How To Make A Pixie Smile

Step 1. Clean the kids' bedrooms.

Before picture withheld for good reason!

Step 2. Whip out your trusty Sharpie and draw an improv kitchen on the top of the toybox. Warning! This leads to hours of fun and your small person begging you to come over for tea parties.

Step 3. Refashion/refinish a piece of furniture for the Pixie. This is her night table.

Step 4. Capture the happiness on camera!

Step 5. Get to the tea party!

New Medium

I thought I would switch gears this afternoon because the Rambo Bright flimsy is FINISHED. I cannot show pictures today because I need help photographing. For those of you who are local, I will be at Johnson's South at 10:30 tomorrow to show it off and to pick out backing and binding. Please come by and see it in person. I will post pictures here as soon as I get home, 'cause I'm so darn excited about this finish.

So what did I do that was new? I dusted off the ol' knitting needles.

Say wha....? I really don't knit. I could never get the right rhythm and I'm very slow. But I just couldn't resist when I read this post at Mari Makes. Tell me this is not the cutest idea - it was enough to inspire me to knit. I made a sweet little pair of mini-mitts. It only took 8 false starts before I could figure out how to do the "knit 1 purl 1" for the ribbing.

I am already planning to make a pair or two each week until Christmas season and then string them up to decorate our tree. I cannot decide what to do with the strings, so I ended up just tucking them inside. Here's a shot for scale:

Three inches! So terribly cute. And I'm so terribly impressed with myself. I may even attempt to knit mitts for my children, providing someone sends me a pattern (hint, hint). In the future, I might switch to a smaller size of needles for the ribbing - it looks a little loose to me.

The Pixie was also very impressed with the tiny mittens. She claimed them for her blue baby. This was taken just before she ran off with them.

Goodbye, sweet mini-mitts.

The Stuffing Realm

I started a little improv piecing....a few almost-square shapes, a few strips of ants. I had a little banner of colour.

And then my Pixie decided to start teething...we think she's cutting her four year molars, six months early. She had a fever that peaked at 103.9 and slept with me last night.

This morning, she was puttering around the house and found a little Fisher Price owl that her Daddy loved as a child. We explained that she could not add him to her stash of toys because of the toy's age. She very quickly put two and two together and politely asked me to make her an owl of her own.

How could I refuse my hurting child? This is who we came up with. She calls him Button Owl because of the button print on his body.

Button Owl was very quickly improvised. His eyes were appliqued from a black and white print that will eventually make it into the Pixie's next quilt (the fashionista in her has decreed that her bedroom shall be black, white and pink). His beak is a stuffed and squished triangle.

After the face was on she hit me with an upgrade in the request: her owl had to have the same wings as Daddy's owl.

Those little wings caused me trouble!! I did a. lot. of unpicking stitches, a lot of sewing and resewing, and maybe a little bit of swearing.

I love the way he is more pillow than owl....she already tossed him a few times this afternoon. Before Christmas, he'll be demoted from cuddly to bed accessory.

I didn't make a pattern, and I didn't photograph a tutorial. I really think that anything plush is better if you Wing It! I might even venture into the rag-doll construction zone before Christmas rolls around. If you want to make your own owl, then my only advice is to add the face before sewing the front and back together. I boxed his butt for more stability and pillow-ish-ness.

I guess this....

....will have to wait.

The Way of The Creative Heart

It was a dreary, rainy morning. Some artificial sunshine was needed.

I had this wild and crazy idea to make a mug rug for a new friend of mine, and so the day started off like this:

But since I was on a roll, I couldn't stop at mug rug size. I ended up with a mini-quilt.

I had some magical help....my own personal Fairy. I love seeing those drooping wings concentrating on design - and those still-chubby toes standing on a chair at my studio.

This is her first me-designed quilt block ever. I think I might add it into the mix of Rambo Bright blocks, and leave a note for the recipients (her aunt and uncle) about who made it.

She couldn't make the block any bigger because she got distracted by her ability to fit into a backpack.

I will have to have another go at making a mug rug, but my inspiration has changed. I have the plan to go where I've never gone before....my own personally designed paper piecing. Wish me luck, cause I will certainly need it!

After all of this practice, I might feel confident enough to make a cover for my design book. So many ideas, so little time.

