Five Years...and counting?

I've picked on my mom a lot about procrastinating on her projects, but the truth is, I'm no better. It all started about five years ago in early spring of 2007 when I became interested in needlework. I was doing beginner projects and quickly getting bored. Mom happened to spot a pattern one day for a more advanced project. Lizzie*Kate's Pair o' Pilgrims. It was cute and she wanted it to make stand-ups for her dining room. She was putting the pattern back on the shelf though as we get ready to leave the store. "Why aren't you getting it?" I asked her, taking it back from the shelf. I knew she loved it and really wanted one for herself. She shook her head. "I don't have time to do this," she pointed out and started leaving again. I scooped up the pattern and ran after her. "I'll do it!"

Famous last words...

The pattern didn't look too hard. It was early June and I figured I'd have all summer to get it done before Mom decorated for fall in October. I assured her I could finish it in the time I had so, trusting in me, she bought it.

They were supposed to be done in 2007 but because of unforeseeable circumstances, I wasn't about to finish them that fall. Mom assured me it was alright. We'd try for next year. I felt bad but there was nothing I could do. The '07 fall season came and went, and so did '08. In 2009 I left for college, leaving the pilgrims at home. I was back again in 2010 though... and '11... and now '12... In the last five years I've managed to make this progress...

I haven't even started on the little girl pilgrim and there's still the stand up part to make! With only weeks until Thanksgiving... Maybe...next year?

Market Days

Lots of crazy new things have been happening over the past several days. First of all, for those of you who've been following this blog since the beginning, notice the name change? Mom and I knew that when we started this blog it would be a sort of experiment, and we knew that as things progressed we would learn and evolve accordingly. The new name is the perfect example of that in that it now better defines what we want to do with this blog.

Second new thing we've been up to is making Christmas ornaments! Our city hosts this thing called "Market Days" the second Saturday of every month. This month was our first go at it so we've been busy! We teamed up with the girls at SewOldSeamsNew and shared a spot in the vendor line up.

Yoli and Elizabeth from SewOldSeamsNew at our booth

When we got there around 6:45am they were just setting up. Hardly anyone was there so it was nice to be able to set out our tent and tables before all the bustle of the vendors and costumers started. The girls at SOSN sold their beautiful purses and bags. I don't mean to plug here but they really are to die for! I'm planning on buying one for myself next time! They're beautiful hand made bags, made with upcycled jeans and seriously, they're so well done!! They sold several bags at Market Days but still have plenty more on their story at Etzy so check them out!

Just a few of their beautiful creations!
The little snowman necklaces are my faves. =)

Mom and I made ornaments to sell. We were one of only two people selling Christmas stuff this early but in my opinion it is never to early for Christmas! Mom made Gingerbread men candy cane holders. So cute! There were little boys and little girls. It was machine embroidery mostly so she was the one who did all the work. 

Little Christmas Couple. A nice lady bought them just as we were packing up.
Bitter sweet since these were my favorite. 

I made little snowmen. Well, we all did but these little guys are the project I had my hands on. Literally. There wasn't a single snowman we worked on that I didn't accidentally glue my finger to. Haha. My and the hot glue gun do not work well together! Over all, though, I think we made a good team in the end. The ornaments turned out great! 

"Adopt a Snowman" was Elizabeth's idea.
We "adopted" it and sold almost all our little baby snowmen!

The day was seriously windy. We started out with a tent, but by the end of the morning we had to take it down or else risk it blowing away or breaking. The sun was hot and the wind kept blowing off out merchandise. Several times we had to go chasing down bags and snowmen! By the end of the day we were glad to get out of the wind and heat. I even got a little sunburned! Still, the experience was great and I can't wait to be back next month! 

Since we made a lot of product and obviously couldn't sell all of it in one day, Mom and I created an Etzy account to connect to this blog. We thought it'd be a fun idea to expand our costumer reach and maybe get a little Christmas money! We'd love for you to check it out with this link here!

Zombies and Drive-Thrus

Yesterday while doing his reading homework, my brother Adam called from the other room. "Hey, Mom! The Bible talks about Zombies!" Mom and I both looked at eachother with identical bewildered expressions and poked our heads out of the craft room. He pointed at one of the Bible verse he was supposed to read. Psalms 27:2 "When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell."

Later that day, Mom and Dad and I went to vote early at the college in town. When Adam was told he had to go with us, he started looking around for the shoes that he's notorious for losing. Hoping he wouldn't need them, he asked "Hey, Mom? Is it like a drive-thru voting system? Or do we have to get out somewhere?"

Repeating Myself

About a month ago, after church one afternoon I walked into my parents' room. My mom had the flu and was lying in bed. She was lonely so I sat and talked with her for a while. I shared the news from church and she told me about which new book she was reading. She'd told me the story of this book every day for the last week, along with the tv show it reminded her of and a story she'd thought up with similar characters. This was about the tenth time I'd heard it in that week alone. Not meaning to be rude, I smiled gently and interrupted the speech I could quote by heart. "You told me this before, Mom. You're repeating yourself." She stopped and looked at me with some amount of surprise, as if she hadn't realized. "Well," she finally answered. "if I don't repeat myself I wouldn't have much to say!"

