Three Kitchen Fairies

While I'm sewing

 

I cut my 4.5 in by 4.5 in squares for my eye spy baby quilt.

 

I lined them down and arranged them. And while I made this and a bit of house work, I came up with three lists. The lists help me to introspect a bit to see where I'm standing at the moment. I think is a good exercise. This is the first one, and I'll  be sharing them with you one by one.

Things I miss:

- The generous metabolism that kept me thin for many years. I don't know where it went, and for the same reason I miss ice cream too.

- Art studios, or maybe is just the time be creative.

- Reading a book from beginning to end in one week at the most, and then start another.

- To smoke. Yes, I used to smoke but I stopped thirteen years ago right before getting my wedding dress on to get married. It was a good decision though...

- Not needing make up.

- My mother's cooking.

- Human figure drawing session, I was really good a it.

- Laying in the couch and sing my favorite songs on what today is a "play-list"in an I Pod. Years ago it was a mixed tape, right?

- Hanging out by the beach.

- My paternal grandfather, and my maternal grandmother. They gave me so much love that there is not one day I don't think of them both.

- Road trips with Jose (Mr. KF)

- Time to look at the ceiling, just because for me that's the time for epiphanies.

- Baby breath.

- Laughing so hard that it hurts.

Here is my list. What about you, what do you miss??

Craft-wise

This week has been a busy week craft-wise, and I like it that way. It helps me to keep living in denial of all the "other" things that I have to do. And that's ok I guess because no matter how much I ignore those mundane activities they're going to be there: faithfully waiting for me. Yes, I'm talking specifically about laundry. 

Last week in the mail:

I got this lovely swap package from Rachel. The chocolate is gone, and there were also some cupcake liners and sprinkles that the little tiny fairy already took away. Rachel is such a nice swap partner, she included the fairy cards for the girls.

Also in the mail:

 

Caroll's block #1 for her around the world quilt. Cindra  said that it reminds her of Van Gogh, it does have some of that felling but to me it looks like windmills of "Don Quijote de la Mancha." The name of the block is "Twisted Sister"... After this post I'll reach out for some quilting books to find the perfect partner for this cutie.

For my next project:

 

some happy fabrics for an eye spy baby quilt I saw this baby quilt for the first time on Amy's blog and I want to give it a try. Our niece's baby is due in two weeks so I have to hurry up with this project.

I also finished my alphabet-mania mini for Kathy for STUD, but I'll show you that one next week.

Ok, the fabrics are dry now, so back to "work," lol.

Sweet

Last weekend was a truly great weekend. I wasn't sure about what to expect from my brother's visits; let me tell you we had such a good time.

 

He fell in love with the girls. I guess he never expected the girls to know so much about him and about our childhood together. Together they created this new game of making stars with their fingers and taking pictures of them. The hand stars with their uncle became kind of their thing, a sweet alliance, a secret code, something to be done willingly by more than two people at any giving time. I feel  so happy and at peace. He knows we love him, he knows he is part of the gang.

 

Saying "good bye" was hard. Of course we promise to be keep in touch, and this time I think we will.

Now I'm back to our normal routine. I have couple of swaps to work on. I'm dying to show  you a mini quilt I'm working on. I came up with my own quilting block, but since it's a swap I can't show you until my partner receives it.  

None the less, I also have tons of laundry and ironing to do which I totally dislike. Such is life...

Long time no see.

Originally uploaded by Javier Cheang.

We were good partners when growing up, and we stuck together through thick and thin. Life made us toughen up to the point of not showing much affection for each other, or rather indifference. I haven't seen him in 5 years; and at that time I only saw him for a couple of days, no much... Tomorrow he is coming to visit us. I can't explain the excitement...so much anticipation. Although much conversation is not expected I already planned menus for the next three days, I have a reservation for Saturday night for dinner in downtown. I even cleaned my car while listening to some 80's music. I guess I just want him back in my life.

I'm feeling nostalgic, my brother will be here tomorrow.

Edit note: The picture in this post is the Sacrificios Island right across from our hometown: Veracruz, Mexico. The photographer:Javier Cheang, my brother.

The pleasures of the simple life...

Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you, mothers, and daughters, and mothers at heart. I planned on posting yesterday but we had a Mother's Day full of activities: grocery shopping, then picnic, and even a sweet afternoon flying kites. Delightful indeed...

 

It was very cold for a Spring day, but the simplicity of our celebration warmed my heart and made me feel specially happy about being the mom in this family.

Today I spent my morning making my starter block for "around the world quilting bee" a very creative project organized by Summer Sadie. This is the first time I signed up for a quilting bee project and I get the feeling that I'm really going to enjoy it. I had a hard time choosing my fabrics. I love red, but red fabric is a bit tricky because sometimes it bleeds. The rules for this swap did not include a "wash your fabric before sewing" rule, it didn't have to... To avoid frustration I decided to go with these fabrics and I made these spools.

 

Tomorrow this block will start its trip around the world, let see what it brings me back.

Catching up...

I've been meaning to post about the sewing projects I've been working on, but last weekend Ofelia and I came down with a terrible cold. And with the swine flu scare around here it feels like you have to be very attentive to any sign that makes you believe that you might be infected. Two schools have been closed in our city, so imagine how scared I felt. To make the story short, we're ok, it's just a yucky common cold.

I've been trying really hard to finish a bunch of projects and I only finished this:

 ;

for this little fairy:

 

I used part of this tiered skirt tutorial from Kuki ideas. Her version of the tiered skirt has three tiers which I made last Summer and I loved. This time I added and extra tier by dividing the lenght of the skirt by four instead of three. Then, for the fourth tier I just followed the instructions for the third tier plus one extra strip of fabric. The three-tiered-skirt from the tutorial looks a bit baby-ish and puffy for an eight year old girl. And believe it or not she starts to have a sense of style. We both are very pleased with the results :) I also made some applique on a matching t-shirt to go with it.

At the moment, I'm also quilting my wagon wheel quilt...

 

...and working on something special for Mother's Day.

What are you up to?

Sunday Stash

 

Today stash: four Happy Homemaker fat quarters by Robert Kaufman. These happy fabrics are part of my purchase at Staci's Boutique. They are definitely going to be use for a quilt for me, at least that's what the fairies said. 

More stash here.

Happy Sunday!!