And then it was finished... Jubilee Crush

Quilting as Clare tweeted about the Jubilee Boat Parade... it almost didn't get finished that day.  I love the Queen and the pictures of the colorful boats on that grey, grey water.  It was all so inspiring.  I had to keep sewing.

I am so glad to have this one out of the studio and out in to the world.  I have spent many nights already snuggled underneath,3 sewing and playing Scramble with friends.

Almost the most satisfying part was using these crazy golds in in the back-- made palatable by that AWESOME IKEA number print.  Feels so good to finish something and to use some of my favorite fabrics.  Hoard no more! (if I say it enough, it might happen.)

:)
JMB

The Journey...

I have been thinking a lot lately about the journey that we take to get from one point to another.  It is not linear, and I had thought myself a linear-type of person.  It is not about the destination or the product, and I had always thought that I was a destination type of gal too.  What I am seeing about motherhood, daughterhood, sisterhood, personhood is that there is so much to be learned at each step... if I will just let myself slow down and figure it out.  There is so much to be seen, and taken in if I will just remember that "it is supposed to be fun." There is also fellowship and enough room for all of us, if only I remember that our journeys take different paths at times.

I am still working on the things that need to be culled and purged from this path I am on now.  I am feeling the sweetness of carrying around less (20+lbs thanks goodness), but also that illuminates other things that were formerly precious and that I can be rid of.  I feel keenly that I need to get on with being myself, but that there is a process to it that can't be rushed.

There is anticipation, dreaminess,  and nervous optimism for the future.

I am busy Dreaming Bigger.
Nice to see you here.

JMB

I'm Late, I'm Late!

This week, the Diana Barry to my Anne Shirley had her first baby.  Baby Peaches is a delicate, beautiful little girl.  We are all blessed that she came here to live among us.  I know that she will do great things and be just as delightful as her wonderful parents.  A new family is a precious thing to see.

--JMB

P.S.
I also got some work in on my Pastiche block, it is an Alice and Wonderland theme.  I sometimes find my awe at the work of the women in my group makes me a little scared to sew the first seam in my own block.... got to get over that!  Here are more of the blocks, they are wonderful.

The little bear with embryo hands...

Some one is not very happy that their quilt was sent away... but he still kept knitting and knitting and knitting.
This little project (Doll Quilt Swap #11) is finally done, finally sent, and finally received. What a relief! It is very small, I think only about 14"x 11". I spent so much time agonizing over how to quilt it, and if I even had the skillz to make a tiny quilt, but by the end I really enjoyed the process of making it "just right". Now if I could just find the picture of the little beauty that I received... at least it is a 3 day weekend.

JMB

Something started...

The children are all in their beds (Please let them be asleep!) Big Daddy will be returning from Israel in only 3 more sleeps (I can't wait!) and I have almost made it through THIS day.
My sisters and I all journeyed to the oncologist office today with our mom. Journeyed, because we knew what was going to be told to us and it was a long way to go.

From here to there,

from October until today...

from diagnosis to where we are now.

It feels like another life ago, October 2010, an easier time--- maybe without the technicolor of the good times right now, but definitely without the depth of sorrow that these days hold. My mom has a very rare and freak type of cancer that is not being affected by any of the chemicals they are pumping in to her body. It keeps growing and spreading. It has grown through her chemotherapy AND her radiation treatments. It is in her lungs now and the doctor's words today were "Best case scenario is a year, and that is for 10% of patients". THUD

October feels like another life ago. I look to the future and don't really know how this is all going to settle out. I just realized in that office today that there are no guarantees--- we can look out a week, and then when we get there, we can look out another week, that is it. She seems not too bad right now. She has a cute, curly, short hair-do and a tan, but she is soooo tired and her left arm and hand are numb. I have to help her buckle her seatbelt and adjust her pants' waistband for her. How bad is it going to get? How fast is it going to be? Will she be this way for a longer time or shorter time? There is no formula for me to apply to this problem, no pattern, I can figure out and then adjust to. Rationally, I am there, I get it. Emotionally, it is my mom's existence that we are talking about and I am NOT there yet.

So I started my summer series sampler this week-- Each block has very specific parameters, cutting instructions, clear tutorials--- My only job is to cut my favorite fabrics and sew them back together. To start something, make something new from pieces-- that is about all I can handle right now.

I appreciate your prayers for her. My mom's name is Amira.

JMB

Current incarnation...