Last night, Mom and I were in her room again after church. A commercial came on TV that for some reason reminded me of one of my favorite fun facts. "Did you know!" I piped up. "In Japan, you can be fired if you're overweight!" Mom turned to look at me and with an impish grin answered "Yes, dear. You've told us many times. You're repeating yourself."

Falling for Fabric

Yesterday, Mom and I were sitting in the craft room talking about the day and the different projects we were working on. My mom is a true crafter! The kind who collect crafts with the famous last words "I'll get to it." Currently she's working on a scarecrow for our harvest themed fall decorations while also putting together pieces for a quilt. She was looking for something to use while putting together a quilt square and asked me to help. She pointed to the small cabinet above the tv. It's high and one of the doors was already partially opened on it's own. "Is anything going to fall on me?" I asked. She said very seriously "I make no promises." And that was the beginning. When I opened the cabinet, things did fall on me! Right on my head. We picked them up and stacked them neatly on the table, then I had to get the step ladder to get high enough to see into the cabinet. Piece by piece I had to pull things out to find what we were looking for. Unfortunately, what we found in the cabinet was something totally different. Because Mom isn't able to get into the cabinet often, she doesn't look in there much. She doesn't mind admitting she had no idea what treasures were hiding up there. But when I started pulling things out, she started discovering things she'd completely forgotten about! Slowly one cabinet turned into another, and that turned into drawers and boxes, and our neat and tidy craft room turned into an explosion of a reorganization project!

Used with special permission.
This is the mess we had in the middle of our reorganization!
It's all clean now. =)

During this reorganizing and rediscovery project, Mom and I started to realize just how many projects she had that either we never started or we never finished. I jokingly looked around the room and laughed "One hundred and one projects in one year!" Of course there was so much stuff everywhere I couldn't imagine how anyone would be able to finish all of these in two or three years, much less one. But Mom shrugged "We could probably do it." I stared at her and she nodded "Sure. There are 365 days in a years and I don't think I have quite 100 projects." I looked around then we both laughed. Without saying anything I knew, we'd both already decided to do it.

As we were pulling things out, we also started discovering a lot of my projects that I'd never finished. By the end of the night I couldn't believe how many there were!! Mom smiled "See? You can't say anything bad about all my stuff. You're exactly the same!" Well, I guess I am. =) So here we go then. 100 projects in 1 year. Needless to say, I don't think we'll be buying many Christmas presents this year. We've got all we need right here!

My brother doesn't pay attention...

Mom, my brother, and I were running errands the other day. The afternoon was hot and my brother was thirsty. In our local grocery store, they sell generic brand sodas for fifty cents at the check out counter. My brother searched until he'd found his favorite, then proudly handed it to the cashier while Mom paid for her own groceries. I looked at the bottle, which wasn't one i recognized, then whispered to him "Are you sure that one is only fifty cents?" He'd said it was and started to dig out some change from his pocket.

While paying, Mom glanced up at the computer that kept track of the total. She said very seriously "Son, that soda is $60.43. Are you sure you have enough?" I looked at my mother bewildered, then down at our full cart of groceries. Before I could say anything, my brother nodded, giving the indignant response of "Yes, mom!" Again I blinked and caught the eye of the cashier, who was trying to hide a smile. I tried to whisper "Mom!" so that she would realize the mistake. When she did, she and I both actually laughed out loud. My brother remained oblivious, and the cashier calmly rang up the soda to fifty-six cents. I commend him for only cracking a smile! :)

Chair Wars

Of all the cats we've had, only two have been outdoor cats. All the others have lived inside the house with us. For those who don't know, cats have a mind of their own. When they decide something belongs to them, there's no taking it away without a fight. The cat we have now is no different, and the thing she's decided to claim is my mom's favorite chair. Whether someone's sitting in it or not, our cat Mysty will climb up onto the back of the chair and make herself comfortable. That's usually the sign that whoever's occupying it should move before they get whacked in the face by an angrily swishing tail.

Our cat Mysty and me

The other day, Mom decided to be just as stubborn as her cat. I've often held to the belief that pets and their owners tend to share many similarities. This day was the perfect example. Mom took her coffee, like she does every morning, and sat in her favorite chair. I took a seat on the couch beside it to visit with her while she enjoyed her morning. We were in the middle of a conversation about my brother when Mysty decided she wanted in on our little sit down. She jumped up onto the chair and curled up behind Mom's head. Neither were phased. I watched Mysty stare at Mom's ponytail while she sat and talked. When her head moved, the ponytail moved, and Mysty's eyes followed it. I started to get nervous, but finally after several minutes, Mysty relaxed and looked out the window instead. I relaxed too and focused again on the conversation. Another ten minutes passed without event when suddenly movement caught my eye. From behind Mom's head, Mysty slowly raised a paw. The image of Mom raising her hand to swat a mosquito flashed through my mind as I watched. Then, before I could say anything, Mysty swatted Mom's head like a fly. Mom yelped, jumping forward in the chair. Mysty only stared at her, as if daring Mom to return to the chair.

