Let's just compile it, shall we?

I absolutely love oilcloth. I was so scared when I first thought about getting some, then cutting into it was nerve-wracking and then I fell in love with the punch, punch, punch noise the machine makes as the needle pokes through and it was all over. It's so easy to work with and there are such beautiful oilcloth designs out there now. When I have a few scraps I'm going to make this lunch bag. This little tote is actually about the size for a nice, big lunch (or a good lunch with a water bottle) and I have no idea what to do with it (meaning: who's it for?!). It's lined in a fuzzy, red flannel. I do like it!

I have 80 million bookmarks for different things I've seen lately (all courtesy of other blogs, for the most part, so thanks to you if it was from you!) so let's just get them all on here and tidy up a bit:

• This is absolute insanity. It makes me want to distance myself even more from popular culture and, well, people and that's not healthy. Who buys this stuff (if it's you, more power to you but why?)? These cardboard doll houses are cute and all, and bright too, but they're cardboard doll houses for insane amounts of money. Any child would rather make their own given the time, scraps and tools, don't you think? And I get the novelty (which I suppose is novel only if you don't have to do it, by the way) of putting your infant in a cardboard box but spend $100+ to do it? Huh? How many cute little wooden kitchens could I make for the money someone spends for one cardboard doll house?

• We're having a pretty great week around here, I've got to say, but there are times when I think I can't possibly take one more hour of sitting on our living room rug, spotting the boy as he climbs. I've said it before and I'll likely say it way too much in the future: this mama business is tough stuff. So it's sort-of refreshing when someone else says it too.

• I love this series of Smallpeople on applehead.

• There are sites about everything! The Mayfly noted this Street project and I note that the first street is my last name. It's fun to get a glimpse of streets all around the country.

• Hey, hey, I won something today (well, yesterday). Honeyflake is sending the boy and me some of her darling little gnomes. I feel so... lucky!

• Evidently I'm the very last person to try No Knead Bread, but I "need" to try it (oh, this is bad... I think what I really need is some more coffee to wake up a bit). It looks quite yummy.

• These little bunnies for a Bunny Toss are so cute and I know the boy would like them. She notes that for her boy the simple toys are the best ones, and the same goes here. I will say that the boy heavily campaigned for a little kid flip phone (I suppose it was a cell phone) at Target yesterday. It does the same "beeps" as a real phone and when the little girl said whatever she says when you press a certain button he talked right back to her excitedly. He's never actually really, really wanted us to get something at the store before and he even brought it up at the dinner table which I thought was a little crazy for a 17 month old. Hmmmm....

• Some of this yarn is just so beautiful and it would be so neat to dye your own. I'm the slowest knitter of all time though.

• I want a little of this, and this and oh, no... I just went to link to my favorite and it's GONE. Gasp. Amazing fabric.
  

As promised + uinnnk

Happy little free-form flowers just for the spring fun of it. I cropped an unfortunate word (not a bad word, mind you-- just poor execution) and a bit of a sorry bird. Now I need just the right dimension of frame to do the same!

I spent too much time looking for this little "tutorial" on how to fold your fabric. It's something I never thought I'd worry much about. No kidding-- I was doing dishes and thinking up Google search terms that would help me find it. Then Jojo over at Stardust Shoes fortuitously posted the link and now I just have to go do the folding. She also, in the same post, showed the cute baby balls she's been working on, talked about Timtex (oh, Timtex-- what am I going to do about you?), and wrote about her frustrations with Blogger (yes, yes, Blogger, although we've had a good thing going I'm deserting you soon for different waters). Odd when someone's thinking/doing something so very similar to you. I've mentioned our teeny, tiny house and probably don't mention that it's darling too and in a great little neighborhood. I love it but there's absolutely no room. The playpen and stroller have to live in the trunk of the car because our house is so tiny (an extra closet in the Honda!). Anyhow, I'm trying to tidy and reorganize and so the fabric is now going to be housed in my closet. Yep. I'm giving up clothes for fabric. Well, not really, but the clothes are kind-of arrayed around the fabric center. Folding the fabric in a good way will help with the campaign.

