inkstitch

a thrift post, just because

Because it was cute.

Because it was cheap.

Because I'm a sucker for Wendell.

Because wood toys are always better than plastic.

And because I need a quick post.

Have a lovely weekend!

On the table tonight:  Enchiladas

for cuteness sake

The bugs on the counter are gone, except for the caterpillar in his jar, waiting to become a hummingbird moth, and a very beautiful tiger moth whose wing was injured, which we mounted.  The new life and nature we are experiencing most now, are puppies.  Omigosh, these are the cutest ever!  Can we have five dogs?  Is there really anything wrong with that?

Orthoptera

I'll admit it right up front: these are not my photos.  I'm all in for the whole bug-catching thing, I am.  And I don't mind one bit that I have an entire collection of creepy/fascinating living things on my kitchen counter, right there where I chop my tomatoes and butter my toast, the praying mantis twisting its little head around watching every move I make, lick-lick-licking himself like a tiny, scheming cat....  No, I don't mind that one bit.  But I've got to draw the line somewhere, and a photoshoot with a grasshopper ready to spring, that's my somewhere.  I like a nice mason jar between me and my bugs.  You want wicked cool backyard bug photos?  Go visit Liz.  She's good like that.  Now that said, I give you the current residents of my kitchen counter (and yes, they have pet names):

We've got Hopper

Manty

Kate

The ants (no names)

Dinner for Manty (No names here either. That just seems wrong.)

Ick

Sphinx

Baby Sphinx

And even Speckles

All on the kitchen counter.  Right now.  We have read a lot about latin names and thoraxes and orders and larvae and amazing diets...  Some of these little (big!) friends we will release after watching for an hour or a day or two.  Some, like our Baby Sphinx, we intend to keep for awhile.  Just yesterday we watched our caterpillar burrow down into his jar of earth to make his chrysalis cocoon.  We have put dark paper around the jar in hopes that he will settle right up against the glass.  We also watched Manty bite the head off a small grasshopper.  All very cool. 

In closing, I have just two things to say: 
1. Caterpillars make a lot of poop.
2. I am sort of glad autumn is upon us.  Bugs are soooo much smaller in the spring.

On the table tonight: More corn on the cob, garden tomatoes, squash, salad...and maybe our first canteloupe! Woo!

Photo credits:
1. http://www.grasshoppercontrol.com/
2. http://www.naturesbestcreations.com/
3. http://unmuchodetodo.blogspot.com/
4. http://www.livescience.com/
5. http://www.utextension.utk.edu/
6. http://outernode.pir.sa.gov.au/
7. http://lifeinthebigtree.wordpress.com/
8. http://flickr.com/photos/quizicalcat/2539290792/
9. http://www.daylife.com/photo/07d6g9p9d216v

We're growing things around here

The summer has sped away from us and we can feel a little change in the air.  An almost-menthol scent that hovers under the breeze.  You can miss it if you aren't paying attention, because the days are still sticky and hot, but it is there: that subtle sneaking-in of crisp.  It's coming.

We've spent the summer well: there have been little adventures and big ones, a little bit of chaos and a lot of discovery.  Harvest is upon us, both in good tomatoes from the garden and in good conversations with young people who are becoming beings we like so much.  Despite a wagonload of demands, these are good times.

We're celebrating the growth of this little being in particular this month.  One year!  Omigosh, what a ride this has been!  You are rock solid despite your first year being rocked with tidal waves, little one.  You amaze us.  You are so incredibly whole!  The day of your birth was off-kilter, rushed, and frenzied.  Your arrival went differently than we planned, and yet, exactly as it was meant to be.  The days and weeks that followed were exhausting and intense, full of multi-hemisphered collaborations, 2:00 am conference calls, and public restroom feedings.  In all the newborn days I have lived, I have never been so tired.  Thank you for being patient through that.  You have already been my business partner, my co-manager, my buddy, and my light.  You are my gardening aprentice and my pouch-dwelling confidant.  You keep me grounded and you make me laugh.  Kid, you are truly the most person I have ever seen in a package so small.  We all love you like crazy.

Time is flying.  My baby is a year; my first-born is a woman.  My life is flowing over, and is so much different than I would have guessed it would be, but my dearest intentions remain a lot the same.  Those harvests?  I guess those reflect that.  We're growing things around here.

On the table tonight: whatever we can harvest

one-hundred-thirty-six pints. and counting.

All photos by Natalie...  Except this one:

On the table tonight: waffles with apricot syrup!

an amazing thing happened in the garden one day

It all started when Ian was digging weeds near the basil.  He found something.  It was very old.  It looked like a map!

It led to another map.

