Rest, Relaxation, and Resolutions

Eating dirt out of potted house plants is way more interesting than Christmas gifts, apparently.

Home at last! Got in around 9, and we're so glad to be here. It was really nice to visit with everyone, and to eat all the delicious Christmas feasts, but there really is no place like Home.

There was a huge rush of crafting and calendar printing before we left for town, down to the wire as always. Most of the pot holders were finished and given away, though there are still more yet that need finishing up.

On our trip home I was feeling quite relaxed about the coming weeks. I have a few major things that need doing, (passport applications, getting my learner's license, conquering my lifelong fears of driving cars and flying in planes... etc.) but not many projects that feel very urgent. In short, I was looking forward to a few days 'off.'

Then I got home. Steve and I unpacked our things, started the laundry... Tried to cram the stuff we brought back from Costco into the storage shelves. I need to re-organize. Again. But that's all good, 'cos I've been meaning to rearrange the kitchen into a more baby-safe environment. Anyways, I started a little mental list of things to pick up tomorrow.

(Side note: NEW VAN. We will pick things up tomorrow in our NEW VAN!!! Yay! It's like, 10 years old or somethin', but it's new enough for us!)

So I'm all unpacking and planning my day tomorrow...
- Recycling trip
- Don't forget it's garbage day
- Empty all your cupboards and reorganize them
- Wash duvet cover
You know, the usual.

Until I caught a glimpse of a bag of fabric scraps in my closet, and was reminded of those scrappy quilt blocks that I saw here. I've been wanting to make something like that for so long, and now I can! Eeee! Also looking forward to making Sully's big quilt, and finishing up his room. I'm thinking I'll make some little birds to hang about the room, and put up some shelves.

So I guess those 'days off' I was looking forward to will be more 'on' than I was anticipating, but I'm glad for it. There's a New Year about to start, and I'd like to head into it with a positive, energetic feeling. So much to do! So many resolutions to work on, and yes, a few big hurdles to get over. Exciting times, my friends, exciting times.

Tonight though, I'm going to maybe just jot down a few notes and drink my glass of wine. I've got a double issue New Yorker to get through and a couple books as well, including a new slow cooker book that I read a good review about. Yup. My life rocks. My cozy house has stuff strewn about it, the to-do list keeps growing despite my best efforts, and I'm not sure how many more hours my 9-monther will be sleeping for tonight, but who cares? Right now I'm feeling pretty blessed.

Happy New Year, everyone. Love to you n yours,
-C

And First Place Goes To...

Steve Hazel. For your achievements in the field of excellency.
Seriously, though, the guy deserves some kinda trophy. He stayed up all night with me finishing the calendar. All night. We're both zombies now, but all the files are at the printer's, and I might even get em tonight!

It's amazing how much time everything takes. I knew it would be a long night, but didn't think it would take until 8am! And of course after staring at the same simple little line drawings for hours on end, they start to look, I dunno, not spectacular. Whatever. It's done. Out of my hands.

Late nights early mornings

Last night at... Oh I dunno what time. Early, like midnight or something, this was the "finished" pile:



Around 2am....



3am.



I've finished about 15 pairs of pot holders. So about half of what I want to make, which means I'll be sending out a lot of mail in January.

Tonight I'm drawing. Drawing!! This was around midnight:


This is now. (2:30am)


I'm waiting for the ink to dry, then I'll be erasing all the pencil, scanning stuff and arranging it into a calendar. I'm lucky I have friends who force me into doing this art stuff, 'cos otherwise I'd be sleeping right now. And sleeping is for total losers...

I stayed up late with the sewing machine, until about 3 this morning. Like I said, Cathy's prezzies are done. I moved on from there to finish the cushion covers. Since the recipients don't read my blog I can post a photo:


I love this fabric. I started these a couple weeks ago beginning by making a little sketch on graph paper, a 20x20 grid divided into sections... Scratching the lines out and redrawing them a few times, until I was satisfied. Then I figured out how big each piece should be, with each square on the graph paper representing an inch. I added 1/2 an inch to the sides of all pieces to allow for seam allowances. Then I cut them all out, making up the fabric arrangement as I went. Next of course is the sewing em all together part. I then sewed it to a backing fabric, almost like quilting but without the batting in between. Lastly, I made them into cushion covers, with two back pieces overlapping to create a big opening to shove a pillow through.

