T-Shirt Quilt

The idea to make a t-shirt quilt came from seeing how fabulous my friend Erika's was. So I read her blog post about it and made one.  I got my instructions from Erika and from other blog tutorials.
Her Lazy Gal postings were helpful, especially the  binding  tutorial at the end. I spent five hours binding it yesterday but watched Spiderman with the boys while doing it.

I loved making it but I hated cutting up my Dale Hollow Lake tee and t-shirts from when the boys were toddlers. I still have them obviously, so need to stop being a sentimental fool.

The whole process took me 3 weeks and cost about $100 for all the materials: cutting board, cutting roller knife, interface, cotton batting, binding fabric, flannel fabric for backing, quilt basting spray, and thread.  I also cheated and bought a couple of extra tees from the thrift shop, namely John Cena (to satisfy the boy's WWE obsession), Black Sabbath (for Craig) and one that says "Take me to bed or lose me forever". It's a cheesy line from Top Gun but Craig has said it to me a lot over the years.

I sewed two appliqués - one was a VW Bug from a t-shirt of Danny's that was too small to be a stand-alone square and I chopped up two "66" numbers from an old sweatshirt to add onto a blue square. The 66 represents the only time England has won the World Cup.

It was hard work, I'm not going to lie. It took effort and concentration and I did it as best as I could as I want it to last forever. It took a lot of patience and I learned A LOT of sewing machine skills.

So there you are. I think it's the best thing I've ever made. Now I just need it to get cold enough to use it.

My favorite square: Jack's blue onesie (that he wore home from the hospital) and his toddler t-shirt

Love this shot. Ignore scratched leather on chair caused by nuisance dog.

Red flannel backing and polka dot binding

So many memories are tied up in these t-shirts of ours

The Daniel seal of approval

My Best Mate Bridget

I am slowly but surely turning into the Dowager of Grantham. Next weekend me and Maureen are going to a Saturday morning gardening class at a local church to learn about roses and vegetables. I feel like I should take a tray of fairy cakes with me and maybe some knitting. Let the good times roll! In other "I'm getting old before my time" news, I have been off the wine now for nearly a month and I've started making quilts. If I'm not careful it won't be long before I'm carrying my cat in my handbag and pulling my hankie out of my bra.

To remind myself that I am in fact still a young woman, I have started listening to the audio book of the 3rd installment of Bridget Jones's Diary while I am in my car. I love Bridget. I know she's a made-up person but I can't separate the book character from Renee Zellweger and I do think of her as a friend. I love that, even at 50 now,  she drinks and swears too much and does dizzy things and blurts out inappropriate nonsense to all around her, including her children.  In this third book she's actually making me feel like a much better mum than I thought I was. At least I wash mine after a bout of sickness and diarrhea. But what I'm loving about the book is that its about a 50-year old thinking about herself, having a life outside of being a mum and wife. She still has mates, still gossips and flirts and tries to do her best to be sexy. I need to do those things. Not that I don't enjoy doing charity work or helping out the PTA but I wouldn't add the word "sexy" or "hilarious" to either of those. So long live Bridget! And when the movie comes out I'm going on a girl's night out, sans cat in handbag.

Danielisms

Daniel quotes of the week

Can I watch Fred (a program on tv) because he's annoyingly awesome.

My wrestling team is called the WWE Fruities.

How did my soccer team get beat by 3 year olds? (actually they were also five, it's just that he's super tall).

That tshirt isn't frayed around the neck, I chewed it. Yep I chewed it. Sorry.

I want to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day until I die.

Daniel don't put your head in the ..... oh, never mind

Feeling Melancholy

It's been weird week. Not weird in an extraordinary or good way, but a week of feeling like things aren't right with the world. I feel off.

It's probably due to my contact lens prescription being wrong. I have to struggle through until they swap them out next Wednesday but feeling like I'm seeing the world through the bottom of an old milk bottle doesn't help this feeling of not being right.

