Mary's Family Sweat Shop- Oops I Mean Craft Corner

So I finally got to the fabric store. Ben hates shopping there and I can't decide on a bunch of fabrics while I am trying to entertain him, so this time I had Grandma and Grandpa along, and it was a success. It took me over an hour to choose the right fabrics (I know, yuck). So once I got to the front, I told the girls what I was trying to make, and here was the huge issue: I could either get 14 yards and have plenty of fabric, but not in even lengths, or I could get 18 yards. With 18, I would be able to lay out the duvet cover in three equal length sections, but I would have way more fabric than I would need, and it would cost me an extra fifty bucks. I'm cheap. I ordered 14 and decided my husband and my mother in law would be able to work it out.

I wanted the duvet cover to be double sided, so that when you turn it down, you see the other, coordinating fabric. I was so nervous about this brown and blue floral pattern, but the light blue really highlights the colors that I like, and our drapes are the sage color (that appears grey-ish in this photo). The background is a bright yellowy cream, really cheery.

So we (ahem, they) had to work out a way to cut the fabric so that I could use the 14 yards, but in a way that would look intentional, of course. Well, apparently I created one of the world's biggest conundrums and it took them an extraordinary amount of time (and many sheets of St. Jude's notepad paper) to work it out. But in the end, I had instructions on how much to cut, in what dimensions and in what order and how to piece it together, AND saved fifty big ones. That one on the bottom right- so ugly. Scott was upset that what would work conveniently mathwise had to also pass aesthetics first. Bummer, right? Here are the final plans:

Okay, so sewing right along, and I go to pin the sides and...

 Ya. Oh well, I just went with it. Once I sewed it up, I tried it on the comforter just to make sure it was going to fit okay, and then trimmed off the excess. The unbalanced layout only shows on the underside, so no big deal. Plus, duvet covers are so forgiving because they are all... well, poofy.

Our last Pottery Barn duvet cover had ribbons on the inside to tie the corners in, and Scott really loved that. So, I ran upstairs and got some ribbon I had leftover from something and cut it into strips. It started fraying like crazy so I folded each in half and sewed a seam on there to keep the mess under control. Then I sewed two onto each corner. They work great! My perfect and beautiful PB duvet cover and euro shams are in the closet for now. Our cats actually pooped on them and I had to cut out the stain. I have big plans for a quilt in the future, but even if I had that now, kids would then have their way with it, so... it's being saved. This material is all 100% cotton (as opposed to, ahem, silk, so...) way easier to wash. Kids change your life. So do cats. Oh by the way, those naughty kitties are loving living outside, so that's a wonderful thing.

 Okay. So now for the button holes. I waited until Ben had gone to sleep because I was sooooo nervous. I sewed three sides up all the way and one side I... well first I forgot that I had to sew finished edges on the button-up side! So I ripped out a little of the stitching on each side and did that for both sides. Then I sewed in about six inches from each corner, just to make sure the comforter would stay inside the cover and not want to bulge out too much. Then I pinned where I wanted the buttons and practiced button holes over... and over. Until finally it was obvious that they weren't going to get any better and so I had to go for it. Here are the button hole settings on my machine, in red. Literally, you just lay down the button and mark with a pencil at both ends, then start with 1. Stitch the length of the button, then click over to 2, and do a couple stitches along the bottom (I did like 20, so... you may not need to be that enthused) and then click to 3, go back up the left side, and then 4 to finish the top. Two problems: going straight on steps 1 and 3. and trying not to miss the pencil mark in the light of the machine's lamp. Oops! Then when you're done, you use a seam ripper to cut a line up the fabric in the middle, to make the hole. Presto. And try not to sweat buckets of panic all over the fabric.

 Here is a button hole all finished up, and one of the buttons I used. I had six blue and cream buttons, all different kinds... so I used six buttons.

And here is the finished product, on the bed! I also have big plans for matching euro shams, when I get the energy, and hopefully a few throw pillows (even though Scott hates them.. maybe just one long one?). And I have frames leaning against the wall that are going to replace that poster, and hang above that shelf on the right.

Thanks to my mother in law for all her help! I would not have been able to power through this so fast without her. I am loving all these fun projects... My wallet is not. But, when all was said and done, the duvet cover cost me $150, in fabric. Not bad!

