Girls' Room - Before

Last week I had the most awesome pleasure of a week to myself at home. No kids, and mostly, no husband. I think it might have been the best week of my life. Well, at least of the last few years. We sent the kids to Camp Baba/JoJo/Grandma - our family out of town. Hubby was working, and I stayed home.

I quilted, I read, I worked a little, I cleaned up my house. It was all done at a leisurely pace and with very little stress. I ate nachos for dinner and went for long bike rides because I didn't have to report back to anyone. I mentioned that it was glorious, didn't I?

One of the things I did do that certainly felt like work, but was utterly necessary, was clean out and redo the girls' room. It was chaotic and crowded in there. And with only a two bedroom house and a husband who works at home it was high time I got it organized so the girls and I could actually function in there if Hubby is home working.

Our house is only two bedrooms and a few years ago we switched and gave the girls the bigger room. This means all their toys and activities can be in their room, instead of taking over the house. And that way my crap can take over the house instead! But the room was messy and full of stuff no one was using anymore. So, in between my little breaks of personal creativity and relaxation, I tackled the room.

This week I'll share the before pictures. Next week, after I finish hanging pictures, I'll share the after pictures.

Christmas decorations still on the wall, an old mattress for guests/trampoline, and crap everywhere!

Two dressers, yet clothes piled everywhere. This bookshelf creating a hallway and blocking off the room.

The bookshelf - the closest bit of order in the before pictures.

A dresser storing fabric, some of my clothes, the Monster's clothes, and dress-up stuff. The diaper genie still there when diapers disappeared from our lives 3 months ago.

The dresser I grabbed from my Mom's basement (minus the legs) to refinish for the girls. It might have been my brother's when he was a kid. It sat next to the deep freeze, filled with fabric scraps from home ec and family sewing projects in the 80s, as well as some baby clothes of my Mom's and some Ukrainian embroidery.

I'm pretty sure I drew on this as a kid. No one remembers, but it is most likely that I, the biggest brat in the family, did it.

Next week, the afters. Just wait! I can tell you that the girls love it and so do I.

Little Feet, Pins and Needles (Wrap-Up)

Thank-you for coming along with me on the Little Feet, Pins, and Needles series. It sounds like this series struck a chord with many. Whether it was the reminder to slow down with our kidlets around or new ways with old toys or inspiration for time to spend with the grandkids. I'm glad I was able to inspire and maybe even educate.

Part 1 - This post was about space planning and coordination. It includes safety tips as well as notes on adjusting our attitudes going in to creative time and space with little ones around.

Part 2 - This post was designed to inspire play with your kiddos. Games and treats to bring out creative tendencies and perhaps, just perhaps, direct them towards fabric a little bit.

Part 3 - This post was about ways to get your little ones sewing with you. Not necessarily making quilts right away, but getting them involved in your own projects. It is a bridge to them sewing their own projects.

This entire series was about tackling your quilt, or any sewing, projects when you've got toddlers, preschoolers, and even infants around. It is about still creating when you're in the thick of those days before most kids will curl up with a book, bike around the neighbourhood, or disappear with their own projects.

I want to share with you one last tip. Read with your kids. There is a plethora of childrens' books out there about quilting, but there are many more that feature quilts. My friend Barb has her own Once Upon a Quilt Children's Book list as a quilter and former bookstore employee.

Sure, you've got quilts littered around your house, covering every soft surface. Or maybe you make them and give them away all the time. But the best use is always a snuggle and what better thing to do that snuggle and read together.

Image above snapped from The Ticky-Tacky Doll by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Harvey Stevenson

Little Feet, Pins and Needles (Part 3)

This week on the Little Feet, Pins, and Needles series we're going to talk about getting your kids actually sewing with you. This can be on either their own projects, sewing side by side, or getting them directly involved in what you are working on.

Kid as Paper Bag

The famous paper bag technique for Improv piecing (how Denyse Schmidt teaches) is quite a good method. Without looking, you grab your next piece and sew it. Once you've got things together, then you make it work. Kids work just as well as a paper bag. They will pick and choose for you, taking your thought process and judgements out of the Improv work.

Now, if you've got a kiddo who is obsessed with pink or stripes then expect to get mostly that at first, but it does even out. You can also control what they choose from, limiting the propensity for bubble gum blocks.

