V and Co: in the mens room

taken at the botanical gardens in Cleveland Ohio

there are times while in the middle of a situation that the thought crosses my mind: "this is going to make a great blog post when i have a little bit of time to forget the traumatizing feelings i am experiencing and it actually becomes kind of funny."
i had one of those situations just recently. and apparently its been made fun of in my family enough that i am now laughing about it as well.
so here's a little story.
the story about when i got stuck in the mens room for what felt like an eternity.

our family went on a mini vacation. we went to see some historical sites, and an art museum and then we hit up a botanical garden. all good fun was had, but these are not the situations i am talking about.

no, it happened on a sunday. we located and went to church services...apparently we feel no need to miss a church day even while on vacation. go us! we got our kids all situated in their sunday classes, the husband and i in ours. i, for one sunday, did not have the responsibilities i normally have every sunday for my own congregation. it was...nice to sit and relax and be taught to.
about 45 minutes into the lesson i look up and through the little window i see the sunday school teacher for the little kids flagging in my general direction. i look at her and make eye contact and she mouths "yeah you." but with a smile.
oh poop.
i get up and walk out.
she says with the nicest voice and huge sincere smile and eyes "oh, your little guy is crying in the bathroom. im so sorry!"

mom instinct takes over my body and i thank her and immediately run in the general area of where he is. i pause for a second as i realize the door is being held open to the mens bathroom by another little 9 year old boy and i enter as he says "he's crying. i think he said his stomach hurts but i can't understand him cause he's crying." i thank the little boy as i pass him, and he stands guard at the bathroom door for me.

i knock on the stall and my little guy whimpers while opening the stall gives me the saddest look and says

 

 "mom? i had an accident." and again the tears threaten to spill over.

i tell him "no worries we'll get you cleaned up and on your way back to the class in no time." huge smile. "i've got this, and it's not a big deal." yep. great mom moment cataloged for me.

and we do just that. we get him all cleaned up. as i turn around to pick up the dirty underwear to be thrown away, and make sure we've cleaned everything up, my little guy leaves the stall, washes his hands and....WALKS OUT. like super fast flash. i've never seen him move that fast. with the other boy perhaps? i dont know. but i turn around and right as i walk out of the stall from the corner of my eye i see some man facing the wall and going pee. i GASP, and put my hand over my mouth to catch any noise i'm about to make and quickly back into the stall lock it, and do what every respectable human being would do:

i quietly freak out and start waving my arms and yelling in my head "OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh... OH.MY.GOSH." and then i whisper "seriously? this can not be happening."
apparently classes had let out. and if i thought one man in the mens room was bad having a whole slew of men needing to go to the restroom was worst.
and that's what happened.
it went from bad to worse in seconds.

what in the. seriously? what did i do to piss off the gods and make this happen. it was my "I'm such a great mom moment i had just a few seconds ago wasn't it?
whatever the case, i had to assure that i was not noticed and had to make some life decisions and fast.

i could:
a.) call and walk and freak everyone the *swear word* out in mid stream as i run out...no thanks.
b.) call out and say please get out because i'm stuck in here and don't want to hear anymore about your guy's past weekend plans or that you had to fix your car's tires, and i really just want to forget this all happened."...nope.
c.) climb on the toilet so no one sees my cute high heels (seriously they were cute, but nothing a man would be caught dead wearing. well, maybe some, but i have too small of feet to have mens feet.)
hmmm what if i fall in the water? i don't want to ruin my shoes...so no go on that.

well that just left option:

d.) stand behind the toilet in the corner so the toilet hides my feet and close my eyes and mentally cry out to the heavens above to make this situation end and soon and with no more further embarrassment of someone finding me.

as i stood there i kept thinking. this.is never going to end.
things
got
worse.
apparently my son upon realizing that i wasn't right behind him when he left the bathroom, decided to wait for me outside in the hallway, and his MALE teacher came out to look for him to see why he hadn't gone back yet to the sharing time of sunday school that was about to start. when he kept telling him that "my mom is in the men's bathroom." the teacher came in with him and i heard my kid whisper "she's in there."
i mentally was screaming
NO NO NO!!!! WHY ME?!!!!
i would have come out except i knew there was a guy in mid stream in the next area. cause i could hear him peeing and i saw his shoes.
the teacher hesitantly said
"well, i don't think i see anyone in there...and you are doing okay now right?"
and my son answered "yeah." and then they left.
i was like "oh yeah who's a bad A now?! i totally positioned myself to hide behind this toilet LIKE A FREAKING PRO. booooyaaaa!"
wait i'm still stuck in the mens freaking bathroom.

