Because life is a blur sometimes...

Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more;
love more, and all good things will be yours.
~Swedish Proverb

Love more, love more, love more.
JMB

dear sisters...

Two people that I did not mention on my thankful post the other day really just each need their own post...my sistahs! I am sorry for those of you who do not have sisters...they are the best, and the worst...most laughs and the worst fights... BUT that is not what this post is about.

This post is about going to see Evita with my youngest sister...her first musical...ON STAGE. We just had the most wonderful time watching EVERYTHING: how they did the sets, the lighting, drawing your attention from one area to another to rearrange things out of your view. It was all just so cool.

Truly, the coolest part was the look of joy on my sister's face after the first song. Ecstatic? Awed? I think more just "joy-struck". I felt the same way after I first saw "Les Miserables"--- What people can do with their voices, their energyand their story...just totally transport you to a different place and time.

This trip also reinforced the power of the Arts in our everyday lives, performing and otherwise. I need to take more opportunities to experience the wide range of artistic endeavours around me. The price of a ticket is so small compared to the world that is opened up.

Thank you, Youngest Sister, it was wonderful! Save me a seat for the next one!

HOLIDAY NOTE**
I know that the Buy Handmade holiday idea has been around and back already (and it isn't even December)... I am totally on board and would like to invite people to join with me in supporting your local artisans (and then Etsy of course) and even get involved yourself and make some or all of your gifts this year. I am already feeling less cuckoo-louckoo about the holidays and I met some really great artists this past weekend...much better.
JMB

Thankful for...

a sleepy garden

frosty sunshine

hopeful future

change of seasons

house full of Love

Join me in praying for Peace this holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving.
JMB

Imagine....

my first little top-let for my class is done...just needs some quilting. Maybe tomorrow! I loved doing the embroidery, I used to do cross-stitch A LOT...this is WAY better. Very free-form, I am getting away from feeling like I need a pattern. It is so liberating to create for your own self!!! LOVE IT! It also felt kind of Swedish to me, colors and whatnot...but I bet they will have snow for the holidays!

Now all I can think of is TURKEY!!! (thankfulness too....but really being thankful for turkey right now!)

Peace to all-

JMB

Just a list to help me remember!

Chores...by the end of the day, if I complete them, I am so tired I can't remember what I have accomplished. So, today a list:
1)Woke @ 3:33 with hysterical baby...no known cause...he finally said that he wanted to go back to his own bed around 4:30??? I was supposed to be asleep.
2)Dressed children.
2.5)Showered self---Thank Goodness!
3)5 loads of laundry...AND put them away!
4)2 loads of dishes....AND put them away!
5)Stroller--Fixed
6)Dropped off load to Goodwill and picked up coffee beans...very necessary!.
7)Made lunch and got everyone to eat lunch.
8)Made 2 batches of Banana Bread--very tasty
9)Made Dijon/honey Sweet potatoes and a ham for dinner.
10)Made it through 2 tired boys trying for an hour and a half to fall asleep.
11)Completed 1 blog entry for self...
There...
now maybe I won't forget and the next time I do...I can read this and give myself the benefit of the doubt.
Peace out
JMB

Thrifty, thrifty, maybe a little bit crazy...

It seems like everyday at about 5:00pm, give or take 15 minutes, our household is DONE. We are waiting for the Daddy to get home, we are poking each other, we are screaming, we are crying, we are tired. I am usually trying to get dinner together and WAY tired of answering questions and not being allowed a private thought. Last night the tension rose and rose and when my husband came in the door....I looked at him and simply said "I need to leave", it was not forever, or even very long, but I was really fried.
So I left for the library and for the cost of the gas, (which is going up everyday I know...) I was able to take a mini vacation and I brought home about 50 pounds of quilting books and this little beaut (above). I just love Jane Sassaman. I picked up The Quilted Garden: Design and Make Nature Inspired Quilts from the library years ago...and she has been a favorite ever since. I am excited to watch the show.

The other day I was driving past the local Goodwill and saw some smallish bikes...I popped in and the bikes were not to my liking, (and I know that it is WAY too EARLY for Christmas) but they did have all these great pieces of fabric!!!! I just love cardinals and the gaudiness of the round table cloth WITH pom-poms IS SO WONDERFUL. I quickly shoved it into my cart, I was so afraid that someone else was going to swipe the Precious from me. The snowman print is actually a queen size sheet...can you say quilt back??? The Santa fabric was an over the top cheezy valance, complete with ruffle, I think that I might be into fashioning an apron...we will see. Also, a yard and a half of Merry Hello Kitty for 99cents? How can I say no? My 4 year old put in an order for a pillowcase just this afternoon...

I thought that I should leave the store, but on the way out I found this RAD, crazy looking Santa tablecloth in X-cellent condition and some sweet little hand towels. I love when I can find cool stuff at the thrift stores and garage sales, but when I find SUCH cool things and such LOW prices, I am not interested in buying things new anymore....spoiled, spoiled, spoiled.