Which led to a place, which was hiding a box!  The box was old.  It had a rope.  It looked like a treasure.

Inside the box were secrets.  And lots of treasures. 

There was a collection of things. 

Really good things. 

Some of the things held more secrets. 

Some of the things could make us rich!

Some of the things were for sisters.

It was a great discovery.  His best discovery yet.

I bet he really will be an archeologist.

(Happy Birthday Ian!)

thirty-seven years and one month

I turned 37 last month, and whilst I was contemplating what sort of post I ought to write about that, the month went away.  Again.  Shoot, that just keeps happening.  A person who blogs now and then is still a blogger, right?  Regardless, I present 37 things from my life this year. 

1.  I love summer. 

2.  I am tan this year.

3.  Because I have spent the first half of the summer gardening and playing with my kids, in that order.

4.  I want to spend the second half playing with my kids and gardening, in that order.

5.  I really do have eleven kids.

6.  I have given birth to eight.

7.  When I tell people I have 11 kids, they look me up and down as if to decide whether they think my body could have done that.

8.  This bugs me beyond words, and I want to slap them.  Even the nice old ladies.

9.  I grew up with eight sisters and six brothers; my kids have 100+ cousins.

10.  I really like all those people; I love having a giant family.

11.  But I am actually kind of a loner; I revel in solitude.

12.  Solitude is in short supply in my very busy life.

13.  My kids gave me a kayak for my birthday.  

14.  It only has one seat.

15.  But now I have to learn to roll the thing. 

16.  I have always been terrified of water, so this freaks me out.

17.  As a child, I sometimes had panic attacks in the bathtub.

18.  But a solo kayak trip down a quiet river would be worth overcoming this.

19.  Besides, I would get great arms.

20.  I have always wanted Linda Hamilton Arms.  You know those arms she's got in Terminator?  Yeah those.  I gotta get me some arms like those.

21.  And then I should color my hair

22.  But I can't really afford a quality color-job right now.

23.  Yeah, that "afford" thing is the very reason I need hair color...  Before my whole simultaneous have-a-newborn/run-a-major-business/crash-course-retail thing, I had no grey.

24.  Now I have kind of a lot.

25.  I usually don't mind.

26.  But I will mind less when I drop ten pounds and get Linda Hamilton Arms.

27.  I typically bike, walk or just be busy for exercise.

28.  I don't like going to the gym all that much.

29.  Feeling great and having energy are much more important to me than weight.

30.  I am [generally] happy with how I look.

31.  But I'd like to be "tougher." 

32.  (Although my kids say I'm tough.)

33.  But I'd like to do a bike tour or a race.

34.  Or a nice long kayak trip.

35.  And as nice as solo is, Jonathan is invited. 

36.  I think that would be even better. 

37.  As long as I still have my own boat.

For The Papa

Dear Jonathan,

You have been a new daddy so many times now (Eleven! Who could have imagined that?), and every single time, every single life we greet (no matter when they come) is pure, joyful, magic.  With your patience and greatness, we built a family against all the odds.  I have seen you set aside your needs to care for them, spend your last dime to surprise them, skip sleep to watch over or wait up for them, and spend hours in prayer for them.  Every one of these young people we are trying to guide relies on you so very much (more than some will admit!), and every day you rise to new challenges with them.  You teach them endless good things, not the least of which are generosity, hard work, tenacity and how to have fun.  You inspire them, and you inspire me.  Lover, I am still so glad we came... and you still make me giddy.

Happy Father's Day, Sweetheart.

we've got bibs

A peek at one bit of making last month....
 














I made about a dozen of these, for Julia and for some of her smallest cousins.  I don't have photos of all of them because I suck at that, and they left my house before it occurred to me, yet again, that I like to photograph this stuff.



















They are all reversible, all from the scrap basket. 
 















That yellow one with little red flower-cherry-things is my favorite.  Red ric-rac?  How could it not be?  Besides, the back is from an awesome green tablecloth I thrifted a few weeks back.  Love that.















The patchwork was very, very fun.  This would be an ideal project for a beginning sewist, all those curved edges and the clipping and the turning and the topstitching... plus all the fun of selecting and patching the fabrics -- but none of the pressure.  Like, I didn't even change thread colors for the topstitching.  I know, I should have, but I let myself off the hook sometimes.  Because, well, it's a bib, and somebody is going to smear it with crackers and strained peas.

















(PS: Is anyone else going out of their minds with the new Typepad composition screen??  How the heck do you make your images align the way you like, without all this extra space between the text and the photos!  Gah!  I don't have  time to blog as it is, and fiddling with this is making me CRAZY!!)

an overdue post about an outing

Going through the photos a few days ago to see what was on the card that was blog-worthy, I remembered this little unblogged adventure.  (Of course, there are literally thousands of unblogged adventures... wouldn't it be cool if this could be a really complete adventure log?  No time for that, but I digress.) 













