small hands

It's really hard to describe how much I love David Austin roses. I deeply and passionately love them; they're miraculous to me, their beauty and their scent. Occasionally, I plant a bush that is a dud--disease prone, stingy with the blossoms, not happy with the spot I've planted it in. Then I dig it up and plant something else.

Clockwise from the pink one on top, the bouquet is comprised of Reine Victoria, Glamis Castle (white), another Reine Victoria (pink), Alchemyst (yellow), Abraham Darby (peach), Pearlie Mae (yellow with ruffled petals), and Margarethe (yellow, facing away from the camera). The big peach flower in the middle is another Abraham Darby; if I could have only one David Austin rose, it would probably be this one. It is a superb cut flower and the scent is exquisite.

I cut the bouquet yesterday evening, while I was waiting for the water for pasta to boil. The kids were buzzing around the house and yard, waiting for the guys in the bathroom to finish up and leave.



I'm having some work done on the house, including having my upstairs bathroom redone. I'm praying fervently that we don't have to live in chaos for too long.

Finishing...is good.

This is Matilda's Quilt. Matilda is an adorable 4 year old who says that her favorite colors (plural) are pink. That's it. So I had to score some pink fabric, though I had the pink Japanese seersucker and the Kaffe Fassett dahlias fabric.





The binding is fabric from Cia's Palette and it's called Follow Your Imagination. Fitting, I think. The white fabric is from the high thread count sheet set that I've previously blogged about. It's really soft.

As you can see, it's quilted quite a bit.

It's 58 inches square. Square! I've never made a square quilt before, but that's how it evolved. I found the Split Ninepatch block here, made multiple copies of it, then put them together in a pattern I liked. I had never done that before either. I've learned a lot making this quilt.



I always wish a quilt I'm giving away was better, closer to perfection, free of flaws. This one has plenty of flaws, but plenty of good intentions too.

I hope Matilda likes it.

Inspiration Friday



I saw these pillows in a couch ad in this month's Metropolitan Home. I love the fabric combinations.

Now it may be alarming for some to see a Christmas decoration in April, but I saw this project in a December 2000 issue of Country Living magazine and I was inspired. It turns out that Amy Butler created this project and it's brilliant.



I saw just yesterday someone blogging about a similar idea by Danny Seo in Country Home magazine, but I think Amy's execution--with vintage fabric strips, felt cut outs and beads on the end of the pins--is superior.

She recommends using styrofoam balls in the middle because a ball made up of all fabric is heavy. I can relate to that an I can't wait to try it.



Sorry about Christmas in April, but everyone knows that handmade ornaments take time to create.

I hope you have a good weekend.

My current favorites. [Don't you just want to kiss Rosa's little girls?]



Colleen's comment made me laugh with delight:

you know, i'm just really interested in how you get your energy. i mean, obviously you're a very directed person but it seems that you just have these beautiful kids, a high powered job and gorgeous roses, and you make a quilt every time i turn around! bed quilts! not wall hangings, bed quilts! do you have a mantra you can pass on to your more blobby readers (me) so i can jumpstart a bit. i feel like i have so many ideas and so many things started but so many many more things in the queue. tell me wise one!

Do I have a mantra? No, not really. I think I have a divided consciousness when it comes to crafting/quilting. There are times when my creative urge abandons me, or distances itself from me and won't return my phone calls [like on The Hills*]. Then, a part of me is appalled that I'm not working, working, working**; like a swim coach standing on the side of the pool yelling. Another part of me is Jeff Spicoli, who couldn't be bothered with crafting, who argues with the swim coach that crafting is supposed to be fun. Yet another part of me is the conciliator, who says--Okay, you don't feel like pushing this quilt through the machine, your wrists and hands are tired, so just sit here and cut loose threads or mark some lines. And that last voice is what enables me to make progress on something and finish it.

Here's another important factor: I make the most progress when I can see two steps ahead. So, like this morning, when I tell myself that I'm going to finish quilting the big squares, then finish up the last few small squares, then quilt the border, I move through the first step, anxious to get to the second step. If I haven't visualized the next step, I can get bogged down. One thing that helps the visualization is that I have finished quilts before and I know what a cool feeling it is to complete something.

I love fabric and get inspired by it. When I feel drawn to a fabric, I no longer feel reluctant to cut it up once I have it. In fact, my attraction is to cut it up, to combine it with white fabric, to make it into something useable that can be a part of my home, my landscape, so I can continuously enjoy it.

Quilting is not hard; it's easy. Really, really. [I remember learning how to make a tote bag and being mystified, gobsmacked that they're made inside out. Yet, I was able to purchase a Japanese craft book and make a tutorial out of the instructions to make a cosmetics bag.]

Here's The Secret:

1. Get a blank notebook and make it your crafty/inspiration journal.

2. Put inspiring images in the notebook.

3. Make a list of projects you want to complete.

4. Get started.

5. Don't stop/do a little each day/week.

I am deeply grateful for everyone's appreciation of my flowers and my quilts.



