Life in Color Photo – Page 74 – Celebrating crafts, kids and the everyday through photographs.

Balance

I'm struggling to find it. My poor little Tuesday had sort of a rough day and it was all my fault. It started off with a bath gone wrong and she inhaled a bunch of water, even though I literally had my hands on her – man babies are slippery. Then later she sneezed up this:

A piece of plastic from a spool of ribbon. Oh my god the horror when she did this. She was just cruising around playing in the basement like always. I'm constantly talking to her, going over to her and checking on her, but some how she snapped a piece off of a roll (I let her play with the empties – no more!). The thing is I just finished cleaning up the basement:

Looking one way, and the other:

Well, okay from these pictures it does look a little busy, but really I didn't think there was anything she could reach that would hurt her. The hard part is I have no trouble filling orders and packing things up, in fact Tuesday loves to crawl after the little cart I push around. But when it comes to doing serious work on the computer that's were we have a problem. I have to focus to get something done, and I can't get more than maybe 20 minutes at a time, and that's if Tuesday feels like being in the exersaucer, playpen, or Merry Muscles. She still doesn't nap, well maybe averages an hour every week or so. Otherwise her resting times are hour long nursing sessions (at least one a day). I don't mind those, it's actually a nice break for me and I can knit or something. But I can't move and I can't be on the computer. I feel like I have all these ideas in my head and am so slow in implementing them. And while I don't mind doing this late at night:

I really don't do my best computer work at night, it makes me so tired! Why is that, when I can stay up and sew for two hours with out realizing it? I think one reason I'm feeling a little overwhelmed is that Tuesday is so inquisitive. I don't, or rather won't ignore her to work. But she is still too young to set up with a project. I'm just not sure what to do. I know I need to put locks on the cabinets for a start (kitchen and bath at least). Thoughts? Ideas?

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t me you shouldn’t watch

This evening putting Tuesday to bed was going to be cake, CAKE! She was tired, she had finally pooped, the crib was really calling her name. So I took her upstairs, got her all ready and had some quiet play time. I nursed her and went to put her down. I was next to her crib, it was very dark but I could see her turn her head and just laugh at me. Then I looked down at my phone for a minute and when I looked up I kind of scream/laughed because she had her hand stuck out of the bars just like out there. It freaked me out! She started laughing, and laughing. Then I started laughing. And then I started tickling her, I couldn't help it she was so cute! It was pitch black but I still think you might find this amusing:

After 20 minutes of that it was back to the breast, a little swaying, some back patting and finally sleep. Time: 8:45; we've done better, but hey we've also done much, much worse.

The Details

Thanks for the love on Tuesday's costume. I had a whole other thing planned, and had already figured out part of that costume, but it involved Bj and I, and since we had to skip out on the party we were going to thanks to some sleepless nights I decided to scrap it. Then I had another genius idea, and I think it would be super cute, but I just didn't have the time to see it through, that was a for Tuesday to be an ice ice baby brand bag of ice. Hehehe, well it got me laughing. So come Saturday I had nothing planned, and no costume. I did however have a cute tutu I picked up on the Gymboree sale rack while I was visiting Ceara. I paired that with her Baby Lulu leggings, a hand me down turtleneck onsie and her cute little silver shoes. I had a little wand from a wedding we went to, so that just left the crown and wings.

The wings were simple enough. I free handed one side on some tracing paper, then folded it over to get the other side. With the pattern I made I cut the shape out of thick fusible web. Then I ironed on fabric to one side, and cut around it. I used spray baste for the other side.

I sewed a pre-made bias binding around the edge, folded it over and used stitch witchery to stick it down on the back side. I crossed some ribbon over, zig-zagged it in place and covered the middle with some fabric I tacked down by hand. When I tried it on Tuesday she wanted to eat the wing edges, so Bj suggested getting them to stick out somehow. I found a wire hanger, cut it and bent it back. I made slits in the fabric and tucked it in between the layers, it just stayed in place on its own, and did the trick.

For the crown I made up a pattern by drawing a swoopy triangle on a sticker, then I placed it on the interfacing about an inch up from the edge, moving it over and matching the edges four times. I also made a four inch long "tail" that is tucked inside the crown so that it can grow with her a bit (took this awesome idea from my friend's mom). I tried to just have the wool (an old sweater sleeve) on the outside, and felt on the inside, but it looked very poor. So I scrapped that one, and figured out how to get it to wrap all the way around. Again spray basting was my friend.

