Three Kitchen Fairies

and there she goes...

My little sister started college today. I still can't believe she's a "college student," already. She's the youngest of four siblings which means that my mom's house is now quiet. My brothers and I'm constantly checking on her and on my mom because, you know, she is my mother's baby and it feels weird to know that they're doing things together as usual. Since she's not that much into my craftiness, I decided not to go overboard with a crafty gift. I asked her what she wanted and she asked me for a pillow case with animal prints. Believe me: animal prints are not my thing. But since she is my baby sister I had to oblige. I also made her a few coaster with the "bra" fabric on one side and the animal print on the other. I'm sending her other stuff like cookies just to let her know that I love her and that I wish I was there to drive her to college...she is in far away NY.

Here we're!! I told you it's not easy for me to post my own picture but here it's to my sister. We do look like sisters but we're totally different:

She loves to go shopping, I don't like it that much. She's fashionable, I'm more laid back. She goes crazy with make up, I'm a natural beauty hehehe. She straightens her hair every single day, mine is straight already. She wants to talk seriously all the time and I can't stop teasing her just because she's seventeen years younger than me.Totally different but we still love each other to pieces. She's was always one of the  reasons to  make things right, why?? because she always looked up to me: her big sister. On the other hand, that looking up issue only made me be a better person. Little sisters rock!!!

Labor of love

It's finally done!! Eight months ago I started by choosing carefully my fabrics from a big load of scrap in my sewing room. I separated the fabrics in three different groups: dark, mediums, and light.  Around last year New Year day, I started to cut by hand the "spokes" to make these wheels.There is no way you can use rotary cutter for this part... not that I know.   I sewed 420 spokes together and I made 35 wheels. Then, I appliqued each them (by hand too) to their 35 13" by 13" squares of white fabric. These applique sewing was so good for me. While sewing I thought of my little special person for whom I was creating this quilt. Every stitch was full of love and wonderful memories of her "babyhood." I realized how fast time has gone by, how fast she has become this almost five year old.Her personality is becoming very hard to ignore, she is such a treat... When I put the blocks together you helped me decide how to finish it and I'm glad I asked because it turned out so good.

The quilting is just free motion. I worked one block at the time making sure the quilting looked even as possible, and then I moved on to the next block.

The binding was also made out of scraps...

I feel very accomplished, and happy to see it finished. This is my third twin size quilt, and I'm still loving it! Now each fairy has their own quilt in their comfy beds, mission accomplished!! This quilting business is a true labor of love. It's a way to wrap our love around the people we love and we care for with quilty yummy-ness and stitches from the heart.

My answers.

A picture of the "other side of my dinning room" because this can't be called the "family room." Just to give you and idea, this is the sofa from were Jose contemplates me while doing the dishes. The painting on the walls are part of my portfolio...and the pillows were also made by me.

Since my last post things are going somehow better with the usual ups and downs of any other day. I've been trying to catch up with some quilting and soon, very soon I'll be able to show you some finished works. In the meantime, I thought it was a good idea to start also catching up with some blog reading goodness and with a tag game. Back in June sweet Kendall Micayla tagged me and I decided that tonight is the night to play along and answer her questions.

what are you wearing today?  plaid bermuda pants in blue that my mom got me for my birthday,and a black t-shirt.

whats for dinner?  "pastel azteca" which is a mexican casserole; with some pinto beans of the side.

 

what would you eat for your last meal?  I don't get this one. Last meal of the day? or of my life??

what are you listening to right now?  Thank goodness nothing. I'm actually trying to hear if the the fairies are asleep.

what is your favorite ice-cream flavor?  Peanut butter chocolate something, something. It has to be soy ice cream.

what do you think of the person who tagged you?  Kendall you're such a young talented girl. At first I wasn't quite sure if you were a girl or a grown up. Then I realized that you are this sweet home school girl that takes amazing pictures and sees the world around here without missing any detail...you're super cool.

if you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would it be? Barcelona, Spain.

if you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? To Brazil. I would kiss him good night and come back.

what is your favorite color? red forever and ever.

which language do you want to learn? French.

what is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?  my denim pencil skirt. It's hard to go up and down the stairs but I wear it not matter what.

what is your favorite magazine? Everyday with Rachel Ray.

if you had $100, what would you spend it on? of course fabrics!!

favorite artist/s? In this crafty blog world of us I personally admire Lucyellen and Calamity Kim, among others...

When it comes to Fine Arts the is a long list of today artists that I love...and some of them are my friends ;)

whats your favorite season and why?  fall!!! the colors, the crispness, the anticipation of winter, the apples, thanksgiving, everything.  (great minds think alike, right Kendall?)

what are your favorite movies? Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Like water for chocolate, Frida.

what is your favorite fruit? I love them all.

what inspires you? It's hard to list everything that inspires me but if I look for inspiration as a way to create my own stuff I usually read Latino-american Literature.

what is your dream job? I wish someday I'm a full time artist again. Master printmaker would also be good.

what is stopping you? the three kitchen fairies.

 

if you could change something in the world to make it a better place what would that be?  The world is what it is. So much is been said and even done to make it better....I do believe that's one of the reasons why so many people blog now. We created these micro-worlds in which everything is as perfect as a quilted coaster can be.

 

what do you have planned for tomorrow? Tomorrow is Tuesday, I guess we'll go to our swimming lesson first, and them I can make an effort to get something done, like Anita's block for ATWQ.

 

the rules :

* respond and rework; answer the question on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.

* tag eight other people.

 

I tag: Sara, Libby, Staci, Annela, Amy, Katy, Andy, and every one else who feels like being tag.

Enjoy!!

 

 

Paying attention.

I've been having the feeling that we're pretty much settled in our new house, but I guess that's just me. I have this six year old girl who is somehow overreacting to the changes and the turmoil of this summer. She is behaving in ways I've never seen before like throwing tantrums, and yelling "no!!" at me every time I ask here what's going on. Jose and I have come up with so many "theories' like: she's growing up and testing the limits, she's growing up and feeling a bit different, Ofelia misses the other house, maybe we haven't paying much attention to her because of the moving, or even maybe she's constipated. Believe me, I'm very dedicated to these children but at this point I just want her to stop growing and go back to be my middle child: peaceful, loving, and cuddly. But, of course that's not going to happen.

Last week I decided to do something I haven't done in such a long time. I took the girls to the UMMA, and spent the whole morning there looking at art, talking about it, and drawing some of it in our notebooks. Let me tell you: they loved it.

I've try to have them exposed to art since they were little, and it seems like they felt like they belonged in that world. They were quite interested in the different kinds of art. Ofelia loves sculpture more than any other discipline, so she stopped and drew some of them. They did not run in the galleries, they did not touched the pieces, they behaved so very well...

that even I, myself, had a chance to enjoy drawing the Giacometti's sculpture they have in one of the galleries

After visiting the Art Museum, we had a picnic right out side of their beautiful building. After that we had a walk through theU of Mcampus talking about what they wanted to be when they grow up, the funny thing is that on that specific day they all wanted to be some sort of artist. My girls and I had such a great day. I'm glad that we took the time to do it. I'll definitely take advantage of what ever is left of this summer. My little Ofelia is feeling so much happier after we did this. There is so much said about the middle child, but I still have my doubts. The only thing I'm sure is that different people has different needs and I have to keep my eyes open when it comes to my girls. I just hope I'm doing the right thing.

I will love to hear from you and to know how do you deal with your little ones when they start "overreacting." Let's talk!