Books: The Diary Quilt Wouldn't be Complete Without Them....

Books
What do you think -- add titles to the books, or leave them blank?

I love books.

I teach my boys at home. With books.

I've been reading since I was four, and have rarely been without a book since.

When we moved to Brazil, one-third of the boxes we packed and shipped over contained books, and that was the barest of the bare essentials; we did, painful as it was for me, leave some behind. Even gave some away.

I read on a Kindle now, but anything I already own in paper form is staying. I still read those, too.

This block is about all of that. About me, about reading, about my passion for reading. About teaching my boys, using books. Real books. Books they read over and over and over again.

It's a tribute to the many people in my life who helped me fall in love with reading. A tribute to the literature rich curriculum we use in our home school. A tribute to the years of bonding over books that I have had, will have, with my boys.  A tribute to the friends, real life & on-line, who've helped me along the way, encouraging me in my teaching endeavors. It's a tribute, most of all, to the single thing I love most in this world (as far as objects go): Books.  

To all the friends, characters in print, who filled my teenage years.

To good and untame lions and a world on the other side of a wardrobe door.

To Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern.

To a wise lawyer, raising his tomboy girl & football loving son, teaching them to climb inside someone's skin....or stand on his front porch....and see the world through someone else's eyes.

To a tight-knit band of teenage boys, fighting against society, who taught me what being Golden is all about and then made me cry like never before when a gallant young man was shot beneath a street light.

To a Bulldog and his Prince, now out of print and my copy ruined, who endured much at the hands of a boarding school headmaster who was a little bit "off," yet who found true friendship in each other.

To a young college graduate, who died too young but taught me that love means not having to say you're sorry. Because you're forgiven before the words leave your lips.

To the friends I didn't make until later.

To a very unordinary boy who grows from 11 to 18, learning what it means to do the right thing, to believe in something and to stand for something bigger than yourself.

To a very unordinary grown-up man who died protecting the boy he hated just because he loved the boy's mom. Always.

To Pooh, with no shirt, and Piglet in green, and saying goodbye to Christopher Robin, the most poignant goodbye in literature if you ask me.

To a little Chinese immigrant to the United States, who learns baseball and how to mimic cartoon characters and how to make her American classmates laugh, and who helped me help  my boys learn to live in Brazil.

To a real life mariner who lived a heartbreaking life and made me cry buckets. 

To the Austin family and Charles Wallace and Meg and adventures that moved me way beyond.

To a clockwork man, and the boy who built him, who was introduced to me by my oldest son, a friend that he discovered on his own.

To elves and dwarfs and hobbits and men, who together journey an impossible journey to destroy the greatest evil they've ever known, and to my Chemist who first made me read of their tales.

To so many more, old friends, new friends, yet to come friends. Because nothing's better than books. 

What is your favorite book? And how many of mine do you recognize? And, most pressing, should I embroider titles on the books in the block, or leave them blank.......and if I should, how on earth do I narrow it to six books?? 

A Pets Tribute: the animals we've loved before....

Quick notice: I've had to revert to my old blogspot address for the time being while Blogger either does, or does not, sort out the issues with my custom domain. I think this will still go out to all your feeds, readers, etc. -- if you see this and are able to do so, please shoot me an email or comment here so I know it's working. Email is musingsonthemove AT gmail DOT com. Thanks so much!

Now, today's post.....Pets. 

One can't really have kids, or at least not boys, without also having a parade of animals come through the house. Over the years, we've had all the traditional pets -- cats, dogs, birds, fish, guinea pigs -- and some non traditional pets as well -- snakes, frogs, insects, snails; all found in the yard, captured, deposited into bug cages kept around just for this purpose, and loved on/watched for days or weeks or months, depending on the life span of the animal in question and Mom's Tolerance Level for said critters. The tarantula, for instance, only lasted a day and a half. The tree frog was allowed to stay much longer.

Because our menagerie has included many beloved animals, most of which we no longer have, and has been a trademark of sorts about Life With Boys, I couldn't make my diary quilt without some slight nod to these furry (or not) loved ones.

The block itself is not my favorite; I found a printed fabric and made a scrappy patchwork from it. I think I need to redo it and add some element that ties it in to the rest of the quilt, but for now, it stays like this.

