Halloween 2014

Once again, it is fall...my favorite time of the year! And in just a few weeks, it will be my favorite holiday... Halloween!!

This past summer my son turned seven, and I can almost tear up just thinking about what amazingly sweet, kind, smart, and fun boys they are growing up to be. I just keep commenting on how much they are maturing and becoming more and more independent. And this year, almost as if to prove my point, for the first time ever they have chosen two separate Halloween costumes. (Did you hear that? That was the sound of my heart breaking just a little.) Since they were babies, they've worn coordinating twins costumes, but this year, they are really letting their growing independent personalities and interests show! I'm simultaneously proud and a bit sad.

Before I reveal their costume choices for this year, let's take a moment to review their costumes from Halloweens past:

2007: Thing 1 and Thing 2

2008: Bert & Ernie

(Kinda plain...they wouldn't wear the wigs or face paint)

2009: Rock stars! (complete with black nail polish, eye liner, and pleather pants!!)

2010: Thomas the Tank Engineers

2011: Ketchup and mustard (what for Thing 1's picture on the French's Facbook page on Oct 30!)

2012: Red dog and rainbow dog*:

2013: R2-D2 and R2-Q5 (aka "the darkside R2")

And for this year, Halloween 2014....
Thing 1 chose to be... Sky Does Minecraft

And Thing 2 chose to be... Yoshi

 *While the dogs were not *my* favorite costumes, they boys LOVED them! In fact, they loved them so much, they STILL dress up in them at home and occasionally wear them out. In fact, red dog made an appearance last fall when the boys had to dress up as a book character for a class book report (Thing 1 went as Pete the Cat and Thing 2 went as Clifford the Big Red Dog)

And this past weekend, we took the kids to the local Zoo Boo and Thing 1 opted not to wear his Sky Does Minecraft costume because it would "be too hard to sit in" when riding the train, roller coaster, etc. So he opted to wear his Rainbow dog costume instead and keep the Sky Does Minecraft costume for Halloween night.

So it just goes to show...sometimes it's not the most complicated or "original" costumes that the kids love best. Sometimes it's just the simple ones that allow them to use their imaginations!!

Hope you have a Happy Halloween!

Another graduation quilt

This evening I finished another graduation quilt for a recent graduate. This young lady really liked the hand quilted designs on the blocks, and requested a black backing with white thread, so the designs would be more visible.

This quilt's finished size is 76w x 72h, so it's finished cost is $370 + $15 for an embroidered block with name and graduation date, for a total of $385.

Graduation Quilt

Tis graduation season!

I just finished one graduation quilt and have started working on another.

When I sent the picture of the finished quilt to the grad, she responded: "THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. It brings tears to my eyes seeing it and I cant wait to finally cuddle with it. What a special thing I will have for the rest of my life and I cannot thank you enough for all the time and effort you put into making it!"

This is why I love doing this particular craft so much. It really is a meaningful project that I do believe people will keep and cherish for their entire lives.

Front

Back

Since I often get asked about price, I'll start listing the prices of the quilts. This is a finished size of 76 x72 and so it's finished cost is $370.

UPDATE - Here is a picture with the new grad and her quilt:

Memory Quilt

When something unimaginable sad happens, like many people, I never know the right words to say. The experts say all you can really say is "I'm so sorry." But sometimes sorry, just doesn't feel like enough. So when one of Superman's co-workers lost her 6 month old baby to SIDS last summer, and I didn't know how to express just how I felt for that mother, that father, and their darling baby... I offered to make a memory quilt from his baby clothes. This was the most touching sewing project I've ever worked on. I hope I never ever have to make another one.

Update: Here is a picture of Cooper's newborn baby sister, his mom's Rainbow Baby, laying on his quilt.

Note: Through this story, I have learned that siblings born after a SIDS loss are usually called "Rainbow babies." I love this term because it means: a beautiful and bright rainbow follows a storm and gives hope of things getting better. Storm-clouds might still be overhead as the family continue to cope with the loss, but something colorful and bright has emerged from the darkness and misery.

Disney 2014

This was the first time in 7 years of marriage, and the first time in my sons' lives, that we spent Christmas at home! It was wonderful for my boys to wake up in their own beds and come out to our own living room and open presents around our own tree!

However, a few days after my parents and brother left to go home, I also experienced my first bout of post-holiday sadness. I think I usually don't feel this, because at the end of a vacation I'm usually so anxious to get home to my own creature comforts, that that wins out over any potential sadness of the trip ending. But this time I just had to sit and stew about how sad I was for my family to leave, and I literally spent the day in bed alternating between crying and sleeping.

My husband, who gets this often, suggested that I focus on the next big thing in our lives...so I took his advice! And to battle my sadness, I started thinking about our Walt Disney World Vacation that is 4 months and 23 days away!



When my family went to Disney last year, I made us all matching tshirts. And I liked it so much (not only is it cute, but it was also very helpful when a kid wandered off, because people could identify us as a group and say "he went that way!"), so I am making tshirts for all four days for our entire family!

The day we go to Magic Kingdom, we will wear traditional matching Mickey/Minnie heads (will be done using applique and embroidery):

The day we go to Epcot, we will wear colored tees with different character silhouettes (will be done using the freezer paper method):

For Animal Kingdom, I originally proposed tie-dye tees with Mickey heads, but I was overruled by my teenage/early 20s nephews. So instead, we are doing black shirts with animal fabric Mickey heads.

And the day we go to Hollywood Studios, we will wear Star Wars inspired tees (my favorite!), using the good old fashioned iron transfer method: