Patchwork Stripe Quilt

I just recently got back in touch with an old friend, and hurray! She's knocked up! I have no idea which kind of baby it is. Other than the human kind. So I dipped into my very favorite bright happy gender neutral fat quarter stash.


There's my usual quilt model up there, back on the job. What strong arms she has! That's a really soft tan cotton flannel, between the stripes. And I backed it in an old linen curtain. I am finally making a dent in that pile of linen curtains I've been carrying around for years.


And here's her "helper"...Did you notice? Oh my yes...those are big girl panties she's wearing there...

I can't believe it either. Except then 20 seconds later I could totally believe it when she peed on the floor. Yeah I saw this coming when I ripped out the carpet a year ago. So far she is averaging 80% pooping in the right place, 10% peeing in the right place. But she's not quite two, so hey I'll take it. 1% poop in the potty is 1% I'm not bent over scraping off her chunky thighs with a grubby wipe in the Costco parking lot. Not that I've ever done that, or anything. Just theoretically, I guess.

The secret to potty training Jane has been a carefully calibrated balance of neglect and chocolate. I used the same system with Wren, but it was surprisingly less effective in her case than the patented "let's go stay at Nana's house for a week" system.


So here's the finished quilt, washed and dried and wrapped up in a bow I stole from Jane's baby. I don't think the baby will miss it, since it was being used to suspend her by the neck from Wren's wagon.

Ah, sisters.

Strawberry Scones

It has been a long time since I've made scones. Years. I used to make them all the time, and I guess maybe I burned out? Maybe I no longer have the patience for cutting cold butter into dough if there's not a pie on the other end of it.


Enter the food processor. In my personal kitchen economy, I balance the labor of making something by hand against the hassle of hand washing whatever contraption I would otherwise use. So the food processor and the stand mixer don't get that much play. I'd rather have the pleasant (tedious) process of a pretty bowl and a wooden spoon, when the other option is quick baking, followed by the nasty hot process of wrestling big sharp heavy slippery objects in the sink.


But this morning, kids + scones = food processor. And if I save some scones for Chase, maybe he will do the dishes when he gets home.

log cabin quilt

I finally finished it! Usually I ask Wren to hold up the finished quilts, but this one was a little bigger than crib size, and it was hard to fit in the picture. Anything to keep my "crazy lady in the apartment complex courtyard" rep.


I'm really happy with it, and I'm proud of it. Although I'm not proud that I started and finished it while ignoring a pile up of overdue gift projects for deserving friends. Oh well.


Here it is in it's future home. For now it lives in Jane's crib, but she'll be making the transition to "big girl bed" soon enough. And there's the big girl herself, with bangs in her eyes and brownie on her face. Soon to be on the quilt.

Once I finish my hand quilted whole cloth quilt (which I'm still working on, a few stitches every evening) everyone in the house will be sleeping under quilts made by me. So that's a nice goal. Maybe 2015?

sick kid survival kit

Poor Wrennel caught Jane's bug, and so far she has been a trooper. She has shared some crazy fever dreams ("And then the crabs talked to me and you told me to hold them like this and we were in this place but it was just a dream place so I can't really tell you about it...") and expressed confusion at some aspects of sickness ("You still have to go potty when you're sick?!") but other than that, she's been pretty low maintenance.

The big blue barf bucket is just of frame in this picture, and if you are at all susceptible to this kind of illness, be very glad you are far from the playgrounds and toy stores of Central Texas. Everyone we know has had some form of this thing in recent weeks. Like solid 100+ temperatures every day outside aren't enough in the middle of the summer. Little bodies add FEVER on top of that.

Jane got over it in a few days, and I'm sure Wren will too. I'm bummed to miss whatever socializing we had planned, and Janey might possibly tear the house apart in boredom, but other than that, we'll be fine. Wren definitely takes after me in sickness- loving to be babied and taken care of. And I have endless patience for indulging that particular quirk (notice the stacks of games and toys in that picture) so we're fine.

morning kid craft

We played outside this morning until it got too hot (approximately 20 minutes). And then I remembered seeing these great paper dolls on Kidley and we gave them a try.



Wren immediately began planning outfits for the dolls. The templates come with a bear costume (!) and a few dresses and skirt/shirt combos, but Wren said "she needs a mermaid tail, and a shell thing on top, and a crown, and another friend doll..."



This is definitely more of a Wren craft than a Jane craft. Jane spends most of her coloring time painstakingly peeling the wrappers from every crayon that crosses her path. It's good practice for Wren though- she needs to build patience (don't we all), and fine motor control.