Pets: The Block
tribute to the dogs, cats, birds, and other pets we've had  over the years

And here are a few pictures of some of the animals that we're paying tribute to. Once I add the setting triangles to frame out the block and turn it on point, I'll embroider their names into the surrounding fabric. I'm just not that far along yet.

Canela then...

...and Canela now.

"magrinho" - a stray siamese who the boys loved but was never officially ours

Lia and her newborn kitties
Lia was the Artist's cat; she ran away after we gave away her kittens

Pipa, one of Lia's kittens

Ponkan & Padrao, 2 more of Lia's kittens

Galinha, the last cat to leave our house when the neighbors got crazy.
the Artist's favorite, and the only one of Lia's kittens that we kept

the current crop of birds

Praia, our first Brazil cat, part Siamese.
she ran away after Lia had her kittens.

an old picture of the guinea pigs - Polly (the big one) and Millie (who is now as big as Polly)

Nickel, a stray we had in the US; she adopted us after she had kittens and hid them in our garage

Nickel's three kittens
we kept them and socialized them until time for them to be re-homed
we gave them away at our Moving to Brazil garage sale

There are other pets in there that I don't have pictures of, not in this computer. Zoey-girl, our first dog, a golden retriever/lab mix.  Poochie, a cute stray pup who adopted The Adventurer as his very own boy. Houdini & Nightingale, the first cats we had for any actual length of time. The birds and fish we had before, and the many many insects and critters.  All were dearly loved, for however long (or short) we had them.

Have you had, or do you have pets? What sorts? What's your favorite type of pet? 

My Three Sons, in Fabric

If you've been following along, you are likely not surprised in the least that this blog post is about the three other men in my life, the little (and not so little) boys who once upon a time grew inside of me and now make my life so much the richer by growing in my home (but  not in me anymore, thank goodness!). 

Very very very early on, I gave them nicknames of sorts. Not something we call them, as in, "Hey, Moonbeam, come here!" but a symbol of who they each are. Each one of them knows this, intimately, and they all will often sign cards with their symbol rather than actual name.

A moon, a sun, a star. My three sons. Depicted now in fabric (and before in my tattoo).

A steadfast, ever present, trustworthy beyond all rhyme & reason boy; my firstborn, my moonbeam.

Moon in the Window
pattern created via a freehand paper template I made
center is pieced; outside is pieced;
center is then appliqued to the outside, because I could not for the life of me figure out how to piece the curves....

A bright, cheerful, giver of life, chaser-away of clouds and gloom; my second son, my sunshine. 

Sunbeam Pattern from Kansas City Star paper clippings
Center is pieced, then appliqued to a background square
because I could not get the Y seams to work out right, no matter what.

A bright spot on a dark night, a guiding light when the way seems lost, a flickering, vibrant light when that is what's most needed; my baby boy, my starlight. 

Evening Star pattern, fully pieced
of all the stars, I chose the evening star because he's the last baby,
the only one of our boys born at night,
and I liked the simplicity of the block paired with the busier fabrics needed to truly represent my Adventurer.

My three sons. A moon, a sun, a star. In ink, in fabric, in my heart. Forever.

Do you have children? If so, how would you sum up their personalities? Or, since these names sprung from a lullaby, is there a favorite lullaby you had sung to you or that you sing (or used to sing) to your little ones?

New Home: A block about moving....

No, we are not moving anytime soon. At least, not that I know of. But as I continue on in showing you the squares, now block centers, of my Diary Quilt I've arrived at the block titled "New Home."

One of the suggestions in the book was to include a block tribute to your first home together in married  life, or the family home you built with your husband/children, or whatever favorite abode you had in your life.

I laughed.

Because we've had lots. More than our fair share, really.

In our thirteen and a half years of married life, we have lived:

• in a converted garage, attached to my in-law's home
• in a small 2-bedroom "married student" apartment while The Chemist finished his BS degree
• in a larger 2-bedroom apartment after he graduated
• in an even larger 3-bedroom apartment in time to make room for The Artist to join our family
• in a very nice 3-bedroom rental  house
• in our first ever, very own 3-bedroom house that we owned
• in a small 2-bedroom + office rental house when The Chemist started with the current employer
• (in a 2-bedroom hotel suite for a month, but we debate on whether to count that or not)
• in a 4-bedroom, 10th floor apartment 
• and now in a 3-bedroom rental home 

Nine homes. Plus the month-long hotel stay that The Chemist says doesn't count. In less than 14 years. I think you'll agree, "New Home" has sort of been a theme in our life thus far. 