oh and i stood there for what felt like an eternity. but was in actuality a total of 15 minutes.

then finally, FINALLY i heard the sweet sound of silence as everyone was heading to the next set of classes, and i counted to ten and RAN AS FAST AS I COULD OUT OF THE BATHROOM.
i serioulsy felt like i won!

what? i don't know but i WON DANG IT!!
i calmed myself down found my husband, sat down next to him and he was like "where have you been?"
and i was like "oh my GOSH! you would NOT believe what happened to me!" all in a whisper of course.
and as i told him the whole story in a high pitch whisper the husband looks at me and says one thing:

"only you."

yep. i guess.

and well now we have yet another "do you remember when mom..." story for the family history. booya.

V and Co: reverse hopscotch quilt top done

 remember when i mentioned my friend that was having her second boy but 8th child?
well i finished the quilt top for her little boy. and well now i wish i was having...no what the...no i didn't just think that! right? :O
moving along...

i took my instructions of hopscotch and reversed it.  i started with my star blocks...

but as i finished the stars i realized that i had a butt load of scraps left over in my simply color and simply style piles and wouldn't it be nice to actually use up some of those?? anyways, so that i could make a small dent into my scrap pile, i decided instead of doing the square in square block to just cut up my scraps and make a 9 patch with 4" blocks in their places.

 and well then i got this.
and what started off as my hopscotch quilt pattern ended up looking like a cross between a scrappy hopscotch and rachel's  moda bake shop book quilt.
we make a nice cross between the two quilts do we not? :) holla rachel!

as i work with both of my lines, i realize that they go quite nicely together. and well i kind of hope that this little guy and his many siblings like it as much as we like it over here.

whatever the case...it made me baby hungry. for like a second. don't tell anyone.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co.: how to: make flowers out of the lazy daisy hand embroidery stitch

 with our spring break in full swing over here, i kind of have forgotten how much longer "my things" took to get done when you are in the thick of things with the kids home and under your feet at every turn. and it's not like i can send them outside to run around as it's been pretty cold, and it's been raining/snowing off and on for the last week.
but today TODAY WE GOT A FULL DAY OF SUN!
i got a little bit of time while the kids were all doing their own things, and honestly i think we were all in such a good mood over the sun being out and about...we just sort of had one of those everyone harmonizing and loving each others company kind of day. i mean seriously we looked like one of the awesome episodes of the brady bunch.
oh don't worry the stepford family syndrome will diminish as we get used to having nice weather and then we will go back to being your average ordinary family with kids yelling "he's chewing his cereal SO LOUD MAKE IT STOP!!!!" and "DONT MAKE ME TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MISSING THE TOILET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT BY CLEANING IT!!" kind of stuff. you know. every day awesome sauce of being a mom. which i love cause really, i'm going to miss it when i don't have moments where i sit down and just stare at all of them in the same room in their own chaos. i've already experienced it this year with all of them being in school. but i digress. what was i here for before i make dinner and then run off to scouts?? oh yeah.

making my own little spring inside while the outside was still wintery.
okay so last time i showed you hand embroidery i showed you how to do the french knot. this time i'm going to show you my other favorite stitch: the lazy daisy.

 what you'll need:
-hoop (i have found my wood ones throughout the years at thrift stores)
-embroidery floss (mine is from sublime stitching)
-embroidery needle
-small piece of batting large enough to be inside your embroidery hoop
-small piece background fabric (mine is linen) same size as your batting piece
-erasable marking pen

- first you are going to place your  batting and fabric together with the batting on the bottom.
-place in the hoop so that it is super nice and tight. secure your hoop by turning the knob
-then you are going to turn your hoop around with the back facing you and you are going to cut off the excess batting and fabric.

 -with your marking pen make small circles. this will be your guide for the middle section.
-cut a piece of floss and just like we did in the french knot section separate two of the 6 threads in your floss.

 -make your first stitch by coming up from behind the fabric and batting. come through on the line of one of the small circles you drew.

 -go back down into the fabric RIGHT NEXT almost right on top of where you came through the first stitch.
-use your thumb to keep the start of the thread in place.

