What a week!

I would like to thank Kelly for supplying the word of the week... Do you want a gander at the newest Quilt Guild in Eugene? The Eugene Modern Quilt Guild had it's inaugural (I like to use that word as much as possible) meeting this past week, the week that will be forever heralded as "Jessica's crazy Awesome week"Scraps flew as we made name tags, an excellent ice breaker (Thanks Kelly, AGAIN!) I jabbered on, like I do, but people seemed excited to get a group going and excited about getting to sew with some other cool people (which just made me more excited.) We had 27 people show up, more than were even signed up on the website. I was so heartened to see so many creative quilters in one place... LIVE!
We talked about our group and then had lots and lots of show and tell. I was able to share 2 large quilts that I have recently finished (I don't have a good full picture of either of them, but I am SO pleased with them..maybe a project for tomorrow?) I am always making some kind of OVER-expressive face... my face just does that when I talk, I mean I do get really excited about things and I can't help it. This is Blondie's Apartment House.
Here is my Kaffe Fassett favorites quilt... I am loving that it is done, done, done--and the colors, I love to look at those colors. Running this first meeting was a stretch for me, but it felt good. (and then Oh my! We get to do another one next month!!)
Then it was Pumpkin patch day with Blondie's class... I don't write it enough but I am in love with my kids, even when I have to take 20 pictures to get one where they are all looking at the camera. I just love them.
Finally, as an early birthday present to myself (As of yesterday, I have officially entered my LATE 30s) I went to a Kaffe Fassett lecture in Sisters. It was a beautiful day, so much sunshine, so many lovely pictures of quilts... not as star-struck as I was "back in the day" (I just re-read that post... wow, good to meet You, former self... keep up the good work.) But really good to listen to his talk and then mellow out the hero-worship. I haven't made a huge number of quilts in the past 2 years, but I am finding my style and my voice. That feels good.
36 years on this earth... I remember being younger. Some discrete things were better, but not the whole of life. Life is so good now. I like me and appreciate me at 36 in a way that I did not when I was 20 or 25 or 30 even. I am gentler with myself as a person. I am faster to try something different and more comfortable if it was a mistake. Not perfect, but not upset about THAT anymore. I am happy to say that I do believe that my best days are still ahead of me, maybe not every one...but I have more to do. 36 is going to be a good one for me. I am going to try more crazy stuff. I want to do more things that I am afraid of, to seek a comfortable spot between what I do now and what I dream of doing. I want to live closer to the dream. It is going to be a big year, yes it is.

JMB

Happy Birthday Baby!

Happy Birthday little Mango!

I see you looking at the world, waiting, figuring it out. You take your time, weigh your options, and then (usually following your big brothers' lead) leap right in to the fray. Your first few steps were a run. I hear you let out a squall when you can't get down from where you have climbed to.

Breathe deep, little girl, snuggle here in my arms just a little longer. You will be able to do everything you desire, before you know it, before I know it. Be a baby, with your momma, for just a wee bit longer.

Happy Birthday little girl, we love you so.

JMB

Popping in...what day is it?

Hi friends!

I am just coming off of the Birthday/Valentine's day marathon. Big Daddy turned 35 last Tuesday. We had a joint "Spy" birthday party on Saturday for Brownie and a classmate (If they want to invite the whole class, I TOTALLY recommend teaming up with another family for a party). Sunday, we all loved each other and thought that being together and hiking in the mud was the best way to share our love. Closing out the insanity with Brownie's 7th birthday yesterday--- Yes, I am a momma of a 7 year old AND a 7 year old momma myself.

I thought a lot, during the day, as I was running hither and yon about what it felt like then to be entering the mysterious world of motherhood and then what it feels like today being the momma of 3 beautiful children. I remember the whole night that I was in labor with Brownie. I would have contractions and think "Is this the real thing?" and now I know that the birth is really just the beginning of the real thing, and the real thing is this crazy life that we are all making together. I see now all the roles that each one of us plays in our family, even little Mango. Not one of us could exist in a vacuum, that our family unit is unique to us and is and can be what we make it.

I thought during that first pregnancy how Big Daddy and I would raise our children and teach them about the world and what it is to be here and live. I did not understand that the learning and teaching would be equally shared among all of us parents and kiddos. I did not appreciate that a child would be growing and maturing in our home as well as a parent. I am so happy to say that I realize that now.

The last 7 years have taught me how much I don't know, but that I can learn what I need to. I was always worried that I would love my kids conditionally, because I can feel miserly with my affection at times. But after seeing clementines smeared all over our sunroom and feeling such a rage at the waste, I looked at those boys and thought--I love these kids, I am mad, someday they are going to do something worse than this and I will get mad, but I am still going to love them. It may sound simple or silly but it was like the veil had lifted, it was a defining momma moment for me.

My hair is far grayer after these 7 years, but my heart is lighter. I see more good in the world than I did 7 years ago. Seeing people step outside of their "grown-up" personas to smile or make a joke with my kids restores my soul....

I am just too full up at the moment.

Let me just leave it with, we had some happy birthdays this week and I am plum tuckered out!

JMB

The games we play...

