pillow talk

a ruffled mind makes a restless pillow - charlotte bronte

alas, i made tashi a pillow, the ruffle pillow from sweetwater's simple home 

(a book found on clearance recently). it is a belated birthday gift, 

a little something mixy matchy to go with her new comforter.

my sister-in-law gave me this delicious piece of aquamarine chenille that i used on the backside. 

the ruffles, made from baby blanket scraps, are sewn onto a nice piece 

of greenish linen i had in my collection. 

it was a very easy project, great for a beginner.

last year i made her this pillow, my first attempt at log cabin quilting. 

she is a busy teenager with a busy bedroom!

i put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when i could not sleep i wrote in the dark 

- henry david thoreau

the days, mostly

sewing, playing, moving inward, finding the new balance, cuddling up, seeking books,

indulging in movies, treasure hunting, piecing together patch by patch 

homemade monday: monsters & co.

there were some busy hands this weekend, a few embroidered place mats in the works, fabrics for a birthday crown gathered, another bend the rules blanket completed and a friendly monster who needs to be stuffed.

tashi is into making friendly monsters. the first one she made a couple of years ago from a tutorial on the crafty crow. she calls it fuzzawumble. the second is her very own invention.





in the works this weekend was a fuzzawumble for tristan. it has yet to be stuffed, but is just lovely.




i completed another blanket, same fabric as the last.



this one was for a very special small girl who's path lead her into the arms of some awesome parents. she's in for some fun, and so are they.



and there was the music coming out of tashi's violin. music is homemade, isn't it?

homemade monday: patchwork not so pretty

as i was making this, i thought it was my first time constructing patchwork.

but i was wrong.

there was the patchwork sewing basket and the patchwork cat.

so i really don't have an excuse for how awful it looks. i will mention that i really don't have much fabric to choose from, especially when making something for a boy. i'm really not pleased with the color combinations of it. but it is what i have to show for homemade monday (tuesday).

the concept is in sweet booties, but i didn't have the bib template photocopied. so i used the template from bend the rules sewing, the one i always use. i was also supposed to use half inch double bias tape, but what i had on hand was more like a quarter inch.

anyhow, the next one will be beautiful, i'm certain. now onto making soft blocks, and the beginning of the holiday projects.

makey!

yesterday i wasn't feeling very well and needed to nourish my soul with a simple sewing project. i decided to try my hand at the fringe playmat from amanda soule's handmade home.



i wanted to use a particular vintage fabric and a chenille backing, but the fabric piece was a bit too small and not exactly soft. i was about to give up when i spotted a receiving blanket our doula gave to us. i thought it would be a nice way to keep our doula's love close, while using what i had on hand.



i did not have cotton batting on hand, so i just used two more pieces of flannel. it is more of a blanket than a mat, i think.



i think it is pretty fun, and i think tristan does too!

handmade monday: not by me

one of the biggest rewards of blogging is making virtual friends in the blogosphere. one of those friends is maria muscarella of dirt under my nails. maria gave birth to her adorable little boy a short while before i gave birth to mine. we shared with each other a little bit of handmade love to celebrate our offspring. pictured below, maria sent the super cool dragon hat to tristan. she also sent a lovely knitted hat to tashi, which we can't locate at the moment, but i will show it off as soon as we do.

oh my, there's a dragon on your head!


big boy fears not


examining the beast


hat doubles as teething cloth!


thanks maria, your gifts are lovely!

homemade monday (on thursday)

even the small accomplishments are worth sharing. . .

tristan has a crazy drool going on. we keep waiting for a tooth. in the mean time, nothing stays dry for long. and we go through the bibs quickly. so i'm trying to add to our collection.

two for today:

homemade monday: beginning a little stitching

i've been wanting to dress up some things (a onesie for tristan, a t-shirt for tashi) with some embroidery. after a consultation with dan, we decided on the tiki dude for tristan. so last night i ironed on a design from my sublime embroidery kit and began stitching.

after the homemade brownies and a spot of chai!

a shower in today's forecast

that's right. i'm going to a baby shower. this one is for a friend and former co-worker for whom i am a doula! i managed to whip up some handmade gifts for the occasion. these are becoming my standard, from bend the rules sewing.

