pattern maker

During a work break, I stumbled upon an incredible pixel quilt pattern maker which uses your photo to make a quilt pattern. Check it out here at the Victoria and Albert Museum website. It's a time vacuum, so I had to stop myself at the few quilts I made! Or else, really, I could have been on there all day. Truth is, as ya'll know, I'm not a big fan of modern quilts. But these don't seem too modern to me, and they are what every quilt should be - personal.

If you have trouble seeing the picture in the pattern, just stand up away from the computer screen.

Sadie...




Britton...




Tried out Steam Boat Willie...




And a random flower...




And Britton as a baby in black and white...




So many tiny squares, but the website gives you a listing of fabric colors and how squares and triangles of each color you'll need. Hmmmmmm.......addition to the project file?

granny squares quilt for granny

Remember that patchwork quilt I made with the tea towels Granny embroidered for us? Well, I wanted to say thank you to her for the towels and inspiration, and I stumbled upon this Granny Squares Quilt (originated here) and knew it was the perfect project. Just big enough for a lap quilt, generous use of scraps, so dang cute I want to cover it in glitter, and of course the name - Granny! The design is inspired by crocheted granny square afghans, and while I can't crochet worth a nickel (though my sister can), I can quilt.

It came together easily, and picking the little 2.5 inch squares was the most fun by far. Once I had it all arranged and trimmed, I sashed it, quilted it in straight lines (which are actually diagonal lines), and bound it. Then last week I mailed it off to its new home (after spending the morning with it on my lap because I didn't want to say goodbye so soon), but Granny was out of town! No problem since her neighbor picked up her mail for her, and kept it safe until she got home. I talked to her today and am pleased to relay that she loves it, as do her neighbors. And I don't think she'd mind me sharing that her neighbor saw the quilt (and pictures of the embroidered quilt and Britton I included in the package) and told her that she must be really loved. The neighbor was right - she is.



Paisley binding, from the first dress I made Britton. I was originally going to go with brown with white polka dots but the hub vetoed it and said the binding needed more color......and since he doesn't hear this often enough, he was right.



Walking foot, you are my friend. See how crinkly and soft a dryer makes this quilt?



I asked Memaw what Granny's favorite color is, and she said if she had to guess it would blue or periwinkle since she wears those colors often. I had just the yardage in my stash, and added the little blue flowers, since the solid back wasn't quite big enough.



Oh, my little hidden surprises! A cupcake amongst the yellow squares (from an apron for Britton):



And two orange crabs sneaking around...




And this quilt has inspired me to do what I don't normally - make another! As soon as I got back from the post office, I was cutting into my stash for more 2.5 inch squares. And that's how you know you love a quilt. We love you Granny!

remember when?

Yesterday Memaw and PawPaw made Britton her first snow cone! I remember my Snoopy Snow Cone machine from ye olde days o'yore. And you know what? They still make them. Really. Now, Memaw and PawPaw got a better one - one that doesn't require you to grind ice by hand! But it reminds me that the things we loved as kids, like snow cones melting into the bottom of a paper cone, don't change all that much.

But some things do. And the hub and I have gone through a laundry list of what we had/saw/did/used growing up that Britton will never know. Follow me down memory lane.....

1. The green pages. My dad used to lose his mind if the green pages went missing. Because without the green pages, you didn't know what was on the television schedule for that week. The "green section" came in the Sunday paper, and it was preserved in a constantly-folded condition, next to the remote control. We didn't spring for TV Guide, so without the green pages, we would have never known what was on all of our 30 channels.



2. No cell phones. My mom actually owned the Zach Morris giant cell phone. I didn't have a cell phone until I was in my second year of law school. That was only seven years ago. And I didn't know what texting was until maybe two years ago. Because I'm not currently thirteen years old, with a cellphone-less past I can't remember, obsessive cell phone use bothers me. I scream at people using their phones (and texting!) while driving. I laugh at people who text while grocery shopping and run into a meat freezer. Britton will never remember a world without cell phones.



