Tuesday, September 29, 2009

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.
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

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.
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Monday, September 7, 2009

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!*
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Sunday, September 6, 2009

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.
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Friday, September 4, 2009

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 :)
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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.*
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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*



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