My humble contribution to the EMQG Solids Challenge. I say humble, not because of the way I feel about MY quilt, but because there is SO much talent in this group of quilters, so much, and many of them don't even know it. (that is right guys, you are FANTASTIC!) I was sewing and sewing these eggy-ovals the week that I was in Bend, hand applique does take longer than I remembered-- BUT it gets faster the more that you do! Katie challenged me to finish it by our next meeting, I am thinking that is doable-- GO, GO GADGET!

JMB

P.S.

There is another Sisters' Quilt Show post here... and man, there will be more.

First week of summer... the blahs... and trying to craft my way out.

I have been working with this great group of quilters since January. We make a block or two a month to practice our free-piecing skills and then most of us have hooked up with a partner and then we make a second to give to them. I get to swap with Heidi in Germany! Here are all the blocks she has sent me mingled with the ones that I have finished for myself.
I just think they look great together. I am noticing that my blocks are tending towards the smaller side, maybe because I have been doing so many small quilt swaps. This past week I wanted to enter a quilt in to a big show in Portland and was QUITE surprised to find that most of my larger quilts were all made prior to the required 2009 date?? WOW, what could I have possibly been doing since then. Maybe taking care of 3 nutty children...
They are very cute, but I guess finishing some big quilts is on my agenda for now.

Summertime and the living is easy.... Who ever thought that was true?? In theory I guess, but I am realizing that with 5 people in a house when a cold rears it's ugly head... we are lucky if it only makes its way once around the bodies. Mango was sick with the highest fever and the weirdest rash. With the third child I am a much more "a wait and see" type of mommy, but when the feet start getting all red and the red polka dotted rash is making it's over the entire body. Well, then we have to go and see the Dr., so that she can tell us "Oh, that is a weird rash. It is probably just a part of the virus" Awesome, I guess that is why you are earning the big bucks! No sooner did her fever break, then I am jarred out of my sweet sweet sleep by Brownie crying that "It feels like glass shards have fallen in to my ears." So after 2 days of ear duty I am going to cautiously say that we can now start our summer vacation with just a broken clavicle and a few runny noses.

I did start a new BIGGER project... I just had to... I have been reading Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit" and she talks about having creative rituals that get you on the path of creating work... otherwise you might just talk yourself out of what ever it is you are going to make. She is a dancer and likes to workout every morning so for her, getting out of her apartment at 5am and hailing a cab is what she needs to accomplish doing her creative work for the day. She says that if she does that, then the rest of the day just follows, but if she doesn't she can talk herself in to sleeping in... etc, etc. I was thinking about that for me... and since I have a room to sew in, I don't necessarily see my work unless I open the door-- and maybe I am inclined to leave it shut, to not do work. BUT the other day I was thinking that the act of opening the door and turning on all of the light switches (I like a LOT of light) makes me want to sit and sew and work on projects. It may not be of that much interest to all of you, but for me, it is good to know. What kind of rituals/habit do you all have before getting down to your own creative work?
In order to re-excite myself I needed to post my little zipper pouch that I did not finish in time for the EMQG swap, but did finish nonetheless. I am still not a zipper lover, I think that I need to read some tutorials or something, but I did like making a little zakka-style zipper pull decoration. I just think it is so cute.

I hope all of you are enjoying summer. We are going to be in Bend for a family vacation the week of the 4th of July. I am going to do some things at the Quilter's Affair and also see the Sisters' Quilt Show. That is when summer is going to start for certain... we need a vacation.

:)

JMB

Having a bit of fun on the straight and narrow...

My little bunny nuggets are coming along nicely. I like wearing them as fattie finger puppets, so maybe when these are done I will have to make some slimmer ones and have a little show. I didn't understand the ear instructions very well, so I ended up making a 6 stitch I-cord... so easy and so fun to knit!
I have been working on my EMQG bee quilt. There still are some blocks out there in the universe, but it has been a fun exercise in piecing and playing with fabric. I CAN still piece with some amount of precision---this is perhaps not the best picture, BUT the seams do match up! Sometimes a nice 1/4 seam is a fun way to play too.
Here are all the blocks, not in their final spots, but up on the wall to inspire me! Last week I was making free-pieced churn dash blocks for this group.
The view out the sewing window today is BEAUTIFUL!!! I heart SUNSHINE and pretty spring flowers. Happy Easter! (Wait-- until you see the dress I made for Mango-- SEW cute!)

JMB

Getting my butt kicked by minutiae...

Well, this is what I have been doing since we last talked. Making little birds, and driving myself crazy trying to reinvent the wheel with these Darn Union Jack blocks (I am free-piecing something that is rather fussy...crazytown!), and taking crappy low light pictures. I don't know why I like them so much (the Union Jacks, not my off color images)... the graphic quality of the intersecting crosses?? Perhaps, I actually just like flags.

