I hate today

This is my cry baby moment so if you don't want to hear it just keep going, nothing to see here.

Today is my least favorite day of the whole year. You see even though I am a stay at home mom, I am not very good at it. My children do not listen to me. For me to get my house clean I have to yell like a crazy woman, in fact that is what I always say, "Will you just do it, so I don't have to yell like a crazy woman."

Today is always the deal breaker, you see the day before Mother's day this is what happens.

1- My husband is out of town, for years (seven) my husband had a job where he traveled, sometimes he was gone for six to eight weeks at a time and this meant that he was always gone on this day. Sure enough par for the course he is gone today.

2- He always comes home on Sunday for Mother's day which means that the house needs to be cleaned today. All the fun we have been having needs to be put away and cleaned up. Now enter the crazy lady, I will start out asking nice. "Can you please clean up this mess." Then I will start cleaning my share of the mess and since I have left the room the children will go back to what ever they are doing because I am not there hovering over them.

I will come back to said room, to find said child looking at herself in the mirror instead of doing the work. and say again "Will you please just do it, PLEASE. I did not make this mess, please just get it done so we no longer have to have this conversation." I am sure you are now guessing (maybe because you have these same kind of children at your house) that yeah, they still don't do it.

3- At some point in the fight to get the room clean I will say something like this "It is Mother's day so can you please just for today do it because I asked." At which point they will look at  me confused and say "No it is tomorrow" I will then respond "I realise that it is tomorrow, but for your gift to me can you please listen to me today and just GET THE ROOM CLEAN." Now one of two things might just happen 1. they will look at me say they are going to do it, and not or 2. they will look at me maybe get a little teary and say they are going to do it until they get distracted be some shiny object and get back to doing nothing.

4- By now it is two hours later and yep you guessed it my children have shown their undying love and affection for their mother by DOING NOTHING. Now this is when it gets ugly because at some point in all the crazy I will end up screaming and yelling breaking out into the ugly cry and saying "It is Mother's day please JUST DO IT" I am sure that all my neighbors can attest to this fact because I am pretty sure that they can all hear me loosing my mind.

5- It is at this point it hits me I am a looser of a mother. I am sure if I had done some thing different when they were little maybe they would listen and just do it. Or if I were one of those mother's that has every minute of the day organised then they would know it is time to just do it. Or if I had put the fear of God into them at some point so that they were afraid of me they would just do it.

But no, I decided when Baubi was a baby that I didn't want to break her like a horse and get her listen to me. I didn't want to break her spirit just so I could have a clean house and obedient child. When Gowyn was a baby girl and didn't talk and had the sweetest little countenance how could I put the fear into that, and keep her sweet. If you knew Lala you would instantly love her because she has that personality that everyone just wants to be her friend. Baby sister at this point is just a lost cause she will tell me while I am in the middle of trying to get her to do something "Mom, Mom, Mom" me "Baby sister if you want to go to the gas station this room needs to be cleaned" her "Mom it is OK" me "No it is not your pull up is still on the floor" Her "Mom, Mom, Mom it is cleaned up" me "No it is not" she will then pick up said sticky pull up and throw it away and proclaim the room is clean, forget all the clothes dolls and other paraphernalia on the floor.

6- At some point today Good Looking is going to call and see what is going on, and I will end up in tears of frustration telling him that they just won't listen, and it has been going on all day. He will then get the oldest on the phone and put the fear in her and have her take over the girls and get it done.

7- I will go to bed feeling like a complete failure only to wake up in the morning to tales of wonderful mothers who saved their children, who never yell, who wake up at five in the morning to make cinnamon rolls for their children for breakfast. The mother's who were so good at it had twelve more, or were so good at it took in foster children. Those mother's who keep a clean house who's children get straight A's while competing in sports and dance. Who inspired their children to change the world, and I can't even get mine to clean their room or put away their clothes.

It will then hit me that is why my own mom never went to church on Mother's day. Who wants to stand up in front of the whole church to get a flower when you are feeling like a failure the entire time. Just so you know my mom was not a failure she was amazing, but just couldn't see it at the time. So until that day happens to me and I look back at my girls and think, hey look at that, I guess I did do a pretty good job after all. Until that day in say twenty to twenty five years, I will hate this day.

Just a little side note to this rant, they are doing OK so far. Maybe because they are getting older, or maybe because the day is still young. 

Rainbow Day Part Two

Sunday was my niece's rainbow birthday party.

 I finally gave her her rainbow quilt.

