A little quilt + tables for three

This past weekend was the first in about two months where I didn't feel terrible when it ended. We've been too busy in the week and I've packed too many hopes and dreams into our weekends (a sure way to build yourself up for disappointment). This time we walked along the boardwalk with coffee and our little running boy, I got a few things done and we had quiet time to relax Sunday evening.

This little doll-size quilt has been in pieces for about two months now, and it's so satisfying to have it all come together. It has some of my favorite, happy, reproduction feedsack fabric in it and I just turned it the easy-peasy way (it's a doll quilt, after all) and eyed the diagonal quilting. It's going in the little shop as soon as I have time to add it!

So on another note, I really am trying to introduce more variety, better ingredients and new recipes lately. Our New Yorker usually comes on Friday afternoon and I get a deep, odd pleasure from turning directly to the restaurant review (Tables for Two) in my first quiet moment. I don't think I'm really that into food but I love the New Yorker restaurant reviews. They're snooty, include obscure references to the atmosphere of a place, describe at least one other customer and they write about the food in the most unique, elaborate language. What a great gig... Imagine getting paid to flip through your thesaurus and go out for incredible food (on someone else's bill) with friends. Aside from maybe a birthday or our anniversary we don't go out to eat. Anyhow, there's something so odd and satisfying about these reviews. What if one of the reviewers stopped by our humble eatery?

Tables for Three
Kitchen Table Mama

The green cabinets are a bit 70's avocado but the eclectic family-farmy table at Kitchen Table Mama is inviting if cluttered. Frequented by a few loyal diners the site is long on offerings for the short and short on offerings for the tall. On a late weeknight a thirty-something waitress seemed a bit harried with a customer's request for "MORE, MORE" but variety (banana? rice? chicken? frozen peas?) keeps coming for the younger set. The fajitas were without panache but left memory of a spicy kick with yellow, orange and red peppers (a splurge) mixed with chicken. Juice, flecked with spices and dripping from mouth and wrap, leaves a neighboring patron flustered. Tortillas, though sufficiently round, lack heat and "oomph" and seem, somehow, to come directly from a grocery store bag. Grab an crunchy, delightfully orange carrot stick to quell the torrent of dull from the salsa. Drinks fail to delight but the water is filtered.

Stick with the brownies and ice cream. It's hard to do a brownie wrong and Kitchen Table Mama does it right. When plates are cleared and the lights are low you may find yourself with the inkling of an idea to return the following night. Explore your options. (Open Sundays through Saturdays for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Entrees very cheap.)

Laying low

Yesterday was this sort of day and I want the whole weekend to be the same way. It's raining (again) and feels like we should just snuggle in bed counting ladybugs, reading the restaurant review in The New Yorker with a sax playing dude and zebra keeping a watchful eye on our relaxation. Somebody forgot to type up the memo and pass it off to the boy, however, and he woke up early, early with a ton of energy. We have friends coming over for dinner and Zoey was found in our West Wing marathon last night (the Eagle's daughter, beginning of season 5, for all of you not in our bizarre, alternate universe of Netflix-induced entertainment). There's a bit of work to do too, but it's of the fun, sewing-related variety.

Hopefully there'll be a bit of craft thrown in here next. Something to show for the rain.

Yearning for a little quiet

I
need
time
to
sew.

Sigh.

You?

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.
  

Thrifty break

My mom's on spring break (from teaching) and so yesterday the three of us (Mom, me + the boy) all headed up to the (hands down) best thrift store in the Pacific Northwest. With the boy in the back doing his melt-your-heart hand motions to Twinkle, Twinkle, Mom sitting next to me singing along with The Rainbow Connection and with a few great finds, it was just about the perfect spring break morning. T doesn't really get defined breaks so I don't either now. We get Christmas Day instead of Winter Break, and here and there we get your national holiday three day weekend. I decided yesterday that you take a spring break where you can get it and the morning was the very essence of what a break should be. Things were a bit lighter, happier and it was all just so out of our normal daily routine. Very fun.