In Other News:
(this is the big "unload" folks)

Big Daddie has been chained to his desk at work for the last two weeks... I don't see him and it has been so long that I am starting to think that this is the new state of our existence...yucko! Catch me on Tuesday... he is "supposed" to be back to normal by then.

My poor mother had to change Chemo drugs and the new one is giving her very painful side effects. It makes me so sad for her. I just keep praying for strength for her. She has been really doing awesome and having a great attitude thus far. It has helped me to feel hopeful, I hope we can stay on the right track and that we all can be strong enough to support each other.

The plumber came out 3 times this week... nothing major, but the faucet is STILL leaking!

My new idea of interesting is figuring out how many loads of laundry I do in a week. I know, "Jessica, that is depressing" you say.... but I am really curious. Today I did 5. I still have 3 of them to fold and put away. (they are kids clothes and kitchen towels... SO many items per load!!!)

FUN THINGS (to balance out all the mind-numbing crap):
*Today we organized the kid's art cupboard and the boys were so exciting to rediscover all of the things that they have in there. It sounds like work, but it actually made me really happy.

*Lunch at the DQ in J.C.-- It was like the old days, when I just had one boy and we would sit and watch the trucks go by. Today we had 3 kids that were in to watching all of the street action. Wow, yes, 3 KIDS!

*Bald eagle in the grass field on the way home. It was maybe 20 yards away, so beautiful and always so thrilling.

*Lambs, sweet, little, cuties. Black ones, white ones, white with brown noses... so fun to watch them hop on each other. I swear that this one ewe had 6 babies surrounding her. I am sure that they all weren't hers, but some momma was having some free time!

*Taking pictures of moss on old buildings. The colors made me so happy that I can see.

And this is only one day--

Note to Future Self: remember to make the kids go see the lambs, they may not like it, but you sure do!

JMB
P.S.
I think that I would be insane had I not had Veronica Mars to watch on Netflix. A long time ago, we used to be friends....

Chasing my tail...

Peeks of a new project... a tutorial in the works perhaps
The neighborhood is getting some closure (I'm a-gonna quilt it, yes I am!),
Afternoon sun shining, shining those winter blahs away.

1. Untitled, 2. Robin red breast, 3. More Ideas Than Time, 4. DSCN1107, 5. I Aspire, 6. naturally dyed silk yarns rainbow, 7. Everything Will Be OK, 8. i've been papercutting, 9. Untitled

and these... I am just getting LOST on flickr so much lately. The eye candy there has been eating up time that I could be using for my beauty sleep.

At the end of a week, I wonder where all the time in the days goes to. The children, our home, take up a lot of it, but also the back of my mind is processing something, some kind of change of self, of my sense of my self. A shift in how I have been thinking of things, of time, and of what I am capable of. It isn't just one thing, but a bunch of things that have occurred over the past year(s). Seeing the children growing and striving, mortality, doing things that I have thought were REALLY scary... these are all changing me. They probably have always been changing me, but I feel like I am coming up to one of those HUGE developmental jumps that kids have, like when you learn to walk or talk. It feels kind of weird, kinda good, but also weird. I wonder what it will be, and who I will be.

I read a quote today on a "new to me" blog and I like it, I like a lot.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." ~Theodore Roosevelt

It resonates with where I am today and truthfully how I want to live. The last few months have been "interesting", a contrast in sorrow and wonderfulness. I have been trying to just see what the day will bring, and also to make myself available to the opportunities that might come along. It is kinda working. The less tightly I am squeezing something, the more I am able to see how it is able to unfurl, and then what to make of it.

Well, it makes sense to me.

Be careful of what you find on flickr... a picture of a collection of red objects could change the way you look at the world, or not

JMB

Tonya... you did it!

My life as a quilter would be SO much less interesting had I not stumbled across this blog, oh SO many years ago.
Tonya's OPUS arrives TODAY!!! Congratulations, I am a more excited and inspired quilter for knowing you.

This trip of "projects past" brought to you by "the UnRuly Quilter"... all of them (and MORE!) inspired by Tonya's unique style, enthusiastic encouragement and great taste in movies and tv shows.

Thanks! I can't wait to get my hands on this book!

JMB

Quiet riot!

I cut in to my precious Kaffe fabrics. I am so glad this is finished, so glad. It is brightening all of my grey mornings these days. That is a good thing. Hope you are having a SPOOOOOOKY weekend!

JMB

Hanging at the Apartment house...