The other day the boy kept pointing to my hair saying, "Uinnnk! Uinnnk!" It took me a few minutes but I finally realized I had a pink rubber band holding my ponytail in place and, ta da!, the boy evidently now knows the word "pink!" When I was in junior high school we lived in Japan. My parents taught English in junior high and high schools, my sister went to public elementary school and I went to a public junior high school. I've since gained a little perspective and realize that junior high is just a hard age in general, but I had lots of fun growing pains as a curly-haired blond American kid in a very traditional Japanese school. I just didn't fit in, you know, and I didn't want to be lost in language all the time. I didn't want to wear a navy-blue, pleated "girly" uniform. I didn't want the Peter Pan, starched collar or the same shoes as everyone else. I wanted to use hairspray and have big bangs (80's influence, of course). I hated the uniform and all it embodied.

Back to "uinnnk." I don't think of myself as someone who loves attention. One day as I was putting on my navy-blue jacket in Japan with my navy-blue, pleated romper and my starchy, white shirt I also put on bright pink socks. I don't even know where they came from? Maybe they were my mom's... Anyhow, I don't think there was a lot of thinking that went into it. It was a basic, instinctual urge about defiance. Independence. Individuality. Color.

The aftermath was horrifying in the short-term and hilarious in retrospect. Swarms of students approached me before I even got to the school gate, urging me to reconsider. They were shocked. Girls giggled uncomfortably. There was a meeting with all of the heads of the various grades, with my homeroom teacher, the Japanese as a second language teacher and with my parents. I remember sounds of sobbing (I think it was me). I wanted to be different and I was.

All through my 20's I think I (ironically) happily adopted a bit of a uniform of my own with similar pieces that went well together, that I didn't have to think about, that presented the teacher part of me in a very upscale district well without being cost prohibitive. It was all about black. And beige. Off-white. Gray. Black again. More black. In my mama existence I wear jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt just about every day in the winter (give or take a sweater) and capris and a short-sleeved t-shirt in the summer (give or take a skirt). It's a uniform of sorts. Since the boy though I have so much color in my life. Wearing color makes me happy and being surrounded by color just feels better now. Pink is back, Baby.

I was thinking about all of this while I worked on Purse #2 last night (I'll finish -and iron it again- after 8 tonight, of course). It's got a lot of pink in it and I love it.

Sick Spring Sew

Here are some more yo-yo's, courtesy of Whip Up. I could also spend an hour (easy) on the Craftzine blog and look at all of these good things.

I thought these swatch portraits were neat (though I have no walls for this now) and then saw them the next day over on Soule Mama's site. Man, she works fast. She did write that she has Saturdays as "work days," and I figure I could work pretty fast too if I wasn't trying to do most things after 8 p.m. Darling birds there too, don't you think? Anyhow, I'll store this in the "ideas" category for now!

I also found Creative Little Daisy and Allyson Hill recently, and I just want to sit, soak it all in, and then go create. The boy is so sick and wants to be held all the time (highly, highly unusual for this on-the-go-can't-stop-to-snuggle boy). It's his first really deep chest cough and he's miserable. We fared okay yesterday, with a mid-day walk to mail packages for the little shop, but I'm worried about another day stuck indoors. It was an incredible blue sky/birds singing/crocus blooming/elderly people working in the yard/rhody popping sort-of almost-spring day. This morning already has more light in it than all of the February days combined!

It takes me forever to make one of these baby balls, but I think it's just because I'm not good at it yet. I told T I'd have to sell them for $60 at this rate! The purses are tonight because tomorrow's the basement, once again.

Springtime art

We had a moment of snow again, but our ornamental cherry is about to burst. This was such a fun little project to do with the boy. He dipped his fingers in the paint, we made up a "Dot, Dot, Dot" song and then I made some "branches" with a toothpick dipped in brown. Easy, peasy, springy. I've seen similar cherry blossom projects where older children use hand prints or footprints along a long branch, or there's always the little squares of pink and white tissue paper wrapped around your finger and dipped into a bit of glue. I like the delicacy of the finger dots. Spring is in the air!

The sewing machine drama continues. At one point yesterday I had four machines. Grandma's machine is now in the capable hands of the local sewing machine repair fellow, one machine is destined for the Goodwill, the other has been returned to the store (this was the replacement for the one I initially bought that was used... It didn't work...) and one is on the desk, peeking over at me shyly, wondering if I have what it takes to try it out. There are pinned projects draped everywhere, and I'm hesitant.

Does anyone speak French? Well, French and English too? Does Marion over at Tea Time have these new little critters in a store? Are they based on books she's written? I'm in awe, and a little confused. I use an online dictionary translator to try to understand her beautiful site (and to post what I'm sure are highly confusing and entertaining comments) and I think this is what's going on!

