tristan's lap quilt

this is the lap quilt from amy karol's bend the rules sewing. i've made two others, one for tashi, and one for my mom. i rushed to complete my mom's and managed to do so within a week. tashi's was my first quilt ever, so it did take me a couple of months to bring it to completion, bit by bit. 

i thought i would get tristan's done in just a couple of weeks and that it would be ready for his fourth birthday. but it just didn't happen that way. i was busy. i was tired. i couldn't make up my mind about the fabrics and their arrangement. and when i did get to sewing it, i had some terrible mishaps. the backing fabric bunched up horribly so i had to spend too much time undoing my quilting lines and starting over. and when the presser foot on my sewing machine started spinning off center and causing me to sew lines that wandered way off trail, i'd really had enough.

                                                                                      

luckily the machine i gave tashi for her birthday worked like a charm, and i was able to complete the lap quilt, eventually, over time, with much procrastination.

homeplace

it was wednesday morning and the day opened wide before us. it wasn't a work day, or a preschool day, there were no appointments or pre-arrangements, not even errands. 

part of me felt like i had to, i should, DO something. i really should go to the swimming pool we are lucky enough to be members of through dan's job. or we should go to the library and bring home a new crop of stories. that i should just get tristan out of the house and go. 

but another part of me really didn't want to be elsewhere.  so i stepped out to water the garden, and our day began.

  

 

while the deer ate the heads off of most of the black eyed susans that volunteered themselves in our yard, a few have survived and are beginning to open.

  

and these littles. so sweet.

 

i don't know what these orange flowers are, but they are bright and fabulous!

while it may be getting late for planting, i had some organic potatoes that were sprouting, so decided to create an all new potato patch. tristan helped work the soil. we scooped two buckets of compost from the bin and he helped me pour it. he hopped on and off his balance bike, picked up worms, pointed out interesting rocks, and asked confounding questions. 

we planted our potatoes in the soft soil and felt satisfied.

 

 we really did so well, cohabitating the outdoors. he played and sometimes helped me. we conversed from one end of the yard to the other. there were no demands or upsets. we were both out there enjoying being out there, hot though it was!

tristan and luna even had a special companionship going. the cats are sometimes wary of this unpredictable bundle of boy, but today luna hung by his side, and he treated her with a curious gentleness.

i found the gardenia blooming. and then got to work removing some of the invasive trees growing around it, and all along our deck, taking energy away from the blueberries and still unidentified blossoming bushes.

we were pretty hot after mucking around in the yard all morning, so had an icy cold seat in the freshly filled wading pool. welcome to club cedar.

by midday we retreated indoors, had some lunch, and followed it with a blueberry banana cake. so delicious, especially with a little butter while warm.

we were finally feeling ready for a late afternoon visit to the pool, when the storms starting rolling in. so we remained at home the entire day.

and i finished someones lap quilt. three months exactly after his birthday. 

berry first day of summer

nothing says first day of summer like berry picking. 

on friday morning i met some friends at the free union berry patch,

where we gathered blueberries. unfortunately the crops have been damaged this year 

by the cicadas and the yield is limited. but i came away with three pints of fat blueberries, 

and some delicious berry patch honey as well.

our sweet friend, ready for the berry hunt.

juicy blue goodness

happiest boy in the patch

i made these sugar free blueberry muffins and they were quite delicious. 

i used my fancy mini muffin-cake pan, and they stuck a bit, but were attractive still. 

topped with butter and honey before serving, they were very pleasing.

tristan and dan found some of the first ripe blackberries at the foot of our driveway,

a fine addition to our summer treat.

after the rain

we took a walk this evening. tristan finds mud and damp stressful these days, so a walk to the creek after the rain perhaps wasn't the brightest idea. but he too is a little unpredictable, and usually loves his visits to the creek. so we strolled down into our patch woods, eager to check out the water after a day's rains. forwards and backwards we walked. the stream had a rare and beautiful song, which lightened slightly all the grumping that was unfolding. and the pools were deeper, though opaque and agitated, connected by pretty little sand bars. the walk ended where it began, back in our yard, where the mist fomented between trees, and the happy plants stood belly full of drink.

potatoes, photography, and papa

the weekend started on friday with a playgroup potato harvest. i made a fine batch of homefries and a table serving of mashed potatoes from our small but impressive haul. friday evening brought a lovely night on the lively downtown mall, among look3 festival goers.

tristan and i had a lot of fun checking out "the short happy life of the serengeti lion," a photography/video exhibit by michael nick nichols at the haven. tristan was very excited to check out more exhibits afterwards, but none measured up to the bigger than life images of lions in action.

we also discovered that tristan has a lot more fun going from place to place downtown if he can do it on his balance bike. here he's collecting a little reading material.

if friday was a good opening to the weekend, sunday was an equally good closing, with a very special papa in house. i made a big breakfast and tristan and i handed out some books, a print, and some dark chocolate.

in the afternoon we went to pollak vineyards where we checked out irish music 
by king golden banshee, had a small picnic, and a refreshing bottle of white wine.

it is very pretty there.

it was the kind of weekend that makes me feel so incredibly proud of 
where i live and who i live with!