I cut straight down between the points, folded the material in, and whipped stitched it all together. Then I added little crystal beads to the points. It stayed on super well and my hat loving daughter didn't notice it much at all.

My mom and Bill stopped by to see the little lady, then we hit up a few of our favorite neighbors. She was not happy about it. AT ALL. She took one look at people she usually loves and burst into tears. But all and all it was a good night. The porch had the desired effect of making our house more appealing to trick or treaters, so we got some cute ones and Tuesday did enjoy seeing people come to the door. I'm definitely going to plan ahead for next year, definitely…. just remind me to ok?

Woodland Fairy

At the last minute I decided she couldn't NOT dress up. And since I inherited my mother's allergy to store bought costumes Tutu hung out with papa while I whipped up some wings and a crown for my little princess. Details and more pictures tomorrow.

Dreaming and Ditching

I'm still dreaming about a new creative space

Doesn't that look so full of promise? Meanwhile I'm trying to sort through more things to give myself more space with my set up now and found these two on my shelf:

They are Autumn Leaves calendars that I had bound, 2005 (I think) and 2006. I've looked through them and found some great ideas, but I think it's time I pass them on, anyone interested? I'd be happy to send them anywhere. These are going to a good home, thanks!

Yoga Pants

I finally made a pair of pants from Amanda's wonderful book. This project was so dead easy I wish I would have tried it before.

What finally spurred me on was a new pile of clothes headed to the Goodwill. I promised myself I wouldn't take anything out of there to repurpose until I made something with the pile I already had downstairs. These are from a work shirt of Bj's that was so the wrong size, in fact we think he might have gotten the ladies style, it was too funny. All that you can see left of it is a tiny bit inside the back waist band:

Which for some reason I just love. I tried to get some good action shots of Tuesday.

Can you see how she is about to leap off the couch there?

Walking towards me (I purposely made them a little long). So I tried to corral her:

Good thing we put on that teething rail (fyi she bit my arm today!) Also these are wonderful for making a bit wider on top for cloth diapered babies.

Then she decided to try and reach for my camera, so I reached for her hand. A wonderful bunch of giggles ensued.

Simple Patchwork

I finished the simple patchwork quilt I started at the end of September. It's a testament to how quickly time passes that I thought I had just started this a few weeks ago, imagine my surprise when I went to look up the link!

I am so happy with it! It worked out to be 48.5" square. I pieced and quilted it on my new machine, and it was so much easier than I thought it was going to be. One huge difference? A walking foot – those things are so neat!

I quilted it just like the little when I got those letters? I still need to get the peg things off of them. I have a few in my house now, oh the things I will spell once I get these cleaned up. Anyway Tuesday didn't mind helping me (and being restrained), as long as I gave her a clothespin:

She absolutely could not go out here on the ground (besides the tall "grass" there is still lots of construction debris, and it's wet). She's the reason I had to put on my wide angle lens. One second she's here:

And then she is here:

Hehehe.

A little project… and more stash of course

I didn't have time to share a quick little project I whipped up before Tuesday and I left on our trip, so I will now.

These little clean up rags were inspired by Amanda's. I bought two microfiber kitchen towels and cut them up into fours, then using Sciarrino's serger I went around the edges, and done!

It was the first time using a serger and was pretty easy. I had been afraid of cutting myself, but now that I've tried it I don't think you could easily do so. I have a bigger project almost done (yes the quilt!). But of course that didn't stop me from getting some more fabric while in Vermont:

I love Ashley's blog, and she lives in the same city as Ceara so I contacted her to see if she shopped in the area. She said sometimes she did and was kind enough to send me a coupon for a local shop and let me know that they were having a big sale that Saturday. That was all the prodding I needed, and Ceara and I went there on our way to Montpelier. I was fun to go with Ceara because I am going to make her little baby a quilt so I got to see what sort of things she liked. Plus she gave me a paint chip of the room color. It's going to be green and yellow (Oregon duck colors, where she went to school), but I might pop in a bit of some other things so I don't get too nauseous (I joke, but did go to the rival school – unfortunately our colors are orange and black). The bottom two pieces of fabric are repurposed from a duvet cover I got from the Company Store:

