I’m just not sure, until you’ve met her, if you can understand how awesome my mom is. You’ll just have to trust me. She’s brave and strong and (almost always) nice and genuinely a good person.  So for Christmas, we wanted to do something really special for her. See, my mom also has Multiple Myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Just over a week from now, she will be checking in to the hospital for a nice long stay to have her 2nd stem cell transplant. She won’t be able to spend as much time with us as she normally does, so my sister came up with the idea of making her a quilt. Which means, I got to make her a quilt.

We started off with some kind of handprint idea, like our hands were helping her through it. All of her children and their spouses and her grandchildren used fabric paint and signed our names. This turned into a great label for the quilt, to show her who it was from.

I thought it would be fun to have everyone make a square for her. Since I’m the only one who quilts, and almost the only one who sews at all, I knew coloring was the way to go. I gave everyone a square of cream fabric and told them to draw her a picture with Crayola crayons. We got a great variety that really represents the members of our family.

Debbie played with words that describe my mom, and since we are all Words With Friends junkies (though neither mom nor I has been able to beat Debbie) it was quite appropriate to put them in this format.

Of course, the kids’ were the best, mostly scribbles, but they are very representative of the fact that they are all under four years old.

Sister taught all the kids to say I love you in sign language (she learned ASL to serve a mission for our church). She thought mom should always know how much we all love her.

And of course, there are the geeks. Like, all the boys. This is my husband’s cell phone geekery. My oldest brother had the vulcan “Live long and prosper” sign traced out with his hand, and other brother turned Grandma Glo into a super hero.

And this is the one we made mom color herself. Yeah, we are just that sneaky. On mom’s birthday all the girls got together for brunch and scrapbooking at sister’s house. I needed three extra squares to make an easy layout, so we gave the little girls some crayons and told them to color. Then we asked my mom to show them the bunnies she used to make. See, while my mom is an amazing painter, sketching isn’t really her strong point. Growing up, I remember these bunnies she used to draw all the time. I think it’s the only thing she can really draw besides basic shapes. I love those bunnies.

So, here’s the whole thing. I framed all of our colored blocks with a scrappy log cabin style and added the handprints at the bottom. Sister came over one night and cut all the strips for it from my scraps. I’ve got to say, piecing the top was so much faster since I didn’t have to do any of the cutting myself!

Now, I think mom’s only downfall (and it’s only a downfall as far as quilting is concerned) is that her favorite color is red. We wanted this to be soft and snuggly, so I backed it in red flannel. I washed the flannel several times before quilting it. I used color catchers, and Retayne and Synthrapol. I was not taking chances of this thing bleeding. But it bled anyway. I pulled it out of the washing machine just a few days before Christmas and everything was pink. And I cried. Like, sitting on my kitchen floor (next to the laundry room) just in tears because I ruined Christmas. Yeah, I may have been a little bit exhausted.

Thankfully, I have great friends that I can always count on. I called Kati and begged her to tell me it was ok and that the pink would come out. She was awesome, as always. She talked me down from my crazy and said that my mom was going to love it no matter what. She looked up when Lee had a similar problem and told me just what to try. So, I washed it several times with oxyclean, and the pink faded quite a bit. It’s still much more pink than cream, but I feel a lot better about it. I am truly blessed to have such great friends through this little quilting hobby.

And of course, mom did love it. She opened it on Christmas at my house and cried.

I think we did good.

We are getting ready for Christmas at our house.

Opening a present every night, one of our Christmas books or movies all wrapped up to be new again.

Decorating a gingerbread house.

Making lots of yummy treats to deliver to neighbors.

Sewing up a new table runner.

And a Christmas bunting to help out with displaying our Christmas cards.

And sewing gifts. Most of which I can’t show yet or it will ruin Christmas surprises. But I did already give this iPad cover to my wonderful mother-in-law.

And delivered these aprons to a friend. She was in possession of all of the vintage sheets her family grew up with. We I made aprons from them, six for the girls and one for the boy (his is not pink). That’s what she is giving them all for Christmas. Love the idea and how they turned out.

What are you making for Christmas this year? I had to scratch some things off my list because I didn’t start soon enough. But I’m really happy with the things that stayed on the list.

So today I started by gathering and pinning ideas for new Christmas stockings.

Part of me really wants to make classically beautiful stockings that will be a showpiece in my home. Another part of me wants to go really kitschy and make felt appliqué craziness that takes me back to my childhood…

I’ll spend a little more time pinning ideas and make a decision soon. Feel free to share your ideas with me, because it sure is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Well, at least in my mind it is.

#1. I have strep throat, so I didn’t want to do major sewing. I am, however, dying to get into this stack of fabric:

And the first step for my plans includes cutting out 190+ petal shapes from fusible web. Check. I can do that and still stay in bed. Except I only had one roll of web, and cut out about 40 before I ran out. So I ventured into the studio to find something else easy to do.

#2. For Christmas, my dad wanted to give my mom a new church bag. Great! Except he gave me about three days notice and I was busy. So, she got a stack of fabric and a promise. I figured it wouldn’t take too much to get that done, then I could go back to bed. So I grabbed the fabric to cut, but had to get rid of this stack to get to my cutting mat.

Except they were only sewn in strips at that point, so I thought I would just hurry and put them together and then cut them apart. That way it would be easier to put them on a shelf until I was ready to finish. (Those will be a new quilt for out master bedroom. One day.)

So, I put the nine patches together and then cut them down the middle to prep for sewing them back together. Check. Except that when i did math in my head, it went like this “nine and a half, divided by two… That’s four and a half plus a fourth, so… Four and a quarter.”

