Wonky Stars

I am a member of the San Diego Modern Quilt Guild. And I think the term member is used kind of loosely because there aren’t any dues or officers, etc. But there is a regular gathering every month to get together and sew and share our projects.

There are also a few guild projects that have been undertaken. These wonky stars are one of them. 

Someone donated the following fabric for the backing and handed out swatches to be used for color inspiration.

 

This was my second purposefully wonky project. And I think I was hindered a bit by my scraps. So it was actually more finicky to put together than I think it should have been. But then again I had a learning curve to conquer. I had to learn how to just relax with it and trust some color choices for the big picture, even if I was cringing on the scrappy aspect. I really have a hard time with truly scrappy. I need a little order or rhyme or reason when it comes to fabrics and colors. But I keep trying. (You should see my roses.) 

So, since I haven’t been able to attend a meeting in I don’t know how many months I still need to hand these off so they can get added to the others for a kids' quilt. But I really like how they turned out. This may be an option for a fundraising quilt I want to make. I have a lot of fabrics left over from my bed quilt and I think they would work well in this format. And hopefully be a little easier for me to get scrappy with it. 

A Bug Playground, really

And I don't mean for my bug. Well, actually it was a gift for my bug.  But it really is a bug playground. It is totally cool. Our bug is very much into bugs right now. And our dear friend got her a bug playground. Seriously. 

Now that is has warmed up we found some pill bugs, you know, Rollie Pollies. We tend to find the bugs some time during the day, bring the playground inside, usually into her bedroom, and then forget about them. Until Mommy panics and says “Where are the bugs?!?” and we put them outside in the dark. But one night after dinner Mommy got fascinated with the activity and snapped some shots. So here you go, living vicariously through our Bug Playground. 

Log Cabin Wonkiness and Wonderfulness

Last summer I took a class from Malka Dubrawsky with a wonderfully creative friend. It was so great.

The technique was very much out of my comfort zone – at first! Then I totally got into it. We all brought scraps to work with. And I realized that my scraps are all little girl colors. I had scrap envy for a while looking around the room. Such beautiful colors. We were to create some log cabin blocks, Malka style. Which really means as wonky as you want. No rulers, no straight edge. Now I have to admit that I may have made only one log cabin block before, period. So even that was new to me. 

I think her suggestion was to make 9 blocks to make a small throw. Well I stopped at 8. Which was great. (Ha.) So when I put them together I came up with 2 good sized blocks, about 14-15 inches, kind of almost square.

For Christmas I made them into pillows for the girls (the bug’s cousins). They turned out great. And are well loved. 

(Okay, Linda, does that period go inside the parenthesis or outside?)

Mud!

Another great day of beautiful weather. I was digging in the yard. Which left large areas of dirt available. And small fun-loving girls were running around. So of course they had to make mud pies. 

Which then turned into playing in a mud pit. So much fun.

 

Disclaimer: I did create the mud pit. Although it was at the request of cute small fun-loving girls.

And then we cleaned up and had baths before The Man got home. J

a little bragging moment

When bug wants to reach something in her closet, she turns over her trash can to create a stool that she can stand on. I love that. She is so resourceful. And even though it creates a mess, I'm okay with that. Because she figured something out on her own to achieve her goal. I really am a proud Momma.

Okay, resume your day. Thanks for listening.

We are Thankful

One of the great things about my new job is that I get to be one of the room moms for Bug’s preschool class. The other room mom is AWESOME. She is so dang creative I love it. And so far we work really well together. For Thanksgiving she came up with the greatest project for their teacher. Each kid was given a paper leaf to write what they were thankful for about their teacher. Then we put it together in a frame. It’s great because she has a lot of scrapbook supplies and I have the fiber arts and other random things covered.

Turned out so cute.

Oh, and Christmas was gift cards with fun little mini trees. And we made ornaments with each of the kid’s photos. Again, such a great idea (Laura!) and so dang cute. (But I forgot to take a picture. Duh.) Wonder what we can come up with for Valentine’s Day?

Domestic Diva Action Plan

Here are my plans. And I hope by putting them here I will keep up with them and keep checking back in to mark my progress. 

1. I really need to get more comfortable cooking. On a regular basis. Normal food. Healthy food.
2. Keeping the house presentable. Got this one covered with FlyLady. Love her philosophies and her way of approaching things. I can do anything for 15 minutes. I can get an amazing amount done in 15 minutes.
3. Work on the backyard. I am building a garden. Actually three raised gardens in the back yard. I broke ground today! The Man came up with a brilliant solution to fix our retaining wall, which means we can also address The Hill. The Hill has been my nemesis for a few years now. I will conquer The Hill.
4. Redo the office. I got a great desk the other day. (Free on the sidewalk. We saw it at a neighbor’s while on a walk. Yipee!)  So I want to pull out my old work desk and put this one in and create more of a play room so that I can get all of Bug’s toys out of the living room. And then maybe we can stop calling that the toy room.
5. Get in shape? Bug loves the beach. And going in the pool. Which means I am going to be spending a LOT of time in a bathing suit. Yikes. I am taking it slow at least making sure that I am active every day. The gardening is really helping on that too.

And somewhere in there I want to make sure I keep creating and quilting. That actually seems to be the hardest to make sure I do. I need to work on that one. 

Go me!