Passion Plus

Whenever I see an exotic or unusual looking plant or animal, I think how much fun God must have had creating all the incredibly diverse things on this planet.

Which is why the passionflower always draws my thoughts heavenward.  Isn't this blossom incredible?    It's like something out of Dr. Suess world, on steroids.  Passionflowers have intrigued me for a long time...

Which is why I made these pillows from passionflower fabric back when we lived in Hawaii.  I couldn't bear to get rid of them when we moved out of our house (which still has the coordinating drapes hanging over all the windows on the main floor) so I keep them as a reminder of living in Tropical Land.

And because I love passionflowers.  Art imitates life once again.

So here is my collection of homage-paying pillows dedicated to the wild and wonderful passionflower.

And thank you, my flower friend, for proliferating so abundantly across the little arbor above our garden gate.  You're beautiful.

Ah, I have so many things to post about but I don't have photos of much of it yet.  It's been a very, very busy week what with the start of school and all.  I always underestimate the time it takes to get all the school supplies in order and labelled, all the clothes washed and backpacks dragged out of the closet, and all the forms to fill out.  Not to mention the back-to-school sewing and school clothes/shoes shopping.  Then there are the open houses and meet-the-teacher events, and the fun with shot records.  Oh - and soccer has started up again for Eliza and Hyrum (same practice times, different school locations...sigh).

I spent over 3 hours at the medical clinic today dealing with shot records for Hazel to enter preschool.  Because I neglected to acquire her shot record from Hawaii, or else I lost it in one of our moves last year.  I'm so organized and my brain works so well now that I have no recollection of even having a shot record for her.  Long story short, she ended up getting another grouping of shots that they didn't have a record of so she can go to preschool. 

Here she is eating a cupcake that I made after we got back from the medical clinic as a reward for being such a brave girl today.  I had explained that they were going to put medicine in her leg so that she wouldn't get sick and miss out on preschool, which she was happy about. 

I helped hold her down during injection time, but she only cried for a couple of seconds.  Then she stopped and said thoughtfully, "Ouch!"  After inspecting her band-aid, she climbed down from the bed/bench thing and, in an indignant tone, pointed to her band-aided leg while declaring "OUCH!" accusingly to the lady who had given her the shot.

I'm not doing the moment justice - it was SO funny.  The lady started cracking up laughing but Hazel was still not amused, and referred to her owie several more times while glaring at the lady.  Hazel's speech is still pretty minimal, but she can definitely get her point across.

Just prior to the shots, Hazel was fascinated by a baby boy who was in the waiting room.  She climbed up on my lap and wanted me to hold her like the other mommy was holding her baby, which I gladly did.  Then Baby Boy's mommy started talking about how Baby was spitting (drooling) all over her shoulder.

The next thing I know, "baby" Hazel was spitting all over my shoulder too.  But it wasn't drool, it was the emphatic expectorating kind of spit with sound effects and everything.  It was funny the first time, and all the moms in the room were cracking up, which was a mistake because then darling Baby Hazel wouldn't stop spitting on my sweater for several minutes.  At that point it obviously became not so funny (to the rest of us, at any rate), but she finally stopped when I remembered about the cupcakes I had promised and used that as leverage.  I heart bribery.

I also heart preschool, which both Hazel and I are very excited about.  Mommy is going to get a few half-days a week to accomplish her work without a million interruptions and clean-ups, and Hazel gets to go to a wonderful facility with 2 fantistic teachers and lots of fun toys and activities.  I haven't had any regularly-scheduled time without at least one child under my wing (read: attached to one or all of my limbs and/or screaming bloody murder and/or dumping-smearing-dismantling objects) for 8 years now, so this is a wonderful new world of opportunity for me.  And let's be honest: we all love our children more than life itself but I think it's pretty safe to say that most, if not all moms, breathe a sigh of relief (at least with partial lung capacity) when school starts again.  Am I right?

So here's to a new school year, new opportunities to sew and create for, and a big pack of holidays just around the corner.  But more on that later...for now I'm just enjoying sub-90* weather (for the past 2 days it has been a blissful 70 to 80ish) and September cinnamon and apples in the near future.  And a cleaner house - I've spent part of each day this week trying to dig ourselves out of summer clutter, dusty furniture,  popsicle-sticky floors, loads and loads of dirty laundry, incredibly smeary windows, etc.  Tomorrow, after 2 soccer games, an ice-cream party, and a birthday party, plus an evening meeting, I hope to tackle bathrooms and the bedrooms.  Fun, fun.  Now would be a good time for my fairy godmother to appear and grant me maid service for the rest of my life.  Heck, even if it only lasted until midnight I'd be happy. 

Have a great weekend everybody!  Go hug a passionflower vine for me, okay?

Comments

[Karin van D.]

Oh, I can totally imagine how she must have looked saying 'ouch' to that lady. Very funny! I wish her lots of fun in school and for you lots of free creative time ofcourse. I can't wait to see what wonderful things you will create in this new space of time :-)

[April Howard]

Shelley - I so remember the days when I was excited to have some time to myself!! Don't blink or your oldest will be in high school :) Time sure does seem to fly once they're all in school! Congratulations on all you successes and best of luck to you!

[christine]

those pillows look wonderful and so does hazel's skirt. what fabric did you use on the skirt?

[shelley]

Christine,
Hazel's skirt was made with fabric from Heather Bailey's latest line, Nicey Jane. The pink and red polka dot ribbon was purchased at Michael's craft store. Glad you like it! Hazel does too - she wants to wear it all the time.
-Shelley

[alisamm]

I've only commented once or twice in the whole time I've been following your blog. I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy your writing, photographs, and sewing. I picked you for a Beautiful Blog Award over on my blog. I hope that's okay. I just really wanted to share your great blog with others. You can take a look at here if you'd like...

http://doodledaisystudio.blogspot.com/2010/09/thanks-bugaboo.html

[Jessica Byrom]

Hi there

I have a huge favour to ask! (Odd asking a favour of someone you don't know!).... do you happen to remember the name and fabric house of the passion flower fabric? I fell in love with that fabric a few years ago and have desperately been trying to find some - even if its just a meter, but i can't for the life of me remember who made it.... although i think it was just called Passion Flower.

Thanks so much! And what a lovely blog you have!

Jess

[shelley]

Hi Jess -
It's by P Kaufmann, and you're in luck - I have a little more than 2 yards in my stash if you'd like to buy it from me, plus some window panels already sewn if you're interested. Please email me (the contact me button at the top right sidebar) and we can work out the details.
Thanks! Shelley