Handstitched quilt--check

Paint Job

All my friends in real life are sick of me going on and on about this, so I guess I just need to bore all my blog friends too. I recently tried the Fresh Aire Choice paint from Home Depot, and I love it! I'm so glad that no-VOC paints have finally gone mainstream and I don't have to pay an arm and leg for a gallon of paint. This ran around $39/gallon for the eggshell finish (a couple bucks more than what I normally pay) and it is all they say it is. No stink. Goes on great. And even though they can't color match for you, the colors they have to choose from are so beautiful, earthy, wholesome it doesn't really matter.

I--like a lot of other moms I know--do all my painting at night when the kids are in bed. When I painted the guest room, I did it with a different brand. Even though I know you're not supposed to, I painted with all the windows closed because the screens had not yet been installed, and I didn't want bugs who were attracted to the light flying into the house. It was a pewy experience that I don't wish to relive. So when I was painting the kitchen nook, I decided to try the new stuff, and now painting is my new hobby.

In case you're interested, the color I used is Terrarium.

Handquilting

I never thought I'd have the patience for quilting by hand. Turns out I do.

Home Improvement

Wow, have I really not posted a single thing for almost a month? My blog has gotten a little lame-o since we moved. You know those people who move into a house and spend every waking moment painting and doing yardwork? We used to laugh at people like that, but now...we're those people. I rather like it. I feel like I'm doing my part to reform and redeem my corner of the universe. But it does make for a rather paltry blog.

Well, I painted the guestroom and fun, limey green. It turned out really cute, but I'm not ready to show it to you yet. I need to get my bum over to etsy and buy some artwork for the walls first. Our entire house, aside from that room is white, white, white. The former owners left us some touch up paint, which I needed to use when Mikey drew with crayon all over the hallways.(I tried the magic eraser first--it only worked up to a point, before it started removing the texture from the walls.) So anyway, I found the white paint, touched up the walls, returned a couple of hours later to find that it was the wrong shade of white. Apparently the master bedroom walls are a bright white, and the whole entire rest of the house is a more muted white (not that I even noticed). Not to bore you, but now we have bright white splotches on gentle white walls, and mama is not super happy about it. Well, maybe a wee bit happy because now it means I have an excuse to paint sooner than originally planned. So there's that story.

The other story is that I've been working like a maniac in the garden pulling ivy up. Ugh. What a chore. I decided 3 weeks ago since we weren't going anywhere for spring break that I would dedicate one hour a day to eradicating English ivy from my front yard. Our front yard is separated into two parts by the walkway. There was ivy on one side, but not on the other and it looked stupidly lopsided. So day after day, the boys biked and scootered, and I worked like a madwoman. This past weekend, I finally finished. I should have paid someone to do it, but now I guess I can claim ownership??? I think I should pay myself: $10 per blister, $5 for every charlie horse, $20 per stiff neck. (Then take that money and go shopping here.) If you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to pull up ivy, here's my advice--use an ax. I'm not kidding. Once I figured that out, it went much faster.

Still a work in progress, but at least now we have the situation under control.

Edges

My computer keyboard has been acting up lately. It's totally my fault--I've been playing too much scramble on facebook. Don't feel much like typing tonight, so I won't say much.

Pictures from my work table:

This last piece is from my grandma. I grew up in Taiwan, and she lived in Maine. I only got to see her once every three years for short visits. This is one of the few things I have that she made. It's a pillowcase with tatted edging. I don't dare use it, because I don't want it to get washed too much. It lives in the linen closet, and every now and then I take it out to look at it and admire the tiny little stitches. Amazing.

For My Mom

A super soft heating pad cover with a cotton twill closure (so that the electrical cord can sneak out the top).

Spring Blooms

After long admiring so many beautiful large-scale crochet projects, I decided to take the plunge myself. I bought one of each color of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease with the intention of making more granny squares, but then I started playing around with different patterns I had in front of me, and now I'm taking a hiatus from the squares and making these flowers instead.

The pattern is here. It's calls for making 12 flowers and then sewing them together to make a scarf. I think I'm going to just make as many flowers as I feel like (until I get bored) and then sew them together to make a small afghan (emphasis on small). I just want a little something to throw over the back of the chair in my craft room so that it looks like someone cares. Which I do. I really do.

Speaking of the craft room--it's coming together quite nicely. Hopefully soon I'll have some pictures to share. And hopefully soon some actual crafting will occur there.

Birthday Happy to Me

38 years, baby! I finally have a half-decent looking driver's license picture. WOOOT!

And a verrrrry purdy cake to celebrate my day.

A certain non-napper decided to surprise me today. One minute he was making my birthday slinky go down the book steps, and the next minute he was out.

Little guy charmed me with his antics:

And my eldest son and I watched this hilarious rendition of Stop in the Name of Love, followed by this conversation.

D: Mommy, what grade do you give that?

Me, laughing: an F!

D: Well I give it an A plus plus!

Gah!

So my sister called me earlier in the week to ask me if I'm ever planning to sew again. I'm starting to wonder the same thing. It's been such a long time. I will. I've just got so many things going on right now. And as if reading blogs and scoping flickr weren't enough of a time suck already, I've discovered facebook too. OH.MY. Such fun reconnecting with old friends. One my friends and I are trying to organize our high school reunion here in the Seattle area this summer. We had a pretty dinky graduating class by US standards...like, 28 people. We are spread out all over the world. It will be interesting to see how many people actually show up. In the meantime, I joined facebook so that I could try to track down some long lost classmates, and there they all are! I guess I'm one of the last few to join the party. Hopefully some of my enthusiasm for it will die down a bit so that my kids can get their mommy back soon. OK. I'm exaggerating a bit (but not really).

Last night a friend taught me how to make granny squares. Man, are they addictive. I got home from my knitting group last night at 11:30 pm, and had to make a few more before I fell asleep. I don't know what these granny squares will become, or how long I will keep making them, but for now I'm having fun.

Over and out.