Saint Patrick's Day

 

The way that my husband loves St. Patrick's Day you would think he was fully Irish. To him, that 1/4 of Irish blood running through his veins is everything. He waits for this holiday the other 364 days of the year like a child waits for their birthday. Growing up for me, this was a day to wear green and eat corned beef and cabbage. It was a bright spot in the month but not huge. That has changed for me since I met my husband.

We have been planning for today since the beginning of March. And Marie-Therese got in on the excitement this year. She had great plans for art, gifts for us all, things to do. When the calendar hit March 1st, I ignored the snowstorm swirling outside and we put green all over the house. Yesterday I was informed by my fashion conscious 5 year old that she had nothing green to wear and that was a tragedy! I had a thought to go to the mall to try to find something but I had no desire to do that. So we went on a quick trip to the big box craft store and found some perfect fabric to make a St. Patrick's Day skirt. It had shamrocks, rainbows AND sparkles. She quickly declared it the most perfect fabric ever and then found some owl fabric to make her sister a skirt too.

Thankfully I have been in the mood to sew and those sweet skirts were made up in no time. This morning dawned gray and rainy but I wasn't going to let that dampen my spirits. We got dressed in our green and headed out to Dunkin Donuts for a shamrock donut, to the grocery store for green carnations (daddy's favorite flowers for his favorite holiday) and then to another craft store to see what they might have for St. Patrick's craft supplies.

This afternoon the clouds parted and the sun shone brightly. There may have been some trips to the window to see if we could see a rainbow (we couldn't) and lots of talk of trying to find a leprechaun so we could share some of his gold. Supper was cooking all afternoon on the stove making our stomachs rumble and more than one trip downstairs during rest time for Marie-Therese to ask if she could "try just one bite because it smells SO GOOD Momma."

This is such a simple holiday to celebrate and I think it's a good lesson, for me at least. We don't need much to bring joy and excitement to our days. It has been a long winter here and I am done. My mood has been suffering lately and I could very easily have slipped into only preparing a corned beef dinner with none of the other little things. But it was those other little things that made my mood lighter today. There isn't much green outside yet so we brought green to our home with the shamrocks hanging from the ceiling and sparkly rainbow skirts for little girls.

Just the feeling that today was something special was enough to bring joy to my heart. Seeing my girls excited for this day made me excited too. Listening to the joy in my husbands voice when he called in the middle of the day lifted my spirits. A holiday in the middle of March is a good idea. I let go of the control I would have had one day not long ago....the pressure to DO IT ALL or don't do anything at all. I didn't do all of the ideas I had, I didn't go over the top, just small, simple things. And because we had a simple celebration it was that much more special. There is no need to do things up big all the time. It takes the pressure off. Today gave us all something to look forward to.

Tonight all four of us are going to bed with tummies stuffed full and hearts bursting with gratitude that daddy is part Irish and proud of it!

Make and Listen Along

Ree's big girl quilt is coming right along. Not fast enough for her, but I am happy with the progress! All I need to do now is sew the rows together and the front will be finished. I have the backing (an old sheet) so once this part is done I'll put it together and it'll be ready for quilting! Of which I am still trying to decide what to do.

Almost all the fabrics came from the stash and she picked them all out by herself. We did go to the store so she could get a few new to her fabrics. This quilt has been in the works for over a year (and in my head since we moved her to a crib years ago!) I am thinking that once this one is finished, I should start planning for baby's quilt....before I know it she'll be in her own big girl bed!

Listening has been a lot of birds, a lot of fans, and the hmm of the upstairs air conditioner. It got hot again this week!

What is going on in your making & listening world this week?

Make & Listen Along

~ On Thursdays I will post what I have been making and listening to as creations grow. 

If so inclined post, on your blog or flickr, about what you have been making (on your own or with little hands by your side) and listening to while you create. It can be new music, flash backs, a song or a whole album... whatever you like. You can be stitching with needle & thread, yarn, paper crafting, painting, cooking... and beyond. Share what you are making and the tunes that are fueling your creativity. Then come back to my Thursday Make & Listen Along post and leave a link in the comments so we can be inspired right along with you! ~

Thursday again! The weeks are flying by. They have been full of summer fun, and summer has only just begun! 