I came back with the standard daycare explosion variety plastic toys I always seem to find at this store. They're always in fantastic shape, always for about $1 and they're dirty (I've already mentioned my insanely bizarre cleaning process so I won't rehash that!). It's so handy to have some variety around here in the toy department (ha!-- That's what it'll really look like soon if I don't purge a bit: an actual toy department). In my experience kids the boy's age seem to love playing with things like empty boxes, Tupperware and they love to do things like empty an entire drawer of clothing or cupboard of pots and pans. This is fun, important work. Pushing buttons on a crazy/loud hunk of plastic isn't the same as nesting all of the mixing bowls back together. However, the right mix of extras really breaks up what can be a lot of time here in our 700-800 square foot abode and yesterday I found things like the most darling little play house for the boy's Little People and a little barn (we're going to have to find some farm animals!). I think really, in the back of my mind, there's a small idea of wanting to provide everything to the boy on a very limited income and feeling like I want the boy to have the variety and fun of my childhood (though my mom and dad provided all of that variety and fun with a limited income too, and it was a wonderful and enriched childhood). Anyhow, I know daycare variety explosion toys aren't necessary but a few are fun.

There's a dress that's been hanging right out in the open for $4 for months at this store. I always stop and eye it and want it, though I have no earthly idea where I'd wear it (we don't do nice, semi-fancy white dress-type events around here). It was there again, and I decided I had to just get it. With the boy's waning patience I didn't have it in me to try it on but it looked big. It is big for me on top, and it's too snug around my, er, big bottom. This is not the best combo (too big on top, too snug on bottom) for my self-image. It may have to go to my (tall, skinny, beautiful) sister. It's handmade and really gorgeous in person with the most amazing fabric.

So this all brings me to what I've put off for months (and months). Our jogging stroller, which hurt me to buy in the first place (I hate spending loads of money, you know), was left under a very covered front porch-type area for a few days in the rainy fall. It was completely covered, mind you, but it grew a nasty black mold on the straps and a bit on the seat too. I googled solutions and all of these people were saying you had to throw it away. My friend said I should just wash it with bleach water and call it good. So here's the question: If I wash and scrub and just use it am I a bad mother, putting her child at risk for a nasty something or other? Do I buy a new one (I've been scanning Craigslist for months to no avail)? Would you replace the straps (that's the part I worry about-- what if he put them in his mouth?) somehow? How would I go about doing that?

So that's the current excuse for why my bottom is too big. Convenient that I've done nothing about the stroller for months and months so, oops!, I can't run.

Mom figured I should take some different pictures of Henry + Olivia to show how big they really are. I like the two of them sitting on the little chair together! I tried to find more vintage angora and lamb's wool fabric at the thrift store again but there wasn't any. Go figure.

What a difference a day makes

The rain cleared for a beautifully sunny day yesterday. We headed off to the beach and for the first time the boy was able to just run around on his own, finding clams and always heading for the water through the muck. I kept trying to hold his hand because it was so slippery and I could just see the potential wipe-outs and subsequent muddings of the face and clothes. The boy was happy, happy until I'd try to grab his hand; he wanted to explore and run on his own!

I was so nervous about T and the boy heading out on Saturday. They were going fairly far, and the roads were just a mess with the downpours (urban flooding, you know). I'm never very far away from the boy and I was so tense about it all. I kept telling T things he knows, and it should be said that he's an amazing father who always knows what to do for the boy (he doesn't need me to tell him anything). Anyhow, they had a grand time together and came home safe and sound.

Then last night while I was cooking dinner and T was about six inches away from the boy, spotting him as descended the Morris chair (the boy's all-time favorite activity now: climbing), the boy took a face plant dive onto the floor. I'm not used to the terror of all of that blood and of not knowing for ten minutes if your child is actually OK or not. I suppose you might never get used to the terror of that feeling, and the helplessness when your baby is hurting and there really isn't anything you can do about it. All weekend I'd been nervous about him venturing out and I tried far too much to keep him from falling at the beach, and then when we were home and he had T right next to him he fell so hard. His mouth is all so cut-up and the poor boy was exhausted and so hungry; after an hour or so of crying, and after frozen peas and yo-yo (yogurt-- his idea) we just got ready for bed and he fell right asleep.

