micro macrame

I saw some really cool micro macrame on Knot Just Macrame that was beautiful!  I could only ever wish to make stuff that nice.  I had recently seen a video on a leaf friendship bracelet and thought I'd try to add beads to it and see how it went.

I had to mess around with it, but I finally worked out a color and bead pattern that looked like what I was going for, and once I figured out the first one the second one was easier to put together.

these were fun to make, and I like how they turned out.  I wish I had more time for more of all the things I've been doing lately!  I'd really like to make some more of these... maybe I'll move this to the top of my when-I-have-nothing-to-do list ;)

foot frints stool

Leo and Jack helped paint a step stool for my mom for Mother's Day.  they really liked painting, and it wasn't as messy as I thought it might be.

it rained the day I needed to get this done, so I spread out a disposable table cloth left over from a party onto the kitchen floor.  I let Leo do most of the painting because he had more patience for it than Jack did.  they held the brush and I helped dip it into the paint so I could control the amount they were putting on.

we did each color as a layer, so Leo started with a green base coat, switched to a smaller brush and did blue, then Jack did a little purple, and Leo finished it off with some gold.  I did their foot frints (this is how Leo says it right now) and edges in black.

they both loved the foot painting part and they were very cooperative, which I was not expecting, so I think I'll try some other painting projects with them this summer.

Mother's Day 2014

we went to Matt's mom's house this Mother's Day for a cookout.

the boys ate too many Cheetos, pulled out every toy their Grandma has, and played in the sandbox until they were thoroughly gritty.

 

 

 

 

Leo played badminton for the first time, and he did pretty well!

 

 

the boys weren't too agreeable to sit long enough to take pictures, but I think these that I happened to catch at just the right moment are my favorites - they remind me of pictures I have with my dad and Grandpa Gene.

 It was a great Mother's Day :)

crazy quilt

I was asked to make a quilt with a bunch of random fabric for a charity sewing group I'm in, so I thought the best way to make all the fabric work together and use up as many scraps as I could was to make it totally unorganized and mismatched - I even turned some of the fabrics the wrong side up - I know, I went a little crazy on my crazy quilt!  I love how I could just throw stuff together and really didn't have to worry about anything except making straight cuts.  I even staggered the rows so I didn't have to match the blocks up O:)

I did some free motion quilting with my new darning foot and just doodled away with a multi-colored thread.  it really popped against the black sashing and really tied the blocks together.  this took a while, but it also went kinda quick because I enjoyed doing it - it passed the time, and the more I did the more inspired I was to finish.

I don't know if I could do one like this every month, but sewing for the past couple of weeks has made me want to sew some more between the crocheting I've been doing for the group.  I saw a video for quilting as you go that I really wanna try next time!

eternal waves

I made myself some friendship bracelets (I just realized that sounds pretty sad as I was typing!) since the bracelets I made 8-9 years ago in Mexico that I'd been wearing every summer since had seen better days.

after I finished off the boys bracelets, I still wanted to make more so I tried this pattern from friendship-bracelets.net that looked interesting and doable.

I made one to go with a top I wore on Easter.  I thought the colors went good with the blouse, and they looked good in my head, but when I started making it I had to convince myself to continue because I wanted to abandon it partway through!  I don't know what I don't like about it, but this one just wasn't what I had in mind.  I do like the button closure (even though it's not the button I wanted to use) and the two braided, tassel-like tails that hang down were probably my favorite part.

I tried the pattern again with just one color and I liked it a lot better.  I also was able to use the button that I originally wanted to use for my first one on the second, so that worked out.  I added some beads this time to give it a little extra something.  I probably should have added more but I thought I'd just see how it went first.

the pattern comes out really cool, but I thought it was a little difficult to keep the tension the same throughout the bracelet to make sure all the outer threads looked the same, and it didn't curve to one side.  I think adding more beads to those threads might make it look better, but I'm still happy with how they came out.