Leibster Award... Awesome!

 What a wonderful week this is starting out to be!  I was just "awarded" two Leibster Awards... one from Linda at Surrounded by Scraps, and the other from Michelle at Design Camp.   It works like this:

“The origins of the Liebster Blog Award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it means favourite or dearest bloggers to showcase with fewer than 200 followers.”

And here are the rules:
1. Thank my Liebster Blog Award presenters.
2. Link back to my presenters' blogs.
3. Copy & paste the blog award on my blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to five blogs with 200 or fewer followers that I feel deserve to be noticed and post links to their blogs on my blog.
5. Let the recipients know they have been given the Liebster Blog Award by posting a comment on their blog.

So first of all, I would have totally picked both of these PMQG members to award this to,  had they not gotten to me first!  I watch Linda's work weekly... she keeps me inspired to keep moving forward even if it seems overwhelming sometimes.  She can always find solutions to problems that end up looking fantastic.  I also love Michelle's approach to quilting, she is very pro-active and helpful to everyone who asks, which makes her an awesome instructor... plus she has a very keen eye for design which makes her work vibrant and unique.  

My other picks are all PMQG members that I know personally... but love their blogs too:

Jill at Made on Main Street - so Jill is just amazing.  Every design she creates is one that has me drooling and wondering:  how did she do that?  Luckily she has a template company called Tabslot and is working on a new line of templates and quilt designs with Rachel so I might be able to try some of those new techniques soon.  It's super exciting to watch culminate.

Rachel at 2nd Ave Studio - Rachel is a quilting goddess ~ she seems to have an extensive knowledge base and loves to share.  She is working with Jill on new templates for Tabslot, and I love watching the progress of that venture on her blog.  She is an excellent teacher... she was the one who taught me how to make hexies!!  Plus most of the quilts she makes, she donates to charity... which is another reason she is an amazing person to me. 

Megs at Monkey Beans - I love reading Meg's blog, she is an articulate quilter and is currently making detailed paper-pieced blocks with points I only wish I could master.  She also has a great eye for color and it makes me just want to crawl into her quilts and close the outside world away!

Ale at The Golden Willow - Ale is a task-handler!  She is always working on new projects and many of them have hand stitched quilting ~ which I adore.  Her taste in fabric is stunning so her quilts and pillows pop with color... and she is just a sweet person!

Kristin at KMAC quilts - right now this blog is not really about sewing... she does makes beautiful solid-color quilts... but right now it's about her cat Fritz who is hilarious when dressed up by his people's... it makes me really happy every time she posts! 

Go check these bloggers out ~ you'll be happy you did!

For The Kiddo

My daughter LOVES Cons... as in Kumori-Con, Sakura-Con, Comic-Con etc.  This weekend is Sakura-Con up in Seattle and she had plans to make some costumes.  She loves and dresses like Pikachu from Pokémon... and has for a long time.  So she wanted to make a third Pikachu outfit so she could stay in character all three days of the Con.

I know a lot of quilters out there are stay-at-home-moms... and I just don't know how you do it. I am in continual awe when I hear stories of creating things with young children.  When my daughter was younger, she would not take any advice or help from me AT ALL.  Any creative project led directly to tantrums for her and quite a bit of frustration for me.  I would end up doing things for her, she would destroy it, and then fail in school when she didn't have a project done. I have a closet full of packaged projects we couldn't even start.

So imagine my amazement when she asked for help on this Pikachu project and actually took direction and helped!!  This is what we worked on together for the last 2 days:

She bought a hoody from American Apparel and we changed it:  cut off the sleeves and tapered the upper portion of the body to be more form fitting, added ears, tail, cheeks, back stripes, and ruffles on the pockets.  She was the one to hand stitch the stripes on back, the cheeks, the trim on the pockets, and even the ears!  ... and with NO complaining!! 

I think she did an awesome job for her first sewing project!  It's about time too ~ she'll be 21 in July, so I had to wait a loooong time for this.   The cherry on top was when I was driving her to the Greyhound Station, she said to me:  "Thanks so much for helping me ~ I'm glad I grew up enough to let you help me."  So I cried on the way home feeling like a good mommy.