Bead Nice

My friend Nancy Mikesell makes beautiful beaded socks from sizes newborn to adult. Well, at least close to adult. My girls each have about five pairs. I've gotten my nieces hooked on them too. This picture is one of Emilie's pairs. She can do big beads like these or little dainty beads or even fuzzy yarn. They are really awesome. She is a member of Creations Gallery and her business name is iris*hill. I'm not sure where that came from; I'll have to remember to ask her.

Today Anna wanted to make a May Day hat. She took a bunch of random flowers from my craft room and decorated it. I guess I'll claim her shyness if I can also claim her creativity. She is a little fashionista. Nathan just got the John Deere shirt and he's really proud of it. Orscheln's also had one that said, "I'll trade my sister for a tractor." but it didn't come in his size. Our weather has been so weird lately. I shouldn't complain because we usually go from winter to summer with maybe a week of spring thrown in here and there. But we've been waking up to 30's, having really dreary, cold days until about 3 pm. Then, suddenly, it warms up to 60 or 70. This morning we thought it was going to be a nice spring day, so the girls put on skirts that I made them a month or so ago. We froze all morning but after naptime, once again, it warmed up to be a nice day.

My cousin Marie has a little girl named Samantha. Her first Disney love was Cars. Marie made her a quilt in Cars fabric. Now she also loves The Little Mermaid. Marie gave me her leftover Cars fabric and I made this bag for Samantha. One side Little Mermaid and one side Cars. It doesn't look like it should be the same bag. When I gave it to her the other day after her and Anna's dance lesson, she grabbed it and said, "Look Mommy!" and was jumping around. So I think she likes it!

Twirling Dress

Well tonight was the preschool spring concert. We spend nearly an hour curling hair, trying on the dress and taking pictures. It did come out really pretty, didn't it? And Anna's hair curled so nicely today.

Anyway, Nathan did great at the concert but Anna started crying during song 3 of 5 and then screaming, "Mommy!" I rushed up there and she refused to go back on stage. It was sort of a flashback to the Christmas concert when she fell off the risers and started crying and refused to go back up. And I'm afraid it's foreshadowing of her dance recital next month. Except we had to buy a $35 costume for that one . . . At least Nathan likes to perform in front of people. Did this come from Mom or Dad? And which of us is responsible for Anna's shyness? This could be an argument for years to come.

Fun Stuff

I sell these coloring bags for kids at Creations Gallery. I have sold a couple recently, so I am making a few more for the store. Anyway, they're cute. Anna helped me pick the girl fabric, so we have some Disney princesses, butterflies, brown polka dots on pink and some Aviary by Three Sisters in the middle. It's lined with the pink polka dot fabric again. These are so fun because you can throw just about anything in them and it looks good. These two are big, so there's lots of room for coloring books and games. And there's a pocket on the back of each big enough to hold the whole crayon box.

The boy bag is a fun dinosaur print with a batik fish print for the pockets and handles. Todd always tells me not to get too cute on the boy ones. Nathan's is all John Deere but Anna's is as girly as can be. I'll have to put a picture of them on sometime. So, if you need a gift, head on down to Creations Gallery. (Or you could e-mail me and I'll send them to you.) Not to be a salesman or anything . . .

Pardon Me

Hi everyone. Here is the Pardon Bag. Cute, isn't it? Pretty big for a purse but small enough not to be awkward. It's 16 inches wide, 8 inches tall and 4 and a half inches deep. The straps are 17 inches. There is one back pocket and five inside pockets. This one is made out of leopard print and Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom fabric. The inside is also lined in Ginger Blossoms. I love the fabric covered button and the black sequins. This is a custom order, so I hope she likes it.

On another note, I had my first Names of Jesus class this morning. I have never paper pieced before. I thought we would make three or four blocks, but we only got through with one: Light of the World. Wow! That is tedious. The result is totally worth it though. However, when I came home and showed Todd what I had done, I think he thought I was crazy. Three and a half hours for a six inch block! It does sound kind of crazy actually.

A Little Peek

I've been working on some quilt blocks so I thought I would give you a glimpse of my project wall. Tomorrow I start a new quilt class. This one is also a Bible study and is called Praying the Names of Jesus. My friend, Kim Benson is teaching it. Kim is the most talented quilter I know. She likes to make little art quilts that are postcard sized and can actually be mailed out. They are little works of art. Anyway, I'm also working on Trudi Cobb's quilt called Blocks of Faith. It is all about the fruit of the spirit. It comes out in the Country Register every two months and so far there have been three blocks: Crown of Thorns and Next Door Neighbor. They are both Love blocks. And Joy is the cross. Trudi is a Kansas quilt designer and really talented. You can visit her website at http://www.trudigale.com/

I sewed the Joy block first (called Diamond on the cross) on Good Friday out of scraps from the girls' Easter dresses. It means a lot to me. Then I decided that I might as well use dress scraps for all the blocks. They're a little wild, but I really like how they're turning out. My plan is to do the Names of Jesus ones in similar scraps and put the whole thing together into one quilt. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Anyway, there's a picture of the girls and me on Easter and also the quilt blocks. And then one of Emilie and me that is just cute. My brother Wyatt took it. What a great photographer he is!

My Mom and I are taking a quilt class together called Spinning Scraps. Here's a picture of Mom's first three blocks. She was worried that they weren't the same size, but, Mom, they look perfect!

Faith, Hope and Love

Here's Anna and Emilie in some jumpers I made them. Anna is asking for a dress for her preschool program, so I better get busy on that.

Hi Mike (and Julie?). Thanks for subscribing! I have three new bags to show, named Faith, Hope and Love. The first bag is the Faith Bag. It is made out of fabric designed to promote Ovarian Cancer awareness. It has a cell phone pocket on the side and one inside pocket as well.

The Hope Bag is a gorgeous little thing. It is made out of black and white print with a little red stripe. I love the silver clasp. This bag has an outside back pocket and three inside pockets.

I have to say I LOVE the Love Bag. It is a large thing. If you're a person who has to take everything with you, this is the bag for you. It would hold all your cosmetics or you could even use it for a weekend getaway. It has expandable sides, five inside pockets, and a cell phone pocket on the outside. And sorry girls, this one is sold. But I can always make more. She is made out of beautiful PopGarden fabric by Heather Bailey. I think that's enough for today. More soon!

the Joy Bag

Okay. So this is my latest bag, sent to my Great Auntie Dru for her 84th birthday. I haven't heard if she likes it yet. She lives in the Oakland bay area so I thought it would be good for her to carry a few groceries in. The fabric is Chloe's Closet Fruit Salad in green from their Hello Betty line. I wanted it to be really square so I sewed a small line down each corner. The inside is Amy Butler's lotus blossoms.