It’s soft, and hopefully sturdy.

It’s warm, and good to curl up with once in a while.

It’s bold, and bright… and will run like crazy.

It’s supposed to be out, and loved, and to get dirty.  If it’s put in a box, or stored in a glass case, it’ll get brittle, and shatter along the seams.

I had a plan on how long it would take.  It took it’s own time.

It’s made with lots of love – and a few nicks, dings, scrapes, and a dash of exasperation along the way.

It was a great idea – and not once did it go just the way I planned.

It’s been a trip to get there – some fun, some not.  But it’s beautiful in the end.

Just like the babe it was made for.

More details after the jump, for the quilters out there…

A close-up of the fabrics.  The top, back and lining are all 100% silk.  The blue basket weave and the shinier red also make up a back of 4 large squares – two red, two blue.  They’re charmeuse.  The white is charmeuse too. Yes, this was a bear to sew.  It stretches on the bias, and shreds, and slides, and won’t feed through one of my sewing machines, and does other interesting things.  I paper-pieced the whole thing, including sewing the raw edges of the binding on. The light blue and the red with embroidery (and the plain red on the diagonals with embroidery…) are more of a broadcloth, thank heavens. They ended up providing some very necessary structure.  It’s not my embroidery, by the way – I recycled shirts for the whole thing, so it’s machine done.

The silver charmeuse binding, and a close-up of the quilting.  Because the backing wouldn’t feed right when I tried machine quilting, I ended up hand-quilting the whole thing. (But not for this, it probably would have been in time for Wiggle’s birth…)  The last row of squares around the edge – wouldn’t hold still long enough for me to hoop them in any decent fashion, and my hands won’t let me hand quilt without a hoop.  So I left them unquilted while I did the binding – and loved the way it turned out.

Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season – whatever your holiday may be!

First big snow of the season, and the leaves aren’t off most of the trees. Not quite sure I was ready emotionally, but other than that we were pretty prepared.  The garden’s all in, so it was ready for its blanket.  And we lost a few branches, mostly off the cottonwoods, but nothing major, and it doesn’t look like there’s any damage to the fence or outbuildings.  One good thing about the precious owners- the trees are all far enough from the house we’re unlikely to suffer damage there from falling limbs.  It’s supposed to be in the 40′s tomorrow, so it should all start to thaw and relieve the weight soon.  I did shake all the trees I was most concerned about though, just in case.
The kids at school and I all had a blast running around, shoveling snow and building a snow-toddler, complete with bobble hat.  In a pleasant surprise, all but one of the children was ready for snow, with lots of warm clothing and plenty of boots in evidence.  Toddlers love playing in the snow- they just hate being cold and wet.  So we were able to stay out in the 6″ or so for a half hour!  Very fun.  RockinAssistantR even taught me how to roll the snow balls for a snow man.  Funny, the things I never learned… we made snowmen, but I don’t remember ever rolling the balls- too much dead grass stuck the few times I tried, I guess. 
So now I’m off to prepare for parent-teacher conferences… in front of the fire, with a cup of cocoa!

Ok, back the first week of September, I finished these.  It’s a full set of toppencinos- two mattresses and four covers.  Since they were a gift for ShearedBliss’s WIP, you’re only hearing about it now.
A “toppi” is something I learned about in training- it’s a little, flat mattress that is used when holding a little baby.  It’s handy for adults who haven’t held a baby in a while (or ever), but mostly it provides a familiar point of reference for the baby.  You use it to hold the baby while nursing, snuggling, and getting ready for sleeping.  Because it provides a stable base and consistent temperature, it makes setting a baby down to sleep or play much easier for the child. 
This set has cotton batting in the mattresses and cotton broadcloth mattress ticking.  Wool is better for temperature control, but is harder to wash.  The toppincino covers are recycled silk.  I bought several silk broadcloth shirts at the charity shop, and used them as fabric.  It’s soft, and warm or cool as needed.The added bonus, I found, is that by using the front of the shirt as the back of the cover, I didn’t have to make and finish an overlapping opening to insert the mattress.  This definitely made it a quicker process!  The white cover is silk charmeuse, left over from the toppi I had to make for training- except for the lack of eyelet around one end, it’s much more traditionally made.  It’s also the softest! 
At training, several people asked how practical it would be to actually use silk for a baby.  In my experience, caring for silk is somewhere between cotton and wool.  I machine wash it, usually on gentle but sometimes on normal, and usually let it line dry or tumble on no heat if I’m seeking to soften the fabric, then steam iron if necessary on the cotton setting.  As far as I can tell, this isn’t anyone’s recommended care instructions for silk, but I have silk shirts that I wore frequently for years which have withstood the process.  Since I don’t care if the covers stain, and chose colors which don’t bleed (the biggest problem I’ve had with silk) it should be ok.  And since I think every baby deserves to have wonderful, comfortable, luxurious experiences, it’s worth it! 

