Paint in My Hair

And Sometimes...I Paint

When I'm not changing diapers or cleaning bottles... When I'm not chasing Luke while he is running through the house, brandishing a giant dripping piece of watermelon with his diaper off... When I'm not cleaning glitter out of every nook and cranny (including poor baby brother's hair) from Lily's latest craft project... Sometimes the stars align and we have a few minutes of peace and I can sneak into my studio and paint. Phew!

Happy Father's Day!

Cheer up Grant!  Daddy needs some new photos for his desk.

Come on, little guy, smile for daddy.  

There we go.  That's almost a smile.  

A Flying Leap

We recently took a trip to our lovely MO Botanical Gardens.  The kids have discovered a little creek with tiny shells at the bottom of it.  It's the perfect size for an eight year old to take a flying leap.

It must have been 20 minutes of Lily and Lindsey testing their leaping skills and then stopping for a dig in the muddy river bottom.

I have a hard time saying "no" to this type of activity.  I was such a mud and water junky as a kid.  My best friend and I would create a river of mud in her front yard.  It was full of the red, sandy dirt you find sometimes in CA.  Makes THE best mud.  (Sigh)  We would just roll in it.  We had beauty contests. The muddiest contestant always won (AKA me because Tiffany's mom wouldn't let her get her hair muddy--The injustice!!)

And, according to family lore, on a family road trip we stopped at a river with rapids.  I was 2 years old and scrambled out of the car and ran straight for the river.  My dad proceeded to "teach" me the dangers of the river by tying a rope around my waist and putting me out in the rapids.  Yikes!  That is some serious old school parenting and I would not recommend it.

Lily has inherited my love of water and mud.  So who am I to say no.  Even if she is in her brand new hand made shirt.

(The truth is, I think Dave is the one who let them get in the creek.  I might actually have said no if I had gotten there on time :-))

These gardens are sooooo lovely.  One of our favorite things about the St Louis area.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

OK.  Just to get it all up while it's still fresh.....

More booth pictures.  This quilt is a free download on the Michael Miller website.  Here's a close-up:

The pods are actually 3-D.   Pretty cool, eh.

Purses in frames make me happy.

This purse pattern will be available soon.  I mean it!

And what do you think of this messenger bag?  I want to eat it!

Here's Kathy Miller jimmy rigging a "tree" so it wouldn't take up my whole booth.  She's fearless.

Posing with Kathy.

A walk with Heather.  Such a pretty view from the convention center.  One of the best parts of Quilt Market is getting a weekend away with Heather.  It's like being college roommates---accessory swapping, late night chats, chocolate munching, the works.

My point of view.

Heather's point of view.

A few cool things I saw:

I loved this booth (Maw-Bell Designs.)  Loved the newspaper rosettes.  And that quilt out of Heather's fabric is exquisite.

There are so many friends to see at Market.  Here's Chelsea with her charming children's clothing patterns.

I loved Bari J's new line.  Very painterly.  Very cool. 

Patti's new line.  So vibrant.  I love her lollypop quilt in the background.  She said it was her first quilt.  Wow!

And Paula's.  Love all the black and yellow.  I got some of her polka dots.  Can't wait to use them.

Phew!  That's a lot of pictures.  What a fun weekend though!  I am just brimming with ideas.

Quilt Market, Part 2 (That's right--2)

Here are a few pics of my booth.  (Thanks Heather for sharing your amazing photography skills!) I'll post more later, but today I want to show off a few guest stars of the booth. 

My mom sent along some goodies, including these art quilts.  Love that crow.

And I love this one.  It looks like running water.

And these 2 ladies turned a lot of heads. My mom has a pattern for this doll (Kay-La-Belle from Kalispell.)  Check it out.

I hope that's not pencil on the wall I'm hearing. Better run!