I was so excited to see her reaction.

I had got it back from the quilter on Tuesday.

Yes I was still binding it on the way there.

Here it is all done.

Front

Back

Quilting, the pattern is topsey turvey.

I even did Rainbow binding

Just for fun let's look at my corners. They actually turned out perfect.

Before presents, cake and ice cream.

Instead of cake we had donuts.

My sister in law made them rainbow donuts

This is Sisi's chocolate with extra special candles

They burn the color of the candle,

rainbow fire on the rainbow candles,

for the rainbow party,

for the rainbow girl,

 it is too much, no not really. Just a little FYI I really like matching.

look at her cute puffed up cheeks.

I folded the quilt so that only the back was showing she was excited about the binding,

then we showed her the front and she lost her mind.

She kept on fluffing it, throwing it in the air.

Then she threw it on the floor head first.

Then she put all her presents on it, and hugged it some more.

This was about ten minutes later she was still so excited.

Look at her little arms jumping up and down

Hooray for RAINBOWS!

Thanks for letting us come play with you Sisi, I hope you have fun being

FOUR!

In other news...

This was Baby Sister on the way home, she always falls asleep like this,

with her hands in her lap and her feet crossed.

Look at her face she looks like she is faking, nope she is really asleep

 

Lala on the other hand totally asleep, with her head back and mouth open,

 there is no denying that she is asleep.

I like how she uses her seat belt as a pillow.

(I didn't edit any of these pictures they are all straight out of the camera sorry for any poor quality)

Rainbow Day Part One

Sunday was Rainbow Day.

It was our cousin Sisi's birthday party.

You may remember that she loves rainbows, to the point of obsession.

Baby Sister was invited to her friends party on Saturday, I was trying to make her a bag.

(I told my sister in law that I was going to reuse the boarder to line a bag for her)

Time got away from me,

I guess I wasn't as amazing as I thought and ran out of time.

So I finished it for Sunday and the family party.

Sisi has a collection of bright colored rags that she likes to play with.

She doesn't clean with them they are just for playing with.

I thought that a ticker tape bag would be a cute way of symbolising her special rags.

Here is the inside with the rainbow fabric,

and a cute little green pocket.

Here are the straps,

 I figured if I was making a scrappy bag I should continue the theme with the straps.

I like the rainbow print on the shoulder how it switches direction. It was a mistake they were suppose to be the same,

I love it when mistakes make it better.

Here is a close up with this super cute I-spy center square.

Here is the back with this friendly sunshine.

 I love how it turned out and Sisi loves it, so that is all that matters.

I will be back later with the rest of the days festivities

Gowyn's Dress

My second daughter, who we call Gowyn has been in love with Cinderella since she was 3 1/2.

She loved Pooh Bear when she was a baby and then when she was three,

she saw Cinderella and she was done for.

She is now 10, one would think that she would be over it by now, but no.

Her favorite color is blue with green and purple as alternates, because they have blue in them.



Anything that is clear is called glass slipper.

Clear picnic silver wear is called glass slipper fork.

This is the problem I faced.
  I went to the Joann's and once again they did not have color I had in mind,
 light blue satin.

I settled on periwinkle, I know what you are thinking,

it is close to blue almost purple she should be OK with that.

If you knew her, you would know this just will not due.

When I started cleaning my sewing room I found left over satin from when she was four and she was Cinderella in her blue ballgown.

That is when I decided to use that instead of the periwinkle.
Don't worry the lime green and periwinkle are going to a new home here shortly.

 So with out further ado, or confusion I give you Gowyn's blue dress.

It hits her just below her knee.

Even though it has a bow in the back I still think it is a good big girl dress.

When I said the dresses were wearable but not done Gowyn's dress didn't have these flowers yet.

I really think they make the dress.

Look how cute they are with the beads in the center.

The beads were my grandmothers, even though they are just plastic beads

they are special because they are hers.

For good measure glass slipper buttons.

I sewed a petty skirt in it to poof a little and it is perfect.

I will be back with the tute on those flowers I promise.

I was thinking of calling this Ring Around the Rosies Dress
What do you think?

Field of Poppies Dress

I am in  hurry to get my sister in law from the airport.

She is coming in town for woman's conference, and I know that once her family gets a hold of her they are not going to let her go, so I am going to kidnap her at the airport and take her to lunch with my sisters.

I said I would post this today and so I am doing it really quick so wish me luck.

At the end of February Joann had it's Casa collection on sale so I went to get the fabric for the girls dresses.

