Thing 3 - Commentary

A friend of mine emailed me about the quilt I made for Thing 3 and asked me (with love!) why there were so many different, seemingly "random" pieces of fabric in the quilt. It occurs to me that to someone who doesn't know the story behind the quilts, it may appear that I just don't know how to match colors. Though that may be the case, actually, there is a story behind these quilts, which makes them anything but random....

When I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter at the end of 2002, I joined an online group (called a Due Date Club) at Babyzone.com with other moms who were due in August 2003. We chatted about morning sickness, weight gain, all things pregnancy related, up to labor, delivery and birth stories. After the little ones were born (about 75 of them!), many of us had grown close enough that we decided to form our own group via MSN groups to stay in touch as the babies grew.

We're spread out across the US, Mexico and Canada, and most of us have never met. (I've been lucky enough to meet 5 of the other moms!) One of the moms had an idea to make these quilts, so we could share with out little ones the story of how us crazy moms met. The idea was simple: Each mom was to pick a fabric that "represented" their baby in some way. I picked a fabric with little lambs on it (since my daughter's name means "Little Lamb" in Hebrew). The Surrendered Scribe (a fellow 5 Thinger, also from my Mommy Group) chose a fabric with angels on it, to celebrate the angels who were with her and her little girl during a near-death experience when the baby was only a few months old. The mom & baby (now preschooler) that the Thing 3 Quilt is for chose a fabric with sports balls on it, since her son loved to play ball and seemed athletic. (She has a blog, too, here.)

All the moms sent their fabric to me, I cut it into squares, and each mom/baby gets a quilt that has fabric from all the other babies in it, with a focus on the fabric they chose for their own child. So yes... the fabrics may "look" random, but each one has a story, and each one represents a very special little girl or boy. Every one looks completely different. Of course, it's been 3 years since this project started, thus my overwhelming desire to finally get them all DONE already, and the reason The Quilt Thing will keep appearing on my list, over and over again, until that time comes!

Thing 4: Takes 2, 3 & 4

I'm beginning to think this one is impossible....

Take 2, Wednesday:
Made it to almost 8pm with no frustration. Then after her bath and only 1 hour before bedtime, 4-year-old daughter decides she needs to do her "ballerina dancing" before she can get her hair brushed, put her pajamas on or complete the beaded necklace she just had to make for her aunt, who we were going to visit on Thursday. Mommy lost it. **sigh**

Take 3, Thursday:
Though I'm sure I got frustrated with 4-year-old, Thursday's breaking point was while we were visit said Aunt, and Hubby was too involved watching Jeopardy! to keep the 1-year-old from crawling to and eating the dog's food for the FOURTH time. **sigh**

Take 4, Friday:
I don't even want to talk about this morning. Let's just mention that I didn't get back from Aunt's house until after midnight and the alarm goes off before 6am.

I'm going to have to think long and hard about trying this a 5th day in a row...

Thing 1: Done! + Thing 2, too!

Oh, what a feeling!! It's a thing of beauty, really... a place for everything, and everything in it's place. You can compare these to the "before" pictures a few posts down, to see the true progress.

The best part? I got to use power tools!! I made myself this rack to store/hang all my spools of ribbon. No, I'm not sure why I own all these. You think this is too many? You should see how many I donated the the arts & craft department at my daughter's pre-school!

And yes, I found the bed again, too!

I was on such a role, that I decided to tackle Thing 2, framing the tobacco leaf and flag. Once I bought the frames, it took no time at all. Not sure why I waited so long in the first place. Of course, deciding where to hang them took half the day, but alas, here they are.... in the guest room next to my beautifully organized craft closet.

I'm going to take GREAT pleasure in cross these off my list. I'm not sure of the proper "5 Things Etiquette" for cross-offs, but I personally like to be reminded of my own progress.... so I'm going to cross off Thing 1 and Thing 2 and add Thing 6 and Thing 7. Still only 5 on the list, but I can see how far I've come.

Here are the two new things:

6. Finalize our wills

Funny, this should be an easy one. Hubby is a lawyer and on the very computer I'm using to type this is the software required to write our wills. On top of the very computer desk where I sit are drafts of our wills that we wrote over 10 months ago, but never proof-read and signed. I guess it's like the cobbler's kids going barefoot??

7. Install chair rail & paint downstairs

This will be a 3-part task, me thinks. First, I need to convince Hubby that installing chair rail throughout the entire 1st floor (and painting the wall below it) should be anywhere near our priority list. Second, we need to plan a weekend (or two, or three) to tackle this project, which includes shipping the kids off to the in-laws for a day or two (easy for the in-laws, hard for Mom and Dad!). Third, the easy part, will be the actual installation and painting.