Quilting Day

I didn't mean to start looking at pictures...  I spent my "free" time today quilting.  I promised Max and Mitch when they moved out of the toddler beds I would make them full size quilts.  I finally started to piece them today.  I am making disappearing nine patch for them.  I got all the nine patches together and was going to go cut them all in half when I glanced up to see the last gift I made and gave to my dad.  It was an insert for his casket lid.  We had discussed its design to be sure it met his specifications.  I gleaned the materials for construction from the clothes hanging in Dad's closet.  The verse on it is Proverbs 22:28 Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set.

My dad died on Sunday night.  We were planning on pulling our camper over to stay in my folk's yard on Saturday.  I finished the insert on Friday evening and got the kids fed and in their pajamas while Matt finished up the 45 minute long slide show of my dad's life set to the music of Buddy Greene.  We were planning on making the 40 minute trip over to parents to give them the video and the insert before returning home to get the kids in bed.  Matt had some trouble with the download and we decided it was getting too late to make the trip since we were going over in the morning anyway.  Early Saturday morning Dad slipped into a coma.  He never saw the last thing I got to make him, but I know he would have been pleased with how it all came together.

I designed the insert to become the center panel in a quilt for my mom.  For now it sits on the shelf on my computer desk.  Mom gave me dad's ties and I am planning to incorporate them in the quilt.  I think I need more time to insure quality work.  I can't seem to sew straight when my eyes are leaking and making the fabric soggy...

Happy Little Hair Accessories...

I have a hard time when I am in a store and there are a lot of bright colored items displayed together.  It is a marketing ploy that pulls me in. How can I pick just one?  They all belong together!  They can't possibly look as appealing solo.  How could I separate them?  Won't they be lonely?  It would be like taking an elephant for its tusks and leaving the baby elephant to fend for itself!  I would never do that!!

 I went to an actual brick and mortar store for the first time this holiday shopping season last week and encountered something I have had my eye on for the girls.  I can quickly work myself into an emotional frenzy all over a display of silk zinnias in the craft aisle.   love those big bushy flowers you see clipped on headbands.  We found the headbands and I decided to purchase silk flowers by the stem to glue on hair clips I had on hand at home.  Right by the flowers were butterflies.  We got at least one of every color.

First, I used my side snips, you may recognize them from a former post where I was using them to remove staples from Breadwinner's noggin, to cut the stem and back from the flowers.  In the picture you see the pink flower in a state of disarray.  It's metal stem and base have been removed.  Next, I used a glue gun to glue all the petals back together.  If you have never taken the stem and back from a silk flower you may not be aware that when you remove them the petals are no longer stuck together.  A large gem was then glued in the middle of the flower.  Lastly, an alligator type hair clip was glued on the back.  The flower can be clipped to a headband as pictured or directly to hair or a sweater.  Don't feel sorry for the loan butterfly.  We got one of every color on the end cap!



A word on hot glue guns.  The little orange one you see in the picture is low temp.  I gave it to my oldest daughter last year for Christmas, yes the crafting insanity is intergenerational-just ask my mom!  Low temp is great because the glue doesn't tend to melt your synthetic projects or blister your fingers as badly.  The drawback is it doesn't seem to come out of the gun as quickly.  I started the project with low temp and ended with a high temp glue gun.  The high temp takes longer to dry and seems to leave more "strings" of glue on the project. 

 This flower and headband we already had on hand.  I simply added the clip to the flower.  Even if you can't get out to purchase the aforementioned materials you can probably make this.  I made the headband one Sunday when I was home from church with a sick kiddoe.  Take a ribbon and sew some felt the same dimensions as the ribbon on the back.  Sew a piece of elastic on either end of the ribbon and you are done.

Even though the girls picked out what colors they wanted and watched me glue them together I know they will be pleased to find them in their stockings Christmas morning!  

Wordflakes...

My kids love scissors.  If you have read my post on hair cuts you may have put 2 and 2 together and figured out that while we do try to keep them from running with scissors we don't disallow our kids from doing lots of cutting.  In the past I have even purchased workbooks devoted singly to cutting as birthday gifts.  Needless to say making paper snowflakes is a project we introduce early in support of their dexterity development.

Last weekend my sister-in-law, who claims she is craft challenged, brought me this great idea.  Her co-worker had shared it with her.   It is an old fashioned snowflake with words cut into it.  She called them Nameflakes.  She had made them using surnames and matted and framed them as gifts.  Claiming artistic license I changed the name to Wordflakes and used seasonally inspired words.