a nice soft blankie.



and some bibs.



there is nothing like the deadline of a shower to kick you into action!

this week i will work on some more baby gifts that are way overdue for a little woodland creature.

i must add this video, with which i have become obsessed. thanks to soulemama for mentioning it on her blog. i love everything about it.

bibety bopety boo

i can show these bibs now because my my dear friend laura has received them. i made them for her darling baby girl who was born in december, around solstice. perhaps we'll get a sneak peek on blissblog of sylvia in her new duds. i received a picture in the mail yesterday and almost melted. the patterns are from bend the rules sewing, a fantastic book for beginning and experienced sewers alike.

it's an icy morning with school delayed by two hours. yesterday i finally started the process of packing for cyprus, or perhaps i should say piling. toiletries on the dresser. electronics on the spare bed. all possibilities of clothing stacked up on the bench. there is the question of which books to take, what presents to purchase, and should i start over with my forever unfinished knitted scarf, so that i can make it thinner and therefore longer (and so i can knit with that lovely wool on the airplane. are you allowed to take knitting needles on airplanes? only if they're three ounces?).

recently our old washing machine bit the dust and our landlord was kind enough to order a new one immediately. i was so relieved that i wasn't going to have to enter the world of laundromats. but since the new one was installed our sump pump has been getting stuck and running on and on. this tends to blow the fuse. yesterday i blew a fuse at least five times on one load of laundry. it was a real bi$#!@$!%tch to say the least.

imbolg blessings

on friday tashi asked me to lay a white cloth in the back yard. a teacher had told her that on imbolg eve brigid is about and will pass over the white cloth. the cloth is then yours, infused with her power.

on saturday tashi completed her dove pillow. the embroidery is hers, upon a transfer. she sewed the pillow's three & a half sides together at the sewing machine, stuffed it, and hand stitched the finish. is it not the most beautiful little pillow you have ever seen?



she then claimed, "must keep sewing," and so found a project in her felt book to complete. she named him wally. he is already beaded up with love.



my heart is so full.

and that is not all that saturday was.

it was a day that turned warm.

so we took a hike. on a segment of the rivanna trail, off of stribling, running along a few creeks and the rail line. i took about a million pictures that all disappeared when plugged into my mac to be uploaded. the camera battery died which [improper device removal] always ends in the disasterous loss of photos.

and so.
i. will. not. dwell.
on that.

i will however, dwell, on how much water i saw on this hike.

the creek was swelling with run off. it was high and deep. the tributary was full of magical pools, the song of water spilling over rock. it was just lovely to gaze down the misty riven hollow of a lively foothill stream. blessed be the water. may it continue.

from there we took a "spur" trail that circles the upper buildings of fontaine research park. it was strange mixture of woodlands, switchbacks, arboretum, cowfarm, wetlands, parking lot, highway view point, and creek side jaunt. we were thoroughly entertained. tashi collected samples for her microscope kit.



when we returned from our hike we had "bananas a la brigid," bananas fried in butter and brown sugar and then set aflaim with the aid of a brandy and a match. this is an imbolg recipe/ritual found in circle round. the bananas can be served on top of ice cream (our preference is vanilla bean, by ben & jerry). it is a delicious tribute to the light, to the coming of the warmth and the ebbing of the cold, to the playful nature of existence, to the sweet and the sharp and the fruity. we drank hot chocolate, dan's and mine spiked with a shot of brandy!

what kind of dinner could you have after that? while dan ran off to play a gig, tashi and i had breakfast before bed. omelette, bacon and toast. it couldn't have been a more perfect imbolg.

today arrived with a walk. i now begin my every sunday with a three mile walk to the grocery store. it's a fine way to begin a sunday. my kind of church. i walk up and down dale, cross waterway, pass clever houses and end up in a well lit shop that i'm actually developing a fondness for.



at home. laundry. eating. playing. laundry. the unveiling of tashi's pitch back net. laundry. successfully fulfilling a quest in the dreaded shopping mall. eating. super bowl rarrrrring. staring at the computer. and staring. and staring.

goodnight. sorry about the loss of photos. i would have loved to share all the shots i took of the water. but brigid decided that the holy well cannot be captured on screen.