Tah Dah!

As if I needed more things to do, at about 2am I started making 'clucky' the hen and chick pattern I got from Melly and Me. It's an adorable pattern, and I look forward to finishing it, but it's the worst thing to try to do in the middle of the night. The first step is ridiculously fidgety, with a tiny wattle, and curvy tail and comb peices. Sewing allong the curved line takes forever, and then there's the turning it right-side out part, that was almost impossible. In the end I did the tail piece twice, because the first attempt was so misshapen. The second time I did it I trimmed closer to the seams in order to turn it out along the curved parts more easily, but that just meant I ended up ripping the seam out a tiny bit. Welllll... After pressing the tail flat, I zigzagged around the edges to cover up my mistakes, and am pretty satisfied with the results. By the time I'd finished those three peices it was 3am and time for bed.


This morning we went for a walk through some trails we hadn't explored yet. It's a lovely day out there, sunny but not too cold.


Posie met a new friend, Katie the weimaraner, and Laena showed me around the neighbourhood a bit, (thank you!)

So far Sully's skipped his morning nap today, so I'm hoping for an extended afternoon nap to start soon which means I'll get a bit more of this sewing done.

And then it will be on to the beer calendar. Speaking of, I should get Steve to bike up to the liquor store, if I'm going to be up all night drawing beer 'lables', I'm going to need some beer of my own!

10:40 pm

Looks like I got over my little xmas crafting spaz. I've done a few more pot holder trial runs tonight and I finished Cathy's presents! I would cross that one off my to-do list, if I knew where it was...

I'm thinking of pulling an all-nighter tonight, or something close to it, just to get as much done as possible. We'll see how it goes.

Cathy, I need your mailing address :)

Call Me Crazy

Oh Christmas, how you drive me nuts. Every year I set unreasonable goals for myself and get let down when I don't achieve them, or when I have to compromise. Like last year, I made a calendar, 'cos I said I would, and I hated the result. But still I had them printed and gave them out to everyone, because... Why? Who knows.

This year's unreasonable goal includes making a million, (50 or so,) pot holders. Right about now I'm ready to throw in the towel and cancel all Christmas crafting. Yup, sorry folks, but you don't get presents this year. From me. Having just written that, I realize that no one will actually hold it against me if they don't receive a pair of handmade pot holders this Christmas. Huh.

There are a handful of other projects on the go that I will finish and send out. Like the cushion covers and Cathy's present. I think I'll just focus on those tonight until this little tantrum of mine is over.

In other news, I've made a new friend on the Coast, she likes to sew and craft and she's a new mom and she even has a neurotic dog, just like we do! It's been pretty awesome to have someone to talk to about different crafty projects and about parenting... I tell Steve about all the things in my head, but I suspect he only pretends to listen and by now probably thinks I'm crazy.

He recognizes this xmas pattern of mine, and just shakes his head. Personally I hope to get the motivation back in order to finish these sewing projects, especially considering the time, (and money,) already invested. I mean seriously, I've already cut most of them out, I just have to sew them together! This is just a temporary blip, due to an afternoon of unsuccessful trial runs... Positive thought will return, after these messages.

Feelin Uhhgie

Sully and I seem to have a cold again. This morning I thought if I got enough rest it would go away, but we're both feeling pretty awful, the poor man can't sleep very well with all the snot.

And so another day has gone by without the To Do list getting any shorter. It is kinda nice, though, on days like today when I'm laying in bed as much as possible, (which isn't actually that much but whatevs,) when we order pizza and I take the time to just soak in the tub... I feel so lucky. My head feels like a bee's nest, but at least I get these luxuries. Also, this new robot of ours is super sweet....



Sully's going to read the manual and get back to me on how the remote works.