This was one of the first sunny weekends we got this year -- they've been obscenely late in coming -- so we ran up the canyon (5 minutes away) and had an impromptu picnic in between the usual chores and spring yard cleanup....













The little boys had such fun collecting rocks and snail shells and exploring the river.  I love that the simplest things bring such great joy.  I adore the wonder with which they view each new discovery.  I am inspired by the way they enjoy everything so simply.  This time is pretty fleeting (look at those tall frisbee-flinging dudes -- when did that happen??) and I always wish I could remember every good thing and inspire them to spend their life seeing mostly the good things as well...
 

time flies when you're having fun

We've had homecomings...

and outgoings...







sleepovers...















and beautiful mornings.



















We've done some catching up...












and cleaning up...

 








some hanging out...













and holding on.










We've been burning up...

















and cooling off...













cutting up...
 














and growing up...



















And somewhere in between, there has been making, thrifting, sewing, baking, reading, singing, collecting, planting, record-breaking, and even a little bit of sleeping.  More on all that later.  Happy May!

Thrift Thursday

Hi, my name is Denice and I'm a thriftaholic.

This is the latest pile.  Not all from one trip, mind you, but recent.  It is not everything, just the pretty stuff.  For instance, there are about six more pair of jeans in various sizes that could have been included, but you get the idea.  (Yes, that would be eight pair.  I have five sons who all have holes in their jeans, all the time. I never, ever pay full price for jeans, are you kidding?)  There is also a very big pile of cotton flannel, perfect for linings and fillings and diapers, but not so pretty you need a photo.  All super cheap though!  I have my favorite thrift shop all nailed down: On certain days certain colored tags are 50% off, and I always have at least a 20% off coupon, just in case there is something of another color tag I just can't live without (although I do try to stick to that color, really I do).  Mondays are awesome: every Monday all items of x color tag are only 99 cents!  Woot!

Recent finds include some great notions...

...and buttons (there are a couple of good ones in this little lot), and a pin box full of a variety of snaps.  I had it on my list to get more snaps soon, so yay!

I carried one of these around JoAnn for a long time last week before I told myself I didn't need to spend that cash and put it down.  But ten cents beats $6.99 any day! :)

Baby J won't fit these shoes yet, but they were too cute to pass up.  And won't they be sweet with those jumpers?  Makes me giddy just thinking about it.

Pretty Pyrex: the two smaller bowls even have a lid!  Plus there are those embroidery hoops, and the black blob on the floor which are perfect pumps for Natalie (gotta love perfect $2 shoes!), and the sweet ice cream dishes...

...and finally, the sheets.  Oh, the sheets!  I already have so many uses in mind...  I promise a project post using sheets very soon!

On the table tonight: ham sandwiches and tossed salad

 

just in time

May you have a peaceful and joyous celebration.

a good way to spend an hour

Simple Salt Dough Recipe:

1 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water

Knead it all together; add very small amounts of flour or water as necessary; add color if desired.

Play.

The One About the Cats

You may remember Miss Kitty from a few posts back.  Meet Wyatt, Alice, Steve and Sherman.  They are her progenitors, my first attempts at stuffed toys.  I know I'm a little late to this game; there are some really great stuffed sewers around the blogoshpere, and they've inspired me, obviously.  This gang was created completely from "found" materials: from the stash, the scrap basket, or the clothing-on-its-way-to-donation box.  The topic of over-consumption is always on my mind, so I really enjoy this kind of recycling.

Sherman's blue was rescued from a musty, dusty box of found fabric in my mother's garage; Alice was formerly a great sweater (that I really never should have been painting in); Steve is quilt scraps.  Wyatt may be my favorite... He is made from a retired pair of wool pants.  He belongs to Ian, who feels his face is crooked and his eyes don't match, but has become satisfied with him anyway.  Hehe. 

The basic form for these came from Denyse Schmidt's pattern.  They were a quick and easy response to, When are you going to make something for me?  Well, right now.  One for each of you.  And they are very loved.

