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Thursday, January 27, 2005
Two-fer-one
An amazing development, two blog posts in one day!



Here is the heart quilt, appliqued in NYC and sashed here at home. (The templates are from Little Quilts All Through the House) The blocks are 3.5 inches square, so the whole thing will be pretty small. The camera is causing most of the distortion-- this is not perfect, but it sure isn't ROUND! I have two ideas about borders, and I just need to find some time when my brain is fresh to experiment. My quilt guild's February block of the month is a heart applique, which was the catalyst for this project. I suddenly love applique.

I've tentatively named the quilt "Sowing the Seeds of Love"-- the bottom center heart is a man scattering seeds and the background is ears of wheat-- because Tears for Fears sing in my head everytime I work on this project. Sorry, it's contagious....

posted at 9:24 PM # (3) comments

Yummy yummy yummy yummy
Now that Lydia is excited about solid foods, she chants "Yummy yummy yummy yummy" anytime she sees me with food in my hands. I had to feed her alternating bites of my oatmeal this morning, and then she licked the empty bowl-- when I washed her hands I found an oatmeal clump in her bangs. Her other new cute word is "Uh-oooo" Instead of an oh sound she pouts her lips way out and says oooo. Now we are all saying it. Uh-oooo! Try it, it's fun!

Yesterday her morning nap ended prematurely, so I had a sleepy but wakeful girl. I plopped her in the sling and puttered around my sewing room. I got all the hearts sewn together, and now I'm working on border treatments (oh, how fancy). I'd like to finish this before the next quilt guild meeting so I can get up on stage for show and tell. As soon as I find the camera cord, I will upload the pictures I just took...

Just now as I was looking through photos to add to the blog, she saw herself and I think she said "Lydia!" Perhaps it was "Di-da" but I know what she meant.

posted at 8:23 AM # (4) comments

Monday, January 24, 2005
Mini-Break: Highly Recommended
A mini-break in NYC was just what the doctor ordered. Lydia and I settled in at the Hotel Giraffe next door to John's office, and then forayed out into the weather when the mood struck. Of course, our movements were limited by naptime and cold air exposure, but we still managed to meet the majority of John's coworkers, hit The City Quilter, and the Folk Art Museum. My brother and his girlfriend hosted us for dinner one evening at their chic new apartment in the East Village-- complete with white shag rug in front of the fireplace. It was great to have fresh surroundings.

With Lydia in the sling over one shoulder, and the little diaper bag over the other, I was well balanced and ready for walking. We traveled by foot and by subway and after two days I was ready to chuck the suburbs for the city-- until I remembered that we are already too late to get Lydia into preschool there. We'll just have to get back for visits more often. Lydia would enjoy it I think. She loved all the walking and people watching, plus she's got perfect city manners-- an adorable little sneer and a cool look of disinterest for everyone.

The little applique project I took along kept me happy for most of the trip, but I ended up stitching faster than I thought and finished before we got home! When I get two minutes alone, I'll put the blocks together with sashing and search out some border fabric. I have Jinny Beyer's book on hand piecing waiting at the library. Hand work no longer seems tedious, but suddenly convenient and fun. I'll have to cut up a lot more shapes and carry them around with me.

I've been reading two books about machine quilting (Diane Gaudynski's and Harriet Hargrave's) and I'm feeling newly confident. If I ever get two more minutes alone, I'll be machine quilting my little heart appliques. Otherwise, perhaps it would be good handwork to cart around with me.

We arrived home in the middle of the snowstorm and the whole street looked so beautiful. Now that I know Lydia's snowsuit and felted elf boots are warm enough, I plan to throw on the sling and get outside with her. See you out there!

posted at 11:42 AM # (5) comments

Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Change of Scene
John has several straight days of late meetings this week-- since he won't be able to catch the last train home, we've decided to relocate home base for a few days. It will be my first trip to NYC since November 2003; in contrast, John makes the trip daily. This may be a stupid idea, but if so, Lydia and I can always hightail it back home. Meanwhile, in my fantasies, we'll be visiting a museum or two, seeing Uncle Matt, and enjoying a change of scene. Keep your fingers crossed!

I'm taking along an applique project-- little red hearts which can be worked anywhere and don't take long.

posted at 5:49 PM # (3) comments

Thursday, January 13, 2005
The January Blahs
It's time to admit Lydia is starting to talk. She has been saying Ma or Mama or Mom-mom for a while now, and now it's clear she really means it when she says it. Of course Mom primarily means food, but she associates that with me, so it counts. I am finally crediting her because today she mastered her second word: kitty cat. It sounds like "ki-cah" but we know exactly what she means because she says it over and over, in increasingly shrill tones while she crawls rambunctiously towards the cat. It's pretty clear. She's also really working on walking, and today she was able to lift her little legs high enough to walk up the stairs while hanging on to my fingers. Awww! and AAAAKK! Soon she'll be trying this on her own.

I got new glasses today and so far I hate them. Why oh why can't glasses be returnable? And why oh why were we ever tempted to save for deductible medical expenses by using a flexible spending account when it is now clear they were invented by greedy S.O.B.'s for use by risk-happy gamblers? Thankfully, it only took one year to learn this painful lesson. And I will be reminded every day for the next couple of years when I catch the flash of yellow plastic sandwiched in the layers of my new glasses. That is, if I don't go blind from what seems to be a terrible prescription flaw. That part, at least, can be addressed with the optician. I'm headed back tomorrow for an adjustment.

It's January. The weather is crappy, either rainy or cold, and it's very dreary. I've got a sweater back two inches from the top, a baby dress bodice half sewn, and a couple of quilt projects going. I, like Martha, am looking forward to spring and the emergence of spring flowers. We are working on getting our yard graded to direct water away from the house, and then we'll be free to plant. It's a whole lot of nothing right now, so it will be easy to make some improvements. Just like the weather.

posted at 7:29 PM # (3) comments

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