Saturday, August 10, 2013

Saturday Morning

                                                   Tiger Swallowtail on Butterfly Bush

Now this is the way that Saturday morning should be!  I awoke on time, but baby is still sleeping.  (He had a very long day yesterday because he decided that napping was entirely optional.)  So, while he sleeps I got the water going in the front garden, grabbed a caffeinated drink to give me a bit of a boost, and sat down to catch up on my blog reading.  Hurray!  I've been trying to do this for a few days, but something else was always popping up and I got interrupted quite a few times.  Now that that's caught up I'm wondering just how much I can attempt to get done while the house is quiet?  Today is forecasted to be a scorcher - 30* plus here in BC so I need to get as much done this morning while the house is still cool - dinner tonight may just be a make do affair unless I can come up with something for the crock pot.  Wait, leftovers are in the fridge *smile*.  Let's see, laundry waits to be washed, diapers need to be folded, I need to change the sheets on our bed, and I need to water my hanging baskets and pots.  I guess I should get started.  (Knitting can be done downstairs in the basement later today while it's roasting upstairs.)  I do need to get you some pictures of the projects I've finished recently, but my ability with a camera and my vision for the pics I'd like to take of them are quite different.  We'll see what I can do.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Monday



I guess you could say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  I was generally grumpy and out of sorts and was really having trouble shaking it.  However, I'm feeling much better now!  Micaiah had a bit of a nap  - only about 45 minutes, but it was enough for me to have a bit of time to read my cookbook and gather my thoughts.  The sun peeked out a bit more and it's feeling like it'll be a nice warm day, maybe we'll play outside a bit after lunch.

I have found myself challenged, by reading several real food blogs, to eliminate a lot of the processed foods we buy and start cooking more from scratch.  I cooked from scratch, sort of, but relied on several processed items to help put my meals together:  side dishes, some canned soups, and a few other odds and ends. I knew they probably weren't that great for us, but I was lacking the initiative and know how to do something different.  Those food blogs gave the little bit of a push that I needed, as well as some know how to make some changes.  (We're taking things slowly at first)  I found a recipe for Scottish Oatmeal in the Cooks Illustrated New Best Recipe cookbook that sounds really good - so much better than the way I was making it before Micaiah was born. *:-S worried  I also found a recipe for Quiche Lorraine that sounds really good.  Those of you that know me well may about faint at that statement as I do not like eggs.  However, I didn't realize that the base for a good Quiche should be a custard - I like custard.  This recipe also has lots of bacon in it and cheese.  I can hardly believe the dishes that people are putting out there that they call Quiche!  No wonder that I like my friend Jacquie's quiche, she's a really good cook.  Maybe there's hope for me yet.  (Though I did just have to read a recipe about how to make scrambled eggs *:"> blushing.  Please refer to above disclaimer about eggs.)  So, now I have even more encouragement to try new dishes and cook a little more, I will also admit to hoping we can whittle down our grocery budget.  We'll see.  Today might just be a pretty good day after all.  Happy Monday to you all.

Friday, May 31, 2013

It's here and I can't wait to start...



Have you ever just known that a certain project had to be knit in a certain yarn, by you for you?  This is a skein of Tosh Sock in the color Winter Wheat and it's absolutely beautiful.  I have been wanting this color in sock yarn for a long time as I feel it would make the most perfect yellow socks ever.  Just so you know how long, Spring 2008 to be exact.  Interweave knits published a pattern called Twisted Tulip socks that I fell in love with, of course they were made up in a yarn very similar to this one, and I knew I had to make them just like the picture (except I didn't want to order that particular yarn).  So, I waited, and hunted, making multiple trips to yarn stores *smile* looking for the right yarn.  This spring I found a yellow, but it wasn't quite right for the Twisted Tulip socks.  I liked the yarn and color, I bought it, and I made the Lydia Bennett Secret Stockings from Jane Austen Knits Fall 2011.