Grateful Sabbath

A quick thank you for just a few of the many things I am enjoying:

:: My sewing machine collection.  My Kenmore 12-stitch beginner machine that I bought when I was 16 is still going strong; my new quilting machine is a dream to use; my serger is a luxury; and the fact that my girls each have their own machine is pure joy.  These things make me very happy.
:: My Everything Room.  There are so many beautiful and inspiring studios and sewing rooms around the blogosphere, and I admire them all, but my not-so-beautiful jack-of-all-trades room, where my computer, the kids' computer, three sewing tables, the quilt frames, the TV, the printers, the scrapbook stuff, the make-do photo studio, the homework station, the books, the legos, my desk, and no small amount of every imaginable creative supply resides, provides constant inspiration and support to all our creative endeavors.  (We'll work on beauty sometime after the bathroom remodel!)
:: My friend Dona. Quite simply, she inspires me.  She is brilliant and beautiful and fun and wise all at the same time.  And that's on a slow day.  Besides, she raises kids that make me want to write fan mail.
:: My new sheets.  They are super soft and yummy and some astronomical thread count that I didn't even know existed until JB brought them home to me. Yes, he surprised me with sheets.  It was just before Julia was born. Jewelry?  Chocolate?  No way, baby, this guy knows how to gift!  ...On a side note, I wish I could spend a lot more time in them.  Sleep is in altogether too short of supply 'round here-- for some of us.

Happy Sunday!

 

Thrift Thursday

A few thrifty finds: A butterfly sheet I mostly brought home for its buttery yellow color. (I keep picking up yellow lately; it's gotta be a need for spring.) The green tablecloth, which has ugly lace around the edge, but is a great color and is a nicely textured heavyweight cotton, which will probably become the summer tote -- or perhaps a much needed new library tote.  The awesome pitcher came from my mom, who is cleaning out for the sake of a move.  I love that hobnail glass.  The ruffled plate is for the plate wall in the dining room.  The blue dish is for -- well, it's to be pretty.  I'll put jam in it.  Or salsa.  I could tell you about my obsession with serving dishes here, my table setting obsession, how everything on the table must be in a bowl and never in the jar, and there must always be a knife, a fork, and a spoon, and how I never ever want to use a paper napkin if I can help it -- but the baby on my lap and the resulting one-handed typing is helping me keep it short and sweet today.  Enjoy.

(How cool is this little set of letters?)

On the table tonight: breakfast for dinner

needle case

Nothing like a clever post title, eh?  That's alright, just look: the pure sunshine-factor of this dang cute needle case will make up for any lack of illumination in my writing.

I mentioned before, crochet has been getting its share of project time lately.  Aside from being nicely portable, it is also a very winter-y thing to do-- and since I'm still not sure spring will ever get here, that fits about right.

As always, My Current Project Interest = My Girls' Current Project Interest.  They (especially she, since one of my girls is currently out of project mode) always gravitate toward whatever it is I am doing.  This is why my Nat has owned her own sewing machine since she was six: she loves to be working alongside me, whatever the craft.

But I'm digressing here.  Simply put, we need more than one crochet hook in each size, which means that we have a lot of crochet hooks which need a home.  And now they have one.  A very, very pretty patchwork one.

Patchwork is one of the pure joys of sewing.  It's the recess; the dessert; the Girl's Night Out of the sewing project week.  Aside from the fact that the fabric combinations can make a girl giddy, one fabulous thing about patchwork is the opportunity to use little bits of fabrics you are hoarding, the ones you love so much you can't bring yourself to use them all up at once.  This little case is backed in one of my prettiest thrifted sheet finds, that I have used ever-so-sparingly.  It has a place to put sewing needles (I didn't have any yarn size ones to do the modeling for me - been needing to get some) for weaving in ends and assembling, and flaps to cover both the hooks and the needles so they won't slip out when tossed in a to-go tote.  It closes with some pretty grosgrain, since I just happen to have some on hand!

And it has an excellent button, just because.

See?  Isn't that a nice bit of sunshine?

Grateful Sabbath

Most, most grateful today for my dad.  He happens to be one of those blessings I thank the Lord for every single day.  He is the finest, most sincere man I could have ever hoped for as a father.  If I am lucky enough to have a few good traits, I credit in large part his example and his integrity.  I would be lucky even to have him as a neighbor, but God gave me him as a Dad.  He is, simply, one of the greatest blessings of my life, by far.  Thank you, Dad.  Happy Birthday.

Perfect Potato Soup + Easy Breadsticks

(Edited to add: the newest Recipe Box Swap theme is soups and stews. This is my favorite!)

For Randi's Recipe Box swap this month, she asked for money-saving recipes.  Well, this recipe absolutely fits the bill, but I'd have been posting it anyway as it just the yummiest simple supper ever:  Potato soup with breadsticks. 

This potato soup is, beyond doubt, the most wonderful I have ever tried.  And I've tried a few.  This is probably my single most requested dish by every member of my family, papa, teen or toddler.  It is our favorite Sunday-hanging-out lunch, or Saturday-with-a-cowboy-movie supper, and no matter how big the pot, we never, ever have leftovers.  I've have been making potato soup for years, and we tried numberless recipes looking for the right one.  After many tries and many tweaks, the search ended here.  This is trouble, baby.  You will not be able to stop.  This is the inkstitch version of the perfect potato soup.

