Summer Fun and a Name

We joined the little people on the road swap so this summer so we need to take a softie friend on our trips and take pictures for the scrapbook we're creating. The softie and the scrapbook will be sent to our partners sometime in August. We created this little bunny this week to be our softie. Here she is getting ready for a trip to the zoo. We haven't been able to come up with a name for her yet so we're looking for suggestions. She's made from patterned fleece with a pocket on her belly and hearts on her pocket and on her bum too! I think she needs a carrot in her pocket and a good name. Nature Girl tends to name things by colors or object name so she hasn't been very helpful unless you like Pink Blue Bunny as a name. We need some help. Do you have any name suggestions for our rabbit friend?
Here's the bunny taking a rest under a tree at the zoo. It was only in the 50's at York Wild Kingdom. It wasn't very summer like, thank goodness we packed coats!
Nature Girl, her Grandma and the bunny all went for a ride on an elephant. The elephant's name is Lydia and Nature Girl loves her. This is the third summer that she has taken a ride on Lydia so it seems to be a bit of a tradition now. We tucked our bunny friend in her coat so she could go along for the ride. This was Grandma's first ride on an elephant, Papa rode last year and I rode the year before that. I think it's Daddy's turn next year!
Since we were in York Beach Maine we walked across the street to take the bunny to the Atlantic Ocean. She sat on this rock with Nature Girl for the pictures then bounced back into the backpack so she wouldn't try to take a swim...it was way too cold!
We had a good weekend and crossed off three items on our summer fun list. Zoo...check, beach...check and see Wall.e movie...check. By the way Wall.e was very cute and had a good message for nature lovers.

A Quilt and an Award

A Quilt:
This is the quilt top my quilt guild is making for the fall raffle. I volunteered to help sew the blocks together so Thursday I spent a few hours sewing with two other guild members. I was a little bit nervous about putting the quilt together since I'm very new to quilting. There was no need to be nervous, it was a good experience! We were able to get the top done. Each member who chose to participate made two blocks for the quilt. Since the quilt will be raffled off in the fall we used batiks in fall colors. The money raised from the raffle will be used to purchase new sewing machines for the local high school. They are in desperate need of working machines!


An Award:
I was excited to be awarded the Arte Y Pico award by Lisa at Spoonful of Sugar. Lisa and Sarah have a wonderful blog filled with crafty inspiration and yummy cupcakes, so go check it out. The Arte Y Pico is awarded to blogs that you consider deserving due to their creativity, design, interesting material and for their contributions to the blogging community. If you receive the Arte Y Pico you in turn bestow it on five blogs.
So I bestow the Arte Y Pico to these wonderful blogs.

• Im a ginger monkey: Katy has wonderful crafty goodness on her blog. I love her little character softies and her mini quilts. Katy's creations make the blogosphere a better place and children(and adults) around the world happy.
  
• One Crafty Mumma: Mel has a large variety of crafts on her blog. She has gorgeous scrapbook layouts, knitting, recipes and kid craft inspiration. We love Mel's microwave puffy paint recipe. Mel's children even blog their activities there.
• Attitude Changes Everything: Pattie has an inspiring blog that demonstrates how attitude changes everything. Having a positive attitude makes a difference! Her posts are inspiring and she includes quilty goodness too.
• Jovaliquilts: Cheri has a blog filled with quilting inspiration. She makes fabulous word quilts and quilts for Project Linus. What I love about Cheri is that she likes to encourage and help new bloggers. She's been a great help to me. Thanks Cheri!
• Yarni Gras!: Val at Yarni Gras creates beautiful aprons that inspire me. She also crochets and creates softies. Her daughter is a young artist with a blog worth checking out too. Curly Girl Arts.
  

These are five blog I really enjoy reading. I think they're worthy of the Arte Y Pico award so go check them out. And don't forget to check out Lisa's blog. Thanks for bestowing the award on my blog!



Arte Y Pico Rules:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each awardee has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award: http://arteypico.blogspot.com/
5. Display these rule

Pipe Cleaners and Fabric

We've been experimenting with pipe cleaners and the creations in the Klutz Pipe Cleaners Gone Crazy book I bought at a yard sale a few weeks ago. Nature Girl has enjoyed twisting pipe cleaners together for awhile now. She likes making snakes and dragons. Nature Girl made her own creation while I enjoyed following the instructions to make items from the book for her. It's amazing what you can make with a few pipe cleaners!
Today I was looking at Nature Girl's flamingo quilt trying to decide what to do with it. When the mail arrived it contained a package from the fabric swap. Tracey sent these wonderful fabrics! She also included some buttons and a clothespin doll which were quickly claimed by Nature Girl. I think the greens, yellows and pinks will be added to the flamingo quilt. The reds and blues are destined to be used in some mini quilts. It's so much fun getting new fabrics in the mail! Thank you Tracey! By the way Tracey is hosting a new swap. It's a tote bag swap. For more details and to sign up go here. If you post the information about her swap you could win this fabric so go check it out!

