Work in Progress - paper piecing

Oh haha, if I posted every work I had in progress right now, you would think your friend Libby was certifiable. But the one I'm showing you here is really special...
This is a hand-sewn proect... Made by a process called "English paper piecing" where you baste scrap fabric to little shapes of paper and sew them together before popping out the paper. (no need for am iron to get perfect shapes)
It's been a WIP for probably 6-9 months now. I work on it in the car as I wait outside DCFS 2-4 times a week while baby has his visits with mom and other various family members. I do a few pieces at a time and stick them back into a project bag. I had about a hundred little squares going on and was stumped for a while as to how I could do some modern type of setting for them... So I decided since this is all scrappy anyways that I was going to use about 8 different whites to make brick shapes to offset the bright squares. This summer, I've been bringing it out at night and cranking on it... Now it's about 60"x20" and I'm hoping it gets to 60"x60". That's just the quilt top. I'm thinking though, that since the whole top will be hand-pieced that I'll have to quilt it by hand, so I'm currently practicing my hand quilting on another project (I'll show it later).
The other thing is that since it works in the car, i can actually get some sewing done during the day. The kids don't really let me get anything done during the day, let alone sewing. The big kids are starting summer camp this week, so soon I'm just going to be a baby mama for 8 hours a day (playdates, anyone?) -at least until Baby moves out, which, sadly, is likely to be soon. ...In the meantime, this has been a great way to channel my stress. And boy have I needed a channel.

Validation

Today I was in a store and asked for my parking to be validated. A customer next to me looked at me kindly and deeply and said, "you know what? I want to validate YOU. As a person" He had NO IDEA how much I needed to hear that. I told him so.

 Then, I posted that on Facebook and a friend told me that "validation" was the subject of a great short film.  Please click the link below and watch this. You will be SO glad you did.

PopEmelon

My dad is an artist and has a funny tradition of drawing caricatures of himself on food... (he used to leave faces on all the eggs in his mom's fridge)
Last week we had this watermelon graced with his likeness. Somehow, it makes it a little harder to chop into now.

MOCA - art in the streets

This week while Mimi was still at school, all the guys and I took a trek to downtown to see the Art in The Streets exhibit at MOCA. There was so much to be inspired (and shocked!) by, but one of my two favorite rooms was this exhibit based on cut paper, light and shadows. 100 photos couldn't capture the beauty of this room, and I could have stood there for an hour, but maybe even a few small pics can show you how beautiful this room was.

Bearing fruit

This is mind-boggling. The past month I've been in a real slump. (you probably gathered that reading around here... I wish I could be more clear about our foster care process, but I'm not allowed to, sadly)

Anyhow... In the midst of the baby birds outside my bedroom window and the spring sunshine, I have also noticed something odd about my grapevine in the backyard. It was given to me 3 years ago when a dear friend of mine had to leave LA and she and her hubby sadly had to let go of a bunch of their treasured plants. I've done my best over the years, but never had one grape. Then a few weeks ago there were tiny little grapes appearing... And now, now the vine is bursting with bunches and taking over our yard. I took this pic and sent it to my friend and she sent me the following email  and Bible verses...

"you have to frame this. you don't realize how significant this is. Chris had this grapevine since when we were first married (I will ask him again how he got it I am sure there is a story there). It almost died so many times but he brought it back to life and now you have kept it alive....but it NEVER bore fruit ever! until now. Which is no mistake.
I believe it is to give you hope.

... I believe it is symbolic of the fruits of your labor and what is in store for you.

K.x

Jn 15.1   I am the true vine and my Father is the garden. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be more fruitful.

Ps. 1:3  He is like a tree plantedby streams of water which yields it's fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither. Whatever he does prospers.

Prov 11:30  The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life

Matt. 7:16  By their fruit you will recognize them

Gal 5....fruit of spirit....love, joy, peace, patience, kindess, faithfulness, gentleness, self control....

Liberty

Sent from my trusty little iPhone

Bee Happy doorway block for Kelly

Year 2 of Bee Happy... Month 1! New Bee member, Kelly asked for us to make doors and windows. Haven't gotten to the window yet, but here's my door... Along with it's inspiration from the hood and practice square (from yesterday's castoff pile!) kelly's square is the purple one.

I tried my hand at free motion sewing for the "welcome" mats. (took a free motion class at Sew Modern last month and am feeling way more confident!)
The practice square still needs flowers for it's vase, but they'll be added later.

Highchair recover

Our highchair is 6 years old and it was looking like it. Baby isn't a complainer, but I found in addition to the fabric being seriously stained, the inner batting of the cover was all balled up right in one spot that was somewhere under his right thigh.
I was making some big totes the other night with that awesome Ikea red polka-dotted laminate fabric and whipped this up too. It's got a double layer of fleece blankets also from ikea in it for a soft cushion. The whole thing cost less than $10 to recover.
Don't look closely. The stitching is NOT fabulous. But it's sturdy, comfy, and it reverses (doesn't everything?) to a brown nylon ripstop. And baby seems to like it.
(plus now it matches the kitchen... and everything else in my life!)

Miracles happen here

I drive past this sign every day. It's not on a church. I love the confidence it takes to print this and stick it on the side of a convalescent hospital.
And I want to wear it on my heart.

Color inspiration

There's a store in LA that I drive by regularly that sells bridesmaid dresses. I'm not exactly in the market, but these dresses continually catch my eye. This particular grouping really inspired my color sense... And prior to the hot pink dress being there, there was a leaf green one that offset these colors well too. (I think the photo I took has an accidental reflection of a tree in it that can give you an idea of how it looked)

Anyhow, you can see I grabbed some paint chips at Home Depot as I couldn't get the combo off my mind. And then I went home and picked fabrics to go in the scheme.

The photo with the blue newsprint fabric in it holds my final pics for a project... But the castoffs also made a great pile too...

Both of them are a little out of my comfort zone... Softer combos than I normally stick with, but I'm excited to use them.

Big sampler quilt finished

We slept under the finished sampler last night. Oh that made me so happy. Z was in tears this morning when he didn't have time to snuggle under "Mommy's biggest quilt ever" and I promised him he could rest in my bed after preschool today. The cutest thing is that he doesn't normally want to rest after school... The quilt is a big enough draw for him, though, to consider taking a rest.
I was folding the quits in our living room basket last night and laughing at how small they all look now. Gotta say, I kinda like the big ones. I think they are worth the extra effort.