My floors look nice, and all I had to do was clear some furniture out of the way and close the door. He did get trapped in the ensuite last night, which I thought was pretty cute. Good thing I was home to rescue the little guy from having to clean a tiny bathroom floor for an hour.

Annnyways. I feel crappy, but incredibly grateful at the same time. There's a machine to to the laundry, and to make it dry and warm, there's a machine to do the dishes and dinner took all the effort of Steve answering the door while I was reading David Sedaris. Life is pretty sweet.

(coughcough*snifflesniffle*ughhh*)

Finished this last night, hope it'll look a bit better/less lumpy when it's felted.

Lately

Okay, so this blog is supposed to be daily, where I post the things I've made that day, or have started making or just thought about making. But lately I've been lazy. Not that I'm not making things, I've just been too wiped at the end of the day to string a sentence together, let alone whole blog posts.

It's been a week now, so I should just jot something down. Starting with last Friday... Oh yeah, Friday I made three pies, (2 pumpkin, 1 apple) and two pots of soup. Carolyn, Kaitlyn and Dan arrived that afternoon... Here's a photo of the bebes that night:


Saturday I made a big brunch and later, a turkey dinner.

Here's Heather's review:


If it weren't for Carolyn's help I would have totally ruined the turkey. The stars of the show were definitely the stuffing and the baked creamy leeks, thank you Jamie Oliver! Gotta say though, about that cook book, I'm rarely disappointed, except the soups I made on Friday weren't all that awesome. I made the cauliflower + cheese soup for the first time and will be adding a few potatoes to the pot next time, and more cauliflower. The lentil soup came out a bit grainy, but that was probably my fault somehow, 'cos it was great last time.

Here are some adorable babies:
Just a few cousins, hangin' out on a Sunday morn.... It was so nice to have a house full of adorables.


Which brings me to this week's projects:

I'm knitting a fourth and last ball for Sully. It started out as an oval that I was going to turn into a felted dinosaur egg, but have settled on making it a giant ball. Almost done.

I also designed a patchwork cushion cover for a couple lovely ladies on my Christmas list, and have finished sewing all the pieces together. Next step is to put backs on them and make them into covers, but the fun part is done now so I'm finding it hard to get motived to finish them.

It's still crisp and bright outside so we've been getting lots of walks in, at least an hour a day. This lil' pic is from 2 days ago.



I suppose that's all there is to report. I really should have had a more productive week, perhaps finishing the calendar or whatnot, but it's been slow going. I think it might have something to do with all this sunshine we've been getting, it's just too hard to stay inside :)

Oh yeah, I made these chocolate truffles tonight. Simple recipe, but not sweet enough. The dark chocolate is too overpowering. Oh well, they'll still get eaten.

Oi.

Steve's family is arriving tomorrow, so I spent much of today getting things ready to have a house full of people, incl. 4 kids. I washed both the dog and the floors today, something I've been putting off for longer than I care to admit. And now my back is killing me. Just kinda chilling out a bit before going to bed... Resisting the urge to pick up my knitting.

Somewhere in today's craziness I found time for a nice hour-long walk up the street to run some errands, and also squeezed in a little crafty time. I started a couple of Christmas decorations using pine and cedar boughs. I used to make these things all the time as a florist, where you tie a few boughs together and wire in bobbles and ornaments. Can't remember what they're called now, kinda like a wreath. Anyways, I bought a few little cheapy xmas decs, and tied em into the boughs, also tied up a couple bows for them. I'd like to make a few little birds or other Christmas tree decorations for them, but that will have to wait until after this weekend. It's funny though, how fun it was to do a bit of decorating. I never do the whole tree thing, but I guess now that we're a little family it seems we should have something decorated. When I was walking around my house looking for places to put up the few strings of lights that I own, I was reminded of a Jenna's dad and how he used to decorate his vintage hair drier for Christmas. One of those ones that old ladies would sit under while their perms set. I was wishing I had one to wrap a bunch of lights around, but alas.

Anyways... I'm done eating my pickles n cheese now, so I should prolly head to bed. Fingers crossed Sully stays asleep for a bit! I really need some rest.
xoxo

Good Morning!