On the mama front it was a good day for blog browsing. For some reason a theme emerged on many of my favorite sites about the humbling nature of being a mama and the challenges. The boy seems to be in a new phase lately; he's amazing, brilliant, so observant and engaging about everything around us... and he's exhausting. T works long, long hours and the boy thinks one nap a day should be just about right now. There hasn't been any recovery time built in to my weeks lately, and it's wearing on me (not enough creativity as well). I feel tired, and a bit empty. You know it's bad when the cranky lady at the cutting table almost makes you cry. It's so easy to get down on myself because being a mama is like what I loved about teaching. You never are what you will be, you always have more to learn, nothing ever stays the same for too long and your reality is inextricably linked with the joys and challenges and successes of little people. Today as I read about other mamas feeling those same joys, challenges and successes I felt a bit better. It was really important.

Oh, and these made me so happy. Did you check back in with Sew Mama Sew list of free tutorials and patterns? I, of course, didn't read the directions and listed a million things I've found that I love, but there are so many more to add to the sidebar (and project pile) now.

The beginning...

...of a new month and the promise of spring. Yesterday it snowed though, which seems highly unusual for this time of the year in Western Washington! I kept running over to the window saying excitedly, "It's snowing! It's snowing!" The boy sort-of looked at me like, "Ummmm... Okay... So?"

Look at this beautiful quilt over at Craftopia. Oh, and this one too! This, along with the inpiration of the little quilt I showed yesterday and the new fabric that arrived with beautiful little flowers helps me to visualize exactly what I want to create; I'm ready to get down to some serious small quilt work!

My sister tried some yo-yos last night and fell in love with the process. I made one (in the creative process of whipping up the Whip Up banner) and had so much fun with it! I think you could easily become obsessed with creating yo-yo quilts, curtains, bags (I love this bag), pins, tea pot cozies, garlands, cards, flowers, and even "just" to have framed. I sound a bit like the communications director for the Yo-Yo Association.


Last night we stayed up far too late finishing our entry for the Whip Up banner competition. I love the Whip Up site and I think we captured what it feels like to me, but who knows if the people who determine such things will think it fits the best? I wish I could show you what we created, but I don't think I should yet. T would love, love, love to have the books they offered as the prize and it was so much fun to really collaborate on a project together. I love it when these opportunities for creative collaboration pop up (like that save the date card) and I think we're really good when we work together. One thing I love about T is how I can think of a crazy idea and he just goes "Okay, well... We could..." I've had this idea for a children's book I've been mulling about for a long time and I told him about it yesterday. He didn't scoff, just brainstormed and asked questions. We used a vintage button, felt, cotton fabric and these antique stamps to create our banner and button submissions (do you see the message in there?). More about these later!

Vintage wee quilt from Grandma #3

I've saved the best for last. I suppose you thought I'd forgotten? This is my favorite doll quilt of the three. The lovely colors and all of the tiny, tiny squares and stitches make me happy. Grandma is pretty sure that Mrs. Richards (is the name right, Grandma?) next door made it for her when she was a little, little girl.


I have fabric on the way that reminds me a bit of this same feel, one print is quite modern and one has the vintage-look of the truly vintage fabric in this quilt. Both will be made into some wee little quilts.


Random thoughts:

• I'm looking for a pattern to recreate "The Perfect Skirt." It has to be very, very simple because my entire sewing experience with clothing consists of a pair of wacky royal blue shorts I made when I was about 10. My 'perfect skirt' is not just a pipe dream; it's actually an Isaac Mizrahi skirt from Target (bought many years ago). It's an A-line and goes just past my knees, and it was my first A-line skirt. Who knew I'd been missing something so wonderful for so long. I feel my very best in it and it's so forgiving. Seriously, when I was teaching my colleagues would walk by me in the hall and say, "I see you're wearing your 'perfect skirt.'" I let everyone know how much I love the darn thing. I want to make several to wear all spring and summer in the same shape but without a zipper (I'm not up for zippers yet). I don't want a really bunchy waistline so I'm worried about elastic, but I have to use elastic right? Any ideas? Being home I figure I could make three and rotate through them, wearing only those through fall, and nobody (aside from the boy, of course) would ever be the wiser! I'm only half-way joking. Speaking of the boy... He's made his first fashion choices lately, demanding what we've deemed his "fancy pants" every day. They're bright orange hand-me-down cargo pants. They're WOW! Sometimes he wants my bright blue and green striped scarf to wear with them. Anyhow, I don't think it would bother him if I wore the same skirt every third day!
  

