Zen Project

I've been working on what I call my "Zen Project" for a couple of weeks now. When Will started taking more regular naps, and I started anticipating (not pleasantly) taking him to church, I couldn't help remembering my Quiet Book from when I was little. I LOVED that thing. It kept me busy every week at church. And I thought, "It's too bad I don't have that for Will." 

And then I remembered that I can sew.

Most of these ideas are based off designs I found on Pinterest, so I'm including a link to my sewing board where they can be found, here.

This is the inside cover put together just before sewing it and the outside cover together. On the left is part of the first page of the quiet book, and on the right is a big pocket for a coloring book or board book. The spaces on the reinforced spine are where the binder rings slip through. I based this design off a couple of books I saw on Pinterest. I lined each side with fusible fleece for body and structure.

Here's the cover all sewn together, turned right-sides out and edge-stitched, rings in place, and ready to fill. I sewed the button on after it was filled to make sure the placement worked.

Name Page. The letters store in the pocket and velcro into place. The buttons all slide on the ribbons. Weee!
My pages are 10x10" and made on extra-heavy interfacing fabric (Pellon). I machine or hand-stitched everything. Nothing is glued or ironed on. Basically because I don't trust glue, and I hate ironing, though I did iron on the fusible fleece for the cover. I used fray-check for ribbon edges.

Stoplight Page. This was a basic template. I added the pocket and words, and the "hanging wire" look. The lights snap on.

Dump Truck Page. This one was pretty fun. The basic template was a solid-pieced truck and load, with wheels that turned. I loved the big wheels, but wanted more. I made everything bigger, then made the dumper into a pocket with a removable load, and hinged it using two buttons (one in front and one in back). I hope it's sturdy enough! The wheels button on and off and turn great in that mud. Vroom.

Flower Page. All the templates I found for the classic flower page had them in a vase. But I wanted them in the dirt. So I layered brown woven ribbon and "planted" those beauties. All the colors can mix and match.

Matching Page. I made this one up. Will loves peek-a-boo, he loves finding things, and as he grows he'll learn matching skills. Cars, penguins, bears, oh my! It was fun to pick out the little buttons.

Grocery Store Page. This template was for a bushel of veggies and fruit. I LOVE the patterns. But I wanted a step up from the bushel. So here we are in the grocery store. I love sales.

Hamburger Page. This is another idea I saw and changed it up. Will loves burgers and fries. The burger-building items store in the cup. 

Shapes Page. I struggled with this page. At first I had all the shapes attached to the pocked with ribbons. But that made a big jumbled mess. So I cut the ribbons off. I can totally see that semicircle getting lost first. I guess I know where I can get another one, huh?

Counting Page. This came straight from the template. I liked the simplicity of it.

Dress-Up Page. This is probably my favorite page. The only change I made was to make the facial features closer to Will's, and I created a better treasure box for the loot. Super fun. The hard part was stopping myself from making a dozen more dress-ups. I may add a few later. Scuba gear, football helmet...I drew out a template for a luchador mask...

Bedtime Bear Page. Who wouldn't want to put a soft teddy to bed? The bear and the page on the right is the original template. I added a toothbrush, a bottle, and a storybook. After all, Will loves routine.

The book has fabric pages and a real story that I wrote.
"Sweet dreams...Sleep tight...I love you...Good night."

Zipper Page. I had to throw one more page together so the bed page had a "back" and could go in the book. I'd found these zippers so I sewed them on. And I thought, "BO-RING." So I thought and I thought.
Then I remembered that I can draw.

Now, it's one of my favorite pages. Yay!

And here we are! The beginning of Will's Quiet Book! The button is really the color of that green ribbon. Not sure why it showed up chartreuse. ANYHOO...I made one engineering mistake. I should have made the cover about two inched longer on each side so as the book fills up with pages on the 3" rings, those that rise up in the middle won't stick out. But I'm not too broken up about it. I love how everything turned out!

I can't wait to show it to Will. And it was so great to create something with my hands again. It really helped me destress during nap time, and it also gave me an opportunity to think about the stories I will write next. After I finished each page, I would look at it lovingly and say to myself, "Will is going to tear this apart." Then I would add it to the pile and allow that to be okay. I didn't make it for a museum. I made it to be loved.