I've had good news this week too. My kids got into the latchkey program at the local school, I'm still motivated to stay off the wine and I'm slowly plugging along on house projects. We're even getting our much coveted porch built! And we're all fine - healthy and happy.

So what is this feeling? Could it be connected to 9/11? Or is the solar storm causing havoc with my hormones? Am I fed-up about my nephew having some trouble lately and my dear friend being sad because she's lonely? Yes to both of those.

And today I got a horrible email off a man that didn't like a newspaper article that I had written, so that hasn't helped matters. He got the wrong end of the stick but instead of asking me about it he went on a tirade and was actually quite nasty and hurtful. That bothers me, how mean people can be from the comfort of their computer chairs.

I miss Linda. I miss my mum & Tom. I miss Leanne. I don't miss wine but maybe that's the thing that's making me feel weird. Round about now I'd have a merry glow about me and I'd be oblivious to all theses feelings of melancholy.

Let's hope tomorrow is better.

Kitchen Renovation 2014: Before Pictures

It's been a long time since we renovated the kitchen. I hate it now as it seems so dark and pokey.  In hindsight we shouldn't have stained the cabinets cherry and we have so.much.clutter. And the cupboards aren't organized. So anyway, here's a few "before" pictures. I'm excited to get stuck in and make some changes!

I do wish school would stop sending important papers home

Dark dark dark...

Hate the cabinet and cart - want a pantry and work space!

I love my window seat but it's shabby

A Burst of Energy

This week I have been prooooductive!

We applied for citizenship
Painted the basement steps
Sorted out laundry room and basement
Started renovating the kitchen
Caught up on housework
Called people
Facetimed friends
Got a lot of stuff done at work

Is there a chance that this burst of energy has come from me not drinking wine and trying to get 8 hours of sleep every night this week? I think I know the answer to that. But the 4 cups of coffee a day probably helped too.

August 1-Second-a-Day

It's time for August's 1-Second-a-Day video!

May was a great month
June was too
July was hard to beat

But August might just be our favorite so far as it stars my mum & Tom & Leanne....

Music picked by Craig: "Long-legged guitar picking man" by June Carter & Johnny Cash

Gettysburg with Fresh Eyes

I wish I had watched the film "Gettysburg" before we went to Gettysburg. Actually, I'm not sure it was a film. At over 6 hours long it has to have been a TV mini-series right? In 1993 we were too busy watching X Files and dancing to "What is Love" to sit in a cinema for 6 hours.

When we went to Gettysburg a few weeks ago we got the CD and did the audio tour in our car, where it said things like "This is stop number 15. Pickett's charge took place here and 6,000 men of x x x x x battalions lost their lives".  I was completely lost by the whole thing - too much military talk and not enough human stories to keep me engaged.

Now I really want to go back to stop 15 and I want to get out of my car and walk the field of Pickett's Charge and I want to sit for a moment and touch the earth and have a little cry. I want to visit the Virginia memorial over by the trees and I want to climb the fence and the wall and sit down where General Armistead took his last breath.  I want to stand at Little Round Top and pay my respects to Captain Chamberlain.

I think another visit is in order.

Linda's Last Day

Today is Linda's last day with us. She's been with us for 6 and a half years and helped raise my boys and I'm going to miss her madly. I don't even know where to start, singing her praises. She's so kind, so very very kind. Never a yell, a screech, a bad word to the boys. She's good to her very core.  The boys adore her of course. Daniel calls her his best friend. And rightly so since she's been his rock his whole life (she's taken care of him since he was 6 weeks old).

She's dealt with tantrums and meltdowns and rambunctious, sometimes obnoxious behavior with calmness and kindness, always. In the past I have sometimes stood back and watched her in awe, amazed by her calm words when I'd have been screaming and losing my mind.

Next week we start a new era of having a teenager babysit after school. The teenager is a friend of a friend and is a stranger to me right now. One of Jack's friends who knows her told me she shouts a lot. Great. That makes me feel like crying. How can we leave our most precious things in the world with anybody but Linda?

