P is for...

Punk!

After nearly two weeks of working like a dog to downsize and clean this little house (got rid of many full garbage bags and probably a dozen or more boxes), I am exhausted! My mom moved out and at the same time we converted our home to a fully raw-food haven. I've been very focused on making raw food meals that my kids will eat.

Turns out, if they're hungry enough they will eat anything. Here it's lettuce wraps:

So what does house cleaning have to do with my Punk?

My mom moved out; she had been sharing a room with the Punk. I spent a full afternoon sorting, washing, rearranging the bedroom. The Punk now has a bedroom that echos. She has three pieces of furniture (bed, dresser, and now, Nanny's old desk). She also has very bare walls. Echo....echo....echo....

It's embarrassing because I *make* quilted art and she has none on her walls.

So I hung up her baby quilt and told her to hold on.....I started by improv piecing some letters. We'll see where it goes from there.

I also took this little pile of scraps - they've been cut for two months -

And sewed together a single Jacob's Ladder block.

I even made sure the corners and points all matched perfectly....because I can do that, even though it's not my favorite way of making quilt tops.

Perhaps a bit of regimented patchwork will be good for my mojo. I'd like to set a goal for my scrappy Jacob's Ladder to be finished by Christmas 2014.

Now back to my Punk's walls....

....and my Green Monstrosity.

To the cutting table!

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?

Refashion #1

These jeans have been sitting around in my scraps pile for a couple of months. They've been patched once and I don't feel like patching them again.

So I chopped them off.

I sewed the center closed.

Then I took apart the legs, added some more scraps, and pieced some strips. I double topstitched all of the seams.

Then sew right sides together, press up and topstitch.

The bottom strip I did not take pictures of during construction. I sewed the patches wrong sides together so that the eventual fraying would be a design feature. Instead of a hem, I straight stitched 3/8" from the raw edges to create a stopline for the fraying.

Here is what the skirt looks like if I take a picture of myself.

I'll run it through a wash cycle to fray and then have someone else take a couple of photos.

Because I promised, here is a pic of my Punk in her new jumper, ready to go to school. She loves it. She actually had a tantrum when I took it off of her in order to hem it.

Next project!

It has been slowly hatching in my brain that a mugrug is too small to eat breakfast on.

See what I mean? If I put one bowl and a glass on it, I can't see the mugrug in order to enjoy it.

And if I have a bowlful of berries and a dish of mango, the mugrug disappears completely.

I must remedy this situation, stat!

Happy Punk

Today was a productive day.

We made a huge pot of meat sauce for freezing. We baked gluten-free bread and whole potatoes for future frying. We had a veggie filled frittata for lunch.

I might have broken my camera today. I curse its' inability to take a picture when I tell it to, and then snap when I'm not ready. I had a temper tantrum and smashed it.

It felt good to smash this camera. It'll feel even better when I get a new one and replace it.

 One of the problems with having an autistic child is their inability to look into someone's eyes (human or camera). It happens so rarely that I need a very fast camera to capture it.

Camera and Punk outsmarted: two points for me.

New dress to wear to Sunday School: bonus for my Punk.