Blankets, Books, and Time

This happened on Twitter.

 Define "soon."

In the Lord's time. Right? Isn't that what I've been learning? In the Lord's time. What about cookie time...? 

While we wait for Travel Approval (which, by the looks of things should come this week) I've been busy. And I hesitate to share. Because part of me says, "Wait, because it might fall through. Wait, because last time you shared everything and it fell apart. Wait, because it's a risk. It's all such a risk."

But I made these things and I'm filling time and I'm preparing anyway. It's that whole "try" thing. I have to try. Again. So here we go again. And we're so close. And I want to give people hope. People who might have had things fall through. People who might be afraid to try again. People who are praying for us.

So I'll share.

I searched high and low for a baby book for adoptive families. I found very few, but I really like this one. I'm eager to start filling it in for Will, but I can't bring myself to start it until we have him in China. Until the papers are signed and he's ours.

But I can't wait to fill it in. All of our kids have a baby book. I at least did that.

I finally made a crib quilt. All the other kids had so many blankets and quilts. Will has three. So I made him this and I'm working on another, because who doesn't like soft comfy blankies?

I had a coupon for a free photo book from Shutterfly. So I gathered some pics and made one for Will. We'll take it to China and look through it and hopefully get him used to seeing our faces. Again, I made one of these for XinQin, so it's kind of hard to share it, but it's a sweet little book. 

It makes me smile.

Many people might say we are almost there. We are almost to the finish.

But I know better. 

We will be strangers to Will. We look different, we smell different, we sound different. People who have cared for him, who he has seen every day, who have fed him and put him to bed will be handing him over to us. He will, naturally, not be sure of us. We don't plan on getting much sleep. We do plan on comforting him and showing him he can trust us to be good to him, to feed him, to love him. To make him smile. To play. 

To not leave him alone.

His little body will need to adjust to our food, our drink, our medicine. Our time zone.

These are not things I worry about. Much. He is very young, and in that way, time is on our side.

But when people say we are almost to the finish, I know better.

We are almost to the starting line.

So come on, Starting Line.

Get here already.

(in the Lord's time, of course)

Oh please, oh please.

Yard Sale & Adoption Fundraiser

This Saturday is our big ol' yard sale/fundraiser. Seven years of accumulation spread out in front of our house for the whole world to see. Not the whole world. A portion of it. A teeny, tiny, little--okay you know what I mean. I have a lot to do, of course.

So I'm blogging.

Included in our Yard Sale of the Decade (really because I don't want to do this again soon) is a Bake Sale, run by my 11 year old who makes the best cookies around. We will have Mrs. Field's recipe cookies, my famous lemon bars, peanut butter bars, and some mini loaves, if I didn't already pack my mini loaf pan . . . hmmm. But a nice assortment of baked goods will be for sale.


We will also have an array of hand-sewn items made by me. Featured are the jewelry rolls everyone seems to LOVE. They are pretty great. These are a smaller version I made up. Four vinyl pockets in stead of six, and narrower. But still the same length to hold your necklaces in the large pocket after you've clasped them around the ribbon band at the top. See all the pretty colors I'm working on? Fabulous gift item, folks. I will also have a few pretty skirts and aprons to sell as well. 100% of the profits from these items will go toward the adoption. My sister, Shelli, even donated most of the gorgeous fabrics I'm using.

large 22.00 (includes S&H)

small 17.00 (includes S&H)

ALSO, I will have a book signing table with copies of OF GRACE AND CHOCOLATE (Whitney Award Finalist 2012) and THE ORCHARD (just out this year) for sale. I will even sign them for you if you'd like. You can click here for more information on these books. A large portion of my sales earnings will be going to the adoption, so you really are supporting two dreams when you buy a copy or two of my books at the sale or at bookstores or online. And thank you!

Well, I've got to get back to work. After all the hub-bub dies down I will be posting more about Kickyloo hand-sewn items for Christmas ordering, so keep that in mind for your holiday shopping!

Xie xie ni.

Thank you.