Author Archives: Andria Kay Olson

I had finished up photo editing and was all set to work on a baby quilt. Then I realized I had left the bolt of white fabric at my momma’s house a week ago. Because it is a project I need to get done, I had a hard time seeing the point in working on anything else. Sometimes I’m an all or nothing kind of girl.

The fabric will be on it’s way down here soon. Then I can get my pieces cut out and maybe some preliminary sewing done to get it set to quilt on Saturday at my local Modern Quilt Guild’s first sewing day! That is if the backing fabric gets here by then. And I get some batting. But I am totally psyched. If those pieces don’t fall into place by the weekend, I guess I will be forced to work on one of the countless other unfinished objects around here. Either way It will be a fun day.

So since I don’t have anything significant to show you, I’ll share the mini things I’ve been working on.

My name tag, a very small quilt, for guild meetings (which I spent a whole day finishing and embroidering only to forget it for the meeting). The one edge turned out a little wonky but this thing is about 3″ x 2 1/2″ and that is handmade, less-than-1/4-inch double fold bias tape. My fingers were slightly burned from making it and didn’t have the skill left to finagle it through the machine. But I think it’s still cute. And I love those tiny hexies.

Nilla Wafers with homemade strawberry jam. Like little strawberry shortcakes! A perfect excuse for the kids and me to use up that little bit of jam that doesn’t fit in the jars.

Enjoy your Wednesday. Almost to the weekend!

Evelyn has been demanding to take pictures more and more. I try to encourage it but discourage using my camera without permission and supervision. We gave her the old point and shoot with the battery compartment all taped up and the sticky shutter. Although she enjoys using that for taking pictures of the tv, Gus, and her feet, she knows the real deal and likes using the big camera for serious photos.

Her skills are improving. She took all of these photos (and then some). She has figured out how to let the auto focus do its thing by pressing the shutter release half-way then taking the picture. She can now get all of her subject’s face in the frame. I think the use of a tripod might be a good idea though. I’ve been living dangerously by letting her try to hold it with her little chicken arms over our tile floor.

And let me tell you about her directing skills. She used to just be giddy to be taking pictures all higgledy-piggledy but now she has focus. I asked her where she wanted me and she pointed me over to the window. Excellent- recognizing her light source. She told be to sit down and drink my tea. No, not silly. Act like a regular mama. Let me see your eyes. Your tea is hot. Blow on it.

Yeah. That’s the way! Now be crazy! Silly faces!

Miss E. June Olson acting like a boss with control for once over something in her life. She can totally roll with being the director. I’ll just keep telling my self that’s a good thing. I might have lost it if she actually told me to “work it” though.

However, I don’t have too many pictures of her as she freaks whenever I’m behind the camera. I need to be stealthier and get myself a zoom lens. She did let me take a video of her singing an entire three-minute long version of “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. I’ll post it for you as soon as I can.

PS- I’ve been messing around with a lot of templates and overlays for my photos. I probably won’t use them for every blog post but I’m just testing things out. I hope you like it!

Egg salad is just a little happier this time of year.

Nothing like peeps and jelly beans to get your day off to a good start.

Toddler rule of sharing #3: If I can take it from you, it’s mine.

Smell-o-scope. For the pirate who lacks an acute sense of smell.

Instagram is finally available for Android users! This app was made for me. Photographic social media? Yes please! So much more beautiful than twitter. I don’t follow too many people yet, but I’m always up for adding to my feed so tell me your user name and I would love to check you out! And because I don’t use twitter, I have to figure out all the hash tags and whatever else this entails. For now I am just having fun taking photos. If you would like to follow me, I am whilelight. I might have to figure out a follow me button (one for pinterest, too!) and post it on my sidebar.

So here is my first Friday phone dump, or This Week in Photos. Yay!

This weekend is scheduled to the limit (Everybody to the limit/ The Cheat is to the limit/ Everybody come on now fhqwhgads- that is if you ever where a Homestar Runner fan. I just can’t say “to the limit” without this song popping in my head. Sorry. So stupid.) I’ll be finishing up editing on some photos, going to my step-niece’s fairy/woodland themed birthday party, working, and hunting for plastic eggs (hopefully).

Here’s to marshmallow bunnies, Cadbury eggs, and a slower pace for the week to come!

This day seems to be moving so slowly, despite a late wakeup (8:00!). Some things are weighing heavy on my heart and mind and they seem to be mental quicksand, not letting me move beyond.

I wish heartbreak wasn’t so crippling. I wish kind words and a hug could mend her heart. I wish she didn’t have to hurt. I know you will move beyond, darling. Know your worth and don’t settle for anyone who doesn’t recognize it. I love you.

I wish some people could see past the end of their own nose and realize that just because something isn’t important to them, that doesn’t mean it has no worth and merit to others. I wish empathy and understanding were more rampant. I wish there were more people willing to right the wrongs.