Sully and I woke up to find it had froze last night and that the world around us was covered in lovely white frost. We got outside as quickly as possible and went for a walk. Then when we came home Steve had got out of bed, so we dragged him out for another walk. It was just too beautiful to miss!

I took a few quick snap shots while I was out.
(Disclaimer: my photography skills have gone by the wayside + this camera is not really meant for beautiful/artsy photos, so they're not special, but one might still get the gist of how nice the walk was.)


Posie in the park


A frosted fence...


And a couple of my favourite horsies, taken from the trail that runs past the property they live on. Yeah, those people live in fairytale land or something, their home is so gorgeous. (A pond, the forest, the horses, a bunch of bunnies hopping around...)

Hello December!

Wow. December already, and it is gorgeous! Sully's down for a nap, but as soon as he wakes up I'm taking him out for a walk. I think we'll go up the trail to the quilt shop today. I need some template plastic for those Melly and Me patterns.

I finished this last night


Another ball, sitting on a big stack of fabric. There are a few of these stacks piled around my craft table, waiting to be put to good use.

This is a little snapshot I took while out walking yesterday:



It's the end of the street I live on, by the trail head. There's a sign on a tree right there that says 'Caution: Cougar in Area,' but it's been up since a few days after we moved here.. So I just ignore it. Not much you can do about these things, right? Just the cost of living here.. Keep your eyes out for wildlife, and watch where you step. (There's a bunch of bear scat in my front yard...)

And here's my walking buddy, strapped into his fancy stroller. You should see the stuff this stroller can go over! Plows right over stumps and roots without any trouble...


Think he's got enough chins?

More of the same...

Continuing with yesterday's theme of cooking a bunch of food, I've been stuck in the kitchen all morning making baby food. For some strange reason I can't bring myself to just buy the jarred stuff at the store. I guess I figure since I'm already spending most of my life in the kitchen, I might as well be making all the baby food too.

This morning I made three different chicken recipes, a big pot of pork chops and apple sauce, and a pot of beef stew. I have a bunch of spinach in the fridge that I need to cook, so I'll probably do a spinach recipe later this afternoon.

I guess I'll use the last bit of nap time to continue on that quilt, though I'm sure Sully will wake up as soon as I sit down to sew. Admittedly, I'm kinda excited for him to get up. It just got really sunny outside, so I'm looking forward to a walk after lunch!

Today was more of a food-making day than a sewing/crafting day. I tried a couple of recipes that I hadn't made yet from my favourite cook book: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. That book is my bible. He's got a bit of everything in it, and it's all super simple. Today's meals were tomato and lentil soup, and a chicken stew with a mashed potato topping. Both fantastic.

On the crafting side of things all I've done today is work on another knitted ball. I got a bit further on the quilt yesterday afternoon, and I've started working out the details of a few Christmas projects, but that's about it.

We had a little play date this afternoon with baby Cal and his Mama. Always fun to see those boys crawling around together, playing tug-of-war with toys and being adorable in general... And of course the company of other adults is always appreciated. Turns out I've got some really nice neighbours :)

Later, Steve and I went out for a walk and brought our new binoculars. We spotted a Cooper's Hawk with a dead bird in his claws, cute! Seriously though, just when I'm feeling like I maybe live too far away from everyone I know, (Saturday night spent at the grocery store instead of at a friend's birthday party, fun times,) there's a day like today when we go for a little stroll and just enjoy the world around us. I might be a total sap, but sometimes the beauty of this place overwhelms me.

And now. I am so. Tired. Only 8pm and I can barely keep my eyes open. I suppose I'll get a few more rows done on this ball and call it a day... Or night. Or something. G'night!

Sewing like mad

Less than a month to go before Christmas! Gahhhh! So much sewing to do...

I received a package of fabric in the mail a couple days ago, (finally, after a whole week and a half of impatiently waiting,) and I can't wait to cut into it. I ordered almost the whole Boy Oh Boy collection and some beautiful Mendocino prints as well. I also bought a couple of patterns for adorable little toys from Melly and Me and oh my goodness, I was just reading their blog and found a tutorial on making scrappy log cabin quilt blocks! I've been wondering how to do that for a while now... Yay! That is so exciting.

