Bari J.

 

This is the Garden Tea Party Quilt shown in my sidebar. Before it gets shipped off to hither and to yon (apparently there is some taking turns going on), we decided to take some pics. 

This first photo was Emily's idea. She said, "Hey, let's take one of those Pottery Barn photos and I can be in it!". Sounded like a plan to me. Sweet thing called dibbies on this quilt upon the first stitch. That's a kid after my own heart.

Just got it all together and put the swatches up for you to order finished, design your own handbags in Full Bloom fabrics.

Feelin' this way lately. Hope you are too.

XO,

Bari

 

Thank goodness for Super Dad!

 

 

I have a confession to make. I'm the mom who always perpetually runs in at the last minute. And if I turn up on time and have breath to spare, it's because I had the time wrong, and got there early. Like today. I arrived half an hour early for one of Anna's activities because I had it wrong on my calendar. "At least I didn't show up later," I said. 

I am the mom that forgets things like bake sales, school luncheons, getting the charity fundraiser cookie dough sold and in on time. I forget it's picture day. And to send in field trip forms. Forms are a terrible one for me. I get them and if I don't fill them out right away, well, I totally forget about them. I once forgot to sign Emily up for Soccer and by time I did, it was too late. She was left on a waiting list the whole season. 

 

I have tried to combat my enemy, the clock (and the calendar), by setting alerts on my phone for every single appointment even if it is an appointment that occurs each and every week. And still, I have more than once forgotten to pick a kid up from school... ok not so much forgotten, but I run out the door five minutes after the bell has rung. Often. And there was that one Wednesday that they got out of school early, and I forgot my kids and other peoples kids.

But I cling to the phone alert because most of the time it works. Unless it is in my handbag. And my handbag is in the kitchen while I am in the studio, and I have music playing loudly so the alert on the computer was useless.

For instance, this evening, I was caught up in here, and realized at 7:10 that I was supposed to be at a summer school parent orientation at 7:00. I raced down there only to find that it was over. And, by the way, twisted my ankle running in. There were some uber-organized super moms hanging around who gave me the low down... get here at 8:30, bring a snack... the whole drill. This, I have to say ticked me off to no end. You had me come rushing my rear down here to tell me the same thing you said in the darned letter you sent me? I missed dinner. Hmmpf. This is why I miss these meetings, I told myself.

All of this makes me feel incredibly guilty. So, I try to tell myself what I do get right.

Little absolutely necessary things: I do always make sure my kids have the clothing they need, are taken to the doctor for their yearly appointments, have their teeth cleaned every six months. I make a mostly healthy dinner most nights.

Household things: Although I might have a little time management issue, I can organize stuff. I usually know where the forms are, I just don't actually remember to fill them out. I keep things relatively clean.

Things we do together: I hang out with them, we cook, we get our nails done. I craft with them. We listen to music and watch movies. I don't forget birthdays, and always make a fun party. You maybe remember the story about taking them to see Wicked? That was a good mom thing. 

 

 

Things to boost their confidence: I tell them how wonderful they are, and I tell them when I think they could do better. I ask them how their day was, and I always hug them and smile when I see them. I tuck them in every night. I sing to wake them up... which they hate ... and I find endlessly amusing. But I bet they remember it, and sing their kids awake too.

 

I tell them to stand up to bullies. And, ... and I do insist that we eat together as a family. No TV. No cell phones.

 I love them to pieces.

So there are a few late forms, missed appointments and a whole lot of rushing around. But mostly I get it right. And that, is what counts.

Plus, I have a super backup system, Super Husband... ie: Super Dad. 

I am definitely having a super exciting start to my Summer. I mean, what could be better (ok, close to better) than a trip to Pixar Studios? Oh, I don't know... maybe a box full of surprise fabric from Moda?

Shhhh... don't tell anyone, but I have a super-secret project I'm working on. That's why they sent it to me. Sheesh! I am a lucky ducky girl. 

 I couldn't be more giddy. Thank you Moda! You totally made my day. I've already started cutting into it. I can't help myself.