First big snow of the season, and the leaves aren’t off most of the trees. Not quite sure I was ready emotionally, but other than that we were pretty prepared.  The garden’s all in, so it was ready for its blanket.  And we lost a few branches, mostly off the cottonwoods, but nothing major, and it doesn’t look like there’s any damage to the fence or outbuildings.  One good thing about the precious owners- the trees are all far enough from the house we’re unlikely to suffer damage there from falling limbs.  It’s supposed to be in the 40′s tomorrow, so it should all start to thaw and relieve the weight soon.  I did shake all the trees I was most concerned about though, just in case.
The kids at school and I all had a blast running around, shoveling snow and building a snow-toddler, complete with bobble hat.  In a pleasant surprise, all but one of the children was ready for snow, with lots of warm clothing and plenty of boots in evidence.  Toddlers love playing in the snow- they just hate being cold and wet.  So we were able to stay out in the 6″ or so for a half hour!  Very fun.  RockinAssistantR even taught me how to roll the snow balls for a snow man.  Funny, the things I never learned… we made snowmen, but I don’t remember ever rolling the balls- too much dead grass stuck the few times I tried, I guess. 
So now I’m off to prepare for parent-teacher conferences… in front of the fire, with a cup of cocoa!

In September, I made chokecherry jelly.  Unfortunately, we had squat for chokecherries, but a friend’s garden yielded a bountiful harvest, which she was willing to share.  I used the high-altitude recipe here, and everything jelled wonderfully!  It came out sweet, with no hint of bitterness, and while it smelled delightfully of cherries while cooking, the end result was a very unique and exquisite blend of light cherry flavor and a much more dominant berry one.  I’m quite pleased with the results.

The green baby sweater is done at last.
(And yes, the sleeves match, but that makes it really wide for a picture…)

We had our first fire in our fireplace today. 
I know, it’s only Labor Day, and it’s 80-something degrees outside.  You see, we didn’t have chimney caps last winter, nor spark arrestors.  So today’s big project (beside Angel mowing the lawn and me cleaning house) was to get them and install them.  That done, we got to light a fire! (Ok, so it was mostly to check the draw and give any wasps or bats a chance to escape.)
It’s funny- at first I didn’t think the woodsmoke smelled right- was the wood wet? Is there soomething different about fires in September?  Then I realized what it was- it smells like fires back East.  You see, I grabbed a bunch of kindling off the brush pile we want to get rid of (slowly).  With all the trees on the place, it’s a huge collection of downed limbs from over the years.  And we have a lot of hardwoods- oak, ash, apple, something that might be an ornamental cherry… I’m used to “boughten” wood, which is what we use at the museum.  Around here, that’s a mix of aspen and pine usually.  (And hopefully more and more beetle-kill pine, so it’s used in a controlled manner…)  Hardwood is “special”- you either get it off craigslist by chopping up downed limbs after a storm, or pay extra.  So that was a very special surprise- it made me think of time spent at Grandma and Grandpa’s in West Virginia and Ohio, and of Thanksgivings with Dad’s side of the family, and Christmases with Mom’s (who were out west, but had fruit trees.)  S

Mmm. Dinner!
These aren’t those fancy-pants, mystery content green beans from the store.  No way!  We’re eating steamed green bolita beans tonight.  With grilled chicken rubbed with fresh rosemary, oregano, parsley, and basil from the herb garden.  And a salad- WITH TOMAOTES!  Happy dance with me- we’ve got our first ripe tomatoes!  And it’s September.    With any luck, warm days will prevail a while longer, although it’s dropping into the 80′s this week.  Next year’s garden must have more space in the sun.  I think a cool June and a lot of shade have contributed to the late arrivals.
Also, if I do this squash again, it too needs more space and sun.  It seems particularly susceptible to powdery mildew.  Luckily, the cucs, corn, and tomatoes nearby all seem resistant!