Uppity-Mama

"About A Boy" Quilt

Hope Squared is a project created by the amazing women of Margaret's Hope Chest.  These women have turned tragedy into triumph.  Please read their story.  It will amaze and inspire.  Hope Squared is collecting handmade quilts for the homeless children of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This one is for them. 

I love these fabrics from Riley Blake.  There are so few "boy" fabrics out there that aren't babyish.  

How lucky am I to have this star stitch on my awesome Designer SE?

 

On The Hook

I've been slowly working on this blanket.  Very slowly, late at night, a row or two here and there.  I'm using all kinds of yarn from my stash.  I seem to have started a kind of a pattern here, though, which I may not have enough of each yarn to follow through on.  So the second half may look very different from from the first.

The stitch pattern is Gary's Ripple from this book.

                                            

Tutorial: How To Get Flowers From Your Significant Other

Step One:

Wake up weepy on the weekend.  Say you've been feeling sad and restless.

Step Two:

 Say how tired you are from being responsible for 4 kids lives and still nursing the 2 year old.

Step Three:

Bring on the full waterworks.

Complain about how he/she is at work soooo much and then on the weekend there's all this pressure and he/she is finally there but still hopping on the computer all the time. 

Step Four:

Between sobs say...how...you...don't...have...a...career...and...you're ...getting...OLD!!!

Step Five:  Start singing "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" by Babs Streisand and Neil Diamond.

*Now, when your flowers arrive, make him a nice dinner and well, give him some special dessert ;-).  Say thank you and tell him how much you love him.  Because you do.  You really, really do.

Tula Pink Stacked Coin Quilt

I completely ripped off my friend, Lisa, on this one.  I took her free motion quilting class at Tanner's and I saw she had made a quilt like this.  Well, who can resist these fabrics from the Tula Pink Hushabye collection, I ask you?    AND it was my first time stippling!  I gathered my courage and wine (Lisa told me to)... and, well, not so bad!  Thanks, Lisa!

 

The sashing and backing fabric is Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Pale Flesh.  I got one of those fabulous color cards from Pink Chalk fabric to help me order solids in the proper colors.  I highly recommend it.  

Sunday Slice, Nov. 1

The living room.  Can you spot the dog?

Birthday Pajamas, Cake, etc.

My little Beckett turned two on the 26th.  I cannot believe it.  This time, the fourth time, it really went so fast.  I made him some pajamas with this Kwik Serge pattern.  They were so fast and easy.  If you have a serger, I highly recommend this pattern.  You can get the fabric here at Sewzanne's.

Because he is all about trucks right now I made him this cake:

It's just a yellow cake from a box with chocolate and vanilla frosting made green for grass.  The dirt is crumbled Oreo cookies without the cream in the middle.  The trucks came in a pack for six bucks at Target.  Soooo easy. 

And we rented this digger truck bouncer from Awesome Bounce.  They had emailed me a coupon and it cost only 46.00 for 10 hours of fun!

A Pillow to Go With It

After Violet made her patchwork pillow, Mira naturally wanted to make one too.  She used some of the leftover fabric from her quilt, and this time she drew AND embroidered the design.  I was so proud of her that I bought her this book, hoping for more.  I'll keep you posted on that front.

The Sunday Slice

What's lurking behind the door...under the stairs?

A playroom/hideaway!  Wish I'd had one when I was a kid!

Monday Home Slice?

Yes, I failed to deliver the Sunday Slice, but it should taste just as nice on Monday, right?

Now, don't be too quick to judge!  Let me explain why this lovely poster hangs in my kitchen corner above the toddler art table.  This poster was in an episode of The Unusuals that my husband wrote.  In that episode the police uncover a secret "Murder Store."  Well, you have to get your supplies somewhere, don't you?  How handy to have them all in one place where no records will be kept!  Anyway, this poster, a play on the usual "How To Help A Choking Victim" posters was hanging in the store.  

The lovely folks at the show had it framed for us.  The kids do know it's from the show and that it's a joke, albeit a morbid one.  We also have these on our living room bookshelves.

 

And imagine the look on our housekeeper's face when she found these cleaning supplies!

Mira (and her quilt)

Mira, my daughter, has amazed me since the day I met her.  She was born in South Korea and lived with a foster family until I picked her up and brought her home when she was 13 months old.  She adapted to our family so quickly, it truly felt "meant to be."  She brings all of us daily joy with her wit, smiles, and keen observations.  I wanted to make her something special.  I decided on a quilt.

 

She is a wonderful little artist and so I asked her to draw some pictures of sea creatures (a theme we agreed to) on fabric.  My favorite is the crab with the heart shaped claws!

I embroidered over her drawings and combined those squares with the beautiful fabrics from Heather Ross' Mendocino line.

I added some kona cotton sashing and Dumb Dot binding.  I put the binding on by machine with a zig zag stitch.  I just knew I didn't have the patience to hand sew the back.  Though it's going on her twin size bed, the quilt is at least a full.

I told her that some people name the quilts they make. She named hers "The Wild Ocean." I machine embroidered it on the back and she keeps picking up the corner when her bed is made to look at it.  Oh, my heart!

She is so thrilled with the end result.  I hope she will always cherish it and remember making it together with her Mama, who will ALWAYS cherish her.