Before summer began, I had extremely grand ambitions of what work-related projects I would be able to accomplish during these school-free days. I had the crazy notion that having my kids home ALL day, EVERY day would somehow make it easier for me to get stuff done. I know. What was I thinking? Now that we’re already seven weeks into summer and I've only managed to complete one thing on my list, I’ve finally realized that I was a bit delusional. For over two months now I’ve been meaning to sew baby blankets to give as gifts for a couple of new additions to our extended family, but I didn’t get around to actually completing them until this week. I made one for our nephew born in June and one for our niece who will be born early this fall. (At least I’m ahead of the game for one of them.)

Both the bird and butterfly appliqué patterns can be found in Joel’s new book, “Sewn Spaces.” I wasn’t sure the appliqué would work on the minky material, but both patterns worked beautifully, and I was really pleased with the result. If you would like to make one yourself, here are the instructions:

1. Copy and size the patterns as desired.
2. Cut a 38” X 32” piece of both the printed fabric and the minky material.
3. Iron a piece of wonder under interfacing on the back of each fabric scrap you are using for the appliqué pieces; trace and cut out your pieces.
4. Peel the backing off of the wonder under and place your pattern pieces where you want on the minky material. Iron the pieces in place, being careful to not iron out the textured dots in the minky material.
5. Sew around each of the appliqué pieces using either a tight zig-zag stitch (as shown on the bird blanket) or an appliqué stitch (as shown on the butterfly blanket).
*I sewed the appliqué stitch about 1/8” from the edge of the butterflies to allow it to fray a little bit.
6. Thread an embroidery needle with three strands of floss (as shown on the bird blanket) or one strand of crewel wool (as shown on the butterfly blanket). Use a stem stitch to embroider both the butterfly antennae and the name.
*For stitching the name, I printed out the font I liked best and traced it onto the material.
* I found that embroidery floss worked much better than the crewel wool. But, if you're stubborn like me and love the aggravation of having to rethread your needle every 5 minutes, go right ahead.
7. With RIGHT sides together, sew around the edges of both the printed and minky fabrics, leaving about a 6” opening on one side to be able to turn the blanket.
8. Turn the blanket and topstitch around the edge of the blanket about 1/2” from the sides.

So, in celebration of the fact that I actually completed a project (or two) in spite of the fact that our kids interrupted me every 10 minutes while I worked, Joel and I are giving away one copy of his book, “Sewn Spaces.” If you would like to enter for a chance to win, leave a comment telling us your favorite baby gift to give, or receive. We’ll announce the winner on Monday, August 9th.

In all our various roles, Joel and I are always seeking inspiration to do and be the best we can; this is why we decided to include the words "Live Inspired" at the end of every blog post. Inspiration comes in many different forms, is found in a variety of settings, and affects each person in a unique way. This past weekend Joel and I were inspired, in a WHOA kind of way.

We spent several days with our family in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming as we traveled throughout Yellowstone. I've visited Yellowstone before, but for Joel and our children, this was their first experience. All of us were in complete awe of the beauty that surrounded us those four days. I told Joel that Yellowstone had moved into the first-place spot on my list of favorite places. Ever. (Okay, so I haven't been to that many places, but I'm pretty confident it would remain high up on my list even if I were a well-traveled individual).

The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Everywhere. My favorite spot of all though was The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We hiked down the lower falls lookout trail hoping for a good view of the waterfall. We didn't know it actually brings you right to the edge of the waterfall. It was a little bit freaky standing there with all that water plummeting 60 feet or so below us.

The Celestine Pool mesmerized us, until we found out several people have actually died in this spring. Maybe it looks just a little too inviting.


The views were incredible no matter where we drove. Whether it was tree-covered mountains, blackened forests (from the fire in 1988), or the travertine rock at Mammoth Springs, we were equally stunned by all of them.




The fact that there were active geysers and steaming holes all over the place, made Joel just a tad nervous thinking about just how active of a volcano the whole area is. I'd not recommend watching the movie 2012 before taking a trip to Yellowstone.