3. But she'll never use an answering machine. And there was just something about coming home to a blinking light that voicemail isn't going to replace.



4. More technology, I know, but it seems to be what changes the most. Computers. My sister Jessica bought her first computer when we were sixteen or thereabouts. It was so slow. They all were. My mom had one of those old computers where the cursor would blink over the green rectangles. In college, it took me over three hours to illegally download a song off Napster. And that's if the dial-up internet connection didn't fizzle out when 95% of the song was downloaded! My iPhone is a better computer than the Gateway (yes, Gateway) that lasted me six years. And I only had to get rid of it because it caught a virus and couldn't be updated enough to install anti-virus software. Heck, my iPhone is faster than my desktop computer I use for work every day, but of course that desktop is loaded down with over 8500 photos. Photos I never print anymore because....why? See the next one.

5. Remember film? Remember that excitement of one-hour film development? You'd order double prints so you could give copies to your friends. And my scrapbooks, oh my scrapbooks. I'm currently ordering the six iPhoto albums I have saved on the computer, one dating back to 2007. No longer are 100 pictures strewn across the floor, ready to be put in chronological order. I just open a new blank album and clip and drop in photos in pre-arranged places. It's not the same, and not even close.



6. Television shows. My dad sat me and Jessica down for the premiere of MTV. Seriously, on the day it premiered, we all sat on the old sectional, mouths agape, and watched MUSIC. ON TELEVISION. Britton won't see MTV that way, since they don't actually play any music videos anymore. But she will know all the crap we know as reality shows. And MTV was the birth place of reality shows - "Real World," anyone? There's a great theory that the only true "Real World" was the first. Ever since then, they have filled the position of "out-of-control anger issue" and "virginal innocent" and "smart but unattractive female" and you get the idea. Ever since then (or really, the premiere of any reality show), the people who show up on season two, three, and more are just imitating what they saw the season before.



Everything changes all the time, right? I just hope snow cones never do.

our afternoons

Every afternoon I stop work around 4:15 pm to start on dinner. I get dinner to the point where it's almost ready (anything that takes a while, like chicken), then go pick up Britton from daycare.

And when we get to our street, I put her window down and she completely expects it. We pull over on the side of the road, and call out to "Mommy Horsey." There's also a Shetland pony we call "Baby Horsey." Now, I'll fill you in on a little secret - "Mommy Horsey" is in fact a boy. But we still call him "Mommy Horsey" and call out for him and he comes over to the fence and nods at us.




Then we go home and I finish dinner while Britton plays. Usually with Sadie, and markers, and coloring books. But today I surprised Britton with some new number flashcards! And she promptly spent the next fifteen minutes "teaching" Sadie her numbers. Adorable!

sailing away

I saw this dress in one of the 500 catalogues we receive each week (ok, not that many, but it seems like that many), and I instantly loved it (see more here). Maybe because I grew up at the beach, maybe because of the colors together, but I loved it. But not that it cost $48. So, what do I always do? I told myself I could make it.

And I did. But not for a whole lot less than $48, so please, for the love of all things holy, if you like a dress just go ahead and buy it and remind me to do the same! I couldn't find a good stripe for the dress, so I went with an apparel-grade seersucker. And this was my first time doing real applique work, and I enjoyed it! The stitching around the applique pieces are difficult, but I soon caught on, and learned how to adjust my stitch length. I didn't add the second little green wave next to boat because I found it distracting. And I made the dress from my standard pattern because it's the only dress pattern I know how to make.

In this picture, it seems to be strangely flat across the front, and that's because I used a stabilizer on the back to keep the pieces straight. The dress does move more than the picture shows.



Tiny stitches back and forth. It was like sewing buttonholes, or so I believe as I've never sewed buttonholes.



I laid it out Monday morning for Britton to wear. She put it on, then announced she wanted to wear her yellow dress. I don't like to fault her for wanting to wear what she wants to wear, so I talked her into wearing it for 5 minutes so I could get a picture. Sleepy Monday morning poses may be the only ones I ever get. I'll try to get her to wear it for picture day!

st. patty's day best maid pickle parade

Yesterday was Britton's "Wear Green!" day at daycare, since it wasn't St. Patrick's Day quite yet. I had bought this shirt for her hoping she would love how cute it is, but alas those feelings are just mine. Here she is after I got her home when I told her to wear it for 2 more seconds so I could get a picture.



