Disneyland and a sneak peek!

My family has had a longstanding love of all things Disney. I wouldn't say we were "Over the Top" Fans...but we have spent a LOT of time there over the years. In fact, when my sister, Kim, was attending UC Irvine we had season passes.

This year for Christmas I decided to buy Tyler tickets to Disneyland and I am soooo glad I did because I saw a lot of this: That look of wonder is worth every penny scrimped and saved for the tickets. As he grows older, he is wowed by different things, but Disneyland has the ability to wow people of all generations.

One interesting turn of events for this Disney adventure was that originally the plan was for my whole family to go--but then Dad had foot surgery less than a week before we were scheduled to go and wasn't able to make it. Kim decided to stay home to help him out, but Mom was still up for the adventure. Mom, however, had broken her foot right after Thanksgiving and was still in a cast. Soooooo...we did Disneyland like this:
With me getting a great work out pushing the wheelchair filled with Tyler, Mom, crutches, snacks, jackets, etc. For all those years that I thought it would be just great to have someone in my group in a wheel chair, I take it back!!! Disney has done a great job (darn them) of making nearly everything wheel chair accesible, which means that even if you're in a wheel chair you wait in line with the rest...There were a few rides which we got to go to the front of the line for, but for the most part...the wheel chair was quite tricky.

We got some good Mother/Son pictures:

It was a great trip and it was especially nice to be on the trip with Tyler and my mom because we were able to make the trip all about Tyler and what he wanted most. Every kid's fantasy!
One of my favorite non-people pictures is this one that we took at California Adventures at night:

I love the way that the colors on the wheel are so bright, cheery and inspiring.

In fact, it was that color wheel that inspired me to buy this fabric:
Which will turn into a quilt project that looks a wee bit like this:

More to come on that later!!

Grandmother

What started in August 2010 as a fun little obsession has grown into a wonderful outlet for those Fat Quarter Therapy purchases. It is so satisfying during a stressful time to go into a fabric store and buy a few fat quarters worth of fabric that I'd NEVER in my life consider making a whole quilt out of, but which give me endless moments of enjoyment to look at. These never-a-whole-quilt fabrics are perfect for the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilting project because each time I see them they make me happy, it is a low level of investment, and if I buy a few at a time over the course of the project, I hope to end up with an eclectic mix of fabric.

Here is a picture from when I was playing around with placement of the existing flowers. And this (very bad) picture shows what it looks like today. I love to play with colors and textures in fabric to get the most pleasing (to me) effect. Here are a few future flowers that I'm planning.
Why the renewed inspiration to work on Grandmother's Flower Garden? Well, I went to a Crafternoon at a friend's house and Janice brought this to work on: Not only does she have a waaaaay more completed piece, her Sexie Hexies are 3/4 inch (mine are 1 inch) and she's using all 1930's reproduction fabric. I am in awe.

We did a little bit of quilting...

On Jessica and Valerie's primary colors 1930's quilt.

See that stretch of argyle patterned quilting on white? Yep. That was me!

Eagles, Waffles, Chicks, Mitts

Continuing on with my handmade updates, I thought I'd combine some sewing and knitting projects I gifted. I revisited my Magic Pillowcase obsession by making my dad an eagle Magic Pillowcase. Since he's not such a "frills" kinda guy, I left off the wee tiny contrasting strip that the pattern specifies. He tells me he loves it!

I also knit him a Waffle Hat using Cascade 220 Superwash that he can wear while at Lakeview Cottages, during his SAR/CARDA activities or when he's feeling particularly rugged.

Tyler's favorite colors in the world are blue and green. A few years back, I made a brightly colored rag quilt using flannels. Tyler really enjoyed cuddling up under it on chilly mornings before school, so I thought it was high time I made him one of his own in colors he enjoys. It's probably dumb, but I imagine him carting this same rag quilt off to college someday to snuggle with when he's homesick. I also knitted him some fabulous Chickies.
These chickies were a specific request after listening to the Never Not Knitting podcast episode in which she talks about knitting a Chicken Family for her daughter. Since it's just an audio podcast and he had never seen a picture of her chickens, I had asked him to draw me a picture of what kind of chickie he wanted to go with Pock, whom Tyler received when he contracted the Chicken Pox.
I found a pattern that most closely resembled his drawing and make two chickies for Pock.

I knitted Kim some Alice Mitts with some Bristol County Dyeworks yarn in the New Moon colorway. I LOVE this yarn. It's fabulously soft, great colors and it's washable to boot! They are meant to look like the mitts that Alice Cullen wears in the New Moon movie and you can see a picture of those here.

It's never too late...

That's what I was told, at least. I was recently reminded that it's been nearly an aeon since I last posted. When I replied that I had had great plans to blog about all of my handmade Christmas gifts and new pictures of Tyler, etc., I was told that it's never too late. SO...Assuming that is correct, here goes the start of my "catch up" the blog series.

I made the decision around August of last year that I wanted to have a nearly completely handmade Christmas this year. I am really pleased with how all of my creations turned out and especially pleased that each seemed to be well received. (Or else I am surrounded by fabulous actors.)

For Mom, I used beautiful Noro Kureyon to make a very colorful, very "Mom" scarf. For anyone who knows her well, you understand that this scarf will go with virtually everything she wears.

One thing about crafting for someone is that it really makes you think about what that person would like. It's not enough just to make something that you would like, it needs to be to their taste in color, style, care instructions, etc. I really think that this whole handmade holiday thing made me a more intentional gifter.