Anyhow, things like this will happen with a climbing little boy and I can't always control his world and I can't always worry away the troubles. Today I'm going to give him more Tylenol and lots of love though and I suppose he'll be right back at it with the Morris chair. He climbs up, turns around, sits down and clasps his hands together with the most proud and happy look on his face.

Right above him, to the left on the mantle when he sits in the Morris chair, are Henry and Olivia. Henry and Olivia are Rose's siblings made of vintage angora and lamb's wool. Olivia's button eyes are from my Great Grandpa's military long underwear (shhh... perhaps we shouldn't mention this to her). Henry's a good listener and great company, and Olivia can be a bit of a pill (but she's a nice little bird, don't get me wrong). Henry's in the little shop right now. I love these birds.

Alright. I'm finishing a tutorial for turning a Martha Stewart dish towel into a nice little bag with interfacing and a lining... Tomorrow? I love these bags.

Aaahh, there's the boy stirring so early in the morning. I suppose that mouth is really going to hurt when he wakes. I love that boy.

It's raining, it's pouring, I should be in bed (snoring?)

The rain is amazing. In the Pacific Northwest lots of people tend to dismiss things like umbrellas and raincoats; you'd just be lugging them around far too much! Today on an errand across town, however, I saw a handful of people at various points along the route in full rain gear. With a fishing pole in hand they would have looked at home in the middle of a river. Spring, PNW-style, is here.

Not far from our home though we did also see a young girl with a lemonade stand. I still can't decide if was gutsy, a little "off" or just all a sign of spring where we live.

My guys took off for the afternoon and early evening, leaving me a chance to get a little done. I listened to This American Life (you can, by the way, watch their new TV show online), baked (eating far too much cookie dough) and created a bit. I'll share some more about that tomorrow!

For now you should definitely look at the incredible photography at Bits and Pieces of a Happy Life. She sews amazing things, has four children and takes those gorgeous photos. I feel like eating more cookie dough.

Barbara Brandeburg's quilting is equally amazing.

I really enjoy this site too... She's making the banners I've been working on! They're everywhere!While T and the boy were off I spent some quiet time in the yard (in the rain, of course). The photos are from this afternoon. I looked forward to time by myself all week, and then I practically knocked the chair over in excitement when I looked up from the sewing machine and saw my guys at the front door. Time to join their slumber.

Happy Friday

We did a little of this yesterday, and the peanut butter balls (with substitutions... it seems you can really mix these up!) are almost gone.

We did a lot of this yesterday too. Tomorrow I'm going to work on birds, mats and those poor doll quilts. They were started before the craze, and now would you just look?!

Thanks, everyone, for all of the fantastic food advice. I went crazy and bought the olive oil I'd been holding out on for six months (too expensive for the current budget, I thought) and a bit o' prosciutto to boot. Forgive the busy look of the site but it is a really good resource and the No-Bake Granola Bars are a family favorite here. I thought I should share right back!

When I first started writing here with two posts last November it was a bit about dinners too, but a lot about wishing I was more connected. This morning, when I checked the comments, I found all sorts of wonderful suggestions about one of the things that's really been bugging me. Then I quickly found all of the beautiful doll quilts I mentioned (how inspiring) and checked in with Kristin's Free Friday and read a little about her philosophy of raising her daughter and was inspired once again. On my first cup of coffee in my bathrobe I already felt connected to other mamas who work to create what I'm working to create each day. Somehow what I wanted so deeply last November is already there, bit by bit, here. I'm so thankful. Oh, and I'm going to buy that book.

Happy Friday. I wish you a wonderful weekend.

