Baby Bargello: Done and Hung

Baby Bargello, my newest modern mini quilt is done!

Want a Baby Bargello of your own? Tutorial coming soon. Check out what I'm working on next! I'm suuuuuper psyched!

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave me a comment this week regarding my Motherhood Confessions. I can't tell you how much it meant to me.

I'm also posting today to say thank you for your business. This week I made my 300th sale in my Etsy shop! I'm totally super psyched so I'm offering Free Shipping all weekend long. Free shipping, anywhere in the world, no matter how many items you buy.

For $10 USD, you can get one of these:

Or one of these:

Or any of these!

Just stop on by and use this coupon code:

PS- If you thought my husband was sexy in his man panties, you'll enjoy a nice look at Gerard! ;) Happy Friday ya'll!

Confessions

It's not even 10 a.m. and I'm already day dreaming of going to work. Who longs to go to work? Stay at home mothers of obstinate girls and cranky boys. Jimmy has mastered the sound of an angry dinosaur dying out in the woods. It makes me want to turn myself inside out. Yesterday I explained to Jane that she would see her cousin, X-Man, again in the fall. So she has decided today it is fall. She's been wearing her fleece hoodie and sunglasses, and insisting I do the same. In honor of fall, I defrosted some roasted pumpkin and made chocolate chip pumpkin bread.

Last weekend we picked 43 pounds of peaches and 30 pounds of tomatoes. I oven dried some tomatoes and canned them with garlic and olive oil, froze the rest. Half the peaches have been made into butter and canned. I was going to do the other half today. After I did all the dishes.

The kids are having *a day*. So we're all having *a day*. My mother says this is why most people with two small children don't can things. The thing is, I like to cook. It gives me a concrete thing that I can do every day. Like I'm contributing and have something to show for it. You know, other than the food crusted, scabbed up kids, and the toy and book littered floor.

I'm a great wife and an average mother. I was never the girl who dreamed about having babies. Pregnancy didn't become me, I didn't really enjoy it and I'm not very happy with what it did to my body. There are women out there who were just made to be mothers. My friend, Stephanie, is one. She's got four little girls, three of which are under two and a half. She does everything good mothers do and then some. She looks lovely doing it and genuinely enjoys it all.

Our country has an image of mother. I do not like to tell people I stay home with my children. I think it implies that I don't have marketable job skills, that I couldn't make a living so I got married and had kids. I think it implies that I wear yoga pants all day, clap along at Mommy & Me time, and carry fruit snacks in my purse. That I have goldfish crackers and sing along to Elmo's World music in my mini van. I am not that person; at all. But people will treat you that way. It makes me want to show them my closet of suits and fabulous shoes and say, "Look! See? I'm more than this." I want to do math for them, discuss Neil deGrasse Tyson and write a million dollar business plan.

The character, Ellis Grey, from Grey's Anatomy said, "I gave birth to a child, Richard! That makes me a mother. It doesn’t make me inept. It doesn’t make me less of a woman. It doesn’t make me less of a surgeon, no matter how much everyone wants it to."

I chose to be the parent that stayed home with our children. I agreed that it was the best thing for them. I knew it would be a sacrifice. But on days like today, when all that I will accomplish is not having my kids maul each other, I dream of work and look for the light at the end of this tunnel.

Shorts on the Line: Uncensored

Many of you are probably popping over here to get a good look at my husband in his underwear after seeing my Shorts on the Line post on Vanessa's Blog here. She didn't feel comfortable posting pictures of his fine ass on her blog. I won't lie. It's a nice view!

Enjoy!

I know. Not as racy as you had hoped for. I'll do better next time. I did salvage his "American Apparel" pose. Some one was being a smart ass and didn't think I would take his picture.

Where I work

Working on hand quilting my Baby Bargello today....

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting two women whom I have known online for years. We found each other when we were all expecting babies due in December of 2009. We have pretty much chatted daily since then. It was a fun night and I'm so glad we were able to make it happen. How awesome is the internet? I could never have been a stay at home mom living so far away from family if it was not for the internet and the relationships and conversations it allows me. Thank you, Gumdrop Moms. You keep me sane and out of jail!

Denyse Schmidt Baby Bargello

I intended to cut out the pattern pieces for the two Pin up girl Hawaiian shirts in my custom order queue. It wasn't until I pulled out the pattern that I remembered using it to make The Awesomest Shirt Ever, which is a size medium. Which means that the large and extra large pattern sizes are gone. Needless to say, I will be at Joann's bright an early tomorrow morning. (And bonus points! I just saw that college students get 20% off their total purchase this month with their college ID or acceptance letter. Guess who's acceptance letter came in the mail today?)

The Awesomest Shirt Ever

With all my orders packed up to take to the USPS and no patterns for my Pin up shirts, I was free to do what I wanted. Did I work on the numerous other sewing projects/quilts I have started? No way! I took out the scraps I acquired from the Denyse Schmidt Charm Swap.

Now I try to make myself be reasonable about the size of scraps I keep. My crafty little brain would have me keep any freaking scrap larger than a square inch. You never know, right? I almost chucked those little 5" wide rectangles left over from cutting out charms. Clearly you all think they are treasure too, as I got some in the mail with your charms. (Thank you!) So I stitched them all together and made this:

I'm really quite smitten with my Baby Bargello. It makes me very happy to know he'll be living on my studio wall. It of course makes me want to make a bed sized Bargello. But I should probably finish my Stockholm quilt (aka topless burrito man quilt) and my DS Charm quilt first.

Until then, I'll just stare at Baby Bargello.

(Of course, there is a tutorial in the works. And much better day time photos of Baby Bargello.)

Modern Kitsch Creatures

I just HAD to share these awesome little creatures my friend, Alicia, aka digitalgurlie just made for her sewing room.

They're super easy to make. Just head to your local consignment/junk shop and pick up some ceramics for a few bucks as well as spray paints in your choice of colors from Home Depot.

Clean your creature well. Take them outside, place on newspaper or scrap cardboard and spray away. Two coats and you're done.

Seriously, their cuteness is just killing me.

I think I may need to make some of these for myself soon!

An Apron for Xavier

My sister-in-law requested an apron for my nephew, Xavier, who is the same age as Jane. A robot apron. The boy is nuts for robots. Lucky for him I had not one, but two robot fabrics so I made him a reversible apron.

I asked Jane if she would model X-man's apron for me.

Clearly, she was wowed by my raw, toddler apron making talent.

Jimmy, as always, was ready to ham it up. He can not yet stand on his own or I would have used him as my model. I told Jane we'd just take the apron off and call it a day. I almost lost my head.

I started to doubt my daughter's future as a blog model. Apparently all she needed was a good night's sleep. By this morning she had fully regained her awesomeness.

I give you, Reversible Robot Apron!

I can't wait to see the X-man in it. I hope he makes his Auntie some yummy pumpkin caramels this fall. ;)

P.S.- Have you been checking out the Shorts on the Line posts this week over at Small + Friendly? Next week I get to unveil the super sweet shorts pattern I made. Here is a sneak peek: