Monday, September 27, 2010

Treasury Love

I've been neglecting my etsy shop. It got to be a lot of pressure even though I wasn't selling a whole lot, I was practically praying I didn't get any orders. I'm thinking that is a bad sign as far as running a business goes. So I'm on hiatus and only offering my homebirth shirt. And only some sizes of that, b/c I haven't re-ordered blank shirts. It seems like I should have a plan before I reorder, and I have no plan. Sigh. I even had some interest in selling the homebirth shirt wholesale. Which I would love to do! I'd love to get the message out there! But I'm overwhelmed by the regulations for children's clothing. I'm overwhelmed by labeling, I'm overwhelmed by upfront costs. Another sigh. I wish somebody would buy the idea and then mass produce them themselves. That would make me happy I think. ANYWAY. All this is beside the point. The point is, my shirt got featured in a third lovely treasury with all things birth related, please have a closer look here. You especially have to see that great crochet pattern for the educational mama doll giving birth. How awesome is that!!!



Pumpkins, Projects, and Primping



We harvested some of our pumpkins this weekend, and after a Facebook post asking for recipe ideas (which netted me 20 responses all completely drool-worthy) I ended up making some ice cream and some cookies, roasting the seeds, and freezing a bunch for future weekends. It was super fun, and the ice cream was an appropriate choice considering temperatures are still in the 90s!


I bought this bowl last week at the thrift store and I just think it is so pretty. I don't know anything about it - I see these kind of bowls all the time and they're usually pretty beat up but this one was pristine and one buck so I had to have it. I don't know what it is, I just really like the cute floral patterns on it. I imagine it's nothing special, but one of those funny things that just appeals for some reason.


I roasted the pumpkins...


mashed them all up...


and mixed some with spices and pecans, then folded in some vanilla ice cream (yes, I totally cheated. But I have no ice cream maker). It was DELICIOUS!

Then I got to work on a rag rug I've been working on forever. My original was curling terribly so I've been feeling frustrated with the whole thing. This weekend I sat down - with instructions - and found out I've been doing single crochet all wrong. Duh. Must learn to read instructions first. So I pulled it all out and re-worked it - correctly- and what do you know! It's flat. I'm currently in the process of increasing on two sides (haven't read instructions, when will I ever learn) and hoping this starts turning my rug into a rectangle. We shall see. But I'm pretty proud of it. It's super fast and rewarding too. I'm mostly using old sheets.


In other news, my son has started primping. A couple of weeks ago, he spent some time in the bathroom and came out dripping wet with this new hairstyle:


He said "I like it flat."
This morning, his dad even got in on the fun. He poked his head in the bathroom as I was getting ready and stole my bottle of gel "for Willie". This was the result:


Apparently he no longer likes it flat.

Friday, September 24, 2010

How I Feel About Mommy Fails



This happened on Wednesday:


While the bigger kid was in karate class, I was chasing the littler kid around the studio trying to prevent things like this from happening. I got distracted for a second, he turned around to look at me and his little just-started-walking legs got jumbled up and down he went - smack into a sharp corner wall.

Did you know foreheads bleed...a TON? They do. Did you know I am super cool under pressure? I am. I calmly took my bloody, screaming little fellow into the bathroom and took measures to slow the fountain spurting from his head. He was furious. The dear man that owns the studio was clearly unnerved and wondered if I shouldn't be headed for the hospital. I, with visions of the emergency room bills already stacked four deep on my refrigerator from a penny-swallowing epidsode earlier this Summer (did I not tell you about that one? I'll save it for another day when I've gained a little perspective on the whole thing) hedged and waffled outwardly, while internally thinking that there was no way in H-E-double hockey sticks we were going to the emergency room. The bleeding slowed as my little man yanked furiously at my shirt, demanding the blessed comfort a little boobie might bring him. I obliged him - grateful I had such an easily accessible and effective pacifier on hand at all times. The older kids that kept peaking in to see what was going on were now getting even more of a show than they had originally bargained for! I decided I was exempt from worrying about that at this time.

It just so happened a lovely lady I had worked with at the veterinary clinic has a daughter in the karate school, and she happened to be there on Wednesday. So I asked the teacher to send her to me, and we reprised our rolls from the vet clinic - I provided restraint and soothed the savage beast, while she bandaged (and  a lovely job she did wouldn't you agree?) As for my little man he nursed a while, glared at my bandaging partner, then laughed in glee when I turned the water faucet on and put the whole episode behind him.

