Polkadot Sparrow is FOR REALS!

Well faithful readers, I have some special news for you!

Polkadot Sparrow, my quilting blog, is REAL. It exists. And not just in the fantastical recesses of my mind. It's floating around in cyberspace, too! 

I am excited for this new adventure. And also grateful to all of you who have supported me in my endeavor (Tommy for snagging my site and giving me technical advice; Aunt Helen, Sarah, and HeatherN for rooting me on; and all you others who thought that this was a good idea). 

I'm hoping it's a smashing success! And if not, I'm still pretty darn proud of myself for crafting my blog banner in Photoshop. JB and I were actually wondering about paying someone to make a professional-looking one when the Lord inspired me to make this baby:

No, I am not a professional web designer. This was just a pretty little divine accident.

Feel free to comment on it all you want if you'd like. I love comments! :)

Diving into Blogland

Remember how I was going to start a quilting blog? 

Well, I really AM!!!

And that's why I haven't been burning up the pages of this blog. I've been busy sewing and scheming. 

The blog is not ready to hit the presses yet, but the gears are in motion. Since you guys have been so supportive of me, I thought I'd share my current banner design. I am not proficient with design stuff. I get ideas in my head but don't know how to make them in real life. So this isn't exactly what I had in mind, but what do you think? 

You can be honest. You can even make me your own banner if you're that motivated. haha. Though I know that you guys are like me and can only dream of being that web-design proficient. JB actually could have studied this in college and become really successful, if you ask me. Where is that dang time machine of ours when we need it???

Here are four quilting blogs that I follow, to give you an idea of what a successful blog is. One of these women have only been blogging for a year and they already have like 1,000 followers. Woah! 

Film in the Fridge (yes, people with film in the fridge are awesome)

Jaybird Quilts (no, I don't just read this one because "bird" is in the name!)

Red Pepper Quilts (this Aussie puts out more product in a month than I will in a lifetime)

Oh Fransson! (pattern and idea maven)


My blog will be a bit different since I will focus on current, modern stuff, but also antique quilts and patterns. And I will write stories about things that have a quilting angle in them. There are hundreds of sewing/quilting blogs out there. Mine will be the best. There. I said it. I know you were thinking the same thing. haha. 

Recovered from Bad Day

Thanks for your sympathies over my bad day. The ended up being better overall, which included:

1.) Finished piecing the top of Krystal's quilt, planned the backing, and got as far as I can on it before having to spend more money on materials. Yay!

2.) Kept to my new workout routine. It's nothing as intensive as Biggest Loser, but it's something that I can maintain. Though I'm still a little bewildered that I didn't lose like 30 lbs in the first week. Whaa? I have to workout continuously for the rest of my life in order to be healthy?? I can't eat 5 brownies a day anymore?? Agh!

3.) Tom Turkey visited us this week. He liked our yard, as he hung out in the garage and yard for 2 hours before I let Lucy out to chase him off. I had laundry to hang. And I didn't trust him not to peck Olivia's eyes out. And you can bet that Olivia would have tried to pet him. When she saw him out the window she cried, "Ducko, ducko!" over and over again (she now knows it's a turkey). She loves animals. Last week at my parents she kept trying to pet the band of wild calico cats that my Dad keeps. They'd come up on the porch and she'd yell, "Kitty!!!" and try to go out to pet them. She didn't understand why they kept running away. To be honest, I think even a tame cat would run away from such exuberant yelling. Poor Olivia. I guess we'll have to take her to a petting zoo some day.

4.) O got her teaset for her unbirthday (though there was a theftery fiasco involved in that, but this will be a positive blog post). Every morning when she gets up she remembers her new toy and cries, "TEApot! TEApot!!"

5.) A regular activity with O is to make tall towers that she can knock down. Today we built the tallest one yet, with our imposing and impressive Teapot topper. It lasted about 1 minute.

Name that Blog!!

Thank you for all of your kind words and support regarding my job search. In addition to making a new freelance contact (thank you, brother!), I got word today that I get a 3-week extension on unemployment! Aaagghh!!! :)

During my job search I have learned something startling about myself: I am not a risk taker.

Gasp!

Not being a risk taker is like being a stick in the mud, isn't it? It always annoyed me to have to deal with someone who was afraid to try something new--whether it be an ethnic dish, an unusual outfit, a new haircut, etc.

And now I've realized I'm one of them!!! Please don't judge me world! I didn't KNOW!!