The other thing we weren't expecting was to see so much wildlife. We knew we would see bison, but we weren't expecting them to be walking right in front of or to the side of our car. And, we definitely were not expecting to see a black bear foraging for food on the side of the road. We also encountered a bald eagle, swans, elk, coyotes and ospreys.


We spent the last day of our trip horseback riding through the mountains outside West Yellowstone. SOOOO fun! I loved the experience so much I thought about trying to convince Joel that we needed to buy a ranch one day (but then I thought about what winter would be like in southern Montana, and I decided I wouldn't make a very hardy rancher after all).


Joel is about as far from being a cowboy as anyone could possibly be, but HOLY COW, doesn't he play the part well? I kept stealing glances at him the whole day like I was some infatuated school girl. He joked that he wore his city-slicker version of cowboy clothes that day; a Tommy Hilfiger button-up and Guess jeans.


We were fortunate to have Joel's parents and niece and nephew visit us from Florida for this trip, making the whole experience that much more special.


I'm telling you, I would be in high heaven if I could ride through the mountains every day on a horse like this. It was the most serene, yet invigorating adventure.

We had a hard time leaving such a beautiful part of the country. But, if I have any sway in the matter, we'll be going there again. Soon.


We hope all of you will be just as inspired on whatever family vacations you have planned this summer. Take it all in and enjoy whatever beauty surrounds you.
eclecticmodern

Joel returned from Quilt market around 2:00 in the morning on Sunday. I think. I don’t know. I acknowledged his arrival with a kiss, but then rolled over to return to my blissful state of sleep. After four days of single-parenting, I was really tired. I shuttled kids around to Young Astronauts Club, Webelos Woods, piano lessons and two soccer games (one of which was hailed and rained upon the entire hour), spent an entire day sewing with my mom, spent two afternoons trying to clean the house after the kids tore through it like a tornado on the aforementioned sewing day and planned out the entire summer for keeping the kids entertained.

Oh yeah. And my exhaustion may have had something to do with the fact that I woke up to screaming children about four times each night while Joel was gone and felt so displaced when the bed was empty next to me. I never get accustomed to sleeping by myself when Joel is away.

Anyhow, I know Joel was exhausted also. He had worked late almost every night for a week leading up to his trip, and he NEVER sleeps well away from home (I guess he misses me just as much as I miss him). So, it was no surprise to me that he came home with a doozy of a head-cold that started to hit him his final day in Minneapolis.

Aside from his illness, he was excited about the trip and having reconnected with many people in the industry, as well as with having made a lot of new connections. Since I’ve yet to experience quilt market in person, I plied him for every possible detail so I could vicariously walk the show in my mind. I can’t wait until the show comes close to home next spring in Salt Lake. I will DEFINITELY be there…in our own booth!

Anyway, prior to the craziness that led up to Joel’s trip, I sewed some placemats for the Mother’s Day dinner we hosted for my mom. Joel took one with him to Market and dozens of you requested the pattern. I got the basic pattern idea from a placemat I saw at Anthropologie that “said” to me it belonged on my table. However, the $18 price tag told me differently. I decided to make my own and to add a bit of hand-embroidery to add a personal touch.





Joel thought I had lost my mind when I told him I was making 12 of them, and to be honest, I kind of thought I had too (I just wasn’t going to let him know that). They really came together quickly though and I found these placemats to be one of my most enjoyable sewing projects ever!

We’ve added the pattern and instructions in the sidebar for you to download, if you’d like.



And, as promised, you can get the recipe for my irresistible chocolate chip cookies here. Enjoy some for me because I’m trying to avoid sugar for a little while…um, starting right after I make myself a cup of hot chocolate to warm up.



They say Utah will finally warm up tomorrow, but after the spring we’ve had, I am a bit skeptical. For those of you who visit next May, I hope the weather here is so much more inviting than at present.

eclecticmodern

You know when I start eating Swedish fish in bulk-size portions that I'm stressed. It's not a good coping technique. I acknowledge this fact. I like to justify my actions though by thinking these bite-size pieces of goodness have some psychologically soothing effect on me.