For this week's make & listen along I have some owls to show you! I have had it in my head for awhile now to embroider a few little owls to hang in my downstairs bathroom. So I decided this was the week to do it! Then Ree said she thought her teachers at Vacation Bible School would like these. So my owls are on hold while I make up a bunch of little gifts. Which need to be done for tomorrow. So this afternoon will be spent stitching while I listen to....

the World Cup. I'm not much of a soccer fan (at all really) but my husband has been coming home rooting for Columbia. Columbia because many people he works with come from there and I guess it's a big deal down there, so they are pulling him in. To root for the wrong country though! So I will be rooting for the USA this afternoon! 

There's also been a little listening to Wimbledon. I enjoy tennis much more and look forward to these few weeks each year!

What are you making & listening to these days?

Make & Listen Along

~ On Thursdays I will post what I have been making and listening to as creations grow. 

If so inclined post, on your blog or flickr, about what you have been making (on your own or with little hands by your side) and listening to while you create. It can be new music, flash backs, a song or a whole album... whatever you like. You can be stitching with needle & thread, yarn, paper crafting, painting, cooking... and beyond. Share what you are making and the tunes that are fueling your creativity. Then come back to my Thursday Make & Listen Along post and leave a link in the comments so we can be inspired right along with you! ~

It is Thursday again! And I have somethings to share!

Last summer Ree and I went to the big fabric store to pick out a handful of fat quarters to make the baby a new quilt. I had good intentions of having it done before she arrived. But I was sick almost the whole pregnancy & had other projects to work on. Then the idea was to have it finished by her first Christmas. Well she arrived a month before Christmas. And with a bad c-section experience and a week NICU stay, it didn't get started.

This weekend I was scrolling through Twitter and Instagram seeing many pictures of ladies getting out their fabric and sewing. So I hauled out the fabric & sewing machine and Ree and I got to work! She pretty much lasted only for the choosing of fabric pairings. I completed the top in about an hour (I think the baby likes it!) and then found out that I didn't have enough for the back like I had assumed. So I am in the process of piecing that together. With not feeling well this week though I haven't done much!

Ree and I also baked bread yesterday. Not the best of ideas considering I still had a headache. But she had a grand old time with the piece of dough I let her use. She "worked" for over an hour!

This week for listening....it has mainly been kid tv shows. When Momma's head hurts so bad she can't think, there is no way she can function. So I am thankful for the tv this week!

What have you been making and/or listening to? Please share in the comments! 

Make & Listen (and a winner!)

Before today's post I wanted to announce the winner of the {Art Together} E-zine!! The winner is Lise!!! I'll be e-mailing you later today! Congratulations!

I'm also joining Dawn at Simple Things Notebook today for Make & Listen.

Ree & I went and picked out some fat quarters for her to help me make a baby quilt for Baby V. It's going to be simple using this "tutorial" from Ginny. She used six fat quarters & we have eight. Because Big Sister had a hard time choosing just six! The color scheme is ALL her's!

I am also feverishly working on Ree's big girl quilt. She's been in the big girl bed for a few weeks now & with the weather getting chilly I REALLY want to finish it soon. I had hoped to have all the blocks finished by the beginning of September (ahem) and be finishing up by the end of September. My new goal is to have all the blocks finished by the end of September and be piecing it together the beginning of October. Hopefully there will be time this weekend for a sewing marathon! 

We've been listening to a lot of music latley. Nothing in particular just putting on the radio or the kids station on the tv. Ree is getting her own cd player for Christmas so I'm on the look-out for some good pre-school aged cd's!!

Making & Listening

We've been busy again this week making things!

I've been trying to de-clutter a little bit. Especially the table space in this house. Half of our dining room table is usually the dumping grounds for "stuff". Paper, junk, towels, toys, whatever anyone doesn't want to put away. Every so often I clean it off and LOVE the empty space. But it doesn't last long. 

I finally got the fabric needed for Ree's big girl quilt and decided I wanted to at least cut it out downstairs. I knew that I'd have to cut at least 226 pieces of that white fabric up there. It'd be easier to do it downstairs so Ree could also do her things without interruption. So I cleaned the table off & have been cutting all week. I have enough ready to make 26 (out of 56) squares. I may start sewing today or tomorrow just to mix things up a bit!

