Getting Ready for the Big 0 - 2!

We have a busy few weeks planned. First, my parents fly in, then we're planning a little 'family' party for Allison's birthday. Mark and I busy working on all sorts of things. I've been having more fun than I ever imagined making fun things for the party! One pack of decorative paper & some digital paper to match and I've been having a blast. I have to make the most of these years when Allison doesn't have opinions about what her party should be like. Mark has been busy, too. He's making a present for Allison's birthday....hopefully it will back from the painter's by the end of the week. Until it comes home and I snap a picture you'll just have to believe me that Mark is a.m.a.z.i.n.g.l.y talented!

Picnic Season

Spring has been pretty slow in this part of the country. In order to make the most of any dry & somewhat sunny days we've had around here we've been enjoying lots of picnics. Last week we ate dinner in our back yard. Someday we'll hopefully have a real outdoor dining set. For now our camping table and folding chairs works great. Oh, and yes, Baby had to join us for dinner as well. She joins us for most meals!

On Sunday Allison & I were on our own for lunch. I made her lunch while she played on the patio. She came to check on me regularly (the bottom photo). We're working on learning not to push on the screen. And the first photo below? I wanted to post it to show off how good she is getting at drinking out of a real cup. I still only trust her with water in a real cup but for the most part she is pretty good at not spilling. I can't believe how grown up she is looking!

Finished in 2011 No. 5

My part in this quilt is complete so I'm adding this one to my 'Finished in 2011' List. My friend, Natalie, made this quilt (with my assistance) for her new niece, due in June. We had a great time making this quilt, again using a crazy quilt pattern. We found perfectly matching borders, which were probably a bit flowery for our original intent - but they give the quilt a nice vintage feel. I didn't take a picture of the back, it is a very nice lavender polka dot. And we used left-over block fabric for the binding. Natalie is finishing up the binding this week so the quilt can be given away next weekend.....and hopefully her new niece will be snuggling in it before too long!

Kindness

I've decided that discipline is hard. But I'm supposing that is not news to the other parents out there. Or those who aren't parents at all. For Mark and I, our goal with discipline is to shape Allison's character, not control her behavior. And for a little girl who is not quite two and not exactly the most verbal we definitely have our challenges! For now we hope and pray that what we are trying to teach her starts to make sense and finds roots in her sweet little heart.

And then every so often we are surprised by this little girl. A few weeks ago, at her gymnastics class we caught a glimpse of character which no discipline could possibly have instilled in her. Most weeks the kids get some time to play with balls. There are many, many balls to play with but only two purple ones. There is one little girl who loves the purple balls and gets very upset if she doesn't have one. On this particular day Allison was across the room with a purple ball. At the other side was the purple-ball-obsessed little girl without a purple ball and another girl who had the other purple ball with no intention of giving it up. Allison heard the ruckus, understood it and walked over to the very upset purple-ball-obsessed little girl. Allison offered it to the very upset little girl, talking her own little Alli-girl gibberish (I'm assuming she was telling the other little girl it was okay and she could have the purple ball). Eventually the little girl got the purple ball from Allison and calmed down to play.

I was simply amazed at her behavior, I had not prompted it at all. She responded on her own initiative in a very kind manner to someone she saw that was hurting. When she was born we chose to spell her name with two 'L's specifically because the meaning we found for 'Allison' was 'kindhearted.' It has been our prayer that Allison would use her life to display God's kindness to the world. I was so blessed to see how God is already answering our prayers in her life....prompting her to share a purple ball with a hurting friend. I look forward to seeing how God continues to shape and use her. And I'm thankful that her character is definitely not dependent upon my meager attempts at discipline!

Finished in 2011 No. 4

I have finished another quilt. I'm almost too embarrassed to post about this one, though, because it has been sitting around unfinished for so long. This quilt top has been finished for what I am guessing has been nine years. My first year in graduate school my friend, Heather, and I, along with the other women in her family made 'crazy quilts.' We each brought a yard of fabric that we liked (my contribution was the light blue fabric with lady bugs and flowers) and we combined them all to make crazy quilts. And even though I had the backing I never got around to finishing mine. Until now.

I used left-over batting from our headboard project and simply sewed the front, back & batting together (the first time I did with the batting on the outside - I was very thankful for my seam ripper when I figured that one out). Then I finished it by tying it with blue embroidery thread. I originally tried yarn but it was too difficult to pull through - I have no idea how folks tie quilts with yarn, I'm open to suggestions, though! I think I may need to go back and tie off in a few more places but I'd like to find some red embroidery thread first.

Normally I am not a fan of polyester binding and tying quilts but in order to get this one finished something had to be done. I'm glad I've finished this one, not just because it was sitting around for so long but also because Allison loves it. Go figure!

One other little note, when working on this quilt my friend, Natalie, happened to be over. She took one look at the quilt and then looked at me and asked 'So, do you think your style has changed?' Yes, Natalie, yes it has!

The Toddler Bob

Allison was long over due for another hair cut this weekend. Her hair is very fine (like mine) and so far fairly thin as well. And Mark and I are not particularly gifted in 'doing hair' (yes, Mark 'fixes' Allison's hair more days than I do!). I took Allison to our local 'Great Clips' and we had a great experience and it only cost me $10 (not including the tip). I know some folks out there think it is crazy to pay money to get a child's hair cut - but trust me - if I can't even 'fix' her hair there is no way I could cut it! And I love how cute the little 'toddler bob' turned out.

Pillow Love

I finished making the decorative pillows for our master bedroom last week. In general, I like how they turned out, although the felt on the front pillow is a bit bluer than the other two pillows. I guess that is what I get for using stuff I have around the house to make pillows.

Sewing covers for decorative or throw pillows is quite easy. I begin with a pillow form (the big striped pillow above uses a 16"x16" pillow form - bought at JoAnne's with a 50% off coupon). I cut the front piece to be 1/2" bigger in length and width than the pillow form (in this case 16 1/2" x 16 1/2". Next I cut two pieces for the back, each 1/2" bigger in width and 3 1/2" bigger in height. I then fold the two back pieces in half, wrong sides together. I then pin the raw edges of the back pieces to the right side of the front, the folds overlapping in the center. I sew all the way around the pillow cover with a 1/4" seam. I turn the pillow cover right side out and am left with two overlapping flaps in the back. I'm not sure if those directions make sense....I don't have the patience for writing tutorials!

I generally apply my decorations to the front before sewing the cover together, although on occasion I have done it afterwards. I'll provide a little info about the embellishments I selected for each of the individual pillows below.

I used frayed rolled rosettes to make this pillow using a tutorial from Made by Mama Monster. The fabric I used? It was left-over from the sheet set I bought to get a flat sheet to cover our box spring (Ross Dress for less has great cheap sheet sets if you don't actually have to sleep on the sheets!). The sheet fabric frayed nicely!

I used white felt and followed another Made by Mama Monster tutorial to make these hydrangea flowers. I think I cut 30+ out and sewed them with a simple cross stitch in the center to a felt circle. Once they were all attached I sewed the felt circle onto the pillow cover front using a blanket stitch. The fabric for this cover was made using the same Ross Dress For Less sheet set used to make the rolled rosettes.

This pillow cover was made using the left-over linen fabric from our headboard project. I used a decorative leaf stitch on my sewing machine to apply three rows of vines in a basic green thread color. It then stitched rolled felt roses onto the vines.

And that wraps up my decorative pillow creations for the time being. Although I do have an Alaskan friend who mentioned awhile back she could use some pillows for her couch....I'm going to see what sort of scraps I can scrounge up to meet that 'need'.....