Kids Week

I know that I'm telling you this a bit late, but most of last week was consumed by making clothing for my kids. It was fun and I get into a groove very easily when sewing for my darling cuties.

The Punk got a new skirt. She picked out the colours herself. She wanted it to match her new-to-her Dubble Bubble shirt.

My Pixie needs sundresses so badly....this was made in very short order. I like it, but it's not supremely cute. I'm debating stitching some pick-ups into the dotted swiss overskirt.

Is it really Wednesday already? I'm going to bore you with cute pictures (because I missed Sunday's Grandparent Eye Candy Day), and here's a bonus Confession: I don't sew all of my kids' clothing. I love to sew for them, and they will always have their "best" dresses made by Mom, but to save time (and keep it for quilting) I will spend money in thrift shops and at garage sales with the ultimate goal of cheaply covering my girls.

This cute shot is a prime example of thrift and cute. My Pixie, on a rainy day, wearing a steal of a find: vintage shirtdress with a-line skirt.

Couldn't you just die from cute overload?

I especially love garage sales for second hand kids clothes. Why? Because of good timing. Sometimes a sack of donations will sit around a thrift shop so long the clothing goes out of style before it's sorted onto the sales floor. At garage sales, moms will do almost anything to get outgrown clutter out of the house. It sells fast and cheap and often is only a season or two behind the stores.

And just for fun.....some shots from the farmer's market [aftermath] this week. We go every week, but our favorite face painter isn't always there. She's such a great artist!

My Kitty....she meowed all day.

So what's next? I have traced the pattern for a tunic dress for the Punk. I also have the feeling that quilting satisfaction may have to come in small doses - I have the urge to make baby/toddler quilts and randomly give away. No new blocks to report for Rambo Bright. No progress on the Green Quilt (although there will be soon - I want it on my bed by fall).

We had watermelon for breakfast. What did you have?

Urges

I want to quilt so desperately! It is a physical need. However strong the urge may be, I just can't do it yet.

I spent almost a week unable to walk at all. I watched the Easter proceedings from my bed. Having energy but not being able to move is terrible! My recovery time is slow, but mostly steady. I live at my chiropractor's office.

And sitting is absolutely, unequivocally from the devil. It hurts to sit sooo much. Therefore, I cannot quilt: And I am sad about that. Plus, the non-walking thing leaves out shopping trips to the fabric store.

What's a quilter to do? Can you feel my pain? Plus, the USB cord for my camera moved out and neglected to provide a forwarding address.

I feel like jumping head-first into my design book and calling my new block design "hurting unit." LOL.

On the very worst day of all, my Pixie pulled down the basket that held precut and counted stacks of delicious green for my Green Quilt. Stacks went in every direction. I actually cried. My Pixie spent some time in her room.

And then a few days ago, when the urge to quilt was almost overwhelming, I put the basket and pattern into bed with me and recounted hundreds of squares and made new stacks. Playing with fabric was like therapy. It raised my spirit for the rest of the day.

I got someone else to put the basket up higher than the Pixie can reach.

Just Playing

This weekend's snowstorm made the adults lazy and the kids bored.

To entertain the girls, one of the activities we did was playing with shaving cream in the bathtub. It was fun for all of us, and an easy cleanup (and good coverup!).

We spent quite a lot of time baking because there is nothing better to do while the snow falls. 5 loaves of bread and two pans of meatballs to start. Plus a raw apple pie. (So good.)

This picture has nothing to do with the text.

 On the sewing front, I dug some blue corduroy from my stash and cut out a school jumper for the Punk. My reasoning told me that light blue would make very bad play pants, but a very good play dress.

I put a zipper in the back because I don't like messing around with buttons on corduroy. I'm waiting for the Punk to get home from school so that I can hem it and take more pictures.

Free confession: On Sunday evening I spent 6 hours on my butt in front of the tv. I haven't done this in years. It felt good to veg out for a while....just entertaining ME. I couldn't have done this if there was not another adult in the house; so thanks, Mom.

Makes Me Want To Grrrr.

I am not a numbers person. I barely passed high school algebra. It's safe to say that mathematics and I should not mingle at the same party. We just don't get along.

It's a love/hate relationship because Quilters need Math.

Emotional break: here's a random shot of my breakfast. Green juice and a bowlful of mango, strawberries, and bananas.

Back to math. See these strips? The sashing between them was easy to calculate. It is the same length as the blocks.

