A time for everything

We have been hit so hard the past three weeks with sickness. Like a vicious circle, each getting sick after one after another. I think the hardest thing I've ever done in my life has been to take care of a toddler, while sick, while pregnant.  Oh my.  I don't want to dwell on the hard though.  This isn't what I want for this space.  I want this space to reflect the joy and the love and the blessings.

And oh there were blessings amongst it all.  Like the fact that Liam was such a trooper while we stayed holed up in the house during my battle with this cold bug.  Like the fact that his smile is so readily given.  Or the fact that his type of play is changing before my eyes.  The way that he imitates. The way that he imagines.  This little boy of mine is loosing the baby in him... and then when sickness hits him, a glimmer of that baby returns in the need for snuggles.  In the need to be close. And I take every advantage of it... as I rock him, and hold him close to my heart.  Those moments are fleeting, every kick of this new baby growing in my tummy reminds me.  Change is in the air and it is coming fast.

I want to stop and relish these moments.  These moments of quiet. These moments where it is just him and I with his ear near my heart as I hold him close and listen. Listen to his rhythm.  Listen to him just be.  

The changes in my body though constantly remind me that there will be another little person that will expand my heart.  That things still need to be made ready.  I've put the to do list away and have stopped trying to cross things off.  Instead, I listen to my body and my heart, letting me know want I to work on - and working on it slowly as time and energy allow.  Slow.  Slow hand stitching and detailing seem to be what I want.  That is how this little squirrel came to be stitched. Booties are in the works from this book.  And the process is coming together slowly.  Cutting here while Liam naps.  Pinning there while he eats his snack.  Eventually they will come together.  I'm not worried.  Instead I'm taking more time to get in as many cuddles as I possibly can.  Because there is a time for everything I am constantly reminded.  A time for everything indeed.

Old McDonald had a farm...

Don't you love it when inspiration just grabs hold of you and urges you to create something?  A box arrived for Liam a few weeks ago and inside it was this beautiful hand crafted stable and animals.  It was a present from my dad for Liam's birthday.  A belated present, but oh so wonderful and beautiful and inspiring.  The craftsmanship in these toys are so beautiful to behold that a picture really doesn't do it justice.  The feel of them is wonderful.  Smooth and with a weight to them that feels like quality. Well, I put it in the living room area where Liam's main toys are and this nagging feeling kept pulling at me.  It was missing something.  Something to welcome and inspire play.  Alicia Paulson's book had been on my desk for a while and I knew the perfect project.  Isn't that Country Time Quilt in the book the cutest?  Well, we weren't in need of another small quilt but I did come up with a way to still use the designs.  Five out of the six animals were embroidered and set in a nine patch block and hand quilted to make a little wall hanging.  I used some of my favorite prints that I have been hoarding.  Some repro 1930s prints and a bit of Ayumi's Lighthearted for the border and lining.  I am so pleased with this project.  I can see why people make doll quilts and minis for it is so satisfying to finish this project so quickly! It perhaps took a week of naps.  It is going up in Liam's corner today and I am so excited to see how he will notice it.  

Happy Friday everybody.  I wish you a wonderful weekend! 

Linking up to Five on Friday with Amy and Finish it Friday at CrazyMomQuilts.  

Aloha. 

Ekahi...'Elua...Ekolu...1...2...3

We count a lot, this little boy and I.  Well, mostly me. But we do it a lot. We count in both English and Hawaiian.  We count items around the house, items in books, birds that we see outside.  Numbers seem to be all around us so naturally this project really took to me.  This was a project from the book Growing up Sew Liberated and it has been on my to create list ever since I saw it.  I love the list of games that Meg includes in the book as well.  Right now we are only pointing to each number and I am saying them to Liam.  In a little while the number line will be lowered and Liam and I will play games with it.  This project really pushed me out of my creative comfort zone.  There was painting and glue work involved along with the sewing and embroidery... oh my.  But now that this project is up and being used, I am very very pleased with the final product.  The stick that I used to glue the clothespins to is actually a piece of bamboo that we had cut from the garden to knock down spider webs.  I thought it was pretty cool that it was the perfect length to hold our numbers one through ten. Liam is growing up so fast.  Did you know that he added "hi" to his list of words.  He went around to his cousins last night and said, "hi".  In his sweetly high baby voice.  More and more sounds are starting to take shape into words.  "Daddy" is becoming so much clearer. "Wa" for water and a little finger pointing gets him a drink.  Language.  Such a beautiful thing.  Sometimes I lay awake and wonder about the conversations that we will have.  What he will like.  It is such an amazing thing - this sharing of your life with this entirely new and developing person.  It is so wonderful to be able to witness him experience things for the first time.  To experience favorite things like books, and food, and sand, and games that he loves repeatedly.  Parenthood, I am learning is so deeply steeped in hope.  What we hope for our children. What we create whether it be object or experience for our children so that those hopes can be realized.  Being a mother is such an amazing blessing.  My days are filled with so much love.  Of the enduring kind. Of the patient kind.  But mostly of the amazed kind.