• I like this "do something every day" idea. I saw Shiso Mama's collage-a-day via Whip-Up and I liked the commenter's idea of 100 words of fiction a day. That seems doable. I've mentioned before how I'm always "WOW! And this... Oh, and I could add this and do this and WOW... and... Why isn't it done already?!" Via Apartment Therapy (Nursery) I just saw this artist as well. She does a painting every day and I really enjoyed her site. I suppose I already do incorporate this idea into my life. I do the dishes every day, and make the coffee, and brush my teeth...

• I need Timtex for a pattern. I know nothing about it. Is it something I absolutely need to order (craft/fabric stores around here don't carry it), or would something else work just as well?

• I'm feeling old. It wasn't my birthday this past weekend (it was my husband's) but events are conspiring to make me feel old. I keep finding these absolutely incredible web sites where these women are doing amazing things, only to discover that they are so young too. Like here, at Inside a Black Apple. It makes me a bit panicky, like how I feel when I read an outstanding book and discover that the author is about five years younger than I am. I get this clutchy feeling in my throat and chest and think, 'but I haven't written my book yet?!...' Anyhow, really enjoyable things going on out there by people that have so MANY wonderful years of creativity in the wings. Not that I don't. I'm just feeling old. I've been painting with white paint lately on the boy's kitchen and then last night in the basement I'm doing, so I have all of this white paint in my hair. I keep looking in the mirror and seeing the white and thinking that I need to really do a wash number in the shower; then I look more closely and it's just the gang moving in. That's what we call the white hairs around here: the gang. They're slowly taking over the neighborhoods in my hair. Oh, and my sister gave me a tour of "My Space" (with a chuckle that I hadn't ever visited before) and I found all of these people from my high school and from T's school (I didn't recognize anyone really). So many of them just look so old. T and I both felt like we don't in any way look like those people do, but of course we must. We're getting older. But it's OK.

• My lovely and talented sister added in a link to some of her Flickr images on her website and I think so many of them are so outstanding. Some of those England pictures look like stock photography (in a good way). They're gorgeous.
  

Quilts for little ones and a machine

I have a category in the shop called "Quilts for Little Ones" which has nothing in it. It's not for baby quilts but rather for baby doll quilts. This is one of my mom's ideas from years ago; she really feels like there aren't beautiful, little handcrafted doll quilts out there, that they'd be fun to make, and that people would buy them! I was talking with my grandma the other day and she sent me home with some of her baby doll quilts from childhood for inspiration (just to borrow, mind you!). Can you see the stitching in this one? I love how much care and detail goes into these, and how you can create something so satisfying and beautiful without spending months on it! I suppose I do have a bit of a, ahem, short attention span at times. Wait 'til you see tomorrow's vintage baby quilt.


Oh, and I've had these tucked away all the while as Hillary Lang over at Wee Wonderfuls (remember the bunnies?!) remembered this wall and started to make her own. Very fun!
I have to go now. I have a -gasp!- new sewing machine to go look at. Not at the store. I mean I actually have a new machine in my living room at this very moment. Amazing.

We'll always have Saturday + Rose

This is Rose.
She is not a chicken and would be offended if you thought so. She's soft, oh so soft, and she has vintage button eyes which make her look very wise and a little quiet.

She does have a big back-story but she's not sure if she knows you well enough to share it all. She has some relatives who are chickens, and her eyes came with sewmamasew fabric. Rose has two siblings. She looks much better in person but there's no light here in Olympia. None. And I ironed that fabric about five times. What's the deal?

Last night the sewing machine got mad at me. Really, really mad (trip to the machine-fixer-upper place mad). I also actually stepped on the box of straight pins laying on the floor (major crafting party foul) and T had to come yank them out of my bare foot. The boy is getting incisors; misery, with the never ending rain, beset our household yesterday. As we were falling asleep last night T said "we'll always have Saturday." It's true. Saturday was magical fun with a little something for everyone and happiness all around. The only thing that seemed to stop the boy's frenetic, whiny pace yesterday was to cuddle under a big quilt with lots of books, which isn't so bad when you think about it. Today we have our class and a visit to the post office so we'll hope that with goldfish crackers and some cuddles we can make it through 'til nap time!

I love this tiara/crown and must make one (a crown) for the boy in the near future. Wouldn't it be a wonderful little gift for some deserving boy or girl (and what boy or girl isn't deserving of a beautiful crown?!). I'm also smitten with these owls over at Moonstitches.

