A few smiles for Fools Day!

We love April Fools Day around here! When my oldest daughter hit 3rd grade, the pranks started... blue milk, a rubber band around the sink sprayer, plastic wrapped soap, tied together cabinet doors, hidden utensils. After a particularly bad soaking one year, I decided it was WAY PAST time to join in the foolery! The next year, I switched all of Maggie's books and sneakers from her knapsack for oversize board books and a glittery pair of red Dorothy-style heels. The following year was plastic-wrapped desks and chairs when the girls got back from lunch. And fake flower deliveries. Then I started dressing up. One year as a gaudy fairy complete with tiara and wand. I visited each of the girls' classes and crowned their classmates, dubbing each one with some ridiculous title ("Sir Froo-froo," or "Lady Puffle-Snizzle," etc.).

Then there was the giant rabbit. The bunny hopped and danced and raced around each of the girls' schools. It was my first year visiting the highschool. I was nervous... what would the reaction of a couple hundred teens be to a giant rabbit? I shouldn't have worried! Teens are a natural fit for hilarity! Half the kids at the highschool have photos on their cell phones of a 5'1" bunny! Just a couple months ago, Maggie's English class was reading a book about a teen with an... ummmm... rather *interesting* mother. Class discussion centered around, "how would you feel if your mom did these crazy things?" Maggie was able to say that *her mother* had the fictional one beat! Several of her classmates were startled... "that was your MOM in the bunny costume last year???" (By the way, my very serious kiddo also said that she loves her kooky, zany mom and not knowing each April what I will be up to next!)

Well... this year, the giant rabbit was scheduled to sub in one of the schools. But Santa visited! And left all the girls costumes! I also texted the older girls and told them we got a puppy. The biggest joke of all is that the PUPPY is REAL :o) My dad and I have been on the lookout for a lab puppy for a while and he picked her up for me while the girls and I were all at school!

White borders...

Hmmmm... these white borders look like a magnet for spaghettii sauce. I hesitate even to lay it on the table at our house. Colorful foods are lurking, just waiting to spill! I'll be quilting and binding this quickly... before "navy and white" becomes "navy and white with burgundy spots!" :o)

This is such a pretty pattern! The crisp lines and precise points. All those ITTY-BITTY-TEENY-TINY-MINUSCULE pieces of fabric. Guess who the genius is who chose a pattern with 84 (EIGHTY-FOUR!!!!!) pieces of fabric in every 12" square?!? In my defense, the pattern *did* come from a book called WEEKEND Scrap Quilting and strongly suggested (dare I say, promised???) 20 hours to a finished top :o) I exceeded that a WEE little bit.... Oh! The book is edited by Jeanne Stauffer and Sandra L. Hatch. But the actual pattern is by Pat Campbell. As nutty as those tiny patches of fabric made me, the finished runner is gorgeous!

Well... my sister caught up on her blog reading before I got this in the mail. Darn! But don't worry! I tend to collect fun tidbits for a couple of years with good intentions of sending them out imminently. Gotta love those post office priority boxes that you can stuff full for a flat rate! There will still be plenty of surprises in her box :o)

Sunday smiles!

Just a couple of quick things that made me smile today! My ten-year-old brought her backpack full of lizards to church with her this morning. At one point, I looked over and found that a family of them had taken up residence on the hymnals! And my husband went grocery shopping! He took Acadia with him. Fun for her... but it makes a half-an-hour trip into an hour-and-a-half. Oh! And he brought back a surprise for me! My very favorite mango slices! Not something that is really in our budget right now, but I sure will enjoy them :o)

I'm almost finished with my sister's table runner! Photos coming soon! It is *gorgeous*... worth the tiny piecing and lots of seam-ripping :o)

Just for fun...

Here is a more colorful version of the snowman quilt. This is actually the *first* quilt.... Writing this book proposal has been an interesting process. Some days, I work for *hours*, only to toss everyting at the end of the day. At other times, the ideas tumble onto the paper filling page after page and I accomplish more in five minutes than in entire weeks. I worked on this quilt for a month. Right after finishing it, I made several changes to the pattern and decided that the colors didn't fit the mood of the book. It was briefly frustrating to start all over again... but in the long run, this quilt is colorful and fun and has found a welcome spot on my third daughter's bed. It is also comforting to know that this quilt will not do much traveling, even if the book is published :o)

keeping busy...

The book proposal has been gone for three weeks now. My plan was to work diligently on pieces of the book... start writing directions, re-make one of the projects, finish sketches of the planned work. Reality has been a bit skewed from my plans, though. I wasn't counting on hitting a "creative black hole" immediately following the proposal's submission. Or suddenly needing about four extra hours of sleep a night for a few days after letting go of that big box. And we had two school vacations in the weeks following (my youngest goes to an area charter school which has a different vacation schedule than my older girls). We've been busy... Maggie had her wisdom teeth out, the girls have had bunches of friends over, I've had several friends over, our youth group spent an afternoon tubing at a local ski resort, the house is fairly clean.... It has been a fun three weeks, just not very book-productive.

