laeroport

Friday on Thursday

I'm outta here tomorrow.  Taking off with my troupe for St. Louis and a weekend of belly dance.  But before I go, I've got a lot on my plate.

I need a project for the car, since I won't be the one driving and I cannot sit idly by on a five hour car ride each way.  I have one in mind that will both use up some of my Fat Quarter and will also throw my two cents into the current paper-piecing frenzy that's out there.  And it involves monkeys.  So what could be better?

I also would like to finish my Amy Butler in stitch-along project before I leave.  Is that doable tonight after kids are in bed and not requiring me to stay up past midnight?  I am really loving what I've been seeing in the group on flickr.  And I am so stoked that Ms. Butler, herself, will be awarding a prize at the end of the year.  Yowsa!

My mom and I are in negotiations about Easter clothes.  She has always sewn Easter clothes for all the grandchildren.  And now I discover that the kids have their school pictures on Monday, so I'd like their Easter clothes by then.  And I don't have fabric for either or a pattern for Eliot.  So that's on tonight's agenda, too.

Oh, and laundry.  And pack.

But on the upside - I am feeling much better about public school, which I know in my heart will be fine.  Thanks for all your kind comments.  And I've nearly got my Zoo Tunes playlist compiled.  Thanks for all your fine suggestions!

I may check in briefly tomorrow if I get my clutch finished.  If not, have a great weekend!

All I can manage today

Day four of seven.

In the driveway, waiting for two munchkins to buckle up.  I'm tired.  I've got mama guilt from the head of the school asking me to keep Aidin there for first grade (for almost $600/month) instead of sending her to public school ($600/year).  :: sigh ::  Can Tim's 1991 Honda with 250,000 miles on it make it another six years?  :: sigh ::

Zooper Duper

Wow!  Where did she go?  That was not an intentional absence, but my boss came back to town and work got busy.  And then I had all that cleaning house to do to host a KU Elite Eight watching party, for which KU thanked me by losing.  But quality time was spent with the better half's clan.  And the weekend grocery shopping and errands.  And meeting a few blog friends, although briefly.  And the taking pictures for A Year of Color and 7 days.  And cutting out my Amy Butler bag.  Yadda yadda yadda.  Nothing to show.  But we did make plans.....

You may recall the birthday party planning that began back in January for the birthday that is not until May.  The girl wanted a princess party.  But in the meantime we have attended another princess party, which got her to thinking that maybe she wanted something different. (Thank you, powers that be!)

So after Wednesday afternoon's trip to the Topeka Zoo, she decided she'd like to have her birthday party there.  I love the Topeka Zoo.  It is small and manageable and you can see everything in 2 hours or less, which is about all the patience small people have.  Okay, nevermind that it is 35 miles away from where we live, but I think parents might appreciate dropping their kid off and shopping at the mall for a few hours, or going to the movies.  And the park that accompanies the zoo....

is chalk full of fantastic climbing things that have been there for.ever.  My mom remembers playing on the concrete animals when SHE was a kid, not that my mom is that old....  And I know we have a picture from one of my brother's birthday parties of all the kids assembled in front of the whale.

So it is settled.  And just to confirm our plans, while out running errands we ran across this zoo theme fabric (on clearance, no less), which will become the goodie bags, along these lines.  The green will be binding and straps.  The yellow will be lining.  I'll also use the green to embroider Sublime Stitching monkeys onto patches for t-shirts.

I love it when a plan comes together!  Now, does anyone have any kid appropriate animal songs I can put on a CD?  And by appropriate I mean nothing by the Bloodhound Gang!

Cheers! ~L

Spring and Fall

Happy first (full) day of Spring! 

I'm sporting my new favorite t-shrit, featuring a rocket patch made by Kirsten, won by me as her 1001st commenter.  Thanks, dearie!  I LOVE it!

And for the fall.  I'm trying to finish some of those projects that are giving me guilt, so last night I finished this one:

This was the bag I promised as a prize for my 100th post.  Back in October/November.  So now this is finally off to Rachael today.  Yowsa!  We'll it is the first day of fall in Tasmania, right Rach?

