A date with momma for Mimi

Today was a special date for Mimi and Momma. We went to counseling, then to a donut shop and then to Barnsdall Art Park. There I had fun observing her while she did typical, adorable Mimi stuff like watching a squirrel and taking notes on his behavior, collecting and naming pill bugs and building some art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy.

Every day I'm doodling

As J and I lounge around coffee and breakfast, z is running around like a tetherball... Basketball outside, piano and singing inside, drawing, finding worms in the yard... But we are enjoying our morning together... J reading out loud while I draw.
My morning doodles continue.

kitchen remodel

Apparently I never showed you my kitchen remodel... I think we finished the kitchen the week that the little princess came to live with us. Then I had four kids for a few months and was too tired to write about it. And after that when we went back to two kids I was too sad to write about it.
So here you go:
This kitchen remodel took us only about six weeks all said and done. We bought everything at IKEA and are really happy with how it turned out. The only thing I'm sad about now is that we will be leaving it so soon... The entire reason we remodeled it was to get the house ready for someone else to live in and now we're moving.... Which is really great news and we're really excited...
This kitchen remodel was so affordable that we get to consider doing the same thing in the next place. (which does want for a new kitchen)
I'll keep you posted on our move - in the meantime enjoy these happy pictures.

Cutting mat bag

This bag is my solution to a lot of questions...
- How do I store and carry my amazing massive cutting mats to sewing events without them getting scratched or warped? (FYI - there is a removable piece of foam core in the bag with the mats to keep them rigid)
- what do I do with my orphaned hexagon squares? (I made these as practice for a bee square about a year ago and I won't make them again because they were so frustrating, but I love how they look - perfect bag center pieces, I'm thinking)
- What do I make from this one yard of Echino that I won at Sew Modern over a year ago? It has to be something I use and enjoy!
- How can I use a cheater print? Especially in a way that doesn't look like a cop-out?

And so, I conceived of this bag. Worked on it an hour at a time over a few weeks. Finished it today in a rare daytime sewing session at home. The kids were sick (and thus taken down a notch!) so we put on music and they colored while I finally finished this up.
(after the pics, I added some ribbons at the top to keep it closed)

Bag fever and kid fevers

Three out of four of us around here are sick. Mommy is knocking on wood and taking lots of vitamins.
I also keep getting more and more bag ideas and I have to say, I love cutting fabric and laying out ideas, and using up stray blocks or random fabric I have hoarded too long.

Hmmm. Will I trade these? Give these to friends? Not sure yet....

libbydibby shared an Instagram photo with you

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"She's now figured out if she hadn't watched tv today she could have sewn more bags."

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Finished. And in use.

Just got these pics texted to me. This is why we make quilts and give them away... To see them being loved on, drooled on, and used!

I missed the LAMQG meeting (swap bag)

So I missed the last LAMQG meeting. I was super bummed out, and really had wanted to participate in the tote/grocery bag swap.
But then I learned that a few of my friends had been unable to go and swap, too. So we decided to swap on our own. (yay!)
Here's my bag that I made to swap. It's got an embroidered vintage tea towel piece inset on one side of the outside, and awesome red and white polka dotted IKEA oilcloth (thin, flexible and really durable) on the inside. It's big. I designed it to be big and strong enough to use for groceries.
The fun fact about it is that I sewed it entirely on Mimi's Hello Kitty Janome as I was trying to see if it worked well enough (it does). The lines are not as straight as with my other machines, but this was really heavy, thick fabric - the linen isn't linen - its actually drop cloth fabric that I bought at Lowe's. (crazy legit heavy duty!) - overall the Janome did great.
And the bag is fun. A little vintage. A little new. French seams. Oilcloth. Hardware store fabric. AnnaMaria Horner fabric. IKEA. Improv piecing. It's all happy to me. ... Hoping it's new owner will think so.

Happy Easter from our family!

Finishing up

I've been working on finishing a bunch of WIPs lately... Nothing creative or glamorous... But at least they are now finished. Just sewed the labels on these two quilts and have another binding to finish up, and then it's on to a bunch of new ideas I want to work out.
I'm really looking forward to those... They're all just sketches right now... The next step is the most fun.