Okay, so I do take some risks. In fact, I'll take just about any risk that doesn't involve money. (...or dining on animal brains...come on, people--that's disgusting!). I never took an unpaid internship in college. I never took a job that couldn't pay the bills, but that might advance me professionally. In college I never claimed a major (of the 4 or 5 that I chose) that didn't have a relevant job attached to it (no English major for me! "English" isn't a job. But Journalism, well, produces Journalists! And ironically, journalism is now a dying profession, too. Boo.) I have wanted to take photography classes but since a photography profession is extremely risky, since everyone does it, I didn't want to make an investment that wouldn't pay me back. 

But life is SHORT. And I don't want to be a wimp. 

So I am starting out on a venture that could fall flat on its face. Because of that, sometimes I do not want to start it. I want everything that I touch to turn into gold, and it's easier if you only touch sure things. Yet, I am going to make myself do this. 

I am starting a quilting blog. 

I have done a lot of research on making money blogging. I believe that I have all the necessary skills: writing, photography, a passion for my subject, interest in good website layout, etc. One question potential bloggers need to ask themselves is: would I do this, even if I didn't get paid? 

The answer for me is YES!!!!

It takes about 2 years before you start making $$ on a blog, and I am willing to invest that kind of time.

But I need help picking out a name! If you want to be a part of quilting history (as this is going to be the most fabulous, amazing, quilting blog EVER), give me your two cents! I am also open to suggestions. What do you think? 

I personally wanted SassySewNSew, but it's already taken. Many sites are. And there is already a popular site, "Crazy Mom Quilts," so I should avoid "crazylady" names.

Name that Job!

Oh, beloved readers. 

I need a job!

Just over a year ago I was laid off from my job. I was very fortunate to be able to collect unemployment compensation since then. It has paid our mortgage. 

However, the money train is going to run out in a couple of weeks and my prospects are still bleak. Now, my aim is not for you to feel sorry for me. My life is fantastic, except for the "no money" part. Lots of people have it way worse than me. But I do want to be honest about what's going on in my life.

Finding a job in any part of our country right now is difficult, I would imagine. But finding a job in Michigan is near impossible. Especially if you are me, and your skills are extremely common. I can write, proofread, take photographs, and be an administrative assistant, to name a few. None of these skills are very lucrative, and the workforce is flooded with people with the same qualifications. Right now being a hiring manager is like a being fisherman looking into the ocean and trying to pick out the best tuna fish, when they all look THE SAME on the outside. 

My job situation is also complicated, as I need to either work from home, or work 2nd shift, when JB is home and can care for Olivia. I am not against daycare. But I am against paying at least $800 a month for it. (I priced it before I lost my job. This amount is not an exaggeration--in fact, it's on the low end.)  

I have learned that networking is what gets people most of their jobs. It's what got me my last two jobs, and what landed JB his. Networking makes me uncomfortable, but I have been doing it. Dead ends so far. But it feels good to practice it, anyway. However, I have not tried my blog friends. Perhaps YOU know of something that I can do! 

Here are my dream scenarios:

• I can become a full-time blogger. Lots of people do this. It does take some initial investment though (like buying blog editing software), and I am not one to take risks and spend $$ on something that isn't a guarantee. I have started a quilting blog, though, and it would be awesome if that takes off. It usually takes about 2 years to start making $$ on a blog, though, and I have a long way to go to have a site even remotely as cool as my these two fabulous and useful quilting sites: Red Pepper Quilts, and Oh Frannson! 

• I can work from home as a freelance proofreader. I have been exploring this option, though, and there are more proofreaders than there is work, it seems. 

• A wealthy person paying me to raise the most beautiful, special little girl in the entire world. The one person to do that would be JB. Oh, JB, why can't you be a Sugar Daddy???

Here are my realistic options:

• Working retail after hours and weekends. 
• Working at Meijer 2nd shift. 

Here is what I will NOT do:

• Sales.
• Work in a nursing home.

Finding a job right now is very stressful for me. I know that God will provide, so that's good. But I have lots of questions: 

• Why should I be subject to jobs that don't utilize all my skills? Why did God give me these skills if I am to be relegated to scanning someone's baked beans at the register at 1 a.m. every weeknight? 
• Why did I bother to pay thousands of dollars for a f&^%ing degree that isn't paying me back??? 
• What is my CALLING???

So, if you have a great idea for a job, let me know. Or, you can just pray for me. And while you're at it, please pray for the thousands of other men and women in my great state who have even bleaker prospects than I. Some families even have BOTH parents out of work. 

Oh Lord, save Michigan!

Austin and Lauren's Wedding

I wish I had some entertaining things to relay about Austin and Lauren's wedding, but we were so busy at that time that I didn't have a chance to reflect or write down thoughts. Sorry, guys!

Basically, the wedding consisted of four days of wedding festivities, and I gathered that this was typical Southern fashion. And this was only wedding stuff, and did not include Bier family fun-times, which JB and I were not able to participate in as much as we had wanted. Cry, cry.