SO, back to my original thoughts....I know that other people's houses get "the crazies"....what do you do? I sometimes try to save a video for this time, but then the letdown after the video is over is almost worse... if you have any ideas.... I would welcome comments!!!
JMB

Joy...

Doing a cyber class...it's the greatest...I had an hour and made some joy...I think that I will go over the tutorial first next time...might waste less fabric...this is such a fun idea you should try it out too...a nice group of people...perfect for anyone!
JMB

The whole is not necessarily the sum of the parts...

I have been working on a new quilt. Not in my usual color palette, not in my usual style. Let's just say that I was making some headway on it and then the pieces of it started to look...let's say bad.

In my opinion.

I kind of got lost in the pieces of it, for about a week.

I was coming off of this big quilting high...after my horse projects and this one really got me down.

I just kept seeing the pieces and they did not look like anything good to me. Today, I had an hour or so and I decided to just finally sew what I had finished together and take it off of my design wall for a while. (I just COULD NOT look at it any longer.)

So, I sewed and the time was ticking away....I kept thinking if I could just sew this together a bit faster then I could actually sew on something that could look good...

And I sewed and I began to get more than a little bit annoyed that THIS quilt was taking up so much of MY time. I finished it and then threw it back on the wall and rushed off to a birthday party.

******

******

Wait for it...

When I came home I walked in to my craft room, looked up and saw this most BEAUTIFUL piece....no, gnomes had not crept in whilst I was away and woven something from spiderwebs....This quilt now looks like I thought that it could, all together you can see the secondary pattern, which I sometimes find more lovely than the primary pattern.

How short-sighted can I be? I forgot the idea about the whole being more than a sum of its parts, can you think of a better way to describe quilting?? life in general?

Well, I am going to ride this creative high for a while. Sometimes you have to relearn the basics every so often....I swear, it was really so ugly.

JMB

P.S.

Here is my quilt that I finished for my Grandma. She loved it. I talked to her this morning and she said that she screamed when she unwrapped it and then cried because she liked it so much. You just HAVE to love a Grandma like mine. Love you Grandma Flora!

I'm going for the swap...you?

This is actually a window in Estonia, but it was the most Winter-y looking thing that I have snapped in a long time....but wait there are gazanias or something in the window box...so maybe not winter yet...

ANYHOW...

There is a Winter small quilt swap going on over here. I think that it sounds like a good time and a good way to widen my creative pool...internally and externally. If you are interested, sign on up. I think that creativity should be shared. I looked at the flickr page of the autumn swap and the pieces looked like fun.

JMB

Blogger blahs...

These pictures might look like things are rosy and fun over here...and I guess they are....
but
I have got a case of the Blogger blahs.....
The kind that hit when you get tired of struggling with technology, and all the wondering of why a silly little banner can't be added to your header...and then you just want to throw in the towel, and then you really want to boycott the whole blogosphere....grrrr...
And then you realize that you would only be making yourself sad, because you just like to express yourself.....and well, I guess I am back.

I just want everyone to know that day by day I am getting more irritated that I am unable to create my blog vision the way that I want....I just might have to learn some code...watch out!

BUT to keep it on the positive side...look at the fun we had the other day at a nice woodland...not too far away...it makes me think that I can have a bit of Swedish utopia a bit closer to home. (because isn't that what I want to be about anyway?...creating beauty, seeing beauty....right where I am.)

It looks like he is saying "Wait guys..." But, I think that he was just calling out to the garbage truck...a friendly boy.

So, everyday I look at these lashes, I look at the littlest one's lashes, and I look at my husband's lashes---then I look in the mirror and I am always so surprised that mine are so short and stubby. I guess, I got the long legs gene and you just can't expect to get everything.

I love it when kids cross their legs...it is both so grown-up and so awkward. Speaking of awkward, we are going through a phase at our house where this one never wants to wear his shirt....In the morning he is just sitting in the crib, grinning, shirt-less and chilly. Better the top than the bottom, I guess.

Long arm Picture ALERT....but look, he is smiling AT the camera. This one always keeps it interesting....I guess they both really do, but this one....I got to be on my toes mentally ALL THE TIME.

This happened later the same evening....I need to remember to get them out in the fresh air (as colds allow) the mood in the casa...and my mood as well...always more chill.

Finally....Ta-da! The second of 2, the one for a special person left in the mail today and I will post the picture of it later. This one I really made for myself. I even made a label and it is called "I always wished for a horse". On the front I embroidered "If wishes were horses, I would ride, ride, ride." Just a bit from a bluegrass song that always gets going around and around in my head...it is about someone with a wanderlust....and where I don't have one physically...I think that I do have one mentally and creatively. This one was really fun to do and it was QUITE the feeling to get all of the finishing done and have a hang-able nice thing done.

YEE-HAW...

OK, that was a bit much, but sometimes you can't keep the preteen down!

JMB