"family"

Happy Days

But busy days. It was Canada Day this week so Hubby took Monday and Tuesday off. I would like to say we did fun things, but unless you count cleaning the house and the Great Hat Shopping Adventure not much great fun was had. There was, however, domestic fun of dinners with friends, a trip to the zoo, and a swim or two in the heat.

I've been plugging away on the binding for E's quilt. It's been too hot to sit with a quilt on my lap and handstitch. Yesterday I designed the label. I came down to print it off and found out I am out of printable fabric. A trip to the store will be necessary tonight.

Happy belated Canada Day and Happy 4th of July!

Bad Timing

Finally, the quilting on E's baby quilt is done! We've been having a crazy couple of weeks. E is sick, or has reflux, or simply feels the need to throw up nearly everything she eats. It makes for a stinky baby and mama, and a heck of a lot of laundry.

We also had the Monster's second birthday, back in Edmonton. It was just family, but that makes for over 20 people. She was so excited - playing with her cousins, chowing down on her worms in dirt cupcakes, or riding her new tricycle. Mama's apron was chopped liver compared to that red tricycle.

Now, on to binding the quilt. I was test driving some options the other day. I don't have exactly what I want and will have to go shopping this afternoon. E enjoyed hanging out while I played with fabric. She also demonstrated why you make baby quilts washable - she puked right after I took this picture.

Update
I forgot to mention that I did take Glenda's advice and changed the size of the needles to a 90/14. What an improvement! The quilting was finished with no more broken threads. I must remember this if I want to use Sulky again. It would also be a good idea if I have a quilt with lots of seams. Her comments led me to this site: a great explanation of needle sizes.

Naptime Apron Maker


My Monster turns two on Saturday! I can hardly believe it. It really does seem like yesterday that we were anticipating her arrival, with all the associated anxiety and excitement. Yet I look at E and can't really remember the Monster being that teeny tiny.

I've heard it be described that your babe's birthday is really the anniversary of becoming a mom. We don't think of it that way here. We had a high risk pregnancy and consider the day that we nearly had her at 29 weeks as the day we truly became parents. Over time we've come to see that the decision to even have children is the day you really become parents, but it is hard to see it that way at the time. So while we became parents over two years ago, it is daily that the Monster, and now E, make me a mother.

My little girl loves to "hep" in the kitchen and bake with me. It seemed only fitting that I celebrate this aspect of her development and our relationship by making her an apron for her birthday. I managed to get this together, start to finish, during two of E's naps today. Not bad considering that I didn't have a pattern. I searched around and came up with this site. I found it through an excellent resource for free apron patterns here. The front is a piece of vintage fabric a quilting buddy gave me. The rest is stash. I love the mix of fabrics and see a quilt in them.

While working on the apron I realized that my sewing machine is acting up, so maybe it isn't me. It kept spontanteously changing what stitch I was using. I think I better take it in for some love before I continue on with E's quilt. Damn, and I have two large quilts that I picked up from the long-arm quilter that need binding.

Snack Food

When this is what is taking up your days and nights it sure is nice to have some help around the house. We've kept the Monster in daycare for the time being. It gives me some crucial bonding and nursing time with our new baby and some quiet for Hubby to get some work done (his office is at home, in the living room). Since Elena's arrival we've had both moms down for visits. My mom planted my garden and did some cooking. And Hubby's mom did a whole bunch of baking for me.

My mother-in-law made a couple of batches of muffins and some cinnamon buns for us. First she made these chunky banana bran muffin. They look nothing like Ina's on the show or in her picture, but they sure are tasty. She also made a wholewheat peach muffin, in both "Susan" size (what I call her muffins because she refuses to fill a muffin tin and makes small muffins) and these mini ones with a new muffin tin she bought me for my birthday last week. They are good, but I need to modify the recipe a little before it's perfect.

And now I have treats to eat in the middle of the night while my baby eats her fill.