Thanks for the comments yesterday about your projects that fall by the wayside.  My mom told me last night that she was cleaning out her sewing room and found a pair of overalls that she started making for my niece Clare.  She said they wouldn't even fit Eliot, now.  So I guess I come by it naturally. 

Short work day today and then I'm off to pick up kids and meet my oldest and dearest friend and her daughter for a trip to the zoo.  And tomorrow I'm home playing all day.  So here's wishing you a happy first day of spring (or fall, if you're in the other half of the world).  See you on Friday!

Pants and robots

I have a lot of unfinished projects hanging over my head.  Like my redwork swap, which was due March 1st.  Egads!  I am sooooooo sorry, Kathryn!!!! Last night I tried to repair the damage and screwed it up even more.  (heavy sigh)  So since that was going so wrong, I moved on to pants.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy pants for a three year old, as requested by her mom.  I cut, sewed and embellished all three pair, and took this crap photo in about two hours.  The thing that took me the longest was finding a safety pin to fish the elastic through with.  The red fabric is the same as the yellow bag that I posted yesterday (I also have it in royal blue and  pink).  The blue was left from this birthday bag.  And the khaki is the remains of Tim's Ren Fest costume. 

And while I was at it, I finally ironed and sewed on the robot patch for little Miss Three Year Old's baby brother's Christmas present.  I swear.  I hit one little snag in something and it gets cast aside and not returned to for months.  Please tell me that I am not the only one.  Please?

I think overnight I figured out how to solve the redwork dilemma, (do you work things out while you sleep?) so I'll work on finish that tonight before and after belly dance.  And last night I almost finished another thing that's been hanging over me since November.  It just needs topstitching, but I ran out of bobbin thread and at midnight decided it was time for bed.  I hope I'll have a photo of that tomorrow.  Then there is just one other long term project that is hanging over me, causing no end of anxiety and guilt - and mostly because it involves a zipper and I'm a chicken.  So maybe this week/weekend I can get that off my plate as well.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Or maybe I'll just get Michelle and her new boyfriend to sew my zipper for me.

Cheers!

Completely Random**

Okay!  Rock Chalk Jayhawk!  We've made it to the Sweet 16!  And my favorite Jayhawk, 6-11 red-headed goofy big white boy walk-on Matt Kleinmann, got to play in both games over the weekend. And against Niagara on Friday night, he even scored!  And after listening to us cheer for Kleinmann so hard on Friday night, Eliot kept saying for the rest of the weekend "I'm a big goofy guy!"

(The photo is from the beginning of the 2004-2005 season, and courtesy of the KUsports.com.  There are not a lot of photos of Kleinmann out there!)

Friday night, prior to the game, Aidin and Eliot and I went to the library for a big Girl Scout Birthday Party.  I thought there would be music and cake and activities.  No.  There were some promotional GS cookies (but no mints) and four college girls sitting at a table with markers, construction paper, glue and string so you could make a birthday party "crown".  It was so lame that as we were getting in the car to go home with construction paper crown in hand, Aidin said, "Are we going to the birthday party now?"  Uh, no, honey.  That was it.

Saturday I did a lot of rushing around before heading off to the St. Patrick's Day parade.  We ended up sitting right on the street and had so much fun.  Although the girl with no knickers and a short skirt did sear a horrible image onto my brain, the rest of the parade was fun, and the kids got plenty of candy to keep them occupied.

Before the parade was over we had to jet off to a birthday party.  Why is it that all the kids in Aidin's class have spring birthdays?  Here is the latest birthday party tote bag.  I didn't get a photo of the pencil roll.  The flower on the front is my Fat Quarter Challenge fabric.  I also used a little bit of the FQC fabric at the top of the inside pocket.  I do hope you will play along with us on the Fat Quarter Challenge.  The embroidery included stitches from Take A Stitch Tuesday, for which I am woefully behind.  I did all the embroidery while watching Friday night's KU game.

