Seams Perfect scrap bee

I've shared all year about my quilting bee called "bee happy" - I've felt so blessed to be included into such a talented group of artists... And keep posted, because this is my month to receive, so I can't wait to share what they come up with...
In the meantime, here are my first two squares for "Seams Perfect" - which is a new bee that is based on using up our own scraps instead of the bee member's mailed fabrics...
This month is Jenn's month and she wanted a string quilt she called "String Me Along" based on Ashley's tutorial at Film in The Fridge.. (links later when I get home!)
So fun. I had a great time doing these and decided this bee will get a red and white sampler to go along with it.... I'll post as that develops.

I had so much fun with Jenn's palette that I made her a little zippie pouch to go with.

Blogging from the car

Back to life. Holidays over. I think I write here every year about January being my favorite month. December is so full that I neglect to plan anything in January - and I learned from my years in Chicago that January was the perfect month to settle down with a project or some form of art... I look forward to it and savor the unplanned days and nights.
This year, I have 3 kids and 3 extremely busy little calendars to juggle - so getting back to regular life isn't so peaceful and quiet, but even my normal taxi mom schedule is a welcome change this week.. It involves moments here and there by myself in the car...
Last night I attended the January meeting of the LAMQG, and once again was inspired by the amazingly creative women and men there. (the men we have in our group are insanely talented artists!)
And I got to come home with fabric! The entire guild was given a charm pack (courtesy of the extremely generous folks at Robert Kaufman) and offered a "Solids Challenge" - to bring back a finished quilt in March made with these fabrics and 1 other solid...

In addition, I won another giveaway... I never win anything and I've now won twice at our meetings... (what?) ...and took home this sweet pack of vintage fabrics donated by Jenny Ryan... You know I love me some vintage fabrics!

I also got to talking with some new pals from my new bee (Seams Perfect)... And Jenn was mentioning quilting in the car, carpool mommy style ... I was inspired and brought my long term yoyo project along for the ride today. But first, blogging...

Christmas gifts given

Christmas is over... 10 quilts were given, only one unfinished, given and then brought back home to work on...
Here are the three graces and their quilts... I couldn't have bribed them to give me better reactions... The youngest patted it on her lap and squealed, "Mine!"

Christmas Eve joys

Merry Christmas!
Our 31-person extravaganza has begun and will continue over the next 4 days.
After j and I finished putting all the bows on our boxes last night, I looked at the 3 mountains of presents, and I realized why I'd been feeling stressed over the past few weeks... Knowing just how many of those boxes were filled with handmade gifts... Wow. And the stress lifted. (it also helped that at the last possible moment I found a gift for the kids that I'd lost for over 2 months!)

Today we are at my parents home for the Christmas Eve extravaganza... This year, Mimi insisted on a nativity play that we all must star in, complete with costumes, skripps, and stage dreshins. Daddy is Jhosif and I am Marry, according to our skripps. Z is the innkeeper.

Z has been very very sick all week and yesterday he made a miraculous comeback in time for our plans to continue. Quite a scary week, but this morning he was back to his wild abstract humor that had us in stitches...
Ready?

- he started the morning by praying over our food, exclaiming "happy birthday Jesus!"

- we were discussing what kind of fish might be good for a family pet... A goldfish? a Betta fish? Z pipes in: "I WANT A MINI LOBSTER!"

- then he found an old Bible he'd never seen before... "mom, there's a Bible here and it doesn't belong to anyone here! (who then?) well, it says it belongs to BONDED LEATH-HER!"

And with that I wish you our very merry Christmas... Much love to you all!

Sewing for Christmas

Art show is done... Now it's time to cram in the last sewing for
Christmas. Here's another quilt for a beloved kiddo in my life. I've wanted to photograph it outside, but other than the art show I haven't been outside in days. It's been pouring nonstop rain for 3 days and we have 3 to go... LA is not built for rain... And the two big kids have fevers. Oh what fun!
Back to sewing... Happy crafting to you. (and wishes for your good health!)

Art arrives finally

Oh man has this been a stressful week. The art show is this Friday and the art didn't ship from the printer until yesterday. REALLY freaky, considering I ordered it with a week and a half of cushioning according to the printer's guidelines.
Today I kept some sick kids home and in the house all day and we waited for that fedex truck...
When it came, I gave the kids a mini show and asked z to text daddy that everything had arrived.... Here they are pretending to be in the collages...

Happy Holidays from us to you!

What it looks like here

J calmly asked me last night if he could have the dining room table back. It's been covered in THESE for about a month now. And this isn't even all of them... These are most, I think I can count 4 or 5 others that are not pictured here...of what I'm sewing for Christmas.
I've also been told by my ever patient husband that he thinks between these, the art show (this Friday!), and my not-so-regular life... That I may have bitten off more than I should have this holiday. Maybe...
The hard part is that I am having fun with these, but misplacing important things and showing up to parties at the wrong time. My head is clearly a little overcharged. (oh, and that whole midnight feeding thing doesn't help either). I literally drive the minivan around making sure I've got tabs on where all the kids are... "am I forgetting anyone?"
Would you believe that I have about 4-5 Christmas related projects that I wish I still had time for? Not going to get to them in 2010...
Tomorrow is a craft night here for the local mamas. That should be fun... But it also involves clearing off the dining room table... Better get back to it....

Prints for the show

Oh am I excited! (and I needed it today). Four of my collage prints arrived for the show today. No one over 6 years old is here to celebrate, so I'm all giddy by myself. I texted my neighbor to come over and celebrate with me... I need someone to squeal with!

Update

Hope you are all well!

I am just posting this to inform you there will be no more entries here on foster care or the child we had in our care the past few months.
I'm sad about this, but it has to be done.

If you are a personal friend or a reader I have "known" for a while, feel free to email me and I can put you on my update list. I know many of you are vested in this emotionally, but I have reason to believe I should not post any more updates or images here.

Thanks all!!!!