Katy.....

Camp was amazing!!! Overwhelmingly good.

I am still processing it in many ways..

I hope to be able to share more on the details of camp later... but today I am overcome by another campers words..
Katy Jones could never know how meaningful her words are to me this morning.. I am crying again.. She could have never know when typing her post that I had thought, and felt, the very same things as her.. about her. Feeling intimidated, but longing to know her.  Soooooo scared, as I walked in and SHE was right there.. sewing my little dress. I worried it wouldn't be good enough for her!

I had run into Katy a few, very brief, times at Quilt Market. I didn't want to seem stockerish this weekend by sharing my memories of these mini encounters... but they left strong impressions on me.  Katy has a magnetism. I wanted so badly to know her! I knew, after just passing her in the bathroom of a Kansas City hotel ballroom, that she was funny, talented and clever. I admired her bold style and tattoos.. her witness. She was with a small group of other bloggers/designers/makers. I was alone and shy.
I wanted to be friends.
Now Im crying again... maybe this is TMI. but whatever.. this is me. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I except that about myself.
Now, reading Katy's post about ME, I feel absolutely ________. I don't know the right word. The fact that someone else, someone I was intimidated by, felt the very same feelings about me has kind of shattered my world in the best possible way!

Katy ♥

I love you Katy! I really do. You are beautiful and funny and dear. You made me feel "a part of". Now... being a hugely dorky, Anne of Green Gables fan.. all I can think to say, is that I feel we are "bosom friends."
I couldn't be more grateful to know you!
Thank you for your kindness.

HUGE HUG!!

Here we are with Melody Miller! Another idol in my eyes... We are all ll in our Staple Dresses :)

I will have to write more about Melody. And Rae and Jen and Amanda,  Brenda, Rashida, Jan, the Toronto ladies, Sonia, Libs, Caitlin, Anna, Shari, Ellen, Maureen, the mom that also made me cry, and all the other ladies..  (that I can't remember names while typing right now.. forgive me, I still love you! ) I loved EVERYONE at camp!

>> - - - - -♥- - - - - >

April

Two Tomorrow

♥

This girl..

Camilla.

It's hard to believe it was just two years ago, that I was waiting.. so very anxiously, for her to arrive.

Praying for regular contractions, after weeks of teasers. 5 days past due. 

She came the next night. 

So quickly. 

Into this world. 

6 days late and making up for it. Nothing else in her development has been late. 

She is this tiny force.
Charging into life.
Crawling early. Walking early. Talking early.
Not slowing down even when I ask her to... She just runs ahead. 

 

Our joyful little Milla.

♥

the very first and the very last two photos in this post are by Suzanne.

at home.

spring break.

fun with my girls.

busy days.

creative nights.

a great vacation. spent right here.

- - - - - - - here's what we've done this week - - - - - - -

- enjoyed easter -

- visited a two local farms - 

- spent time with lots of spring babies - 

- enjoyed friends - 

- skipped rocks in our stream -

- shopped - 

- giggled -  

- ate black berries -

- designed and stitched -

- folded -

also......

library

read

snuggled

cleaned house

messed house

cleaned house again

watched movies

stayed up past bed time

.... and I've finished several projects over the past several nights... it's the only time I have to "finish" things. but I really want to properly photograph them (in the daylight) and write about them, to share with you.. I'll try tomorrow... 

hope you are all having fun!

happy spring!

BRINGING BALLOONS

so i've been trying to take a little break...

a little less work and a little more fun.

at least while the testing is underway.

the problem?

my work is fun.

i get to get giant balloons.

so giant they don't even fit in our GIANT silverado... (the kind with the full cab and double doors...)

3 to start...  photo taken by my lovely and vey giggly assistant, Aelyn. 

our shadow

We took our chances and drove very slow, 

about 3 miles, 

rush hour, 

catching lots of funny looks... 

one of the knots slipped and one escaped without us even getting to see it float off while deflating.. 

we drove past a friend who laughed.

we laughed.

1 less.

then when we arrived we all laughed some more.

Aelyn said this would be a BIG story.. I think she meant "a long story" as in the phrase.. though her miss use was in fact more accurate!

I was big fun too :)

as was the party... you can see my post on that here.

#SCRAPPYTRIPALONG

Obsession is an understatement.

I love making these blocks. I've even begun naming my favorites.. the above, clockwise: Banjo Parade, Squirrel in our Swinging Tree, The Owl and the Pussy Cat (obviously) and Raining Cats and Dogs.

Three lovely days of sewing.

Friday was a snow day for Aelyn. We stayed in and finished the Princess doll and her wedding dress. And Aelyn did some sewing of her own...

I know I already shared this on the Sew To Speak blog, but I just had to put it up here too!

Saturday I taught my Intro to Appliqué and Embroidery class. I don't have photo's to share, but it was a lot of fun. We had a full group of five lovely women and one daughter. Their little applique improve pieces turned out very sweet.

Then last night I got to sit and stitch on our comfy coach next to my sweet husband.

Finally this morning I finished some fun little cards for my two cousins who are also expecting. We are all having girls and due within 3 months of each other! Katie in March, Me in April and Audrey in May :)

Daddy Deer..

I started out with a simpler idea, just wanting a new wall hanging/window display for the shoppe but without a clear vision of what the end result would be, I just kept going.

I love the new line of Echino prints we just got in and the buck on the woodland print really inspired me.

I made a photo copy of him and enlarged it by about 160% then I placed my white linen over top of the copy and traced the buck onto it using a light grey crayon. After transferring the image I simply satin stitched over the entire image in a tealy/grey/blue pearl cotton. The embroidery took a few hours but was a relaxing, thoughtless, late night activity. Done while watching tv with the husband.
I played around with some ideas as to how I'd display the daddy deer. I consider featuring him in the center on a patchwork wall hanging but ultimately I liked the way he looked framed. I think it suits his strong stature. The rest of the piece came while just playing with fabric and materials. The leaves are fabric wonder undered to paper make them stiff and behind them I drew more leaves in crayon and painted the linen with green and yellow water colors. The sun is also fabric wonder undered right onto the linen. Finally the yellow pom poms were glued to the inside edge of the frame before I stretched the completed picture into place.

My Mini Matryoshka's

Update: the Mini Matryoshka tutorial is now up, so go make cute dolls and let me know what you think ;)

****************************************************************

These little lady's are a soon to be free pattern on the Sew To Speak blog (the one that consumes all my blogging energies and my excuse for not blogging here more often).

Tiny Elephant

Just under 2 inches.

Originally I set out to make this guy for Aelyn but now I kinda want to keep him for myself.
I'll probably keep him and make her another... itty bitty softies are just so freakn' cute!