New Quilt=New Blog Post

Yes, that is a finished quilt. No, it is not one of the two, no wait, three, that I have had in production since winter. It is an emergency quilt, a quilt needed so urgently by someone that I could not stand it, and not because quilts are warm, although they are, and not because they are made of fabric and thus could possibly be used as a parachute replacement, although I guess they could be, but because she is going through something terrible and I needed to make her something cozy and comforting and cheery and bright. I hope I succeeded.

It started on Friday. With this...

...which turned into this...

...and then this...

...and finally this...

...with such speed my shoulders still ache.



And boy was that photo shoot windy.


Did I mention windy?



Windy.

Damn windy.

Really really windy.


So there she is. I hope Aunt Pam loves her as much as I do (the quilt, not the girl. Aw heck, the girl, too.)

The Frog and the Polar Bear

Once upon a time, there was a frog and a polar bear.



They decided to go shake down some people for candy.


GIVE US CANDY!!!!

First they went downtown, to see how much they could score.



The terrified townspeople were surprisingly forthcoming.





Frog and Polar Bear were very pleased with their haul. Until Frog ran into her arch nemesis, Scream-Thingy!



But she overcame her momentary fear...



And eventually intimidated him into parting with some candy. Ha! Take that, Scream-Thingy!




Frog and Polar Bear decided to return to their own neighborhood for more mayhem.



They headed off into the night for more candy...



...before returning home, victorious with their spoils.



Little did they know that whilst they were gone, other creatures had descended on their home to do the same thing....



Gosh darn creatures of the night!

That's okay. Polar Bear is scheming for next year, claws at the ready.

I love this site, and I love this backpack....

Well, what with the girl about to start preschool, I have of course thought about making her a backpack. Which I probably will. But wouldn't it be so much easier, and probably cuter, if I could just win this one?

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Thanks to Grosgrain and Made by Rae for having this giveaway. Fingers crossed!

Life and Procrastination Intervene

So, yeah, it has been three months since I last updated this thing. Yikes. But in my defense, I just . . . had other things to do. Okay, yeah, I admit it. Not an excuse. But since I am mainly writing this apology and defense to myself, it turns out that it's also . . . really pathetic. Let us move on!

I finally finished Gavin's quilt. Hooray! I bought the fabric and the pattern (Mixtape quilt from here) a few months ago, and had been slowly slogging through the piecing and the sashing and the cursing and the crying until finally, it had to be quilted. So I cursed and cried my way through the quilting until finally, after all of that, it had to be bound. So I cursed and cried and swore I had entered a time loop as I painstakingly hand-stitched the binding to the backing until finally, gloriously, it was done. No really. Proof!



I used a bunch of space themed fabrics for my little astronaut (he knows almost all the planets by now, by picture and name.)



And here's the back, pieced from the remaining chunks of space fabric.



Here is the binding. Love the binding, worship the binding!



So, as you can see, I have been doing other things. And now I can start something new and ignore this blog for another three months! Awesome!

Wild

Just a few photos this week (and hey, didn't I tell ya I'd be updating my blog more often?) from a hike we took today at Rouge River. Just flora pics this time, I'll update with fawna (i.e., my children) at a later date.

I love taking pictures of wildflowers, even if my knees get a little dirty. Most people don't even notice them, I think, they are so small and unassuming. Take this red trillium, for example.



Henning actually spotted these, and they were all hiding at the base of a tree, their heads pointing at the ground. I had to practically unhinge my neck to get this.

Trout lilies are a little more profuse and obvious.



Here's another one from two weeks ago, gettin' it on with the local bee scene.



I finally found some Dutchman's Breeches this week, although not as many as last year.



The bloodroot were still out in force, here with passenger!



And finally, I stumbled upon a sign that the alien invasion has already begun on earth.



Click through and look at the big version of this picture (just go to "all sizes"). It is truly bizarre. The little green alien apartment buildings were all over the place! It has begun! Call Tom Cruise!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this tromp through the forest. See ya later!

2nd Birthday

Yes, my little bear cub turned two yesterday.

We celebrated first this weekend with a trip to the zoo (Gramma in tow) on the hottest day of the year so far. Miles of gleaming white Canadian flesh were on the roam, and it all seemed to be at the zoo. We had a great time anyway, although, as always seems to be the case, the adults were more excited than the kiddlins.



Vala certainly enjoyed this turtle, however.



Gavin preferred the machinery, as always. He followed one little boy who had a camera around for like ten minutes, pretending to be interested in whatever the boy was pointing at and talking about, while really just trying to get a closer look at his equipment.

Meanwhile, Vala communed with some wildlife.


And the wildlife communed right back. But the idyllic time was soon at an end, and he waved goodbye...


...and traipsed off into the sunset.


Poor heartbroken little monkey. Mine, not the furry one.

On her actual birthday, I baked a cake from scratch (!) and we had a little teeny birthday celebration, just the four of us. Here is a short photo essay about our day.

"Look! Mama made a cake! Yay!"


"The cake! Mama! Give us some cake!! It's right there!!!"


"We get it. We're cute. CUT THE CAKE."


Ahhh, the joys of photographing children. Ready for another photo essay? I thought you were.

"Oh my gosh. What is he doing?"


"Does he know he's setting my cake on fire?"


"Should I tell him? Nooo, he'll figure it out."


"I hope...."


Well, happy birthday, little monkey.






I still can't believe it.

(as always, click on over to flickr for more zoo and bday fun)