6-8 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped; set these to cook in water.

Meanwhile:
heat 1/4 c butter with 1/2 cup flour to make a thick paste, add milk gradually (about 2-4 cups. I've no recipe, and it is a bit different every time). Whisk very well as you add the milk, until smooth.

Add:
3-5 green onions, chopped
1-3 cloves garlic, pressed
bay leaf, basil, parsley, salt and pepper, all to taste.  (We happen to like a lot of basil and pepper.)  Keep just warm.

When the potatoes are nice and done (even a little mushy), add to the milk mix with part of the cooking water -- not too much, you are going for about a half-and-half mix of milk and water, and just enough creamy to balance the number of potatoes you have cooked.  This is very easy to add or subtract for your family size (we actually use more potatoes than this, but there are ten of us) -- it's a very "forgiving" recipe.

Mix the soup well, and bring to simmer.  Add:
1 C shredded cheese and 1 C sour cream.  Warm through and serve.

Note: We love this soup just like that.  Because we make it often (probably once a week during the winter), we change it up sometimes.  Peas, ham, carrots, corn, sausage, bacon... all have found their way into this soup and been stellar.

Now, if there is even a shred of guilt in you over the absolute perfection of the richness of this soup, you must get over it right now, because you also need these hot, buttery breadsticks.  They are easy.  And trust me, it is all so worth it.

3 3/4 C flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 fully rounded T sugar
2 barely rounded T yeast
5-7 T oil
1 1/2 C warm water

Stir dry ingredients together, add the oil and water and mix.  If you have a mixer that can handle it, just let it go, scraping the sides and adding a bit off flour (1/2 cup-ish) as necessary.  Otherwise, get your hands dirty and knead.  Once the dough is smooth andelastic, roll it to about 8"x15", sprinkle cornmeal on a tray and place the dough; spread with lots of butter and sprinkle with basil or parsley.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into sticks before baking (Do not separate the sticks, just bake 'em with cut lines and they'll be so easy to separate hot out of the oven.)  Let the dough relax in a warm place for 15 minutes or so (I have put it into the oven immediately; I have waited half an hour.  I am a really laid-back cook, so if the recipe works for me you know it is not a delicate one!)  Bake at 375 f 20 minutes or so, until golden brown.

The Big Post about The Pink Sweater and other Crochet Stories

Most of my current projects are small ones.  I really don't have much time for making, but I also really, really need the dose of sanity that creativity provides.  The compromise is keeping projects small and portable.  Crochet and embroidery fit the bill nicely, and they have been getting an extra share of attention lately.  They are the perfect diversion at the end of a stressful day, keeping my hands and my mind busy as we wind down for the night.

This is my first ever finished crochet project. (Evan just reminded me it's not: "There's that dishcloth in the drawer!" Okay, thank you Evan. This is my second ever finished crochet project. I once made a dishcloth.) This little sweater and hat set was worked in 100% cotton yarn from my (small) stash; my own pattern, just done with single crochet, double crochet, treble crochet, and a lot of trying, pulling, and re-trying.  I am pretty happy.  Julia's pretty happy.  It's a happy project.  And that, my friends, has been a long time coming.  Crochet and I have a past.

I have been crocheting since I was a girl... When I was nine, I joined a 4-H club at my neighbors house.  It was a crochet club, and I was disappointed because two years earlier my older sisters had joined her 4-H group and she had done crafts; but I was too young to join that year, so there I was stuck with crochet.  We called ourselves The Chain Gang, and we had a chant when we went to 4-H summer camp that went something like, Hail, hail, the gang's all here!  I ended up liking crochet, except my mother kept telling me I was holding my yarn all wrong.  Apparently there is a very tricky, very complicated, very specialized way to hold yarn when you crochet.  I never could get it, and it very nearly made me give up crochet altogether.

Incorrect yarn-holding aside, I hung in, and that summer I almost finished my first project.  It was a small afghan made of strips (similar to one here) that I had very cleverly altered to be an infant sized sleeping bag.  (What a nine-year-old would do with an infant sized sleeping bag, I have no idea, but trust me, it was cool.)  I had most of the strips finished in a lovely combination of pink, orange, and white, when I learned the proper way to weave in the ends.  As it turns out, upon finishing a crochet piece, a person is to weave in the ends.  Never knot your yarn, and never, ever cut the thread, for it will surely unravel.  I, having knotted the end of each color change, AND having trimmed each knot as short as possible, was devastated.  What on earth was the point so finishing a project that was only destined to unravel?
I entered nothing in the fair that year.  It was a rather disappointing end to the whole 4-H experiment.