For this project you need is a square piece of paper, a pencil, and scissors.  If your husband has deemed it necessary for your occupation that you have your own scalpel set and taken it upon himself to procure said apparatus so be it.  Get that out along with a cutting board.  It is handy for removing excess paper inside little letters.

Fold a square of paper in half 3 times.  With the folded edge to the bottom cut off excess paper to flatten the left edge.

Write an inspired word in block letters making sure the letters touch each other on the sides.  Cut to remove excess paper.  This one says, "PEACE" if you can't tell.





Open them and enjoy.

My oldest is so excited to display these gems she is washing the kitchen windows to make a place for them right now.   If yours turn out really super mat and frame them up for gifts.  No one can ever have too many pieces of cut up paper hanging around...

Mommy, Do I look Good?

More advice to young mothers.  Start cutting your kids hair when they are young.  This is the best time to make mistakes.  They won't know they look funny until you go to church and everyone erupts with uncontrolled mirth and your baby looks at you with questioning eyes.  Not that we have first hand knowledge of such occurrences...  

I have been cutting hair for 10 years now.  Sometimes I'm not sure I have gotten any better with practice.  But I will not be deterred!  Especially when the alternative involves loading everyone in the van and paying someone else to do a job I can do well enough.

This was not a mistake!  He requested a "Papa Dick" haircut.

She did this herself as I was executing the aforementioned "Papa Dick".

I did accidentally remove his side burn when he made a sudden  head nod.




My best hair cutting advice is to do it in the bathtub.  The clean up is easy!   Put the hair clumps in the trash and rinse down the strays.  

In The Sweatshop...

I finally have something completed that I can post without wrecking the Christmas present surprise.  This happens to be for my kids.  I will have to forbid them from checking out my blog.  I always have a chuckle when people say they got someone to watch their children while they Christmas shopped for the kids.  I seldom leave the house without my entourage.  Makes me feel more important that way.  Anyone with that many people following them must be a person of note.  Maybe I should give them all cameras and we can pretend they are paparazzi.  I am 93% sure most folks being chased by the hoard paid them to drum up business to meet their career goals.  From the number of face covered circulars at the grocery check-out it may show a great deal of business acumen.  But I digress...

I purchase most all gifts for my kids in their presence. (how punny!)  Birthdays included.  This doesn't mean they know what they will be receiving.  They learn not to question unusual purchases at a young age. We also have a plethora of nieces and nephews with just as many birthday buying opportunities on which to place suspicion.

My kids are a bunch of droolers.  Only 1out of 6 of my babies didn't have to wear a bib 24/7.  I may not always remember a change of clothes for the baby when we are out and about, but I always have 5 extra bibs.  I change bibs more than I change diapers!  This being said, I don't think they outgrow this habit.  They spend the night dessicating as all moisture drains from their bodies onto their pillows.  In the spirit of true disclosure I once was as they are until the last 10 years when I was forced from being a stomach sleeper due to pregnancy and lactation.  I'm passing all the blame onto my dad, the patriarch of the drooling sleepers.

Let me halt here to give warning to all those of you who have yet to chose a life's mate.  This trait could be a deal breaker.  Put the drool question on your "questionaire for possible suitors".  You can thank me in the future...

Due to the drool my kids pillows are not the most pleasant things even after much laundering.  So pillows went on the Christmas list.  This buying season Matt happened to be in town with us and I took the opportunity to dart into Wal Mart while they waited in the car.  Not sure how I thought I would "sneak" 5 pillows into the van without anyone noticing.  I had hoped Matt would park facing away from the exit.  They were questioning my bulk pillow purchase before I was buckled.  "Who are those for?"  "Are you giving those to -cousin's name- for his birthday?"

So ends my brief foray into stealthy gift procurement.  

I did make each of them a new pillowcase.  It was fun picking out fun fabrics for each of them.  They went together so quickly it was a treat to have them all done in one day!   All of them with the exception of Maielle's were quilter's cotton.  She got minkee.  Sometimes it pays to be one of the babies.

