Catching up

I've been quiet lately. There's been a few things I've worked on over the past few weeks so I'll try to bring you up to date.
There was Valentine's day, which involved over 60 cards that needed to be made for the kids to bring to school. I know it's a Hallmark holiday, but I love the crafting potential of Valentines Day. After Halloween, it is my second favorite crafting holiday. We made these fridge magnets to give out with the cards. They are made with 1 1/2" glass floral beads. I cut out little circles of fabric scraps and the kids used Mod Podge to glue the fabric to the back of the bead. Then we stuck magnets to the back. They looked so cute I wanted to eat them.
Mostly I've been working on Maria's quilt. I started this quilt to give to her for comfort during a time when she was feeling very afraid of the dark. I often try to find ways to craft my way out of a problem. She's long gotten over the fear, but it did help me feel like I was "doing" something about it. I got sort of fussy with the back and made these pieced panels to go across the top and bottom. I used every single last triangle scrap I had left over from the front of the quilt. I sewed them all together, and then I sewed them together, and then I sewed them together and then I sewed them to the back fabric. As easy as that. Except that it took forever! (This picture shows the point when I had them sewn together, but before they were sewn together.)

I am just starting to get comfortable with how long certain aspects of sewing really take in order for things to come out looking decent. You have to use pins. You have to iron. Basting is important. I'm a slow worker, so I often try to figure out if I could do something faster to speed things along a little. I'm never as happy with the results or I end up going back and re-doing things which only makes things take longer.

My hands have been very full with little Tess. She's all over the place now and her personality is growing everyday. She is such a charmer! Not so sleepy, but really cute. I'm trying to capture more of her on video than I did with the other kids. I have very little memory of when Betsy or Maria were this age. It is all such a blur. It all happened so fast. I was so eager for them to get just a little older, a little more manageable, that I didn't take the time to commit all these special moments to memory. They are probably there somewhere in the old photo albums. Remember photo albums? I never even get prints made anymore. In college I was a photo major for awhile. I loved the darkroom and black and white photography. I took all the large format classed the University of Illinois had to offer. The whole digital photo thing came on so fast, I think black and white printing is soon to be (if not already) a lost art. Here's a little memory I don't want to forget, because I don't think there is anything cuter than a baby in a sinkbath saying her first words.


Within this post are roughly 7 facts about me. Janet Clare tagged me in a recent post, so I thought I would play along. The catch is that I should tag someone else. What she did not realize when she named me, was that I think I might be the very last person in all of blogland to get the tag. Or am I? Is there someone out there who has not done this AND is reading my blog, well I'd love to hear from you. Consider yourself tagged!