That crazy bag! (We have a winner)

MARISA!!!!

you won the crazy bag!

and I have a second surprise. Because so few of you actually entered for the contest... ALL of you win a special surprise in the mail from me. Send me an email with your address to ship something to you and I will send you a special bit of Libby Dibby love!

yay for mail!

I'll stick the image from one of my pal, Tori's cutest cards here to demonstrate how I REALLY feel about mail.

love to you all today!

libby

Goodie bag gift

I always have a small stash of goodie bags on hand to whip up a quick smile gift when I get the urge... Because it's not really the gift that matters as much as the thought that someone thoght of you, right?
Today's little goodie bag is a $1 smell-good hand sanitizer for my carpool partner who is newly pregnant, an awesome mom of two already, and displaced right now because she's having her apartment painted and re-carpeted... Bleh... Not a fun week for her. I hope this will make her feel a little loved today.

I did it! Finished my first quilt!

It took so long to work up the nerve to start my first quilt and there are SO many mistakes, but I did it! Amy was there to snap this funny pic as I stitched the last stitch. It's January 12th and I have something to cross off my list! (besides getting a tattoo)

What's really the best compliment of all is that Z (who is NOT INTO PINK) wanted to lay under it so much that I couldn't get a pic of the quilt without him under it. He even requested its presence in the car as we went to pick up Mimi from dance class after school. Now that is a vote of approval. I guess there is something to be treasured when Mom makes something big enough to wrap around yourself...

I'm now itching to get started on another! I'm thinking that I have to finish my quilting group sampler first, then I'd like to do the Christmas quilt I never got to do over the holidays (tres simple) - and then hmmmmmmmmm.... ooooooooooh. so so fun to think about!

oh. I forgot to tell you that this quilt is made ALL from scraps that I had lying around here. I used pieces of skirts and vintage fabrics I'd collected or used over the past 5 years or so, especially some sentimental pieces that I really have always wanted to save for myself... The backing was free as it was a piece of fabric given to me by a friend last year, and the batting.... well, ahem... I (cough) used a really light fleece blanket that I had bought for this purpose at a discount store last year. Fleece always seems to wash and wear so well that I thought it was a great thing to try for batting since it costs so much less. Just pulled the quilt out of the dryer and it looks perfect. Might be a good option for the interiors... (total cost of quilt... $3.99)

YAY!

Quilting- for real!

I kid you not, this is exactly where I am right now... With my knitting on the right and my (first!) quilt on the left... I'm sewing up the binding right now after finally working up the nerve to do the sandwich and quilt portion. My bff Amy (of this past summer's wedding)
is sitting across the table, chatting with me as I sew and knit and sew again. (She's in town for 2 days before heading back to Thailand) And yes, my collage and drawing journal is underneath the knitting... In case the mood strikes?
The other journal under the quilt is my personal journal (I fill up about 3-4 a year with daily writing). This one is one I got from Anna Maria Horner's shop...

I swear, they have medication for people like me.

I'll send pics of the quilt when it's done.

Forgot to tell you what J made me

I forgot to tell you about my big present from J for Christmas! Well, he actually did two. One was a bound copy of the first year of our family blog in book form. (he used www.blurb.com)
The second was this poster print from our Christmas pic, made up of thousands of photos from our year in 2009. He used an online program (will post later!) that made it possible and spent hours working it out just right. Isn't that sweet? When I look at it, I get the real sense of our complete year. I see pics from Italy, artwork I did, school pics, our family trips to Seattle and Arizona, lots of AJ pics and random days at the house. I flood with memories both happy and sad. It's just amazing to see your whole year in one glance. Thanks, J!

Giveaway: Into every life a little weird bag must fall

Well. I'm not really sure how to share this... Because after seeing this bag, you just might lose all respect for me. But it was just so interesting, I had to post it...
To start at the beginning, I love fabric of all kinds (but you knew that already)... And people are constantly donating the most interesting pieces to me... And. Well, I'm always trying to come up
with new ways to combine them... So about a year ago, I was messing with the idea of weaving fabrics and ribbon together and I came up with this weird weaving. When Tif and I were cleaning out the studio a few months ago, she agreed I could keep it if I tried to do something
with it. I agreed and we stuck it in the "to-sew" pile - which remained largely untouced through the holiday prep and celebrating; until tonight.
Tonight, I finished about 10 of those projects... More like a dozen, actually. It felt good. And just as i was deciding to close down for the night, I saw this weird weaving and thought, "okay, let's get this over with!"
So I sewed it into a primitive tote bag. (it's lined) and to cinch it, I used some of the gorgeous satin ribbon left over from Amy's wedding bouquets this summer... I weaved the serious, formal ribbon through the messy, raw piece itself and braided some more pieces for a strap.
And um... I think I like it!
And I'm not kidding, it's weird, but really fun. But I need another bag like I need a hole in the head, so if you are willing to become a blog "follower", pay shipping (around $8-10), and you write a cute comment here as to why you want this bag... I'll pick one person to get it -all theirs...
I'll give you a week from today. ;)

I got a bracelet for Christmas.

I've been wanting to get a tattoo for years, but couldn't find artwork that I could commit to. I'd had a friend once that had a Bible verse tattoed on her wrist as a bracelet. It seemed to me a beautiful way for her to remind herself of something dear to her. A few months ago, I realized how much I needed to be in a constant state of remembering the verses in Romans 8. All

through the AJ situation, I leaned on the verses in Romans 8 - reminding myself that there is nothing that can separate us, me, AJ, my family, my marriage - from the love of God.

In designing the tattoo - I went through hundreds of fonts, found what I was looking for and left it in the artistic hands of a great tattoo artist that my sis and brother in law know. He embellished it to the point that I felt it was more beautiful even than what I'd come up with.

Jay came with me and helped me process the whole event, artwork, commitment and even my ability to describe to others WHY I'd gotten it. I chose these words for their many beautiful layers. For what they mean to me not only in faith, but in my commitments to my own family.

And then I got it. Not really painful, it looks like a filigree bracelet circling my wrist. It took about an hour to finish... and both Jay and I really love it.

Romans 8:38-39 For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love; neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below – there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.(Good News Bible)

January sunset

Seems like every January we have one day where the weather is warm enough for a sunset trek to the beach. This is what really stirs J's soul, so we do what we can to make this happen when we can. Daddy loves taking photos of the kids in the water at sunset, low tide in that low cool winter light. Winter is my favorite time at the beach, so I'm happy to oblige, even more than in the summer.
Tonight promises a great sunset... And these are just my phone pics. Wait till you see his!

New years... While they were sleeping

My kids were asleep for New Years, so I was busy instigating my nieces
and their friend to a little dancing madness. (well that and a little
Vintage Maker app on my phone)
Here is a little happiness to start off 2010.

Another body to clothe

The Design Director got an American Girl doll from her grandparents for Christmas. Which means we now have another body to clothe around here... And since I'm unwilling to pay more to clothe a doll than I use for myself, she's now getting handmade stuff as well. As an incentive to practice reading, Mimi now has a little chart. She read 10 books aloud to earn mittens for Kit this week. So here they are. She was so excited about them tonight that she almost couldn't go to sleep.