Mary's Saving Some Green Craft Corner

Hey guys! So I finally got around to covering our new (ish) dining room chairs. Hurray! I've seen my mom do this a million times but she used a staple gun, and after having the husband look around the garage, we couldn't find the one I had in college (oh the black hole of art supplies) so... we had to do a few different things.

This here is the fabric I picked out at Beverly's in town. I am so sorry about our awful carpet. We would fix it, but... as you know from this post, we don't want to throw any more money into this house. So. I am in a rug search.

Aaand the indents are from the high chair we used to use for Ben- they are totally temporary, I just took it off, and now of course, you can't see them at all since the re-covering.

So, as you can see in the photos below, the white canvas itself was actually a cover on the chair seat, held on by elastic. So I wrapped the thin cotton fabric around that cover and used a plain old stapler to temporarily attach it until we could screw it back onto the chair.

Here is our assembly line in action. Word to the wise- if you have an OCD husband like mine, make sure the fabric is the same direction on all the chairs.

Of course, until I broke the stapler. Oops! After that someone had the fine idea of using thumbtacks, and life went forward again. There you have it! Six reupholstered (ha) dining room chairs!

Darn Hooligans

Here's a Hooligan you might recognize. Sorted by number and barcode, totally normal right?

I find myself jamming to the radio in the car, before I realize that Ben is hopefully napping in the back seat and I should turn it down. I turn a corner to find four or five boys on skateboards, outside our cul de sac. They aren’t directly in my way, and they move easily. They are between thirteen and seventeen, I would guess.

I wish I had visuals for this little play-by-play but I thought it would be somewhat strange to hunt down a group of skater boys and randomly take photos of them. Also, chances of success are extremely low. Also… way creepy.

So my first response was like anybody’s over twenty. Pretty much: why are you out in the street, in my way, don’t you have somewhere to go, stuff like that. Then, I had some kind of epiphany. I stopped and actually listened to the script that my mind was running, and I argued with it. You know what I realized? I am truly glad that I live in a neighborhood where kids are gathering on my road to skateboard. It means that our streets are quiet and slow enough, that they feel safe there. I am not afraid of them, and they aren’t afraid of me.

Further than that, I tried to learn how to skateboard when I was eighteen. Tried being the key word there. Where did I go? The road in front of my house. Where I felt sure that people would drive slowly and I wouldn’t be harmed. Where should I have gone?

When my kids are teens, I don’t want them to feel their society turn on them suddenly. The fear and suspicion we show adolescents makes them feel alienated from the world, at a time when they most certainly need embracing. They don’t have homes of their own, not all of them have safe homes to go to, and teen “centers” are either a myth or a poorly funded sham, depending on where you live. In California, most household expenses require dual incomes, and they are expected to look after themselves, or at the least, keep to themselves. Is it any wonder that it’s a time of emotional confusion?

After this little talking-to I gave myself, I see kids skateboarding in the streets, and I think: curb appeal. I wave to them and smile. I want them to know how happy I am to see them there, enjoying the community around them that is just as much theirs as it is mine. If they feel accepted by strangers around them, as opposed to ostracized, perhaps it will give them a sense of kindness and loyalty toward their neighborhood.

 I hope neighbors will see Ben playing out in front of our house someday and smile.

Word To Yo Mutha

My Very First Mother’s Day was all that I had hoped it would be. On Saturday, Scott brought back a bouquet of flowers for the table and some chocolates, arranged in a heart.

Isn’t he cute and sappy? He knows I love it. On Sunday morning I got up early, feeling awake and energized, so I came downstairs, but Scott got up with Ben, and fed him breakfast. Then he made me a delicious breakfast sandwich, and he and the baby went out to get me some coffee. He even stopped by the store to get me my favorite freshly baked croissant, it was awesome. I took it easy all day and we went out to some wineries with the girls, it was cold and windy, but a gorgeous day.

Ben has been turning some serious corners lately. He is rocking forward but hasn’t tucked the legs under yet. He is obsessed with standing up but he hasn’t gotten the strength in his arms to pull up quite yet. That could change really fast. The other day I was imitating his screeching back to him and he tried to put his pacifier in my mouth! Haha he gets it.

Then yesterday we had an adventure with the tissue box.