I've got other goodies laying around here too. Don't ask my why, but I love how these paint chips look all coordinated up in the cello bags. I've been getting ready to introduce my next fabric line (not just yet, but you know...). The printouts from my computer were kind of faded looking so, paint chips do the trick to let Windham know what color I want. But what do you think the peeps at home depot thought when I went in with a notebook and stood in the paint aisle for over an hour leaving with all of these? And no paint. 

The only problem with so many colors is... it's SO many colors. I couldn't make up my mind. 

At one point, I had my fabric printouts and cut up little pieces of paint chips all over the room. And glue stick in my hair. It's all part of the crazy process. And the good news is, I did finally decide. Color choices are on their way to Windham tomorrow. Yay-hoo! On to the next project. The super secret one.

(Photo disclaimer: my camera is in the shop, so I've been taking pics with my iPhone. Not terrible, but...)

I couldn't believe my stroke of luck when I Tweeted: "Just saw "Up!". Go see. It's definitely a classic". 

Soon after, I received a response from a reader/follower who said "I couldn't agree more!! (Of course I might be biased. My hubby worked on it.) :)". That tweeting follower was Keri of Forever Folding Laundry who in a later tweet most generously invited us on a tour of Pixar. How nice is that??? Too nice. But not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I jumped at the chance. And last Friday we trekked out to Emeryville (only 40 minutes away) for an incredible afternoon.

I can't even begin to thank Keri and her wonderful husband Gary who worked on the special effects for the movie and gave us a fabulous tour including much of the artwork and background of how "Up" was made. Our kids were beside themselves. Of course, I might have been a little beside myself too... And I might have had just the tiniest bit of fun embarrassing my children. Look at the straight-faced Super Husband. That has me cracking up. Dude! Play along, won't you?

The icing on the cake was when Anna, on the way home, told us that she could really see herself doing something like that. And that the tour made it seem more within reach! If there is one thing I want those girls to know, it really is that if you can dream it, you can do it. So, darn if that didn't bring tears to my eyes.

Thank you Keri and Gary! We had a wonderful time!

I love calling cards. Love making them, love looking them and love collecting them. Awhile back I created a Flickr group so we could all show 'em off. And I've been meaning to make this a regular feature on my blog. If you'd like your card featured please join our group!

Here is my first group of favorites... 

French Garden House

Dreams Of France

Paper Relics

And, Farmer Julie

I promised more pictures from market, didn't I? This here is the name-dropping issue. 

And, since my friend Cindy says there are absolutely no pictures of me on my blog, and that is an issue for her, the first one is of me... and April Cornell. Yes, I have no shame, I dragged April Cornell over to the Windham booth going, "Look what I made!". No shame at all. 

Actually, April was really gracious and so kind. She even organized a Twitter-Meet-up. Which by the way is the coolest thing ever about Twitter. April tweeted "Twitter meet-up 10am Saturday, Moda booth." and a ton of us showed up. Seriously cool. And why I loooove tweeting and reported over Twitter the whole time I was at market.

Oh, and here's who I dragged April away from ... nervy, huh? Brandon Mably. Sorry, Brandon. 

Btw, I have no idea how I got into this picture. I meant to be taking a picture of them together, when someone said, "Hey, don't you want to be in the picture?". Uh. No. But. O.K.

Speaking of Brandon, I asked Kaffe Fassett if I could take his picture, and he said yes, but unfortunately he was so engrossed in his work, he didn't look up for the shot. Awww. He also was very gracious with my bumbling and bubbling. I was a little overjoyed to meet him. Eeeks. 

Here's a great shot! This is Myrinda from Fabric Hound and Kristen from Gocks Frocks with first Project Runway winner and fabric designer, Jay McCarroll.

Now, I know I mentioned something about showing you my own little spot...

This was the original quilt I presented when I showed the line to Windham. It's on it's way to France right now! I'll let you know when I hear more about this. Very exciting fun stuff.

And, here is a bit more... 

Well, that's all folks. Until next market. BTW, it looks like maybe, possibly, likely, I think my second line will debut there. More about that and some other unbelievable stuff later!