Here's a Pixie for size comparison. The blocks finish at a foot square.

I decided that the sashing should be 1/3 of the width of the blocks. Putting 4" strips between the blocks should mean that the rows are five feet long. You experienced quilters reading this instantly know that the sashing between the rows has to be either pieced or cut on the lengthwise grain.

I chose to piece. It is a scrap quilt, after all.

What a mess! I miscalculated the length and had to add pieces to both ends of my w.o.f. cuts. The only saving grace was the last piece added was exactly the length of a block and I had a seam to match for reference.

This pile of strips and sashing covered my chair for a while.

I discovered that hiding seams in sashing strips is as easy as pressing them open and not to the side.

At this moment, I have a section that looks like this:

And one that looks like this:

Plus the strip of violet for the bottom row.

After that I'll only have to add borders. Cross your fingers that those calculations work out well. I wanna finish this and get it to it's family!

Busted!

This darling Pixie is given many privileges and usually meets all of my expectations. This morning, however, the crayons were too tempting, the wall too white....

 Caught red-handed while applying crayon to wall, her only excuse was to say, "But I was drawing Pirates!" Because pirates make it okay.....

Yesterday this same Pixie commandeered my design time to request a blanky for her "toddy" bear. She spent an hour pretending to knit before discovering that knitting needles work just as well as drumsticks. Have you ever heard a toddler say "knit one, pearl two?" Hilarious.

I couldn't really say no to her request. I switched to crochet for a couple of days.

My goal is to use up the rest of the homeless pink yarn. It's been living in a plastic box for a couple of years since I downsized my hobbies to just sewing and quilting. If the box empties then I'll have more room for fabric, right?

Because it's all about the fabric.

Quick Learner

Last evening I cut these pieces from pink, denim, and interfacing. Here my Pixie wishes you to know that her pink shirt matches the pink fabric.

After the kids were in bed, I used this tutorial to transform those fabric pieces into this cute messenger bag.

It was so quick and easy. I may make another half dozen...I know a few kids who need useful cute things. I'll make two in boy flavours, and another in toddler sized girl flavour, and then lengthen the strap for two slightly taller girls who really shouldn't be left out.

I blew up some heart-shaped balloons before I went to bed.

I could hear squeals of enjoyment as I emerged from the shower this morning. They had no trouble finding something to do with the balloons. My Pixie kept saying "Happy birthday!"

 I explained to her that, in our culture, hearts are symbols of love. We celebrate love on Valentine's Day every year. I gave her and the Punk presents because I love them. It took her a few seconds to digest this new information, and then she happily started saying "happy balentine day." She's a genius. I rarely have to dumb down her education.

She also kept her big girl panties dry all night and peed on the toilet when she woke up this morning. After only one week of intensive training. I'm so proud of her.

Thanks for the advice, Gramady. Happy Valentine's Day.

And happy Valentine's day to everyone else, too.

Serene Green

These green blocks were 95% finished by supper time on Saturday.

What actually was accomplished on Saturday is a slightly larger list. Between two adults and two children, here's what we did: washed two bathrooms, swept and washed every lino floor in the house, picked up toys, did dishes twice, organized the master bedroom, vacuumed two carpeted rooms, cleared the foyer, made meatloaf, did some gluten-free baking, went shopping, sewed green blocks, [played Castleville], and picked up the Husband from work. Phew!

Sunday was marvelously relaxing. We made a beautiful and tasty lunch and brought Husband back to work. Sunday also included some necessary evening beers.

This means that all the blocks for the House of Love quilt are done! Wanna see them all? Ta da!

They look great together! I'm planning to create a design wall in my next house - very much needed. For now, standing on the coffee table for photos will have to suffice.

This is the desired orientation for the finished quilt. I l.o.v.e. it. I really, really love it.

Today is library day. Tomorrow is grey sashing. I'll have a completed rainbow scrap flimsy by the end of the week (knock on wood).

These last photos are for Gramady. I didn't post on Grandparent Eye Candy Day, so anyone who doesn't want to see my Pixie today can navigate away without any hard feelings.

A normal breakfast in our home contains at least one cupful of green smoothie. The other day, my Pixie invented a new and unique way to eat her breakfast: by painting with it.

She even tried to lick the cutting board when she was done. Cleanup was a snap. I highly recommend letting your kids amalgamate art + breakfast.