"New Home"
the movement suggested by the pinwheel was an obvious choice for our nomadic lifestyle
and the red at the corners a tribute to The Chemist, who holds us all together each time we move

In fact, The Artist used to ask when it was time to trade houses again. He also offers that, still, as a possible solution anytime we complain about any aspect of whatever house we live in at the time. Too many ants in the summer? Why not move. Needs painting? Why not move. Not that we've ever moved for silly reasons like that, but he's developed the opinion that houses are not permanent things. 

I'm not so fond of that attitude, and wonder if we've not messed him up for life, teaching him that houses change, no big deal. 

On the flip side, I console myself with the very desirable truth -- that what he has learned instead is that family is what makes a house a home, not location. That family is permanent and nonnegotiable, even if living quarters change on you. To meet change head-on, unafraid, because the family will be together no matter what and that's the part that counts. 

I do still hope that one day we'll settle down, that one day our record length of time in one house will be longer than three years. But I'm glad the boys know that stability comes from family, not from the walls around us. And that is worth memorializing in the quilt, for sure. 

How many times have you moved in your adult life? and are you happy with that number?

Sew Busy This Weekend....

We had such a great, but busy-at-home, weekend this weekend.

First off, on Friday I rearranged the room shared by the two youngest boys. We got some great shelves a while back and they do so much to neaten up the toys, but we'd placed them in the only available space -- along the wall that greets you when you walk in the room.

Let me just say, walking into a room and having TALL bunkbeds right in front of you, and then TALL shelves just to your side, it kind of makes the room feel claustrophobic, even though when you enter the room there's loads of space. I decided to fix that.

I moved a small table out of the bedroom and down to the living room. The boys need a place to sit while eating and watching  movies, as The Chemist is not allowing food on the new couches. Sitting on the floor doesn't work so well, not with a greedy golden retriever in the house. So, now the bedroom table and chairs are in the living room, which also freed up that wall in the bedroom, and the shelves are moved over. No more cave feeling when you walk in their room. Hooray! I've no "before" photos, so I won't bother with "after" photos, either. Sorry. 


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I also rearranged a little area in the dining room/office/school room/sewing room, which really opened it up. Easy thing, just took these four cubes and stacked them vertically at the end of one of the bookshelves.

now vertically stacked at the end of the bookshelves...

I put the arm chair, which has been floating around the room and getting in the way, in the spot in front of the window where the cubes used to live. Then I switched contents around, so that my sewing things are on a bookshelf, and the boys' "daily use" school items are in the cubes -- one cube per boy, and one shared cube for "mom needs you to be busy with something" small activities approved for school-time use.

I did have to declutter the bookshelves, moving "done with those" books to my storage shelf, in order to make room for the sewing things. It is a clutter free zone, now, rather than a clutter-catch-all surface next to the computer desk.  Love that.

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Then, I sewed. I sewed and I sewed and I sewed.


And now, all 25 squares for my Diary Quilt are done. 

Except not really, because I have decided I really want this to be a quilt for my bed, and 25 six-inch squares do not a queen size quilt make.

Luckily for me, I've learned a lot doing this project and figured out a way, almost all by myself, to make the quilt larger without needing extra blocks or infinite-seeming borders added. Setting triangles and sashing to the rescue, and I'll have a gorgeous quilt that will look something like this (colors not 100% accurate). Many thanks to Jules/Mrs. So & So for the mock-up for me (complete with sizing/rotary cutting directions).

mock-up of Diary Quilt
the blank center squares are where the Diary Quilt Blocks will be
but - multi-colored triangles around each, or switch to black??

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Because I'm waiting on my bigger cutting mat (which is in the mail, on its way here) and because I'm debating the colors for the setting triangles, I returned to my long-neglected red white & blue quilt. Five squares to go, and then I'll just need to join them into quadrants and then into a quilt top. Scary to think that before too long I'll have my first quilt top done. Even scarier when you remember where I came from, back when I tried to use a scrapbooking paper cutter to cut fabric.