Looks like they are out of it now, I got this on sale with the thought that I could make a whole cloth quilt with it (or several, as this is a king size duvet cover). I got 13.8 yards out of it (figuring the yardage like this: 36" x 44" – the common width of quilting cotton), and it worked out to be about $4.70 a yard, including shipping. I'm excited to practice my free motion quilting around the "blocks". I said I would share with you the formula I used and what yardage I figured out for quilting with sheets and bed sets. Here is how I did it: I figure out the square inches of one yard, by the measurements I gave above to be 1584". Then I figure out the square inches of various combinations of sheets and pillowcases. This isn't exact for every sheet, but should be helpful if you are trying to figure out a price comparison:

Twin set (with 1 pillowcase): 6.6 yards

Full set: 9 yards

Queen set: 10.3 yards

King set: 12.3 yards

and if you are just looking at flat sheets:

Twin: 4 yards

Full: 4.9 yards

Queen: 5.8 yards

King: 6.9 yards

A standard pillow case yields about .65 of a yard, and a king about .9 of a yard.

I figured out that twin sets seem to give you the best value, but bigger ones are nicer if you don't want to piece a back. Also I read somewhere that anything over a 200 thread count can be hard to sew/quilt through, fyi. Oh also it takes less yardage than piecing a back because there is so little waste. For example, traditionally you would need 5.25 yards of quilting cotton for a twin back (quilt size 63 x 87).

Vermont

What a clever title, no? I did get back from Vermont a week ago, yes. But then my lovely husband had a stay-cation (isn't that what they're calling it these days?), and not surprisingly the rest of the week flew by. Speaking of flying lets go back to that adventure, shall we? I left off with nachos and loveliness at Ceara's home. The next day we ventured out, and venturing out in Vermont means bundling up Tutu accordingly:

Which this mama didn't mind at all, since she is so extra cute like that. I think for a better run down of the whole weekend you should see Ceara's blog, who yes, is pregnant:

and just as cute as you'd expect. For those of you who don't know, Ceara is my BFF from way back. We became friends in middle school, but actually went to church together since we were little. Ceara and I haven't lived in the same town for ten years, and not in the same state for five! I have to admit at being a little worried about my daughter's new found stranger danger being a problem, but it was as if she's know Ceara all her little life, they were quite taken with each other:

Which made the trip so easy and relaxed. We had one bad night, but considering the time difference, the flight, no papa, and all the variables, not to mention she cut two teeth the first whole day we were there, not bad!

They came in with a vengeance, and if one of you hadn't told me they could be bloody I would have thought something wrong, because her gums were bleeding most of the day. After torturing her to get this picture Ceara's friend Julie told me how to get her to open her mouth and show me in a more humane way, just tip her upside down, it works so well I'll have to get a picture like that.

We timed our trip hoping to catch a little of the fall foliage (Tuesday loves trees so), but didn't do the best job of it. We went into Montpelier (after passing the town by eleven miles due to excessive chatter – a classic Ceara and Amber move) to see the quaint little town in all it's fall splendor, but we missed it by a week. The town was still wonderful and we happened upon a little farmer's market with yummy food and lots for Tuesday to look at. I have lots more thoughts on specific parts of our trip, like why Tuesday was so fantastic on the flights (she's logged six so far in her short lifetime), and how Ceara and I can go months without seeing each other and just pick up, like that. I think I'll save some of those for another post (which will come sooner than later, I assure you), and leave you with a favorite photo (over processed with love):

Safe and Sound

We arrived at Ceara and Grant’s safe and sound. I did almost miss our second flight because of my need for food. There was running involved. Let me just say there really are still some super mice people out there (oh laughing… Nice, Nice people). So thank you to every person who helped me today, from the stewardess who held tutu so I could use the bathroom to the many people that stood up when they ere shouting last call to point to me stuffing the stroller into it’s travel bag. United Airlines I do have to say boo on you for no longer offering pre-boarding to people with children. I’m not quite sure how a woman balancing three bags and a baby wacking people as she schleps (sp?) down the aisle saves them time or money. It’s true all the niceties of plane travel are disapearing.

Once again though let me say that besides corporate policies, the PEOPLE today were great. Lovely row mates, great personal. Crazy twist? I realized half way through my first flight that I was four seats away from my step-uncle Steve! I was in the very back and hadn’t looked up at anyone when I came back, I was so focused on getting us settled and breaking into my gummy frog stash. Then the guy on the other side of the guy next to me says, “this guy on the other side of the aisle is your husband’s father’s brother.” A person who does not exist, so I look over and it is in fact my step dad’s brother in law. So fun.
Of course the best part of the day was seeing Ceara and her cute baby bump. She made nachos, we chatted… This weekend is going to go fast!

Picture is of Miss Rubberneck. This girl loves her people watching!