Danny's First Full Day

Today was Daniel's first full day in Kindergarten.Since he had such a rough time going last week we decided not to even mention it over the weekend, hoping that by not bringing attention to it he wouldn't get himself worked up into a frenzy. Not a word was uttered about school, not a mention was made when we packed his lunch and set out his school bag.

This morning Jack helped him get ready and I could hear his fear building up but I ignored it. He asked if I would go with him, then told me he wanted to walk behind my legs. By the time we got to the playground his nerve had completely gone and he crouched around the corner, huddled up and looking terrified. My heart just aches to see him like that & no amount of cajoling from me or Jack would get him in that playground.

He didn't cry when we all walked to his classroom but as soon as we entered he looked terrified and the tears came. All the kids sat down but he wouldn't. The teacher told me to leave, so I did. I don't know why I listened to her because I shouldn't have. I had promised him I'd stay with him until he was comfortable and I didn't even say goodbye. Daniel is very perceptive and very precise about these things. If I promise him something I better keep my word and I know that after a short while he would have been okay so why didn't I just hang out with him for half an hour?

After a short span listening to a new parent meeting I went back to his classroom and found him crouched in the corner, crying inconsolably. The Principal was with him and again told me to leave. I said no. I crouched down and whispered to him "I'm really sorry I left you without saying goodbye, but this is something you have to do on your own. Be brave. I promise that you will love your school once you get over this fear. Try and have some fun (in hindsight that what a dumbass thing to say to someone crippled with fear but hey I'm trying) and remember that I love you".  Or something like that. I don't think he even heard me he was so wrapped up in anxiety. Again I left and a friend who had seen this all happen took me in her arms and let me have a little cry.

As I was leaving the building I saw him walking the halls with the Principal. An hour later she called me on my cell phone and told me that she had bribed him with toys, and was that ok? She plans to do that each morning. She gave him a personal tour of the school and has taken him under her wing. I cried again, both out of sadness for him, and because she was so kind, so lovely with how she handled it.

He called me when he got home at 3.30pm. He said he loved it. He played tag with some friends, he saw his brother (he was very excited about that), and he said the orange I put in his lunch box tasted yucky and it was disgusting. I asked if he was okay when I left and he said Oh yeah, A-Okay!  What a relief.

I know I'm not the first parent to be upset the first day or kindergarten and I know some might say I'm being silly or over protective. But if just one teeny-tiny thing I can do makes him feel better about school then it's worth it.

Daniel's Firsts: Kindergarten & Soccer

It's been a week on firsts for Daniel which I knew would be difficult. It's takes him a little while to warm up to things and sometimes the lead up to the event is traumatic for everyone involved. I don't handle it too well, which doesn't help. Let's just say it's not a walk in the park for all involved.

The most important thing about both of these new things is that he eventually did try them and the next time he does them I think he''ll be okay. His first soccer practice on Wednesday and his kindergarten evaluation today started in hysteria but ended with him saying with some level of confidence that he'll be okay from now on. Both his soccer coach and his kindergarten teacher are young women who reek of kindness and patience. Both of them connected with him, were kind to him and didn't force or bully him. Both stood back and let him come out of his shell, slowly but surely. How lucky we are to have these two women in his life for the next year.

Craig told me that he did really well during his evaluation today (I was in a meeting at work). He breezed through his math and other short tests and by the end of it he was relaxed and even being a little assertive. He asked his teacher to refer to him as Daniel and not Danny, since Daniel is his name.  I'm not surprised he did well in the evaluation because he is incredibly smart and perceptive, noticing things that most people don't. I think that's what frustrates me sometimes, that he's so clever and funny and talented but his lack of confidence doesn't let it shine through. Being a type-a person I don't totally understand that personality but I'm trying.

Anyway, this is going to be a great year for Daniel. I can't wait to write about his journey at school and in sports. I can't wait to see him make new friends, try new things, and build his confidence. It sounds cliched but it really isn't - these things are very real for both him and me and a long time coming. Go get 'em tiger!

First Soccer Team: The Bulldogs

Kindergarten Evaluation