Sew Be It.

And sew it begins. Clueless, I walked into Joann Fabrics yesterday to find some backing material, embroidery floss, some pins and needles for the QUILT undertaking I’ve set my heart on doing. I left the store with everything on my list coupled with knots in my gut for the mission on hand. 

Fabric of choice for the quilt's back part

How do they do it? Those amazing DIY women who make crafting seem so easy, and still manage to sneak in a gorgeous all-telling photograph of each and every step.  Probably all second nature to them for sure, but I am positive that it can be learned given the proper motivation. 

The sewing machine used to be the best Lola (grandmother) appendage. Just right in there with thick glasses, a perm, floral dusters, Lola kisses, and the odd smelling perfume with the viscosity of glue. Growing up, only grandmothers sat behind them yet these days either I’ve rapidly aged in my thirties or the prospect of getting behind this daunting machine has become more of a creative outlet. The sewing machine is now like that mystery girl you bump into at a Radiohead concert with the Anthropologie scarf and the feather earrings that you want to be friends with. You know you have things in common but you don’t know where to start the conversation.  

My grandmother is a grand master of the sewing craft. She can make everything from table linens to curtains to pillows, so there must be a tiny speck of genetic DNA that made its way into my cup of capabilities. 

Still.

Out of the box It smelled like musty cinnamon. Is there even such a thing? I know I’m supposed to wash it, but given that the listing mentioned that it’s twenty years older than me, I can’t just throw it in the wash and bleach the antiquated dust out of it. Must handle with love. 

Yardage, batting, french knots, binding, yo-yo’s, cutaways, feed sacks, tacking,  -  these are all jargon to me. Give me iambic pentameters and villanelles, oxymorons and synecdoche and I can have a conversation with you. At this point, I am clueless and yet hopeful to the possibilities that stand before me in this crafting threshold. It only takes one step to walk through. 

So. What to do after the quilt top you've purchased arrives? 

Say, HI. 

Hello there. 

I can already tell that we’re going to have a long and lasting friendship.

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One. Two. Three Things

1. A Road Trip. 2. What was I thinking!? 3. Dada!

ONE

Last weekend at Lake Tahoe was... interesting to say the least. It had been planned months in advance and between the chaos of shopping for fleece buntings for the baby, waterproof jackets (which of course turned out to be too big) and gloves, hats, and thick puffy coats to be snow-ready, we were thrilled for our first family road trip! 

The drive to Tahoe was idyllic. It was a sunny drive; three cars, three families (with three more on the way but later in the afternoon) we had our infinite playlists ready for hours and hours of car-eoke.  That’s right. I sing in the car. Some people sing in showers. I don’t - because I sing in cars. Hubby knows this very well. Meanwhile, driving was smooth and our little cubbie was warm and sleepy in her car seat which I, of course, turned into a warm fleecy haven of pink and fluff. 

The house was completely snowed in when we arrived. It was 5:00pm and the sun was slowly pulling down the shades of the day along with the temperature. So, imagine our disbelief when my friend and I  walked through the house and discovered that there was NO HEAT. NO WATER - NO WAY. The pipes were frozen stiff, the master bedroom’s deck door was pushed open with a pile of snow, and there were freaky looking Raggedy-Ann dolls sitting on top of a quilt-topped twin bed in a room small enough to be called a closet. 

The fireplace was the best place to set up camp with blankets and coats while the men shoveled snow and checked out other lodge options. So there we were, babies and mothers, a fat WTF question mark looming over our heads, and an argument with possibly the absolute worst property manager on the planet. 

It was a long night. We were moved into a lodge hours later after a kind man was hired to shovel a path for us to walk through, which he labored over for nearly five hours. Some shuttling was involved back and forth from one house to another, SUV’s getting stuck on icy roads, disorientation in the darkness of night, freezing temperatures.  

Outdoor freezers are awesome.

And to the management and company that leases out houses that have NO HEAT and NO WATER on a freezing winter night, knowing FULLY WELL that there will be THREE six month old infants and FOUR children there, as stated when the agreement was signed, is completely unacceptable. The fact that PG & E shut down both the gas and water THREE WEEKS (as evidenced by the statement they left) prior to our signed agreement, and two MONTHS prior to our arrival tells us that there are seriously some legal issues that need to be resolved.

We pretty much had three houses in three days. The first had no heat. No water. Frozen pipes. The second had one bathroom - for fifteen people. The third had the heat locked into place, nosebleeds ensued. The weekend turned out to be a piece of thread sticking out from a new sweater that you pull and unravels into a mess of threads and a new sweater with a new hole. 

Oh, but there was snow. and lots of it. Falling snow will always be magical, even more so when they land your daughter’s lashes - and it makes her smile.  It made it all worthwhile.  

TWO

The quilt search is over! Yes! But what was i thinking when I bought a quilt top!?

A quilt top means (oh my) I HAVE TO FINISH IT. It’s not a quilt until it’s quilted. I have never sewed anything to save my life. Ok, that’s a lie. ONCE in high school. Potholders, I think. But that was years ago and this is a project that I have to finish just in time for spring flings with parks and other forms of recreation. Nevertheless, the colors are gorgeous, the vintage fabric lovingly sewed together for the perfect mix of organized chaos, and the blue stripes offer a unique flair of the French countryside. Can one fall in love with fabric?  

Certainly.

THREE

She said Dada!! Is it too early? Probably not. Whether or not she knows what she’s saying, she’s let the word loose morning, noon, and night ever since consonants and vowels started rolling around in her tongue. 

Oh these milestones. We are grateful for every single one of them. 

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