i have had so little time to blog, but i do think about it often! we've had visitors and visitors and more visitors yet. good fun. i am trying to sew when i can, mixed in with the job and the babes and the need to occasionally sleep or be entertained!
loki is my sewing guardian. or maybe he just wants me to feed him. . .
here are some quick highlights from the past couple of weeks!
there was easter weekend with dan's sister's family. . .
and then there was music & fun with some of dan's friends from up north. . .
in the mean time, tristan is growing in leaps and bounds. it seems like he wakes from every nap a bigger boy. some new words include socks, shoes, ball, butterfly and the sound of a wolf howling at the moon! we have been doing some exploration of the great outdoors, while tasting rocks, acorns & dirt.
and there have been some playdates. . .
yesterday tristan woke from his nap with a mohawk. . .
he visited a playground for the first time. . .
and then we attended the first fridays after five of the season. . .
last week i mailed in my application to sell homemade blankets & bibs at the earlysville farmer's market. i may eventually work some other items in, but right now i'm hoping to have a least four blankets and a dozen bibs ready for market opening in a couple of weeks.
here is my first set.
the name of my wee business is windflower lane, to continue in the same vein as windflower botanicals and windflower doula service.
i'm in the midst of sewing a second blanket, and am trying to crank out the bibs when i can. it's great fun really, except for when i mess up. and mess up i do! the up side is that tristan gets to keep the "seconds", at least for now. . .
i'm trying to think of clever names for my sets. the above could be, rocket man. or, to the moon, alice. or, my other vehicle is a space ship.
just to give you an idea of my thought track lately!
firstly, i saw joanna newsom at the jefferson theater! she is simply astonishing! it is one thing to listen to her recordings, and another to see her live. to watch her hands hit the harp strings, to see her mouth form each poetic lyric, to witness harp song fill the room with constellations -- it was such a blessing. she opened with the song jackrabbits, and sent me spiraling into a realm of quill & feather, windows open wide to starry sky, dried wildflower petals and colored glass.
the day marking tristan's first year arrived on friday. he decided to start things early by waking at 4am! our doula said it was because he wanted us to remember the fun parts (it was around 4am that i started heading for the bathtub in order to manage labor pain). tristan was slipped gifts throughout the day, wheels and puzzles and books and blocks to replace chew toys and rattles. it was a pleasure to see him so engaged, even if he wouldn't keep his birthday crown on! joyful, emotional, exhausting, and delicious are just a few words to describe the day. we think he had fun too!
on saturday i officially became a soccer mom as tashi played her first match on her first soccer team. we thought she did a great job and are quite proud of her. afterwards we went and bought a car! all of our cars thus far have been spotted on the side of the road with for sale signs in the windows. but this time we got all adult-like and went to a dealership. we think the pretty blue subaru outback will be worth it. we hope so. our older subaru of 220,000+ miles just wasn't feeling so safe & reliable anymore, especially when carting children around.
saturday night i attended our school fundraising gala as the photographer. it was a good experience, and a lot of fun too. more photos can be viewed here.
sunday we had a small party so that tristan could celebrate his birthday with some fellow wee-folk. it was a very nice gathering.
and now i'm ready to get on with spring, oh beautiful spring.
tristan and i spent many peaceful moments on this porch swing in his first months. the combination of fresh air and motion always seemed to calm him. for me it was an opportunity to breath in the aromas of spring, mingled with baby scent. what could be better?
now my baby boy is * one * year old. he seems to have a new word or sound or name each day: hot. duck. water. luna. raaaar. he is crawling on all fours into each of the four directions seeking his bliss. we follow him, we follow his sister, and every day find ours.
this was tashi's little bike-thing. at some point a bolt fell out, the bike fell apart and sat in a box for years. dan replaced the bolt the other day, and the bike-thing is back.
our friend julia is moving & clearing stuff out. guess what we scored? tashi's loving this cool little smith corona. she typed up an edition of the family news right away!
julia also passed on this special kitchen piece. i may just have to make jello for tristan's first birthday!
i made tristan's birthday crown this weekend. in fact, i made him two crowns.
when i first photocopied the pattern from the book the creative family, i did not enlarge it enough (yes, even simple percentages can throw me). but i realized my error and made a second accurate enlargement. for what ever reason i kept the too-small pattern along with the correct one. when i went to make the crown, i grabbed the first pattern that i saw, forgetting that there were two. as i was tracing it i thought to myself, my this looks small. but i carried on as i so often do, like when my sewing machine is threaded incorrectly and i'm wondering why the stitches are uneven. don't make my mistake! stop and evaluate the situation!
so when the crown was done and i was feeling pleased as punch, i discovered the second, bigger pattern. my stomach sank. when i tried the smaller crown on the baby, well, it was a bit small. i mean, it sat on top of his head, but surely wouldn't be used beyond the first birthday. so i made a second crown, based on the bigger pattern. when i tried this one on his head, it fell over his eyes! so really i have the best of both worlds, a crown that will fit this year, just barely, and a crown that he can wear in subsequent years. and some practice making birthday crowns!
and tashi completed her fuzzawumble! isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen?
