What I've been up to

I made a quilt for my daughter's preschool class live auction in December. I was feeling very generous when I offered to make it since it's our last year at the school (sniff, sniff). I knew I would be be rather "control freaky" about the whole thing. So sure enough, I ended up doing the entire thing except the rather tedious task of printing all the images. I was also lucky enough to have the quilting donated by a local quilt shop; what a luxury...wow, I could get used to that!! As much as I really loved making the quilt, I happily saw it go home with a grateful winner (a friend so I can visit it if I want). Now, to fill my own house with handmade quilts. It's a goal for the new year, but first some new clothes for myself that I've been working on.

OMG...I made a quilt!!

I made a quilt! My very first one! I am so happy with how it came out and already have another similar top pieced for another one. In fact, I've already been to the quilt shop to buy fabric for another quilt. Um....I guess this is a little addicting, but oh so much fun. I was so nervous about the actual quilting part, but it was a breeze especially when you aren't a perfectionist about it. I really like a handmade quilt to look, well, handmade. Little errors really do add to its charm and beauty. This is for a friend's new baby. I sure hope she likes it.

I see a purple(ish) quilt in my future

Whenever I ask Katya what her favorite color is, she'll reply with purple. At first, the thought totally made me cringe; I'm just not used to looking at purple and for the longest time could not think of purple without thinking of lavender. Well, now I am embarking on a quilt for her inspired by this lovely quilt and I have started looking at purple in a whole new way. I love the darker plum shades and am feeling optimisitic about the possibilities.
I am finishing my first (small) quilt right now. I am in love with the process and am hoping that I can get inspired to make quite a few before the year is out.

remains of the day

family

I just love this little family of mine.

Where have you been, little bear?

The blackberry bushes up the street are a required daily stop for my kids. Sometimes my son needs to check several times a day to "just see" if there are any more ripe ones. I am so glad they can experience sunwarmed, fresh-from-the-vine blackberries. If only it weren't for the thorns, they would certainly pick every last berry on the bush.

Wovenplay

I have been drooling over the stuff made by Wovenplay ever since I discovered them about a year ago. In general, I think it's nuts to spend that kind of money on children's anything, but you can just tell that these items are beautifully made and I'm actually contemplating getting a cape for Katya's birthday (but now that I'm looking, it might be harder to find than I thought). They are spectacular. I've thought about trying to recreate it, but then I realize that I'd only fail. I have a friend who tried on a Prada skirt that was on sale for a mere $350 (marked down from $800), so she went home a spent an untold amount of time trying to recreate it. After obsessing for far too long, she admitted, "I should have just bought the damn skirt." I think a lot about the cost of things and how we often expect things to be so much cheaper than is reasonable, especially for handmade items. In any case, I'd really love to win this skirt on one of my favorite blogs. Pick me, pick me, pick me......