While I was expecting my first baby, I again tried crochet.  This time I knew about weaving in, and I was ready.  (After several hours of trying the specialized yarn-holding method, I did move to the plain yarn-holding method; sorry, mother.)  I never have been one to buy a pattern, so I just jumped in with an idea of a very simple afghan done all in single crochet with a pretty tricky (thought I) lattice section worked in, made with a tiny, size F hook.  The yarn I chose was a very delicate baby yarn in a sweet, pale shade of green which would be perfect for either a girl or a boy.  Tiny hook.  Very delicate baby yarn.  Lordy, I could have gestated for three years and never finished that bugger.  Almost twenty years later it still measures 13"x40" and it ain't getting any bigger.

My third attempt at crochet came one long winter ten or twelve years ago, while spending time with my cousin.  She was working on an afghan in the Biggest. Loosest. Stitch. Ever.  It was worked entirely in treble crochet with TWO strands of heavyweight yarn, on a hook so big I could have hung my coat on it.  Perfect!

By the time it was one-eighth of the way done, I think it weighed about seventeen pounds.

After that, I made the dishcloth.

Grateful Sabbath

Aren't quiet Sundays the nicest thing?  Puttering, reading, cooking, sewing... or doing this little drawing for the kindergarten class.  Yep, I feel grateful for days like this indeed.
A few other things I am grateful for:
:: Ian's drawings.  I have got to scan one of these for a post.  I *love* the stuff he is doing right now!
:: Natalie's singing.  This is our background music -- it never stops.
:: A massive stack of inherited sewing patterns.  (It's on my list to sort them and post some soon.)
:: Art supplies.  Seriously, I love the smell of a new box of Crayolas.  I love playing with art stuff with my kids.  I love that "art stuff" can mean anything from tin foil to rocks.  I love that we have an art museum just down the street. 
:: Jonathan.  How lucky I am that he loves art as much as I do.
I am off to spend time enjoying all the great people I get to live with.  Happy Sunday.

On the table tonight: pot roast and veggies

bidding farewell to the February Funk

Let's send February out with a hurrah, shall we?  I am cheering: I'm glad to see it go.  Frankly, my entire life is stuck in a winter right now, and I hope the whole thing, weather included, is in for a real thaw, real soon.  I could certainly use some sunny days.  And a little bit o' shine on the future wouldn't be a bad thing either...  Get me outta here!

So, because I'm looking forward to breaking out, and in the spirit of making plans, remembering good times, and knowing that there really is sunshine on its way, I give you a nice slice of happy from last fall...

In October, the last weekend before we opened our PS stores, we took the opportunity for a quick getaway and some fresh air at Fish Lake near Loa.  The weather was crisp and lovely.  We stayed in a cozy cabin on the lake and just spent some laid-back time fishing, hiking, playing games, stoking the fire and exploring the surrounding small towns.

My ancestors were some of Utah's first settlers, and personal historic sites pepper the region.  One of my grandfathers Jessop owned and ran this mill near Antimony, not far from Fish Lake.  I think my grandmother Violet spent some of her growing up years here.  It is right on the road, near a sharp blind curve where my little-boy great uncle was hit by a speeding postman!

After lunch at Ruby's Inn, we also visited the Proctor homestead, near Panguitch, Utah and Bryce Canyon.  My great grandmother raised sixteen children in this cabin -- and she never even had an outhouse!  Good golly, it makes you grateful for indoor plumbing and gas heat, doesn't it?

While driving through East Loa, we came upon the tiny local cemetery.  We love cemeteries.  Perhaps this seems strange, but we thoroughly enjoy wandering through them, reading the markers and wondering at the lives of the people there.  It is always humbling to see how many pioneer babies there are, always interesting to discover this wife goes with that husband and piece together imagined stories.  As we wandered through this cemetery, we were completely surprised and delighted to see this:

A bit of background to our enthusiasm: Our little Julia Grace was never going to be Julia Grace at all.  While "Grace" -- her great, great grandmother's name -- was in the plan, we had an entirely different name picked out as a first name.  Late one evening in August, just as JB was dozing off, he had a little dream in which he met a woman high on a mountain.  He recognized her in the way you do in dreams, and he reached up to her and said, "It's time to come now, Sweetheart."  That was the end of the dream, and he stirred, then fell back to sleep.  All night long he heard the name "Julia" in his subconscious, both wakeful and sleeping thoughts.  When he awoke, predawn, I was already awake, watching the clock as contractions began to build.  I know what we need to name this baby, he said.  Good, I told him, because she is coming today.

