mom

She made this before I came along. It was on our family room wall for years. My brother has it now and when we were all visiting I told her I needed her to hold it up. It was her mom that taught her and I to sew. She listens and laughs when I ask about sewing clothes and quilts.

There are newer fads that I tell her I tried and she laughs saying that doesn't make sense, like ironing an invisible zipper before sewing it like very many suggest these days to sew closer to the teeth and then telling her my zipper gets stuck.

"What did you do"
 "I ironed it"
"You melted it!"
"The Internet told me to iron it before sewing it in!"
She laughed.

She bought me a sewing machine when I was first married. She loaned me hers when that one was in the shop. Because I sewed through my finger. Laughing, "You were rushing!"

Thankful this is a family tradition. Thankful my girls pretend to sew and are practicing and gearing up for the real thing more and more. Thankful.

Videos to show my kids.

Our kids LOVE videos. Here are a few recent favorites. Please help me add to the list by commenting...

This video of a Lion King Cast on an Airplane is totally making the rounds. And goodness does it make me miss musical theater (hello my FCHS theater friends!).

So many commercials/TV shows seem to use the chorus Sarah Barilles', Brave. No matter, when I finally heard and saw the whole thing I fell in love.

A new little friend recently met my little one and they immediately started talking Frozen. It is the universal language of little gals everywhere these days. Here is one of my favorite versions of Let it Go.

Snarky Puppy is a family favorite, thanks to my husband. We all four can be found humming, Thing of Gold, this instrumental New York funk jazz at any time.

And lastly, I don't think there is anything quite like hearing a book from the author's mouth. Eric Carle reads The Hungry Caterpillar. 

Oh and so I don't leave you without a picture and so I remember to document my sewing journey little and big, here is some improv patchwork from a few weeks ago. And my slippers, which always have thread stuck to them.

Kit's blanket

Shared a while ago on my instagram...when I saw this I always saw a pillow with only one side. The owner of Kit, locked eyes on it one day and saw a perfect blanket. Made in granny square style, inspired by this post. 

I sewed a few hours today for kids clothes week. A maxi sun dress for the little one, that is not so little, per her request. With the cutest fabric that has little Popsicles and ice cream cones. Trust me it's cute. Drafted/draped while I went and I thought it won't work out. I had a vision of a silhouette... I have already pulled a lot of stitches out... Tomorrow will bring fresh eyes. 

Baby things

A baby came to our family. I am an aunt again. And this baby was so prayed for and is here. And beautiful. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Above are some crocheted hats, quick change trousers from this book, and a onesie to match 

These were made in the last few months. More sewing this week for my gals! Spring clothes are a coming! It is Kids Clothes Week again! Sharing soon!

A recent quilt.

A recent quilt. Not that I started it recently. This was in the box with the crocs for a long time. But now it is with the little guy it was always intended for!

 Inspired by one of my favorite Denyse Schmidt quilts, the Lazy Gal quilt.

A Flock of Crocs

A flock of Crocs sounds catchier than "A Float of Crocodiles". I looked it up and here is a whole list of what various groups of animals are called. Go see. Pretty interesting!

These crocs or gators were made over a really long time period, for 5 awesome little guys we know and love. They were fun and when I got sick sat in a box unfinished for an embarrassing amount of time. The green fabric is terry cloth it ripped and frayed a lot which is probably prevented me from finishing them quickly, always setting them aside to repair them before they were even finished. I finally surged the last one which made it a whole different game. The first time I made this pattern I used green fleece. So note to self, serge the terry cloth or use fleece.

It makes me remember the first one of these I made for my buddy Elijah was only 3 when I made it for him. I have he privilege this year to carpool with his family. He is now so much older, even sitting next to me in the passenger seat talking to me about basketball, April Fools jokes, and music. The 5 crocs above were all made for friends that are 4 and younger, one of which just turned 1! I can't wait to see them all grow

Long winter

When they started, there was nothing green on the ground or in the trees. As we all know, this long winter wore most of us out. I needed color and yarn therapy.

I started doing math of what I would need to turn these into a full size blanket. I was getting ahead of my self again. I wasn't enjoying the process and it somehow made winter seem even more dreary. So I threw away my sketch with the math on it and just started making flowers again.

These flowers started on the night of the Oscars and the pile gets added to every now and then. Not sure where this project is going. The girls like to ohh and ahh over them, stacking them, rearranging them.  They snag a few here and there, making them into medals or rugs for their doll house. Just like exposing them to good books or music, it is fun to expose them to yarn and fabric and all that comes with making with those things.

Getting Ahead of Myself

I am really good at getting ahead of myself. Starting yarn and sewing projects before my skills are developed for them, heavy books that aren't a good match for this season of life I am in,  pinterest parenting ideas that don't even go with the personalities in my family, and many other things I daydream of and start before I was actually ready to do them.

These English paper pieced flowers are a great example of me getting in my own way. Started in 2011, I read and read about it. Inspired by the quilts my grandma had on the twin beds in her guest room. I hand cut about hundreds of tiny hexagons and the papers. And I wasn't ready for it. I couldn't get in the rhythm needed to baste the fabric around each paper, couldn't get the stitches fine enough to piece them together and not show on the other side. I picked up these tiny hexagons last week and they are coming together now.

It's similar to watching my 4 year old try to make a rainbow loom bracelet over and over again, but just not quite ready for it. She loved the process of trying as much as the final product.

Around the start of the year, my resolution was to- slow down, be more careful, think things through. Don't get ahead of myself.

Slow Stitching, something I am very thankful for these days.  Slowing down and enjoying the process in making, I keep reading slow stitching compared to the slow food movement.

Slowing down. I think it is something a lot of us are craving.