I was left to rehash the whole episode and wonder where the mommy fail was. Was I not following closely enough? Should I have allowed that other kid to distract my attention? Should I make my son wear a helmet?

I tend to be slightly on the more hands off end of the spectrum from most moms I think. I'm a believer in injury as a more effective lesson teacher than endless repetition, nagging, and hovering on my part. I think a kid gains confidence when they learn - on their own - what is and is not really possible in this world. So I tend to back off when I see other mom's tend to dive in. I figure my roll is to prevent:
1) mortal wounds
2) permanent disfigurement and
3) astronomical hospital bills.
By that standard, this was a narrow miss (#3 - if the karate guy had is way) but I'm not gonna call it a Mommy Fail, 'cause you know, he just might stop before turning around next time!


Monday, September 13, 2010

Chalkboard Walls


My heart stops anytime I see a sharpie pen unattended at kid level in our home. Why, you ask? I present to you, kid art by sharpie:

On my husband's heirloom china hutch (please let my mother in law not read this! and does anybody know how one goes about getting this out?!?!)


Some wall art...I don't know, that one on the right I sort of see two ballroom dancers - a tango perhaps?

Anyway, it ain't good. So I've been thinking about using some chalkboard paint to designate areas where wall-drawing is encouraged. I read an article over at apartment therapy  which declared this trend to be very five-minutes-ago (in the comments people actually got kind of heated about why anybody would be stupid enough to put this on their walls. Really? Are there not better things to get heated about in this world?). I, however, don't care much for trend-watching, and think that this is just the ticket for us. So much so that I painted the laundry room door in our kitchen with it - a grocery list I can't lose! Awesome. And the kiddos will (hopefully) leave me alone while I cook (ha ha) and draw on the bottom half.

I worried about chalk dust, and yeah, there is some, but so far it's not enough to make me regret my decision. A wet rag and it's all gone. Here are some pics!


The kitchen/laundry room door



The boys' room. Oh by the way, check out my book slings (tutorial here) over on the right. Love these things. I'm at some point going to cut out some trees and waves from some fabric scaps and applique them on....at some point.

So, here's to no more sharpie marks on the walls and furniture!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Quilting As You Go - I found a tutorial!

In my last post I posted a link to Farmama's quilt squares she's working on, and wondered how she was doing them one by one - or rather, how she was going to put them all together. Well, I didn't find out exactly what she is doing, but I did find a beautiful tutorial with drool-worthy pictures here. This tutorial shows you how to truly quilt as you go...by actually sewing your fabrics directing onto batting squares.

Hers turns out GOR-GEOUS, and huge, on just a regular home sewing machine. I'm super excited to try. I might need to work a walking foot into the budget...Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

I'm Here, Really I Am



I've just been having a wild, crazy, fun, active Summer and blogging just didn't float my boat so I didn't do it. So there. Got some great pictures, though. I'll probably pull them out during the long cold dreary months to come. But I did want to share some things I made this weekend. It was my birthday so I was determined to make stuff and not feel guilty about it. And I did. To make these look cooler I probably should have done some photo editing, but I'm too eager, so here goes:

Camera strap (on the camera, so you just get to see a piece) I found about 2 yards of the turquoise and white Micheal Miller pattern at Goodwill last week for $1.99! The darker fabric is Amy Butler. And the tutorial for the strap is here.

And a log cabin quilt square inspired by my biggest blog crush, Farmama's post here (can somebody look at this link and tell me what she's doing..it looks like she's going ahead and putting the batting on and quilting them one by one? Can you do this? Then sew them together at the end? It would work great for me if this is actually possible! And how insanely beautiful is her fabric stash? I'm telling you, that woman...)


It was great - no measuring, just scraps. Perfect project for me!

And finally, a freezer stencil pillow case for my best friend's little boy..I'll let you guess his name. It's gonna be a christmas gift - the big one will be a pillow case. Then I couldn't let the outline freezer paper go to waste so I made a little patch out of it and will sew it on....something, I don't know tshirt? bag? Any suggestions? The fabric is good old dropcloth, my go to fabric for just about everything lately.



Anyway, it's good to be back and I'll try to post a little more as we move on out of Summer madness!
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