When he told me about his dream, I was reluctant to change what we had decided was the prettiest name for our new little sweetheart, but after meeting her -- and spending three days trying to convince myself that she looked like the name we had originally chosen -- I had to admit she really did, indeed, seem to want to be called Julia.

So, then, it was with surprise and an amazement that, on a Sunday drive just a few weeks after Julia was born, in all the cemeteries in all the state, in a place I didn't even know existed, we stumbled upon the burial site of her great, great, great grandmother Julia Ann Zufelt Buchanan.  Cool.

And now, in closing and just for fun, a couple of my favorite knuckleheads enjoying some of the last rays of autumn sunshine. Good times.

On the table tonight: Mexican pasta

 

Four Things

It is still all brown and white here, no green, but at last we are having a day that gives us hope for spring.  Woo!

I have been tagged via email by the wise and talented Heidi (who has no blog) with the "Four Things" meme.  (Have you noticed you get the same meme in different "versions"?  I have received this in the past, so I married two.) To each query, here are four answers about me you may or may not have known, in no particular order.

Four Jobs I have had:
1. Egg Farm Candler & Packager
2. Photographer
3. Writer
4. Mama

Four places I have lived:
1. West Jordan, Utah
2. South Jordan, Utah
3. Murray, Utah
4. Springville, Utah

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Jericho
2. The Office
3. Everybody Loves Raymond
4. Mad About You
(I only watch TV online or on DVD.  I despise commercials.  I also rarely watch TV with kids in the room.  Actually, I hate TV.  I'm just saying.  I watch it and I don't like it.  (Must remedy that.)  I do watch some History, HGTV and Discovery channels.)

Four places I have been:
1. Jamaica
2. Mexico
3. Taiwan
4. Portland

People I email regularly:
1. Crystal
2. Dona
3. Kimberly
4. JB

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Excellent steak
2. The potato soup I'll be posting next Recipe Box Swap day (I know, you're thinking Just potato soup? It's that good.)
3. Chicken Tikka Masala
4. Moroccan Chicken

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. At the coast
2. At the other coast
3. At the beach
4. Here is good, too

Four things I am looking forward to this year:
1. Summer road trips
2. Sunny days with the kids
3. Web sales going crazy!  Go ahead, click on over!  :)
4. Meeting new people

Four things I would not want to live without:
1. Electricity, heating, cooking appliances, etc.
2. Fabric stores and quilt shops
3. Books
4. Art supplies
 (And of course my family - but the meme said things.)

Four more things you should know:
1. My desk is very, very messy right now
2. I wear an apron almost every day, almost all day
3. I was the keynote speaker at a scrapbook convention
4. I love to scrapbook and make cards but I am hopelessly behind on scrapbooking my family

Four people I'm tagging:
You! Please leave a comment and play along-- here, on your own blog or via email... tell us a quick Four Things!

quilt month - fabulous finish

Last but not least, the quilts I made for Baby J --

I had a beefy post all typed up.  It's been in my drafts folder for days just waiting for me to photograph Julia's quilt and add photos of a few others.  Then I sat down to download the photos of Julia's quilt...

To heck with the other three, I leave you with this:

still more quilt month

I promise not to bore you with all eighteen quilts from Quilt Summer -- especially since I don't have that many photos!  But for today we have the Katrina:

The Maggie Mae:

And the Heather:

On the table tonight: potato soup

more quilt month

At one point last summer, I was pretty behind on the babe quilt roster.  Not only were there a few stragglers whose would-be owners were getting closer to their first birthday than their original birth day, but I was also looking forward to having a Birth Day of my own, and I knew that once Julia arrived in August, I would not have time to quilt for the babies due in September, October and December. 

Between catch-up and getting ahead, I finished eighteen small quilts last summer.  (I should repeat, they were small quilts.  These are considerably less work than full size.  Lawsy, to accomplish eighteen full-size quilts plus real life, I'd have to be committed.)  For a few weeks there, my kitchen became a veritable quilt factory, as quilt tops were assembled, steamed, and pinned up to await quilting.  Again, I wish I had taken more time for photos before they went out the door.  In the top photo, L-R, are: the Olivia, the Adam, and the Noah quilt tops.  Second photo: the Emily, the Lizzie (partially finished), and the Sophia.

I adore those Sophia fabrics!  There are some Amy Butler, some Heather Bailey, and of course, some Kaffe.  Gotta love Kaffe.  On the ironing board, finished and folded, is the Roman quilt, made in soft, sapphire-toned flannels.