Ree has been busy collecting wild flowers outside. She puts them in little jars & lines them up on the counter. The other day she found the card board heart admist the mess I was cleaning & asked if she could have it. A little while later she asked for some glue. As the table was clean I gave it to her and went back to doing my things. When I turned around she was gluing her flowers to the heart. Yesterday she went out to pick more flowers & when I asked what she was going to do with them all, she replied "Add them to my collection so I can study them." A little botany project going on it seems! Thankfully daddy knows the names of almost all the flowers since she keeps asking!

For listening it's basically just been the sounds of late summer nature. I've asked a few times if she'd like me to put music on but she says no, she'd rather work in quiet. That works for me too!

Linking up with Dawn again this week. Go check out her post, she has a giveaway going on!

Projects

With the new baby coming my mind has been going in overtime making lists. The little one is due December 10th but a c-section will be scheduled for a week before that. Ree came a month early so I'm planning for anytime between mid-November to the first week in December.

With Ree's birthday the 4th of December and Christmas not far after that I feel the need to be organized! I made a list of who I need to get Christmas presents for & what I think I may want to get.

But the big list is all the things I want to make for baby! (And Ree too!)

First up is Ree's big girl quilt. She and I went through my fabric stash the other day and picked out fabrics. I need to start cutting and I think all I'll need to purchase is only a yard! My husband and I sat down and I told him what I wanted the quilt to look like, he did the math & drew it out so we also have a pattern! Now I need to just get going!

I then came across this simple quilt that Ginny's son made. I now what Ree to help me pick out some fat quarters to make her baby sister a quilt. MAYBE we can do that & get it done by Christmas?

And then there's the knitting.

Ree says baby girl needs a pink sweater and a yellow sweater. We have to go pick out some pink yarn & I think I'll make the Puerperium out of pink and The Five Hour Baby sweater out of yellow.

Ever since Easter I've wanted to make Ree a dark blue Sunday Sweater for Christmas. We'll see. Maybe I'll wait on that and make it for NEXT Christmas....matching sister sweaters?

And then there's the rainbow "blanket" that Ree keeps talking about every time she sees my boneyard shawl. So I think I'll make that up using this yarn:

There's other things on my list, like the socks I have in mind for a few family members; Christmas ornaments; etc. 

This isn't to mention the projects I'm already working on. Stay tuned for tomorrow's yarn along post for that! 

Easter

I'm playing catch up today. We didn't get many pictures over the Easter weekend! But that is Ree in her new Momma made dress & sweater! There isn't a picture of me in my new sweater. With a house full of 16 people and both ovens on, I DID NOT need it! But I wore it to Church & yesterday!

Our weekend was full of cleaning, setting up, egg hunts, cooking, family & lots of fun! It was so busy that I am STILL tired from it! On Monday Ree & I didn't do anything. And we've had Easter leftovers the past three nights. Tonight I'm making something new!

I haven't picked up any knitting needles since the weekend. Nor have I sewn. I have grand plans for spring & summer sewing so hopefully that will kick in next week! 

Needle & Thread

Now that I've gotten most of the craft room cleaned & (semi) organized, Ree & I have been spending quite a bit of time up there. It's nice to have a spot to do our crafts & leave them out if we aren't finished with them but want to do other things (like cook dinner).

I have a baby shower to attend this coming weekend & pinned this cute owl taggie tutorial on Pinterest quite some time ago. Along with the sweater I'm knitting &  a few pairs of baby booties I made awhile ago, this little cutie will be given to the soon to be baby girl. 

I had a heck of a time making this. I don't think it SHOULD have been as hard as it was but I did have quite a bit of "help" from my little helper. As soon as it was done it was worth it! I love it. I was so tempted to keep it "just in case" I need it someday for another little one. But I figure I'll just have to make another one. I know the expectant Momma will appreciate it. She sews too so will understand the time it took to make it! 

Also pictured is the fabric, buttons & pattern for Ree's Easter dress. We went to the big box store yesterday so she could pick out fabric. Oh my goodness. Give Ree fabric, tell her to pick some out & you will be there for a LONG time while she decides. I finally had to narrow it down for her. Out of all the one's that she "loved so much!" I picked 2 and had her choose. I think she chose well! Although she was very disappointed when the lady cut the fabric but it wasn't her dress! Thank goodness for a snow storm today (hopefully the last!) Maybe I'll at least get it cut out!