Okay. Must remain focused. Have to finish Christmas presents before starting new projects. Stay calm.



I finished knitting the above ball I was talking about the other day. Sewed it closed last night. I'll felt them after I have a few completed. I also made a hot pad from Amanda Soule's book, Handmade Home. A while ago I made this one:



and found it to be quite small, so I made some new, bigger, templates and made this one yesterday:



Honestly though, as much as I absolutely adore everything about Amanda Soule, I can't look at these pot holders and not see Pacman. So I'm going to use a different technique for the pot holders I'm making as Christmas presents.

Okay. So what's next? I guess I'll continue on that quilt for Leilers. She's coming to visit next weekend, and Carolyn and Kaitlyn and Dan and Marty and Drew too! I can't wait! So much to do, though... And very little time. But that's pretty much always the case, so no biggie. Right?

PS: here's a photo of those place mats from a few days ago:

I worked on Cathy's present until 1am last night, and I'm so pleased with the result!! I'd love to share some photos right now but that would spoil the surprise :)

Still, I'm quite proud of myself for figuring out the small amount of math involved... Doing double-sided quilting with 45' angles inside of rectangles. Simple stuff for most people, but I've never had a head for math.

I'm excited to get these done so I can send them to Edmonton! Speaking of which, I have to get to the post office today and send a hat I knitted for a super adorable little man named Zephyr. I finished it a few weeks ago but still need to send it...

For now I'm going to try to get a bit more sewing in before Sullivan is up from his nap.

Birthday

Our dear friend Bruce would have turned 27 today. I'm starting a little present for his wonderful mother using a fabric that reminds me of him. It's blue with green hummingbirds and orange butterflies. He was rather like a hummingbird, and orange was his power colour, so I picked this fabric out with him in mind. Working on this project today is my way of honouring his birthday.

He passed away gracefully and with bravery at the age of 22, after his second fight with cancer. Bruce inspired everyone he met, and his memory continues to guide me every day, inspiring me to try to be the best person I can be. We all love him and miss him dearly. His spirit lives in our hearts and he'll be with us forever.

Wish you were here.
xoxo

Miss Mack

I'm feeling more like myself today, and only slightly nauseated from the giant mugs of coffee that have brought me back to life.

Today's project is a quilt I started a few months ago for my niece, Leila. I kinda messed up a few blocks, so I have to re-do them tonight, but otherwise it's coming together fine.

I also started a little 'quiet time' project for Sully's Christmas stash last night. I'm going to make him a few knitted + felted balls. They should knit up pretty quick, and I can make em in a bunch of colours. I have a long list of toys to make for him this month, which is kind of silly because he's probably too young to appreciate Christmas presents any more than he will the wrapping paper. I suppose it's more for my enjoyment.

-----

It's 11:24pm now, and I'm not all that sleepy, I suppose I can get overly enthusiastic about coffee some days.

I was pretty frustrated with myself earlier this evening. The quilt blocks that I'd sewn together were slightly more rectangular than square, and I needed to trim them all down a bit. I really need to focus on sewing proper seam allowances, but I just don't have the patience. I guess it's an acquired skill. My friend Jenna pointed this out to me while we chatted on the phone tonight. I finished trimming all the blocks into squares while we talked, then I laid them out and fiddled with their order. I even put little bits of numbered masking tape on them... All the while chatting and laughing; the frustration I had been feeling earlier had disappeared.

Now all I have to do is sew the rows together and figure out what kind of border I want to make. Then it will be ready to quilt!

I'm so glad I have a Jenna. She's really awesome. And she has this amazing little boy who tells bedtime stories about trucks n dragsters. She's beautiful and kind and a fantastic artist but the best part is her heart. It's a really good one.

Comfort Pancakes. Like a blanket, only edible!