Thrifting, playing, and a googa

My sister and I are thinking alike, which happens more often than not. I had this picture sitting in iPhoto waiting for the weekend, and she has a beautiful picture of thread over on her site.

Things have been busy around here, in a good way. We've been having fun as a family, visiting the zoo and having milkshakes in one of our favorite little places (if you're ever in Tacoma, try the espresso milkshake). I used a jig saw, drill, table saw, skill saw, electric sander and hammer yesterday. Can you guess what I'm making? I can't wait to paint it and to make the curtains (and find the Duktig). Ever since watching yesterday the boy keeps banging his hands on things and saying, "Bam, bam, bam, bam."

T & the boy with the "baby beluga"
or "googa," if you're the boy.

Tacoma's also the home of my new, favorite thrift store. I spent an hour finding lots of treasures including a baby quilt (I'm going to save it from bleeding red, recut & repurpose) and a gigantic, beautiful sweater dress of angora and lamb's wool (for little animals). Did I mention it's angora and lamb's wool? With an absurd amount of fabric? For $3? I remember standing outside a thrift store when I was little but old enough to be too worried about what others thought about me, refusing to go in and being absolutely mortified about looking for clothes inside. I've changed a bit! Among other myriad treasures (for $30 total-- oh, my goodness) I found many "daycare explosion" variety toys for the boy. At $1 a piece I can't pass up little goodies that can make a rainy afternoon pass more quickly. I hide them away and bring them out when I'm desperate. Before they are allowed in the house, however, I have this elaborate system of cleaning and sanitizing and making them ours. Are other people this neurotic about such things? There's bleach, laundry soap, scrubbing with toothbrushes... It's elaborate. But once I'm done I'm confident that even my little guy could put the item in his mouth and it'd be clean. That's what it takes to make it "ours!"

Via Moonstitches I found this wonderful pattern for a doll. Have you found this? Funny, as I'd just been cutting out lambs and chickens from another Martha pattern. We aren't really into dolls around here right now, but we always could be at some point. It's good to have a good doll pattern handy.

I have a few orders to get ready today to mail out tomorrow and I couldn't be happier about it all! Splat mats covering the kitchen floors of the world...

Bake & rock

#6 Warding off the February Funk Pic- The real pic of yummy, yummy scones is on the way. For now, you see my problem. I'm out of sugar! Warding off any kind of funk with me generally includes some sort of baking. Bake often. Eat it all up. Enjoy. Share the goodies and share the recipe!

I know they just weren't into scones over at Colorfool, but neither was T until he had this version. They are SO GOOD, and you must, must douse them in sugar and cinnamon. Yum! The recipe is adapted from my All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking book which I don't like nearly as much as the older versions. I asked my grandma to keep an eye out at garage sales for an older version for me and she found a beautiful copy of The Betty Furness Westinghouse Cook Book, which my great grandma enjoyed and passed along to my grandma. It has a wonderful meat loaf recipe (lots of great basics) so if you ever see it, snatch it up! Anyhow, here's the adapted recipe (from the Classic Currant Scones recipe on page 791 of the All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking book).

Classic Scones
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt

Drop in:
6 T (1/2 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into little pieces.

Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives, until the largest pieces are the size of peas and the rest resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in (they say whisk it together and then add it all at once but I hate using more than one bowl!):
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (they say heavy cream which would probably make them much better!)

Mix until dry ingredients are just moistened. Knead dough together with hands, then transfer to a lightly floured surface and pat dough into an 8-inch round (about 3/4 inch think). Cut into 8 or 12 wedges and place at least 1/2 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet.

They say to brush the tops with 2-3 t cream or milk but I never do.

I COVER the tops with sugar and cinnamon.

Bake about 12-15 minutes and eat warm.
Yum!

Okay, aside from baking around here we're also grooving to the music. We just got this at the library and I think it might be worth a buy. I like about half of the songs on it (better than most kids' CDs!) and I love The Rainbow Connection by the Dixie Chicks. I'm not a country fan but they do a beautiful cover of this and it makes me think of Kermit and the gang singing in my childhood! I also love Baby Mine by Bonnie Raitt and How to Be Strong by Rosanne Cash (all on this CD). I might need to make a little mixed album for us to dance to and include that Wilco song What's the World Got in Store and Great Lakes Swimmers' See You on the Moon which I discovered on Sweet Juniper's blog. Oh, and Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles would have to be on there... Other suggestions?

Random, but also have you seen this index of amazing tutorials for bags of such from Craftster, courtesy of not martha? It'll give you enough great ideas to use up a weekend or two!