Now, the girls are all back in school, I've emerged from the creative black hole, and I'm ready to get back to work. My plan is still to tackle re-making a project and to start writing out directions. But I've started sketching ideas for two more books and am eager to start trying out the ideas. I also have a stand-alone magazine pattern in the works.... Guess I'm pretty good at de-railing my own carefully laid plans!

Oh! The past three weeks have not been void of sewing.... I did finish up a quilt that I started almost a year ago for a friend's 16th birthday. If I get the binding on in the next couple of months, it will even be in time for the birthday! This is a fun quilt in black, white and red with all kinds of fun conversation-print fabrics... music, animals, asian prints (this girl is going for her black-belt this month), and polka dots. The backing is fluffy and fleecy, turquoise blue with lime-green dots. It is a very heavy, snugly quilt. I made the mistake of pulling it over me while watching a television show with the girls last week... and was asleep within five minutes!

I've also pulled out a table runner that I have been working on for my sister for... ummmm... a long time. Several years ago, Erica asked for a navy and white table runner for her new table. The navy and white would match a beautiful (Moraccan?)bowl that she picked up while traveling. (She gave me a similar bowl, shown in the photo.) This pattern is INTENSE!!!! Every year, I pick it up, work on it for several days, then start to see double of everything and pack it up for another year. This table runner will have more detail in it than several of the quilts I've made. At the rate I'm going, I might have it done in... ummmm.... several more years. I hope she'll still have the table and the bowl....

Well... my sewing machine is calling! Have a great day! I hope I'll have more to show you soon! Joy!

PS... the table runner is from Weekend Scrap Quilting by Jeanne Stauffer and Sandra L. Hatch. The black, white and red quilt is from a magazine article. Unfortunately, the article and the quilt blocks got separated months ago and I have no idea what magazine it is from or who is the author of the pattern....

wonderful feet!

One of my daughters has significant special needs. Her biggest challenge is communication. With words like bus, horsie, ball and woof-woof, it is difficult for her to tell us if something is wrong. Sometimes she will cry or get angry and we will have no idea what is bothering her. A year ago, Acadia had a very large seizure and was quite dazed after it and cried continuously. We spent the day in the emergency room doing everything from blood tests to MRIs. She was released that evening and when we got home, we realized she was not using her arm and did not want it touched. Thankfully, the ER staff had strongly urged us to bring her back if we had any further concerns. She was x-rayed and a very bad break was found near her shoulder. But it took all day to diagnose the break because Acadia had no way of saying, "my shoulder hurts."

We have been working for a couple of years teaching Acadia to sign, "hurt." That is not as easy to teach as it sounds! As Acadia's mom, I spend my days making sure she DOESN'T hurt herself. Somehow, I can't picture pinching Acadia so that she can tell me it hurts.... I have to take advantage of life lessons. Like the stomach bug we had a few weeks ago. What a crazy scene! I spent hours holding Acadia, cleaning up the multiple messes... and holding Acadia's hands in the "hurt" sign over her belly saying, "hurt. Your tummy hurts."

A few days ago, we took Acadia for a walk in town. She started off happy and excited! Walking, giggling, holding hands with her sisters. Then suddenly she was screaming and crying and would not walk another step. But guess what she was doing?!? She was pointing at her foot! Yelling, crying, and POINTING!!!! The sidewalks were slushy and one of her sneakers was wet! Her foot "HURT"! The rest of the walk was llllooooonnnnggggg. But when we got home, I peeled off Acadia's sneakers and socks. It has never before felt so good to change a child's soggy footwear!

creativity....

Hmmmm... I've been waiting to feel inspired to write again. Waiting for some humorous or witty incident to tickle my funny bone. But I think I wore out every scrap of creativity finishing that proposal. I feel a little flat and dull. A very strange feeling for me... I'm usually trying to shut off the creativity for a bit so that I don't wander away from the stove and burn supper. Or gather half the laundry and forget to start any of it. I used to grumble at God for making me so darned creative... why couldn't I enjoy cleaning or cooking or bill-paying instead? Something useful.

Funny thing about grumbling at God, though. He didn't concede to my wishes and make me a practical, methodical person. I'm stuck with a pretty hefty dose of nuttiness! And I've learned to enjoy the kooky, creative world I live in. Dinner does get cooked. We use the smoke detector for a timer.... I'm perpetually behind on the laundry, but the kids manage to get dressed every day. And my girls joke that I am actually younger than them. Acording to my oldest daughter, "if mom's inner child were out on the street, people would be searching frantically for the parents."

Now, after a week of *not* feeling creative, I am tremendously glad for the scatter-brained, creative, nutty, very happy personality that I was given!