 -gently pull through most of your thread, leaving a loop on top.

 -bring the needle back up through the loop through the fabric and batting.

 -gently, GENTLY pull so your loop becomes flush with the fabric.

 -push the needle through down on the outside of the loop right next to where your inside the loop stitch was.

 -start all over again right next to the base of your first looped stitch.

 - something to keep in mind is how big do you want your loops to be. thats where you are going to place your inside the loop stitch.
-practice

 - i used the variegated thread for the multiple colored flowers.
-

- and i used my french knot to make a few fun little dots with the variegated blue thread on the bottom embroidery.
the daughter has already taken them to her room. i guess they will be going somewhere up in her room :) okay off to make dinner and then scouts. phew! 

V and Co: yesterday

yesterday we had a really cold morning...well for march it was cold and for me it most definitely was. it was 2 degrees and the fog had just burned off or moved on...and what it left behind was beautifully frost covered trees. this has got to be one of my most favorite things that happens in winter like weather. all the other crap could go away but the frost covered trees make me super duper happy. 

later today i am sitting with a friend that just had her gallbladder taken out. we are watching a chick flick and i am going to hand embroider a little spring-y type thing to help remind me that even though march looks like that outside...spring should be right around one of these corners...please??

a small how to on how to make my spring-y embroidery coming at ya on monday. :)  oh and stay warm if your outside looks like that too. and if it doesnt i don't want to hear about your fabulous weather. 

have a fantabulous weekend. we'll talk soon.

V and Co: making it reverse

pattern is hopscotch in reverse

 i have a wonderful friend who is celebrating having another little one come into their home. my friend is expecting her EIGHTH CHILD and second boy. yep. she has 6 girls and one boy in his teens. :) she's just one of those really good patient women that you just feel relaxed to be around and can feel peace whenever in her home. she's pretty darn amazing, and i'm super excited that they get to welcome another little boy to the mix.

but first things first:
 lets give you your winners.
i had two giveaways last week and so that means we have two winners!
for the sew red book celebrating women's healthy hearts with a wonderful book full of awesome projects the winner is:

 Judith said...

My granddaughter was born with a heart defect and has had three surgeries in the last five years. Today you could not tell that she has sick heart. She recently told me that she wanted me to be heathy and live long enough to enjoy my company. She wanted me to lose weight. She is only five years old going on twenty. What a beautiful child. I am walking more and watch my diet today. I keep healthy thoughts and motivate myself to try more things in life. Thank you for sharing today for sunny Texas, Judith

well judith, that's one special little girl you have there. :) 

thanks to the rest of you and your answers, some of you made my heart swell with good feelings and others made me laugh real hard with your answers. LOVED  reading them. thank you!! 

for the second giveaway celebrating moda's friendship quilt along and the winner of two of my ombre jelly rolls and thread to match from aurifil and a PDF pattern of their choice is:

 Mark and Annette said...

Would LOVE to win the pattern for the Hampton Weekend Bag - thanks for the giveaway! I love all you do and finding your blog over a year ago pushed me to learn to sew!

yay annette! well that's cool! that really is one of the best compliments i get! i love that i inspire others into this wonderful world of sewing! :) 

 okay now back to my friend with 6 girls and one boy welcoming her second boy. there's a lot of pink in that house, and american girl dolls, and every imaginable princess dress up type things...so i wanted to make this little guy coming into this world of pink a little baby quilt that his sisters (and i'm sure older brother) could swaddle him up in as they i'm sure will all take turns loving the crap out of that baby boy.
i decided to make him a smaller version of my hopscotch quilt and in reverse so that the stars were white and the background was all colors of blues, grays, greens, yellows and a little bit of orange in there.
i hope to finish the quilt top this week, perhaps even quilt it if i can. i'll make sure to show the progress.

we've had a couple of snow days. today, we had another one.

 but honestly i really don't mind. i love being inside my home. i feel now as we have been here now for a year and a half...

that i am finally finding my decorating groove for this house. isn't it weird how each house has a different personality that you have to work with.
it's been a slow process with this one. but i think i'm finding things that i love, to fit in this house.

i've got one big project that i hope works to go where that "seek happiness" picture hangs. we shall see if i get to it before the summer...it involves painting and right now painting in the cold in the garage sounds like yuck. so instead i'll keep sewing for new babies and oh yeah that thing coming around the corner...spring market. :)
we'll talk soon.