Aunt Kathy Went to Eagle

Last week I sent a package to my nieces and nephews.  I got to visit them in December.  I took a few pictures like I always do, but this time I decided to do something with them.  I had such a great time with them and wanted them to know all the fun memories that I made with them.  So, instead of making myself a few scrapbook pages stuffing the photos in a box, I made them a book.

I know, I should've used a Cheerios cereal box but this one was so fun and colorful.  Don't panic all you acid-free archiving scrappers.  I'm a bit OCD about that too, but it's only the cover.

It always makes me laugh to have a long list of things done by the same person.  I did that in a tortilla making video once upon a time.  I even included 'stunt hands' in the list, which were mine of course!  But, I digress.

Hubs gave me a bookbinding kit for Christmas.  I used the instructions and tools from the kit to create this single sheet Coptic binding on this book.  This binding is useful when you have single sheets and you want them to lay flat when the book is open.

Here's a close up of the exposed braided Coptic binding stitch.  Cool, right?

Here's what the stitching looks like on each page.  I glued a strip of cereal box onto each page for extra durability and for the fun factor.  I was considering making each page out of cereal box, but that would've made it just a tad too busy and would've messed up the acid 'freeness' of the book.  See, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to that!

Whilst in Eagle, we spent way too much time playing around with Photo Booth on my laptop.  It was hilarious!

Today's Forecast

Today will be foggy with a chance of half-square triangles.

Spain

My quilt is 'famous' in Spain.  Look!

Olivia's Sweater

My knitting projects are anchors to my memories.  There are some projects that take me right back to a specific time and place.  Some of them bring back emotions and feelings.  This is one of those sweaters.  It's odd, but it brings back feelings of love and hope and healing.

We were waiting for a baby to be born.  We were going to call her Maya.  We had met with the birth mom a couple of times and seemed to hit it off.  We had a few baby essentials ready to go in our one-bedroom apartment, the biggest being a cleaned up crib that had already cradled the three boys of our friends.  We hadn't committed to buying too many things - still not believing that we could finally be parents after such a long and frustrating journey.

About a week before Maya's due date, we received the unthinkable news that the birth mom had backed out.  Of course, we were devastated.  That coming weekend (I think it was the very weekend that Maya was due), my work colleagues would all be off chaperoning the French trip to Quebec.  They found out about our adoption disaster and in a matter of days, maybe hours, quickly arranged for hubs and I to go on the trip with them.  They booked us a room at the amazing hotel where everyone got to stay and they arranged for a sub to cover my classes.

I can never go anywhere without a knitting project, so I ran to the knit shop and quickly purchased this bright green yarn.  Although green is my favorite color, the choice in brightness was a bit out of character.  I remember knitting on the 8-hour bus ride to and from Quebec.  I don't remember if I chatted with hubs or students or colleagues.  I don't remember what I thought about.  I just remember knitting on that bus ride.  It was just what I needed - to get away and to get lost in my knitting.

I held onto that sweater for years, not because I couldn't part with it but because I was waiting to find the perfect recipient for it.  When I've come across the sweater over the years, it has brought a smile to my face.  It brings back feelings of love and hope and healing.  For nine years, almost to the month, it has been known as Maya's sweater - even though I knew Maya was never going to wear it.

And now I want it go on record that this is Olivia's sweater.  Olivia was adopted by Shannon and Ryan less than a year ago.  Shannon is one of those people who comes into your life for a brief moment, but stays in your heart for a lifetime.  I was delighted to hear that she and Ryan had finally become a family of three.  And I was so happy to send that special sweater off to someone special.  

Anna's Quilt

Pinwheel quilts are fun to make.  I just sent this one to Anna, my niece who's almost two years old now.  For some mysterious reason I already had all of these feminine girly pastel fabrics in my stash.  I really have an aversion to pastel colors, especially pink.  But, I'm pretty much in love with this quilt, especially when I imagine Anna dragging it around the house with her.  I hope that when it's all tattered with love, I can take it back and convert it into a stuffed animal or something.  That goes for all of the other baby quilts that I've sent out recently.

I took a 'Hail Mary' shot outside on my deck.  My toes are in all the shots and I decided to leave them.  So why is it that beat up chippy furniture looks cool and trendy, but beat up chippy decks just look old and beat up?

Ever since I made this quilt, I have felt compelled to name and label every quilt.  I should've made the pinwheel the darker color and the border the light green color.  I actually considered taking the label off and redoing it, after having sewn it onto the quilt.  But I didn't.  I'm kind of glad that my perfectionist tendencies are lessening as the years go by.  It's a relief actually.