Sunday, January 12, 2014

Progress and a Coaster

I have gotten a lot of stuff started this week.

1. 2 solo dance costumes requiring alterations.

2. Lola's Quilt.  I am expecting a niece any day now and it dawned on me I did not make her a quilt, so I better get on it.  I dug into my stash and found an Amy Butler Soul Blossom strip set.  It seemed to call out LOLA!  Oh, by the way, her parents have not shared her name with the family, so I took it upon myself to name her Lola.  Her sister is Isla (I-la) and I like the ring of it, Isla and Lola.  I cannot wait to meet her and learn the name her parents have in mind.  But until then, "Her name was Lola. She was a show girl......"  

3.  Another baby girl quilt.  Simple squares of grey and cream and navy print.  It will be lovely!  

4. If you are counting, this is quilt #3.  Michael Miller Ta Dot- quite possibly my favorite fabric line of all time.  It would make a lovely gift for Valentine's, My Birthday, Mother's Day, Anniversary, Martin Luther King's birthday, President's Day, Texas Independence Day, Cinco de Mayo, Flag Day, Easter, or National Buy Your Favorite Quilter Some Polka Dot Fabric Day which is RIGHT around the corner!   I also am using Gypsy Bandanna. Happy fun prints!  This one has me a bit stumped, but I think I have found the solution and inspiration to go forth.  Paisley and polka dots---this one may have to be pried from my grasp.  


5.  Handy dandy Ott Lite, Quiet and trusty Janome - I use this machine for piecing and most small projects.  A pom pom that I need to hand sew back on a knit hat.  A coaster.  We will look at that in a moment.  And a frog that my sweet girl bought me in her quarterly school auction.  I like frogs and it was sweet, but I think she had ulterior motives.   I was a bit miffed at her for making me dash home and get her tennis shoes for PE.  I handed down a fee of a Starbucks Hot Chocolate purchased for me and a punishment of being forced to wear unfashionable tennis shoes to school ALL week.  THE HORROR.  Shortly after, she comes bearing gifts......I still love it though.  


6. A scrap stack just out of the package from Fresh Squeezed Fabrics so I can make color coded bins for all of my fabric scraps.  
At $10-12 a yard for fabric, I admit, I hoard every usable inch of it.  It is getting a bit out of hand, but with no scraps, I will never be able to make something like this scrap vortex quilt...........

7. A rag doll in desperate need of her yarn hair.  She has been bald for about 400 days now.  Poor Baby!  

8. Back to that coaster.  I mostly keep it rated G around here, but this jumps right over the line.  It cracked me up and I had to have it.  I find great humor in old fashioned photos being captioned with modern day thoughts.  (Those e-cards crack me up too.) 

There you have it.  My kitchen table.  Thank goodness for our island where we eat our meals!  It may look messy to you, and also to my husband, but to me it looks like progress.  








Sunday, January 5, 2014

2014.....GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So what makes me come alive?
Taking perfectly lovely fabric, cutting it to pieces, mixing it with friends and making it into something beautiful.
 For Babies

 For Friends

 For Graduations

For Raffles

For Special Teachers......
You get the idea, right? 

Hand pleating miles of net to become a tutu.

My first tutu- a Halloween costume for my little girl. 


Making a pair of jumbo size pants into pants that fit.




Reading.  I love big books and I cannot lie.  I have about 60 ready and waiting in my old school keyboard Kindle!

Writing.  I enjoy putting thoughts into words onto paper.  Sometimes they take me on an adventure I didn't see coming.  Sometimes they give an answer I couldn't find.  Sometimes they are just for fun.

Cleaning.  Just seeing if you were paying attention.  If you know nothing about me, you would still know that I hate cleaning!  I love clean though.  Weird, huh?

So this year, I am going to make 12 quilts.  Yep.  One a month!  I made my list and I would really like to make 16 quilts, but that kind of put me in panic attack mode, so I am going to go with 12.

I am also going to read 12 books this year.  It is not much, but I am making 12 quilts, so back off!

I am going to make another tutu and dive a little deeper into costuming.  And I am going to take another 2 pairs of jumbo pants and make them fit.  It will be my Super Bowl Sunday tradition.

Finally, this is the toughest one of all, I will clean up my sewing area to help maximize efficiency.  I will also clean out one cabinet a week to purge this place of excess and help me be a little more clean.

I am going to bring JoY to the World (sing it!) one stitch at a time.  That's my dream.  And you are coming along and I am going to write about it all!






Saturday, January 4, 2014

2014..... Get Set!

Ahhhhhh!  It is January 4 and I still have yet to firmly embrace the New Year.  Maybe it is being home with the kids and the fact that not much really changed at the stroke of midnight.  Maybe I am a little overwhelmed at the things I would like to do and see happen in 2014.  Maybe I just need a little bit of quiet time.  In search of that, I ran away from home for a little bit this afternoon.  I got a pedicure.  I was drawn to dark royal blue polish this time.  Very uncharacteristic.  RED is my signature color.  You know you want to say that in a Southern Draaaaawwwwll as Julia Roberts did in Steel Magnolias only pink was her "signachuh cullah." Anyway, I picked a shiny blue polish off the shelf and looked at the name of the color....I always look at the name of the color.  People get paid to name those colors and I want to see just how clever they are and I want to see if the name of the polish speaks to my mood.  And the color was called Resolution by China Glaze.  What!?! Even my nail polish choice was telling me to get it together.
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I interrupt this post to let you know that my son is walking around the house blowing a duck call and I am not sure if I want to bust out laughing or scream.   I just laughed.  Now my daughter is playing jingle bells on the same duck call. 1)I hope no one has the flu.  2) HOW DO I EVER GET ANYTHING DONE?
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So I have thought and thought and I have a list a mile long of this and that and little things that I want to do, but I do believe that I have distilled it all down to one goal or resolution  or mantra if you may.

Drum Roll Please.....................

In 2014, I will live by this quote from Dr. Howard Thurman, author and pastor.

"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Ok, lets be honest.  I found the quote on Pinterest.  I had to research the source.  Buuuuut, inspiration can be found anywhere.  Right?  

And that's where I am today. Getting set!  Looking at the things that make me come alive!  At the present moment, post homemade spaghetti and meatballs, post shoving the last of the Christmas decorations into the attic, that is a book and a bubble bath!  Excuse me while I get to livin'!  



Thursday, January 2, 2014

2014....On Your Mark!

Oh my, how the time flies.  Very cliche' saying it,  but it is true.  2013 was a pretty good year, though as I try to really reflect on it, all I see is a blur.  A blur from behind the steering wheel where I spent much of my year driving up and down the road to baseball and dance and back again.  And believe it or not, I liked that part of my year very, very much.
I learned some lessons in 2013.  I learned that the only one who really has my best interest at heart is myself. I learned that the voice of God maybe is not a voice heard by my ears, but a feeling felt deep in my gut.  I learned that when I put myself in a place where I am not able to use my gifts and talents, I wilt. I learned that my dad is on the short list of people who probably have my best interest at heart too. Well, I have always known this, but now I really, really GET it.  I learned a whole new level of respect for our nation's educators and that I will probably purchase all my teacher gifts at Spec's from now on.  At the end of the day, these people deserve a nice glass of wine.  And if they don't like wine, Spec's has an INCREDIBLE selection of Gummi Bears. Who Knew?!?   I learned just how much I like Gummi Bears!  As I make my plans and set my goals for 2014, my #1 priority is to use these lessons to guide me and make 2014 a better year for me and my family.   That will make for a HaPpy NeW YeAr!