An I-Spy Quilt and Swap

100_2705
Originally uploaded by Milasue

So, here it was less than 24 hours after my somewhat disappointing (in myself), experience with a swap and I was off signing up for another. This one is an I-Spy fabric swap hosted by Care at her blog, Obsessively Stitching. I am a sucker for punishment, I guess!

Not really, this one is fun and non-stressful and involves no sewing until after the fact, so me and my poor nearly healed back should make it through this one with no problemos.

Now I just have to track down 10 cool I-Spy-able fabrics that i am willing to part with and cut out the 200 squares and send them off ASAP.

I'm really excited! I joined my first-ever swap, an I-Spy swap as well, some time ago and made a quilt top that I have yet to finish. All 3 of my kiddos have laid claim to it. I realized I would need to make one for each of them. I think this first one will go to my 5 year old princess. Now to pick out a fabric for the sashing and the backing and quilt it.
I have some fun ideas for my other 2 kiddos quilts as well so I am very excited to get started!

The Purse

So I was forced by my pain in the neck (shoulder, back) to pick a new purse that I could put together quickly. It certainly did not turn out the way I had expected. I was just unable to concentrate and sew a straight line. I feel so awful and guilty for not putting out something better, but I just didn't want to quit. So, here are the pictures of the finished purse (just don't look too closely, please!).




I used the "Buttercup Bag" pattern from Made By Rae, but added additional pockets to the inside of the bag. I also left off the decorative flap and buttons from the exterior.
(ok, flickr is acting weird, I'll have to post more pics later!)

So much to do,so little time...

I joined the Sew, Mama, Sew Super Style Bag Swap late last month with no idea how crazy my month would turn out. Now I am 2 days from the deadline and far from being finished!!! My daughter was the female lead in her high school's production of "The Crucible" and I was tapped a day before opening to whip up some costumes. I spent most of the next 24 hours at my sewing machine to get the costumes finished for the show. I even enlisted my mom, who was a life-saver once I woke up in pain like I had never felt before. My back and shoulders had spasmed into an excruciating ball of pain that made every movement painful. I sewed together the last few collars through tears and hoped things would be better the next day. Unfortunately they weren't better. Nor the next day. Or for the next several days.
On Monday my dear hubby had foot surgery and I was still in pain but now I had much less help.
By Wednesday of this week I was still feeling the pinch in my shoulder, I was closer to functioning, but my Sister-In -Law was in town all the way from Spokane and we had the chance to get together with her and her kids at the zoo for a rare day of cousin-bonding. Thursday I made a little progress on the sewing, then my brother called to see if I could watch his 4 kiddos all day Friday since he was remodeling his kitchen and needed to get the floor in before the appliances were delivered that afternoon. Of course that meant no sewing was done on Friday... Oh, and Saturday is Trunk-or-Treat at my daughter's school so I will probably waste the day finishing Halloween costumes.
So here I sit with a dilemma. I have cut and fused and started a beautiful bag, but I am not entirely sure I can finish it this weekend. Maybe I can, but I'm not sure. Or, I can do a simpler bag for the swap and make this bag for a Christmas gift.

Passing On My Value System

I recently started following a very funny an interesting blog, Scary Mommy (love the name since all too often it is so true!) and she had a guest poster, Texas Momma, who wrote a post about her discomfort with her 4th grader's gay teacher because she was worried that the teacher's homosexuality might somehow infiltrate the classroom in an inappropriate way.
Now it probably goes without saying that Texas Momma is a conservative Christian and she sends her son to a public school. Scary Mommy, on the other hand, has much more liberal leanings. It was not too surprising that poor Texas Momma was descended upon like the villagers descended on Frankenstein. I hope her computer is fire-proofed, but more than that I hope she is.
So many of the comments were angry and hateful and demeaning and dismissive.
It got me thinking. Is it really effective to share our differences in viewpoint with such anger? Right now we are being inundated by horrible, hateful political campaign ads. Many of these ads make me angry. (just ask my husband, he laughs when I talk back to the tv) All of them cause me to lose respect for the politician or political action group sponsoring them. The net result, I am not happy with whomever wins, even if it was the side I voted for.
So, perhaps we can turn the tables. Be respectful. Give information and solutions that acknowledge and even respect differences of opinion. You can't advance a cause or idea by shoving an agenda down people's throats. When we do that, we just reinforce their negative viewpoint of our side of the argument and they dig in their heels. Respectful education and an attempt to understand where they are coming from, so the solutions we offer are at least slightly palatable to them, is much more effective.

Inspiration Monday

Fall is in the air, but not quite here yet. Later this week it is supposed to be in the 80s again! I adore this time of year when summer is fading and the blusteriness of fall is just creeping in. We went apple picking in all the loveliness and thus, my inspiration for the week. Until now, I hadn't realized that the colors of the orchard are actually the colors I am drawn to when decorating.
Apples in the orchard - I love the bright spots of red among all the greens. I think my kitchen/dining room is calling for a combo like this.

The green/yellow color is a new favorite of mine. It is bright and cool at the same time. I adore it with the darker greens and the blue of the sky.

All the loveliness at home. These colors just make me happy!


As much as I love this time of year, these days that start out at 50 degrees and end upwards of the 80 degree mark drive me batty when it comes to dressing my family. We take the layered approach, but then I am always finding clothing strewn about that the kids have removed as the day goes on and my laundry pile grows exponentially. It is cool fall in the morning and warm and summery in the afternoon. I'll just enjoy the remnants of summer while I can, and catch up on laundry later.

Fall is for Apple Picking

Last week we decided to head out to Eckert's, a local family owned farm, to pick apples with the three little ones. The pickings were slim this time. Normally we go earlier in the season. The apples were sparse and insects had gotten to many of them, but we all had a great time anyway. the kiddos would pick every apple they could reach and then present it to me like a treasure for inspection and my approval for inclusion into the bag heading home with us.
Once again I felt the pull of a house in the country where I can grow stuff to my heart's content. (hello, chickens!)

Sew, Mama, Sew Super Style Bag Swap

Last week I was getting my daily dose of blog reading and I read about the Sew, Mama, Sew Super Style Bag Swap. Just send in your info and get paired up with someone else in this big wide world and commence creating a lovely bag for your partner while they do the same for you. I dashed off an email to join before I had time to psych myself out of doing it. I have tons to sew, but it's primarily for kiddos and this will be my "just for me" sewing escape. It's my first finished object swap and I'm really excited! I have one month to make a lovely handbag for my partner, and I will get one in return. I have a little information on my swap partner so I will probably do some preliminary browsing for ideas and finalize my plan after I get some more info from her.