Life In Color

Woodland Fairy

At the last minute I decided she couldn't NOT dress up. And since I inherited my mother's allergy to store bought costumes Tutu hung out with papa while I whipped up some wings and a crown for my little princess. Details and more pictures tomorrow.

Dreaming and Ditching

I'm still dreaming about a new creative space

 

Doesn't that look so full of promise? Meanwhile I'm trying to sort through more things to give myself more space with my set up now and found these two on my shelf:

 

They are Autumn Leaves calendars that I had bound, 2005 (I think) and 2006. I've looked through them and found some great ideas, but I think it's time I pass them on, anyone interested? I'd be happy to send them anywhere. These are going to a good home, thanks!

Yoga Pants

I finally made a pair of pants from Amanda's wonderful book. This project was so dead easy I wish I would have tried it before. 

 

What finally spurred me on was a new pile of clothes headed to the Goodwill. I promised myself I wouldn't take anything out of there to repurpose until I made something with the pile I already had downstairs. These are from a work shirt of Bj's that was so the wrong size, in fact we think he might have gotten the ladies style, it was too funny. All that you can see left of it is a tiny bit inside the back waist band:

 

Which for some reason I just love. I tried to get some good action shots of Tuesday. 

 

Can you see how she is about to leap off the couch there? 

 

Walking towards me (I purposely made them a little long). So I tried to corral her:

 

Good thing we put on that teething rail (fyi she bit my arm today!) Also these are wonderful for making a bit wider on top for cloth diapered babies. 

 

Then she decided to try and reach for my camera, so I reached for her hand. A wonderful bunch of giggles ensued. 

Simple Patchwork

I finished the simple patchwork quilt I started at the end of September. It's a testament to how quickly time passes that I thought I had just started this a few weeks ago, imagine my surprise when I went to look up the link! 

 

I am so happy with it! It worked out to be 48.5" square. I pieced and quilted it on my new machine, and it was so much easier than I thought it was going to be. One huge difference? A walking foot - those things are so neat!

 

I quilted it just like the little sample piece I made up, on the diagonal, super simple. I really love Red Pepper's quilts, and she has quilted them in this style before, it made me want to try it. Here's a closer view:

 

I was afraid quilting it this way would highlight some not so perfectly aligned corners, but actually the opposite was true, I think the quilt looks very straight. I love all the fabric I used, a lot of it had been in my stash for a long time, including the pieces of Bj's old clothes. I know Bj might not like to hear this, but it really is nice to have a big stash for projects like this :) The backing fabric I had to buy, Sciarrino helped me pick this out at Greenbaum's. 

 

Isn't it the weirdest stuff? A cherry print in lilac purple? I love it though, worked perfect for this, and probably was only on clearance because it is so different! 

 

I decided to put the join to once side, so I could have a bigger piece of fabric left over. You know what? I am totally doing this in the future! I don't think you can even really tell, and I like off center things anyway. I took this out into my crazy messy back yard because the light really is starting to dim in these parts. (side note: does any one know how to get on any of those HGTV shows? I need someone to come help me with the yard - we'll pay for it, but we need help HELP!!!!) I found a long forgotten project:

 

Remember when I got those letters? I still need to get the peg things off of them. I have a few in my house now, oh the things I will spell once I get these cleaned up. Anyway Tuesday didn't mind helping me (and being restrained), as long as I gave her a clothespin:

 

She absolutely could not go out here on the ground (besides the tall "grass" there is still lots of construction debris, and it's wet). She's the reason I had to put on my wide angle lens. One second she's here:

 

And then she is here:

 

Hehehe. 

A little project... and more stash of course

I didn't have time to share a quick little project I whipped up before Tuesday and I left on our trip, so I will now.

 

These little clean up rags were inspired by Amanda's. I bought two microfiber kitchen towels and cut them up into fours, then using Sciarrino's serger I went around the edges, and done!

 

It was the first time using a serger and was pretty easy. I had been afraid of cutting myself, but now that I've tried it I don't think you could easily do so. I have a bigger project almost done (yes the quilt!). But of course that didn't stop me from getting some more fabric while in Vermont:

 

I love Ashley's blog, and she lives in the same city as Ceara so I contacted her to see if she shopped in the area. She said sometimes she did and was kind enough to send me a coupon for a local shop and let me know that they were having a big sale that Saturday. That was all the prodding I needed, and Ceara and I went there on our way to Montpelier. I was fun to go with Ceara because I am going to make her little baby a quilt so I got to see what sort of things she liked. Plus she gave me a paint chip of the room color. It's going to be green and yellow (Oregon duck colors, where she went to school), but I might pop in a bit of some other things so I don't get too nauseous (I joke, but did go to the rival school - unfortunately our colors are orange and black). The bottom two pieces of fabric are repurposed from a duvet cover I got from the Company Store:

 

Looks like they are out of it now, I got this on sale with the thought that I could make a whole cloth quilt with it (or several, as this is a king size duvet cover). I got 13.8 yards out of it (figuring the yardage like this: 36" x 44" - the common width of quilting cotton), and it worked out to be about $4.70 a yard, including shipping. I'm excited to practice my free motion quilting around the "blocks". I said I would share with you the formula I used and what yardage I figured out for quilting with sheets and bed sets. Here is how I did it: I figure out the square inches of one yard, by the measurements I gave above to be 1584". Then I figure out the square inches of various combinations of sheets and pillowcases. This isn't exact for every sheet, but should be helpful if you are trying to figure out a price comparison:

Twin set (with 1 pillowcase): 6.6 yards

Full set: 9 yards

Queen set: 10.3 yards

King set: 12.3 yards

and if you are just looking at flat sheets: 

Twin: 4 yards

Full: 4.9 yards

Queen: 5.8 yards

King: 6.9 yards

A standard pillow case yields about .65 of a yard, and a king about .9 of a yard.