They're lovely and I used Spud and Chloe Fine in Bumblebee.  I really like the yarn too, but they're not the Twisted Tulip Socks.  At knit night one Monday, I happened to see a skein of Tosh Light in  Winter Wheat and asked if it could be had in Tosh Sock.  Right then it was written into the order and I waited, patiently too.   Well, yesterday I got a call, just as I was leaving the house - how perfect was that- that my skein of Tosh Sock Winter Wheat was in!  Yippeee, away I went, and now the pattern and yarn sit in front of me.  They will have to be worked on at home as the chart is rather detailed, so I have the Alex Jacket on the needles with Spud and Chloe Sweater in Root Beer and Moonlight for Micaiah as my travel project.  A happy Momma and a happy knitter (not necessarily in that order right now.)

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Mornings


Ugghhh!  Mornings are rough around here.  I am not a morning person at all, and I don't usually really get going until about 11:00 am.  I am up much before that, but the fog is usually quite tangible until then.  So explain then how I have a child that is an energetic morning person?  He wakes between 6:30 and 7:00 and is soooo happy it's painful.  I struggle to get his breakfast and feed him, and now with his crawling I need to be that much more awake - he's everywhere!  Most days I find myself grabbing a nap when he goes down for his morning nap - this usually catapults me into my day and we do pretty well through the afternoon.  This time of year is especially rough as I have seasonal allergies that can really flare up.  My favorite remedy for this is a cup of nettle tea with honey, pictured above.  It's amazing what it does for that itchy, scratchy feeling and heavy eyes.  It can taste a little green by itself, but the honey makes it better, and local honey is purported to be good for the allergies too.  Now if it would just help with the morning fog, and give me a kick start that would be good.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Progress


So this is M's finished quilt.  After a couple of years, from start to finish, I still love it!  It was a kit purchased from a local quilt shop, and started before M was on his way.  I quilted it with the "Baptist Fan" pattern in the center, which is a series of concentric arcs stacked next to and beside each other.  I chose a simple cable for the border, and I think it sets off the center quilting quite nicely.


This is a quilt that my mother just recently found in my grandmother's linen closet.  The label, which you can see in the lower left corner says "pieced by Rachel Cox and quilted by Blanche Cox" .  Rachel Cox was my great-great grandmother, and  Blanche Cox my great grandmother.  I can't wait to get to see this quilt in person!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

March Already...

I can't figure out where the time went, other than being sucked into the void that is life with a baby. Life is good and there isn't a dull moment, though at times I could wish for one. It seems we have finally worked through many of baby's sleep issues and we are all a lot happier - I get reliable sewing/knitting/quilting/spinning or just plain down time, and he gets the sleep he needs. So, what have I been working on in all that free time? Diaper covers. We decided before M was born that we definitely wanted to cloth diaper, and I am not regretting a moment of it. Hubby and I did the math last week and we have saved almost $1000 by not using formula, disposable diapers, and wipes. I love the fact that I don't have to keep running to the store for diapers etc., and they aren't going into a landfill to sit there for hundreds of years. Please understand that all of my family uses disposable diapers and that has been good for them, but we don't have the money or the interest. I only do an extra 2-3 loads of laundry a week which frankly isn't too much of a headache. All that just to say, I love my cloth diapers. We are using prefolds and covers and they are super easy - things have changed so much since I was little. So, here are a couple of pictures of the covers I have been making. This is one of the swim diapers that I have made for the Mom and Tot swim class that we'll start in a couple of weeks.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Light at the End


I have been noticing for the past couple of days how the light is beginning to change.  Just a little here and there, but changing none the less.  The afternoons are starting to lengthen a bit, and the mornings are brightening a bit earlier as I get up with my baby.  As I sit here in my chair, watching M playing on the floor happy and content, I am watching the sunrise from my front window.  We see so little of this liquid gold here on the West Coast in the winter that a sunny day is definitely a treasure, and I am reassured that winter is passing and spring will arrive on schedule.  There is light at the end.