Weekend Clicking

I know this isn't the weekend yet, but I have so many tabs open that my computer is leaning backwards. So, in an effort to clear the clutter, let me share the week's wanderings with you.

First up, don't miss Ann Voskamp's post on ways to short circuit every married fight from now until forever. Well, I guess I can't speak to every every married fight, but I will tell you that I told my older sons to read carefully. I can't speak for all women, but I do know from my limited personal experience that Ann articulates beautifully what I wish I could say and what I dearly wish men would know: Pull her close.  Read it. Print it. Pray it together. Five ways to fight through to a loving marriage: Five things that truly could change your lives. 

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. I unexpectedly found myself talking about homeschooling more than I have in a long time and more than I ever have with people who really don't know much about it. It's been good for me, a chance to thoughtfully reflect on what this lifestyle has meant for our family and how grateful I am for the freedom to live and breathe and educate the way we do. Just as the homeschool legislation has sparked interest and conversation, so has the misguided HHS mandate. 

I find myself  being the woman who is obviously in that 2% minority of Catholics who don't contracept. Oh, so that's what it looks like. Note to self: Stand up straight. Remember lipgloss.

But that 2% number is ridiculously skewed. We're having a rousing discussion of that on Facebook. (If you aren't a FB friend, just send me a request. Then, the link should work.)

There are so many layers to this issue. First, there is the layer of who thought of it and how it oppresses religious liberty and how clearly the bishops have articulated their objections. Then, there is the opportunity to express the personal side of the Church's teaching.

Just as the Tebow Bill has shed a light on homeschooling and given us the opportunity to broaden and deepen understanding, so has the HHS mandate given us the chance to affirm that yes, yes, indeed; the Church speaks loudly and clearly against contraception. The Church does not oppress women. The Church respects women and protects women. Sometimes, it's helpful to pass along a witness from an unlikely source, a writer who is used to expressing himself in clear, quantifiable terms. This piece touches on the nuts and bolts of why the Church has been right on this issue all along. I like the piece; I really do. But it doesn't begin to touch on the nuances of what this lifestyle--and all its joys and all its sacrifices-- do to the heart of a marriage and the soul of a mother. I pray that the current crisis in our country will give us opportunity to bear witness to God's love and providence when we live true openness to life.

Finally, these two newsworthy items--the Tebow bill and the HHS mandate--have me reflecting in a very personal way this afternoon. I think back to the fall of 1991. I had miscarried in November. I was terrified. I'd been warned that chemotherapy would leave me unable to bear children. Despite the fact that our second child had been conceived just seven months after finishing chemotherapy and radiation and was delivered healthy and whole nine months later, I was sure that this third baby, lost so soon, was a harbinger of things to come.

My doctor strongly encouraged contraception, at least for  a few months. We had stepped out in faith. We were committed to the teachings of the Church. God had brought us so far, taught us so much throughout our cancer experience. We were not turning back now. A baby was conceived the very next month.

I was sick, super sick, can't-pick-my-head-up sick. My doctor--a new one who is 110% pro life--suggested an early sonogram to rule out twins. I was 16 weeks pregnant. The radiologist saw one  baby.  He knew it was a boy. And he saw cysts on his brain. They were troubling, the radiologist related, because they could be indicators of Trisomy 18, a rare chromosomal anomoly. He warned us that we might never take our baby home from the hospital. And he shared that some couples choose to abort.

 In those days, we didn't have a PC; there was no surfing to research Trisomy 18. Instead, on nights when I taught childbirth classes in an OB's office, I pulled medical textbooks and journals from the shelf and read everything I could. I was so scared we'd lose this baby. 

He was born on the Feast of the Guardian Angels, a Sunday that year. His head was undeniably large and my pediatrician had me back to her office every week that fall and winter to measure him. He struggled hard through January and February and a nasty bout of RSV is still with him when he pushes himself to run faster and farther. But run he does. He has no extra chromosomes. Not only did he leave the hospital, he left just 8 hours after he was born.