JB and I enjoyed the celebrations, but I still craved a day of rest. At one point I broke down crying in front of JB because I realized I wouldn't have time to return to the mega quilting store, Stitcher's Garden, in Franklin, to finish shopping. The store is so huge that Marian and I only got through about half of the building on our first trip. We squeezed it in while the guys were off getting their tuxedos. Fortunately, Lauren's Dad lost his car in the mall parking lot, so it gave us extra time to shop before we had to meet up with the guys again. Okay, so it wasn't any fun for Mr. Brown, who thought that his car was stolen (it wasn't--he just couldn't remember where it was parked), but it helped Marian and I out. :) Yes, I am weird for crying about not getting to go to a quilt store, but that's me.

The rehearsal was your typical rehearsal, but the dinner was something else! We ate at Mere Bulles, and it was very good food, and JB and I had a lot of fun visiting with people and also relaxing. I had 2.5 glasses of wine. That was about 1 glass too many. Ooops--haha! Here is Austin working hard on rehearsing, with Aaron Zull in the background:



The ceremony was very nice, if you ask me. The Reverends did a nice job. Aaron Zull (longtime family friend of the Browns, and incidentally I went to SLT with his son, who played the cello at the wedding, and his wife was Marian's IV staffer at UofM--small world!) did the message, and Chris Wright (longtime family friend of Hunts) did the marrying part. I enjoyed myself. Though perhaps a bit of the enjoying was due to the fact that Olivia was in the nursery with a sitter. I love being a free woman! Oh, and I had a front row seat:




The reception took place in downtown Nashville, at the Avenue, an old warehouse just south of Broadway. I had never been down Broadway, which is full of honky tonks and cheesy neon lights. It looked so fun! I secretly wanted to go there instead of the reception. I wanted to drop Olivia off at the reception and go have fun without her. No, I am not a bad mother. I am a woman. A woman who has for years loved Big & Rich's song that has the line, "Ridin' up and down Broadway, on my old stud Leroy," and now I knew what they were talking about.

But I was a good sister-in-law and attended my brother-in-law's reception instead. Where we got to hang with JB's family, who are lots of fun:


There was a live band, which I learned was Lauren's Dad's band. The dinner was dee-lish, though I didn't get enough of it, due to time and Olivia. JB did his best-man speech, which I think was head and shoulders above the girls' speeches (sorry, ladies, but victory for Jib!). And, no, I don't just like it better because I helped him write it (the gun show reference was all me)! Then they cut the cake. Wedding cake is so...so...generic? IDK. I just don't like cake, unless it's homemade with the frosting that you get in a plastic tub. Any other frosting is too sugary to me. So I never get excited about desserts at weddings. Fortunately, Austin had requested cheesecakes as a special side thing. MMMmmm. Good move, BIL.

I attended the reception with Olivia in tow. I had wanted to get her a sitter, but Marian reminded me that there would be plenty of people to play with her (and who would want to see her), so she came along. And Marian was right, that plenty of people wanted to play with her, but in an odd twist for Olivia, she only wanted to play with me. She was a very, very good little girl, but I couldn't just do whatever I wanted because I felt responsible and that I should be checking on her regularly, since she kept wanting me. She stayed up until 10:30, and then her little baby body gave out on her. The next morning I realized that she was cutting a tooth that night. So really, she probably would have been a party animal like usual, if it wasn't for that tooth.


So, a good time was had by all.

For more photos of the fun, check out my flickr set.

Weigh-In, 6/2

Weight change for the week:

JB: -1.8 lbs April: +.6

Weight change to date:

JB: -1.4 April: -2.8


Hmmm....now the race is a little more even. This would be okay for me, save that I GAINED this week. Good Lord, do I have to cut out ALL my desserts?!??? And I can't stop this diet now. I have two prizes in mind, both equally special to me.

The first prize that I thought of was fabric for my nine-patch quilt that will have Civil War reproduction fabric. Or perhaps some fabric for K's citrus quilt, which is next on my docket after Olivia's quilt (which is stalled because I'm still working on our stupid drapes! Those things are taking FOR-EV-ER).

But yesterday I stopped in at a funky shop in Easttown, Gallery 154, and there was a selection of cool framed vintage Michigan travel posters that I must have. They're at a great price, considering they're double-matted and professionally framed. So perhaps my prize can be to get one of those. I love vintage travel posters. And ones of Michigan and the Great Lakes, which I haven't seen before, is mega-cool.

The closest one I've found online is this, which is even more fabulous than the ones at the store, but just the POSTER in 18x24 is $50. Whatever. I am not desperate enough to pay $50 for a piece of paper.