the long season begins

                                                                                                                                                                                        as i sit in my (now warm) house enjoying the fruits of my (now fixed) furnace, i think back to last week when i took lars on a walk.... and how, as we strolled, i was struck by the strange duality of early evening on an

indian summers day...the bright, bright sunlight & the long shadows.... the fading heat of the day mingled with the promised crispness of the night to come...it was a tangible feeling...a smell almost...a girl flirting with someone out of the corner of her eye.

that was the last nice day...after that it turned cold & rainy & windy. the season has turned. fall is here.

my lost boy...

jordan




yesterday was his birthday.
he turned 12.

that's ten birthdays now.

i miss him. i love him.


i wish...
i wish i could wish him happy birthday.

progress!

got sams quilt all layed out...its turned out really close to what i had in mind. i ended up with more blue/green/purples than reds & such but i still think it looks really neat. also, its way bigger than i thought so i don't think i'm going to put a border on it...if i do it will just be a little one & then the binding.
nothing like fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants quilt planning! lol

the glowing squares are the slippery fabric & when its all layed out like this it looks like sparkly facets...its a really cool effect!
i was going to sew this all in rows but now i'm thinkin that it might be easier to sew 4 squares together to make a bigger square then sew the bigger squares together...
hmmmm....
it's going to drive me cross-eyed trying to keep all those tiny squares & their seams all lined up! lol

my boys... :)

*this is a really great pic of josh...he didn't know i had the camera & he was smiling at lars' antics!*

on a roll....

here are {most of} the 36 fabrics we picked out for sams quilt...

and here... {after 2 afternoons of measuring & cutting & ironing} are four hundred & twenty 3.5 inch squares of said fabrics. the small pile on the side is all of the "slippery" fabrics. i *hate* sewing/cutting/pinning/dealing with slippery fabrics...but they *are* pretty and we *do* likes them..... >.<

here is everything together so you can kindof get the gist of the quilt idea... we have decided to make it more like a throw with a flannel back but no batting & i will embroider all over it instead of just quilting it. sam already has a quilt that she loves so i wanted this to be something else to love rather than a usurper of quilt loves lol

btw....lars *really* dislikes being trapped in the livingroom for this process.

the newest thing i'm working on....i think it will be going up for sale at my etsy shop....

this is part of the stuff i have for this project...i've got it all laid out the way i like it but it's not set in stone yet, so to speak. i kindof like it on the front of the "cabinet" but i think maybe it would be better on the inside of the door so you can see the whole piece at once...maybe i'll go ahead & put it on the outside & then make a brooch or something to display inside the cabinet? who knows? i'll have to play with it & live with it for awhile for it to come to me lol

it's just a balsawood box that i turned up on end. i took off all of the hardware and i made these little wire feet so it would stand up...that was tricky, making four of the same thing out of that wire like that...lol i am going to "upholster" a little cushion for the bottom {out of that yellow polka dot fabric} and that will cover up those screws. not exactly sure what else i'll be doing with it...but it's fun so far!

fun little flanged screws i used to hold the legs on

a good look at the neat-o hinges i used :)

done, done aaaaand.... done!

a blanket for lars made out of three of his "old" recieving blankets with a new butter yellow flannel back.
i am admittedly a little jealous...i want a yummy flannel "blankie" now.... :(
but sami doesn't have her quilt yet & i was seriously pushing the limits of harmonious co-habitation
by making ANOTHER blanket for lars before having EVEN STARTED her quilt.
ah...teenagers! aren't they wonderful? **count to ten, count to ten.......**
no matter that hers is in the works, is already past the planning & buying fabric stage
and now all i need is a day to myself to get all those tiny squares cut out & sewn together so i can move on the the part i actually like about quilting...the quilting! lol

the gold mirror is finally the gloss black i had envisioned it to be forever ago...lol
and much better for it, i think!

and...FINALLY! the new pillows for the couch.
*our old ones having suffered a horrible fate involving spilled soup & the washing machine. we were very sad.*

gotta love volunteers!

this is a wonderful dill plant that is growing, unsolicited, in my backyard. a volunteer. 3' tall. beautiful & fractal.
*each little flower cluster looks just like the bigger flower cluster that it is part of*