In the end, Mother was victorious over cat when she shooed her away and reclaimed the special spot. But that wasn't the last Mom heard of Mysty's attack. That same day, my brother's English assignment in school was to write a rhyming poem. He wrote the following:

I have a little gray cat

Who sits where my mom sat.

She swats at Mother's head

And takes the chair instead.

Elmer's Not Our Friend!

A story from my mother: I'm very particular with how I place my furniture. Especially in the tv room because there's not much space and it doubles as our craft room. I had a couch that faced the tv and two chairs facing towards the couch so that people could actually have a conversation. I wanted to teach my girls that the tv was not the center of the space, but that what was important was the people with you. But every time I came into the room, the girls would have rearrange all the furniture so that everything faced the television. I kept fussing at them about it because I'd move everything back and the next day it'd all be moved again. I've give them another lecture and the next day it'd happen again. The girls never listened. It was my four year old little son who was paying attention to my lectures. And he wasn't even the one doing it.

I guess I'd fussed at them enough that for a while the chairs weren't moved. The next week, after a blissful seven days of my furniture staying as it should, I was vacuuming the tv room. I went to move the chairs to vacuum beneath them and I couldn't move them. I thought maybe they must have been heavier than I remembered so I asked my oldest daughter to help me move the chairs. I got on one side and she on the other and we lifted. Up came the chair...and the carpet!! All four legs of the chair were stuck to the carpet!! I got down on the floor and found, to my horror, that under all four legs of each chair someone had put large quantities of Elmer's glue!

I look at my girls, who immediately gave indignant response of how they'd never do such a ridiculous thing. Then my son piped up, all proud of himself. "I did it, Mommy!" I looked at him, bewildered, and demanded to know why. He explained with a smile "So they can't move the chairs anymore."

Charming Denim

About three months ago, my mom made four denim bags for my cousins. They were cute tote bags to carry their Bibles and notebooks in for church. She used old jeans and skirts to put these bags together, and the finished products were adorable. There was a ballerina bag with a tutu frill around the top. A robot bag that was absolutely to die for. A pink bag with flowers, made out of one pink jeans that, ten years ago, had been my absolute favorites. And an elegant pink and white bag for the oldest. All of them were bags I would have paid good money to own for myself. They were beautiful. Each bag had it's owner's name embroidered on the top. My mom got a fancy embroidery machine for Christmas a few years back, and she loves using it! She used it for these bags and has been exploring different uses for it ever since. When she saw me admiring my cousin's bags, she offered to make one for me. I had a raggedy pair of shorts that were ready to be recycled, but I didn't want to give them up just yet. She said "Oh, we can make a bag out of that! It'll be cute!" For the next several days she and I looked through hundreds of designs, trying to pick out the perfect one for my bag. I finally convinced her that I liked the picture of a girl, standing in the wind with the word "Charm" written next to her. She agreed that it looked very me, and began to plug the design into the embroidery program.

This machine is fantastic. All you have to do is put your design into the computer, send it to the machine, and the machine does all the work. Changing the colors is really the only thing you have to do manually, so it's nice to put it on and let it run while you do other things. This is exactly what my mom did when she began to embroider the lady on my bag. Every now and then I'd poke my head in to check on it, but I had other things to do as well. My grandparents were coming over for supper and I was helping mom prepare. It was a busy night that flew by in a rush. By the next morning, I'd almost forgotten about the little embroidered lady.

I was in my room just before lunch when I heard mom and grandma talking. "It's hardly noticeable." I heard grandma saying.

"But she'll be so disappointed!" Mom's voice answered. I walked out and smiled at them both.

"Morning!" I went and sat down on the chair nearest the cutting table where Mom and Grandma both stood. I hardly noticed my jeans, folded discretely under my mother's hand. Both women turned and looked at me. Grandma smiled and greeted in turn, moving to sit in another chair across the room. Mom still stood at the table. She greeted me as well but the room was obviously tense. I looked between them both and asked "What happened?" Obviously something had. Mom smiled a little awkwardly, the way she does when she's trying not to laugh. She walked towards the kitchen calling "Nothing!" I was surprised, but noticed my jeans and decided to take a look anyway.

"Is this my bag?" I asked. Mom hurried back towards the table.

"No. No! Shoo!" she exclaimed but I'd already opened the jeans to expose the finished embroidered lady. Mom looked upset, and tried to explain "I didn't have the right colors, but that looked close enough when I compared them!" She'd gotten the shadowing too dark, both under the skirt and under her arm. I stared at the design for a minute before looking up and smiling a little.

"It's okay, mom. I'll just tell everyone she's French."

Intro and Explination

From Me to Mommy is a a blog written by me for my mother. It is a place to share all of the things that I do with my mother and all the ways that I find myself becoming like her. My mom is an amazing woman and she's lived an amazing life. I'd love to be half as creative as she is! All my life she's tried to convince me to do any number of crafts and activities with her. Now that I'm old enough to understand and enjoy them, it's my pleasure to help her and to share our little creations with you!

This blog was inspired by my aunt and her many blogger friends who write about their adventures raising their children. They put so much into us, and I wanted to be able to give back. So this is me, giving back to my mother, and having fun doing so.