Last Sunday.........evening

Of A Sweet Lady & Two Quilts

I promised my girls new quilts for their birthdays this year. I procrastinated, as always and got distracted by other more interesting hobbies. I panicked the day before Arianna's birthday. I had nothing to show ....... not even the fabric for her quilt! While fidgeting for a valid excuse, I had a brainwave. It was one of those A-ha! moments. I made her card and wrote her "I Owe You A Quilt" on it. I promised that it will be done by her next birthday. Smart, huh? When Erica celebrated her birthday last month, I was in the exact helpless nothing to show situation due to procrastination. This time the problem magnified ....... I am owing TWO quilts!!

After the numerous gentle reminders from my younger girl (the more outspoken one) turned into, "Mommy, I think I am going to freeze tonight. My quilt doesn't cover my legs anymore!". I knew ran out of excuses and used up all the chances my girls gave me. I had no choice but to get my act together and whip up the more than 6 months overdue quilts. I googled and read through magazines for inspiration. When I saw this from one of my favourite sewing sites, the search was over. I love the cut edges around each square. It kinda gives the quilt a nice edgy feel. I learnt that this type of quilt is known as a rag quilt. I am such a frog in the well, never seen a rag quilt before!

The next step was to search for affordable fabric that I like. Fabric hunting is a nightmare in this country because handmade stuff is not big here. There are only a few tiny craft shops with limited fabric choices, and their pricing is outrageous. It is way cheaper for me to purchase fabric online even after shipping cost. I was whingeing about my "fabric problem" at a moms forum that I am a part of, and a super sweet lady (thank you, again) sent me an email offering me her box of flannel that she has been hoarding for years. She told me how I would be doing her a huge favour by making them into quilts for my girls. Awww ..... I was so touched by her generosity. When I got the box of flannel from her I went to work immediately. After hours of cutting, pinning, sewing and more cutting, pinning, sewing for many, many hours, I finally finished both the quilts. All in all it took about a week in between household chores and mommy duties. I was pretty pleased with myself. It felt good to be productive.

Each time I make or buy something for Erica, she would tell me, "Mommy, I prefer not to have pink, red or anything too girly. Just something simple would do". Her eyes sparkled when I finished her quilt and she thanked me many times for it. I was thrilled that she likes it. She is so much easier to please.

Arianna's pink and girly quilt. We were short of the red-printed flannel, so the boarders of her quilt is blue. She was not pleased about it at all but the iron-on owls saved the day. Having an opinionated child can be a nightmare, at times.

Dominic & Felicia

Happy 3rd birthday, Cutie Pies!!! Can't wait to see you guys in 2 weeks time. I am counting the days!!

"Sunglasses" removed - parents' permission obtained.

every Saturday.......

Just before going to bed last night, I can't help thinking about how our Saturdays used to be like before the girls. It was so different, definitely not with so many back-to-back activities planned. We used to be able to sleep-in and wake up just in time for the last order of "Big Breakfast" at our favourite cafe. Then it was off to the bookshop (dh's favourite hangout), followed by walking around the mall (my favourite pastime) before heading home with some rented movies. Then we often had Pajamas Saturday where we would stay-in the entire day in our pajamas and survive solely on crackers, cheese, diet coke and beer. We love the "heck care and do what you like" flexibility that we had.

Many things changed when we became parents, including our weekends. Even though parenting is very fulfilling it comes with quite a lot of work and sacrifices. I used to detest all the "added responsibility" and "lost of freedom" that came with being a mom, but once I "warmed up" to it everything just clicked. The warming up period did take quite a while though, haha! But I am glad that it did happen eventually. Now I can honestly say that I enjoy being mom to Erica and Arianna and would not trade it for anything in this world. And thanks to them I have become more organised and disciplined plus an ace at multi-tasking too. Seriously I do like the "new and improved" me and all the "mom's skills" that I have acquired. So how does our Saturdays look like now with a nine and twelve year old? Hm...... they do not belong to us anymore, the girls have taken over.

Saturday mornings are for grocery shopping with the girls and their dolls. The girls love to help out with our shopping list and would try to "sweet talk" us to put all their favourite not-so-healthy snacks into the cart whenever they can.

This is them filled with joy after their 3 hours stint with their Mandarin Chinese tutor. They have a love-hate relationship with the tutor - hate the tuition but needs it to complete their homework.

Saturdays are no cooking required days too. Think my dh wants a break from my simple and repetitive meals, haha! Whatever the reason I am thrilled because I don't like cooking (yuck!), even after so many years. We had porridge and silky smooth steam egg for lunch. The girls and their daddy polished up all the food in record. Poor things ..... so deprived of good food!

In the afternoon I dropped them off at a friend's place for their play date. Erica preferred to go home to read her storybook while I enjoyed some quiet time blog surfing and editing photos.

Any idea what is this? Its super yummy delicious according to Dave and the girls. To me its too sinful, not worth all the extra calories! Well, its called Milo Dinosaur, their current favourite drink, which basically is blended iced Milo with a huge scoop of Milo added on the top. This is their must have but I restrict it to Saturdays only, tea-time treat.

After dinner they would complete their homework (from school and their tutors) before going to bed. We do feel guilty putting them through dual curriculum at school, so we make it a point to ensure that there is sufficient play time and Sundays are strictly play and no "work". We try to hit our beds by 10pm so that we are up early Sunday morning for our family walk/jog/run session at the park.