While cleaning the craft room I went through the drawers of fabric I have. I have plenty of projects to keep me busy with my sewing machine. I have a feeling once I've finished knitting the 2 Easter sweaters I'll be doing more sewing then knitting for awhile. My fabric & machine is calling to me!

Light

I've been knitting like crazy all winter. So much so that I haven't sewn any thing since at least the Fall. 

Last week I decided that Ree & I needed a dedicated craft room. We HAVE one it's just become a dumping ground for everything. But I want a space for us (especially her) to be able to do our crafts and leave them out when we decide we are done "for now" but want to come back. We've been doing crafts at the kitchen table but when it's time for dinner it all needs to be picked up. Lately I've been noticing that Ree works on a project for a little bit, goes & does something else but gets very upset with me if I clean up. "I wasn't DONE Momma. I was coming back later."

Since we have a room upstairs that is supposed to be for just this sort of thing (and it gets GORGEOUS sunlight all day long) I decided to clean it. So last week my little helper & I headed up there. We took everything out except the big furniture. We cleaned a little, organized a little, then she found some beads & wanted to use them. I found some fabric and wanted to use that.

The room still looks a horrible mess (why do things always look worse before they look better?) But who could resist both that beautiful springy fabric and that beautiful winter sunlight? My niece had a birthday party last week and to go along with her box of art supplies I decided she needed an art apron. Silly me forgot to take a finished picture.

So the room still isn't quite comfortably useable but it IS possible if I want to move piles of things out before crafting. Each day I do a few little things. I'm hoping to dedicate a chunk of time this weekend up there and finish it! My drawers of fabric is suddenly calling me to make Ree a quilt. And I'm thinking I want to embroider some cute little pictures to add to it!

Weekending

This weekend was all about birthday for my Tinkerbell loving little girl!

Saturday was sewing decorations and favor bags. Baking a cake. Cleaning. And watching the snow flurries with one very excited Ree!

Sunday dawned early and the question of "Is it time for my birthday party yet?" was heard hundreds of times! She helped hang up streamers & ran around the house in her new dress. Finally late in the afternoon her guests started to arrive. We had pizza & Tinkerbell balloons and all her favorite people in the world were here with the exception of two. Her little cousin had the stomach bug and needed to stay at home with her daddy.

I am thankful for today. A day of rest before the actual birthday tomorrow! She has grand plans for us!

Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween! We like to celebrate ANYTHING in my family so we make everything a party!

It started on Saturday with trick or treating at the zoo with cousins then a family Halloween dinner/party and continued yesterday.

Ree woke up telling me it was Halloween and she needed to dress like Tinkerbell! Then she asked if I had made her fairy dust yet so she could fly. I'm still working on that!

But I did finish her costume! She and I are both so pleased with it!

All I did was make a shirt then a simple skirt. I cut out "leaves" and it was done! Except the darn fabric was so slippery it took me forever to finish it. And I pinking sheared the edges around the neckline and the leaves. But the fabric still frays. This isn't a costume that will last forever. But it came out awesome & did the trick!

Ree had a BLAST trick or treating last night around our neighborhood. But the best part to my husband and I was when she was handing out the candy at home. She would stand at the front door and knock yelling "COME TO MY HOUSE TO GET CANDY!" And every child that came got greeted with a candy bar and "Hi. What's your name? Do you want to come in? Do you want a drink? Do you want to play with my toys?"

A very good hostess!

Quilting

My mom has always been a prolific sewer. (And knitter. And pretty much anything crafty). She used to make my sister & I's Christmas dresses. And Easter dresses. And flower girl dresses. And toys, blankets, etc.

About 5 years ago I decided I wanted to sew too. So I started with a quilt:

 Not the best of pictures but it's a small lap quilt and I love it because it's my first. I then went on to make at least 2 or 3 more of this same size & pattern (I think it's a Heather Bailey pattern but I can't be sure)

Ree & I use this one as our picnic blanket or sit in the back yard blanket to read, color etc. Except...Ree is getting bigger & bringing more stuff outside. And I always have my stuff too. And the other day she told me I needed to get another blanket for my stuff!

Then I remembered:

This was probably begun about 4 years ago. The only thing left is quilting and binding. I started hand quilting the other night. And while we're in the middle of a heat wave with no A/C hand quilting may seem a little silly....it really is the perfect size for our picnics and other things. And lemons and limes just seem to say "summer!"