I'm making a bit of progress on the little cat (two more episodes of The West Wing last night)!


Aahhh... And in the ideas category once again have you seen this banner Laura's friends made for her shower? We have one like this in plastic that I whip out every time anybody has a birthday around here. It's wrinkled and, well, plastic. I'm going to make one of these! Would interfacing between two layers of fabric work to make it two-sided?

Shower. Must shower while the boy naps.

Look for spring

#5 Look for signs of spring (hope!).

Our little mini-daffodils started to come out last night and I called the boy over to take a look. He got super-excited, raced over to the door, and wanted to go out. Immediately. I couldn't figure out what he wanted or what he was thinking for the longest time but then I realized... We had been playing outside yesterday, of course, and I showed C where the tulips are just starting to poke out of the ground. We (I) talked about how they would grow and grow and grow and then, POP!-- they'll be flowers. C thought that since our flowers inside had "popped," all of the flowers outside must be popping too. He wanted to take a look!

This book is amazing! Remember those dogs? The book finally came in at the library and I dove into a cat. I now have two ears and a bottom, courtesy of the first ever two episodes of "The West Wing" from Netflix.

T says he'll have to bring the laptop home this weekend and do a little work and I thought, "Oh, sad... Oh! I'll work on splat mats. Oh, and finish Valentines. And make those purses (that fabric from a not-too-long-ago post?!). Finish the cat? Start a dog? Do the, gulp, taxes." Aaahhh... With the choking drama and this blasted head cold (and no sleep) there's been very little housework happening around here. Looks like a busy weekend.

We did work on our Valentines yesterday, and here's what just a touch of Valentine craftiness looks like after about a minute with the boy:

It's about five minutes of doing and about 45 minutes of clean-up, which is about how I remember it being (if paint was involved) with my first graders.

Speaking of craftiness, I have to remember to link to all of the amazing ideas I see out there when I see them (before I lose them)... After our next grocery trip I'm definitely going to make some of this granola (yum!) and I know I don't have a little girl to sew for but I have to try some of these dresses. I don't think I'm a tea cozy kind-of gal, but these flowers in felt make me think of my sister and I know I could make her something beautiful, inspired by this idea. Okay, see-- I've lost the link already. Where was that? I also need a new label for "When he's older" because there are so many wonderful, crafty ideas out there that would be such fun to do when the boy is a bit older. Like these crayon hearts. And I still love these tubs (it helps, probably, that I have a busy, busy boy and over 200 tubs in storage from the aforementioned first grade experience!).

Getting orders ready

The boy and I got our orders ready to ship early this morning. A trail of bubble wrap extended through the kitchen, into the living room, around C's foot, through the hall and then back into the kitchen once again (it's a small house!). C's holding one of the packages up to his head like Carnac the Magnificent, hoping to intuit what's inside!

Speaking of magnificent, we printed a bunch of T's cards and I think I actually jumped up and down when I saw them all done in a stack!


More soon. We're off to run errands and we're working on Valentines this afternoon! Very fun. I was inspired by this post from Colorfool via Happy Things; that lucky, lucky Keely! I think C's ready for some of those pasta strings and colored rice (but not the buttons... We can't do the buttons yet!). I've got to get busy!

Tepid Response Factor

You know how you find someone or something that says exactly what you've been feeling/thinking (and yet you haven't been able to articulate it?). I was looking back on this post to find this beautiful, little kitchen and I reread her thoughts about the importance of homemade and the dreaded "tepid response factor." I've been mired in that lately and it felt so good to rethink it once again. Aaahhh... It is important. Yes.

Isn't that kitchen darling? At playgroup we were in a beautiful, gigantic home and the little girl has a new, amazing little kitchen with 80 million accessories. The boy found it right off the bat and never strayed too far from it for the two hours we were there. He loved it and I had a bit of "Mama guilt" when I thought about how much he loves kitchens and how teeny-tiny our house is. There's just no way. He has an amazing kitchen to play with at the Children's Museum, but he'll never have one like the one we visited yesterday. As I thought about it throughout the day though I remembered this little one and I think I'm going to do it. I'm going to make our own little darling kitchen. I have lots of duktig from my teaching days, and I'm going to design a little space to store toys inside (space saving, oh yeah!). But see, like in the last post, it's IDEA then, uh, why isn't it already done?!

In the works

I need to make two little aprons like these for birthday gifts. Soon. How will I even begin?

I've also had a yearning to make this chicken for about a month now. Time to get started!