He grew into a fine young man who has more courage than I can ever hope to have. As the spotlight shines on Patrick these days, and people keep mentioning him in the same breath as Tim Tebow, I am a bit struck by God's protection over my own fragile baby. Life is so precious. And I am ever grateful that God granted us the grace to allow Him to be in charge.

What if it had been Trisomy 18?  I can only hope that we would have responded with same grace Rick Santorum has.

In the News

The Virginia "Tim Tebow" bill passed the House of Delegates yesterday with a 59-39 vote. Hooray!

And the New York Times hung around my house for several hours yesterday to get their angle on the story. The article is on the front page of the print version and you can also read it here. 

Oh, and other linking to do: there's a Wednesday column at the Catholic Herald today. I wrote it about two weeks ago. It's all about Quiet. It hasn't been quiet since;-)

As always, please read. And thank you very much.

Happy Thursday, friends!

Really Noticing the Art in Our Homes

On a Friday in Ponte Vedra, far from the chill and ice of home, my family gathered in the oceanfront home of my Aunt Diane. We were far from the dining room table, from our books, from our schedules. But we were in full learning mode. We had a mission.

(That's a museum chair Nick. Careful.)

My aunt is the founder of the Thomas and Diane D Jacobsen Foundation; both her home and her office are hung with museum quality art. We had spent the previous day in the office, where Aunt Diane and her assistant Kelley gave us a tour of the more contemporary art hung there and illuminated the fine points of the "Art of Seating" chair collection which is traveling museums across the country. We had the opportunity to better understand how furniture, while certainly functional, is art itself. Kelley's children were there, too and we all were able to spend all the time we wanted to get up close and personal with some amazing art.

When Kelley asked us to meet her at my aunt's home the next day to help her with a project, we were all glad to go. Our assignment was to help write a scavenger hunt for various ages who might come tour the art in the home. School groups and adult fundraisers have been known to walk through each room, taking in the vast collection of mostly American art. Kelley thought we could help come up with some clues to send art lovers off on a search. 

I took Sarah and Mike took Karoline and the rest were on their own. We went from room to room, looking carefully at paintings, sculpture, and furniture, and recording clues that might lead a keen observer to find "our" art. We noticed that Sarah was drawn to dancers and is a big fan of sculpture. One of her clues was "The dancer who couldn't find her leotard." You can see the dancer on the table below.

(This painting was a huge favorite. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is the bedtime story of choice.)

We spent a couple of hours sitting in the living room, soaking up the view of the ocean outside and listening to Kelley and Diane as they applauded our clues and then told us so much more about everything we saw inside.

Most of us don't live in homes hung with fine art. But almost all of us live in homes with pictures on the wall and statues on the tables. How carefully do we look at the details of the art that graces our homes? One afternoon, gather all ages and send each child off with a pencil and paper. Challenge them write a clue about a favorite piece of art. And then another and another. Framed prints, photographs, folk art and embroidery, statues, even pottery can be considered. You do it, too. The idea is to look closely and notice.

Notice.  

(Needlepoint on a stool? Hmmm. Coming soon to a Virginia home we all know.)

Then, come together. Read one clue at a time aloud and see who can guess which piece it describes. Does anyone have something additional to add about that art? Is there a question raised that would prompt follow-up research? 

(That's the "Girl in the Red Shawl," my personal favorite, and Man with the Red Solo Cup, my other personal favorite.)

Often the familiar items that surround us almost every day go nearly unnoticed by the people who live with them. It is amazing how much we can appreciate the familiar when we take the time to really notice.

Pin It

Pretty Pillow Tutorial

 

I've been so looking forward to joining Sarah and Pam for Pinning it Down! Every Tuesday, they host a linking party so we can see what's happening in the real world after people pin great ideas to Pinterest. Sarah's hosting today. Do go visit; she's about to have a baby, so welcoming visiting bloggers is the perfect hostessing for her to do.

Pinterest is my favorite social network. Really. I just peruse eye candy. Conversation is lowkey and always friendly and I really do pin things that I turn around and do. Pinterest inspires me and lulls me into believing that if I can see it and I can pin it, I can do it. I might be delusional, but for now, it's working.