I just needed a second of entertainment for him and thought he would pull out a few tissues and be done with it. Well, he pulled out a couple, and I picked one up and wiped some drool off his chin, and right after that, he picked up a tissue and wiped my pant leg! The kid is scaring me with his level of awareness right now. After that, I turned the box over so that he wouldn’t pull any more out, and this is what he did:

The kid is way ahead of me. What am I gonna do?

Party in the S.L.O. Grad School Edition

I love people, and love meeting new ones, but I especially love meeting women. Amid all of the talk of catfights and backstabbing that goes on in reality television, I find women to be the opposite. Whether I meet them through friends, or through parenting groups, they feel immediately inclusive and personal. Even if they don't open up with every little thing, or necessarily try to pursue getting to know me, I feel a very strong comraderie. I don't even think all of us know the many details that make up our common existences, and what kind of trenches we are all in together. But I still feel them when I meet someone new, and it feels familiar. I love it.

This weekend Steph brought some friends up north to meet the family and get the Central Coast Experience firsthand. They were a hand-picked crew, and we loved each and every one. Seeing Nanny Snuffy is always a special occasion, we are super close. But this weekend was extra fun. A nod back to earlier years, when we would have a few drinks with some of her college friends, or she would show up late on a Sunday looking a little worse for wear. Add in some fresh stories, good food, touristy activities and fits of hilarity and you have a rockin' weekend.

Amy got to work cooking us her famous nachos, with her own cast-iron skillet. Here she is contemplating the tools provided. Pretty much if you will cook for me I am endeared to you immediately.

This is her meticulous process in action.

The next day we had a nice long, lazy morning before heading to the Cliffs for lunch. Ya, this photo is a bit much, but still. The too-good-to-be-true is the real thing when you are at the Cliffs Resort. It makes me feel like I am on an expensive vacation when I really just drove ten minutes up the road to have some sweet potato fries.

I'm kind of feeling badly for not taking a photo of the gorgeous blue view that we were all looking at. If you really want a peek, you can see it in this post.

I was really looking forward to getting a chance to get to know Steph's friends from her Sociology cohort, she has been talking about them nonstop all year, so to place people with jokes and stories was a big draw for me, but I really didn't expect that underlayer of serious bonding that happened. What an awesome bonus. I really feel close to them and hope they will be back soon. Oh, and the magic of Facebook in the meantime.

Bonding with women can feel like a scary leap for some. It's hard to trust each other when every corner of media real estate is reporting on boyfriend "stealing", bullying, and gossiping. You may be sure that it will happen to you, and it might. But the joy of girlfriends is an enormous gift, no matter how many times you need to start again, no matter how late in life a new friendship begins. There is just something special about it. As Inara said on Firefly, "One cannot always be oneself in the company of men.” Not always, not always. But you can see in this last photo, those two are certainly being themselves. And I just drank it up like a martini.

Cheers!

Life is One Grand Sweet Song

 And Maritza Spieller was onstage yesterday, playing her part. One of my favorite aspects of living near a college is the culture you can absorb. The best and the brightest are striving to achieve the most that they can in their chosen arenas and there are so many opportunities to sit and watch them shine. In a word: enriching.

 Pizza (rhymes with Maritza, natch) is one of our good friends, and she was giving the exit performance of her college career, a goodbye concert to her colleagues, professors and friends. It was beautiful to be there and we were so glad we showed up alongside so many others to support her. There was some fear that there wouldn't be enough room for all who wanted to watch her perform one last time.

 This makes it look like we brought those flowers. We did not. Since having a child I am that person again: tripping over my own feet to try and not make a social gaffe around every corner. Flowers? Ugh, that would have been a good idea!

 The loving details were so touching. Her family put so much into this celebration of her achievements. We were able to just show up and drink it in.

 Cheesecake bars. They will change your life.

 How cute are the miniature M&M trombones??

Look at Maritza's adorable purple details. Fantastic. We love you Pizza, and we were so proud to be there. Thank you for playing for us!

First Impressions... by Ben

I thought that I would share my extensive knowledge about endearing oneself to others with all of you out there in the internet. If you are out there, lonely, and hoping to find just one friend who will understand how special and amazing you really are, look no further. I have found that this quite simple approach works on people and animals alike. In no time they are laughing, hugging and kissing you. Works every time.

Psssst. Got a new camera!