Summer School

Nope, I'm not talking about actual school. You know, the kind with teachers (though, since I am one, that's debatable) and desks and regulated lessons. I'm talking about the kind of "school" life gives you. You know, the kind of lessons you learn the hard way? Over the last two weeks I've learned quite a bit from that kind of school. I thought I might share some of my lessons with you.

1. Explaining to a 3 year old that while the weather is FINALLY perfect for going to the pool and playing in the park she can't because she has a fever is darned near impossible.


2. Explaining to the same child that while she may FEEL better, she is still contagious with strep throat and STILL cannot go outside even though she went to the doctor and got medicine is even harder than explaining the part about the fever. (her faith in the medical profession and medicine is a bit scary at times too)


3. My patience with dealing with icky bodily fluids is getting less and less the closer Miss Tinkerbell is to being fully potty trained.


4. The word diarrhea when repeated over and over again by a 3 year old because she finds it amusing is almost as icky as cleaning it up (see above).


5. Buying new underwear is occasionally the better part of valor. (See numbers 3 and 4 above)


6. When the stars finally align and the weather, child, and activities finally combine for the first trip to the pool for the year, Mommy points are given for remembering to slather the child with sunscreen. An equal number of intelligence points are removed for forgetting to put sunscreen on your own back.


7. Burgundy, while a lovely color and one I usually look good in, is not as appealing when it is the color of your skin.


8. Keeping a child amused when all you want to do is lay on your stomach and moan about how much you hurt is not easy.


9. Growing new skin itches. A lot. And of course, the worst itches occur in places you can't reach easily on your own.


10. Door jams and walls are your friends. Chair backs also work well.


11. While learning (or relearning in the case of the sunburn -- some lessons it seems need to be repeated periodically) the above, it's near impossible to do anything of a crafty or blog reading nature.

So, as you can see I've been a diligent student these past two weeks. Many, many lessons have been learned. Now to see if I can remember how to use my sewing machine. I THINK I just may be able to.

And, well, since I just realized how long it's been since I posted ANYTHING that even vaguely resembles a quilt, a photo from my Mom's house of a quilt like object. I still have more cross stitch to show but come on, it's not like the title of this blog is cross stitch in cornfields. Ok, so it comes with a cute photo of my daughter too. Sue me.

And another photo of the same thing only in its actual resting place. This is a patchwork puzzle ball from the Jenny Beyer book that came out a couple of years ago. Oddly enough, one of the few projects I've hand pieced. I made this for Christmas 2005 and substituted fabric photo transfers for some of the pieces. It worked out well and I've done it a few more times for other memory balls. I actually really like making these -- Miss Tinkerbell has a set of them here at the house. A great baby gift really. Soft balls that young children can throw around without too much possibility of breaking things. I should try and get photos of the others we have in the pit that is my house.

Hopefully I will have more crafty (and quilty) goodness to show soon. I've gotten some lovely mail and I think I may FINALLY have a chance to get some sewing done tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Mail Call #2 and a Request

Yep -- I do take requests -- if they're reasonable, and I'm able. But first let's wrap up the squishy goodies I got in the mail last week shall we?

The first mailbox goodie was this selection of lovely fat quarters from the ladies over at Blue Meadow Designs. These are from their Bohemian Rhapsody line of fabrics for RJR and the colors are just yummy. Not my usual fabric choices, but I can see having some serious fun playing with these.

The next bundle of fabric love came to me from Sew Mama Sew. It's a yard of a fun fabric from Heather Ross (Lightning Bugs collection by Free Spirit) that reminds me of my first two wheeler bike. Mine was a red and white Schwinn with a banana seat and a little basket. God I loved that thing. I rode it everywhere. Or at least that's what it seemed like. I've been in love with this line for ages, but just never got any of it. And now, she has a new line out with some really fantastic prints that I NEED to get. I sense another obsession coming on.

But wait. Didn't I declare that June was a no-buy month for myself? Didn't I say that I needed to work on (possibly even finish) a project or two before I could buy new fabrics? Did I break my vow? Nope. (ok, well, yes -- but that's the subject for a different post and happened last weekend -- there were extenuating circumstances is all I'm going to say right now). Nope, these two packages of fabric goodness were NOT the product of late night button clicking at online fabric stores (though nothing wrong with that at all). These goodies I WON! Totally free. WOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! The lovely ladies at Blue Moon had a giveaway on their blog. While I did NOT win the custom journal cover, they sent "consolation" prizes to those who had commented. What a consolation prize! Thanks Cori and Myra! (and btw -- you really should go check out their blog and site. They have some adorable patterns and photos hanging around). The wonderful fabric from Sew Mama Sew was another blog drawing win. These ladies have a drawing just about every week and give away fabrics, patterns, etc. I won a Free Fabric Friday giveaway that let me choose one yard of anything available in the online store. Do you know how hard it was for me to CHOOSE???? EEEEKKKK! They have such fun fabrics (and some great kitschy stitchery patterns too).

Ok, the commercial endorsement portion of my blog is now over (I realized I was gushing and beginning to sound like a paid advertisement -- but really, give me some free fabric I love and you will find me gushing all over the place). On to the request! Felicia over at Fluffy Flowers posted recently about her Holly Hobby doll from the 70's and asked about what childhood toys we kept tucked away. I mentioned two of my toys I have in boxes and she asked if I would post photos. So here they are...

She's a little bit country. He's a little bit rock-n-roll. And together they are a pure flashback to the 70's TV show "Donnie and Marie". Original costumes, though the shoes, socks (purple of course!) and microphones have long since been lost to the ravages of actually playing with my barbies! Also gone is the stage they came with (a "set" from the show) but I do think I still have the floppy black 45 (ah yes, 45's -- hard to explain these to young people these days when they don't understand records) with the song that came with the playset on it somewhere. I have nothing to PLAY it on mind you -- but I have the 45.

I'm still looking for the Holly Hobby colorforms I mentioned Felicia -- but those are buried in a box that is rather deep in a closet I try not go into very often. (it's scary in there -- and well, there's lots of stuff. Stuff I should get rid of. Stuff I don't want to think about. You know. stuff). If I can find them -- I should also have my Batman set (based on the TV show I believe) and my Scooby Doo set as well -- I'll take pictures of all of them.

And lest you think that Donnie and Marie have NOTHING to do with quilting. Au contraire! As an FYI Marie Osmond is now a quilt fabric designer. The fabrics aren't my cup of tea, but they are kind of pretty. So there, I can connect this random bit of nostalgia to quilting. Phew.

Yet another long winded post, but I am done for the day. Have a great Tuesday and more soon -- projects to share, fabric to fess up to, all sorts of goodness.