Sunday's KU game was watched at Grandma Dolly & Grandpa Train's house.  We took the kids to spend the night as it is spring break and Tim and I both have to work.  Not that I've done much work today.  Anyway.  Tonight they go to my folks for two nights and I'll pick them up on Wednesday.  I thought I'd get so much done without any kids at home, and I fully intended to work on something last night, but by the time I got home from Topeka after dropping Tim off at band practice all I managed was folding one load of laundry while watching TV.  All evening. I got sucked into the second Bridget Jones movie and then Wimbledon.  That never happens.  Ah well.

Hope you had a good weekend!  Rock Chalk Jayhawk! 

**Updated to add the latest news on Peggy:  She was released from the hospial back to the transplant house on Wednesday, March 13th. Since then she has had a lot of appointments and not a lot of sleep, but aside from being tired, she is in great shape.  Her lungs are "as clear as a bell."  And she is completely off oxygen for the first time in four or five years.  Only my older two nieces remember their Nana pre-oxygen.  All of their other grandchildren (5 more girls) only know their Nana with a tube over her ears and under her nose.  What a blessing!  Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

L

WIPs for the weekend

Well, Friday is finally here.  And my boss has left town for spring break, so I will be exiting the building as soon as this post is done.

We have fun things on tap this weekend, although the thing our kids were most looking forward to - a pizza party at the home of the Oil Cloth Junkie - as been postponed due to ill children. 

As always, I have sewing projects on the agenda - although not necessarily the ones I should be working on.  I do need to finish this tote bag/pencil roll set for a birthday party tomorrow.

And this fabric is calling to me.  Make me into a bag.  Make me into a bag.

Tomorrow we're going to the St. Patrick's Day parade.  But here's the REAL item on the agenda for the weekend:

This is the first year in ten that I have not filled out a bracket.  Now I can watch without worrying about losing the $5, $10, or $20 I put in an office pool.  Not that I would gamble!  Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!  Go, KU!  Here's hoping we don't go three in a row of losing in the first round!

Happy Weekend, friends!

What a difference

Tuesday

Wednesday

Today.

Back in boots and tights today after two blissfully warm days.  ::sigh::

I hope it is warm and sunny where you are.

And so it begins.

On Monday my dear sweet daughter and I had a little squabble over this picture drawn by Aidin's teacher, Ben. (I love how he started to write Queen and then crossed it out.)

She wanted to color it.  I wanted to frame it.  I won because I'm the mom, but I did make photocopies for her to color, so I'm not that bad.

But she thinks I am.  So she cried and pouted all the way home.  That made Eliot cry.  So to try and cheer them up (and divert her attention) I decided to stop and take pictures at the Jayhawk that we pass every day on the way home.  Didn't they pose nicely?

Okay, well, never mind.

Then when we got home Aidin stomped up the stairs and slammed the door to her room.  A little while later she came down and told me I needed to read the sign on her door.

Translation:  Don't go in Aidin's room.

::sigh::  I thought I had a little longer before she turned into a teenager.

But on a happy note I bought my fat quarter yesterday for our fat quarter challenge.  Not at all what I went after, but I LOVE it, and can't wait to start adding it to all sorts of projects.

And I think I'm off the hook for the Girl Scout outdoor training I was supposed to lead on Saturday.    We only have three people enrolled in the course (the cut-off is usually five) and I'd much rather spend 8 hours sewing, relaxing and watching the St. Patrick's Day parade than cooking over a campfire. 

Of course, normally I enjoy cooking over a campfire.  Just not on St. Patrick's Day.

Cheers!

I heart mail

Do you know Jen?  She is so kind.  And creates beautiful collages.  Friday when I got home, I pulled this from my mailbox:

And inside this beautiful wrapping was this:

And on the back she had written this:

All because I had commented on this post.  Isn't she great?  Thank you, Jen!  I'm going to bring it into my office and put it up as inspiration.

And then yesterday, this haul arrived, fresh from Hannah's garage sale. 

I told her I'd take whatever vintage patterns she didn't get rid of - HOLEY MOLEY!  I hit the jackpot!  Thank you, Hannah!  I am in retro heaven!  Check out that McCalls coveralls pattern.  Tee Hee!

Others have said it and I firmly agree, bloggers are the best.

Off now to buy my Fat Quarter.  I'm thinking some of this.

Cheers! L