Blessings everyone.

A little bit of this and that

The days have been so much cooler, and the rain is finally here.  That wonderful cooler rain that we have been waiting for.  That stay in all day and bake and sew and play all day rain.  It has been amazing to watch Liam play lately.  We were playing with his kitchen things, and I noticed that when I gave him a bowl to pass to bear, he blew on an apple before gently shoving into bear's face.  He blew on bear's food.  Like I blow on his food.  Oh my heart! He is changing so much on a day to day basis.  The way that he plays is changing.  He enjoys playing with others.  He will happily pound on his hammer and peg toy for a few seconds before coming to find me at the table where I am trying to get a few stitches in and handing his hammer to me.  Mommy's turn, he says to me in his Liam language. And oh how he can talk in his language! He communicates so much with his little pointer finger and his sounds that will soon take the shape of words.  Da da da da Daa Dee.... he says throughout the house.  Ross smiles and answers, "yes son?" And then they sit and have a conversation.

My sewing machine has been busy lately. So busy that I think it runs out of steam and that's when I have problems.  So back to hand sewing it is to give it a bit of a break.  Right now I am working on a little mini quilt for Liam's play corner.  The animal block designs are from this book  and they were so charming to stitch up! They are so life like. I love the way that the eyes are designed, it really gives those little animals so much personality! I will take more pictures of them when the project is completed.  Right now I'm having so much fun hand quilting it during those few precious moments during the day.  Nap time.  What a wonderful time.  Lately my sister has got me hooked on a book series called Lunar, and a Master Piece theater show Poldark.  She's a librarian and she knows all the good stuff.  Fairytale spin offs and period dramas.  Just our cup of tea. It has taken me eight good nap times to finish the first season of Poldark.  If you haven't watched it, I seriously recommend it.  The story line is so beautiful and the setting so inspiring.  So much beautiful linen in that show! I want to sew everything with linen nowadays.

Liam has been busy in the creating process himself. Painting is what this little boy loves.  Painting on paper, on his body, everywhere.  His creations are actually starting to really come along.  He sits and creates for longer stretches of time instead of swiping his hand across the page once and then moving on.  We made a paper streamer kite one afternoon and he has been flying it around the house.  He is excellent at creating messes as well. Oh the messes that boy can do with food! But give him a cookie, and I must say he eats the entire thing so nicely.  Hardly any big clumps are left.  He had his first cookie this weekend.  He now points to our cookie container regularly and says, "Ai, ai, ai..." which I have translated to mean, "I want one".  How can I do anything but smile and break him off half a cookie.  Oh my stars this little boy has my heart wrapped around his little pointing finger.

I have a pile of fabric and patterns and a list all made for winter clothes for Liam.  That is, until my dad sent us a whole box of pants and jackets.  And surprise surprise, Ross' mom dropped off an entire bag of clothes shortly after that.  What a blessing to have grandparents that love him so! This little boy I must say has more clothes than I do! Now I am feeling a bit torn.  Do I create just to create even though we have an abundance of clothes to see him through the winter?  Decisions. Decisions.

For the love of the water

The ocean is such a large part of our life.  It surrounds us everywhere we are. We see it from our living room windows, we drive next to it when we go anywhere on this beautiful island of ours. Liam is still scared of the water, but in time I believe he will begin to venture out into it... he will learn to hear the crashing of the waves as something soothing instead of something to fear. We bring a little bit of the ocean back home with us. A rock here. A shell there. To remind us of how beautiful it is - how we enjoy our time there and how much we want to return. I started a little cross stitch from this delightful book of ocean animals on a piece of thrifted linen. This pattern is so nice because the motifs are small, perfect for that small pocket of time during naps.

Aloha everybody. I hope your week is filled with beautiful things, people, and moments.