Then when I said she could take it off.



In years past, the hub and I may have celebrated this day in accordance with his heritage. I am a redhead, but not Irish, and he's part Irish, part modgepodge. The celebration used to be an afternoon in the sun, listening to cover bands, drinking green beer, and later puking up green beer and swearing off drinking ever again. But no more. So this afternoon we were all going to the Best Maid Pickle Parade and dang it all, Britton was wearing that shirt! We pulled a peer pressure move on her, showing her how we were all wearing green so she had to as well. It worked! Of course, that manuver could backfire on us when she's a teenage, but hopefully she won't remember our "creative parenting" by then!

Here are Britton and Memaw while standing in line for horse rides. Britton was all geared up and excited until it got to the time to actually ride the horse. Then she panicked and jumped on me like a spider monkey. We petted the horse then left, to lessen the permanent damage.



Main Street, eagerly anticipating the parade...



We noticed the theater had played "The Quiet Man" - one of the hub's and PawPaw's favorite movies...



The Best Maid pickle Smiley girl! Her "face" is on the top of every jar, and honestly it's the only brand of pickles we buy. But it was weird seeing this giant head in the car.



A tiger? Green tights? I don't know.








What parade doesn't have Elvises on motorbikes wearing tiny green hats?





These girls were the "Cucumber Princesses"...


And the "Pickle Queen"! Not sure what's in the back on the car, but it looks like some horrendous Pier 1 room screen, so it was probably her prize for winning.



I wasn't really sure why the float was named "The Fighting Pickle." Or why this guy was in a green screen suit.



Best ad campaign FAIL! I don't know about you, but when deciding who will handle my "final affairs," the environmentally-friendly factor doesn't factor, you know? Maybe some people do, and that's why they entered the parade to begin with.



Luckily for us, Britton wanted to leave before the pickle eating contest and pickle juice drinking contest began, so it was off to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. And she wanted to find the tiger from the parade, so we looked for him too. Never did find the tiger, but some men from the parade stopped by the car and gave us their leftover candy. Score!

sew adorable

I saw this fabric briefly online, and thought nothing of it since it's a panel and what can I do with a panel? I even saw it in the quilt shop in Oklahoma City, and didn't buy any since I still didn't have a project in mind. Well, I finally saw a little girl's dress made in it, and I wanted one badly! But two months is a long time, and by then the fabric was backordered until May. Lesson learned - if you're drawn to a fabric, for any reason, go ahead and buy it!

Well, I did find a yard on Etsy, so I grabbed it and a coordinating pink flowered for some shorts. When they arrived, the pink flowered was now white flowered, and wouldn't look good with the white background of the shirt. I contacted the store and they apologized - the wrong photo had been used in the shop to represent the fabric. So I was free to keep it, and get another fabric of my choice. I went with pink pinwheels, from the same line (Sarah Jane Studios "Children at Play"), but didn't end up making shorts because it felt too busy.

And when I needed a break from work yesterday, I went at this shirt with gusto! Twenty minutes later, the shirt was finished!

Here's the front (or the back, since there really isn't a front or back in the design of the shirt, but because of that wayward purple balloon I think of this as the front):



And the back (or the front):



The parade, oh how I love the parade.



I have an entire yard of the parade left (it's printed on both sides of the yardage), so I'm thinking of pairing it up with these pinwheels and the wrong-fabric-sent white background flowers, for the cutest dang baby girl quilt this side of the Rio Grande!



Britton spotted the shirt immediately, hanging off the kitchen chair where I left it after the glamour shots. We were having pizza for dinner, so I persuaded her to take it off before eating!



And, totally off the subject but I just need to share - add 1/2 a package of cream cheese to your spaghetti sauce next time you make a big batch of it. Seriously. Heaven.