We've had dozens of requests for the pattern of the skirt featured on our homepage. It's in the works, but guess who is working on it? Yes, that would be me, and I'm slow people. This is our first pattern, and it's taking me longer than I thought it would to get everything right.

It doesn't help that I volunteered to chaperone two field trips this week, and volunteered to head up the committee in charge of Teacher Appreciation Week, and volunteered to be a substitute pianist for one of our church meetings, but I did and the pattern has had to be put on hold. I think Joel has given up on trying to get me to say "no".

I've also been a bit preoccupied by the fact that my parents will be returning home later this afternoon after having been in Samoa the past 18 months. Our family was living in Florida at the time of their departure, so it has been almost 2 years since we last saw them. We moved to Utah just 10 days after they left and lived in their home up until 5 months ago when we bought our own. After thirteen years of living far away from them, we will now be living less then a mile away from each other. Wow! I hope we don't drive each other crazy!

So, I'm hoping to finish this project today (keep your fingers crossed). I'm currently testing the pattern to make sure that it works right, and that what I've designed won't frustrate the user into candy-eating binges like myself. If I could just get this blasted zipper to cooperate with me!

So, Please tell me that I'm not the only one who gets a little (or a lot) frustrated by their creative projects at times. If you are feeling a little creatively challenged at the moment, might I suggest a bowl of Swedish fish?
eclecticmodern

Oh how I looked forward to this day after such a frustrating one yesterday. I woke up this morning excited for the prospects this day would offer. I got in a killer run this morning, we ate blueberry pancakes, bacon and orange juice for breakfast, Joel worked in the yard before the weather turned bad, our kiddos practiced piano without any complaints, I put some dogwood blooms (albeit fake) in a vase on our entryway table, we made some preparations for my parents' homecoming on Monday (they've been in Samoa for 18 months), and then we went plant shopping at an amazing nursery.

We headed to a town about 30 minutes from here with the anticipation of finding some great foliage for our yard. However, about halfway there, the weather went from okay, to bad, to horribly wrong. Despite the nasty elements, we continued on our quest in the rain and sleet and freezing cold as we perused the nursery's gardens and greenhouses. I felt kind of bad that we forced the kids to walk around in the rain, but they didn't complain and actually enjoyed the experience. We picked out our very first plant for the yard, a beautiful Japanese Maple that Joel and I can't wait to plant once the weather improves.

When we got home I was ready to snuggle up in a warm blanket and read a book, but the kids didn't allow that to happen. I sat down at the computer and opened up my blogger dashboard and was surprised to see Joel's picture and a short introduction to this post. I follow many blogs, ucreate being one of them, and it's always fun when one of them features a post about Joel or his fabric. I knew he had done this interview, but I never got to see his answers to Kari's questions. He did tell me about his "Survivor" answer though. I laughed. While I think he'd do well in the game in theory, just between you and me, he'd never last that long without me or the kids. Plus, I think he'd lose his mind if he had to deal with some of the crazy personality types that end up on that show.

As I mentioned previously, my parents lived in Samoa the past 18 months during which the current and previous seasons of "Survivor" were filmed. My parents got to talk to one of the crew members a few times and hear his stories of working for the show. If I had been there I would have begged for the opportunity to watch one of the challenges in person. I probably would have been disappointed with the live version though. I'm sure the T.V. editing makes it so much more dramatic.

Kari also alluded to my chocolate chip cookies as being Joel's favorite treat; they're actually my favorite as well. However, Joel can control his appetite for them while I cannot, so I only allow myself to make them about once a month. When Joel and I were first married I tried several chocolate chip recipes over and over again, only to be disappointed with the results each time. It seems silly now, but at the time I was truly frustrated that I couldn't make a decent batch of chocolate chip cookies.

While my cookies definitely improved over time, it wasn't until just a few years ago that I finally felt like I had perfected the recipe. We'll post the recipe soon because we feel strongly that everyone should have a perfect chocolate chip cookie once in a while, don't you?
eclecticmodern