she sent another tote bag from the absolute best grocery store in which I will proudly carry my groceries.  Also included were an assortment of treats from Pedrick's Produce - the best produce stand/store in the area -cheap as dirt and fresher than fresh.  My only regret is that I didn't discover this gem until we'd been living there for about four years - I'm not sure how I missed it!  And the books -assorted fun reads and "The Toads of Davis " - one that we always meant to get and never got around to it.  How can you leave Davis without a copy of  "The Toads of Davis"?   Thank you so much Sarah - perfect timing and the perfect package - you really made my day!  And I keep smiling every time I see it - so I guess you made my week too!

and p.s.  Revolution Money Exchange is extending their offer until May 15th - everyone who signs up gets $25 and each referral gets $10.  I actually had someone pay me with it last week - it worked well and so far I'm happy.  I don't expect to use it much at first, but hopefully it will gain more popularity and I won't be paying so much of my hard earned dough to PayPal.