A few months back, I pinned an image of a pretty log cabin pillow from Soule Mama's site to my quilting pin board. The pillow caught my eye because it's made of Little Folks Voile. I love Little Folks so much that I have an entire pin board dedicated to just Little Folks Quilts. And I just might have a sketch of my own Little Folks Quilt (but it's a surprise, so shhh...) I like Amanda's pillow.

We have no throw pillows in our house. The dog ate all the covers. The dog now resides with Kristin. They're great friends. He's a very happy dog. Please, don't judge.

So, I've been thinking about all these naked pillow forms that I've stripped of their dog-chewed covers.

When I was stitching my Loulouthi cross stitch, various and every family member had an opinion. They ranged from "why bother?" to "what is that?" 

Because it's beautiful.

and

A Curated Bloom.

Those are the answers to the above questions.

One Monday morning I woke up so frustrated with the lot of them that I was determined to make something beautiful just to smooth my own ruffled feathers. I pulled from all the loveliness I'd stashed with Christmas money: the needlework to be the centerpiece, Loulouthi quilting cottons and velveteens, even some remarkable ribbon. And then, I just let my fingers go.

Several people asked for how-to details on the pillow cover, so I'm going to do my level best with an envelope pillow cover tutorial today. You might make an envelope cover out of just two pieces of fabric--a top and a bottom. The envelope part would be the bottom. I chose to make a log cabin square for the top piece. 

I trimmed my needlework to make it perfectly square. Unfortunately, in order to leave enough room for a seam allowance, I had to leave a wee bit of pattern from the adjacent design in the lower righthand corner of the piece. It bothers me a little, but not nearly as much as I thought it would.

Then, I cut a strip from Loulouthi Curated Bloom to frame it. My hope was that if the Bloom fabric rested right next to the needlework, people would stop arguing about what it was. This has not been the case, I'm sorry to say. Michael still insists he sees birds in branches. I keep insisting they are blooms. Alrighty then, I did my best there.

For the fabric to frame the needlework,  I fussy cut so that the whole bloom and the branches could be seen, even when sewn on with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Whatever that width is, that's what I cut and then I framed the top and the bottom of the needlework, sewed a 1/4 inch seam, and trimmed so it would be flush with the needlework on the sides.

The side strips of the same fabric are the same width as the others, trimmed to come to the top and bottom of the Curated Bloom strips.

I continued on in this manner, first cutting to fit the top and bottom and then cutting to fit the sides, choosing somewhat random widths. I just picked from a fat quarter bundle, as I went. This is a traditional log cabin square. {The pinned pillow has intentional wonky strips. That's not really my style. I like my strips square. I'm kind of straightlaced that way;-)}

The ultimate goal here was a square that measured 17 inches, because my pillow form was 16 inches square.

To make an envelope pillow case, measure your pillow from seam to seam and then cut the front cover to be one inch wider than your pillow on all sides. If your pillow cover isn't to be pieced (as mine is here), but is to be cut from whole cloth, that whole cloth square would be one inch larger than your pillow, both widthwise and lengthwise.

I decided to finish the square with ribbon because the ribbon was exactly the right size to make my square come out to 17 inches. This is a lovely idea when it's draped over the pillow form. It's not the greatest idea when it comes to sewing. All my log cabin seams are 1/4 inch seams. I was sort of in 1/4 inch mode when I came up with the ribbon idea.  I forgot that I 'd figured my measurements for the front square to account for 1/2 inch seams to sew the pillowcase top and bottom together. A 1/2 inch seam would have swallowed all the ribbon. In hindsight, a wider ribbon would have been more appropriate. In this case, I made my seams allowances smaller so that you can see more ribbon and I reinforced within the seam allowance at stress points to keep the ribbon from unravelling. It's beautiful, but it would fit just a little better if the seam allowances had been that 1/2 inch I had orginally planned. 

Once the front is finished to the rght dimensions, it's time to cut the back.

I used a luxurious piece of Loulouthi velveteen.

The back piece is cut one inch longer than the pillow form and four inches wider. Those four inches become the overlap for the envelope closure. (In my case, the pillow form is 16 inches, so the velveteen was first cut to 17 inches high by 21 inches wide.)

