What does handmade mean to you?

Etsy has a question the ask every featured shop owner in an interview and it is this:

"What does handmade mean to you?"

I joke that handmade means unmatched quilt square seams because if you wanted something perfect you should just buy a blanket from a store. There are children in sweat shops with skill levels higher than I (currently) possess. I say, if you can't tell it is handmade, who are you trying to fool?

In January of this year I participated in my first charm swap. It was organized by Lorelei at Mermaid Sews and we swapped fabrics for an I Spy quilt. This past week, nine months later, I finally finished it.

The front is two sets of charms and the back is pieced flannels from JoAnn's. I used Pellon's Fusible Thermolam for the batting and hand made the binding as well. I have to say I was very pleased with my binding's mitered corners. It just goes to show you that if you keep working at something, you can eventually get it right.

For all of my new sewing friends, please take a good look at this above picture, so you can see some fabulous matched up charm square corners and the quilting. That's right. They aren't. Making quilts isn't always about matching corners. It's about making something for someone you love.

We're often our harshest critics. It is always not good enough, not pretty enough, not straight enough, not prefect enough. We forget to remember to see our gifts through the eyes of the receiver. Even the littlest of creatures remind us of that joy.

I put my kids down on their new quilt to take their pictures and they immediately started searching the squares and pointing and laughing. No one had to explain to them what an I Spy quilt was for.

To me, handmade means I poured love, and sweat, and probably tears (and maybe a little blood) into it. It means I took the time to craft fabric into something made just for you. It means I love you with all of my heart.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

This was not a productive week.


Most days could have been categorized as 'bad' days had I not fought my hardest to keep them in the 'good' column. Small children like their momma to play with them. Some times I have to remind myself that my first most important job is being The Momma.



Flashlights will buy enough time to get some pattern pieces cut. Toys on the sewing room floor will get everyone into the room with you. Some times I swear they know I need to sew and do their damnedest to stop me. So instead I organize fabric. I get to run my hands over those heavenly crisp cottons and they get a momma on the floor singing silly songs to them. (Oh, and you know I put Peabo and Celine to shame with my rendition of what my daughter requests as "Song is Time".)



I suppose it does get me closer to a completely organized studio. There were still many many instances this week of this:


She is two and not having an easy time getting a hold of all her emotions. I don't blame her. I'd like to be a robot myself. Poor Jimmy can only seem to move in reverse which leaves him under coffee tables, dining benches, ottomans, beds, pack and plays....anything with four inches of height. I long for the day he can crawl forward. Please. Pretty please.

Straight lines = easy sewing = can do it in the 90 seconds allotted until someone backs himself into a jam under a rocking chair, therefore I was able to finish the top for my I Spy charm swap quilt.



For those who don't know: A 'charm' is a five inch square cut of fabric. A 'swap' is where everyone in a group cuts one pattern of fabric into a specified number of charms and mails them to a leader who them shuffles the fabrics and mails back a mixed stack of charms. This swap I participated in was specifically for fabric that would make a good I Spy quilt. You know "I spy with my little eye..." Oddly enough as a kid, my brothers and I called it " I See Something." Clearly we favored alliteration over rhyming. I digress.

During the less than three minutes we all were outside to take the quilt top pictures this happened. And no, did not put him down near the seedlings. (Hey! Does that mean he crawled forward?)


One less Serrano pepper for the garden plot.

All I have to say is Thank God It's Friday. When all else fails, make jello. Let your kids eat it with their hands. My kids are were jello virgins.



Now, if you will excuse me, I can hear a toddler who has unscrewed the spiraled boingy thing that keeps the knob from hitting the wall and is using it to knock on her bedroom door signalling that she is done with her nap. "Momma? You dere?" T-minus 100 minutes until Daddy leaves work and the weekend begins. Somebody get me a beer please!

It is Thursday. Again.

I seriously thought yesterday was Thursday. My mother informed me it was only Wednesday during a mid-afternoon Skype call. I like Thursdays, but it is a tease to have two in a week.

It has been my mission to make an adjustable, reversible sun hat for the little man. My husband informed me that no matter hot much I "manned" it up I could not put his son in a bonnet. Test #1 produced a hat that, although was adjustable and reversible, was much too big for Jimmy's head. Despite the rather large-ness of his head. Jane plopped it on her head and proclaimed it Jane's Hat.

I am pleased to say that Test #2 was a success today. Since I now have a toddler and infant sized pattern, you know I have to make an adult one. (My hat will NOT be alphabets.)

The mail was super exciting today: my vintage thread spool rack from Etsy, ISpy charm swaps and a block from my Modern 99 quilting bee. I can't wait to get the rest of my blocks mailed back to me. I think they may become a quilt for Jane's Big Girl Bed. Here are the four I have so far. I could just look at them all day.

And you know that as soon as I opened the ISpy charms I went ahead and laid them out, stacked them up and started stitching away. They will just be a plain old patchwork picnic quilt.

The last thing I am working on. Well, the last thing for this post. You know I'm not on the last thing on my To Do list. That list never ends. In any case. I had this Awesome Idea the other day. This is just an In Progress shot. I'll show more later one. Maybe even do a tutorial. But needless to say, I am really excited about it. I get too excited about fabric and projects and ideas. If only I got this excited about laundry. Or cleaning.

Yesterday, Jane and I went out into the woods to clear and rake out a spot for a garden since we had not yet heard back on our wait list status for the community gardens. Don't you know that after an hour of work I came back in to find an email from them asking which plots we would be interested in! So now we will have an awesome flower garden in the back yard woods and probably an equally awesome organic garden in the community plots!

Time to go. The littlest one is stirring.