This is the game we play with little babies. If you haven't done it before, you should try it, it will make you laugh, even if you are "very mature".
The other game I have been playing lately is called "Collect fabric until you feel like a spoiled fabric brat"
It is true. For my birthday, when people asked what I wanted, I said "Fabric. Fat Quarters, whatever you like!"
And boy, did I receive! Thank you, thank you family! I just finished washing and putting it all away. Wow, I really need to reorganize now.
This was a lovely collection from Big Daddy and the boys...I think that I want to make another birthday quilt...but I have to finish last year's first.
The following photos are the fabrics that I bought for myself this year, it is a little game that I like to call....

"I shouldn't,

yes I should,

no, I shouldn't...

wait, they aren't going to be around forever, so I should....."

Well, I did...
And I am so happy...
JMB

Sometimes you find just what you need...on a friend's blog...

I wanted to post today to kick off my blog birthday week...  But I just wasn't inspired yet (it is 11:00 PST) Then I found this little video on my friend Emily's blog.  It is nice to watch.  Nice to watch while my little Blondie boy crawls over my shoulders while I sit in the computer chair.  Nice to watch while he smiles at all of the different shoes.  Just nice to watch.

Tomorrow is my actual blog birthday, 3 years!!  I was very sporadic at first, you know afraid of all those creepy weirdos that stalk you down from the Internet.  But after a time, I found some really nice friends here and I think that blogging has helped me through some tough times with depression, becoming a "Stay at Home Mom", it has helped my creativity and quilting dreams blossom.  

Here is an early thanks to Emily, who told me I could get my own blog (What is that? I said.) and to all of you who have shared the journey with me.  Stay tuned this week I am going to post every day to celebrate and will announce the give away tomorrow (and who doesn't love a give away?!)

Dream a dream today.  Who knows where it will get you by next week, next year, 3 years from now?

Who knows?

JMB

Six years ago, today, a momma was made...

We are 6.
So proud, so smug at times, but so special to me...
What he likes:

Books (the library rocks!)

Legos

Stuffed Animals

Monopoly

his friends

Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches WITH Raisins

Mac and Cheese 

Toy meals

Knock-knock jokes

Figuring out the "Code" a.k.a. learning to read

Apples

Other peoples' siblings

Doing Arts and Crafts (especially with scissors and glue)

"relaxing clothes"

Hugs from mom

Dislikes:

People not washing their hands after using the toilet

OTHER people making loud noises (he can make them, alrighty)

Having his train of thought interrupted

Cleaning up the Legos

Cleaning up the Arts and Crafts

Not being understood

Any other fruit besides apples...they are "too juicy"

What I like especially right now:

Reading the BOB books to me from the library, right off the bat

Your laugh

Your smile...your teeth chipped from when you ran in to the doorknob

Your big puppy feet

Your enthusiasm to try most anything, even if you are not the most gifted at it

Hugging your brother and calling him "Brother..."

Laughing as loud as I do at the movie theater

The way that your brain works

Your gentleness with your friends

Your desire for knowledge

Your curiosity, I wish I could tell you more about what you want to know

You teach me about what love is everyday.

I love you, my big boy, my first son.  Thanks for making me your mommy.

Happy Birthday...welcome to you, 34!

The sands of time, ever shifting, are settling me in to year 34. I went for the less diva approach this year, I wasn't above cooking and vacuuming for my own party. This is maturity, I think, maybe. 6 months ago (give or take), Brenda Danye, of Cast On fame, had a bit about beginnings....my paraphrase is "Start as you mean to continue..." This thought has been swirling around in my head....swirl swirl swirl...and for me, a new beginning is a birthday.

This year I wanted, and I want, to be surrounded by friends and family, but in a casual way. We had a potluck and some pumpkin carving. I got out all of my mini swap quilts to show... maybe it was a bit squishy, maybe all of the food got et, maybe the pumpkins were not a big hit...nevertheless I felt so welcomed in to this next year. The laughter, the funny shirts, the wall the kids made out of bricks, piles of quilts... this is how I mean to continue this year. Here is my new friend Betty. I wasn't sure if my sweet husband would succumb to my practical desires...I think that she is going to replace the broken 11 year old hand mixer nicely!
To the new year!
JMB
PS
A note on the first picture....It is not the best, but on the seat of my chair are a slew of Fat Quarters that my sister gave me. I am so thrilled. They were ones that I REALLY wanted to get the first time I went to "Piece By Piece", a new quilting store in town, but had resisted. The main color is acid green set off by a black....lovely stuff. My other sister made me a wonderful scarf, also in the green of my dreams...it is so soft and cozy....
Boy, I am really blessed in the sister department!

To change or not to change....

I have been going round and round the last few weeks about how "MY" new craft blog would look. The hours spent on minutia such as: TEMPLATE?? COLOR?? FONT??

Nothing that I could come up with was going to be cool enough, or some thing that I wasn't overly critical about. Then, last night as I sat down to dinner I had an epiphany of the obvious... why make another one, when I can just improve upon the old one? I wasn't that attached to what it looked like, but I was attached to the entries, my history with it.

Here we are now, as a belated blog birthday present to myself.... a new look, a year older, wiser, ready for more fun!

JMB