They did not have orange.

This may seam strange to some of you that I would want orange of an Easter dress, but it is Baby Sister's favorite color.

I was at a loss as what to do so I went with pale green, I knew this would be a problem, but really I had no choice in the matter.

Than two weeks ago Joann was having another sale and this time it was a better deal.

I did not go there for satin but when I walked by I saw that they had spring colors, and not only did they have orange they also had coral.

 The orange was a bit harsh compared to the other girls colors so we went with coral.

I originally was going to make two tulip dresses but after the first one, there was no way I was going to do that again.

I used the same bodice pattern as Lala's, and did a simple two layered, petty skirt lined skirt.

The petty skirt is a light orange color because baby sister didn't believe me that coral was the same as orange, now when it is turned inside out it looks like sherbet.

It was looking pretty simple so I added about forty flowers.

So here you have it for your viewing pleasure...

THE FIELD OF POPPIES DRESS

How stinking cute is that?

Of course the big bow in the back.

Super cute tulip sleeve.

A close up of the flowers.

I attached each flower with these little beads.

Good looking said "Of course it needs beads, how else are the bees going to eat?"

He can be such a dork.

Well there you go I am now off to the airport, I hope you have a great day.

Also, are you going to need a tutorial on these flowers too?

Lala's Tulip Dress

Do you remember this picture?

It is from when I cleaned my sewing room.

I explained that the pile of satins was magically going to transform onto Easter dresses.

It did !

I stayed up until 2:45am and then got up at seven to make Baubi's skirt.

I wish I could say they were all finished, but like I just said...

I wish.

Gowyn's dress and Baubi's skirt still need flowers, so until then I will show you Lala's

I called it the tulip dress.

See how the skirt crosses in the front to look like an upside down tulip.

How can you have an Easter dress with out a big ol' bow in the back?

I can't, I have tried and it is just not the same.

I even made the sleeves look like tulips.

The finishing touch was this giant flower,

it looks more like a chrysanthemum than a tulip.

I figure a flower dress is a flower dress.

She was so excited about this dress she would come up and pet it.

She could hardly wait for Sunday to come.

We are going to take pictures of their bodies in their dresses later this week,

the weather is suppose to be better by then.

I will be sure to show you again, with an actual body inside.



Let me know if you want a tutorial on the flower.

Tomorrow Baby sister's dress.

This is so embarrassing

It is embarrassing but true, My sewing room is the biggest room in my house.

I do live in a small house and when we were finishing the basement it just made sense to put my sewing room in that space and then it turned out to be the biggest room in the house.

The embarrassing part is that I really don't appreciate it the way I should.

I mean if you had the biggest room in your house dedicated to your mess and you could just close the door on it and move on with your day, would it always be clean.

Your right you would love it more than I do , I mean I really love it don't get me wrong it just hasn't been that organised and I will be honest with you, I throw things in there and forget it.

So get ready to gasp and shriek in disgust, here it is for your viewing pleasure.

My messy sewing room.

I did not stage this

I just walked in and started clicking pictures.

I mean seriously I couldn't even shut that drawer before leaving my room.

Or put that broom to good use.

So this is what happened last week I couldn't take it any longer.

I took some funds and went to IKEA and bought some storage supplies and got to work.

TA DA!!

That door on the left goes to the cold storage.

I even mopped the floor.

Those little baskets on the end of the counter are holding my quilting scraps.

This is my new storage solution, these wire baskets are from the IKEA and they fit inside my cabinets.

Now my fabric is organized by holiday, fiber content and color.

I made bolts out of cardboard to hold anyhting over two yards.

I mean seriously what is cuter than that.

Look at that clean counter, These fabrics are for my current projects.

That pile of satin is going to magically turn into Easter dresses.

As I am typing this on Thursday morning one dress is done, three more to go.

Wish me luck, I am going to need it.

Here are my sewing machines, I am very spoiled I have industrial machines and that super sweet Bernina.

I got Good Looking to hang those thread holders.

There is still a lot of work to do. I haven't cleaned out my drawers and there are still things hiding there under the table, but compared to what it used to be I am thinking it is pretty amazing.

It even echos in there now.

There you go my little secret, well I better go I have three dresses to sew in the next two days.

Also my number one sewing tip that I always tell people is...

 that you need to have your own dedicated space for your sewing. Whether it be a card table in the corner of your family room or the biggest room in your house. I feel that if you don't have a dedicated space you will not get out your stuff to sew.

And if you can shut the door on it even better. :)