I figured out that twin sets seem to give you the best value, but bigger ones are nicer if you don't want to piece a back. Also I read somewhere that anything over a 200 thread count can be hard to sew/quilt through, fyi. Oh also it takes less yardage than piecing a back because there is so little waste. For example, traditionally you would need 5.25 yards of quilting cotton for a twin back (quilt size 63 x 87).

Vermont

What a clever title, no? I did get back from Vermont a week ago, yes. But then my lovely husband had a stay-cation (isn't that what they're calling it these days?), and not surprisingly the rest of the week flew by. Speaking of flying lets go back to that adventure, shall we? I left off with nachos and loveliness at Ceara's home. The next day we ventured out, and venturing out in Vermont means bundling up Tutu accordingly:

Which this mama didn't mind at all, since she is so extra cute like that. I think for a better run down of the whole weekend you should see Ceara's blog, who yes, is pregnant:

 

and just as cute as you'd expect. For those of you who don't know, Ceara is my BFF from way back. We became friends in middle school, but actually went to church together since we were little. Ceara and I haven't lived in the same town for ten years, and not in the same state for five! I have to admit at being a little worried about my daughter's new found stranger danger being a problem, but it was as if she's know Ceara all her little life, they were quite taken with each other:

Which made the trip so easy and relaxed. We had one bad night, but considering the time difference, the flight, no papa, and all the variables, not to mention she cut two teeth the first whole day we were there, not bad!

 

They came in with a vengeance, and if one of you hadn't told me they could be bloody I would have thought something wrong, because her gums were bleeding most of the day. After torturing her to get this picture Ceara's friend Julie told me how to get her to open her mouth and show me in a more humane way, just tip her upside down, it works so well I'll have to get a picture like that.

We timed our trip hoping to catch a little of the fall foliage (Tuesday loves trees so), but didn't do the best job of it. We went into Montpelier (after passing the town by eleven miles due to excessive chatter - a classic Ceara and Amber move) to see the quaint little town in all it's fall splendor, but we missed it by a week. The town was still wonderful and we happened upon a little farmer's market with yummy food and lots for Tuesday to look at. I have lots more thoughts on specific parts of our trip, like why Tuesday was so fantastic on the flights (she's logged six so far in her short lifetime), and how Ceara and I can go months without seeing each other and just pick up, like that. I think I'll save some of those for another post (which will come sooner than later, I assure you), and leave you with a favorite photo (over processed with love):

Safe and Sound

We arrived at Ceara and Grant's safe and sound. I did almost miss our second flight because of my need for food. There was running involved. Let me just say there really are still some super mice people out there (oh laughing... Nice, Nice people). So thank you to every person who helped me today, from the stewardess who held tutu so I could use the bathroom to the many people that stood up when they ere shouting last call to point to me stuffing the stroller into it's travel bag. United Airlines I do have to say boo on you for no longer offering pre-boarding to people with children. I'm not quite sure how a woman balancing three bags and a baby wacking people as she schleps (sp?) down the aisle saves them time or money. It's true all the niceties of plane travel are disapearing.

Once again though let me say that besides corporate policies, the PEOPLE today were great. Lovely row mates, great personal. Crazy twist? I realized half way through my first flight that I was four seats away from my step-uncle Steve! I was in the very back and hadn't looked up at anyone when I came back, I was so focused on getting us settled and breaking into my gummy frog stash. Then the guy on the other side of the guy next to me says, "this guy on the other side of the aisle is your husband's father's brother." A person who does not exist, so I look over and it is in fact my step dad's brother in law. So fun.
Of course the best part of the day was seeing Ceara and her cute baby bump. She made nachos, we chatted... This weekend is going to go fast!

Picture is of Miss Rubberneck. This girl loves her people watching!

Tsa seriosly?

What could she hide in these shoes?!??

Checked in

Pre-Flight

 

Ah sweet Tuesday. She is feeling so much better. The little stomach thing set us back slightly, if only because today she wanted to nurse like a crazy maniac to make up for it. Here you see her in the middle of a 2.5 hour nurse/nap/nurse/nap session that did not leave my lap. However we were able to get everything ready for the trip, as my mom pointed out we are not going to outer Mongolia (no offense to outer Mongolia, but I hear there's not much there). In fact I am going to Ceara's, one of my best friends in the whole wide world. Who just happens to be expecting one of Tuesday's best friends (she just doesn't know it yet). The last time we saw Ceara Tuesday was four days old I think. She's changed a bit :)

In fact I was going to do a post about her nine month check up and stuff, but ran out of time. So quickly (since this seems to be the baby book by default), let me say she is PERFECT. Oh more specific details? She is 27 inches long and 14 pounds, 9 ounces - moved back up to the 5% oh ya! That's my big girl :) She's the exact same size I was at her age. She eats mama made solids happily, squash I think is her favorite, based on vigor of slapping the high chair tray. She nurses lots. She loves her papa to put her to sleep, on this most recent business trip I tried for nearly two hours to get her down and finally had Bj call, put him on speaker phone and he sung her to sleep. She can crawl like crazy now, and pull herself up on everything. I left a room for a minute, came back and couldn't see her. I called out for her and she was behind a chair. When I found her she just smiled, like, "oh ya, I got you Mom!" Her giggle is the best, she now has ticklish feet which is so funny. Like I said, perfect. 

Now I don't want to brag but I'm all ready to go and I think I have the perfect knitting plan. It required a trip to the library to check out a book THAT I OWN because what the heck happened to it? I don't know. So I've go the main project, the quick project, the back up project, and the reserve project. I know, it doesn't sound like enough to me either, but like my mom said, it's not out mongolia.