I suppose I'm in a bit of a funk. The last few days have been a little lacking in motivation. I haven't made much of anything, just slowly working on little bits of things, and mulling things over. I have barely even left the house except to take the dog + baby to the park... I did manage to finish the place mats this morning while Sully slept. If my dining room table wasn't covered in tubes of paint and pieces of paper, I'd lay em out and take a photo. Another day.

I guess it's only natural to slow down for a few days once in a while, so I shouldn't freak out about it. Times like these we usually heat up some left-overs from the freezer, or better yet, order pizza, (last night.) Today I took out some lasagna I made a couple weeks ago and left it to thaw on the counter, only to put it back in the fridge a while later when I decided that comfort food was in order. Pancakes. I love pancakes. Not a huge fan of syrup, I'll usually eat mine with just a bit of butter on them. Tonight I made a little mixed berry sauce from the raspberries we froze this summer, (thank you to Dan for picking those!) and whipped up some cream. Annnnnnnd I made a bit of hot cocoa to go with, 'cos apparently there weren't enough empty calories involved in this meal. Gotta love solving your emotional woes with food! Hopefully this fog lifts before I gain ten pounds.

The Nightly Battle

Planning ahead and properly measuring your fabric before sewing it would be a good idea if, say for instance, you'd like all your place mats to be the same size. Consistent seam allowances and proper sewing technique also come in handy if you want a nice straight rectangular shape when you're done. This is why I convinced myself long ago that straight, even lines are for sweatshops and professionals. My sewing projects always end up with a nice 'homemade' look to them... I try to pass it off as my style.

Today I ironed out the place mat tops and cut the raw edges off to make them more 'clean.' Because they're not exactly a uniform size I'm going to pin them, wrong sides together, to the fabric I'm using as a backing and cut around the edges. As opposed to cutting a bunch of rectangles from the backing fabric, and then finding some of them don't match up. BTW, I'm using an unbleached cotton for the backs, without any batting. These are going to be very simple, easy-care place mats.


And, as I've now discovered having almost finished sewing one, they're also going to be a bit too small. So for the record, I'll probably add a couple inches to both the length and height next time I make these.

-----


Last night I skipped out on the crafting and went to bed at 7:30pm, as soon as Sullivan was sleeping. I stayed in there all evening reading the New Yorker for the first time in many months. It was glorious. I felt kinda guilty, as if I was somehow wasting time by relaxing and reading instead of quilting or painting. But I think I just needed to feel like an adult for a bit. A very pampered adult who got to eat dinner in bed without lifting a finger. My new favourite broccoli soup, (recipe from soulemama.com,) with homemade cheese scones. Yum!

Tonight I'm feeling a bit torn. I want to return to the New Yorker and my uber-comfy bed... But there are just so many projects to work on. I guess that's what being a mum is all about: if you want to do anything for yourself you have to sacrifice sleep to do it. Damn.

Bebe Monkey

He's done! I finished him up this morning. One of his arms is a little longer than the other, and his tail's a bit lopsided, but I'm sure little Cal won't notice. He was quite easy to knit, using 4 double-pointed needles and simple increases and decreases.


And this...
Is my dining room table.

A little sneak peek at this year's calendar. I hope I have it done and printed by Christmas! (Speaking of Christmas, the crafty pressure is on. Most times I feel like my head is going to explode, just thinking of all the gifts I want to make.) I guess I should get on that... See ya!

one of those.

Not much to write about today. Just finished a 'painting' session. Consisting of three ugly little canvas messes, and a whole lotta frustration.

Keep pickin' up the paint brush only to be let down again and again. I should really just give up on that whole 'art' thing.

In other news, I have to give that lil' sock monkey to his rightful owner tomorrow afternoon, so I'm gunna finish it tonight.

Yesterday and Today

Since my son was born I have been trying to figure out exactly what to expect from myself. How much can really be accomplished in a day? Some days it seems like the answer is barely anything, (or nothing.) Other days it's easier to stay on top of things and still find time for my hobbies. Being a stay at home mama means it doesn't matter what day of the week it is, and living kinda far from all my friends means I don't have much of a social life. So what I'm finding, essentially, is that the days tend to run together and I'm sometimes left with the feeling that all I ever do is cook dinner or clean the kitchen.