Use Their Eyes

It might be because the fabric is stored in their room, but my girls love to pick fabric for a new project. I pull out the bins by colour and we all make a great mess. It isn't that I'll always go with their picks - they would pick every fabric given the choice - it is that they are involved in the process. And, I'll be the first to admit, their take on combinations can be quite refreshing.

You can also ask their opinion on layouts or get them to help you place blocks as your play with layouts.

Yes, this will get messy and you will be required to refold and organize every time you do it. This isn't for the highly anal.

Put Them on Your Lap

With really little ones (toddlers and preschoolers) you can put them on your lap and get them used to the motion of sewing. Feeding the fabric through, keeping it straight (seam guides are great when you do this), and watching their fingers. Soon enough you will have them working on a machine and it will feel natural.

Red Light, Green Light

I'll admit, other than messing up my fabric, this is my girls' favourite way to sew with me. They sit under the table and push the foot pedal for me. I tell them Green Light to GO and Red Light to STOP. Yes, it makes the progress go slow, but I love that they are so excited about it. You do need to think ahead and anticipate that they won't exactly stop when you are needing them to. Don't try this when you are working on Y-seams, but it is great when you are strip piecing.

Needle Pulling Thread

It is one thing to give them their own scraps to start sewing - and that's a great thing - but it is also great to get them helping you with hand sewing your own projects. The girls, especially my younger one, will curl up with me while I handstitch a binding. I place the needle and they pull. It also works with my handquilting and applique. On some projects I should definitely be putting their names on the label because they help so much!

There are two very important things to keep in mind when you decide to pull the kids into your sewing projects.

Number 1, being patient is key. If you expect to burn through your sewing at your normal rate you will be painfully frustrated and disappointed. And the younger ones won't always get what you are trying to get them to do. But be patient and enjoy the process (you've heard that from me before!)

Number 2, keep in mind that they probably won't want to help forever. Take what you can get, when you can get it.

As parents we always hope our kids want to do the things we love to do. It makes our life easier and saves us from driving to hockey practice when you don't know how to skate or spending your sewing time on dance costumes. Taking small steps to bring your children in to the quilting fold can help, but it isn't a guarantee. It is, however, a great way to encourage their creativity, foster your own, and spend some useful time together.

A Pie for Mikey

You start out with an idea, a concept of where you want to take it. A taste, a feel, a look. A finished product to be savoured and enjoyed. Something to share, to show off, to take pride in.

You gather the things to make it, and you bring them close. You handle them, you edit, you cut, you taste. Add heat, maybe some sizzle, and quite often a long simmer. At many times will you season, highlighting the flavours and subsequent adventure.

Usually it gets messy. You are either the type of person who cleans as they go or the kind that has a third hand following them washing and wiping as you move. It doesn't matter, as long as you address the mess at some point.

Eventually you sit to enjoy. It isn't necessarily what you expected it to be. Sometimes it doesn't work and you have to start over tomorrow. Quite often it's better. Much better than expected.

One day it explodes. The pleasure is insatiable. The joy immeasurable. On another day it is more subtle, simple. It is good, but not great. The pleasure and peace, however, is there. It's lingering and comforting. Perfect.

At least, this is how my marriage feels.

My husband is my best friend and an incredible man. Kind, generous, a little bit wicked. Committed, driven, and horribly sarcastic. He owns his own business and used to race mountain bikes. But I always thought I'd marry a professor or snooty intellectual. We'd live in an old house filled with books and no kids. Obviously that isn't what I've got.

My man in my life and our marriage came about like a farmers' market dinner. One day you find something that looks fantastic and you go with it. And so we have, experimenting along the way. Some days it explodes with pleasure and some days it is lingering and comforting. Perfect.

Imagining a life without my husband nearly stops my breath. Cold.

And now there is a colleague, a friend I met through blogging, who is living this fresh hell right now. Her husband, the father of her two little girls, suddenly collapsed and died last week. She is feeling the immeasurable pain of loss, the unimaginable.

This pie is for Mikey, for her, for their girls. This pie was his favourite and it deserves a celebration. As does he, as does the love he and Jennie shared. Their recipe gave the world this pie. Let's celebrate.

The food blogging community - including those who live close to Jennie and are lucky enough to share a drink and pizza with her - are gathering around her right now. This is community. Today we are making pie. People the world over are taking Jennie and Mike's pie and making it for their own loved ones. They are adapting the pie for themselves, making the recipe for their own loves. In doing so we celebrate a man, relationships, and the spirit of adventure in love, cooking, and life.

A pie for Mikey.