Good thing I only cut two before I had that “a-ha” moment and started cutting the rest of them correctly! Now I just have to figure out how to fix it so those first two will still work…

#3. As I was putting those blocks aside, I saw the quilt that was the bane of my existence before Christmas. It was a simple little quilt… But I struggled and decided I didn’t have the patience to finish it then. It involved placing 2.5″ squares on top of a base fabric, pinning them down, and then straight line quilting them into place.

I started pinning correctly using safety pins so I wouldn’t stab myself when i quilted it, thinking I could finish it and take it with us on vacation over Christmas to hand-sew the binding.

Since I was working on the floor, this was back-breaking work, and taking oh so long to open and close all those pins. I stared at the 300+ squares on the floor and thought no way could I hunch over that long. So I ran into the studio and grabbed my straight pins.

Easier. But still mind-numbing. At least I was in front of my dvr catching up on “How I Met Your Mother.” It was fine until i ran out of pins. And I suddenly remembered I had picked up this stuff for another project:

And it worked like a charm! So fast! I was renewed. That night, I finished tacking all the squares down and took it in to start sewing the lines. I did one and went to bed. That was about three weeks ago.

And all my pins were still inside. I couldn’t sew my mom’s purse without pins! So, I’d have to finish the straight line quilting to get my pins out. Perfect! Then I could take it back to bed with me and hand sew the binding.

#4. Lots and lots of straight line quilting.

But, I finished them all! And… it was after 8 p.m. by that time. Short break to grab some dinner. And on to the binding. By now I knew I didn’t want to hand sew the binding anymore, because if I didn’t finish it tonight, I wasn’t going to finish it any time soon. So I just did the binding on my machine.

And it is just fine.

Beautiful, in fact.

I seriously thought about washing it and drying it so the edges of my squares will start to fray and it will get all crinkly. But, since i have to go to work tomorrow and it is not a pants-optional workplace, I decided to do my laundry instead. Probably a good choice.

For now, it is folded nicely, ready to go in a box and not come out again until next Christmastime.

By then I’m sure my love-hate relationship will be a full love-love relationship.

And sometime before I pull it out of the box I really will make my mom’s new church bag. But for now, I’m really going back to bed.

Okay, truth be told, I’m already in bed, watching 24 on Netflix and typing this on my iPad. But I’m seriously turning off the light and going to sleep now.

Without further ado, our winners are:

Cam! Seriously, some people have all the luck… spending your summer “studying” in England, traveling throughout Europe, and now winning my fabulous prize!

Our other winner is not random. I picked this one all by myself…

Julie! Because not only did she know why my machines are named the way they are, but she used one of my favorite quotes in the movie. Sometimes, I do not know the meaning of propriety.

So, what did these lovely ladies win? Accessories! I’ve been having fun with yo-yos, getting ready for Christmas (more on that later). Julie and Cam, you can each choose a headband

Or maybe you’d like a single hair clip?

Or something to pin on your favorite jacket or purse to spice it up a bit?

In your favorite color, of course! (Cam, I chose, and you get pink.) Let me know what you prefer and I’ll get it sent right out to you.

My sister doesn’t understand these (although each green one pictured above was made by her. That’s right… I got my sister to craft with me while I sewed her track suit/costume for the show she’s in right now). I think they’re wonderful! If you had asked me about three years ago, I wouldn’t have understood either. That’s back when I wanted boys, because I wasn’t a girly girl. Then I had two adorable girl babies. You know, pink is like a fungus? It just grows on you. So do frilly fun girly things, if you let them.

And what do these have to do with Christmas? Well, it’s July, which means it’s time to get ready for Christmas! I’ve made a commitment this year for a handmade holiday. Most of my gifts will be handmade… and yo-yos play into that big time. Mom and I have a plan for her grandkids. Can’t wait!

So, to get ready for Christmas, I’m starting a little “Christmas in July” here at The Busy Bean. All month I will give you some gift ideas. There will be tutorials, recipes and ideas for all ages. If you don’t do handmade yourself, consider supporting the handmade community. I think you’ll find there is a lot of quality and individuality in the handmade community. I’ll be highlighting a few of my favorite handmade shops as well.

And of course, (shameless plug… after all, it is my blog) I am available for your custom bag, accessory or children’s clothing needs!

My mom has always been a decorative painter. It’s something I’m learning from her. (Because I really need yet another hobby, right?) Two years ago before Christmas we started these trees. We finally finished a few weeks ago. My mom was painting her 2nd tree – my aunt liked mom’s so much that mom decided to paint one for her.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with displaying a Christmas tree in your house in the middle of May, right? Okay, I really only left it up for a few days, and now it’s in the garage just waiting for December to come.

Here’s the detail of the bottom layer. I’m actually surprised at what parts were the most difficult. Looking at it, I dreaded the birds. They were actually quite easy to paint. The hardest parts? The flowers and the sky.

We started with the top layer and worked our way down to the bottom. If you were to look really closely you would see how much I improved between the top and the bottom. If you were to ask my why I showed detail of the bottom but not the other two I would adamantly declare it’s because it’s the most detailed. Secretly I would tell you it’s because it looks 20 times better than the top level!

This year I joined the Society of Decorative Painters. I’m going to my first painting convention in September. So many cool projects to do in just a few days! I’m really hoping to get it all done while I’m there. I think I stand a much better chance of completing my projects at the Convention than I did of actually finishing this tree, since I won’t be painting with my two darling girls under my feet.