But, the truth is I do get a lot of little creative things done. Enough to feel proud of, I think. So now I'm bloggin' about it as a way to cement in my mind that I still exist, that I still get some creative things made. Even though I spend a lot of time sitting on the floor with my son talking about puppies and teddy bears, playing outside with him, and cooking yummy food for him and his papa, Celia is still here. I haven't been (totally) taken over by this new life.

Made it Today is a reason for me to sit down and be thankful for the life I have. A life that allows me to spend every day with my son, to eat healthy lovely meals, and to play around with fabrics, wool, and paints when I feel like it. It's also another way to distract myself from yucky housework, like scrubbing toilets and bathtubs. So that's awesome, too.

Some days, all that gets made is a pot of soup, and others whole projects get completed, but it all counts, right? Like yesterday, all I made was a big dinner. But it was oh, so yummy! Lamb korma, aloo gobi and chicken tikka, with quinoa and naan bread. Delicious.



Yes, I ate a whole huge plate of it. (It was really late by the time we could sit down and eat, we were starving!!) Tons of left overs, which means I didn't have to cook at all today and that makes me smile. A lot.

And after dinner? I started knitting the baby sock monkey's tail. Not bad, eh?

Which brings me to today. So far I haven't done much, but we did get outside for some gardening.



Sully's wearing his "newt suit" from MEC. An essential garment if I want to make sure we leave the house every day. It's raining lots these days and will continue to do so for many months, which could be pretty miserable if we didn't have the right gear to get out and play in this beautiful rain forest.

That's pretty much all we 'made' today, some slightly-less-weedy flower beds. And a whole lotta housework that I don't care to re-live. I'm gunna tuck into this left-over curry with couscous, (mmmmh,) and snuggle up to some 30 Rock with my Steve and some knitting needles.

xoxo

How to avoid washing the floor

It's getting really sticky, too. Especially under Sully's highchair. I guess the dog's not doing a good enough job of cleaning up after him.

Today's distraction was placemats. I made some a couple months ago:

but they're too big.


While looking at random crafty books on Amazon I found a picture of some placemats done in a kinda patchworky style and decided to have a go with it. I started last night, using the remnants of a jelly roll I used for these cushion covers:



So here's what I made today:

First, cut all the strips into smaller strips between 3 and 9 inches long. Do this while trying to prevent your 8 month old son from pulling the sewing machine down on top of him, also, try not to slice your fingers off while he climbs up your legs.

Sort them into piles of light and dark or similar colours or something. Drink some coffee. Eat some toast. Sew the strips, short sides together, in a long strip. I started this when Sully went down for his morning nap, and finished by the time he got up.

Next, go for a little walk in the rain with the family.

Feed everyone lunch, empty the dish washer and run a load of laundry... Etc. etc... Still avoiding scrubbing the floors. Ooo it's naptime again!

Measure the strip. I suppose I could have planned out the measurements earlier, but I was too impatient, so I just used what I had and did a little calculation later that said I had 676 inches of jellyroll, and that it would make 6.5 placemats. Well I ended up getting 5 and a bit out of it, so as usual, my 'math' didn't hold up.

Anyways, cut the thing into 13" long strips. Now you're ready for the fun part! Lay them all out and agonize for an hour or so about positioning them correctly so that you have pleasant contrast and such like. I think if I had grabbed them at random and sewn them together I would have come out with the same result. Perhaps better, even.



K. That's as far as I got today. Productivity is dependent on length of baby naps in this house, so today was definitely a good day with about 3.5 hours of naptime. Yee haw.

(PS, after retracing my amazon oogling steps I've found the book I ripped this off from. It's Sew Liberated, by Meg McElwee. Pretty awesome. Maybe one day I'll be able to buy it, right now I should avoid spending any more $$ on crafting stuff or else Steve's head will explode.)

Nighttime now, baby's in bed. I suppose I'll get a few rows done on this baby sock monkey I'm knitting for my neighbour's son, then go to bed. G'night!