Peanut butter + jelly without the jelly

I had a dream (don't you just love it when people tell you all about your dreams?-- I know, it'll be short + painless, I promise) where something was happening that I should have been worrying about. In the dream I was worrying about why I wasn't worrying, and then when I first woke up I was worrying about having a dream about worrying about not worrying. Crazy.

Anyhow, I've been worrying about too much and I've been too hard on myself. This Mama/being at home with the babe stuff is tough stuff sometimes. I love it, even the more difficult moments, but there aren't any sort of standardized units of measurement for success. The boy is happy and healthy and brilliant (!) so that is the big success. The little things, at times, seem a bit out of control though and at the moment there are a lot of little things.

So, one thing that's been bugging me is our food situation. One of the boys around here can't have any dairy at all in anything, and the other (bigger) guy has had to try a wheat-, gluten- and dairy-free diet lately. It feels like we cycle through the same ten or so meals all the time, and though I'm in love with the new kitchen I think I hate to cook lately (and you can't, um, actually cook on the boy's cute stove). It's hard to find combos that will suit everyone's dietary needs and I always feel like I need to cut corners at the grocery store to save a little money.

This morning:
"Did you eat some breakfast?"
"Ummm... I had a little applesauce."
"No cereal?"
"Aah, no... There isn't actually any cereal left."

Yesterday morning as I'm sticking cold cuts onto plain tortillas as "wraps":
"Sorry for the pathetic lunch. I guess I could have made these into peanut butter and jelly tortilla wraps?"
"Do we have jelly?!"
"Um, no. They'd be peanut butter and jelly wraps without the jelly."
"Oh... No, that's fine."

Anyhow, time for an intervention. I found lots of cookbooks for inspiration at the library (Book Babies yesterday, of course, and can I just add in how adorable the boy is when he does the handsigns for "Twinkle, Twinkle?"). And because we can't just go healthy all the time I even got this book on pies too.

I've written down the ingredients list for this granola, these spring rolls (it's spring!), these peanut butter balls (let's help out those lunches a bit, eh?) and some of this crostini. I suppose I'll just adapt as I go so everyone can eat everything... Other suggestions? Like I said, it's bad around here. Today's big goal is a super-duper grocery shopping bonanza (sometimes I say stuff like that to make it sound like what it's most definitely not: exciting + fun!).

I have help with my ongoing craft tidy, which can be hilarious fun. I really do love that point of total disaster as you're redoing things, one step before the panic and two steps before it's all so much better. With the boy's hands in everything we hit the disaster point a bit earlier. He's so good now about taking things places. He'll bring all of the ribbons to the front door, for example, ribbon by ribbon. This is serious business.

If you listen you will hear...

...birds sing, and flowers grow.

Elizabeth Mitchell's beautiful song sings through my head countless times a day lately. Each time I look at the boy I can feel my love growing, just as she sings. Last night he was playing with T and he dumped all of the little blocks out of the box. The boy went over to the big stool, put the box upside down to give him a higher base and then started stacking from there. Then he ran to tell me all about it and dragged me over to look. Somehow it was all so simple and brilliant; if the goal is to make your stack tall, why not start a little higher? He helps me look at everything in a new way.

We celebrated the official start of spring (no snow but biting cold) with a blustery walk with my sister to coffee and rice cakes. Happy, happy spring. I seem to need it more this year than ever before, but maybe it's always that way and I just forget. Bring on the buds, sun, short-sleeves, blue sky... even the growing grass!

• The first half of the tutorial compilation is up and I think it looks pretty good! The first Flickr feature is up too and I'm itching to make one of those bags myself.

• I saw this link to an incredible online store with vintage everything for sewing over at Vasilisa the Fair. Check out all of the buttons!

• Just look at all of these softies. I think even if I was at my most crabby I would still smile to see these, and in it I found that tea cozy I "lost" a long time ago. I thought it looked like something perfect for my sister and her boyfriend, and then I lost the link. Ta da! Isn't it great?
  

Happy, happy spring.