Lay the piece out with the long side on the top and the bottom and cut it in half from top to bottom. (I cut the 21 inch width to two pieces that were each 10 1/2 inches wide and 17 inches high.)

Turn one of the just-cut edges under 1/4 inch and press. Turn it under another 1/4 inch and press again. 

Sew the hem down close to the fold.

Repeat for the other just-cut edge.

Put the front cover on the table in front of you pretty side up.

Is it pretty side up?

Now line up one unhemmed edge with the edge of cover. Pretty side down. The pretty sides of the front and the back are facing each other inside. Pin carefully, matching it all up along the edges.

Line up the other unhemmed edge on the still exposed pretty side of the front of the cover. When you line up the raw edges of the front and the back, you'll find the hemmed edges overlap. This is a good thing!

(this picture is a corner folded over so that you can that at this stage the ugly sides show on the front and the back)

Almost finished:-)

Sew a 1/2 inch seam all the way around the perimeter of the cover. That's it,  just around the perimeter.

Trim the corners.

Turn it right side out. Stuff with pillow form.

See how pretty?

Easy. 

And so worth every single stitch.

Just because it's beautiful.

(Why yes! I do believe you're right, it does match the boxes in my sewing room.  Hmmm...)

Weekend Clicking

The Google Share feature is fickle. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I've been gathering some links here to share with you all at once. So if you have a little time for browsing this weekend, here some good places to go.

First, put away that guilt;-). In the comments here, there was a bit of a discussion of "mom-bloggging" guilt being the new brand of Catholic guilt. The Vatican encourages the presence of Catholics online. The Patheos piece is interesting and the comments are enlightening, but I don't think I agree with the author's perception of the blogosphere or the commenters' notions of moms who blog. (I do, of course, think we need to moderate our online time. I write about that particular topic all. the. time.)

And, to dovetail nicely with that, The Catholic Herald has highlighted some Catholic mom bloggers in a nice local piece. Click away; chances are good you'll find new inspiration.

Now, back away from your computer and pick up your camera. Kim has more weekend photo tips (from last weekend) and here's another quick tutorial. 

This is here, just because I didn't want to forget how much I want to make this bag this weekend. But I think I won't. Because I've started piecing a quilt for someone's bundle of joy. And that somoone keeps sending me texts about things like twinges and timaeable contractions. The bag can wait. Baby quilt, no?

Here's an interesting article about why adolescence seems to last forever these days. Did I mention that I know have four teenagers under roof. Um, yeah. I do.

Here's one about being married in sickness and health. I read this one with great interest because I've watched a similar situation in real life. "We cannot glibly dismiss her struggle, but neither can we exempt her from what God has permitted and gives her the grace to accept. Life is not always what we wish, but God can grant us a serenity and a courage to face life’s trials with faith and fidelity to the vows and commitments we have made."

Here's an open letter written by an 18-year-old to President Obama about the HHS mandate. Oh, but that all teenagers, could be so articulate and thoughtful.

I was going to highlight this one in pink and tell you how please I am that Susan G. Komen has decided not to fund Planned Parenthood. But now, that's old new already. Instead, I'll link to Kate Wicker, who highlights BlogHer's position on the whole matter and tells us about her courageous decision.

On a lighter note, this post  is pretty funny. Disclaimer: I totally love Pinterest. It's a fun dose of eye candy, a good source of recipes, a plethora of happy ideas. I like it way better than Twitter, which I keep trying to like, but fail miserably. Like the candy it is, I keep it in its place and I take a pretty healthy dose of realism along with my Pin Candy. This post cracked me up and I admit, I followed some of those pin links and pinned them myself.:-) 

Kelly never fails to strike a kindred spirit chord with me. I love this piece about how motherhood is really a total immersion project.

Please remember to continue to pray for Elizabeth DeHority. Follow this link for an update and then be sure to follow her link to see a most amazing video.

Finally, I think this piece is the perfect one to read as we look forward to Lent. I'm reading, re-reading and then journaling and praying. It's as visually beautiful as it is thought-provoking.