The Emily fabrics come from (I think) a Moda collection, but I can't remember the designer.  I love the buttery colors.  They reflect Emily's mama perfectly, and I knew immediately who should have them.  These all came to me in a scrap bag from a friend.  AWESOME scraps, eh?

The Adam Quilt was an exercise in free-form, recycle-style, scrap-happy creativity.  It was put together in traditional patchwork form, and with no planning, just grabbing a piece from the pile and sewing it on, one scrap-patch at a time.  I was trying to pull away from any kind of perfectionism and just relax and let it take on whatever personality it liked.  It was made entirely with small, "throw-away" sized scraps, with nothing purchased for the project (including the batting, which is also patched -- two smaller pieces basted together).  The back is a nice heavyweight, unbleached muslin, quilted in random criss-crossing lines, which follow some of the seams along the patchwork.  Looking at it now, I think I should have done more quilting, but all in all I am pleased with the result.  It reminds me of a quilt that I vaguely remember from my childhood... either a camping quilt or a quilt from the saddle shed?  I can't quite be sure.  Surely, though, made by my grandmother and used until it was threadbare.  It was the most fun to make of all the collection for the year, and it became Adam's because I knew his mama would understand and appreciate the creative exercise that it had been.

And getting back to routine, on the table tonight: Moroccan chicken

quilt month

It is quilt month over at Sew Mama Sew, a good time to do some catch-up posts on recent quilts.  I have seventeen (yep, 17)* sisters and sisters-in-law.  (They are all true "sisters," equally, by the way.)  Mine is big family full of big families, and my kiddos are lucky enough to have dozens upon dozens of cousins, which means they have lots of best friends and there is always a new babe needing a quilt to cuddle in.  My grandmother was a marvelous quilter.  She made quilts out of everything and for everyone.  I did not have the opportunity to ever quilt with her or learn the art from her, but her legacy is an inspiration, and now that she has gone, I have taken up the needle and given myself the joyful task of greeting each new niece or nephew with a quilt.  Problem is, I am just terrible about photographing them!  Way too often they leave my house with no photos... it would be a good crafty/bloggy goal to get photos of my stuff more.  Regardless, and although there are several missing and the photos are less than stellar, I'll spend a day or two sharing a few from the 2007 line-up.

*(Edit: I have twenty-three. Seventeen are on my side of the family + my husband has four sisters.)

First up, the Lizzie quilt.  This one was fairly labor intensive, with all its tiny 2" squares.  I typically choose simple designs that go together quickly.  All of my quilts are machine pieced, machine quilted, and even machine bound.  This fits my my super-busy life better than intricate designs or hand quilting, and allows me the fun and satisfaction of more finished projects.  Also, it allows me to (almost) keep up with 6-8 new babies each year.  I really loved this quilt; I had it in my head and collected bits of pink for about a year before I finally made it.  The placement of fabrics was random, and I love the way it feels so patchy and very very -- pink!  The back (no photo, dangit) is all one fabric with just one row of pink patches.

The Recipe Box Swap

Randi over at i have to say is hosting a recipe swap! Woo! For a few of our favorite winter dinners, scroll down a bit. For our best, best ever Valentine Super Cookies, click here. In the next day or two I'll add even more. I generally enjoy cooking for my family (and baking, which, truth be told, is especially for me), but I definitely get in a rut, and oh, my, there are some recipes over there (and on the links) that look oh-so-yummy! Click on over and take a look!

WIP

Stitching done by Ian, from a drawing also done by Ian...  Will be made into something special soon....

Meet Kitty

She is on her way to Annie's house to live, and she's a bit nervous.  She has her own nap quilt, pillow and mattress, all to tuck her into her little box-bed when she gets overwhelmed.  She can be coy, but is mostly just eager to please and hoping for a chance to cuddle. 

I've made very few stuffeds, and I find them to be a bit tricky, a very different kind of sewing from my norm.  The pattern is my own, and although she turned out sweet, I'm not entirely pleased.   I don't like the "wonkiness" of her shape... I liked it in the drawing, but sewn up it kind of looks like a mistake.  Also, her dress was a little too stiff and shapeless.  The box-bed is a discarded cell phone box, trimmed in pretty paper and "laminated" for sturdiness with packing tape.  Kind of a kitschy addition, but I have made these boxes for my kids before, and they love them.  (And hey, that packing tape holds up pretty well!) 

I used buttons, both on the dress and for the eyes, even though there are babies in her new home.  I sewed the little buggers on good, and the mama at that house is a maker-of-things herself, so she'll not be bewildered at re-sewing a button if one seems loose.  Although I would change a few things (and I might get my chance), Kitty was quick and fun to make (I thrive on instant gratification), and I'm pretty sure she'll a big hit with the recipient.