* I can't always sit through an entire episode because it's too ridiculous (and/or repellent), but I can't look away either.

** My mother is very high energy and driven in everything, including her creativity. I have some (a fraction) of her energy, I think.

It rained like crazy on Saturday and was clear and sunny on Sunday. My girl swam in her first weekend long meet and had a lot of fun. She looked like a dolphin in the water and was happy and proud of herself for overcoming her anxiety about competing.

I left the meet on Sunday, leaving the kids with their dad, and stopped by 7-11 to pick up a Big Gulp of Diet Coke. It's such an indulgence, with zero nutrients, but riding in the car on a sunny day, the windows down, a Big Gulp of Diet Coke in the cup holder makes me very, very happy.

[About a year ago, I developed a craving for chewing ice which I knew was a sign that I needed to start taking an iron supplement. 7-11 ice is my favorite kind to chew because of its shape. I didn't start taking the supplement until last month and now the craving is gone and my teeth are sensitive to the cold. *Sigh*]

The kids came home in the early afternoon, as I was cutting the grass in the back yard. They helped me garden, my girl trimming the weeds in and around the patio like a pro. Miraculously, she wasn't worn out from swimming for two days.

My boys lost his marbles a little bit after Sunday dinner and when he started screaming at me, I lost mine for a nanosecond. Then I collected myself and took him upstairs and made him take a bath. By the time he got out, after a thorough soak and shampoo, I had two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and a mug of milk ready for him. The rest of the evening went much, much more smoothly.



Saturday I worked on this quilt and watched Babel and Shut Up and Sing.

Babel was heavy, too long, and disjointed.

My sister (the doctor) is a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks, because, I think, they're strong women like her. She admires the fact that they play their own instruments and they're working mothers. The women are tremendously interesting to watch, but I think the movie could have been edited better.

I'm going to have some work done on my house and one way I have to get ready for it is to purge. There's no way I can move a bunch of junk around while the work is being done, just to put it back when the work is over. No way.

My kids are on Spring Break this week. Monday and Tuesday they went to their cousin's house, but today I took off work to take care of them. I would love to have taken them back up to the cabin all week, but I had several deadlines at work.

While my girl had swim practice, my boy and I went to Berkeley Hort and Monterey Market. We picked up the strawberries pictured above and had them for dessert. They were delicious, perfect in every way. At Berkeley Hort we walked among the rose bushes and I was sorely tempted to buy one, but I have no room to plant a new rose bush and it costs $30.

There is a lovely store on Hopkins called Country Cheese which seems to sell way more chocolate and tea than cheese. I bought two cups:



Next we went to the park and I watched my boy on the swings. I remember how much fun I used to have swinging. He looked so strong and happy.

Lovely: a quiet morning before an errand, commitment filled weekend with a huge cup of coffee, good music and progress on a quilt.

This week was bananas, with court every day and lots of work stuff in between. Since California is a big state (163,696 square miles), it involved lots of driving.

My plans for regrouping and slowing down have not come to pass yet. I'll keep working on it.

Thank you, Sarah, for the birthday wishes. My birthday on Friday was pretty low key, but sweet that way. Lunch and (ice cream) birthday cake at work, calls from friends and family, birthday drawings from my kids, and Chinese takeout with the kids in the evening.

Saturday morning I made these orange scones and they rocked my world. They have nutmeg and dried cranberries and the glaze that I put on the cinnamon rolls. Their shape may be explained by the excess of milk that I put in them. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup, but I think they're dry that way. So I put in a little under 1 cup.

I ate these wonderful scones and watched Marie Antoinette. I agree with others that the costumes are out of this world; Milena Canonero is a genius. However, the rock music in the score and the hodge podge of accents grated on my nerves terribly. Casting Rip Torn as Louis XV: he looks like a French monarch, but with the accent from the American South, he did not sound like one. It felt like an overlong music video and/or perfume commercial. What's worse, the bonus features with Sofia Coppola's comments about it looking like an Adam Ant video eroded my regard for the film. I still deeply respect her visual artistry, though she is woefully inarticulate.

The kids went with their dad, briefly, and then I joined them at my son's first soccer game. He had a blast and looked unbelievably cute.




When I felt bored, I visualized all the parents all over the world standing around watching their kids play soccer.

Afterward, my son wanted to come home with me, so I took him to the grocery store and Cole Coffee. He was famished by the time we got home, so I made him what he wanted--two plain hamburgers and a tall glass of chocolate milk.

This morning we went to Mass (Palm Sunday is very heavy and a bit of a downer--I forget every year). Then I took my children to their father's house and returned home, determined to finish piecing a quilt I've been struggling with. Part of the struggle was my monkey mind, part of it was children bickering in my study and watching cartoons which grated on my nerves. I overcame the monkey mind and the kids are away, so I finished piecing the top.



I ran out to get some quilt batting, so now all I have to do is iron the backing, pin the three layers together and get started with the quilting.