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Which brings me back to -- colors for the setting triangles. My original plan was to do multi-colored, as indicated in the drawing above. Each block center would have a color that coordinates with that block.

Then I started thinking, what if I do black setting triangles and multi-colored sashing instead? To give a more unified look, as well as make the block centers really pop?  The black I would use is actually black printed with a white floral print (as used in the Puss in a Corner block, and the Thrifty block, and the Broken Dishes block....). 

What do you think? Too much black? Or worth it, to unify the quilt?? Black, or multi, what would you choose??  And, what did you do this weekend? 

Custom Quilting: Where I'll be sending the Diary Quilt...

My dear friend and mentor, Jules, over at And Sew On... has long been a phenomenal quilter. She is the person who first challenged me to sew something, back ages ago when I first did the Labor of Love and sewed, gasp!, a whole quilt square. That quilt square nearly kicked my butt, but I did it, because I love this friend dearly. Oh my, she laughed at me as I struggled with basic things like how to cut out the pieces, but she made me hang in there, and I'm so glad.

She sent me, somewhere along the line, a beautiful Kindle Kover, just for me, just for no reason other than to say "Hey, friend, you are loved." The workmanship is stunning. The custom quilting, done freehand no less!, is absolutely amazing. Truly. Yes, I'm just a baby beginner, but other, much more skilled quilters than me have said the same. The work that Jules does is truly award winning. (yes, she has blue ribbons to back that up). 

teeny tiny sample of the amazing work by Mrs. So & So

As the quilting bug bit me and firmly took hold, I knew that the actual quilting part, especially without a machine, was a bit above me. When I made the quilted coasters for Kim, and tried to "stitch in the ditch" with mixed success, I confirmed that feeling. Quilting a full sized project is out of my comfort zone. No worries, I know a quilter or three, and I knew they'd help me out.

So when Jules purchased her long arm quilting machine, and converted her basement into a studio, and designed her business cards, and finally announced she was open for business! I knew right where I'd be sending my quilts. To Mrs. So & So, Custom Long-Arm Quilting.

Friends, if you sew, but aren't so fond of the quilting part, this is the place to send your quilts. If you have a desire for a homemade quilt, but not even the skills for piecing the top together, she can do that too. Small or large, basic or not, if you want it, she can do it. I've seen her work in person, up close & personal, and I've promised her my first quilt.

I may one day advance to a level where I'm comfortable doing my own quilting. I may see if another person I know, who also recently acquired a long arm, is willing to do quilting for other people, and if she says yes, I'll happily send some of my business her way as well (hint, hint, Kim). But for now, and for my first quilt, I'm going to Jules. Because Mrs. So & So is finally open for business, and I can't wait to be an official customer. Her quilting will be the crown jewel on my Diary Quilt once I ever get it done, and I'm so glad she accepts work via mail.

Check her out, friends. Even if you don't sew, go peek; her work will blow you away. 

The V Block: Our Family

to "read" this block in order, read each row on its own.
Top row: Chemist and Reader
Second Row, L to R: The Writer and The Artist
Bottom Row: The Adventurer

This block is probably going to be my most favorite block in the entire quilt. This block will for sure be the most unique block in the entire quilt, without a doubt.

The meaning is very simple, really, but I want to tell a little about the block itself. My Grandma has been sending me scans of various Kansas City Star quilt block patterns, originally saved from the paper by my Grandpa's mother.

The first block she sent me was The V Block, which looks a little bit like the one I've done. I learned the hard way with another block that converting scans of patterns for 12 inch blocks into workable patterns for 6 inch blocks is a bit above my skill level, so for this one I chose to do an applique instead, cutting out V shapes in paper, tracing them onto my fabric choices and setting them in the arrangement given in the KCS pattern I had. So, inspired by, but not a direct version of, the V block sent down to me through the generations.

The fabric choices were easy -- one of the first things I did when choosing blocks, color patterns, etc. was to choose a color for each member of my family. The color is loosely based on birth stone color for each, and each of my boys knows his own color intimately as I use these colors a lot for my boys. The Chemist helped me choose fabric that he thought felt like each boy (himself included), and there you have it -- each one of us, in fabric, all together making up our family.

The Vs all overlap, so they are quite literally stitched together, forever joined.

Just like us.