Rainy Day Sewing

It's been rainy here. So rainy in fact that we've sprouted mushrooms on our lawn. They're not desirable on a lawn but aren't they cute? Nature Girl really wanted pictures of them. As I grabbed the camera and headed out the door she said "Mommy take four, five, six, a hundred pictures." I didn't take a hundred but I took a few for her. They're so cute!

I finally started to sew the quilt for Nature Girl using the flamingo fabric Nancy sent. I decided to use one flamingo fabric on one side and the other fabric on the backside. I wanted to use fabrics that I already had. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I've used the fabrics I have that match and I don't know what else to add to make it bigger. I think it might have to remain a doll quilt.Using the scraps from the borders I sewed this kite quilt for Nature Girl's room. She wanted to turn on the fan so she could fly it. I explained it was just a decoration for her room. Orange and pink are her favorite colors and her room is painted with flowers, grass and a sun. This kite is will be perfect for her room, even if it doesn't really fly.

Craft Visions vs. Reality

I was reading Cheri's blog tonight when I saw her post about a quilt she is planning. Cheri went on to say that her mental quilts are always far more stunning than her actual quilts. I can totally relate to Cheri's thoughts because I have this same problem too. My projects always look better in my head than they do in reality! Today I worked on a few projects for swaps then started work on this little rabbit softie. In my head he's the cutest thing but in reality he looks like a sad little ragamuffin!

My favorite part is the back of the bunny. I love the little heart and tail. It's hard to see in the photo but the tail and heart are on a pocket. Nature Girl likes to stuff things in purses and pockets so I thought a pocket would be cute. She's already in bed and hasn't seen the finished project yet. My guess is that even if he is a little sad looking, she'll happily carry him around for a few days, stuffing his pocket with treasures. The picture quality is poor but here is a little doodle of what I wanted him to look like. Even the doodle is better than the reality! I think the proportions are off on the softie. The top should have been wider, his nose a little smaller and eyes further apart. So the reality of this little ragamuffin and the mental vision just aren't the same. It makes me wonder how do other crafters make their stunning craft visions into a stunning reality? Have you ever seen I'm a Ginger Monkey's toys or Lucy Kate's owls? They're original designs and look amazing! I'm not up to crafting a stunning reality yet, but I'd settle for something that looks close to my vision!

Speaking of craft vision. . . this is a mermaid outfit I envisioned. I made it for Nature Girl when she was two only to find that she doesn't like to play dress up. She loves to pretend but has never felt like she needed a costume to do that. I made the length adjustable by placing elastic string down the sides if the fins. To adjust it you just pull the strings tighter or looser and adjust the toggle to hold the string. Tonight was the first time in almost 2 1/2 years that I've seen her wear this outfit. I was excited to see it on her! She was pretending to be a mermaid who was going to get married. There was one problem. The only boy to marry was already married to me! I told her she could borrow my prince for one day!

Clothespins and Rocks

Nature Girl had a friend over for a play date today. They spent the morning painting with puffy paint, painty pens and finally acrylics. Nature Girl painted some wooden snowflakes. We attached them to clothespins with wood glue to create these decorative clips. We'll use them to hang up Nature Girl's art work in the playroom. They also make great hanging clips for mini quilts.
This afternoon we went for a walk and collected some rocks along the way. When we got home we wrapped aluminum wire around the rocks to turn them into pendants. Add a colored string and we had an hour's worth of entertainment. Nature Girl was thrilled with hers so we created necklaces for the kids next door too. We had six kids running around the backyard wearing rock pendants pretending to be superheros. Apparently the rocks contain secret super powers. They had lots of fun. Nature Girl wanted to wear her rock pendant to bed.

*Nature Girl took the photo for this post.

Attitude makes a difference

Pattie over at Attitude Changes Everything is having a summer blog contest. Pattie has challenged everyone to think about how attitude makes a difference in living a healthy life. Like Pattie I think attitude does make a difference. This weekend we were at the book store when I came across a children's book I had not seen before. I Will Make Miracles by Susie Morgenstern. It made me think about Pattie's challenge. This little boy wants to feed the hungry, help the sick, stop all wars. In the end he realizes it starts small with him learning to read and write.
I grew up listening to my mother and grandmother tell me that I could determine what kind of a day I would have each day. I could sulk or decide to have a good day despite the little ups and downs of life. This is something I still believe today and am trying to teach Nature Girl!
In this sometimes crazy world it's easy to lose sight of the things that we can control. I may not be able to fix the world's problems singlehandedly but I can try to make my little corner of the world a better place every day. It's the little changes that make a difference. Smiling at a stranger, holding a door, thanking someone for their assistance or volunteering in your community. A small kindness to someone else can make the world a better place. If everyone did one kind thing everyday the world would be a better place. So whether it's being kinder to the earth or helping a friend I'll continue to try to make my corner of the world a little better one kindness at a time. Attitude does make a difference! Kindness spreads and simple gestures do make a difference!

Note: the image came from typoGenerator. I discovered this over at Cheri's blog.