Craft Progress?

Oh, how I want this post to be about crafting. Because today was my day off and I had illusions of making and creating and taking pretty pictures and being in that zone. That one of a two hour nap, do the stuff I love and maybe squeeze in my Shred 20 minutes of Hell. You know, the way it was.

Some of that happened. We had some cutting of squares, we had some fun cleaning out the toy room as Mama gleefully discarded tinkering little bits of toys, we had some pictures.

Part of it was because I was willfully ignoring the boys as they gleefully tore their room apart at nap time. Because we moved to big boy toddler type beds last night. On my day off, I had the gleeful time of dealing with what nap time looks like to two boys that learned freedom. Arggg. It entailed not a minute of sleep.

So, let us ignore all that and I will make this post about things I have done in my 'spare' time. And it is meager and undone but I want to see it in pictures here to motivate me and reassure me that though I am deep in throes of behavior that feel like it might never end, it will end and I will still be.

By the way, it is silly to think that just because your boys slept through the night (not in their beds but on the floor mattress set between their beds to cushion falls since it was their first night without cribs but they were happy there and only once did I have to place Mace back on the mattress at 3 a.m, and give Owie his dot at 5 a.m. and I had to wake them up)...that they would nap in their 'not' cribs (on my day off) for the first time. Tim :: tag, you're it.

On to craft scenes that make me feel happy...

Alabama Stitch Skirt

Labor of love, this one. I have been on this one since early March, piecing and stitching and cutting and loving. Because you have to have love to invest this much time into a t-shirt skirt. I slipped it on the other day and though it is unfinished I felt fabulous. Pictures to come of it all done.


This is a little bit that I have wanted to get my hands knitting forever. Thanks to a good friend and permission, we have Spherey in the works for one of my 42 pregnant friends.

This little buddy is sitting on cellophane as I am planning on stuffing his limb extensions with the crinkly stuff. I recall Owie being obsessed with a snake toy when just little and wee, crunching the texture and listening to the sound as a baby. And I remember my delight at watching the realization dawn that he was hearing something that made him feel...I still wonder what he felt. Good or bad, stimulated for sure. And now I can pass it on.

And then there is this. The simplest of accomplishments. Now.

My first machine buttonholes. I dreamed about it doing it. I swear. There was this piece that came with my machine that said it was a buttonhole attachment. And that it would make buttonholes. But, I made this skirt some time ago and tried it on and ix-nayed it for some reason. Then I found it this week and realized all it needed was edges hemmed and some groovy antiqued buttons.

Maybe my initial reticence was due to the fact that I made a skirt out of shirtings. I don't know. But this week I knew I was ready to tackle the buttonholer issue.

And lo and behold, it took two minutes of booklet reading and half a minute per buttonhole and ta-da. Done.

Truth? The buttonholes are there, but not the buttons or snaps to hold the other side. It will come to pass. Just like the insane antics of toddlers that are kicking my ass. And then I will flaunt my hand stitched skirt or my button-holed beaut as I chase two absolutely off their rocker boys around and try to convince them that it is not appropriate to place pennies in their butt cheeks, walk around and tell Mama "I cook Money". Ah, good times.

But I did cut the majority of pieces for their big boy quilts to go with their big boy beds. Which they were so excited about when I showed them the fabric. Which made me happy. Even if they really had no idea what I was talking about. But I choose to believe they do.