My goal is to try and finish the quilting (just a simple running stitch around all the full lemons) within the next few days and then make my own binding. If I can find a tutorial that is simple.

As for reading, I finally finished up a few library books so have jumped back into Anne of Green Gables. It's taking me back to summers when I was younger. Anne just seems like such a good summer time read!

Some Sewing

I've got lots of ideas of things I want to sew and embroider. I finally got out the sewing machine again the other day; organized (a little bit) the craft room and cut a few things out. I made a skirt for Ree (who then went into the fabric drawers and requested more skirts in 3 different fabrics...all with coordinating pajama shorts too). The pattern is the simple skirt pattern and it really IS simple. Thankfully so since more skirts are on the horizon!

I've also been wanting to embroider again. I'm almost finished with this pattern from Clover & Violet. It's part of a sew along they had a few years ago. There are 9 blocks that can then be made into a quilt. I think I will finish this one to be hung on Ree's bed room wall. I would like to make the other blocks as well but not sure if they'll become a quilt.

As for reading I'm still in the middle of Anne of Green Gables but my copy of "Prague Winter" came in at the library the other day. It is very good. Madeline Albright wrote it after her research on her family showed the she was Jewish as a little girl and some of her family members were part of the Holocaust. Reading about how her country (Czechoslovakia) was swallowed up by Germany with their freedoms and everything just gone overnight, made me realize how very lucky we are here in America. 

Sewing for Ree

I'm linking up with Elizabeth today for "Needle and ThREAD". 

A few weeks ago Ree & I went with my mom to the fabric store. Ree LOVED all the pretty fabric and exclaimed over all of it. Both Mommy & Nana bought a little bit to make her some pretty things.

 I made her a pair of "lounge pants" using Amanda Soule's method in The Creative Family. They came out a little big...long and around the waist....but she doesn't seem to mind. She loves her new star jammies. And she'll be able to wear them for quite some time.

I also picked up this cute owl fabric. I love little owls and have a whole bunch of ideas for them pinned on pintrest. This fabric though was originally for another pair of lounge pants but since then I saw Amanda's skirt she made for her little girl; then I came across this pattern for a pillow case dress.

So I'm not sure what the owls will become. Ree wants all 3 of course. A trip to the fabric store in the next few weeks may be in our future!

As for reading I found the copy of Naturally Fun Parties for Kids that the publisher sent me a few weeks ago. I just opened it this afternoon so I'm hoping to get a review up here early next week.

Woodland creatures

At the beginning of the month I joined the others at Squam in Double Dog Daring myself for March. As I wrote about here, I decided I wanted this to be the month that I learned how to embroider. And I did! Still about 10 days left in the month and I am almost done with my first little set of patterns that I wanted to accomplish. The patterns are from the Doodle Bug Stitch Along that took place about a year ago.

 My first little embroidered people

 My little mushroom house

 A little tree stump house

And I'm almost finished with my grandfather gnome. 

It is so fun and portable! For these little patterns I think I'm going to make a mini quilt to hang on the wall. Although each one is different in size so I'm not sure how that'll turn out.

Next up I want to embroider a table runner for our dining room table. Something with bright, cheerful springy flowers. To put vases of fresh cut flowers on!

Double Dog Daring

Each month at the Squam blog everyone is invited to name a goal they want to do for the month. They "Double Dog Dare" you to choose something to focus on for the month. Either exercise, cleaning, organizing, creativity, food, whatever it is that you need a little push and friendly cheering on to accomplish.

This is the first month I've joined in and considering it's only March 8 I'm pretty darn proud of myself! I've had a basket of embroidery things all put together (along with a pattern to try) for a few weeks now. I wrote over at Squam about how I want to learn to embroider.

In comes Amy who volunteered to teach me and give me tips. So we got together and I can now check "learn to embroider" off my "want to do" list.

 This was my window this morning. And honestly the hardest part of it. Trying to get the pattern from paper onto my fabric. But I did it.

And this is just a few seconds ago. It's not perfect but I think it's so cute and I'm wicked proud of it! 

The pattern is from a Doodle Stitch along from last year. There are 4 patterns and I think I might make them all up and make them into a mini quilt. 

I now think I need to create an embroidery board on Pintrest!