Picture post

I just wanted to share a few bits and pieces quickly.

My ripple-along blanket grows slowly. I stopped the other evening to take a picture (I'm afraid many of my pictures will be poorly lit due to bad timing and the fact that very little light gets into the first floor of our house once there are leaves on the trees).

Can you see the blur at the top of the first picture? That's my daughter swooping in to steal my crochet hook. Second picture is the best of the full amount of progress thus far (I've actually started another colour/row since that was taken) -- it's only taken me a month. But then I have so much help, when my daughter isn't taking my crochet hook (holding it aloft victoriously as if it's Excalibur or a magic wand, and then chewing on it), she's climbing all over the blanket, stealing my yarn or demanding my attention be directed to her needs (which is my main job at the moment after all).

This last weekend though I got to spend hours in the sewing room! We were going to a birthday party for a little friend who's turning 2. I started a present for her last year which I'm finally finishing up. It's a pointy kitty (a free pattern at the Wee Wonderfuls website), here it is Cheshire cat style (since the head isn't actually attached to the body -- last step still to be completed). I also made the birthday girl a dress from the same fabric as the body of the kitty. I don't have a good picture of it yet so I'll post it another time. (Also we didn't end up going to the party since the birthday girl is under the weather so I don't want to post the finished articles before they're delivered even though they're not likely to see them here.)

Even though I stayed up way too late sewing Saturday night it was totally worth it. I feel so recharged by getting something I'm happy with sewn! And, I'm totally excited that I finally figured out how to do buttonholes on the sewing machine (which I inherited from my husband's grandmother who doesn't sew anymore). I've tried and failed in the past. Then on Saturday I tried again, thought I'd totally messed up the sewing machine as it was stuck in the middle of the button hole setting and called for help. My husband sat there reading the manual and using judicious pressure until the mechanism started moving again. And lo and behold I could sew buttonholes! (I really should get the machine serviced, oh and oil it more often.)

Today I've been more creative in the kitchen. A friend came over and played with the baby for a while and I baked some cookies (mashed banana + oatmeal + baking soda + cinnamon&ginger + a little molasses and oil, based on the Oats & 'Naner Drops here) and some squash for my daughter. Later I cut up some past their best strawberries to mix with rhubarb I stewed the other day (see picture) which I topped with some crumble and baked for pudding (aka dessert) for me and my husband. Yummy! (I almost made muffins after reading this post at Posie Gets Cosy, but then I remembered the rhubarb and strawberries.)

And to end, since I didn't do my mother's day post, here is the hanging basket that my husband bought as a mother's day gift when we were at the farmer's market (I got to pick the colour). I wasn't sure I really wanted that to be my gift (time in the sewing room is pretty high on my wishlist after all), but they're hanging right outside the kitchen door and make me happy every time I catch sight of them out of the corner of my eye. My daughter's pretty excited about them too.