I finished it a few months ago, but Blondie has been wrapped up in it. It is amazingly hard to take a full picture with a little boy burrito'd inside. Today was sunny and Mango was sleeping, so we hung it up and took a few pics. This quilt was made for story times, laying on the floor and playing "I spy", and making a sleepy boy cozy. It works.

JMB

A sneaky look at what I have been makin'...

Most of my days are spent doing this...
But a few times over the past couple weeks I have sneaked in some work on these...

They are going to be finished soon.... one of them could come to live with you.

Stay tuned!!

JMB

A 3 hour tour...

Last Sunday I took a little 3 hour vacation at my favorite local quilt shop...
And came home with a great hat for summer fun... if only the weather would cooperate.

JMB

And the sun comes out...

I have decided that dealing with sick kids is far worse than being sick myself. It is now day 10 of the diarrhea-a-thon. We had a HORRIBLE virus that went through our house (I believe that it is virus #362 of this winter.) and little Mango's gut is still trying to get back on track. Her diaper rash got so bad that I just wanted to weep along with her. It makes me realize that the more kids you add to the mix the more "bugs" get brought in to the house. Blondie's preschool is putting us in a WHOLE other pool of germs to bring home, makes me appreciate the concept of homeschooling... especially when you have a autumn baby in the house.

I was getting so depressed because it seemed like vomit/diarrhea/wash all the laundry was our new normal. Then, finally, she was able to take a nap and I had a few moments of quiet (one brother at school and one with Grandma! Yahoo!) I took out my new yarn and cast on. Knitting patterns are very challenging to me and a little bit scary. BUT-- I think that the intense concentration and the soft fiber were the perfect prescription for my baby sickness blues. I sat and knit in the sun while she slept and slowly the pattern revealed itself. It is not too complicated, a few twisted stitches and one called a daisy stitch, but the act of conquering the 4 row repeat made me feel mentally stronger than I had felt in days. I felt a little bit more "me". Thank you, thank you, yarn and needles. Thank you little Mango for sleeping soundly.

The sun stayed out for the afternoon and my sister was able to hold up some quilts for photographs...
Here is my first finish of 2010...I call it "Gwen and Freddy" because I finished the top last summer while I was taking some of their classes. So nice to finish a quilt, I have been sleeping under it some nights when I just can't get warm enough. The colors are so cheery to wake up to.
I just love winning things, especially beautiful things like this quilt! I have never been very lucky with drawings in real life, but it feels like I win a lot on people's blogs...gotta love the Internet! ANYWAY, this was done by Anita over here and it brightens up my living room quite nicely. Thank you Anita, I just love it.

Sometimes your day starts one way and then takes a turn for the better.

JMB

Sew little fingers... sew like the wind!

The quilting/sewing mojo is coming back...let's not jinx it so I will say that in a whisper "the mojo is coming back"... There, I said it. The secret, I think, is to actually pick UP the projects that need some tending to.
This little quilt, after much thought (too much for it's small size) needed to be hand quilted. A good choice, as I needed a project to drag around with me for when the oil is getting changed, or there is a scrap of free time here or there. They are not going to get finished if you just leave them behind. The hands are very winter tired, but they have been having fun winding the thread around the owls and back again.
What made the magic really return was working with these great "Wizard of Oz" fabrics. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this movie as a kid. Back in the days BEFORE VCRs and DVDs, you had to actually wait for a movie to play on TV or in the theaters to see it. Every year, I can't quite remember the season, but we would have a fun movie night at our house when the "Wizard of Oz" was playing. My mom would pop a HUGE yellow Tupperware bowl FULL of popcorn and we all would gather around the 13" screen and be enthralled for at least 2 hours.

This block is for my friend Ruthie (in the Traveling Threads bee...the blocks for her quilt are pretty darn cool.) Here is my version of the scene at the beginning of the movie when Glenda takes the ruby slippers off of the witch that got squished by the house... when the legs curl up under the house... well, that was THE scariest thing that I can remember from my childhood.

THE SCARIEST!

It led to many other frightening events such as:

--screaming at the witch that popped out of a door on the front of the video arcade at the mall, and then needing to find another entrance in to the mall

--screaming at Knott's Berry Farm, while walking by a "saloon" with a fake leg in a striped stocking knocking the woodwork in an upstairs window. (I, now, know that it was supposed to be the enticing leg of a "woman of the evening" and not the wicked witch... but it looked the same to me!)

So, when this fabric greeted me in my mailbox, I had to do something to commemorate my childhood horror. What fun grown-ups get to have! Thanks Ruthie, it brought back such great memories. (It really did, I haven't been afraid of witches and/or striped stockings for MONTHS now.)

JMB