For 3 of the pillowcases I used 2 fabrics and 1/2'' seam allowance.
The measurements for the fabric are 25''x40'' and 8''x40''
1. Fold the 8''x40'' fabric in half the long way.
2. Place right sides together and serge 8'' fabric to 25'' fabric(along the 40'' side of course)
3. Serge the bottom and side.
4.  Iron the seam toward the opening and topstitch.
-With 2 pillowcases I used 1 piece of fabric.  I simply folded the top to the inside to make the band before sewing up the ends and side and topstitching.

Project complete!  One thing done yesterday that won't be eaten up only to be eliminated out for me to deal with later.  One thing not spilled out only to be picked up and dumped again.  Ah, the feeling of accomplishment!

Soggy Crust and Wet Carpet

A friend came to visit the other day and asked if I still cry a lot about my dad.  Every couple days I have a slow moment and that's when memories surface.  My day is seldom quiet so I don't have opportunity to dwell on our loss at the same time I try to be cognizant of the need to grieve.

I guess the term "slow moment" is relative.  These moments exist for me are when no one is demanding my direct attention.  Last Saturday I cried into my pizza as I was making supper.  This is an obvious time to stop and think of Dad as pizza was his favorite and I don't recall a time when Mom didn't make it for him on a Saturday night.  Saturday night pizza was an institution.  The occasion was rare that my friends could persuade me to "go out" when there was a weekly party at home.  Dad was introduced to pizza in high school.  The fact that he was not Italian but Danish didn't seem to curb his enthusiasm for what would become a food staple for him.  My dad wasn't a huge eater, but he made an exception when it came to pizza.  He always ate his pizza with a fork.  Hot pepper flakes became a must have within the last 15 years.  When we were kids it was a big deal that we got to drink kool-aid with our pizza.  Changing with the times pop is now the expectation.  Mom's pizza crust can be used as a time line.  Mom started out making the boxed mix crust, made a short transition to frozen bread dough, next she made a thick home made bread dough, finally she settled into a French dough making a thinner crust.  There is no wonder that pizza is my number one go to comfort food...

Yesterday I had another moment as I was vacuuming.  This can be a very reflective time for me as no one can talk to me over the sound of the vacuum.  I can't remember what triggered the tears, but they were mixed with chuckles.  I was remembering my dad's last words to me.  In the last months I had wondered what they would be.  In the end he couldn't really talk.  So when he said something it was because it was important.  He could only whisper.  I leaned in close to try to understand what he was trying to say.  It was something along the lines of, "You made me throw up!"  Dad experienced a lot of nausea. Having had a lot of experience with this myself, I was always on the lookout for things that might help ease it.  Nothing I suggested helped.  And the preggy-pops were the worst, apparently.  So, the last act for my Dad in his consciousness was to hold the bucket for him.  I laughed then and it still makes me laugh.  I can only surmise that Dad figured he had already told me everything he needed to as he raised me.

In Pursuit of Normal...

I ran into a friend yesterday who also lost her father to lung cancer.  What a relief for her to tell me to "give yourself two years..."

We spent the last year anticipating Dad's demise and trying make the most of time.  Now we are trying to get back to "normal".  Our new normal involves tears.  I can't keep track of the number of gifts I have picked out for my dad for Christmas.  The other day my mind reverted all the way to my childhood.  One of the girls needed socks to go out and tend to chicken chores.   I caught myself just as I was going to tell her to just get a pair out of Dad's shelf in the mudroom so she didn't have to go all the way upstairs.  I am intrigued by the way the subconscious reacts to stress...

The month of December is customarily Sewing Month in our home.  We spend much time creating Christmas gifts.  This year we have the added benefit of another sewing machine, which is great as we try to catch up with missed school work.  The sewing machine was my paternal grandmother's.  When my mom gave it to me it would only zig-zag stitch.  I found the original sales receipt in the case and the shop where she purchased it is only 7 miles from my home!  Even though they wouldn't honor the lifetime sales guarantee, they tuned it up and it now works just as well as it did in the '60's.

My goal is to eventually have a one-to-one sewing machine to girl ratio.  This summer on the way home from the lake we visited a quilt shop.  The girls used some special money they had been given there.  Mad bought a pattern and Maliah chose a panel.  Fortunately they are more decisive than their mama. I was so busy helping them choose I didn't find anything I needed.  It is much the same at the present.  The girls are busily sewing as I stand by to assist.  At this rate I may have to reduce my anticipated Christmas output as there is no machine for me.

More pictures to come of people sewing. I'm sure the anticipation will be your undoing...