A Quilt for My Little Boy

When people are hurt or hurting, I want to do something for them. Take them a meal, babysit, clean their house, make them something. I just want to do something. So when I was hurting and grieving after losing Lucas, I was filled with the desire to do something, but couldn't think of what. One day when we were at Target, I saw the line of crib bedding I had picked out for Lucas. I stood there staring at it for a few minutes, and then in a burst of determination, I snatched up all the different sheets and blankets (it helped that they were on clearance). I love making blankets for people when they have a baby, and I made one for each of my girls, so it was only fitting to make one for Lucas. But then for some insane reason I decided to use 5" hexagons on both sides. Oh - it gets better. I started off making a baby sized blanket, but then after pondering it, I realized that no baby was ever going to use this blanket. So I decided to go for a lap size that I could use. I got working on that, but then as I was going along, I had some extra pieces and decided to extend it. Yup. My baby blanket ended up as a 6 foot by 4 foot blanket. Covered in 5" hexagons on both sides. Here it is:



I know it may be hard to see, but in this last picture, on the 4th row from the bottom, the middle green hexagon has "Lucas" embroidered on it. I wanted his name to be on there somewhere. And although it felt like it took all summer to finish, I'm glad that I did it.

In my world of pink and frills and bows, I now have something distinctively boyish. Something that shows that my little Lucas was here. And that's really all I wanted.

This Kind of Makes Me Want to Have a Dog ... But Just for One Day

One of my favorite clothing catalogs to receive is Chasing Fireflies. I love their style and their combination of classic styles with modern touches and colors. About half way through my last copy, I started laughing ... out loud. Look at these dogs!











I REALLY want the Princess Leia and Yoda costumes. Problem - I don't have a dog. Also, I don't have $36 tagged to spend on something completely ridiculous. But most importantly, I don't have a dog. I actually considered buying them for my brothers 2 dogs. I know - how insane! But they are just so funny! If I had a dog, I would definitely be one of those people that tried their patience by dressing them up in silly hats or costumes or the like.

Speaking of Chasing Fireflies, I saw this little number as well:

In the catalog, it's a full body shot with dark denim jeans and black flats. And I have two things I want to say about this outfit: 1) I love it and wish that I could find it in my size, and I would also get it for my girls, and 2) does anyone else think this is the outfit of a 30 year-old? I can totally see her getting out of her SUV with her two kids and taking them to dance or soccer.

Getting Organized

I've never been one of those people that could design beautiful things just with my own creativity. Now, I am a pretty good copier, but I need things to copy. I have dozens and dozens of things bookmarked, but that's nothing compared to the stack of pages I had pulled out of various catalogs, magazines and whatnot. And they were taking up a lot of space in my inbox, so last night while watching a movie with B, I cut out the pictures I liked and categorized them by item of clothing or type of household item. So now they are all nice and neat and organized in a way that I can quickly reference them when I'm thinking of what I want to do. Sometimes it's also helpful to see the similarities in the things that I like; often I've been able to identify patterns of what I like after I see that I've cut out 8 pictures that all look the same.



Sorry for the terrible pictures, but I didn't feel like waiting for the morning to take them. And I have TONS more pages. Looking at all the pictures makes me want to start sewing. So it's both organized and motivating.

Hello Again!

I know I've been gone for A LONG time, but I'm hoping to rejoin the craft-blog world again. It's not that I haven't been creating and crafting and sewing, but I just haven't had the energy or the desire or the time to take pictures and put them up. I would like to say that life has calmed down, but it hasn't. I think I just have a better handle on it.

So here's to coming back and joining all you lovely crafters!