a little inspiration

We have been going a mile a minute since the weather has turned.  Outside as much as possible and running, jumping and riding.  The Bug wore holes in shoes riding his rocket back and forth to the playground.  I've been feeling melancholy with the news from Japan and trying to keep focused on the here and now.  School is going so fast and offering so much information.  I am starting to wonder how much space is in my brain anyway.  I am feeling quite ambivalent about everything except crocheting and sewing.   At least with those things I know I really want to do things.  I even finished crocheting a tank top last night. One of the things I always go to when I am feeling lost or confused is Jane Austen.  Weirdly, I only started reading her books about three years ago.  I started with Pride and Prejudice .  I think that is how you determine which of her books is your favorite.  The one you start with is the most special to you....

I can tell Spring is imminent when projects are just spilling out of my brain into reality without being able to stop them.  Yesterday I started thinking of a skirt I wanted to make and by the time I was in bed it was done.  No hesitation, no pattern, no fear of mistakes.  Not that there weren't any mistakes, just that I didn't let them stop me. But, I don't have any pictures of that yet so let's look at the cardigan I finished a couple of weeks ago.  This was a very fast, satifying project that I had added to my que in ravelry in September 2009.  It took me all this time to work up the nerve to make it and it really only took two weeks of working to finish it (and I basically took a week off in the middle.)  So easy.  I am thinking of using the pattern and altering it into a dress.  Sounds cute right? And then there are E's new pants.   I got the pattern from Dana .  It was the first thing she put up for Celebrate the Bo...

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath.  So I thought I wouldn't keep you in suspense any more. Here it is!  I want to tell you about how it came to be- are you ready to listen to a convoluted history of how my brain works?  If not, just look at the pretty pictures. First- I love Alicia Paulson .  You all know her, right?  She makes all these beautiful things with little squares full of flowers and pink and purple.  I always want to do one of these projects when she shows them but let's face it: one- I am not so girly, two- I live with a grown (very wonderful and sensitive but still a) man and a little boy who is showing me each and every day how little boy he is.  Yesterday he bit into his first earthworm.  Today he wanted to go find more.  I did make that last quilt , which was very likely Alicia's fault.  I love it too. Two- I then found this basic quilt style done for boys.  It was already sold when ...