Phew. That feels better. Maybe me hands will stop shaking with anger and frustration and my eyes will dry. Enough, now.

*****

There are signs of new beginnings all around.

I stepped out on our back porch today and stirred up a little bird. I instantly knew why she was there. This is the scene on my back porch:

Those would be the boughs from decorating my house this winter. They are full of wire and I didn’t want to just pitch them into the woods. I wanted them to dry out and the weather to warm up so I could take them apart. Obviously, even though those two criteria have been met, here they lie.

So I crept closer for a look-see.

A beautiful, perfect robin’s nest. I have always loved how sturdy and soft they are. And the eggs- the most wonderful, vivid blue. I just feel so bad for her choice of location. This is where the dog goes outside. Last year the nest was on the crook of the light and it shook when the door was opened or closed.  But those babies made it and I suspect these new ones will, too. The robin looks small and young. Maybe she was from that brood.

Well, it looks like I won’t be able to move that mess for a few more weeks. Darn.

This week has been a trying one. Note to self: NEVER take two kids with the dog to the vet’s office. Evelyn and I made some fresh strawberry jam this morning, so that has helped make things better. I’m finding comfort, too, in the repetitive nature of folding laundry. It helps me think. And it seems I have a lot of thinking to do.

Thanks for being here with me and I’ll be back tomorrow with some new fun.

April is here and just like that we are a quarter into the year. It feels like I’m gearing up to run a marathon. Maybe not so much gearing up as winding up and not so much a marathon as buzzing in tight circles around my house, bumping into walls like a metal toy with wheels and a key in my back. I may shoot sparks from my mouth depending on the day.

This month will be spectacularly busy. Birthday parties, photo sessions, doctor appointments, baby showers, an entire day of sewing with my quilt guild, yard work, fence building, new birthdays as three (maybe four) babies are welcomed into the world, working on new blogs/websites, and swimming lessons.  I like looking at my calendar and seeing the appointments in all their color-coded glory. Instead of feeling overwhelmed there is an air of excitement. Anticipation. I can’t explain it, but I’m kind of up for the challenge of staying organized. Have to hit the ground running as it all starts today.

Thanks for all the nice comments about my temple garden quilt. They help keep me motivated. I need to work on a baby quilt for my friend before I can tackle that one, but I left it up on the wall for inspiration. I pushed it to the back of my mind the next day and thought nothing of Gus playing downstairs. I guess he felt inspiration, too, and pulled the bottom half off the design wall. Good thing I took pictures before he hauled away half of those blocks in his little dump truck. He is such a boy.

Have a good day!

Today I can actually show you a little bit of sewing! I loved Amy Butler’s Soul Blossom collection the first time I saw it. It is one of the few fabric lines that I liked every print together as a whole. It instantly made me think of temple flowers and saris. I think I read somewhere that India was her inspiration for the line and I got that loud and clear.

I played around with a design and thought I had settled on pinwheels, something light and summery. But I kept thinking of Indian temples and their echoing architecture. Like the Shiva Temple in Java:

So I started in the center and worked my way out.

I still need a couple hundred more half square triangles in the blue prints to fill it out but it is coming along nicely. None of this is sewn together and I didn’t even get the points trimmed on the blocks- I was too excited to try my design- so I still have a lot of work to do.

Do you like it in a gradient? I had it arranged with the colors all jumbled and it seemed a little too messy, especially for the design. I think some order makes it easier on the eye. What do you think?

Hello! I hope you had a super weekend. Things were really great around here. I think Evelyn has turned the corner at swimming lessons. She started out crying with her two fingers in her mouth, the way she does when she is nervous, and backing away from the edge of the pool. She was always just outside my reach, like I was a snapping crocodile in a murky river trying to get her. I was finally able to coax her over and she cried for a little bit but then it was like a little switch flipped and she started laughing. And floating on her back with her arms stretched out to the side, instead of having a death grip around my neck. She was kicking and blowing bubbles and actually having fun! She may have gotten tired of hearing how proud I was of her but I didn’t care. I was so proud of her.

Then the kids were shipped off to Scott’s parents for the night. I sewed half square triangles up because I couldn’t settle on anything else to sew. I need 460 of them and I got about 200 done, so not too bad. After a little bit of sewing and a horrible Norwegian movie about a troll hunter (think The Blair Witch Project with really bad stop-animation trolls), Scott and I had a date down at Sardine in Madison. Always excellent.

Sunday brought a beautiful day and a photo session with a sweet little boy. I got to take his pictures when he was just eight days old and now he is six months big! He was so sweet and smiley for me, too. I couldn’t have asked for a more cooperative subject.

We ended the weekend with the kids back home and some outside time on the swings with the neighbor girl and eating rocks from the garden path. A good way to tie it all up.

Everything is in bloom here and it has made for an impossibly gorgeous Spring. More like April than March. My heart is light.